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Perfect in every way, for what it was aiming for.

The atmosphere alone won me over. Everything's bleak, in disrepair, nobody's around and hope's nowhere to be found. Despite all that, you have to keep going. Not unlike our everyday lives, no matter our personal situation or experiences. The anime however doesn't try to hide the fact this world is long gone. Ther are no messages about humanity's potential and the only time life is valued is towards the very end. Much like Turn A Gundam, the approach is "Look at how much destruction humanity is capable of causing; maybe we should get along instead ... of quarrelling.", except in Turn A there was hope from the beginning and Tomino constantly tried to show the joys and beauties of a simple life. There's even a hardcore soldier turned peace-and-nature-loving monk type of character after his defeat (and near-death experience!) to REALLY drive the point across. Girls' Last Tour feels like an empty dream, the kind where you aimlessly walk around a misty town desperately searching for something. Everything around you is long-abandoned and there's no one else but you there, but there's not a force that could stop you from pressing on, awake or asleep.

The way the lore is served up is fantastic too. The show only has about 5-6 characters max, yet everyone has their own little story to tell. The few times the girls interact with others, they all share tibids of their past and it's fun piecing together who they were before the war or what happened to the ones around them. Even Chito and Yuuri's chemistry alone is fantastic.They do argue from time to time, but they just make up and move along. Can't afford to remain angry in their situation, so they have learned to get along for however long they've been together. They make come off as simple tropes at first, but they don't just cover each other's weaknesses; they both learn from each other, give space, share their emotions and thoughs (some of the best parts by far are just the two of them sharing their views on life; their immature yet curious nature is adorable and fascinating at the same time!) and try to understand each other better as the show progresses. Best of all, they don't even have second thoughts when it comes to working as a team!

What beautiful music too! There's not a lot of it, but when there is, oh man it hits me like a ton of bricks!! Especially in the last episode... I'm sure the OP and ED songs will be stuck with me for a while. Both reflect the show's themes pretty well.

Couldn't have picked a better ending either. The more the show goes on, the less likely it becomes for the girls to make it through another day. Yet despite the challenges they face, the ending leaves me with a melancholic yet hopeful feeling. Kinda like when a long chapter of your life ends.

I wouldn't have it any other way, but I do wonder what the manga is like!

Probably the most fun of the bunch, but also the most formulaic one. It's completely detached from reality; we got to a point where the gags happen for the sake of gags and the plot progresses just because it has to. You can clearly see it in the designs and the dialogue too; there are no real stakes or motivation. Hell, I'd rather have Rezo show up again, at least he had a motivation and a proper goal! Flawed as it blalantly was, they used it to the show's advantage! Nothing so far, in terms of writing, has been used to enrich Lina's world or ... to at least create a one-shot movie that can stand on its own. Being unrelated to the main story is not enough, any movie needs to be complete in terms or writing and by that I mean that the characters must be realistic and humane, otherwise any story quickly becomes dated at best. The only human characteristic Lina and Naga have are their unsatisfiable greed; everything else was written to make nerds giggle, not to move people in any way.

If I had to compare it to anything it would be Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus. Both are fun and colourful films, but both feel like the franchise had lost plenty of steam by that point.

This also came out a mere MONTH after The End of Evangelion. I'm only bringing this up since they decided to parody mecha this time. Asuka fighting the mass production EVAs has NOTHING compared to the grand duel in Slayers Great! And yes, said duel takes up roghly the second half of the movie.

Can't really complain since I've wanted to see Slayers for the longest time and hey, about time I did it! I'm only disappointed the movies have turned out to be subpar so far. The second one I wouldn't mind rewatching (especially if I was a kid) and maybe the third one every other year (only if I was a kid), but so far only the original show seemed to stand out to me. What it lacked in animation made up in superior writing; it wasn't the best anime by a long shot and it may seem dated or cliche to some folks, but I think it held up well and it was fun! So far, the movies leave quite a lot to be desired.

Better than the first film, for sure. There were more characters this time and it brought back the self-aware humour that I liked so much in the show.

