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Intro
Did the hype die down yet? Now my video won’t be another copy of everyone!!

Oshi no Ko took the anime community by storm with its initial premiere. Lasting 90 minutes, it captivated everyone. In that short amount of time. What the series had put on the table was quite bold, especially for an anime that’s focused on idols and the entertainment industry. But, the series underwhelmed some people after the second episode's release, Some people misunderstood what the anime is trying to convey.
This is my attempt to break down this monstrosity and make the message more apparent.
Here I go.

“Before I proceed, I know most ... of the reaction to this series is positive, and even though this explanation may not be meant for you, it may give you a different angle to look at when considering things..”
Before I go any deeper, here is your spoiler warning.

The main reason for the hype.
One thing I need to you keep in mind in this section is that this is the obvious thing to look for when watching this show, Because, at first glance, it looks like it's trying to reveal the dark parts of the entertainment industry. It dared to do something, not many idol animes even considered a possibility. But I want to talk more about Ai, she previously had to take a break from the idol industry because she was pregnant. In a normal situation, she would be banned from doing any more work in this industry. But everything was hidden from the public eye, only her manager knew this. so she was able to come back to the business. And she has to take care of the twins that she gave birth to while continuing this. But it gets even more interesting. One of the twins that she gave birth to happened to be the doctor she had for her pregnancy checkups, yes he reincarnated. And the other one was a sick girl that the doctor liked, - and that girl was the reason he knew Ai in the first place. Ai was able to continue her work because she was the center point of her agency. So they even took the risk of hiding her children to protect this monetary gain. Trying to show us everything is for the higher-ups in the industry who only care about money. But as she continued her work, something happened. It wasn’t smooth sailing for Ai. Somethings changed. After people admired Ai for so long, trying to hold on to that perfect image that she created. She was… murdered by a stalker. It affected everyone. Especially the twins. It left them in a really interesting spot. Because they were a fan of Ai in their previous lives. And in their current lives, they saw her imperfections - like not being a good mother, being forgetful, etc. and so they pushed on. I want you to put yourself in their shoes for a minute. You would feel complicated, right? So did they. Everybody was wondering what will happen from this point. Ai had so much potential, both as a figure in the industry and as a character in general. So killing her off in the first episode was a sad thing for sure, and it raised a question for some. “Will the show do good from here on out?” Because the most interesting character is… dead. The only driving point to the show is the twins knowing “everything” about Ai. What will they pursue?
Why was Ai the most essential character in the series?
I want to talk more about Ai because I mentioned that she is the most interesting character. I want to tell you about my understanding of how she was shaped up until that point to emphasize how important she actually is to the story. She was a country bumpkin, it was hinted at in the premiere but it wasn’t properly mentioned, which became more apparent in further episodes, getting to my point, she did not know how to show affection. Because she did not have parents and was not appropriately educated. She didn’t know any better. She couldn’t understand her emotions. But she had a strong urge to do so, she wanted to learn her feelings and especially, to love. But… her passion for finding out her feelings was sucked by the industry. She was scouted to take part
in the idol industry and that lead her to a place where she learned to lie to show her love. It made her thinking process unhealthy, but she did not realize that. She kept on pursuing, hoping to find an answer. Even when she actually fell in love, she was left pregnant and disowned by her crush. This gave her a sense of failure, so she thought she was wrong and kept on pursuing to find an answer to her emotionlessness. She wanted to achieve that perfection. She tried to become someone that is a league above anyone else. Just to find an explanation for her emotions…
By now, you have most likely realized why Ai was such a good character. But it seems risky to kill her when she is THIS diverse. What could Aka try to pull off with this? But I see under those glasses. AKA. 🤓

After Ai’s Death
Before I put on my nerd glasses and start explaining, I want to talk about the character motives for Aqua and Ruby. I’ll start off with Aqua. He is really focused on getting revenge, most people have high expectations because he had graduated from Tokyo National University in his previous life, So he thought he could find his father like this. Why his father? Because not many people knew Ai’s personal information, which leaves his father to be the only possible culprit for all of this. And to find his father, he would have to take part in the agency Ai was connected to before she changed to Strawberry Productions. Now, Ruby. Before she was reincarnated, she admired Ai, and she wanted to become an idol just like her. Since she was bedridden and watched Ai on TV, she studied her analogy, so well, to the point where she could point out what her mother was doing wrong when she was practicing. She had potential, to say the least. To become a good idol.

