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********THIS HAS SPOILERS***********

When I think of Sword Art Online, I think of the anime that my friend first showed me that got me into the medium itself. That was five years ago, which was around the time SAO first aired on Japanese television. Five years later, I'm watching it's movie adaptation, and my expectations were beyond my reach.

My friend and I took a seat in the theater, and began chatting up the other people in the venue, talking about SAO and various other anime. It was a Fathom Event, so they had an on-screen SAO quiz for us before the film began. The lights ... go off, and we get introductions from LiSA, the singer for the film's theme song, Catch the Moment. Then we had Haruka Tomatsu and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka greet us and give us a small insight of Kirito and Asuna's relationship, which they mentioned was the main point of the film.

The actual film began with a detailed (but quick and to-the-point) overview of the series. There were plenty of call-backs to the previous seasons, including the Ruby Palace, Yuki's cameo, and a whole bunch of GGO and ALO players joining in on the final battle.

Haruka Tomatsu had mentioned in her greeting that our understanding of the characters will depend on who's perspective we view the film from, and she was right. The character development was solid and all covered in two hours, enough to make their motives sound believable. The villain status switches from Eiji to Dr. Shigemura after we uncover the motives behind both of them, and Eiji's defeat in Kirito's hands. It would have been interesting if the film was more of EijiYuna, instead of KiritoAsuna, but at least they had their chance to reconcile towards the end.

The art and animation of the film were noticeably uneven in several aspects of the film. During the slice-of-life scenes, the animation wasn't bad. However once they jumped into fights, the animation was mind-blowing.

Music selection were top-notch. Yuki Kajiura returned on-board to make the music for the film, and her music is godly. Sayaka Kanda not only voiced Yuna, but also provided several insert songs, which were quite amazing in their own right, especially when some of them were produced by Kajiura herself.

Overall, I haven't enjoyed such a good movie in a long time. The pseudo-announcement of Season 3 (Rath and the Underworld) had me begging for more, and with Shigemura joining Rath and Eiji now purged of his darkness, I get the feeling that this isn't the last that we will see of them.

I don't normally watch long anime because it takes me a long time. Last time I did it, I almost dropped everything I was doing just to watch it. And I only did so again just because my friend was.

So the 2011 Hunter x Hunter series was a series that my friend wanted me to watch, as he was going to start watching as well. We wanted an anime that we BOTH were going to watch at the same time, and HxH was chosen.

Honestly I'm glad I watched this anime and don't regret it at all. The story pacing from the very beginning ... was fast and did not stick around the boring set-up for long, although I will admit we don't exactly know a lot about Whale Island and it's inhabitants other than Gon's family.

Soon from the first episode, we are introduced to both Leorio and Kurapika, who both have their intentions of taking the exam, revealed from the get-go. We don't take long to try to figure out who in the world is this person and why he's here.

We later meet Killua at the First Phase, and he quickly becomes friends with Gon due to them being the same age. They get along quickly and stay friends throughout the entirely of the series.

Ging is one interesting person. He leaves his son behind just so he can become a Hunter, which later he apparently "planned" that Gon would become a Hunter himself, and set up a whole bunch of people to meet him and make his son stronger. I was a little pissed at him during the Chairman Election Arc though, but Leorio had that handled for me. Thanks Leorio!

The entire plot of the series flowed to the next perfectly. We had our characters have some sort of "reason" to make it to the next arc, without any needless filler. After the Exam arc, our characters go their separate ways and promise to meet in Yorknew City, which leads to the Heaven's Arena arc while alliterating what Satotz had wanted to say before, but was unable to. We were all left wondering what it was, and that was that Hunters need to learn Nen in order to be a full-pledged hunter. Kurapika is able to learn it in time to defeat a member of the Troupe in Yorknew City, the city in which Greed Island was being auctioned.

With the Troupe no longer a threat, Gon and Killua head into Greed Island, which Gon learns more of his father. They head to where they think Ging is, only to find Kite instead, who was studying the Chimera Ants, which would eventually lead into a war with the Ants, especially the King and his Royal Guards. With the Ants defeated, peace returns and an expedition to the Dark Continent begins.

The whole story flows like it's just one plot line, which each arc containing clues to what's to come in the next arc.

This series is definitely worth the watch!

When this movie was first announced, and I heard it was going to be directed by the same guy who did Five-Centimeters per Second, I had very high expectations for it and fair enough, it pretty much exceeded those expectations. I saw Five-C and loved it and was hoping for more.

THIS REVIEW HAS SPOILERS. READ AT OWN RISK.

I cannot express any much more than absolute enjoyment for this film, and apparently I pretty much have the same exact taste as everyone for those who rated this film 10/10 and made it #1 on MAL.

The story begins with two teenagers of the same age ... who have been dreaming of each other. That very moment where Mitsuha witnesses the comets falling for the first time is where things get screwy when we finally realize the truth to what's been happening.

Story - 9/10
Taki and Mitsuha begin to forget each other and soon, they meet. Although one flaw I noticed is why they both started experiencing these phenomenons. Could the comet have been the source? We don't know, and I'm a little irritated they never got into that point. But nevertheless, their hopes and dream to meet each other finally came when Taki visits Itomori. Taki and Mitsuha work together from out of time to prevent the deaths of Itormori Town.

Art - 10/10
The film had first made its world premiere at the 2016 Anime Expo this summer, before having its Japanese premiere later in August. Although the version I watched was actually the DVD screening showed at AX, before they posted online, the art was so-so. Probably because it wasn't exactly the Blu-Ray. But even so, I have heard from others who actually saw the premiere that the art was fantastic.

Sound - 10/10
I wasn't focused on the OST itself, but rather the music provided by the band RADWIMPS, who performed the theme song for the film, which was very nice.

