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In 2009 a game called Resident Evil 5 was released by Capcom. RE5 was, for the most part, a great game but was ultimately panned by a large portion of the fan base. The game would go on to receive criticism not due to the fact that it was a poor game but because it wasn't as good as its predecessor "Resident Evil 4" and could never live up to the hype and momentum of its "big brother".

Myriad Colors Phantom World is experiencing a similar "big brother" effect. Having been produced by Kyoto Animation, the excellent animation studio responsible for very well respected series such ... as Clannad, K-On, Kyoukai no Kanata and Free, Phantom World comes out of the gate with an unrealistically high bar to meet.

The truth of the matter is that Phantom World is a fine anime series. The characters aren't anything you haven't seen before but are all lovable and I can confidently say I will remember most of them several months down the road. The plot and story come off as a little dry and recycled from years of "industry standard meta" material but the uniqueness of the main characters power helps add a little bit of fresh air into the dank plot.

The story chugs along at an even pace that may range from "watchable" to "enjoyable" with the last two episodes being the clear highlights of the entire 13 episode span with a villain that is as refreshing as she is "ara ara".

The animation is outstanding, to put it bluntly, meeting the already "above and beyond" standards set by Kyoto. The sound track is another, often over-looked gem. The near constant stream of excellent music helps bring the scenes to life and is nothing but a compliment to the animators at Kyoto.

All in all Myriad Colors Phantom World may not be remembered as the defining anime released under the Kyoto name but it is certainly a fine accomplishment. And that is okay. It is alright for us to enjoy something, even if it isn't "as good" as we would have liked.

As a story builds up to it's maximum potential energy before climax one of two things can happen: the story can come full circle unblemished or the ball is dropped. And in the story of Erased, drop the ball did.

Now, in most circumstances, a 7/10 is a good score however Erased was easily an 8 and making its way to a 9 by mid series but as anime fans we all know that an ending can make or break the whole deal. I won't go into detail on how great Erased was up until the last three episodes, if you keep up with any ... anime outlet you certainly know by now that it is potentially one of the greatest of the decade. To cut straight to the chase, the last trilogy of episodes was rushed. Too much crammed into too little. The way that Satoru survives in the last episode was cheesy enough to make a pizza. The whole pizza. Very little gets questioned after a time skip of several years, we are just thrown back into the midst of a plot that MIGHT have been alright if the series had been given another episode. But it wasn't.

This doesn't change that fact that Erased is, overall, a FANTASTIC series(as you probably already know). The plot has plenty of layers, the characters present no absence of depth and will all be remembered. I felt like they could have done more with the antagonist but they fulfill their purpose to the end. The pacing is excellent and makes the whole series easy marathon material. If you haven't seen Erased yet don't let mine or any other review deter you, it really is great.

Konosuba, ohhh Konosuba how I adore thee.

"KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!" is a wonderful blessing on our (anime) world. Konosuba builds itself up to fall into a lot of different cliches and then just laughs it off. The potential harem is about as obvious as the fact that the main character is....well.... a main character. But the anime lets you expect to see these cliches and then throws your expectations back in your face.

Instead of being adored and chased by his all-female party the main character Kazuma(Yes, this is Kazuma) is given ample face-palm moments in the place of his harem. Konosuba ... tells the story of the worst RPG party imaginable. His dream to not only survive but thrive inside of an RPG like world? It's destroyed by the crushing reality that his party, despite having every opportunity and possibility to be very OP, is crushed under the weight of their own inadequacy.

The character cast couldn't be more diverse. In a world where survival itself is the main focus, Kazuma's(Yes, this is Kazuma) party isn't afraid to let each of their individual character traits divide them. From a snobby goddess, an eager young mage, and a masochistic crusader, the series shows no lack of uniqueness in the character design and half of the show is watching how the dysfunctional unit can even survive at all, let alone prosper(reminds me of Twitch Plays Pokemon).

Ecchi moments are abound and if this is a "make it or break it" subject for you then Konosuba might get a thumbs down. The plot can be messy and time skips get confusing but it's a comedy series. You're here for the gags and looking too deep into the plot is like listening to death metal for the lyrics.

If you ever needed a solid comedy anime that isn't afraid to break the cliche mold "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!" may be just what the Doc ordered.

Megumin is best girl.

"Love Live! The School Idol Movie" is not only the best anime movie I've seen in years, it's simply the BEST movie I've seen in years and is, very thankfully, the movie that the loyal Love Live fan base rightfully deserved. Honestly there isn't much to say about this movie, it plays out like a collage of everything that made Love Live the beloved series it is and adds a deeper, more philosophical spin on it all. Rare is the event that I would recommend a movie even to somebody who hasn't seen the parent anime series but this may be such an event.

The Love ... Live movie is every bit as musical as the rest of the franchise with the girls spontaneously breaking out in song and dance. Every little character quirk returns and we get to see M's travel abroad(personally this is the highlight of the movie). Recapping the moral of the entire franchise, the movie tells a story of friendship and perseverance. A story achieved together.

Let me start by saying that I don't enjoy anime like this so to speak. With that being said however I won't hate on Aldnoah.Zero too badly.