Could you guess what is a common occurrence in their goals?
…
They are both involved in the entertainment industry. The same thing that emotionally broke their mother.
The Underwhelming Part
I previously said the series underwhelmed some people and I haven’t actually explained my reasoning for that yet. But before I put this into pieces, I want to emphasize that, everyone has different opinions, and what they expect from the animes they watch and I respect them. I am just summarizing a part of these opinions here. People that dived into this series expected a thorough investigation and a breakdown of what went wrong in the entertainment industry. But what they have met with was a disappointing attempt by Aka at tackling this beast for many people. It was like the show was going against the very thing it promises to break down. And turned into a high school drama for an easy buck after a promising premiere. But what if I said, Aka did not try to tackle the entertainment industry and its dark side. Instead, he only showed us what’s possible, and let us be aware that how it affects people that are actually working there. Yeah, this guy. What if he continued this way to show what some types of characters would actually feel in the entertainment industry? What emotions they go through, and how the world treats them. Isn’t the show more character development-oriented after the first episode? Especially with the introduction of Akane, and a deeper character development for Kana. It makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, sure, it focuses on a revenge plot on the side as well. (Aqua) But the most important thing here isn’t the entertainment industry and what goes behind the scenes that we do not realize, it is how this monstrosity of an entity's flaws affects people, how it mentally forces them to take decisions to survive in it a little bit longer, and the mental task that it loads on to those who are involved.

What does the story look like after considering this?
Now what? Well, let’s try to look at some characters with this mindset of “how the entertainment industry affects people” kind of look.

But before I get into that, I want to emphasize what Ai actually did to set these moments up to be even more mesmerizing than her original debut. When she entered the industry, she was already emotionally numb. And she took what everyone expected to a level beyond anyone could foresee. In the process, she found out about her emotions before getting killed by a person that has figured out that she had children. We have already seen a soul with really good potential get wasted in this industry. And she’s there to guide them sorta. The other souls that are gonna get spent in this ruthless atmosphere.

I want to start breaking down these souls that are about to witness what this industry actually is from Akane. Because she was the breaking point for me to realize this is how they went about with the storyline of the anime.

Akane is a 17-year-old girl that Aqua has met on the Love Life reality dating show. He initially perceived her as nothing more than a background character because she did not fit the narrative of the series they were casting. She is a genuinely hard-working person, taking notes of everything she can get from her peers and such. And she is really humble about it too. This image was built subconsciously to us with little hints. Hold this in mind. She is not aware of the fact that putting your genuine self in a place like this can get you hurt. And as her performance is not showing results and she hears talk about her manager getting in trouble because of it. She thinks of her as a failure, even though she works hardest among the cast. This is emphasized a bit more, as she egosurfs like every other people. (this is where the nerd Aka comes in) So, she forces herself to do something stupid. At first, she slowly tries to get into the action that the main actor created for the series, Yuki. And she is the person that is currently getting the most attention from the reality show. So it is natural for producers to base the main narrative off of her.
.Getting back to Akane, she really tries to steal Nobu from her, but it is the most shipped couple of the series. So when she egosurfs, she notices the hate that’s building around her.
Don’t get me wrong, her relationship with Nobu is really good, she is only doing this to get attention and show her potential. Because she feels like a failure. And comparing herself to Yuki doesn’t help either. That’s when it snaps… In a direction that’s not in favor of Akane.

“Akane raises her hand against Yuki.”
“This is the tip of the iceberg. I bet Akane’s even worse when the cameras are not rolling.”
“The fuck, Kurokawa Akane’s a bitch.”
“she should be arrested for assault, I feel bad for Yuki.”
“boring girls should stay out of the spotlight! #KurokawaAkane
“Always thought she couldn’t read the room. #FireKurokawaAkane”
“Akane… this isn’t the first time you’ve pulled something like this. You really shouldn’t be on TV lol. It pisses me off. #KurokawaAkane”
“Stupid background character thinks she can lay her hands on Yuki lmfao Akane is definitely fired. #KurokawaAkane”
“This delusional bitch is annoying.”
“Kurokawa Akane is so trashy LMAO”

