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SPOILERS FOR MIRAI NIKKI'S ORIGINAL RUN

Your feelings on the original Mirai Nikki's ending will come into play here

I personally enjoyed it, I thought it was sad that they couldn't get together but the bittersweet ending fit.

Well, luckily for those of you who didn't like it, you get your wish.

Although honestly, this whole episode is kind of taking a dump on Mirai Nikki's grave.

The first half is some tacky beach episode where for some reason, despite third-world Yuno having friends already shown in the ending of Mirai Nikki, she's now friends with Hinata, Mao, Akise, and Kousaka because God forbid she doesn't meet them. A couple ... of the other diary holders get pushed in which I thought was weird?

One of the girls at Eighth's orphanage is there with Ai who, according to the Mirai Nikki ending, is happily in a relationship with Marco and pregnant with a child. But here, she's part of Sixth's cult and scouting out boys for Sixth. When Sixth gets her hands on her chosen boy, he tries to kiss her and she slaps him. Which would be bad enough and a waste of time but Sixth was a victim of consistent, perpetual sexual abuse in the second world? Am I supposed to find this funny?

Not to mention it's kind of discussed that Deus will die soon in the third world either but all that's good for is a couple "jokes" with Eleventh, no time to explore that.

Instead, how about invalidating who third-world Yuno is as a person so second-world Yuki can have his fleshlight back?

It's honestly a horrifying thought that third-world Yuno is essentially manipulated and brainwashed into leaving her friends and family to become the new vessel for first-world Yuno and if that was how it was framed, that could be interesting. If this wasn't just a one-episode OVA, it could be interesting to see first-world Yuno do something so desperate to try and get back together with Yuki but it is a one-shot and it isn't framed like that.

Instead, nobody from her friends or family except Akise get to say anything about it and Akise just tells her to treat him well... excuse me?

Dogshit, fanfiction ending. Unless you're desperately needing to hit the copium on Yuki x Yuno, don't watch.

I struggle to call this a "good" show but it's definitely entertaining.

Like seven different girls have their tits out, nipples included, two of those are either during or shortly after their rape-involved backstories, there is a lot of shitty CGI, the MC is a crybaby, it has flaws for sure but it's a fun show and that's all that I can ask for, given some of the shit I've seen this year alone

Unlike a certain show I've seen that also has 12 holders of the titular object, this DOES have fun battles and stuff throughout, which I am very happy with. Given that there are ... 12 diary holders and 26 episodes, the pacing is pretty snappy and it's always moving, which does have its drawbacks.

Let's talk about the diary holders.

The First (aka our MC) is, as I described above, a bitch. A whiny crybaby. I don't remember him being this insufferable in the manga but maybe it's like Zenitsu (who I actually like but that's neither here nor there) where having to HEAR him makes him worse. He does EVENTUALLY grow some balls and we even get a good arc where he's working in harmony with Yuno as a pair and pulling off a pretty wicked plan but even that kind of falls to the wayside and he kind of regresses.

The Second, let's be honest, it's probably why you're here. I wouldn't say she's my FAVORITE yandere but she has earned the title of Yandere Queen for a reason. Yuno is batshit insane and carries the anime whenever it's dragging by sheer yandere power. My problem is less with her and more with the First. Bro, just kiss the girl. "waaaah! waaaah! I have a hot psycho killer girlfriend!" Second-world problems, my man, hit the weights, take a shower, get a fucking clue. Like, I know that's considered a problem in-story too but even so, I still have to watch this story with my own eyes, you can't just make him insufferable and go "erm, it's part of the story!" like yeah, it is, but you know?

Third, lmao, moving on (for what it's worth, he did his part well)

I thought the Fourth was okay. I enjoyed his part in the story, even if his end result was a little underwhelming.

I thought the Fifth was unlikeable. And, yeah, I guess that's probably the point but it would have been nice to smack the piss out of that wimpy coward. I guess good job?

FUCK the Sixth. I guess, like with the Fifth, I'm not supposed to like her, but I would've at least stomped on her handball or something for what she tried to do with Yuno. I know this was the rape backstory that WAS in the manga but tbh, I kinda feel like this one was less necessary? I get why it's here, I guess, but considering what her life is like outside of the sexual abuse, I don't think she'd be a very pleasant person anyway.

Speaking of rape, the Seventh! I actually really like the Seventh. Other than Second and Ninth, they're probably my favorite diary holder. They provide a nice balance to the main protagonists and I think their arc was one of the highlights.

I genuinely have no feelings on the Eighth. She's just kinda there. I guess she's "the good diary holder" but I didn't feel much of a connection there.

The Ninth is probably the second fan favorite and for good reason. We get lots of time to bond with her, she's got a decent little subplot, nice fights with Yuki, I'm glad it wasn't JUST Yuki and Yuno (although I do have a gripe to discuss later).

I honestly forget the Tenth even exists a lot of the time. Maybe it's because they end up befriending Yuki after but like he's just some weird dog boy.

Tbh, I kinda wish the Eleventh was in it more? It's not that I like him so much, I've just GOTTA have more but... there's no real arching antagonist, it's just the author pointing Yuno at the nearest target and firing. I feel like the Eleventh would make a lot of sense as the main antagonist but he's just a diary holder at this point.

