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Today I realized that I never reviewed by favorite anime thus far (right up there with HXH). I never reviewed it because I thought everyone already knew about it and watched it. What spurred me to write this review is the fact that Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood has lost its seat in first place to an anime movie that came out this year, Kimi no na wa...

Why?

It hasn't even been out for a year and yet it beats FMAB and many other fantastic shows. I just don't understand. I watched it and liked it and gave it an 8. It doesn't deserve first place. FMAB does, ... and here's why.

If I could name every little detail that makes this anime shine, I would, but no one has time for that and neither do I so I'll just talk about the details a little. I've watched this show at least a dozen times in the past 4 years. Probably more. I never get sick of it. How is that possible? Because this show has everything. It does nothing wrong.

Ed's design. Long golden hair braided down the back. Golden eyes. Angry expression. Red jacket. Gloves. Automail arm and leg. Boots. He stands out. He doesn't look silly but he doesn't look normal either. It's a unique design that reflects his personality perfectly. As for his personality, he is a very well-developed character. He's also my favorite anime character of all time.

The enemies. They themselves are likable. They feel like they have a purpose other than to get in the way of the protagonist and they go through character development as well. Also, they're strong and aren't defeated with "the power of friendship."

The beginning (excluding the filler first episode) sucked me in immediately, personally. It's tragic but the tragedy is what drew me in. It tells you what you need to know, grabs your attention, and then shoves you off. It seamlessly moves you through the story and every decision the characters make or everywhere they decide to go makes sense.

The soundtrack is great. I've downloaded about half of it (my favorite songs from the OST) and listened to the songs over and over again. I never get tried of hearing them. The openings and endings are great too.

The art is great. I don't know what else to say here. I just wouldn't have it any other way.

The plot is of course amazing. I always think about how the author managed to come up with something so amazing. My goal is to mirror her skills somehow with my own writing.

It's a complete story. No need to read the manga. It has a fantastic ending. Everything you want to happen, happens. It also teaches a very powerful lesson.

Another biased opinion to add to this review, but I've always watched the anime subbed and I love Ed's voice actor. Envy's too.

Alchemy is cool and Ed is a master at it. Even though he is already good at alchemy (and thus doesn't get any better at it), this isn't a detriment to the show. While his alchemy skills don't necessarily develop, Ed does and what he decides to do with those skills changes based on his development.

This review is just all over the place. I don't know what else to say. If this isn't your thing that's fine. But according to my opinion, FMAB is a masterpiece.

I am not going to give a very detailed review of this manga because one, it is still ongoing and two, I don't quite remember everything so clearly. Around chapter 40 I stopped keeping up with each new chapter week after week. There are 80+ chapters out now so that means I didn't read the manga for 40 weeks. That is 10 months. I don't know if I am doing the math right here, but anyways I just recently picked up the manga again and got up to chapter 67 before dropping the it. My memory isn't so fresh but I do have my complaints.

Tokyo ... Ghoul was good until it ended so ambiguously. Fortunately, there was going to be a sequel so that would clear all of the confusion up, right? Wrong. Ever since Tokyo Ghoul ended, the story has only gone downhill in Tokyo Ghoul:Re.

In Tokyo Ghoul, I skipped over most of the chapters where the story would go to the CCG's point of view. I've always found the organization quite boring compared to the ghoul side of the story. I've never found any of the CCG characters interesting and I have never sympathized with any of them, even when they have died. I only feel irritated by them.

They are boring. There is endless bubbles of dialogue about their plans to take down the ghouls and it takes forever to wade through it all to get to what actually happens. I know it is necessary to talks about tactics sometimes, but it just gets ridiculous. Has this manga ever heard of show don't tell when it comes to the CCG?

So when I realized that the story was basically going to permanently be from the point of view of the CCG, firmly moving away from the ghoul side for good, I was distraught and disappointed. Again, endless bubbles of text were thrown at me as I painstakingly read through each chapter. Random new characters were introduced that I could hardly care about, even when they died.