Even though her relationship with Yuki got even stronger after this, since the scene they actually made up wasn’t included in the episode, she was not allowed to post it to prove that their relationship is on good terms. She was trying to get attention and she finally got it, but in a really wrong way. The pure amount of hate powering on her got to her mental health. She started to doubt herself even more. She tried posting an apology tweet to somewhat calm things down but it threw more fire in the fuel. It simply got out of control… And the fact that she even hid this from her mother because people attacking her too made it harder on her. But her mother eventually realized something was off because this situation affected Akane’s overall mood too. On another day, Akane is reminded of even more people saying similar stuff to her like this when she was simply trying her best, showing passion, and putting in an insane amount of work… And people just overlook it, calling her a good girl model. After this testament, her hardest is not even enough anymore… She gave up all hope, she just wanted to end it. And that’s when it happened..? OH, WHAT?
…
Suicide is a critical topic to mention in ANY kind of situation, but how it has been handled here is a true work of art. The pressure she had felt and the way she reacted to it felt human-like, and when I read the manga back then, I really thought she was gonna die. The little details they sprinkle to build Akane’s thinking process helped to achieve this effect JUST right. I am not supporting any suicidal or self-harming activities, but I could resonate with Akane here. The mental process felt just too touching, enough to make the series peak again for me.
Now what? Does it continue the same way for everyone here?
This shows the scale of the mental stress this industry causes to people. Especially to those who are not good at handling their emotions yet. But it has yet to tackle a different part of the industry other than the actor scene. Yes, after creating such an emotional behavior chain within two episodes, it has an even better character storyline to emphasize the IDOL INDUSTRY. And it starts building this story up from the first episode.
Kana Arima.

As I said previously, we started learning her whereabouts from the first episode. She was a “genius” child actor that can trigger a cry whenever she wants. After she got a lot of attention for being a child prodigy, she started belittling other people. Trying to be the center of attention. But slowly… the times were catching up to her. After she was devastated by Aqua’s performance at a gig they first met, she couldn’t accept defeat. And since she was always the center of attention in the roles she played, she wanted to be the most impactful cast in the story. But seeing what Aqua did made her jealous. She tasted failure for the first time in her life. After that, she did not see Aqua for a long time either. Until high school. But before they finally see each other, she was still trying to take more roles, but as she grew up, she became “washed.” People lost interest in her. Even though she was trying her best to satisfy everyone. And she even got disowned by her mother. Because she wasn’t bringing in the money anymore. Companies stopped giving her contracts. She started freelancing, only earning enough to barely stay alive. Because freelancing is cheap, she does not ask for a lot, and she still has a name. Putting the industry aside, Kana wasn’t doing good, both mentally and physically. She was always harsh on herself. Because she could not live up to the expectations of people, at first she only started acting because she liked it, but as she got attention for achieving exceptional feats, she wanted more. But not being able to fulfill those expectations shifted her thinking process. She started to feel like everything she does has to have a purpose, she needs to do her absolute best. She pretty much built an ego around being a failure, as she kept trying harder and harder, she kept getting negative feedback from others. After a certain point, she got brain rot, and she became unable to do things to a level where she is satisfied. Every time she would do a thing, she would have to focus a lot, because she thought of herself as an incompetent person. And every time she took on something, she would power through, she would have to go through the struggle of doing everything perfectly so she can achieve the best possible outcome. It put a lot of mental strain on her, always thinking she is incompetent and she is destined to fail. Because of this, she lost sight of something important.
Which made her… exploitable. And Aqua definitely took advantage of her, making her do things that she doesn’t want, but just because she wants to fulfill the expectations and prove herself, she still tries to do her best. Giving a reason to people who feel empty but still wish to fill people’s expectations to feel good about themselves. He was able to lead her to a way to protect her sister, Ruby. Talking about Ruby, after episode 6, she slowly started to become a proper main character. What does this have to do with Kana? Kana is pretty much there to make the idol group survive because she has the knowledge and she does not want to fail. But what Ruby made Kana realize is, something spectacular. She taught her to do things, not to fill other people's expectations, but to enjoy herself. Because she likes doing that thing. Not caring about failing or not, giving it your best simply because you enjoy doing the said thing. That was the turning point for Kana. She was reminded of what she had lost sight of. We truly saw the change in the mentality and many thinking patterns she had before reaching that point.

Ruby said this because even though Kana claimed to be bad at everything she does, she was clearly better than the average person. In some cases, she was on par with professionals. But her perfectionism that slowly developed through not being able to fill promises always made her think that she must do her absolute best to even have a chance at filling those expectations. Ruby realizing this, showed her carefree personality by speaking out about her passion, trying her absolute best, and giving it all she has. It didn’t matter to her if she would fail here or not. She just wanted to have fun while speaking her passion, which lead Kana Arima to do so as well.

Anyways, now you can probably see a pattern here. It becomes really apparent that all of these ways to use the narrative are hinting at the mental struggles of the characters and the stress that this industry has put on them to lead them in a way of unhealthy thinking. But it doesn’t mean that there are facts scattered around the show to actually emphasize how much of an issue this monstrosity of an entity is. And it creates an image for us. From the low success rates to the people on social media blabbering behind your back to the expectations of the higher-ups in the business for getting monetary gain for your passion. It shows us how much these kinds of things can affect people, especially at young ages. What emotions they go through, their thinking disorders, and how it ultimately spends their passion for no real return. Showing the desperate attempts to keep holding on to what they have. It is telling a story of how people fight despair. In this messed-up atmosphere.

