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IMO this season just... wasn't interesting.

The games felt inferior and like half of them involved the threat of physical harm/death which they are too chickenshit to ever pull the trigger on so I wasn't really anticipating who'd win because, like, who cares?

That's really a big problem with the whole concept of this season anyway. This season, it's based around the student council president election and, like, I guess it's been established that that's very important, but it's up against one of the most forgettable groups of antagonists I've ever seen.

Some of the antagonists don't even get their own gamble, it's a struggle to remember their ... names, they just aren't very interesting.

The only one I really liked was the last villain but even then, I wanted her to WIN because who else would win? Kirari, the sociopath who's already president? Yumeko, the agent of chaos who'd destroy the entire academy (which would presumably destabilize Japan because this academy is just SO important) because she was bored? Some other jackass from the branch families nobody cares about? ...I dunno, Mary?

They do try to work on humanizing the student council members to... varying effects. Itsuki grew on me a lot, here's to well wishes in her romantic endeavors. Yuriko, lmao, sorry if you wanted screen time. Midari is mostly a butt monkey because Yumeko doesn't like Midari which honestly just made me like Yumeko less and, again, you need me to like Yumeko for this series to work. Kaede gets something nice to work on, which I am happy to see. Runa... she's still very annoying but I liked when she ate the spicy macaron and suffered. Sayaka, the secretary, I thought her part was one of the best in the season, even if I hated the game and outcome.

...unfortunately, Yumemi gets another arc. I guess it wasn't the worst arc of the season but that's less of a positive for Yumemi and more a condemnation of the whole season considering the game was less interesting than S1's and Yumemi continues to be uninteresting at best.

So who wins the election?

Oh... I'm sorry... you'd like to know that, wouldn't you?

It doesn't say, we're still in the middle of the election when the season ends.

Did I mention Suzui, the token male?

No?

Yeah, he's not really important except for one gamble.

There are entire gambles where he's busy playing Fortnite or whatever while Yumeko's actually gambling and his presence wasn't really missed but it proves how much of an absolute nothing he is.

The OP was a huge upgrade (and the ED was pretty good too) musically and I liked how a couple of the student council members progressed, but it ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, it has way less interesting games, and the antagonists are kinda boring.

I'm sorry, I'm not as enamored with this show as I feel the general vibes are.

It starts out decent but it quickly fizzles out.

What did I like about the show?

- Science Saru did their part. It's not, like, Devilman Crybaby amazing production, but for a TV anime, it looks good.
- There's a fight about 3/4ths in that was really inventive
- I initially liked the Okarun/Momo romance
- Episode 7. I'll admit that one part was very good.
...
However, the more I thought about the show, the more I realized... I don't really like this show?

First, the characters.

Okarun's fine. If I had to pick a "favorite", it'd be him. Okarun's alternate personality isn't funny though, although I like his design. Seiko (Momo's grandma) isn't good but she doesn't actively annoy me, so that's a plus.

The other 3?

Not so good.

Momo's fine on a conceptual level but (in the sub, can't speak to the English dub), she is SO annoying. It's one of my biggest issues with this series, it seems to think loudness = funny. By, like, episode 4, I was ready to stab out my eardrums because Momo's voice was grating on me.

Aira is probably the best of the three I'm mentioning here but idk, her delulu pure pretty pretty princess wasn't doing it for me. Part of it is that she was a total bitch in her introduction so I don't believe she's this uwu pretty Christian girl. Didn't pass the taste test imo. Even if that's supposed to be the point... okay, well, it didn't work for me, I didn't find her entertaining and her schtick kinda wore off.

Jiji, OH MY GOD, he was the absolute worst. He's only in the last couple episodes but I have no idea what they were going for but what it was giving was "obnoxious jackass". I at least get Momo and Aira but who finds this guy funny? He's okay when he's not doing his routine or when they're not talking about girls but, like, that's SO much of his character this season. There's probably, like, 10 minutes of "good" Jiji.

Speaking of Jiji, how about the comedy?

It's not funny.

I'm not going to be so bitter and jaded and cynical as to say it was never funny, but so much of it bombed, including entire characters. Jiji, the puncher mantis crab dude or whatever, gross. The time Momo had to put on some random impression, Okarun and Jiji poorly and loudly singing love songs, just no.

It's also kind of rapey? There are multiple scenes of groups of men holding down Momo, trying to rape her.

Not to mention the FuNnY scene of Okarun/Momo/Aira being almost nude because of plot and then everyone in class seeing and Aira being like "oh no, my perfect pure image!"

So, yeah.

It's not without its charms but it's an aggressively mediocre series because it has several fundamental issues. It's not even the best shonen anime involving romance from Shueisha in Fall 2024 that you can find on Netflix.