Suddenly all sorts of new weapons and grades and ranks are introduced (or elaborated on, either way). Everyone just keeps getting more and more upgrades and more and more angsty and the story just gets further and further away from what we all once knew it to be. When something interesting finally starts to happen, it is dropped and not returned to for another 10 chapters. Just when the big climax happens in one of the arcs, the next one starts, killing all of the excitement and making the new arc even worse than the last. I just couldn't read it anymore.

The story sucks. What story is there even? Kaneki has lost his memories and isn't Kaneki anymore and now he is just getting missions and killing ghouls and trying to take down Aogiri as a member of the CCG. Interesting.

While people think that the art for this manga is good, I disagree. Half the time I have no idea what I'm looking at and I have trouble distinguishing between characters and who is killing who in fighting scenes. I feel half blind as twenty different things happen all on one page.

The characters were bad. I disliked all of them. I even grew less attached to Kaneki even though I thought he was a cool character before. This sequel managed to change that.

Honestly I can't bring myself to read this manga anymore. There is nothing good about it. Just when you think it is going to get good, it gets bad again. I apologize if this review seems jumbled, but this basically covers all my problems with the manga. If you disagree with my review, message me as I'd love to see if this manga can redeem itself in some way.

I just binge-watched this show in one day, and already that says something. The anime caught my attention within the first episode and I didn't get bored through the entire 11 episodes.

The art was simple and it did its job well. The art didn't need to be amazing or complicated to tell this story. I didn't really notice any particular song I liked in the soundtrack, it just all fit the mood. There was only one song that was really annoying but it barely played for a minute so it doesn't really matter.

The characters were very well portrayed and no one really felt one-dimensional, something ... even more popular shows struggle to even accomplish. Mirai, while some may not like her personality, was portrayed very realistically in my opinion. Girls her age would act how she acted. Her brother, Yuuki, was very easy to like and was more complex than you think a third grader could be at first glance.

For most of the show I was honestly kind of wondering what the point of it was other than to show the horrors of a devastating earthquake. I quite understand how horrible it is now, but other than that I really didn't see the point. The ending kind of cleared that up, but in the end I really can't say what the lesson was that I learned from this anime, but I think that is alright. This anime doesn't really need to be explained, you just watch it and interpret it for yourself.

It was a very nice anime to watch and it doesn't take long to get through. I wouldn't watch it again, though, as it was really quite a tear-jerker. If you don't mind being sad, this is a nice, quick and thought-provoking anime to watch.

Sound 3

I cannot recall anything of the music from either seasons. That's a bad sign.

Art 6

While some scenes were very nicely animated, I just don't like the character designs at all and nothing really stands out for me.

They did this thing a lot where they'd have this painted background but then the actual characters would be brightly and clearly animated in front of it. The contrast was just really jarring.

As for character designs....Ugh. The main character could not have a more generic main character design. Black spiky hair. Angry-looking most of the time. Some nice green eyes. He was just so generic, and I ... haven't even gotten to his personality yet.

The blonde pig-tailed girl also had a terrible character design. Every time she'd come on screen I'd shield my eyes or try to avoid looking at her. Her hair was just so disgusting....And that brings me onto the other bad parts of the character designs.

Their hair. All of their hair was really ugly and distracting, like the girl's hair mentioned above. Also, the brown-haired, wimpy side-kick's hair bugged me throughout the entire show. He needs a hair cut or just a shave. Please. (I also really hated how the noses were drawn with a passion.)

The uniforms also really bothered me. They were quite detailed for a post-apocalyptic setting, like they put most of their research budget into developing those uniforms. Also, why did all of the girls except ONE wear skirts? Why? Just why? They are doing some serious combat and yet they have skirts. It just seems absolutely illogical, especially for an anime that seemed to be trying to take itself seriously (maybe?).

Characters 1

That's right, characters get a nice 1. They were atrocious. The only character I liked in the ENTIRE series was Mika. And he barely showed up at all in both seasons. And on top of that he was always full of angst and rarely made sense.

As for all of the other characters, their personalities were so cut and paste and bland that I don't even need to touch on them, except for one.