Character - 10/10
Both Taki and Mitsuha are very.... VERY different characters. Mitsuha comes from a family of spirit mediums, and is very polite when speaking to others.

Taki however, is just a normal Tokyo schoolboy who we first meet (as himself) as someone who doesn't take time seriously, other than drawing.

These two very distinct characters, yet they have such good chemistry together.

Enjoyment and Overall - 10/10
Sci-fi is nice. With that genre you could literally do anything that normally wouldn't be humanly or scientifically possible. If you add in a sci-fi element to a romance, then anything is possible. Normally Taki and Mitsuha would never have met. But the comet and the body-switching made it all possible. Something that wouldn't be expected, becomes reality.

This film is certainly a good watch. After all, it's Makoto Shinkai, the one who did 5-Centimeters. I nearby cried on that film, and I almost did here too.

I don't normally watch mecha animes, because I had believed that most of them were nothing and featured only pieces of scrap metal clanging to each other. However after watching Cross Ange, I came to a realization that not all mecha anime are just MECHA only. Some of them had real drama in it, and Cross Ange is one of them.

Story -
We get a rich-ass and spoiled princess who finds out that she doesn't have any powers, and is therefore brandished as a monster. After realizing that her family doesn't love her anymore, she abandons her old princess identity and takes on the ... role of a serious soldier. I find that as this type of story may have been used before, it worked quite well here.

Art -
Sunrise Studios. OK, if you want a mecha anime, go to Sunrise. They are the veterans at making these types of shows. From the original Mobile Suit Gundam, they are BACK! I did see Buddy Complex as well, which was also made by Sunrise, and that I liked.

Sound -
No score because I don't normally care about music.

Character -
Ange is a former princess who was exiled from her kingdom because of her lack of powers and sent to a military operation to fight DRAGONS. Realizing her former kingdom wasn't her home anymore, she abandons the princess and becomes the soldier. This is quite the development, from a spoiled brat to an independent person. Who can argue with that haha!

When we first see Hilda, we see her as a typical bully who picks on the new one, Ange. Her revenge grows when Ange's disabordination causes Zola to get killed. Later on, as Ange is able to steal a ship to try to return home, she clashes with Hilda for it, only for Hilda to lose. She reveals her intent to return home, and Ange supports her, as they both were returning to their families. After their return despite their families disowning them, they sympathize with each other and become friends.

Salia is known to be quite devoted to her job ever since Alektra/Jill lost her arm. Salia is serious and dilligent and very loyal to Jill. After Ange's arrival, she seems to have lost loyally in Jill and became friends with her. But after the battle of Arzenal, she believed that the others abandoned her and joins Embryo. But after Ange is able to foil Embryo's plan, she reverts back to their side.

Enjoyment -
10 because this is one mecha anime that proved to me that not all mecha anime are boring.

This movie, well, it didn't meet all my expectations I wanted. As the synopsis states, this film takes place in the Steins;Gate worldline Okabe resides in at the end of the TV series.

I was hoping a lot more time travel, rather than just using the Time Leap machine to stop someone from disappearing from existence.

The lead of the original series, Okabe is told that he'll disappear due to all the memories of the other worldlines he has traversed to. And apparently the only one that remembers him is Kurisu, ONLY. Now why is that? Out of all the people Okabe knows, its Mayuri ... or Daru who've known him for the longest. But then again, Kurisu acts more of a love interest to Okabe, which is the most plausible explanation to why she is the only one who remembers Okabe.

This is where shit starts to screw with our minds a bit. Another Suzuha appears from the year 2036. This is because the original one had existed because Okabe messed with the timeline, but disappeared because Okabe prevented Kurisu's death in the final episode. This NEW Suzuha is the result of the Steins;Gate timeline. By then, 3 Suzuha's exist. The ALPHA Suzuha who came from the future that Okabe accidentally sent his first D-Mail, the BETA Suzuha that Okabe never sent that D-Mail in the first place, and the Steins;Gate Suzuha that comes to tell Okabe that he'll disappear.

While I give the TV series a straight-on 10, this movie felt disappointing and rather confusing. Still, watch this film AFTER you've finished the series.

Hyouka is basically a detective's story, but instead of real detectives, the "detectives" are high school students.

Characters:
Hotaro: 9/10
I mean it's great and all that Hotaro has brilliant deduction skills, but he can come up with a theory for almost everything. It's almost like he should be the Classic's Club's president instead.

Eru: 0/10
Eru is cute and all but she's a poor example of a club president. First off, she's always trying to have Hotaro solve all the cases. She keeps saying "I'm curious" without getting shit on her hands, relying on Hotaro all the time.

Satoshi: 5/10
Satoshi has a great sense of ... humor, but sometimes it gets a little too overboard.

Mayaka: 10/10
The perfect example of a critic and friend, and the ONLY one who actually tries to be romantic herself.


Sound: 0/0
I didn't really care for the music.

Art: 0/0
Didn't care.

Story: 4/10
The last episode was rather pathetic. Instead of Hotaro attending a party for nothing, why don't the writers have him solve a extremely hard mystery that even the police have considered a "cold case." Oh wait. That'll make Hotaro OPed and it would lower his character rating I have for him to 0?!

Overall: 7/10
It was ok. The show involved solving mysterious that only a seinen mind can solve. But the fact that these mysterious only last for about an episode or two, really defeats the whole purpose of the show. I mean why not have all the previous mysterious connect into the final episode?

But I liked the show overall. I probably won't recommended you this show, but it is a good watch.

3/10

While this anime has a decent amount of ecchi content fan service, unless you enjoy that kind of stuff, you probably won't enjoy this show.