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Hanebado is a summer 2018 anime produced by Lindenfilms, directed by Shinpei Ezaki, and written by Taku Kishimoto. The story follows Ayano Hanesaki, A high school girl who is very gifted at badminton. Hanebado features a large cast of characters whom all have some sort of quirk and shortcoming to their personality. The anime initially seems to be a coming of age story about overcoming said quirk. Unfortunately, Hanebado slowly turns into a narrative and ethical mess that by the end makes all the events that happened in the middle seem pointless and infuriating.
One major problem with the anime throughout its runtime is the ... meanspirited atmosphere. Hanebado insists on pushing animosity, melodrama, and insults in its script without having a meaningful outcome. An example of this is one character being defeated by the MC of the show, the MC of the show insulting and mocking her and then moving on. The character who got insulted own character arc ended on sadness and depression and then just threw her back in the background. Granted this character was stingy to the MC in the past, but the arc this character received did not make her a better person, it did not make the MC more likable, and it didn’t give a viable explanation on why she did these actions.
Another downfall is the plot device of Ayano’s mother which is so outlandish and disgusting, that it is completely unbelievable and takes the immersion out of the viewer. It is so over the top that it leaves the viewer frustrated with the actions of the MC’s mother not changing and not realizing her mistakes in an actual meaningful way. The mother’s actions were not properly justified and seemed so fucking stupid that it just made me think what the writers were thinking hyping up this plot since the beginning for such a drab explanation. The “development” that does occur between them on the last episode felt so artificial too. The problems between them were patched up far too quickly instead of properly fleshing out their relationship over a span of episodes. This was solidified with episode 10 and in all honesty, made me feel disgusted.
This doom and gloom throughout make the show feel depressing and it makes the very slim number of lighter moments feel so out of place that it gives you whiplash. Hanebado is not an ideal sports story in all accounts. It does not show the viewer the benefit of being on a sports team. It does not properly show the sacrifices of being in that sport because it shows the negatives of those sacrifices without showing how the characters grow. The characters either don’t grow at all or are not developed properly and the main plot device of the show is so stupid and achieves nothing to grow the MC and her mother. Combining all of these factors make this anime a poor tale about sports and playing on a team which should be empowering.
Oh well, At least it looks good.

The Island anime is sort of like traveling nomads. A group of people who just travel around aimlessly without a fixated habitation. The problem with this sort of skeleton is that the anime just turns into a “master of none” type of scenario. Trying to incorporate all these different plot points and different tropes and it ends up just falling flat on its ass. Island has a cool time traveling thing it has going on, but it fails to develop it properly. Having very vague rules and up until the later episodes, activating when the plot demands it. It then just info dumps on you. ... Expecting the viewer to understand or even care at that point. It has a cast that has interesting backstories that connects back to the island, but instead of properly fleshing out its characters, it feels like a hentai. Just one-dimensional tropey characters that essentially want to bone the MC. Having an Island setting is somewhat interesting, but it has too much editing in post that makes the art look artificial and boring to look at instead of something natural. The one redeeming this is the music, but that only goes so far in your tolerance of what you can take on the BS happening in this anime. Having all of these things would make you have an average anime. However, what makes it very much below average is that fact that it constantly disappoints the viewer on all fronts. It isn’t good at anything that it's trying to be and culminated into a massive mess that I can’t recommend to anyone. It fails at being a thriller. It fails at being an ecchi visual novel. It fails at being a compelling character story and it fails at looking good. It fails on all fronts.

Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Maso-tan
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Note: This is my first review. Send me feedback on how I can improve.