The main character. While he was basically a combination of Eren Jeager, with his constant call for revenge, and Natsu Dragontail(sp?), with his obsession with family, he really bugged me as a character. He is one of the most OP main character's I've ever come across. If something is not going well for him, he usually passes out and wakes up completely rejuvenated, and also with the added bonus of forgetting most of the bad stuff that happened. He also cannot be defeated. On top of having the special black demon weapon thing or whatever it's called, he has another extra bonus that I won't spoil. But basically whenever he needed a power-up that him being special couldn't already solve, he could go to his bonus. Using his bonus should have had really bad repercussions, but in fact it was the exact opposite. He can basically do anything and never be defeated. He's not even a character...More like a nice handy tool.

Story 1

I am kind reviewing both seasons, but as I don't remember many of the details from season 1, I'm just going to kind of describe the situation.

Owari no Seraph is what you'd get if you took the fantasies of a teenager full of angst and puberty and made it into an anime. There is no cohesion within the "story" and there are tons of unrealistic events. The humans are more like super-humans with their ability to survive serious injuries like large, gaping, holes in the gut and falling through four stories of building. There is absolutely no realism.

I don't even want to dwell on how bad this story is anymore. Le'ts just say that my favorite episode of both seasons is also the one that everyone happens to make the most crack videos out of.

Overall 3

DON'T WATCH THIS ANIME! ...unless you like crappy unrealistic fights and drama that makes little to no sense. Just shut your brain off and you'll likely enjoy it. I have a friend who is absolutely in love with this show, but then again she likes all of the anime I consider crap. It all depends on your tastes so don't take my word for it, we probably have different opinions (though probably not...don't watch this...you probably deserve better...).

Even though this manga is not completed yet, I'd like to review on what I've read so far (up to chapter 36).

Art

While the art is very simple, it works and is kind of cute in its own way. The art isn't ugly, just plain. It has its own charm to it.

Characters

The characters are very well done. I feel very emotionally attached to the two main characters and even the side characters are very realistically portrayed.

... Story

I thought this was going to be something light and fluffy like Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, with the body swapping. It would have even been alright if it was as serious as Kokoro Connect with its body swapping parts. But no, this manga is not like any body swapping scenario I've seen before. It truly reflects the title, bitter change, because as I read it I feel nothing but bitterness.

While nothing sad is particularly happening, no one is dying, no one is getting injured, no one is being abused or betrayed, and all of the characters are usually smiling, I can't help but choke up and cry while I read this. I'll come across a scene where the characters are just standing around talking and suddenly I'll be holding back tears. While nothing horrible is happening, this is a very sad situation in my opinion.

The two main characters, at about the age of 10, swap bodies. Immediately I assumed how the story would go from there. They'd learn about each other's lives and solve each other's problems and eventually return to their own bodies and maybe even fall in love. But this turns into something completely different. These poor children, so far, spend 1/3 of their lives in the body of the other.

I keep thinking, why, why, why do they have to suffer through this? It would be one thing if they simply swapped genders, but why bodies? The idea may seem entertaining at first, but I feel like these poor kids are being tortured. This is a much more serious manga than you'd expect it to be. It causes me so much pain that I hesitate to give it a ten, but since the manga can even make me feel pain it means that it deserves that ten.

Overall

This is a good manga but if you think as much as I do, this is not for the weak of mind and heart. It really makes you feel for the two main characters.

I don't know why I didn't watch this anime sooner. How can an anime of this caliber go right under my radar while a bunch of crappy popular anime constantly grab my attention?

Art

The art was very nice. Some scenes were animated a little oddly or plainly but overall it was very well-animated. As for character design, at first I wasn't a fan but it grew on me, especially the clothing. The clothing really grabbed my attention, especially the shoes. Mahiro's and Yoshino's shoes in the first half of the anime are amazing. Mahiro's shoes in the second half are great as well. Both of their ... outfits in the first half were overall pretty great. I usually don't care about clothing, let alone shoes, but in this case both really caught my eye.