The Twelfth isn't in it much but he's funny. I kinda wish he was in it more because he doesn't get much screentime and is the subplot to someone else's arc.

Other than that, I really liked Akise. I kinda forgot he even existed before watching the anime so it was a nice surprise to see him again.

Although speaking of Akise... I don't really get why the Survival Game even exists? Deus Ex Machina HAS an assistant, why didn't he just go "fuck you, Murmur, you're God now"? I guess she's shown time and time again to be biased and not qualified but you're telling me a five year old child is?

I guess maybe they convinced him it'd be funnier to do a Survival Game?

But also, how exactly does this work?

Deus Ex Machina is dying and it doesn't seem like he was attacked, it just seems like natural causes.

So if someone were to win this Survival Game, are they immortal? Are they eventually going to have to pick a successor? Gods in this series seem as susceptible to physical attacks as a normal human being but they also don't seem to age? How exactly did Deus start dying?

Speaking of Deus, I wanna talk about Murmur for a second. I thought the post-ED epilogue skits were a nice touch, I found them chuckle-worthy and while you could have easily done a preview, I think it made me connect a lot more with Murmur than in the manga.

I mentioned rape earlier and I feel like this leans into the trashier aspect of the show. Basically every attractive female has their tits out at one point or another in the show. Second, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, both Hinata and Mao, even Yuki's crush pre-Yuno? Like, I'm not deducting points for it or anything but damn.

Also, it's very Yuki/Yuno-centric? Which, yeah, absolute masterclass of a doctorate thesis there, SSP, "the main character is the focus of the show" but idk, I think it would've been cool to see some non-First/Second diary holders squaring off. Imagine Fourth v. Ninth v. Twelfth or Fifth v. Eighth.

So how does this death game end?

I actually really like it, although if you watch all the way to the end past the last ED, it starts poking at it to undo it, which I am not happy with.

I won't spoil how it ends but it's a nice, bittersweet end that I think fits the story.

Idk, it's kind of a junk food series. I wouldn't say it's an Objectively Good, scholarly masterpiece. It's kind of schlocky and more of a junk food show that you can blow through in a week or two. If you wanna watch a yandere go sicko mode on a bunch of fools, I would recommend. I don't think it's for everyone but it certainly has an audience, it's very popular for a reason.

I truly think this isn't worth even spoiler warning. This should be in flashing lights above S1 before anyone starts. It's truly a DIRE, DIRE ending. Awful. But I'm too straight-laced to let it rock raw so if you see this review, good on you.

tl;dr: Stop before, like, the last 5 minutes of the last episode, I promise you it's not worth finishing.

--- OREIMO ENDING SPOILERS BELOW ---

First, let's talk about the stuff I did like, because until the last 5 minutes? It's actually pretty good, definitely a solid payoff to the series.

This is, of course, assuming you are a Kirino fan. While I would ... have been fine with any of the major girls winning, I probably would have picked Kirino if I had the pencil. After all, this is "There's No Way My LITTLE SISTER Is This Cute", not "There's No Way My Chuuni Kouhai Is This Cute" or "There's No Way My Plain Childhood Friend Is This Cute" or "There's No Way My Little Sister's Yandere Friend Is This Cute" or... well, you get the point.

Even if you aren't a Kirino fan, she does get some form of just desserts at the very end. She does finally find out after fucking around for so long.

I thought the rejection scenes were pretty good. Ayase's was probably my least favorite but the 3 we get in this bundle of episodes is good. It's actually pretty cool of Kyousuke to go out of his way to let everyone down and take it on the chin. The Kuroneko one in particular... OOF. Damn. I can't say I was the biggest Kyousuke x Kuroneko fan in the world but that one was rough to watch, in a good way.

The Kanako one was also kinda raw. Not because it was sad but because she wasn't torn up about it like Kuroneko or Ayase, she just went "yeah? word? well, fuck you, I'm gonna be a big idol and you're gonna regret this!" and you get it, girl! You show him.

Although... I feel like Kanako was just... kinda there? I did like the scenes she was in but she wasn't around long enough and/or consistently enough for me to have an attachment to Kyousuke x Kanako like I did Kyousuke x Kirino or Kyousuke x Kuroneko.

So yeah, he decides to marry Kirino and they're finally honest about their feelings. We get some nice closure on a couple of characters and we get some Kirino Moments. We honestly get a pretty decent look on how a Kirino End would look, which is nice. It could have ended with Kirino accepting Kyousuke's proposal in the streets and that would have been a fine ending but we do get a little more.

We even get a good sendoff for the Game Development Club of all people?

How Manami gets rejected is also cool. She's willing to be the voice of reason when the otakus kinda gas up Kyousuke x Kirino. They're all kinda biased and going "yes, siblings, please marry, that'd be so cool!" so to have one friend put her foot down and go "what the fuck is this?" I thought was nice. There's just one problem... let's talk about the True Ending

You see, if I just stopped writing here and cut out all the foreshadowing, you'd assume Kyousuke and Kirino got married or something, right?