I’ll refer to the anime in question as HisoMaso, Hisone to Masotan, Dragon Pilot, D-Pilot
Story (8):
At first I thought this was going to be one of those "Cute Girls doing Cute things" shows, but it quickly turned into something much more interesting. Granted, I should have noticed that since the people involved with this work is one of the most renowned in the industry. The story of Dragon Pilot is relatively simple. It is about a young woman named Hisone who joins the ... JASDF and from there, pilots her very own dragon. Despite it's fantastical premise and absurdity, HisoMaso truly is a mature character study (At least for the first half) on the reliance on others to better yourself and the struggles women face in a male dominated environments. This anime does an excellent job is developing it's characters in the first half of the anime. Putting their goals and apprehensions in the forefront to make them highly relatable. I feel like the biggest payoff to this development was in episode 5 and 6. This is coupled with an excellent balance of witty and smart comedy, and purpose built Drama that fits in with the main characters struggles without being contrived or out of place. The second half of the anime is less of a character study and more of a plot driven show. It fortunately does not turn into an action show and continues to be the drama it intended to be from the get go. It changes messages into a work balance that akin to the tough choices women make (Particularly in Japan) with balancing work and Love. The inclusion of the romance plot made me wary at first, but my worries quickly went away because of how much it fit in with the message the show and how much it put more depth into the characters involved in the romance plot without changing who the characters were. One problem I have with the story is its rather spotty world building when it comes with the dragons. It can be a bit of a mess sometimes when it comes to Hisomaso’s world. Another problem is the foreshadowing. Although I appreciated that all the twists that it pulled made sense and was not an ass pull, it was kinda easy to predict what that twist was going to be. It also needs to be stated that the pacing of this anime is lightning fast. Although it didn’t bother me because I appreciated how straight to the point it was, I don’t think this anime would be beginner friendly. Despite this, HisoMaso story is very purpose built and focuses on its core values which I find more important.
Characters (9.5):
The characters in HisoMaso are all broken or carry complexes similar to Kiznaiver. Unlike Kiznaiver though, the characters feel like they go through real change gradually throughout the show instead of rushing that in the end. On top of this the characters are actually likable and are not aggravating to watch like Kiznaiver. What makes HisoMaso have great characters is the characters having very real complexes and goals and them butting heads in a thoughtful, non offensive and non aggravating way. Despite this, the characters support one another and go through real development and build confidence in their profession despite outside snares and difficult situations. One small nitpick I have thought is that some of the background and supporting cast can be very sexist to our main female cast. I can understand why they did this because of the setting, but it can be very hard to watch at times.
Art and Animation (10):
The animation for D-Pilot is very excellent. It features very expressive facial animation akin to many BONES works and uses very effective use of 3DCG. The flight scenes in this show are breathtaking and very entertaining to watch. This can also be credited to the hand drawn backgrounds which gives the show a very distinctive look compared to most anime coming out today. Seriously most of the backgrounds in this show should be framed. The character designs are also very unique. They are less detailed compared to most anime, but are very pleasing to look at and instantly recognizable. Despite not having more reputable BONES animators on staff like Yutaka Nakamura, this is still one of the best looking anime of this year.
Sound (10):
The OST was composed by Tasei Iwasaki, who previously did the soundtrack of Kekkai Sensen. Like Kekkai Sensen, the soundtrack for this show is excellent and very noticeable while watching the show. Unlike Kekkai Sensen, the OST for this show is a lot less jazzy and has less international influences. If I could describe the OST in one word, it would be “atmospheric”. The OST for this show balances Military-esque trumpets and drum marches, traditional eastern world instruments, and whimsical tracks using pianos and violins. Considering the fast pace of the story, A soundtrack that mixed multiple elements was needed and I think it not only did a good job at that, but it also did a good job of sounding good. I love how the OST has multiple renditions of the opening depending on what the atmosphere was on screen. Speaking of the opening, both of the openings are excellent and feature fully orchestrated background music and beautiful singing from Riko Fukumoto .The intro changes at around episode 8 when the tonal shift of the show starts to change. The lyrics match up to the shows current situation in both openings. Also the ED is addicting. It’s a damn drug.
Enjoyment (10)
Consensus: Hisone to masotan is the antithesis of other similar anime like Kiznaiver and Darling in the Franxx in the way it handles its Drama and characters. Due to this, HisoMaso is not only one of the best original anime developed by BONES in quite a while, but also is in the running for the best original anime of the year. It achieves this with its strong cast of characters, striking art and animation, and writing and directing which has a purpose and focus throughout the majority of its run. I rarely give out ten’s, but this anime had such a big impact on me, I believe that it would be unfair to give anything less than that. I hope this anime gets more traction once it releases on Netflix because it completely deserves it.
Similar Anime:
Kiznaiver (A beta version of this anime)
Most Mecha anime like Eureka Seven, NGE, Franxx etc.