Other than the main characters I really didn't care about the character designs of anyone else actually. They were fine but nothing extraordinary.

Sound

The soundtrack was great. Sometimes the soundtracks of other anime are so average I never notice them, but in the case of this anime the soundtrack was great. While a few songs were played one too many times, they were still very good songs on their own. The songs also really fit with the constant quoting of Shakespeare. It was nice. Along with the art, the music created a fantastic ambiance.

Characters

The characters were very well done. I love the two main characters. From the first episode you already have a great idea about what they are about, and within the next few you pretty much understand them. From that point on you learn new and surprising things about them as the anime goes on.

This anime also did a good job with the villains, as there really were no true villains. Villains that are realistic with their motives and actions always make a great show.

There were a bunch of random side characters though that I couldn't care less about. Especially the government characters. They did nothing for me and basically every time they appeared I'd skip over their parts. But they barley showed up so it was alright. They were just very pointless in my opinion and I didn't quite understand why they existed.

Story

The story was very well done. The plot sucked me in from the start, though it was a bit slow at the beginning of episode one. But for me to watch a whole first episode of an anime without skipping around is already something to be congratulated on. I am very impatient. Around the end of episode one I was already clicking on episode two. By the time episode two ended I didn't even remember clicking on episode three.

But there are some problems with the story. There are inconsistencies and contrivances here and there. There were big decisions and plot points made that were utterly forgotten about within the next episode. It was like the anime decided on something but then realized that it didn't like it and sloppily backed out of that decision. This all happened within the second half of the show. The first half of the show was perfect.

During the first half the characters literally didn't move an inch for about 3-4 episodes and yet those were the most intense episodes of the entire anime and they were the ones that sucked me in the most. With the second half of the anime I skipped through scenes and dialogue a lot because it bored me, but never enough that my enjoyment of the show lessened drastically. It just wasn't very cohesive. The second half had a few good scenes though.

What I thought was really interesting about he second half was, was that they introduce this new character who most would consider to be generic main character material. If you were to watch the second half through the eyes of this new character, it would seem like the generic "main character finds out he is the chosen one and has to save the world" plot. Except this time the side characters of a story like that were actually the main characters. I don't think I'm spoiling anything here, it was just an interesting take on the situation for me.

I also really liked how the main characters quoted Shakespeare, from Hamlet and The Tempest. I've never read The Tempest, but after watching this anime it makes me want to. On the other hand I have read Hamlet and so when they started quoting Hamlet I'd sometimes find myself smiling as I'd recall that part of the story. It was very unique as I've never seen an anime do something like that before.

One other thing that bothered me about the second half was the comedy. Unlike the first half, the second half added in some comedy here and there that really bugged me. This anime was not meant for that sort of comedy. This anime was meant to be serious, and it mostly was, but that was why the pathetic attempts at comedy were so jarring and out of place. It was like as an anime it felt like it had to try to add some sort of comedy in there to even things out. Luckily it only showed up here and there and never really with the main characters.

Overall

This was a very good anime. It wasn't really mind-blowing but it was very unique and something I enjoyed sitting through for once. The classical music along with the quoting of Shakespeare was a really nice touch and I really loved the two main characters and their personalities. The story was interesting and unpredictable and there was even some mystery in the plot. I'd recommend anyone to watch this over a bunch of other anime that are considered better than this.

I'd like to repeat what someone said in the comments section of Future Diary once...This is a crappy anime with a good execution. That was their conclusion and that pretty much wraps up my own.

I really enjoyed this anime at first. The crazy female lead was entertaining and I loved laughing at how pathetic the main character was. But I soon began to notice tons of plot holes and I realized I didn't really like any of the characters except for Yuno, and that was only half the time.

This anime makes all sorts of random crap happen without explanation or with a bad explanation at ... that. Dreadful things like blowing up children is glossed over and the show expects you to feel sympathy for the characters who did these terrible things.

The anime tries to have plot twists but I just find myself staring at the screen, wondering why I should even care anymore. The only reason I managed to finish the whole thing was because part of the time I decided to turn off my brain. I realized that this anime was never going to make sense and that if I wanted to enjoy it at all I'd have to ignore all of its problems.