Still absolutely no backstory to either Lina or Naga, though. This came out a year after the original show had ended and more than halfway into the second season. Perhaps they thought fans of the show at the time would watch the movie as well, but that just makes it dated and shallow.

Further more it doesn't help that the hwole film is like 5 scenes max, just stretched out to fit the one hour checkmark. Again, sometimes that ... works, sometimes it doesn't. Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublyof, for example (Why am I comparing Slayers to Andrei Tarkovsky?) can be summed up in only a few scenes and yet it manages to hold your attention for the entirety of the film. Same as Cassablanca, The Cube, Full Metal Jacket, Terminator 1, Breathless (the original from the 60s) John Carpenter's They Live; none of these movies have a huge variety of scenes like the big Hollywood stuff, they just have a few good ones and they make the most out of them. Yet the reason they're so memorable is becase each scene feels complete and adds to the film. There's very little of that in Slayers Return.

Despite the shallow plot, it is a plot. It beats whatever toilet paper tier they wrote in the first movie by a mile and the animation is still very pretty. I loved how blalant the bad guy was this time around. Gotta feel for the guy. So far, of all the Slayers films my money's on this one, even if it's decent at best.

Some interesting tension between Lina and Naga too. If it wasn't obvious before then it is now!

The ending song was nice too; very 90s.

Loved it! Would have loved it even more as a kid!

Good pacing, decent balance of serious and goofy moments and a varried cast of characters. I enjoyed the serious moments the most, but the show keeps finding ways to remind you it's comedy first. Genuienly like some of the gags, especially the brick jokes and some Monty Python-esque stuff. The show is self-aware even in the final episode and I apreciate that.

Lina obviously steals the show whenever she's on-screen (she's the main character and the show doesn't want you to forget that!), but she lets the others breathe. We ger next to no backstory for ... her or Goury and only a paragraph for the others, but no one feels plain or one-dimensional, except for Rezo. Hell, even Sylphie ended up being a likeable character; even though she appears very late into the show!

But MAN, what an edgelord Rezo was. Had I seen this in highschool I would have made endless fanart of him; he's so edgy he even licks his own blood at one point. The fact he's voiced by Takehito Koyasu makes it even more obvious he's the bad guy and a campy one at that. No wonder he'd voice Eddie (or Zato-1, if you prefer) and Dio later!

It's pretty formulaic as a show, though. Right down to having the middle be a series of filler episodes until the true main villian is revealed. What makes it work in the end is that even the filler moves closer to the end goal and eventually it's all tied up. Love it when a story feels complete.

Pretty much the only reason I'm not rating this higher is because, like I said at first, it's a little past my age. This is a fantastic anime to introduce someone to the medium to or a young teenage nerd (like I was!). Maybe when I'm an old man I'll rethink this kind of mindset and go back to just liking stuff. haha

Something that stuck out to me was the generous use of DBZ sound effects. Goes to show the impact it already had in Japan long before it left its home country. Guess it's about time I took a proper look at it...

Onto the next Slayers! I want to watch more!

Akira is THE anime classic and as is always the case with such big names, everyone likes to give a little backstory to them or write their lifestory about their first experience. Me, I don't care about the former (as it's not why you're reading this or any review) and no one really cares about the latter (as one should!!). I'm gonna jump straight to the point instead.

I guess I'll adress the movie's faults. The first half is kind of boring, especially for people watching Akira for the first time. You're expected to tag along to the events wether you trully follow or not. Understandable ... when you're tasked with adapting a big manga into a two-hour film. Things do pick up in the second half, but man, the first half can make or break the film for some people.

The other major problem is the vague, anti-climatic and cryptic ending. WHAT the hell happens? After one of the most memorable final battles in anime, it's a shame that the ending is so tame and inconclusive. Nezu's death always botheremd me in the anime as well. I think it's done way over the top and comes pretty suddenly, but that's a minor flaw compared to the two above.

