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After the disappointing third season of Haikyuu!! I was hoping that Hibike Euphonium would atleast have a good second season that I would've enjoyed. Unfortunately I was wrong. Although not as broken as Haikyuu!! S3, Hibike Euphonium season 2 was still a very disappointing sequel to what was otherwise a great first season.

I first want to address the obvious. Yes, the animation is f***ing orgasmic in Hibike Euphonium. However, is this quality of animation necessary for something like Hibike Euphonium? I know that HE season 1 also had great animation, but in comparison to season 2 it was still pretty tame. In this season you ... have a lot of complicated and beautiful shots for the simplest scenes. It also does this with scenes that were supposed to show the friendship between the two characters, but the way it was animated was so dramatic and over the top that it felt like it was supposed to be a romantic relationship. This led to an incredible amount of people coming to the conclusion that HE2 was just queerbaiting the audience. And I don't think it's wrong to think that because the show was presented like that. The overanimation was also very distracting. It was kind of difficult to take the dramatic scenes seriously or to even pay attention to what was happening.

Now let's talk about the story and characters. The story has unfortunately become very standard compared to the first season. The reason why I loved the first season was that almost every conflict or problem were there from the start. And by the end of it almost every problem is solved. In season 2 though most of the main conflicts of the show tend to be problems that have suddenly showed up out of nowhere and there was only one conflict that was there from the very beginning and it's my favorite storyline of the entire second season (it is the conflict between kumiko and her sister). It's also notable that the conflicts appeared one by one. This did not happen in the first season and that's why the first season felt like a breath of fresh air. This kind of story structure made season 2 look like a very well produced by the books highschool anime, but that's not what HE was. I can understand if people don't care about this kind of stuff, but for me it was drag to watch through. It also doesn't help that season 2 has a crap ton of flashbacks which I really hate. The first season was able to avoid most of them but it seems that that kind of writing has been lost in season 2.
Some characters in season 2 are completely ruined. Let's take Asuka as an example. The reason why she worked in the first season was that she was a very mysterious big sister kind of character and no one really understood what was going on with her and that's why she was my favorite character. She deliberately acted mysterious for the sake of the concert band. This character is completely ruined because she was the focuspoint of one of the storylines AND she got a backstory. I can talk about more characters who were completely ruined but this review is already pretty long so I'm going to keep it at that.

But what about the soundtrack and the sound though? That has to be good right? And to be fairly honest the soundtrack itself is really good. The same is for the sound design. My only problem with the sound is that I sometimes felt that the soundtrack was used way too much in dramatic scenes for EXTRA DRAMATIC EFFECT, but that is just my personal opinion. The sound of concerts is as good as season 1 and the sound of the instruments itself are again very well done.

When I look back at my viewing experience of HE S2 I would say that I very rarely enjoyed this sequel. There were moments where I was amazed at what Kyoto Animation had done with this second season but it immediately disappeared as soon as I dived deep into the story.

So would I recommend Hibike Euphonium season 2? Well it's difficult to say since I can see why most people would enjoy it. But if you want a well written story with a good structure with fun and consistent characters, I would recommend the first season of Hibike Euphonium. The first season can stand on its own feet since it's a complete story. I would only recommend season 2 to people who really want to know how the story would've continued, but even then I would just recommend reading everything online instead of actually watching the second season.

If you're still here after all that gibberish then congrats and thanks for reading this review and not immediately ignore it because of the score!

Instead of actually making a third season to the pretty popular sports anime Haikyuu!!, the producers thought it would be good idea to do a sort of mini season that will show this particular match between Karasuno and Shiratorizawa (this is not a spoiler it's in the title). At first this didn't seem like a bad idea. The fans will get what they want earlier and the studio probably will make more profit out of this than waiting a year to make the third season. I also didn't mind until I saw the amount of episodes this season would get. Upon that discovery I would ... only expect the worst...... and that''s what I actually got. Let me explain why.

Before I talk about the problems of this season let me give you my opinion on season 1 and 2. I don't think that Haikyuu!! is amazing or anything. It's a by the books sports anime with flat and uninteresting characters and a barebones underdog narrative. The only thing that kept it from being annoying were the matches. They are fun to watch and things that happen are exciting enough to keep me entertained even if they had frequent pacing issues. But all that 'hype' didn't justify everything else. That's a very short summary of my opinion on season 1 and 2 of Haikyuu!!

So with all that out of the way let's talk about season 3 of Haikyuu!! So Haikyuu season 3 is basically just one volleybal match in the course of 10 episodes between Karasuno (the team you are supposed to root for) and Shiratorizawa. And yes the match is 10 episodes long. And keep in mind that most of the important matches in haikyuu are roughly 4-6 episodes long. So you know what that means. Desperately stretching the running time so it will meet the ten episode mark. Because of this the anime felt like a chore to watch through.