Kizumonogatari is peak fiction and I think anyone, even if they didn't like Bakemonogatari, should check it out

...I just don't think this should be how

Tbh if this movie was just Kizus 1-3 stapled together with no alterations, this would probably be a 10. Long? Yeah. But... like... Koyomi Vamp isn't much shorter? Koyomi Vamp is roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes and according to MAL:
Kizu 1 = 1 hour and 4 minutes
Kizu 2 = 1 hour and 4 minutes
Kizu 3 = 1 hour and 23 minutes
(for comparison, Koyomi Vamp is listed at 2 hours and 24 minutes so I assume they are including the ending ... credits)

That makes the movie trilogy 3 hours and 31 minutes which is only a little bit over an hour longer

This is essentially the theatrical cut to the Kizu trilogy's director's cut and it shows

First, let's talk about what I liked about Kizu.

It's got all the trappings of Monogatari (well... maybe not ALL of them, but the stylistic ones). Weird, frantic cuts? Those little title cards or whatever? The general writing of Nisio? It's all here.

However, as fits a movie, the animation gets a big upgrade. It looks gorgeous and has some really creative moments such as the final battle, Araragi running up an escalator (I promise it's better than it sounds), and of course the scene where he bursts into flames. Some great shots too, I love all the "helicopter" shots and, of course, we get some photography lens eye shots.

This also has a lot of action for a Monogatari arc. The Dramaturgy and final battles in particular are standouts. When I think of Monogatari, it's not necessarily badass, balls to the walls battles, but Kizu has that in spades.

The soundtrack has a bit of a... jazzier kick to it? Monogatari has always had a great OST and this is no exception. It's got some funny sound effects too, like when Araragi gets his arm kicked off and when he pats Kiss-shot's head.

One of the great things about Kizu is it's a prequel so it only has a few characters. We've got the (frankly, kind of forgettable) vampire hunters, Araragi, Meme, Kiss-shot, and PEAK FICTION Hanekawa (more on her later).

This may be unfortunate for people who would like to see, say, Senjougahara, but as someone who really likes Kiss-shot and Hanekawa, this meant a lot of time to spend with those 2 (at least in theory, I'll get back to this).

Kizu is just a really good, emotional story that manages to build strong relationships between Araragi and Kiss-shot as well as Araragi and Hanekawa, if you're watching this in chronological or light novel order, you don't really get much from Kiss-shot/Shinobu in Bake so this is really good at fleshing out Kiss-shot. Bake also has an arc for Hanekawa and this is great at setting the stage for Araragi and Hanekawa's friendship retroactively so you understand both Bake and the Neko arcs later on.

IMO Kizu is the best arc of one of my favorite series. I'm quite frankly not very good at describing things I like vs. I don't like but it's got style, fun battles, a good story, and great character dynamics.

So why is this an 8?

I feel like by cutting it down by an hour to fit it into one movie... something was lost?

Part of me is reluctant to criticize this movie since I'm not sure how much of this is Koyomi Vamp's fault specifically and how much of this was a problem with the Kizu trilogy too but even if it was in the Kizu trilogy, it's also in this movie so I think it's fair to criticize.

First, this is probably only a problem with the official Crunchyroll release but the subtitles are in white with no borders. Imagine my absolute joy when anything from the subway station to Hanekawa's thighs were too pale to properly show the subtitles so I had to guess what it was saying. It's just white, no black to contrast it, so if the background is a light color, good luck trying to read it.

I think my biggest problem is how they treat Hanekawa in this movie. Obviously, I am very biased and if this movie was 2 and a half hours of Araragi and Hanekawa, I'd be happy, but a lot of her scenes are cut, which makes her seem out of place in this movie or, I guess more accurately, that she's only in this movie because she's legally obligated or something. Like it's strictly utilitarian as to when she's in the movie. Does she NEED to be in this scene? No? Cut it. It makes her more emotional scenes feel hollow since a lot of her character developing scenes are cut. Like, I popped whenever she showed up but I'd pop if the movie was 3 hours of Hanekawa learning how to play ping pong, if this is your first Monogatari experience, I don't see many people connecting to her.

Also, they cut the very last line?

The last couple lines of the LN, read straight from the book I have in my lap, go as such:
""If you want to die tomorrow, I'm ready for my life to end tomorrow - if you care to live for today, then so will I," I vowed out loud.
Thus begins the tale of the wounded ones. A tale of blood that splattered red and dried up black. The tale of our never-to-heal, precious wound. I will tell it to no one."

Which hits especially different when Kizumonogatari translates to Wound Tale (according to, again, the official LN).

This movie? I won't spoil what happens but the line isn't nearly as dramatic and that last little bit about how this story is a tale about their wounds, never to heal?

Gone.

I was a little underwhelmed by how much Hanekawa content they cut and I'm sure if I cared to comb through the trilogy, I could point out more scenes I even forgot they cut, but this was the one moment I was like "hey, wait, where the hell was this?"

If this is the only way you have to experience Kizu, it's still a fantastic movie. Unfortunately, I don't think the Kizu trilogy is legally available anywhere (you might be able to buy the Blu-Rays or something but Koyomi Vamp is the only version on Crunchyroll) and if you don't wanna read the LN (which, again, idk if you can just "stream" that, I bought the physical box set)... this might be your only recourse.

And I would say you should 100% watch this over skipping Kizu entirely.

I just don't think this is the ideal way to watch this part of Monogatari, which is why I have it in mixed feelings despite the high score.

IMO this show peaks in the first half.