As for the good parts? This movie is an experience like no other and I mean that with the best of intentions. It's such a wild trip into a bizarre, cyberpunk world where the film is not afraid to critisize humanity for all its flaws and mistakes, while having animation the likes of which only a handful of other anime have achieved. The character designs are simple, often using no more than 3 colours (Kaneda, the main character, uses just ONE in different shades and he's instantly recognizable decades later!), but they're expressive without being over the top, with a unique semi-realistic artstyle. The amount of detail that went into making this world feel believable is legendary, but it's when it's combined with fluid animation that the movie really makes its scenery and characters come to life. Kaneda suddenly hitting the brakes and sliding to the background is a classic example, but honestly you could easily analyze any shot from this movie due to how much effort was put into all the drawings.

Then there's the score. Ominous is the best way I can describe it; even when just listening to it, it feels like the songs are foretelling an inevtable, impending doom, which is just what happens in the film. The 80s had a lot of amazing anime songs, but I think none could have fit the tone that Akira was going for. While the soundtrack is fantastic on its own, when combined with the movie, not only does it greaty enhance the scenes, but the scenes do the same to the songs. I can't listen to the songs without thinking of each scene that they play in, they both go hand-in-hand and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Moreover, the characters are all unique and memorable, due to their simple and easy to recognize deigns and how involved they are in the plot. The Colonel and Professor are hardly ever reffered to by name, but they play huge parts in the story and have many memorable lines, for example. Basically, no one gets wasted, even if it's just for one scene, everyone has a purpose.

Since the movie was made while the manga was still in production, the ending isn't the only thing that's different. The movie is roughly 1/3 of what the manga would end up being, with loads of characters and entire arcs being cut, but instead of trying to fit as much as possible into one film (like the '86 Hokuto no Ken movie or Gundam F91) it opts to tell a good story with only what was available from the manga at the time and it works perfectly.

A few words for the dubs. The original one from Streamline Pictures is good for its time, but HORRIBLY dated with many dry jokes and just overall bad acting. Voices don't fit, the actors don't really feel like they're into it and it just drags the movie down. The Pioneer dub, while miles better STILL does not match the original Japanese dub, so to anyone watching this for the first time, I'd recommend the Japanese dub hands down. If you must absolutely watch it dubbed, pick the Pioneer one. Or go for Streamline if you want; who am I to tell you what to do?!

In conclusion, Akira is a cinematic masterpiece that everyone (anime fan or not) should watch.

It was all worth it. The awful first half, the nonsensical battles, the bizarre nature of the Ideon, neither side willing to negotiate after failed attempts to do so...

The movie rendeemd all of the TV show's faults and goes far beyond its original scope. It's hard to believe this was originaly intended to be a bunch of episodes as the flow of the entire film is quite smooth.

The score definitely helps in this case; we go from typical campy and upbeat songs you'd expect from an old-school anime to a proper orchesrta adding their colourful and rich sound to the events that unfold.

All of ... the character deaths, monologues and fights were much more impactful this time around and I was genuinely moved the entire time. The ending in particular had me in tears; it was cathartic an paradoxically hopeful, despite all the destruction that took place.

However, Tomino finally had the chance to focus on Ide, the mystery behind it and the meaning behind the constant fighting.. In the end... There simply is no meaning!

Ideon was Tomino's call to love life itself and to cherish the people and the world around you. Having a selfish and single-minded kind of thinking will ruin not only you and the ones around you, but all of us as a species. To deny that this is how we got here would simply be delusional; especially if one were to examine humanity's course after the Industrial Revolution. However, wether or not that was inevitable is a completely different discussion And yet Tomino showed all that nearly 20 years before Turn A Gundam too!

Ideon is often cited as an inspiration to Neon Genesis Evangelion and having seen both, I can definitely see the similarities; although if you come from EVA first (probably like most people), it will take some time before the similarities can manifest. Howver, by the end of both shows (and their respective "The End of" movies) EVA's Human Instrumentality Project and the Ide's power as well as the motivations behind each one will not seem very different. Both however draw heavily from Arthur C. Clarke's 1962 novel "Childhood's End" or "The Overlords: The End of Childhood" as it was printed in Greece in the mid 70s.

Man, what an experience this was. Good art can make you feel so powerful and energetic. You can of course make the arguement that all art is a product, but that is a completely different discussion... I for one belive that there is in fact a complex distinction between a piece of art and a product.