I have to imagine the budget for this anime must have been good as the animation never misses a beat and this plays very well with the series well choreographed mech-action scenes. The soundtrack is excellent as well and is also used to bolster the impact of the action scenes. If you came to Aldnoah to watch mechs fight you won't be disappointed. The first season ending is gutsy, to say the least. This may pan out as ... either a good or bad thing depending on the viewer but I really enjoy moves like this and it is certainly not something I saw coming.

Pointing out the "elephant in the room" within this 12 episode first season is how underwhelming the emotionless-husk of a main character Inaho is. I do mean that he is very, very bad. In fact, aside from Rayet and Marito, none of the characters really stood out to me and many of them came off as underdeveloped. The story, with the exception of the ending, was fairly predictable and isn't anything you haven't seen before but provides you with enough of an even pacing to keep you watching.

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster…
for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

It can be difficult to find a true horror anime at times. Often, the term “horror” just means that there is a whole lot of blood and gore but this isn’t necessarily horrifying. There are certain factors the author should also consider incorporating to maximize the fear effect, such as the unknown, being followed, being watched, the hopeless feeling of your unavoidable demise creeping slowly towards you. While the vampire-themed Shiki might not deliver all of these ... premises completely intact but Shiki, aided but its gritty art style, gets a lot closer than many others.

It’s not uncommon for characters in horror fiction to shed every ounce of common sense and logic(for the sake of plot, obviously) and Shiki is no exception. A good deal of situations could have been avoided all together if the characters involved had been replaced by actual, thinking people but it’s a good thing they weren’t. If you can look past the “Really? That didn’t
FEEL like a bad idea?!” moments you will find yourself enjoying a story with a deeper meaning. A story of not black and white but an abyss of grey. A no-mans land in between right and wrong. A story blurring the roles of protagonist and antagonist, much to a similar effect of the first half of Death Note.

The core concept behind a Japanese Idol is “heart” and then projecting that heart onto their audience. Likewise, an Idol-anime must emulate this same sensation of heart and project it onto the viewer. This emulation can be a task easier said than done and thankfully "The iDOLM@STER" accomplishes this with flying colors.

Idol Master follows the story of 12 would-be idols and their amazing production team on their journey from borderline bankruptcy to stardom. Along the way we get to see every up and down in the idol process. This includes stories ranging from quirky and often times very ... funny character-on-character encounters to deep, life lessons. The same lessons that are often reflected inside of the music they produce, almost as if to summarize what we’ve just seen. Each episode is outfitted with its own unique still image sequence and ED(this is almost worth a free point on its own).

Arguably the most important challenge presented to an anime of this nature is making sure that all of the idols feel very Distinguished and likeable. Every girl needs to have her own personality, her own likes and dislikes, her own life and backstory, her own very unique presence on the screen. Idol Master spares no expense breathing life into each of its characters and, almost as if boasting, lets you experience each of the characters both alone and together in a group enviroment. By the end of the 26th episode you will feel as if you personally know each and every one of the characters you have met.

Resurrection “F” is about what I was expecting from a Dragon Ball movie, and that isn’t very much. In fact, I was kind of surprised at how well a few things were done. The one thing I LOVED about this movie is that it let other, lesser known characters have an active combat role, hugely progressive in the world of Dragon Ball. Even Master Roshi got to throw down for a little while and to me that was the highlight of the movie.

Almost every other complaint I had with the core Dragon Ball Z universe persists here, including a simply awful power scaling structure, ... but this is a movie for the fans so this may be a good thing for those who enjoyed the original series, I'm not sure. The animation is done really well and most of the original English dub voice acting cast returns to do a great job.

There might have been 1,000,000 ways to take an anime with this premise and make an absolute disaster out of it. Thankfully Monster Musume wasn’t one of the million. Monster Girls is an anime that will almost instantly ward off a lot of potential viewers, and that is understandable. The 12 episode harem-comedy has more than enough ecchi for 3 separate anime(although, not as ecchi as its source material) and the girls are, well….monsters? But I think that’s the magic here. The author presented us with a harem cast that is nothing like we were expecting. We were given a collection of diverse monster girls ... and by the end of the 12 episodes I really didn’t even think of them as monsters. Just girls. In that respect the main character does what any harem MC should do and that’s be relatable because he welcomes a house full of these girls and never even bats an eye at their monstrous forms.

The animation is only okay and the settings get rather stagnant. The voice acting however is some of the best I’ve heard in a long time. All of these ladies sounded exactly as they did in my head when I was reading the manga. I struggled to justify the score of a 7 over a 6 but the voice acting was what tipped the balance for me.

Monster Musume is, at it’s core, underneath all of the ecchi and characterizations, a warm hearted story of acceptance and understanding and I think that is the true magic behind the monster.

The excellent animation quality and occasional comedic gag do little to change the fact that One Punch Man is an anime that is intended for an audience that simply doesn’t include me. This isn’t so much a fault of the anime, I do not enjoy “over-the-top” action series. The running joke behind the series had over stayed its welcome well before the 12th episode finished and sadly that is really all this story had to offer.

Is OPM suppose to be taken seriously? Is it suppose to be laughed at? It’s like trying to peel an onion and is ultimately a futile question as I ... wasn’t entertained for more than a few moments on either front.