It's pretty much a boss rush of gambling games which is what I expected but as such, it depends on having good games and good bosses for Yumeko to conquer.

I think the first half from Mary to Midari is pretty good. You get a solid cast of characters (several of whom come back for more prominent roles), the games are intriguing and fun, and you have everything from fun heroes to more morally gray characters to the most hateable villain in the season.

Unfortunately, starting by the idol arc, I think it starts tanking in quality.

One of the best ... parts of the first half was seeing exactly what crazy thing both the person facing Yumeko and Yumeko were going to do. While one could argue it's a bit formulaic, it was a working formula. Both the idol arc and the last arc, I predicted how the matches were going to go.

Even Midari, who I love to bits, be for real with me, Mappa. At least let her slit someone's wrist or something, obviously she's not gonna shoot someone.

I think some characters get undeserved redemption arcs?

I didn't mind the first person to get a redemption arc (although part of that is that it's part of the best arc in the season) but one basically gets to play Karma Houdini by throwing one of her friends under the bus and a second one escapes a vast amount of her karma in her initial episode and then just waltzes in, claiming to be part of the squad.

Really, the only people who suffer any real consequences are the boys. Granted, one was an absolute prick and deserved everything he got but I thought the other one... like, he wasn't good, but in a school with a student council where the president forces someone to commit bodily harm, a psycho is going around trying to shoot people, and someone is ripping off people's fingernails... I don't know, he wasn't that bad?

All the cute girls? They end up in pretty comfy spots.

Speaking of boys, for most of the season, the main male character, Suzui, is one of the most aggressively bland MCs in anime. I mean, it's not really fair to call him the MC because it's clearly Yumeko, but he's basically a living commentary track for the games.

Speaking of which, the games!

One of the most fundamental issues with this series is the amount of time it has to spend setting up the games. Obviously, in order to have complicated games, you have to explain the rules. And since every new arc has its own game, there's probably an episode or two's worth of runtime explaining the games themselves.

Which, obviously, is preferential to "idk, numbnuts, figure it out", but it is an unfortunate side effect of the kind of series this is.

imo I thought most of the games were good. The only one I thought was a waste was the idol arc.

Really, there was nothing redeeming about the idol arc.

It wasn't actively BAD, I guess, but:
- The game wasn't good and a lot of it got skimmed over
- The one game we DID see a significant chunk of, I could predict from a mile away and comes down to pure luck (which obviously luck is a huge part of gambling but it doesn't make it very satisfying)
- The idol herself is kind of a cliche character. Oh, the idol who acts all sugary sweet on stage actually hates her fans and considers them basement-dwelling goblins? Say it ain't so!

I think this series was solid. If you don't like Yumeko, you won't like the series, but I thought she was a good, fun character to center the series on. There are some really fun characters like Mary, Itsuki, Midari, even Kiwatari. Some of the games are really fun to watch, you can see the vision for this series. I just think the second half kinda drops the ball with less memorable antagonists as well as games that were less fun and more predictable.

tl;dr: I felt this season had a lot of gross elements in it (and no, I don't mean "ew, furry show!") that made this season unpleasant to watch, from how they cover interspecies relationships (and overall the herbivore/carnivore society) to the underwhelming and unentertaining villains to the rather weird, offputing isolated scenes to how they use marine life.

--- spoilers for Beastars Final Season (episodes 1-12) below ---

In my opinion, this season (or at least this half, thanks MAL for not splitting it into 2) felt... kind of gross?

I'll be forthcoming and say I wasn't the biggest fan of Beastars seasons 1 or 2 so maybe ... it's just me, but there was something deeply unsettling throughout this whole season for me.

I think the biggest one was how interspecies relationships were handled. I never really questioned Legosi and Haru's relationship, yeah, sure, whatever, wolf and rabbit, awesome.

And to be honest, I rather would've kept it that way because trying to dig deeper into that idea, it felt like it was not the most positive towards the idea?

I'm sure the second part will (hopefully) go "actually, interspecies relationships are cool!" but it seems like more or less everyone we hear from hates the idea or are "chasers" at best.

- Legosi is considered a pervert wolf for wanting to date Haru and they say something about him going after Haru because he was attracted to her herbivore traits
- There's a new character in this season who basically explicitly says "I hate mixed children" and he's supposed to be a big, influential person in this universe so...?
- There's another new character who is a huge antagonist in the season who is the most relevant example of mixed children and I mean doesn't that speak for itself, that the most relevant example of mixed children is the ANTAGONIST?
- While not a carnivore/herbivore mix, there is another character who actively considers themselves a freak of nature and ends up killing themselves for being a mixed animal
- There's an interspecies couple who ends up basically being two chasers which ends when the carnivore goes sicko mode on the herbivore
- There's straight up a guy who yells at the TV like that asshole relative at Thanksgiving about how interspecies relationships are made up of irresponsible youngsters

And, like, a lot of these can be explained away as "well, yeah, they're NOT freaks of nature, they're NOT chasers, that one guy is just an asshole", but it just left a nasty taste in my mouth considering how many examples there are.

The Good One doesn't really show off traits of their ancestry besides the obvious species they present as either, so even if you want to use them as an example, I don't think it's a very solid one.

