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As I gather my thoughts on this series, one aspect comes to mind at the conclusion the same as it did as I was going through the series. And it's the fact that even though different topics are touched upon in the show, some in much depth than others, it's primary focus is on telling an interesting story more than anything else. What this essentially implies that it will and frequently does use the vast amount of tools mentioned during it's storytelling whenever most convenient to steer the story and bend it according to the author's wish.

This makes for an admittedly frustrating experience to ... watch especially when each situation's build up is so brilliantly and meticulously put together. It feels as though the person who conceived the entire story is fond of torturing the audience the more they're focused on carefully digesting the story. Impeccably written pretexts mixed with rushed, face-planting and irrational conclusions makes for an overall disappointing aftertaste. This holds back the series from ever reaching an impressive finish worth keeping a particular fond memory for;

And thus, remains only as an objectively solid, slow burn watch in my books. One that never will, or in my opinion, never wanted to reach the state of being called a "perfect" show.

P.S. Narrator can you stfu pls? You're giving me HxH Chimera Ant arc flashbacks.

What was a good mindless action packed show surrounded by mystery and a sense of dread regarding the unknown evolved into a complete convoluted mess of increasingly confusing proportions.

I feel like I wasted my time trying to find something interesting in what turned out to be the author's desperation to piece things together while trying to keep up with the series' hype and popularity rather than trying to tell a good story.
Although one thing did remain consistent, and it was the excessive use of convenient plot twists to turn the story however which way desirable.

This makes it painfully obvious each and every ... time it occurs that the writer does not have any foresight on how to progress the story and is making it up as he goes along based on the feedback he receives from the series' fanbase.

I had watched the first season along with a few episodes of the second season a while ago, but I had to stop for some reason I can't remember. So, I decided to go back and start the second season from the beginning. Bad idea...

Now I know why I decided not to stick to watching the second season. Even as I'm typing this, I still can't grasp the stark difference between my thoughts on the show vs the majority's opinion. I felt betrayed by the score, so I thought I'll throw in a different perspective regarding the anime.

The first season felt like an inoffensive story ... that was just okay to watch (from what little I remember), but this second season was a trudge to go through. I had to force myself to watch another episode with the idea that it'd get better eventually, but unfortunately it got worse. The entire season could be skipped, and nothing would change except a few set pieces.
Near the end, I decided not to continue on with the third season since I realized that I lost my interest.

Now the characters. The way I'd describe the majority of them would be: Obnoxious. They barely have any redeeming qualities. They are one dimensional and only serve as convenient devices to keep the story moving along. Romances are thrown in out of completely nowhere and only feel as though they are introduced and used for motivation.

Character development consists of complete 180 degree changes in personality and character thought processes are indescribable.

The story consists of a popularity contest between manga authors of the same publisher. It starts with them calling each other rivals, telling each other that they'll beat each other next time. Then, they come up with ideas haphazardly and start working on them, hoping it'll get NUMBER ONE IN THE RANKINGS!.... then if they get a good ranking they congratulate each other, if they don't then they say they'll beat each other next time.

There are some stakes thrown in to each of these repetitions because the makers know if they don't include those in, then there would be nothing left of interest. But then the stakes are pummeled as soon as push comes to shove, and you start wondering why they were included in the first place.

Artwork is okay, nothing special but it's decent. Actually, it was nice to see different manga authors with different drawing styles.

Sound was okay too, serviceable enough for the show.

It's difficult for me not to spoil stuff while talking about my experience watching this anime, so I feel that right here would be a good place for people to stop reading. But for those who've watched the show or don't care about spoilers, please continue...

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SPOILER WARNING
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I mentioned the characters being obnoxious. So let me expand on that...
The main characters Mashiro and Takagi aka Ashirogi Muto stand true on that statement the most. They are childish, whiny, arrogant and stuck up, with these inflated but fragile egos. They are constantly bitching about being popular and getting the best rankings and would change their entire story they worked on to get ranked better. They feel like they only want to be manga authors for the sake of becoming famous, getting anime adaptations, and striking it big. Mashiro is especially guilty of this to the point where almost every word spoken out of his mouth made me go "oh just shut up" in my head.

Mashiro's art is very good and never needs any polish. Takagi is just this genius who can think of a good story on the spot, but is otherwise really bland. Ah who am I kidding, everybody in this show is bland. But still they crapshoot everywhere because the season needs to stretch to 25 episodes and the makers need some form of progression throughout the series.

Of course, every "rival" has this behavioural pattern as well, although not to the same degree. They're all different flavours of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".

Niizuma Eiji is shown as this super genius with an eccentric personality, and serves as the main rival to Ashirogi Muto. Both as manga authors and being super annoying to look at. Sheesh, his screams still ring in my head. He has no "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" but he does have "I wont lose to you!".