After all, he rejected all his other haremettes (except one, I'll get to that in a moment).
After all, he proposed to Kirino and she accepted.
After all, this series is called "There's No Way My Little Sister Can Be This Cute"
After all, we are in novel 17 iirc and we're definitely in the final episodes of season 2, anyone actively repulsed by incest would be gone or hatewatching by now.
After all, HE LITERALLY RENTS OUT A NICE CHURCH AND KISSES HER WHILE SHE'S IN A WEDDING DRESS AND HE'S IN A SUIT

...Well, not quite.

You see, Kirino secretly whispers something to Kyousuke and they agree on... something.

It's not revealed until later that Kirino and Kyousuke agree to *checks notes* being in an incestual relationship until graduation and then being "normal siblings" again.

I'm sorry... WHAT

Bro, you took her first kiss. That shit's gone now.

You spent like $300 on a nice wedding ring. Sure, she gave it back but, oh right, YOU REJECTED EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAD AN INTEREST IN YOU (except one, wait just a second)

And this wasn't just before you two made this agreement, you rejected Manami AFTER you two agreed to this. While one could very reasonably argue she probably didn't deserve to marry Kyousuke anyway after how shitty she was to them and how meddling she was in his and Kirino's relationship (although I don't know, y'all kinda proved her right in the end), you would think you'd want to hedge your bets, right?

So, in the end, Kyousuke ended up with... um... nobody?

This isn't the first series I've seen where the protagonist of a harem show ends up with nobody but Kyousuke isn't a shithead, he's just Milquetoast Harem MC tier (with a side of incest, of course). Bro did not deserve this (although Manami's also the only one who he really had any right dating in the first place, I'm pretty sure the others are, at oldest, a freshman in high school).

And he did this TO HIMSELF. You could argue he didn't know when he was rejecting Kuroneko or Ayase that he'd make this agreement with Kirino but he sure didn't seem conflicted to only have that very short relationship with Kirino.

Oh, so sorry you started crying out like you were being disemboweled, Kuroneko. Sorry you ripped up your Destiny Record and stomped all over your precious memories. I wanted to play husband and wife for, like, A MONTH

It's not even thematically consistent.

You're telling me this story about how a little sister reconnects with her big brother and learns to embrace her otaku, degenerate side ends with her walling off her big brother into the "siblingzone" (obviously, your siblings should be in the "siblingzone" irl but as they repeat over and over, eroges [or in this case, anime] and real life are not the same) and going "yeah, I love you, but let's just be normal siblings".

???

Who is this ending for?

It's not for Kirino fans, you ripped it out of their hands. It's not for Kuroneko or Ayase or Manami or Kanako fans, you went out of your way to have Kyousuke reject them.

Is it for the people who wouldn't approve of an incestual ending?

WHY WOULD THEY BE WATCHING THIS? Even if they were watching this and they somehow made it to the end, my brother in Christ, you are the one who wrote "THERE'S NO WAY MY LITTLE SISTER CAN BE THIS CUTE", who would be shocked if they ended up together? It'd be one thing if at, like, the end of S1, he was like "yeah, my little sister is cute but I only have platonic feelings for her" and then S2 was him building his harem or, god forbid, picking one girl and developing a relationship with them. But it's not, they waited until the LAST FIVE MINUTES of the FINAL EPISODE to go "sike".

It's a chickenshit cop-out of an ending where no one wins...

Except Saori, baby

We didn't see Kyousuke reject Saori so by default, she won

Saori Sweep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtLXOKC1SHE

I thought this season was two steps forward, two steps back.

More or less, everything good about Oreimo S1 is still here. Good cast, funny, etc

However, some characters get more attention than others, which is a shame.

I did come to appreciate Ayase in this season, the second episode of this season is one of my favorite in the series, they did her yandere side justice this season.

I've kinda poked fun at how Saori's just... the glue that holds the dysfunctional girls together but she actually does get character development here, which was sorely needed and greatly appreciated. However, I felt her appearance at the end was ... kind of rushed? Idk, I still felt like she was otaku Saori for the entirety of the season until she went to the homecoming party (more on that in a second) as Saori Makishima and she was flaunting her good looks and rich girl personality like huh?

I feel like pacing is my biggest issue with this series, a lot of things only take place over two episodes at most when you could hypothetically get a lot more content out of some of these plot points.

I did enjoy the new character in the game development club over in the Oreimo S1 Specials and while Sena does get a good scene with Kirino's male friend, we don't really see her that often, which is weird considering the increased focus Kuroneko got and considering both Kyousuke and Kuroneko are part of the game development club...

Speaking of Kuroneko, I finally see the vision of Kyousuke x Kuroneko. I did appreciate how they wrote the two together in their scenes, although for all of the screentime she gets, she's basically in the exact same spot she started in.

However, this did confirm that Oreimo is indeed a harem where a sprawling cast of cute girls all fall for a milquetoast MC and while that's a fine series normally, it still befuddles me why Oreimo did this.

I will say though, it kind of loses the plot on the otaku stuff? We do see it come up but it's mainly for jokes or for background information when they decide to indulge in flashbacks so we can learn more about the characters.

This season, for better or for worse, is more about the personal drama involving the characters. Which I guess makes sense. But this season only really works if you enjoyed the comedy and/or characters of Oreimo and wanted to see more of them and their story, I don't think it's as thematically striking as the original.