The interspecies relationships isn't the only example either.

There are multiple examples of people either leaving cafes or demanding the "offending" party leave the cafe because they're part of "the bad race". And sure, I've liked shows with dour, shitty worlds, but it just felt like a bitter, unpleasant, uncomfortable show to watch. Maybe Part 2 will provide some much needed relief but as of writing, only Part 1 is out and I haven't read the manga either so this is all I have to go off of.

I get that you have to show the shitty world for the new world to hit better, but when you only have the first world to judge off of, it just... is a shitty world. And there are series that I think work with this premise, but this one is not one of those.

The villains aren't really all that great either. They have this... theatrical evil to them that just seems like artificial "hate now". There are villains I love (Doflamingo, Pucci, etc) and villains I love to hate (Caesar Clown, Mahito, etc.) but they're not entertaining or interesting enough to be cool or likeable. They aren't just LOATHSOME like the latter group either, they're just annoying. I guess I'd like to see them die or be written offscreen sooner rather than later but, like, I don't enjoy seeing them on screen either.

Most of one of the villains' screentime is dedicated to his scat fixation. His fixation for HIS OWN fecal matter.

That's not mentioning the unrelated fetish mask party (that someone freshly minted as an 18-year-old is taken to), piss scene, or the guy who gets off on bloodletting via tattoo gun

There was a scene that made me so uncomfortable, I had to pause the show because it made me physically nauseous

Maybe it's because all I could see was that Mei Mei scene from JJK but seeing a baby/little kid wolf sucking on a phallic object of his grandfather's for the secretions coming out of it (granted, it was just his finger but still) while they laid in bed together and the grandfather had this, like, satisfied face while the kid was talking about the secretion being sweet and bitter... I'm sorry, no, that was nasty.

Let's talk about the marine life introduced in the series. I thought this was an interesting twist to bring in but I felt like it detracted more than it added.

We only really get one character added from the ocean and he's just... kind of unpleasant? I'm watching the Japanese dub so I can't speak to how he speaks in English but I couldn't stand how he spoke, not to mention his design. Beastars is a series whose designs... you kind of have to get used to but this one was particularly ugly.

He's fat and blubbery and he's got these beady little eyes and he's naked in multiple scenes and I did not enjoy a single scene he was a part of.

However, more than that character, I think it brings with it a bigger issue (that, admittedly, Part 2 might just say was a concept and they figure out a different ending).

He says something like "the ocean treats the food chain differently than land dwellers do" and tl;dr, they just kind of accept that in a lot of cases, they're going to get eaten by something bigger to continue the circle of life and the character doesn't really cry for his fallen comrades.

...Is this supposed to imply that the series is going to end with the land dwellers adopting an ocean-like perspective? Surely, the series isn't just going to end on "lol, sorry herbivores, you've gotta accept that the carnivores might eat you sometimes"

But, like, what exactly IS the solution here?

I don't see a way where it doesn't end in genocide, segregation, continuing to repress carnivore urges, or developing some magical meal that tastes Really, Really, Really, Really, Really good so carnivores don't want to eat meat anymore

Or just "lmao, deal with getting eaten, herbivores"

Not to mention the world already seems kind of fucked up?

I believe they mention ant shakes in a couple scenes and Juno squashes a bug with no repercussions, not to mention they serve udon with an egg in it to an herbivore which raises all kinds of questions.

Admittedly, that last point has bugged me all throughout the series but it continues here so yeah

What did I like about this season?

1. I thought the OP was great. After listening to the three OPs again, I think this one is probably my favorite? I didn't watch the OP videos for S1 and S2 again but musically, I think I like S3 Part 1's the best and the video was good.

2. The cliffhanger jumpscared me so props to them.

3. Uh... I thought Seven was nice enough for the couple episodes she was in.

I'll admit that maybe I'm in the strict minority with this as I have been multiple times, I think I'm the first negative review for this, but this season was so unpleasant to get through, it made me retroactively consider if I rated Beastars seasons 1 and 2 low enough. A complete, utter misfire for me.

If I had to describe this show in a phrase, it'd be "Moeblob Torture Porn: Season's Beatings"

Because yeah...

However, I quite enjoyed it. It's got the trappings of a VN adaptation that presumably runs through each individual route but that works if your arcs are strong, at least for me.

And I thought most of them worked... most of them.

But before I go a bit more into that, let me discuss it as a general show.

I thought it nailed the feeling of a late 90s/early 2000s romantic VN, if that makes sense? It just gave off a really good vibe, which gave me a good mindset to ... watch the show in. The music was really good, usually, shows have "serviceable" music where like it might be good or even great but it's kind of in the background for me but Kanon had music that I was like "wow, that's good" and that might be differences in mixing and stuff but yeah.

I've heard the OP before and I will say how they cut it for TV time is kind of bad but the OP itself is good.

It's really funny for me when it wants to be. Yuichi and Ayu's dynamic works so well BECAUSE I think Ayu is a really funny character.