Conclusion.
What do I think of this? As someone that read the original material back in August 2022, I had some expectations for the series. But I didn’t expect to have my emotions played to this level. This show went from only surpassing the original material to simply taking it to another level, showing the details that were hard to understand and adding even more depth to the story. And turned it into a magnificent showcase of mystery and emotions.

If you have come this far into the review, you probably enjoyed it. Follow me for more reviews like this, and I will see you in a later time I hope.

A Silent Voice
Denying to hear what's around you. How scary can that be? Feeling like you do not deserve to do it. You don't have the right to do it. You keep telling yourself that. The little pieces, you keep ignoring them until their voices become too much. You keep telling yourself that it is fine, I am progressing. But you are ignoring the voices. And... you finally hear it.

That's pretty much the chaining of emotions I had while watching this movie. This is the best way to represent. But... how? How is it able to tell such a story? Well, you came to the ... right place. Then, let's begin.

One thing KyoAni does really well is letting the actions of the characters speak for themselves. They do this really well. The character does not have to monotonously talk about themselves to express who they are, and how they feel. Their actions are enough to give us a deeper understanding of their inner self. another thing they do quite well is to make the writings reach their potential. It does not use the texts as a way to have an easy way out. They try their best to set up the pacing so they can tell exactly what the writer intended to tell at that exact moment. Thanks, KyoAni.
That was for the KyoAni series in general, but let's get to the spicy parts of this show now.

First, I want to talk about the interpretation you don't control how you feel. Sometimes it feels like you understand how you feel. But as you get more of an understanding of feelings, you realize that what you might have felt was probably more complicated than you initially thought. And the way characters think, and do what you are supposedly afraid of. (PS: another show that does this really well and potentially better is Beastars) In this movie, this effect feels subtle. But it is definitely there and added to the overall emotional attachment. Because it is a way of developing the characters. Haha, who would have thought?

The characters in this movie feel like well-fletched humans, you can see the reasonings behind their actions and how it develops them in a way. All of the main cast and most of the supporting cast were handled with care. (if I were to point fingers, Shimada's development was abrupt, we'll come to the negatives in a bit.)

A sensitive topic was chosen for one of the main characters, Nishimiya. I am no expert when it comes to knowing how deaf people feel. Because I never had a friend like that. All I can say about the topic chosen is that the emotions felt genuine. And another sensitive topic that was mentioned as well. Suiciding is not a joke, and it should be handled carefully. This is where we come to the beginning of the review. A voice that you can not hear, a light that you can not see. Not all suicides happen because of this, but some of them are and since some people refuse to give an ear or an eye to these, they end up wasting their lives. This show speaks to people that went through similar emotions. Like, a lot.
The tricks I mentioned earlier were used in such ways to lead to this emotional build-up. Every time a major emotional outburst happens, you can instantly tell the reasoning. And it adds up. Each interaction gives you a better idea of the characters and you enjoy some characters' admiration to cling to life. (ehm ehm, you will know who I am talking about after watching)

And while watching the final scene, I told to myself: "Life is beautiful, isn't it? Enjoy your life man."

But that is not the only peak I would like to add. There are many different ways you can interpret this story in. And the moment you feel the most emotional can change from person to person because of it. But there are moments that will eventually get you, pretty much scattered around in the last 20 minutes. But that was my interpretation of the series.

Before I leave, I want to talk about the negatives as well. You know, not every writing is flawless, so the adaptation is. There are limited budget and time to deliver this on. These may seem really nitty gritty, and you may not agree with what I picked but this movie had not that many flaws overall and I am really just being mean here.

Shimada. His character is the most lacking of them all, his motives were unclear and we didn't get to see much of his perspective overall. I guess he had the least amount of screen time out of the entire support cast from school. So that is understandable why he was neglected. But I would love to see him somewhat grow as well.

I was not planning on adding this but it felt sorta unclear why Ishida didn't give up his life in the first minutes of the show. But the question got slowly tackled, and a clear answer was given in the last 15~ minutes of the movie. So it's fine.

Not a lot of in-depth deliberating on deaf people, yes it really did not need to have this but it would be cool if it was mentioned a little bit more.

That's all for tonight.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, read more of my reviews if you came this far, will ya?
(Final Rating: 9.6/10)
( I am currently breaking down another KyoAni series, Hibike! Euphonium. And I will go really in-depth with my review in a form of YT video, so if you don't want to miss that out, follow my profile as well. SHAMELESS PLUG)

Hibike! Euphonium 1

“Even if everyone in the group has different intentions, they can succeed at anything if they work hard together.”