Unfortunately, this season also kind of has a "novelist arc" like S1, the mock exam arc just felt like filler? It formally introduces one of the characters into "I love you, Kyousuke" territory but he just immediately turns her down? Maybe in the S2 Specials, it'll do more with the parents but it just felt like wish fulfillment to show that no, it's not just Kirino/Kuroneko/Manami who likes Kyousuke, it's basically every notable female character in the series (Sena excluded).

Generally speaking, if you enjoyed Oreimo S1, you'll like this. If you didn't, then you won't like this.

If you've seen Oreimo, you can probably extrapolate what you thought about S1 here.

Broadly speaking, I thought Oreimo was funny and had a good cast and could be touching at times and I agree with that in these specials too.

However, this is more Ore...

The first episode is the ~true~ ending to S1 (which kind of hurts S1 in retrospect since now there's just a random episode there to hedge your bets that can now be discarded) and it was fine. I kinda skipped around since a lot of it is just repurposed from the end of S1 but I got the main jist of it.

The ... second episode is where it starts cooking.

If you are a Kuroneko fan, you will be eating good here. I like Kuroneko but she's probably my least favorite of the main girls? She's not bad but I never really got the spark between her and Kyousuke and this did not change over the course of these specials.

The main thing I think makes these specials pop is the new character, Sena. I wouldn't mind if they brought her into the fold with Kirino and Kuroneko and Saori, she provides a new layer of imouto power to the series since Kuroneko is Big Sis and Saori

Anyway, I thought she had the best joke in the specials, perhaps even the whole series up to this point, obviously I won't spoil it but yeah, I think she has her own niche which would fit in alongside the imouto pervert, chuuni dork, and... uh... whatever Saori watches? She was building a mech in one episode so I'm headcanoning her as a Gundam fan.

Other than that, I appreciate that they do a little more with the game development club. Oreimo S1's novelist arc kinda lost me when Kirino went from legitimately terrible, unreadable garbage to published novelist in the same episode so seeing Kuroneko and Sena actually having to work together (to make something recognized as shit, no less) is actually such an improvement.

The Imo finally comes back in the final episode and honestly, I kind of missed her presence in these specials, so it was nice to see.

I think these specials heavily depend on two questions:
1. How much do you like Oreimo
2. How much do you like Kuroneko

If you like Oreimo a lot, check it out. As someone who may or may not have accidentally watched a few episodes of Oreimo S2 before watching these specials, you're going to need it.

If you like Kuroneko, definitely check it out.

I'd imagine if you're reading a review for the SPECIALS of Oreimo, you should probably check this out unless you really don't like Kuroneko.

Even if you don't like Oreimo because of Kirino specifically, Kirino isn't in this a whole lot so you can enjoy what Oreimo could be if Kirino was just Thanos snapped off the face of the planet.

There are many questions in anime that have puzzled even the wisest of scholars.

What IS the One Piece? Would Gojo win? Did Hachikuji actually stutter?

And among those riddles, one stands tall. One stands above the rest.

Is there possibly a way that Kyousuke Kousaka's little sister can be THAT cute?

...I actually thought she was fine?

To be honest, if they REALLY wanted spineless wish fulfillment, they could have easily made Kirino some fluffball "do your best, onii-chan!" little sis but giving her some kick at least makes it seem like he's TRYING to fulfill a somewhat realistic big brother x little sister ship (...I assume, I don't ... have a little sister).

Which I guess should bring me to a big warning flag in case you somehow are not aware:

This is a story that is a big brother x little sister romance. If that is something that you are not only not into but you can't even stomach watching it, obviously do not watch "There's No Way My Little Sister Can Be This Cute"

But yeah, poorly written tsunderes can get on my nerves because it's simply just pride that stops them from asking MC to fuck them but, like, Kirino has so much on the line, even taking Kyousuke out of the equation. Like, her otaku lifestyle proves time and time again to be a snakebite for her socially, so no wonder she's so defensive about it. And as for her feelings for her brother... I mean... do I even need to explain why it'd just be easier to be all tsun about it? Even if Kyousuke said "yes, sister, I love you too, let's get married", it's not like they could legally or socially do that.

Although I say that, but people seem surprisingly open to saying shit like that?

There are multiple occasions and multiple people who say something like "aw, how cute! You and Kirino are on a date!" or something like that and, yeah, they basically are but I could not imagine implying a brother and sister pair were on a date unless, like, the sister's hand was actively down her brother's pants.

I'm not saying Kirino NEVER got on my nerves but I thought she was totally fine. She even made me laugh a few times (like when she went out of her way to kick Kyousuke's door while walking to hers) AND she's a woman of culture! Not necessarily the little sister eroges but you can clearly see she loves the School Days series and as a School Days defender, I can respect the hell out of that.

I think to reduce Oreimo to "ha ha big bro wants to fuck his little sis" is a bit reductive. Yes, that is indeed part of Oreimo, but it's also got things to say about otaku culture.

Kirino is this perfect little princess but has to hide her otakuness so her family and friends aren't ashamed of her and thanks to Kyousuke, she finds her own little group of friends to spend time with and I just think that's pretty cool.