But even those problems became too big to ignore. The only character I partially cared for was Yuno, and the anime even ruined that in the end. The conclusions all of the characters come up with in emotional moments make absolutely no sense to me. I felt no sympathy for the characters. I didn't care who won by the end or who lived or who died. I just wanted to finish the anime and be done with it.

So many people said that this was the "best anime ever" and I had put off watching it for a long time. I had high expectations coming in. I thought that I had saved something really good for later or something like that. After finishing the anime I don't understand how anyone could honestly tell me that they think this is the best anime ever.

This is my second big disappointment with the anime community. One can usually trust that they'll give you something good to watch but with this anime that is just not the case.

If you just want to see a bunch of people killing each other and are capable of completely turning off your brain, by all means you will enjoy this anime. Have at it. But if you're like me and you can't turn off your brain and senseless killing doesn't do anything for you, please stay away from this anime.

"Code Geass is the best anime ever" "You should watch Code Geass" "Code Geass is way better than X anime"

Well, hearing all of that, what do you think I did? That's right, I watched the anime. All of it. Both seasons. And did I enjoy it? Did I finally realize how amazing the anime was, as everyone says? My answer is no, no I did not. For a time I did maybe, but in the end I was thoroughly disappointed by what many consider to be the "best" anime. Just look at the amount of reviews on here that give the anime a 9 or ... a 10. I'd beg to differ.

Art

It has a unique art style, though at times the anime was oddly animated. Also, some character designs were odd, as well as clothing designs. Lelouch's casual clothes are just plain weird!!! Reminds me of the weird thing the main character wears from Higurashii.

Sound

This anime had a few good OSTs.

Story

I actually just finished the anime a few minutes ago and I am crying inside....Throughout the entire second season I was waiting for something great to happen. I wasn't that impressed with season one but I saw some comments saying that season two blows season one out of the water, so I was really excited. But all of those positive views only managed to blind me from the truth- Code Geass is incredibly boring. I skipped through the last five episodes. I did this by clicking on the video bar 30 seconds ahead throughout the entire episode. This way I didn't waste my time staring at the boring screen and I still knew what was going on.

The anime is good at disguising its plot holes at first, because it moves so quickly. There is rarely a moment when you are just sitting at a non-action scene. That way you don't have time to register that a lot of important aspects of the plot are being glossed over before the show moves on to the next big scene. But after dealing with that in season one, I could barely handle it in season two.

Characters are in two places at once (not when they are pretending). Important things are never shown, they are just inferred. One minute Lelouch will be sitting on his butt in the student council room and in the next scene he'll be annihilating troops with this big plan he worked on that you never saw him working on (it is never explained afterward either, like in Death Note). This happens a lot. Lelouch knows things and does things that are impossible. He's supposed to be a genius but all he ever does is look at a map and whip out his magical "I just took control of that entire headquarters and destroyed the battle ground" card and saves the day.

Oh, also, the way battles were won was by bringing out updated mecha. One of the sides would bring out a new mecha that was even more powerful than the last, and so on. These mecha came from no where. This happened every battle.

Let's not get started on Geass.

Why did no one ever recognize Lelouch's voice when he was Zero?

I wish I could remember every little thing that bothered me about this show but that would require forcing myself to rewatch the anime, which I don't want to do, so onto characters.

Characters

By the end of the anime, I didn't like ANY of the characters. The only way I decided on who I wanted to win the big battle was by picking out the character I hated least.

I rarely felt sympathy for other characters. All of their troubles confused me. Many characters seemed to have side-baggage and I didn't care about it. I don't care if you don't know who's side to be on now. I don't care if your memories are fractured. I don't care if you have a crush on him. Who are any of you anyways?

There was very little character development. New characters popped up faster than weeds and were discarded just as quickly. Someone who poses a a big obstacle today will be sitting in an outdated mecha the next. Characters constantly thought to be dead were brought back to life. Nothing made sense.