However, I sort of got the feeling that Yuichi has to BABYSIT some of these characters rather than date them at times. There's a certain character who I'll get to in a second but, like, Jesus. Yes, Nayuki, you may like cats, but don't touch it, YOU ARE ALLERGIC. Maybe you shouldn't be eating ice cream while sick outside in the middle of winter, Shiori. So on and so forth.

Except for A Certain Character, it didn't really harm my enjoyment of the show that much, but it did kind of bother me.

I think something Kanon does well is it isn't JUST about one character, if that makes sense? When they start covering individual routes, they do try and hit a couple characters at once, which is nice.

...The problem is the first arc they try and cover is the worst one by far and an actively bad part of the story.

Let's talk about Makoto.

So, admittedly, I did find Makoto funny at times but, like, for the "tsundere" of the story, she was too childish for my tastes. I wouldn't call myself a tsundere connoisseur or anything but I felt that Makoto was the most childish and it was frustrating to watch her. When Events happened to her, I didn't feel anything for her, I was just waiting for her arc to be over so she'd fuck off. She kind of looks like Asuka from Evangelion and that didn't help at all because Asuka is so much better.

It doesn't help that this is the arc where, unless you're a Nayuki fan, every other character seems to just dip for a few episodes. Mai fan? Oops. Shiori fan? Sorry. Ayu fan? Better luck next time. It's not JUST a Makoto arc, technically, but unlike the other arcs, the character who kind of shares these episodes with Makoto doesn't... really do much? Outside of the Makoto arc, I can't really tell you anything Mishio did. She's fine, I guess, but she's unfortunately mostly confined to the worst part of the story.

I can't really go into more detail without going into explicit spoilers but Something Happens to her and it was actively uncomfortable in the worst way to watch it happen. Like, it's a Key show, I pretty much got what I expected otherwise but this just felt gross.

The Makoto arc actively turns up the flaws Kanon has and when I was watching it, my opinion of the show went from like a 9 to a 6 and it's a testament to the rest of the show that it got to an 8.

Next, ironically, I think is the best arc of the show. Mai's more or less your standard kuudere imo and I can take or leave them but I thought she was kind of cool. She feels the least like an Actual Baby and I thought her dynamic with Sayuri was sweet. It blends Mai and Sayuri's arcs together well and I thought Mai's story was really engaging. Not to mention the kind of cool... hobby she does. It was nice having a little taste of action.

I liked Shiori's design but I thought her arc was... fine. It wasn't as gripping as Mai's but it wasn't as offensive as Makoto's. My biggest problem with the character is she has this catchphrase where she's like "I don't like guys who say that sort of thing" to stuff Yuichi says and idk, catchphrases in general are hit or miss with me. It just made Shiori seem kind of picky, I guess? High maintenance? Idk, it was not giving good vibes.

I dunno, the box cutter scene was nice (I mean... not "nice" per se but it was a good scene) and I did sort of like her relationship with her sister but something felt off. The ending to the arc kind of felt underwhelming too. For all the flaws of Makoto's arc, it at least had a conclusive ending. Mai's arc also had a solid ending, but while it ends up working out in the end, I was like "wait, that's it? We're just moving on?" when Shiori's arc ended.

I'm gonna put a pause on Ayu's arc and talk about Nayuki's arc first.

I thought Nayuki was too moebloby for me. She's not as CHILDISH as Makoto but idk, I never got into Nayuki. She seemed too cutesy and a collection of ~cute~ moments with how much she likes strawberries and cats (that she can't touch or she'll get all sniffly) and "fight!" and she's ~so sleepy~. Laid it on too thick imo.

Anyway, the arc. The Moment felt kind of comedic. Like, I knew what was coming so I felt some dread but then it looked kinda goofy when it happened. It also cuts to the snow bunny breaking a lot and that kinda made me giggle too.

Otherwise, solid arc. My only problem is since this came around the end of the series... why is Yuichi more or less an amnesiac? I guess it HAS been seven years but I thought it'd be something supernatural and they'd explain it but, like... I never really understood why. I thought it'd be related to the town or something but I guess he just has a shitty memory. He was kinda shitty to Nayuki at times in general tbh.

Okay, back to Ayu.

I do think she's cute and I really liked her on screen but it's a Key show, we've gotta have drama! I guess but it would've been nice to see Yuichi and Ayu solve the problem together instead of benching her. I liked that episode or two where Yuichi and Ayu were able to breathe and just focus on each other instead of having to deal with a bunch of junk from other people.

I do think it loops around to a good ending though. I didn't really mind how this show ends given the tone of the show. It felt like a sappy moeblob earnest show that loves to put their moeblobs into a blender so something like this kind of fits? I don't mind something like this ending if feels like it'd match the show before it, which is more than I can say for other shows.

My one complaint is Ayu just... looks like a child. And that never changes. She is a cutie but it doesn't help the feeling that Yuichi is babysitting vs. dating these girls.

I do have my complaints with this show but I think it's a good show for what you are expecting it to be. If you wanna see a dramatic tearjerker romance story with lots of cute girls, you could do much worse.

I was surprised quite often at seeing the "halftime" marker which to me feels like a show is doing its job because it doesn't feel like a drag to watch. Other than the Makoto arc, I was entertained, I never outright cried but I did tear up quite a few times so props.