Fukuda is this angry man that rages at everything and is a hardass with a caring heart. He is the angry version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".

Hiramaru was a character that I found decent. His dynamic with his editor was predictable but okay to watch. His shtick is that he is forced to draw manga while he wants to do other stuff. He is the unwilling version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".

Nakai is just a plain creep with fragile self esteem.

Iwase is an arrogant woman with too much time on her hands. A vindictive and narrow minded individual with the weirdest motivation. She is the vengeful version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".

Aoki is a manipulative, heartless and proper woman who does a 180 degree personality change into become a blank slate. She is the female version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".

Moving on with other characters,

Azuki is Mashiro's girlfriend and nothing would change if she was replaced by cardboard. Their relationship makes no sense and makes you wonder how the hell they fell in love and decided to marry each other in the first place.

Miyoshi is a convenience.

Miura is just this loudmouthed, boisterous man who actually achieves nothing. NOTHING. His purpose is solely to act as an obstacle and he comes in to achieve only that, then to leave after he has been overcome. To me, it felt like he is the only reason the second season occurred. If you take out the portion of the anime from the point where Miura is introduced as Ashirogi's editor to where Miura is exchanged back to Hattori, then apart from Nakai leaving the picture and the serialization manga names changing, nothing happens.

Oh I guess Takagi and Miyoshi get married? I don't even know how or why they decided to do that. Felt like it was just convenient to throw in because they're both best friends of the show's main romance.

Hattori is a decent character. He's the only one that made me laugh once in a scene in the entire season, but still he seemed like a genuinely likeable and competent editor. Don't get me wrong though, still a bit bland.

The chief editor is shown as this very competent and serious dude, but to me he seemed like a really indecisive prick. First, he says he'll put Ashirogi on hiatus for a whole year since Mashiro got sick due to overworking and for some reason was sick and needed to get surgery, so he needs rest to recover. But then he's like "naah jk".

Second, he tells his editors to vote for Ashirogi's manga serialization to see if it can compete with Niizuma Eiji's work, since they're all incompetent and can't judge their own publications. The condition is that if it can't compete, then Ashirogi's contract would be terminated. The editors vote 4 to 3, saying that Ashirogi can't beat Eiji with this at the end of the episode. BUT NOOOOOOOO, since this show can't have that happen, just at the fucking start of the next episode, they editors are like "But sir! Ashirogi's career is at stake! Let's leave it in the hands of the readers to decide!" so the vote changes to 7-0 in favour of Ashirogi's serialization.

Are you fucking kidding me?! Are you telling me that all that time spent into coming to these dilemmas was for nothing? Why can I see these predictable outcomes from a mile away! Things like these make for a very frustrating viewing experience and you're left thinking "What was the point?".

Near the end, a conversation gets shoehorned in about manga authors focusing on story vs popularity and this is where I realize why there is such an obsession with rankings. Mashiro basically declares that he writes manga only for popularity's sake, and to me personally (even though I do not read manga) that was indication to not watch the third season.

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SPOILER END
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Actually, now that I think about it. This show unintentionally, through it's own dialogue, the way it's story is written, the way it's characters interact and behave, tells me a lot about how some manga authors think and go about creating a manga. That is really interesting and odd since none of the actual content depicts any semblance of realism.

The thought processes and dialogue of characters really commentate on the thoughts of the makers themselves as they were making the show, and how shallow the whole thing is.

Making a weekly publish in a manga while coming up with what happens next every week will not make up a good story or an interesting read unless the whole thing's planned from the beginning. Shounen mangas have this problem the most, and this show magnifies this by showing us the actual time and thought put into them.

These works are done purely for the purpose of running a business, and authors' ideas are reworked and washed down to make them more mainstream at the cost of originality. Overworking their authors by giving them breakneck deadlines while manipulating their want for becoming popular as fuel for encouragement for working hard.

This makes me understand why I never liked shows like One Piece, Naruto or Bleach. I always felt like the stories in them were made up on the spot and pieced together, dragging on for no reason other than maintaining viewership, popularity and fanbase.

Bakuman is one of these shows but with no battle scenes or action.

This show had so much potential, such an interesting world to explore, so many aspects to delve into, and mysteries to uncover.

But no, it decided to ignore it. This rich and expansive world serves only as a backdrop to the main focus: the relationship dynamic between the show's two main characters Reg and Riko. Which was so forgettable, that I can't even remember what it developed into. Then a third rabbit character Nanami comes in. Don't know what she was doing really.

The side characters are far, faar more interesting. But nope, they never get explored properly.

The sound design really works sometimes, adding to the ... atmosphere. But some parts feel empty when there should've been a track playing.

Some of the worlds are introduced really nicely, the artwork adding to the feeling of curiosity.

But again, never gets explored. Just gets moved past really quickly, only serving as another backdrop for the characters to navigate.