Seeing Kuroneko acting like a chuuni dork in broad daylight and Saori wearing a ridiculous outfit and speaking funny and just being themselves? That's so fire. I think there's a timeline where Kyousuke is just... a good brother and he marries Manami while he helps out Kirino so she can be her true self and find friends who appreciate her for her and this show wouldn't get the flack that it does (although, admittedly, it also likely wouldn't be nearly as popular).

IMO, speaking of her friends, I think Ayase is really the only character I didn't care for. She has some yandere moments and I do like those but for most of the season, she's kind of the puritan tsundere where she relies on Kyousuke to patch things up with Kirino but she's also like "ew, anime!"

But Kuroneko, Saori, Manami, the Kousakas, very cool.

Although, I'm kinda confused as to why they're building a harem? It seems both Kuroneko and Manami are into Kyousuke as well as Kirino and like I get Manami and ONE love rival would be fine. But Kuroneko? Hello? What is this? I never really got that vibe, I saw Kyousuke x Saori as more of a possibility.

I am far from being above a trashy harem show but, like, what's the point in a series like this? It's literally a series about how his little sister cannot be this cute and it is clearly not just speaking platonically if such a thing could exist.

Obviously Kyousuke is going to choose Kirino, why are we going through with this song and dance?

I thought it was cool how much effort they put into it that they didn't need to. Most of the episodes had unique EDs and the OP had a lot of changing visuals over the course of the series and, like, they did NOT need to do that but they went out of their way to do that.

One thing that grinded my gears was the novelist/anime little arc.

So Kirino decides to become a novelist, right? Sounds fine to me. But the first novel she writes is shitty schlocky poorly written fanfiction (mood) about how Kirino is so awesome. And that makes sense as a starting point, but within the SAME EPISODE, she becomes a highly successful novelist who is professionally published and she ends up getting an anime??

I get there's only so much time but that feels like something that could have taken a season alone if so inclined.

If you can ignore the big incestual elephant in the room, personally, I unironically enjoyed this show a lot more than I thought I would. I thought the cast was good, it was funny, it was surprisingly touching at times.

Like, I guess this is kind of the point but it kinda feels like covering your own tracks to have "There's No Way My Little Sister Can Be This Cute" be the show to talk about how people are too close-minded about otakus and how it can actually be this really cool thing but I mean, when you're right, you're right.

(I don't think I spoil anything too heavily but minor/implied spoilers ahead)

tl;dr: Fine show, not bad, but certainly not the GOAT

After watching the show that (as of writing) has seemed to take its place as the benchmark of quality on MAL, I decided it was time to tackle the Big Kahuna itself, FMA: Brotherhood.

And I was... whelmed?

I think this is kind of a "anime fan's first anime" kind of anime which is fine but this is decidedly not my first anime. I think it's a good way to introduce some newbie to longer-ish anime despite my gripes with the series.

The series, when in 2D (because ... the 3D... yeah... it was 2009, after all), looks pretty decent for its time, it hasn't aged all that poorly. I do like some of the characters (although honestly, the Elrics would be at least third on "groups of characters I'd want to have the story follow", imo), other than a couple jokes with Lust, it's something you can show to your parents, there are good things about this show.

However, I also have some big negatives.

First, the Homunculi.

I feel like I didn't get attached to most of them?

Lust was actually probably my favorite, she had a lot of Big Leader Energy to me (well, besides Father... more on him in a second) but we never really spend that much time with her. She does get a nice fight but they completely waste her character.

Gluttony and Sloth are just big strong dumbasses but Gluttony likes to eat people and Sloth is really lazy. I guess I like Gluttony a little more since I like how dumb and happy-go-lucky he is, but other than the function he has in the villain's plan, Sloth means absolutely nothing to me.

Envy... sure? There were a lot of decisions around him that I did not like in the storytelling (more on that in a second as well) but he's fine, I guess.

I hated how they handled Wrath but eventually, I grew numb to it. Sure. I can't tell if he's someone like Caesar Clown or Mahito that I just genuinely HATE and want to see the main protag smash them into the pavement or if he has "go-away heat" with me but uh... sure. Lust would've been a better sort of leader tho

Pride's appearance is stupid, I'm sorry. The ending kind of redeems it but... without spoiling it, I can't go much more in depth but I still don't like it. For being the "First Homunculus (not named Father, I guess)", I never really got any good energy going from him. Even Wrath felt more like a leader.

Greed was pretty cool but once they brought him back, it felt like it dragged him and... his partner down despite them both being great characters separately.

Speaking of Father... sure. I don't really think he's all that good of a main villain but I guess he didn't DETRACT from the story either.

Part of my problem with the storytelling is how black and white it is other than sort of how they handled Ishval.

Like, yeah, All Amestrians Are Bastards, but did everything have to be the Homunculi's fault? If the system was going to be rotten, top to bottom, I would've liked the Ishval genocide to be square on the shoulders of Amestria, not the Homunculi.

My second biggest problem is how... artificial some of the big beats feel?

Like, I saw the monologue Edward gives to Rose in like Episode 3 on YouTube years ago and I'm like "oh, cool speech" and then I see it in context and it means nothing because we just met her like 20 minutes ago.