If you're looking for a bittersweet anime to watch in the winter, Kanon might be up your alley.

...Also they never actually showed Ayu eating Akiko's jam, fuck you, Key, you're a bunch of frauds and hacks

I wasn't looking forward to this tbh but I do like to watch all the WSJ adaptations when they come out so I kinda owed it to EluSam to check it out.

I read most of this (I think up to E10) in the manga before the anime came out and found it boring and dry and... that did not change.

It's kind of a boring, dry anime that gives "history textbook" vibes. I genuinely could not tell you what a couple of Tokiyuki's retainers' characters are supposed to be. Not to mention the antagonists are comically evil. If this wasn't a shonen anime, I wouldn't doubt ... for a second they'd all be rapists. It's so overdone that I was shocked when an antagonist did something that wasn't "nyeh, I'm gonna rip children's tongues out and make them slaves and I'm gonna build a harem of women after killing their husbands!"

Not to mention how UGLY they are. One has buckteeth and can speak with his ears, one has big-ass bug eyes, one has creepy eyes and a painted face, one has ants crawling all over his body at all times, it's just an unpleasant show to watch.

For what it's worth, CloverWorks did put a lot into this anime. There are points in this anime where it's very well animated and they have a lot of fun (I'd hope, at least) doing cool things that you wouldn't normally see in a middling WSJ adaptation. Maybe it's because the director has a sense of style (I don't know who directed this, admittedly, but, I mean, just look at it) and knows that, frankly, this series needs all the help it can get, but it was cool.

That being said, and this is kind of unavoidable given how often they're on horseback (which makes my faith in a Steel Ball Run anime just sooooo high), but it'll switch between CGI and not for when they're on horses and it's not, like, awful, but it was noticeable, at least for me.

I did like a couple of the characters. The Emperor's son was cool for the all of one scene he appeared in. Tokiyuki himself is okay. I like the main antagonist, I guess?

Another thing is that the main cast (Yorishige aside) are all little kids? Like, Tokiyuki is NINE (apparently not young enough to avoid a BDSM joke according to this show but that's neither here nor there). I'm no historian so I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the show but idk, it's kind of weird to watch this show and then remember "oh, they're all elementary schoolers". I get that a lot of anime involve high schoolers saving the world against eldritch gods and 1000-year-old vampires and shit but a 16-year-old and a nine-year-old are very far apart, it was kind of weird to me.

Like, it wasn't the worst thing you could watch. I got through it, I guess. I wasn't really actively offended by anything, it's just... not an entertaining show?

I am just... bewildered

What the hell did I even watch

This is a narrative sequel to FLCL Alternative (doesn't mention anything from Grunge so lmao... I don't really know what happened to Progressive either, other than Prog's ED, there seems to be no correlation between Progressive and any of the other FLCL sequels), you DO need to watch Alternative to understand what's happening, which is unfortunate

Haruko also isn't here for this run which... I'm actually fine with? In a vacuum, I don't think FLCL NEEDS Haruko to be FLCL and I thought Harumi was a fine enough replacement.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the two protagonists! ... I actually liked Masaki and Harumi, I'd argue other than maybe Hidomi from Progressive (which, tbh, is partly because she's got a cute design), they're my favorite protagonists from the sequels. Masaki's just kind of your average lone wolf but he has a fun dynamic with Harumi, I thought they were cute.

One of the advantages of not having Haruko around is you can just... have a normal relationship going on. This is the closest to a true romantic relationship we get in all of FLCL and I would've liked to see more. Idk, in some parallel universe, it would have been cool to see these two go on, like, a Heathers-esque run or something.

Quite literally the only other character worth mentioning is [ALTERNATIVE SPOILERS]. While obviously they just HAD to pull from FLCL OG to poke the nostalgia spot, we haven't seen anyone from any of the FLCL sequels appear in the other sequels so they kinda feel like they live in their own universe. I kinda assumed Grunge was a follow-up to Alternative because it had the same "oh, Earth sucks, let's go to Mars" deal but this one actually brings someone back from Alternative to have a large role.

It was a nice touch and I think using her to contrast with the teenage terrorist duo as well as someone actually growing to adulthood in FLCLand would have been interesting.

...I haven't mentioned something very important though.

...this series is only three episodes long.

This doesn't give us much time to explore the teenage MCs OR [SPOILERS] and on top of that, they're trying to do WAY too much for the three episodes they are allotted.

There's parallel dimensions and "imaginary time" and Atomsk is a whale now and what the fuck is this?

This feels completely different from FLCL. We're at the point where teenage terrorists are trying to blow up a giant tower for ~reasons~ and there are weird ghosts only one of the two can see and there are alternative dimensions and he somehow reached into "imaginary time" to reveal more of the tower and like what does this have to do with FLCL?

For what it's worth, and I'll give it mad props for this, it doesn't really take much from FLCL OG. No LAST DINOSAUR (I can't say for sure if it played any OG FLCL tunes or not but I didn't notice any if it did), no characters from the original FLCL, no "Never Knows Best", while there's still, like, Medical Mechanica, this is more or less its own story (or, rather, a sequel to Alternative that tries to stand out from FLCL OG's shadow)

But, on the other foot, the LAST (as of writing) FLCL season was not the time to do this.