I can not emphasize this phrase enough, pure emotions and motives that are different from each other, trying to achieve the same goal. Being unsure of what to spend your energy on, you continue to push on anyways. You pour your heart, and practice day and night while enjoying the process, hoping to succeed, and have a chance of redemption for your previous failures. You crave it. You want to succeed this time so you do no matter what it takes to not repeat what ... happened previously.

It is not an exaggeration to say Sound! Euphonium’s story was able to pull off this effect. Really good. It feels like every character has a minimal touch to the story that makes it even better. This makes choosing a favorite character difficult.

Before I dive deeper into my thoughts on the story, I want to say that this is a music anime and the characters are preparing for a competition. Keep this in mind when reading the section ahead.

I had my expectations low as I stepped into this anime, and at first, it felt like your typical music anime with nothing special. The only thing that differs from other animes alike is the characters from a quick inspection. But as you go deeper into the story, you realize that there is no focus on one direct storyline. There are different storylines for multiple characters, but all of them involve our protagonist Ouame and share the same philosophy. “To go to the nationals!” Each character develops differently with their own goals, but they eventually meet up with that same goal and work hard for it, even if it means having to sacrifice something.
You can’t help but feel a fuzz in your chest each time you see them grow or a funny moment happens between them, and see them work hard towards their goal. Maybe not every character is upfront with what they want but this group effort fed from their failures is the main event that takes this story’s conclusion to its league.

With all the sacrifices done, and all the hard work that was putten into the final performance, in those final scenes you can feel the anxiety that the characters feel.
All they have been through flashes back to you as well. It feels like you are actually performing to succeed with them. After the performance is done, there is nothing to be done other than to wait. And it feels like your heart is gonna burst at any moment, you crave to learn if they have succeeded or not. All that hardship after the emotions they have felt, you wonder if the same fate will happen to them again.

And when the results finally get announced, we learn that they have succeeded. You can’t help but understand their emotions. All that work, failures, and sacrifices, it feels like they’ve meant something. The redemption came…

Of course, there are other qualities of this anime, the story may be the highlighted part for me but it doesn’t end here.

Let’s talk about the implementation of this series. It is nothing to baffle at. Because for an anime to succeed in this genre, the pure potential that the story has is not enough. Implementation is crucial to make the story shine even more. KyoAni did not hold back and delivered. From the characters' voice acting to the music, the emotions and motives of the characters were delivered perfectly. You can understand what characters are feeling purely from their voice and impressions.

I want to preserve this next section to specific character interactions as I’ve only briefly gone through the main storyline in the second section of the review. This section contains major spoilers so skip forward to the afterword if you don’t want to get spoiled.

The character I am most excited to talk about is Nakagawa Natsuki, a second year in the school playing euphonium in the club. In every interaction she partakes in, she somehow manages to make me smile. Her mature yet playful personality gives you ease. She's quite clever as well so she doesn't miss an opportunity to mess with you. Her interactions; especially with Yoshikawa, another second-year student in the band, shine the most. As Yoshikawa hasn’t developed much as a character yet in season one, Nakagawa playing jokes with her in a passive-aggressive manner is the funniest thing ever.

The other characters that I want to mention are Reina and Ouame
We really get to see both of their personalities shine in the season. Reina comes off as a mysterious girl that was just upset about not making it to nationals. But as we get to learn more about Reina, the character chemistry between her and Ouame really sits in me. As they make up after distancing themselves, their friendship turns to be one of the most crucial plots. And in season 2, this really falls into place even more.


Afterword.

While watching the last episode, I cried out of happiness. It felt like I could somehow relate to their journey, and seeing them work so hard gave me hope.

After this, I decided to watch season two as this has become one of my all-time favorite animes. Ever.

I will be writing a review for season two. That review will be even more packed: (link when available) - update, it'll be a YouTube video, containing both seasons and even more detailed breakdown. (15% done(?) )

So make sure you watch it too.
Listen to the sound of your heart, I’m heading off.

Majo No Tabitabi

“The best thing about a journey is the experience itself, not the destination.”
This is a phrase that has stuck with me while reading this book series over the past few months. I started reading it because the anime was unique. I wanted to continue exploring the different stories as the non-attached story writing style while utilizing existing character development was something I hadn’t seen. So I started my journey by reading Volume 4. (the book Amnesia’s past story was explained)

Why was I hooked on this book series?