Granted, this is assumedly part of FMA2003 Pacing which idk where that ends but that is a big black mark that I think should arguably DQ it on its own

If you have to watch a SEPARATE show to get the full impact of something (I guess you could argue this if some show's fourth season hit number one but at least that's a CONTINUATION, not what's essentially a redo), especially a show that isn't legally available online afaik, I mean...

I did not watch FMA2003 so all the early moments especially didn't hit for me but even in the later episodes, this was occasionally true.

For example, I think it's around episode 20, but Edward's digging at a ruin site in the rain and his automail stumps ~ache~ from ~the rain~ and he's throwing up and bro, give me a BREAK.

I straight up started laughing when Hohenheim was taking that picture and started crying, it just looked goofy to me.

To be fair, there's an episode focused on the Ishvalan genocide and that's actually such a good episode. If it was more about the Ishvalan genocide and the aftermath of that, that would have been great.

Scar is by far and away my favorite character, it's nice to see him go from a villain hellbent on revenge to a pretty chill guy. I enjoyed whenever he was on screen, I would have had no issues if it was him and May Chang on a road trip or something, top marks

On the other end, I also like Mustang and Hawkeye. Mustang had some raw as hell moments, but I felt by around Episode 54, his character derails. He is experiencing the THIRD "revenge bad" storyline of the show and then he is forced to do ~something bad~ and then later avoids any consequences for it (and grows an ugly-ass mustache, might I add). But I do genuinely like him and he was probably the most interesting to see fight since he had flame alchemy and Hawkeye had a bunch of firearms to play around with.

Speaking of flame alchemy... I was a little underwhelmed at how much of the alchemy was just "pull random bullshit out of the ground". Like, I get alchemy works with the tectonic plates of the Earth in this series but for a science that studies deconstructing and reconstructing matter, I thought it'd be more cool?

We do occasionally get cool moments like using dynamite to make poison gas or using water to make an explosion but by and large, they're usually just making weapons out of the land or using it to traverse. There's moisture in the air, why wasn't, say, Olivier an ice alchemist? If Kimblee wants to be the Crimson Alchemist so bad, why doesn't he use his blood as a liquid to fight? Hell, Alphonse is a giant suit of armor, wouldn't it have been sick if Edward could have basically had a Gundam?

I didn't really talk much about the Elrics, speaking of which.

They're fine. I watched the Japanese dub and I thought Edward's voice was kind of annoying. Alphonse's was fine as a kid and as a suit of armor but any time we saw his soul, it did not fit for me. But I thought Alphonse's was fine, the only other VA I really had a problem with was Pride and that's mostly because they put this vocal effect or whatever whenever Pride was speaking.

The OPs are pretty good. I wasn't a huge fan of Period but the other 4 are rock-solid. I think the first ED is actually my favorite of the 10 OPs and EDs but good work there.

The humor's kinda aged? Idk, it seems like the kind of humor a Western cartoon would have made fun of around that era. It's not without laughs but without pulling specific clips, it's kind of hard to explain. It's very... screamy and chibi and cartoony and people get hit with objects and this and that, I hope this makes sense, lol

They also have a nasty habit of walking back Bad Things, speaking of Mustang avoiding the consequences of ~an action~. People are killed only to reappear the next episode, the horror behind human transmutation quickly has water thrown all over it, it's usually a very happy series which is fine but why even try to make it seem darker than it is?

Speaking of which, I mostly liked the ending. I've kicked up a big fuss about part of it but by and large, I think it lands the ending pretty well for what could be called a battle shonen. I am not too proud to say it did get me a little emotional.

I think this show is pretty okay. There are some great characters to get attached to, the presentation (other than the humor) has stood the test of time decently, I don't think the story is BAD, it was entertaining enough for me not to ever really want to stop watching (although I did watch multiple shows in between starting this and finishing it...), there are indeed some cool moments here.

I just think the Homunculi are overall a spoiled bunch and the pacing is kind of bad at the beginning and the alchemy could've been more exciting.

It is a Fine show and if this was one of your first anime, you could have done much worse. I would argue there are better shows to show people trying to get into anime (I'm not Mr. "Demon Slayer is my favorite anime" or anything but at this point, I think that'd be a better battle shonen to show someone. Not to mention the good old "Watch Death Note" that still rings true to this day) but it is something that I can see why it got so popular, even if my feelings on it are hit or miss.

Truly a dire, DIRE show.

I'm willing to give the show some benefit of the doubt because I'm sure if I read the manga, it would have better pacing and not awful animation by virtue of it not having any animation but, well, I didn't and this is my review of the anime.

However, that being said, I think this show is rotten from the top to the bottom.

What did I like about it?

1. I liked that it was in black and white.

2. I thought some of the girls were cute. They even got Yui Horie to voice a cute girl for like 1 or 2 minutes ... in a post-credits scene.

3. Junji Ito is a talented artist, there were some cool visuals.

That is literally it.

Nothing else is of value here.

I've heard it's supposed to simulate a spiral into madness but tbh even in the first episode, it felt kinda disjointed and all over the place imo. Like, it starts with the general feeling that there's something wrong with This Town (but hardly anybody tries to leave...) and then there are 3 separate spiral-related horror shows that happen in 22 minutes.