This is what Alternative should've been (timing-wise). Let Progressive be the victory lap and Alternative be what pushes FLCL forward. But when Alternative and Grunge (more or less) are also following similar beats to FLCL OG, Shoegaze just sticks out like a sore thumb.

It also completely eschews any pretensions of having mecha battles or any battles at all for that matter which makes me wonder, combined with Grunge's shitty 3D and both Grunge and Shoegaze only being three episodes each, if they just didn't have the budget?

Why did they bother making these then?

No, seriously, who was asking for a second helping of FLCL sequels?

The ending is just kind of a wet fart, I don't even know what to say.

Like, what am I supposed to do with this?

It's just kind of a thud, not just for FLCL as a series, not just for the Alterna-verse, but even just for Shoegaze as an isolated entry.

It feels like I wasted my (admittedly small amount of, given the short run) time.

It's just... sure, whatever. I'd talk about it more but I don't want to shift this into spoiler territory.

And that's how FLCL as a franchise ends.

I hadn't heard much about Shoegaze going into this and... um... yep. That'd sure explain it.

I actually enjoyed a decent portion of this but then it just kinda goes off the rails and swerves straight into a ditch/telephone pole combo and I don't know what you want me to do with this, Adult Swim.

In a way, I'd prefer this ended with Grunge because at least Grunge was kind of coherent? Sure, it sucked ASS (also, I feel this is as good a time as any to mention there are 0 rockmen in Shoegaze so... um... yeah...) but it had an ending that would make sense. Sure, it's also kind of a "lol"-tier ending but tbh, that's kind of been par for the course with these sequels.

If Alternative and Grunge were like a cat giving me a dead mouse and expecting me to be happy, this is like a cat bringing me a Nebulous Object of Unknown Origin.

I do not know what you want from me, Adult Swim

It's not really something whose ending you can ignore either because if there was a way to cut it off at a good time, I would.

It's not without its charm, I did enjoy the main duo and it actually starts out pretty strong/intriguing but by the end, it's just... like... what are we doing here.

If you do want to dive into the FLCL sequels, IMO, you're better off only watching Progressive and pretending Alternative/Grunge/Shoegaze don't exist.

I'd say Alternative is slightly better than Shoegaze so it'd be OG > Progressive > Alternative > Shoegaze > Grunge but trust me, past Progressive, it's just... like... come on, man

My opinions on the FLCL sequels have swung wildly and have surprised me both pleasantly and negatively.

...I'm sure it'll come as no surprise when I say that Grunge is utter dogshit and the most worthless anime I've seen.

FLCL has never been One Piece in terms of length but Grunge takes the piss by taking the already breezy, movie-sized 6 episode runtime of OG, Progressive, and Alternative and cutting that in half.

Additionally, it repeats a lot of the mistakes of Alternative and adds new ones on top.

First, let's talk about a couple I didn't talk about that have stuck around from Alternative (between that and forgetting ... to mention the Haruko rap scene... I should've been a bit more thorough in my Alternative review but whatever).

First, the general idea of "fuck this planet, we're heading to Mars". I probably mentioned this in passing but the Earth (or at least the city that Grunge takes place in) is an absolute shithole now. It's so gross that they show a bunch of flies buzzing around and eating stuff like the termites from SpongeBob and honestly, I don't want to see that? It's kind of nasty? Why would you do this to me, Adult Swim?

Anyway, I didn't like that plotline in Alternative and I don't like it in Grunge. Sure, a world where giant irons can just live in your world and maybe smush you isn't ideal but I never got the sense that it was a worthless planet and we gotta start over.

The other one is just... why is Haruko here?

Grunge at least makes a couple references to Atomsk so it's not like it ignores it completely but like Alternative, it just kind of pays lip service to the idea and Haruko is just fucking with these kids because she's bored, I guess?

Why is she playing the role of the mayor's girl? Why is she working with the yakuza? Only one of the three protagonists even has an overflow, she's just kind of there.

That last line has two big problems with Grunge hidden in it but let me take a little detour first.

Why the fuck is The Thing here

I'm sorry, it's been a couple years since I've last seen the original FLCL but when were there big rockmen in my FLCL

In fact, why is the yakuza here?

It feels like they're throwing shit in here to be throwing shit in here because this is the fourth season of FLCL, quick, come up with anything so we don't have to bring back Naota and Samejima!

Speaking of The Thing, let's talk about the fact that there are THREE protagonists in a THREE-episode series.

It's the same problem Alternative had but worse because Grunge decides to focus on each protagonist for an episode but, like, the other two are still kinda there, it's not like an anthology. And this results in protagonists so forgettable that it takes all my brainpower not to call the girl "Oshi no Ko" and I genuinely can't remember The Thing's name and I just watched it (I just checked, it's Shonari... I thought it was Shotaro/Shutaro).

I probably only remember Not Naota's because it's literally Shin.