To put it simply, "Elaina."
Here is a detailed explanation of why I like her as a character:
I’d ... say she’s by far one of my favorite characters of all time. Simply because of her personality. Her personality was shaped because of her not getting acknowledged as a good apprentice witch at a young age. She was a child prodigy, passing the exams at the age of 14. While an average magic user struggles at 18 even. To become a full-fledged witch as an apprentice, you need to be acknowledged by another witch. And because Elaina was a child prodigy, no other witch in her hometown wanted to teach her. And when she was taken in by a “mysterious” witch, there was no magic training for a month, then she was bullied to desperation by her teacher. (this will make sense when you read the story thoroughly)

This part made me attached to the character. And as she develops as a character further down the line, her twisted personality (being nasty or nice depending on the situation) makes the stories touching. Because in her heart, she has grown to be a nice person but because she was rejected when she was a child, she keeps a devious approach to those around her. And shows her nicer side when she senses that the person she met is genuine with their intentions.
With more and more interactions, her character further develops and we see sides of her that most of us can’t believe exists. Like one of the chapters in Volume 6, in which she acted like a tsundere cat girl. (not going too in-depth for obvious reasons)

Enough about Elaina, let’s talk about the structure of the story as well. At first, it feels like a diary, because there are stories with no context, from our traveling witch Elaina. But as we go further in volumes, the stories slowly connect, and there are even long storylines that are quite well written. Especially to show a newly introduced character’s past. (Amnesia [4], Vivia [6], Fran’s Past [8]) They allocate a good 40-80 pages of story for their past, making their interactions with Elaina much more engaging. And they reappear now and then in the disconnected stories, making it delicate to see more of their interaction with Elaina. (or each other)

I say the stories are disconnected, but there is quite a bit of reference to the introduced characters' past so you can not read out of order. (I did and I had to reread it because of it)
It makes the story feel worse if you do not know the context, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t read out of order.

Enough about the story, Now I want to mention the general positives that this series has.

Afterwords… I usually skip out on that but for this series, I look forward to reading it every time as the author Jougi Shiraishi puts some of his odd thoughts in these, like his childhood memories, or recent situations, which sheds light on where he got the inspiration for certain chapters. And it made me understand his motive for writing this series in general as well.

Having disconnected stories feel connected instead of making one big storyline is a huge positive as well. It keeps the reader attached, and makes them keep an eye out for the next volume releases.



I have currently read through Volumes 3-8, This section is reserved to rate each volume and the impact that it had on me.

Volume 3 - 6/10
The first three volumes of this series were written back in 2016 when this series was available to the public, and because of that Shiraishi Jougi decided not to continue this. So Volume 3 was written as a way to end the series, which did not do the job because of how awkward it was structured. The overall story structure was poor in this volume as well, even though the stories were decent, it felt odd. In 2017, this series gets officially picked up, and in 2018 by Yen Press for English press, so the story continues anyways. The next volumes are a big step up in both writing quality and storytelling though. If I only read the first 3 books, I’d probably rate this series a “7” at max. So you’ll see why it’s a “10” for me in the Volume 4 part.

Volume 4 - 10/10

A big step up from the last volume in almost every way. There are more connected stories, the writing quality and storytelling are overall better, and it contains one of my favorite story arcs for this series, “Amnesia” This volume with its both dark and fun stories, manages to place at second place for my favorite volumes for this book series.

Now let’s get to the reason why this volume is a 10/10 for me:
I usually don’t cry about an anime or a character in a book, but this book did it for the first time...

When you are miserable and have no one to turn up to, there will be someone… Even if it is a person you don’t know. But when you find that person, you will feel at ease. You will be scared if they will leave you or not because of the burden you carry, but you still act carelessly. Because you know, they care about you. And you know how to show your appreciation. Especially when the person that cared for you is on the opposite end of the stick this time.

The person that is there for Amnesia's hardships being Elaina, and Amnesia’s expressed emotions exactly felt like this.
And me being in a depressed state, I related to this. A lot.

After reading this volume, I emotionally grew an attachment to both Elaina and Amnesia, which I was not expecting. And I cried... Like a baby.

Volume 5 - 8.5/10

Overall, there are more positive stories in this volume, they were wholesome. I always had a grin on my face, watching Elaina being a “TSUNDERE” reading this volume. After reading this volume, I decided that I will pursue reading this series until Yen Press stops pressing English books for it.
(I read volumes 4 and 5 in close periods, so I made this decision at 4.)

After getting attached to Elaina as a character, these interactions made more and more sense, it was sweeter than anything and I fell in love with her even more.

One thing to add, from this volume, Jougi Shiraishi, the author starts interacting with readers more in the afterword, they are always fun to read.


