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This show is unwatchable. The first episode before the kid shows up was good enough, but as soon as she appears it’s all over.

Anyone who says she’s realistic clearly hasn’t spent time around a four-year old recently.

She somehow manages to make it all the way to the city by herself but then can’t remember what trains the took? She runs around talking to strangers and believes the first guy who tells her he’s her dad. Sorry, but she wouldn’t have made it to the city, but she might have managed to meet her real dad when she got trafficked.

She’s constantly complaining, crying, ... and laughing hysterically. I’ve never seen a child act like this, and in addition to my LARGE extended family I worked childcare for years. Even nervous or unstable kids don’t behave like this. And she has NO nervousness. This is totally unbelievable. My nephew is shy around me when he doesn’t see me for awhile. This is in no way a believably written child. But even worse she’s not an interestingly written character. She’s a plot device who seems to exist to annoy the audience and I’m honestly shocked how many people that seems to appeal to.

Comparing this show to Spy x Family is insulting, and it wasn’t very good past the first half of season one. But even when nothing happened in Spy x Family it was much more enjoyable than this, because the characters themselves were likeable.

The anime is such a massive let-down. It has all the hallmarks of a great watch - great art, good concept, immediate humor. I thought it would be right up my alley. But as soon as the characters started speaking English, I was out.

I tried switching languages (something I normally never do) and I was horrified to discover the terrible English was kept in all renditions. There’s absolutely no reason why in the late 20-teens something like this should be made.

There are so many talented Japanese voice actors who speak English well enough to make this concept work. Unfortunately none were hired for ... this show. You need more than a conversational competency in order to act in a language, even if the character isn’t supposed to be particularly good at the language. The lack of proficiency in English means that most of the dialogue sounds like someone is struggling to read it off a script, which I imagine they are.

The poor delivery took me completely out of the story. So the art and concept are wasted.

Aoi Bungaku is a series of short stories, all of which are based off of classic Japanese Literature. This is a very good series, but it has problems. Because there are six separate stories there is a massive difference in quality depending on the episode arc, so I will break it down accordingly.

No Longer Human (episode 1–4): This is truly a masterpiece. I don't know why they lead with this one, because none of the subsequent stories live up to it. 10.

Sakura no mori no mankai no shita (episode 5–6): The story was good, but I can't give the staff much credit for that, and ... it took back seat to mediocre singing giving it the feel of an overblown music video. More of the story would have been nice. 6.

Kokoro (episode 7–8): This one almost needs to be broken down again. The first episode is based off the novel. The second episode is from another character's POV. I liked what they were trying to do here, but I felt they failed. Also, the art got really lazy. 7.

Run, Melos! (episode 9–10): Another really solid story. More lighthearted than the previous ones. This one has the same author as the first story, so I don't know if the staff was biased in his favor or if he was just the best author out of the bunch, but this one is another 10.

The Spider's Thread (episode 11): Really good, classic story. The portrayal was rushed though, and the conclusion was lacking. 7.

Hell Screen (episode 12): Really good story. I felt an episode about an artist should have had better art though. 8.

Overall it was a really good series, and I'd give it an 8.5, if I could.