And here's the thing (as opposed to The Thing, haha), right

It's not just not an anthology, it's kind of sort of one of those stories where the episodes tie into each other. Girl makes The Thing a katana and The Thing uses katana in Not Naota's story, stuff like that.

Which would theoretically be fine but that means in this THREE EPISODE story, they reuse a decent amount of footage.

This THREE EPISODE story, mind you, that looks godawful because they decided to do it in shitty 3D. I couldn't tell if my computer was crashing out or if it was just the awful animation sometimes. For whatever bad things I have said about Alternative, it is at least decently produced. It looks fine, it's not as hyper as OG or Progressive but what is there is well-made.

Grunge doesn't even have that going for it.

Speaking of the OG, as per usual, you've got your fanservice. The usual suspects are here (including LAST DINOSAUR, which I audibly groaned when I heard it) but this time, we've got an unpleasant surprise. Commander Amarao is back! I mean, I guess he's fine for what he does in the story but this is "Never Knows Best on a jenga block" levels of fanservice that didn't need to be here.

The music sure is. *nods*

Moving on.

I did mention that only one of the three protagonists has an overflow, right? And I do mean AN overflow. One.

That wouldn't be so bad but it's a symptom of the bigger problem. There are basically no mech fights, we get like one or two fights against faceless yakuza thugs (literally, I'm pretty sure they have the same face canonically) and then a short fight between Haruko and a mech.

This series has bad animation, characters you'll forget the second after you watch them, it continues to actively ruin the world of FLCL, it is just a godawful series with nothing worthy of note.

I've said for series I've found godawful before that AT LEAST it's useful for completionists who are fans of the author (usually because at least there's a much better source material that it's adapting so you can see what it was MEANT to be after). This isn't even that. If you like FLCL, hell, even if you liked Progressive or Alternative, DO NOT WATCH THIS!!!

Only watch it if you are a masochist and you truly want to see how bad it is for yourself.

The only saving grace is that at least Shoegaze can't be worse, right?

Right?

Hey, wait... no, no, no, wait, wait, wait-

Tbh, I went in expecting these FLCL sequels to be dogshit at worst and mid at best but this one... actually kind of rocks?

I watched this after Alternative so maybe it just looked better by comparison but I think the major thing that makes it better than Alternative (and just a good show in general) is that it's LIVELY

Progressive dials back how many characters we focus on to really just the one. There's also Ide (and as per usual, Haruko), but Hidomi is the star of the show. She's kind of antisocial but I thought she was a nice, simple, pleasant protagonist to center the ... show on.

Because while the show does focus a lot on Hidomi, this is also by and large Haruko's show.

Which brings me to the most important character I haven't brought up yet, Jinyu. I think the idea of Haruko having a... twin? I'm just gonna say twin. I think the idea of Haruko having a twin who is the responsible other half of Haruko is an inspired idea that gives Haruko something to chew on other than to be the WaCkY girl who chases after Atomsk. No pun intended.

...although speaking of which, what the fuck is up with the vore, Adult Swim? You got something you wanna tell us? I did not need to see Haruko with a bulging belly for an extended period of time.

I will say though, there were a few undercooked characters, particularly the ones keeping an eye on the situation? The "champion" eyepatch old guy and the baseball guy or whatever, did not care an iota about them. Ide's friends are whatever, Aiko is slightly cooler but really, once you get past the main cast, there just isn't enough time to devote to the others.

Even Hidomi gets an episode in the middle where she becomes "happy" because headphone malfunction or whatever and it was kinda cringey (although nothing can beat that Haruko rap in Alternative which I forgot to mention) and it just kind of gives the show an excuse to do nothing with Marco after he overflows.

When I reviewed Alternative, I kinda rolled my eyes at a lot of the FLCL OG references and while a lot of those (although, notably, there was not a drop of "Never Knows Best" which is good because I feel like that's something that should've stayed OG-exclusive) references are still in Progressive, I think Progressive working more as a canonical sequel (at least from Haruko's perspective, we do not see the human FLCL OG characters again, which I am fine with) makes it feel more palatable. By the time LAST DINOSAUR played (the second time), for example, it didn't feel cheap and pandery to me (although it probably "objectively" was), maybe it's because I was in more of a good mood but it felt earned, more or less?

Speaking of LAST DINOSAUR, The Pillows are back and while I think this is the worst of the 3 EDs between OG, Alt, and Prog, it's decent. There were some great tracks on here, such as THE THIRD EYE. While it does have fondness for playing songs from the original FLCL, there are some good tracks outside of the OG soundtrack.

I saw someone call this the Force Awakens of FLCL and I think that's true. This is less of, ironically, a progression in FLCL and more of a victory lap but given that this is a belated sequel that Adult Swim ordered because "FLCL OG good", I consider it a victory that we even got something this good. This feels like a comeback album from a band who had been making bad albums for a decade or two and we get a nice clean fresh breath of air, even if it's just them revisiting their old stomping grounds. Is it as good as their breakout hit? No, but it's just nice to see an album that proves they can pick up a guitar.

(I compared it a lot to Alternative in this review and yes, it is far better than Alt, but I do think Progressive is a legitimately good show in its own right, although it's obviously not as good as the OG FLCL)