There are, like, 3 different spiral-related events going on in the first 3 episodes each (for a total of [around] 9, as in there's 3 separate ones per episode) and by the second or third episode, I'd checked out. Yes, Junji Ito, you are very creative, there are a lot of cool spiral things you can do with spirals. But it didn't make me feel like I was going insane or anything, it just made me feel exhausted. Combined with the increasing runtime for every episode (which in of itself is a sick joke when the first episode is the best yet shortest), this 4 episode anime feels like a slog to watch.

Due in part to it only being 4 episodes, there aren't that many memorable characters. Even the main character, Kirie, just feels like someone to lock the story in on so there's at least someone in the driver's seat. I cared about 0 characters.

There were a couple creepy moments, even That Girl from Uzumaki (it's likely the one shot you've seen if nothing else) managed to make me squirm a little when it focused on her right eye... I won't say much else.

I've heard some people say it's supposed to be a body horror dark comedy and if so, it wasn't funny. I mean, it isn't funny regardless of if it was supposed to be or not.

There were admittedly some cool story beats that could have been adapted into their own shows or at least an arc or at least even an episode. Vortex girl, the Dragonfly Gang, hell, I'd even take the mosquitoes. But he just shows off this cool idea and then dumps it in the trash the moment he comes up with a new one.

I don't feel like I'm spiraling into madness or horror, I feel like I'm listening to a Chipp player throwing pitches to me on a Discord voice call... in the middle of a match.

This is owned under Time Warner and stuff, right? This seems to be straight from Adult Swim's kitchen and I believe Adult Swim/Williams Street is part of Warner Bros.

How did David Zaslav nix Coyote vs. Acme and then turn around, look at this show that clearly had only one episode in the chamber, and go "yes, THIS is what is worthy of being released!" (that being said, as someone who likes reading about lost media, I wouldn't WANT this to go lost but... I mean... if I had to pick one or the other...)

Maybe this is on me for watching an Adult Swim anime based on an existing IP after what they did to FLCL, but yikes.

I don't think the animation ever gets as bad as The Beach Scene again (although maybe I was just too checked out to notice) but tbh even if this anime was only the first episode, it probably would've gotten MAYBE a 7 if I was feeling generous.

I just don't think this anime is very good. The animation is bad, the story is disjointed and made me more exhausted and exasperated than anything, there's no real good characters to latch onto, it's just Junji Ito speedrunning fucked up things he can think of to show you.

To his credit, there were some creative ideas but imo, you're better off either:
1. Reading the manga (I say, having not read the manga)
2. Skipping this series entirely

There is no value to this anime. There are 0 instances I can point to where I'd say "yes, watch this anime" unless you just HAVE to see every Junji Ito adaptation.

It has enough residual energy from what Junji Ito presumably did from the manga to save it from 1 tier but save yourself the trouble.

(Warning: If you're someone who hasn't seen the rest of Monogatari, DO NOT WATCH THIS FIRST, go back to Bakemonogatari)

After five years, peak has returned

This, much to my chagrin, goes entirely out of order so even when all of Off and Monster Season is adapted, it's going to be hell for LN order followers. Before this, the biggest pain would've been to slot Hana in middle of Second Season but lol good luck following the Off and Monster Season LNs when this finishes.

This first cour focuses more or less on two characters: Yotsugi Ononoki (who, ironically, is only the deuteragonist in both arcs she's in) ... and Shinobu Oshino. As an Ononoki believer, I was excited for the first part and... less so for the second part. I like Shinobu but I'm mixed on when they dive into her past as Shinobu Time was the weakest arc of the otherwise almost flawless Second Season and Shinobu Mail dragged down the otherwise really good Owari S1.

...turns out I was right.

We start with a one-episode fun little side story about Tsukihi Araragi and her "plushie" Ononoki. As a taster to dip your toes back into the Monogatari pool, I think it works really well. It looks really good and is a blast to watch. Not only that but it isn't just a sugary sweet, it does have something to say about Tsukihi's character, which is nice to see.

Next is the peak of the season, for me, Nadeko Draw. The next chapter in Nadeko's story, having Nadeko "kill the past", so to speak, was a really fun way of showing Nadeko facing herself based on a fun, quirky problem which ends up solving itself so to speak. Looking back on the season, I think this is THE story that was worth telling. I almost feel unholy comparing it to the peak that is Tsubasa Tiger but that's the vibe I got from it.

We get a couple arcs focused on Shinobu's past which, as I expected, were the lowlight of the season.

First is the little half episode before Acerola Bon Appetit and idk, it just seems like the Ugly Barnacle from SpongeBob except it's the Beautiful Barnacle. It's nicely animated but I never really found a need to dig into Shinobu's past so this does nothing for me.

Speaking of which, Acerola Bon Appetit. I do like this arc on an aesthetic level but it just kind of pours more stuff on Shinobu's past that I didn't care to know. It's not like character ruining or anything but honestly, I would have preferred Shinobu just... be Shinobu. Why does she need to have been this perfect pretty pretty princess who was so perfect that everybody died? Deathtopia is probably the biggest new character we meet this cour and... she's fine. She's on the lower tier of Monogatari characters but she's not aggravating or anything. If she came back for future stuff, I wouldn't mind, but she's no Sodachi or anything.