Overall

My head hurts thinking of all of the problems within this anime. I gave it a five because I did manage to enjoy it sometimes, but I can't give it any better than that. Don't believe anyone when they say that this is the best anime ever. Please move on to better things...

While I've only watched up to episode 23 I've read up to chapter 36 in the manga and from there I gave up. I don't think I can properly review this anime as I haven't finished it but I feel that I need to say a little something.

Nana was really addicting at first, it seemed interesting and it was a mature story. I've also seen the anime and read the manga Paradise Kiss by the same author and it had a similar vibe. I thought I'd like it. I did like it at first, but then it started going down the wrong path. I don't ... have much to complain about with the art and sound, but as for the story and characters I have a lot I don't like about them.

I really hate the main character Nana Komatsu. At first I thought I'd be able to deal with her, as she had her nice moments, but I couldn't bring myself to watch an anime when I hated the main character so much. I am willing to accept a few slip ups, but her actions in the anime are just ridiculous.

I really liked the other characters too at first, but none of them were doing what I wanted them to do, none of them. Basically nothing was going good. Some people may enjoy drama but when it goes this far it is just boring and unbearable.

I finally couldn't take it anymore. Everything was going bad and I needed to know if something would eventually go right, and so I skipped ahead and spoiled myself. And what did I discover? That nothing got better and that it only got even more terrible and convoluted. How are any of the things that happen in this anime supposed to make the viewers happy? I at least expect some positive things to happen after all of the crap that goes down, but what do I get? More crap.

I am tired of watching entire romance anime filled with drama only to give the viewers a little bit of happiness at the last episode. (I don't even know if they give us at least that, from what I could tell from the spoilers I don't have much faith in any sort of happiness appearing.) Nana is full of drama and even if you tell me "it gets better" there is no way I am going to wade through all of this crap to get to the better parts. I'm just not that patient, I have better things to do with my time.

Remember, this review is from someone who did not finish the anime or the manga. I am just telling you what I can see from where I'm standing. Just know that this anime isn't going to be a fun ride if you don't like dealing with so much drama.

Art

I would be giving this anime a perfect 10 if it weren't for the dreadful art. Many episodes were just panels from the manga with the characters talking in the background. It was horrible. I've never seen an anime with such bad art.

Sound

The music wasn't that great. I actually got some of the songs stuck in my head which was really annoying because they were stupid. Some of the scenes that were supposed to be serious actually made me burst out laughing because of how bad the music was. There wasn't much variety in the songs played and none of them were great.

Character

Even though the ... art and sound sucked, the characters were amazing, especially Miyazawa and Arima. They are fantastic. The side characters are great too. A lot of the time I expected them to turn into something annoying but they turned out to be likable. The characters completely break away from all of he bad shoujo romance tropes that we've all been conditioned to accept. It was refreshing.

Story

The story was amazing. At first I though that the entire anime was going to be spent with the two characters overcoming obstacles in order to finally get together like so many other shoujo romances, but in Kare Kano's case that wasn't the case. I kept waiting for a misunderstanding to end everything, but it never happened. The characters aren't stupid and they confront their problems before any stupid annoyances pop up. For example, (spoiler alert though I am vague) a third part appears, a male, and I was waiting and waiting for that character to fall in love with Miyazawa like in the case of so many other stupid shoujo romances. But it didn't happen! Instead I ended up really liking the guy. Another rival appears, this time a girl, and I was waiting for her to ruin everything. She even pulled the "I knew him before you" card. But it didn't happen! The surprise and joy I felt! (vague spoilers end here) This anime knows how to create conflict without making it unbearably painful and stupid. I have seen very few romance animes that manage to avoid using the usual stupid tropes again and again and again. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Overall

If you are willing to watch this anime despite its horrible art and sound, do so. The show ends abruptly though and it has a few fillers near the end too. In the end you should probably just read the manga. I know you don't want to hear that but except for a few episodes and the nice voice actors for Miyazawa and Arima there's really no reason to watch the anime. The manga completes the story and doesn't make you cringe like watching the anime does. It is a great manga but a bad anime.