The pacing in Haikyuu!! has never been that great. Sometimes it could be confusing to see what the standings were between the teams because there are not a lot of opportunities to cut to them. And somehow this season managed to mess that even more up by constantly slowing down the match for extra running time. This was done by using unnecessary flashbacks, constantly cutting to the coaches or the crowd who'll fill up screen time for the next three minutes (you're going to see that cliché a lot). They also achieve this by having some filler. One particular character gets a lot more screentime than the rest of his teammates. And apparently he didn't get that screen time in the manga (that's what I've heard correct me if I'm wrong). Even though a lot of people liked it, I've felt like it was something that should've been done at the end of season 2 at best. It would've worked with Aoba Jousai because they're technically their rivals not with Shiratorizawa because they were just a powerhouse that they needed to defeat and not their long life rivals (even though the anime acted like they were).

Speaking of Shiratorizawa that's another bad thing of this season. Shiratorizawa was very very bland and boring. They're your stereotypical bad guy team who think that the underdogs are not worthy of their time, but when they actually start playing they suddenly realise that the underdogs are good etc etc. I won't say that the opposing teams in Haikyuu!! are very rich and deep in character because that's basically not true. However there was something which made each team at the very least acceptable and not annoying to watch. Every team who faced Karasuno never thought little of them. Yes they mocked Hinata sometimes but the team as a whole were taken serious as soon as the match started. Even their rival, Aoba Jousai, did this. And the fact that Shiratorizawa is your stereotypical bad guy made this match more annoying to watch.

Now let's talk about animation quality. The redeeming quality of the anime for probably most people. And even though the animation is very good, I mean the animations themselves are very nicely done with great details and the 3d environments was well used and were not distracting. However I do want to note that a lot of earlier used shots are reused in the anime. And some of them can be forgiven, but some of the more impressive shots were repeated which takes away the magic that those shots gave when you first saw them. It seems very desperate to lower the production costs. And this is a problem that seasons 1 and 2 also have. But because this season is so unnecessarily long this stuff stands out more than usual. Not to mention that in a lot of flashbacks older shots from previous seasons were used too.

The sound of Haikyuu!! is nothing special. It's your average sports anime music. There is nothing wrong with it but it's also not the most amazing soundtrack you'll ever hear.

So what is haikyuu season 3? I would say it's a huge disappointment and could potentially be bad for the industry if this is accepted by a large amount of people. I won't say that I completely hated it. There were some moments that I did enjoy. And the animation quality is still good even though a lot of animations were repeated a lot. But those few moments that I enjoyed won't justify everything wrong with this season of Haikyuu!! And in my honest opinion it deserves a low score. Hype can't fix something like this. And if you somehow managed to read through all of this stuff and not looked at the score I have given this season and immediately hate me and disagree with me, well congrats.

I would not recommend Haikyuu!!: Karasuno Koukou VS Shiratorizawa Gakuen Koukou to your average anime fan. If you want to watch the Haikyuu!! series I would say watch season 1 and 2 and read some spoilers online so that you would avoid this and wait for the real season 3. The only people that would probably like this are die hard haikyuu fans.

Every season there is atleast one anime almost everyone is excited to watch and then end up to be 'disappointing'. Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is this season's hype train disappointment. But i'm not here to bash people for being hyped for something (even though hype culture is a problem of its own), I'm here instead to talk about this piece of garbage from a perspective from someone who wasn't even hyped for this anime in the first place.

So shall we begin?

Let's actually talk about something that I really liked: The artstyle. The artstyle of this anime looks very steampunky (which was essential) and it's ... actually an artstyle i've not seen anywhere else. The animation is is also very good. It's one of very few things the staff put actual effort in. The soundtrack is atleast in my opinion good. I mean it's probably the most Sawano Hiroyuki soundtrack of all time, but i liked it (even though the soundtrack is very forgettable especially if you hated this anime).

Now enough praise, let's actually begin talking about the problems of this anime. And there are a loooooooooooooot of problems. Since there are so many problems with this thing I'm just going to focus on what i think are the biggest problems of this garbage.
My first problem is that this anime is not original at all. This is just an Attack on Titan ripoff (that's maybe the reason why people were so hyped for this). I won't say that this is a complete copy of AoT. But the way the anime began was an exact copy of AoT and the atmosphere in the anime is basically the same as AoT. High energy with a lot screaming with a Sawano Hiroyuki OST in the background and in my opinion that is the wrong atmosphere for a. The only difference is that the main character immediately becomes something between humans and kabane (aka f***ing zombies) without any explanations whatsover. And without main characters dying.
Another problem is that the writers thought that they could get away with giving no explanations whatsover. Everytime something happens we just have to believe it. This also happens in the first episode. Ikoma (main charactor) turns into a kabaneri and we don't get any explanation how he knows that he would turn into a kabaneri with that machine of his. We just need to believe that he knows what he's doing because he's the main character!
Speaking of characters, this anime has two types of characters. 1. the annoying supporting characters who may have a mental disorder because the choices they make are unreasonable, unrealistic and just plain f***ing stupid.
The second type of characters are the 'brave' , 'courageous' and sometimes edgy (*cough* mumei *cough*) main characters who are so painfully cliché that everyone atleast have watched a decent amount of anime would cringe.
That's in my opinion the biggest problem of this anime. The anime is so painfully cliché. There's almost to none innovation or originality when it comes to the story or the characters. And as an 'original' people are going to expect some sort of originality, but nope. It only makes the tiring zombie genre even more tiring.