Volume 6 - 9/10

Dark stories' quantity increased quite a bit, and in this volume, the storytelling quality increases even more. There were some creepy stories, which I enjoyed Elaina’s reactions to. The series starts to contain a lot more “long” story arcs starting from this novel which will take 1/3rd of the book.

From this volume, new characters that get introduced feel like they have something similar, yet they feel different. Making them quite complex, increasing the interaction quality. Especially with characters that were introduced earlier in the series.

Volume 7 - 9.5/10

This is my favorite volume out of all, the “disconnected” stories feel like they are all connected in unexpected ways, the storytelling gets EVEN better, and character interactions get much more engaging in general. This is the peak of the series quality-wise.

Volume 8 - 9.1/10

This one is quite nice as well, we get to cover a dark secret between Elaina’s teacher Fran, and why she was a teacher like she was towards Elaina. We see a lot more old characters returning here as well, which I was craving because the last one was in Volume 5 with Saya and Avelia.

I overall enjoyed this journey, and I want to continue supporting the series as reading this series gave me hope, a light that I would not imagine finding otherwise. I am gonna keep an eye out for the next volumes, peace!



I will edit this review as I read the missing volumes for 1-10, after I read 10, for future volume reviews I will make a new review page.

Bocchi The Rock
I am not good at starting interviews, so insert *inaudible scream* Anyways, I seriously did not expect that I would watch any show in Fall 2022 as I was slowly climbing my way to other series, but here we are. This show was a nice break from all the "serious money grab" stuff I've been watching recently. It was so fun, with up and down emotions. You can relate so much to Bocchi, I personally did. Her anxiety was a little exaggerated but made the show really fun as well. Storytelling was used in a really clever way to make this happen. So, ... if you want to watch a show where comedy with the current character development is well utilized, this is for you. Let's get into what makes this show a 10/10 for me as this is my only 3rd one so far.


Why? *a little spoiler*
Authenticity. The writer, Hamaji, Aki was a small manga artist, but to write this series, she taught herself how to play bass and drums. Just to make this story feel authentic. The places in the anime actually exist, like the restaurant where the Kessoku band plays at. And the other places like the restaurant where Ryo and Bocchi ate with each other. Moving on from the locations, she was able to get her learning progress and development through and show a piece of the writer felt writing this. I was able to feel the character development of everyone, and the emotions that the writer went through. It felt like they all resembled a part of her growth. And when our characters actually succeeded, we were reminded that this is still the beginning and failures can happen. So this was a huge success to make this show feel as relatable as possible.

Now let's dig into the show, and point out some of the details:

Why do people relate to Bocchi?
Well, she is the main character of the series, so it is a no-brainer that the series was focused on her. Other than that, her personality is something you can relate to. Because social anxiety was her theme, and she was quite awkward in social situations. It was fascinating to see her personal growth as the series progressed. I had a grin-ish smile for the entire time of watching the show. (This rarely happens to me, the only exception was Kaguya-Sama, which you should definitely watch-)


Story:
The story is quite simple, there are no big plots that you need to keep track of, no fight scenes that you need to know the reason for it happening, The story is just cute girls doing cute things. This helped to grab peoples' attention to the series because animes usually have a deep story. And some, which you need to watch the previous season to understand the stuff going on. It felt like a classic from the literal first moments of the show. Because it is so easy to approach, it made the job of grabbing your attention easier. As you get more invested in characters, especially Bocchi, the show starts to grow them as a person. So you get sucked into the hole, getting deep by the second. Every character had an impact, and storytelling was pushed to its limit even though the story doesn't have a serious plot. So it makes these joy moments much more enjoyable than you might expect.

Music:
Music is a really powerful tool to manipulate someone's emotions. A good music selection will lead to better storytelling. While implementing this show from manga, Kessoku Band did not hold back and released literally every song on streaming platforms, and CloverWorks did a great job using it to give a big impact on the story. The music videos have gathered massive attention, getting millions of streams across multiple platforms. Because the music is actually great. I liked every single song in the playlist, and most people would as well. And since the anime is based on music, it felt great that there were many original tracks for everyone to enjoy.

I just wanted to give a mind of what I saw without spoiling much. This series is a must-watch. It is beyond just a good adaptation. So much effort was gone into this to make a good story. GIVE IT A TRY!
This is probably the anime of the season, and maybe the year.

Why is this seris good story wise?


The thing is, this series is unique from most of the series I have ever watched. Usually, a series targets to tell a story in a storyline that makes sense and can utilize the characters' strengths introduced in the series. But Majo No Tabitabi completely throws that concept away. With its unique way of storytelling, it manages to amaze the ones that are willing to spend the time for the series.