Space! Runaway!!

Instant favorite! It feels like an old school American action movie and there wasn't a single scene wasted! The artstyle, the sound design, the animation; it's all perfect! Even has the classic American-style pacing and storytelling you'd expect from 80s and 90s Hollywood films!!

Much like Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro I went in without any expectations or prior knowledge of the series (other than its connection with Riding Bean, another awesome anime) and once again I got a complete and satisfying story from beginning to end. It's a simple one, but it works and the creators made sure to get the most out of it.

What ... an opening too! One of my favorites for sure! So full of colour and energy!! This is what an anime opening (or any opening for that matter!) should be like! Banger OST as well!!

There were a few campy scenes, but overall the action wasn't mindless. There was clear planning involved in each of the characters' moves and each had their own motives. The final battle in particular stood out the most; they kept it short and simple but it was clear the characters were all pros. What's amazing is the sheer number of people they contacted to make this series as realistic as possible. They really knew their stuff and it shows.

If I had to nitpick is that there're surprisingly few deaths for a show all about guns and shootouts, but maybe it wouldn't click with the artstyle they went with. At the end of the day, it's still a masterpiece!

I'm down for a rewatch anytime, anyday! Really glad I watched this one! Cannot recommend enough!!

Another great anime to relax to. While the premise is almost forgotten about for half the show, the mellow slice-of-life tone and the characters' chemistry was more than enough to keep me invested. I love fermented foods too, so this anime was a rare but wonderful surprise for me.

What I didn't expect was the sudden, but eventually welcome change of tone in the last two episodes. The agony and struggle to find one's place in the world can be intense and seemingly endless at times, but the anime ends on a very positive and optimistic note.

The colours and animation were solid too, something you wouldn't ... expect from such a chill anime. There's a lot of attention to detail and not two characters look the same. Brilliant show, overall!

It's also very rare to see so many sex jokes that aren't over the top. The show is definitely self-aware in that regard and it's a nice bonus. Maybe all the homosexual jokes in particular are about trying new things and finding yourself as well!

[Spoilers ahead!]

Essentially it's only 2 long chapters, but there's a lot to unpack; mainly the strong theme of existentialism. Emanon is haunted by her unique ability and the narrator is just some guy who doesn't really know what he's doing or where he's going in life. The narrator could easily be a projection of most young adults (the writer himself was a university student when he first conceived the story, after all!); the transition from teenagehood to adulthood with all its ups and downs is a period of life often ignored or not explored enough in fiction, so it was nice to see the main ... character being just an average joe who's thinking about life.

Emanon on the other hand, could be interpreted as the collective of all life on Earth. Just as a person is unique because of the life they've lived and in essence their memories, so is Emanon the uniqueness of life on Earth.

The second chapter is what really ties it all together and the last few pages which are essentially about finding one's place in the world leave a positive message to an otherwise sad ending.

The artwork is pretty good too. The two main characters show a variety of detailed expressions throughout the course of the story and even side characters have very expressive faces. The artstyle is a bit more Western, especially for the narrator, which is a nice touch.

An amazing read through and through. Highly recommended!

An absolutely gorgeous series with impressive, over the top and fluid animation and a weird but intriguing and exciting story. Placing almost all the focus on Phosphophylite holds the show back, since it takes a while for them to stop whining and become a decent character. I wish the rest of the cast had more screentime as well; it was always interesting watching everyone interact with each other, especially towards the end.

The elephant in the room however is the nature of the Lunarians. While the show keeps their identity a mystery it gives the viewer just enough things for their imagination to go wild. Keeping ... them mysterious was a good decision that adds to the show's weird charm. The same goes for a lot of other details, like The Master's origin and how humans fit into the plot, but it all works out in the end. The music was great too! It's pretty chill even during the fight scenes, but I don't mind.

I hope they eventually make a second season, but even as it is, Houseki no Kuni is a strange yet unique anime that is well worth a watch. Also, the Master was voiced by good ol' George Nakata, so that alone gets an extra point from me. Some VAs could just read from a shopping list and I would still love it.