I also did not like the fact that the abyss is talked up to be this really dangerous and arduous place for even the most experienced divers to go down. But the two main characters, both of whom are children and have little to no experience dealing with it's hardships, breeze through with so little effort that you'd be left wondering what the heck everyone else has been doing for so long. The robot Reg's mechanical arm just skips whole sections, and barely anything comes in their path.

They only get into actual danger once, and even that gets used only for shock factor points. Then a random plot convenient rabbit saves them and everything's back to normal.

Maybe I'm ragging on specifics too much. But I still did not like how nothing that is even remotely interesting gets the fleshing out it needs.

It's still a relatively pleasant show to watch though, owing it mostly to the artwork and the small sense of atmosphere it creates. I am just really disappointed with what it could've turned out to be as opposed to what it actually is.

I watched this directly after watching the previous season. From what I watched, it's just a continuation of whatever was happening previously, but with some other characters thrown in.

These new additions bring nothing interesting with them. I do not know why they got introduced in the first place. Along with these additions, they try to delve into the story a bit more, and the reason behind stuff. But it never truly comes to a proper resolution, so you never really bother to care.

That being said though, the series went about the way it did for it's previous season. Comedy is still completely outrageous and ... really hilarious at parts, and just not entertaining at others.

But it gets a lower score due to the fact that the show recycles some of it's material, and loses it's comedic effect in the process. A bit more originality was truly necessary to maintain quality.

Honestly the only reason i'm giving this show a good rating despite it's numerous and huge flaws is that they just did not give a single crap. By "they", i mean the people who created this show. The show creates these absurd and completely outrageous scenarios for the characters to go through, and it's really enjoyable to watch. This gets magnified by the characters' extremely eccentric personalities and the well done voice acting.

There is also a somewhat interesting side plot which serves as the show's "story", but that is easily the weaker link of the experience. You'll find yourself eventually not caring about why ... everything's happening, and that's how it should be.

The comedy is very hit and miss as well. But oh man; when it hits, it hits real hard. Things that one would not even expect out of left field happen constantly, and at breakneck speeds. The "lewd" parts are so over-the-top that they never make you lose interest.

I found myself laughing out loud consistently throughout the series.

Do give this one a shot, considering all of it's flaws

One day I was chillin' and thought " Man, has anybody made an anime about sumo wrestling? ".

Looked it up and found one called "Hinomaru Sumo" :O nice.

Here are some tips for becoming a sumo wrestler that I'll share with you after watching the anime:

1) Remove your shirt to instantly become WIDE.
2) Get rid of those pants, only mawashi belts for maximum THICCness.
3) Practice leg stomps and palm strikes for the ultimate sumo workout.
4) Keep an arsenal of special moves and work on them since that's all you'll be using anyways.
5) Tell your barber to give you a killer haircut and hair dye. Helps ... with being noticeable.
6) If you focus and clench hard enough, a flame with the same colour as your hair will start beaming from your eyes. Then your opponent is fuked.
7) Practice shouting for intimidation e.g. "HOOH!" "AAAH!" "HAAAAAAAAAAH!".

Congratulations, you've become a sumo wrestler!

I watched the whole thing and I still couldn't understand what was going on.
Even though the premise is very simple, you would think that the show would be fun to watch, but that's not the case here.

Goburin Suraiyya (Goblin Slayer) has nothing in terms of story buildup, world building, character development or plot. It doesn't have to have these elements because of the primary focus being the action and fight scenes. But it still tries to do it while failing miserably. Voice acting is passable at best. Dialogue is atrocious to the point where you get sick of hearing:
1) Souka (I see).
2) ... Aah (Yes).
3) Ya (No.)
4) GOBURIN SURAIYYA.

Then realizing this, I thought I might just focus on the fighting and slaying part. But honestly, it doesn't do a good job of that either. Animations seem to be nice at parts, and very choppy at others. Battle strategies are nonsensical and thought of on the spot. There is no semblance of stakes or a reason behind any fights. Plot devices and conveniences get thrown in out of nowhere.

Even for mindless action and looking at this as a fantasy DND campaign, it's not anything interesting. But since the scope is so limited, I can't give it a lower score because of what the show wanted to accomplish.

In the end, it just has no substance.

The first few episodes set up an intriguing and dynamic setting that makes you eager to get to explore it. Sad to say you don't get to delve into it.

As show moves on, it quickly gets stuck in a formulaic structure with characters haphazardly thrown in for convenience while forcing a central relationship that is the least interesting of the ones portrayed.

This doesn't mean that it's not engaging to watch, but the show betrays itself for trying to be a serious, thought provoking work at first, then turning into an over-dramatic, over the top action thriller that one would see in an 80's ... movie.

The show could be summarized into a cycle of plotting an assassination for revenge, getting caught in the process, some people dying (maybe) and breaking out/getting rescued.