I can go on and on for hours why this anime in my opinion doesn't deserve the attention it got. But this review is long enough so i'm going to stop here.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress isn't really worth anyone's time. And if you enjoyed it, good for you. I'm not going to judge anyone who liked this anime, but i just can't. This is definitely one of the worst anime i have ever watched. The only thing that keeps it away from being the worst anime i have ever watched, is that it isn't as insultingly bad as for example PUPA.

If you want some good zombie action I highly recommend the manga 'I Am A Hero'. I Am A Hero in comparison to Kabaneri atleast tries to innovate the already tiring zombie genre. And in my opinion it succeeds in a lot of ways.

*****DISCLAIMER*****
This is my own opinion about the anime 'Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso'. It's ok to like/dislike this anime and you don't have to agree with me.
Also bear in mind that this is my very first review so it probably isn't that great.

REVIEW (Probably has minor spoilers):
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso was one of the most popular anime of last year. It was loved by many and is currently #14 on this website. I actually watched this anime when it was still airing. And I liked it...... until a certain point.

STORY:
The story of Shigatsu (going to call it that for now on) had a very ... interesting story in the first half of the anime. We saw this main character called Arima Kousei and we saw him struggling to get back to playing the piano. He always felt sorrow of the death of his mother. Then he meets this girl Kaori who is helping him to get back on track. And i've got to say I really really loved this part of the story. Mainly because losing a parent sucks. But Arima felt like his mother was haunting him because he protested against her. We don't really see this a lot in anime and I loved this first half because of it.
Now my real problem lies in the second half of the season. The story in the second half was a mess to me. It was something very generic and boring in my opinion. Our main character (Arima) who we saw going through this character development in the first half, is going back to the ol' emo state he was in at the beginning of the anime. This makes all this character development that i thought was one of the best parts of the first half worthless. And i can't just accept that. Other than the character development is the comedy in the second half REALLY BADLY placed. In my opinion the second half shouldn't have had any comedy. This badly placed 'comedy' severely damaged the drama for me. Also a new completely cliché character was introduced and wasn't really that important to the story. I will say the last big scene was impressive, however the impact of the last scene was ruined for me when in the end we get something THAT REALLY pisses me off. It's something i like calling 'The Letter of Exposition'. I'm not going to tell anything else about it because it will be a major spoiler to this anime.
TL;DR Shigatsu had an interesting storyline in the first half of the season and could've had another cool storyline if it was actually not a big mess. They didn't really focussed on the 'Romance' as much as I wanted. I have more to say about it but otherwise this review is going to be 2 times longer.

CHARACTERS:
The characters in Shigatsu are not per se the most unique characters. They are kind of generic drama/romance anime characters. We also didn't get to know too many characters in this anime. We got to know Arima Kousei, Sawabe Tsubaki and Aiza Nagi (the sudden new character in the second half who isn't that important to the story). Kaori (the obvious love interest) doesn't get enough screen time as she should of had. Because of this the relationship between Arima and Kaori didn't really progress and the Romance seemed unrealistic to me. Oh yeah and there is a football loving best friend who isn't important to the story.

ART/ANIMATION:
Now let's get to something that i actually liked throughout the whole anime. The art and the animation are really well done in my opinion. If you're watching this in HD it's almost eye candy. The art was smooth and colorful and i like those kind of styles. I did have problems with the lips on the character models but that's just me being weird. My only other complaint is that A-1 Pictures used CGI when we saw a close-up to Arima playing the piano. For me it kind of broke my immersion with the scene, but that is just a minor complaint for a beautiful looking anime.

SOUND:
Shigatsu is one of those music anime where music is kind of a subgenre. But that doesn't mean that there won't be any music at all. I thought the music was amazingly well done. I'm a big fan of classical music and i thought that the music was simply amazing. The OPs and the EDs were also really well done by their respected artists. The voice acting was also well done (I'm not the best at judging voice acting but i did like the cast). I don't really have that much to say about this.

OVERALL:
I thought Shigatsu was dissapointing. As someone who watched it when it started airing, I was sad that the story became generic and boring right after the amazing first half. I wasn't happy with the ending at all and the story overall in the second half was a big mess. The character development we had in the first half was thrown away and Arima became emo again. And the other characters were either not that important or didn't get enough screen time because of emo Arima. The art looked amazing and animation is not per se the best (like the CGI piano hands) but they were still good. The sound is the best thing about this anime because of the amazing OST, OPs and EDs.

My final score for Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso is a 6 out of 10.


Thank you for reading my first long and boring (and also probably bad) review. Have a good day! :)