Finally, we have Shinobu Mustard. I thought the mystery was kind of fun but the whole high school basketball team angle... like, I get it, but I never really connected with it. Not to mention it has a heavy serving of Izuko Gaen which honestly, I didn't mind her here, but I know there's at least a few people who don't like her so be warned. By the time the mystery was solved, it was just kind of a wet thud, although I appreciate how the "battle" ended. The main antagonist doesn't really get much characterization and what we get... eh? If she never appears again, it will not be a tragedy.

IMO, there were a lot of cool shots this season. The new director certainly breathes life into the series. I liked the Hachikuji rakugo scene and the Ononoki/first half is filled with a bunch of nice stuff. Overall, I think the Ononoki half hard carries this score but Shinobu Mustard is decent.

We only (as of the end of the ONA broadcast, time will tell if they go back and add more) got 2 new OPs and one was from a Shinobu arc so we only really got one banger. I think Caramel Ribbon Cursetard is easily the weakest of the three Nadeko OPs and I didn't really need Ononoki singing too even if I LOVE Orange Mint but it's still pretty good. I don't know what the title of the Shinobu Mustard OP is but we did get one. Idk why it sounds like The Godfather but it's probably the best """Shinobu""" OP. I can't imagine any Acerola OP would be better and idk if they're even going to bother doing Tsukihi Undo since it's one episode so... yeah.

Release the full version of Caramel Ribbon Cursetard, cowards

Speaking of songs, YOASOBI did the ED! It's good. I find most of the Monogatari EDs to be forgettable (although they cooked with the Neko Black one for some reason?) and for whatever it's worth, it's not forgettable as someone who only really hears YOASOBI when they contribute to an anime I watch.

I think at this point, unless something drastically changes, Monogatari is Monogatari is Monogatari. This deep in the game, you probably know how you feel about it if you're reading this and if you don't, you certainly will if you watch all of the preceding content.

This is certainly more Monogatari and whether that is a positive or negative statement can easily be gathered from your prior viewings.

I don't think it's peak like Bake or Kizu or Second Season but it's a very solid entry in one of the best anime ever made.

(Note: I watched "Episode 0" between the last 2 episodes [16 and 17], I strongly suggest you do the same for reasons I'll elaborate on)

A great show with an ending that stuck in my craw

I thought it started out with a strong hook. What do those aliens be doing up there?

You follow a couple of high school besties and I can see them being off-putting but I found them really fun. Oran is just a weirdo and a delightful one at that. I thought Rin was kinda underutilized but Ai gets some good characterization and so does Kiho.

Obviously Kadode also gets some good things as ... one half of the main duo. Overall, I liked the friend group. If it wasn't Dededede and it was just some CGDCT show, I'd watch.

I think a lot of the characters no matter how small or big get lots to work with. There are a few characters who you just assume are there to fill out the cast (or at least who could have feasibly just been bit parts) but end up being big parts.

It's intriguing seeing how humanity might meet its dededededestruction and it's got a lot of cool thriller elements, I was like "omigah" a bunch during it, try to go in as blind as possible

...speaking of which, I don't know what crack rocks they were smoking but do NOT watch Episode 0 first. It heavily spoils the plot of the show and you're better off watching it it chronological order, so to speak. I think E0 is kinda clunky in chrono order (between E16 and 17) because it kind of assumes you're watching it first so you get info you already know spoonfed to you.

It's still a good episode but don't watch it first.

As for the aliens, I felt really bad for the little dudes. Won't say much else for fear of spoilers but yeah, he totally succeeded for me in making them sympathetic.

I watched the sub and Oran's voiced by ano and Kadode's voiced by the vocalist from YOASOBI. I'm obviously not an expert on Japanese voice acting but if I didn't know who voiced them, I would have just assumed it was someone who VAs for a living. Similar to Monogatari or something, Kadode and Oran sing the opening and the endings (good songs btw) so it was cool to see them act too.

So it's a good show with solid production and all that, why did I give it a 9?

...the ending kinda sucks?

I can't really go into detail as to why without spoiler tagging this review but it feels like he wanted to wash his hands of the series and get it over with.

How he ends it feels kinda cheap imo, don't go in expecting a good ending

My other big gripe is the teacher/student relationship.

I was a high schooler too, I get wanting to fuck your teacher, so I was fine with it as a plot element.

I was even willing to go with the teacher reciprocating because she's about to graduate, it's just a high school crush-

Oh. Well, she'll find someone else at college and it seems like they aren't gonna work out-

Just... like, it never really goes away and he's not going "yippee! Hooray for teacher/student sex!" but he just keeps pushing it in (heh heh, nice)

Really, this whole show is littered with the most casual sex scenarios which this isn't me tut tutting casual sex but there is a startling lack of love, so to speak. It's not even "oh no, sex before marriage!" but like one guy cares so little about his sex friend, he just leaves her to die. There's like maybe 2 actually romantic relationships and one is very quickly sent to the shadow realm for most of the show.

I think there's a lot to like about this show. I liked the characters, the plot was engaging, the production didn't detract from the show, it's just a shame about that ending.