What is different about the storyline? -[Spoilers]-



...

The storyline... Our first episode begins with our protagonist Elaina getting inspired to go on ventures and see the world for her own as a witch at the age of 8. From that motivation, she manages to pass the Apprentice Witch exam at the age of 14. Which makes her the youngest person ever to become an Apprentice witch. To be recognized as a witch, apprentice witches have to get trained by an actual witch for a while and be acknowledged by them. Since Elaina is infamous for being the youngest witch ever to pass the apprentice witch exam, not many witches want to take her in. But even after the struggle she is in, she still continues pushing for a year before finally, her efforts give some fruit. There is a rumor spread from her parent that a traveler witch with the infamous nickname of "Dark Witch" was settling nearby the tiny town where Elaina was raised in. Elaina immediately thinks she might have a chance because the witch she just met may not have heard her name already... But upon checking on with her, she already knew her, but she didn't mind taking her as an apprentice. Elaina was about to give up, but this made her very happy. After that, for a month, our "Dark Witch," aka Flan, did nothing but torture Elaina. She never taught her a spell or trained her. She only used Elaina as a maid in the house. After that month, Elaina was about to come to her limit. Then one day at dinner time, Flan asks Elaina for a duel. And pretty much bullies her. After nearly killing Elaina, she stops because Elaina starts crying. Flan tries her best to calm her down, but after that, she reveals that her parents asked her to do this. Because Elaina had never experienced failure and she had the steel will to keep continuing, her mother, Victoria, wanted her to experience the setbacks.

Finally, after all that dilemma, Flan starts to train Elaina as a witch...

Opinion Time

This anime seems like your usual witchy magic anime from the first episode with a beautiful main character. But this episode pretty much tells us how Elaina is as a character, how curious she is but kind at the same time, and gives us what to expect for her travels in the future.

But from the next episode, is where everything starts to have a drastic change.

From the next episode, the story style takes a massive change. The anime adapts a story style where the places Elaina starts to visit are only absent in that one episode. She is always traveling around, and since each country is different from the others, stories feel like their own separate stories instead of contributing to one big storyline.
But this does not mean that you can watch episodes out of order or read out of order; even though the places she visits will never be visited back again, there are returning characters like Saya, which Elaina helped to make her pass her Apprentice exam. Or Flan that has her own story too. It's time for my next point.
Sometimes stories are not ALWAYS about Elaina. We get to dig into others' pasts as well. In 2 episodes, we had Flan's past and how she was trained by Victoria (yes, Elaina's mom and the book that inspired Elaina was written by her too) and with Shelia, who is the complete opposite of her personality. And in that episode, they go on to how their relationship went from zero to best friends.
Even though stories do not happen in the same time zones or same places, the series manages character development really well.



In conclusion, what makes this series really good is a unique storyline that does not follow ordinary ways. But at the same time, good character development, not utilizing the main storyline, but little chains of stories that were able to give a proper character development. The series managed to do something that no anime has ever done. (at least from my experience so far) Which makes it one of my all-time favorites. Because of how good the writing is, I started purchasing physical copies of light novels as well.

Here is a few sneak peeks at how light novels are structured.

I will talk about Estelles' part because she was teased at the end of the first season of the anime.

Estelle is a 17-year-old girl that is trying to get to her hometown, "The Holy City." She loses her memory every time she sleeps, so she's trying to get to her hometown to get her memories back.

The story style is pretty familiar, as the anime implementation was done quite well. But Estelles' story had 3 chapters that talked about her current mental state and how she was doing, how they met with Elaina and their traveling experience and her dark past.
After Estelle finally gains her memories, they part ways.

The story was simply insane.
It was well executed and they used this storylines strength to give off an emotional parting you won't expect.


Anyways, If you like unique stories, you should definetly consider reading the books as well.

This review no longer shows how I feel about the show as I've set aside some time to rewatch after a little convincing. And I think that not developing the main storyline is fine as I've realized the side story was much better and probably prioritized over to make this work.
(rating went from: 6>8)

I will write an updated review soon.
----- my old review will be included in a txt so it's not lost in time, here it is.----

This anime's story had insane potential, but they literally threw it all away in a matter of 2 episodes. Other than that, if you enjoy cute girls ... shooting people, then this anime is a no-brainer to watch for that reason. But I usually review the series I watch by its story and I had to get this out. So let me explain the story to you so you can understand why I am upset with this series.
(edited to fix my poor writing)
(2nd edit for the note above)
(SPOILERS AHEAD FROM NOW ON)

The gist of the story. (Spoilers Ahead)

The story begins with one of our main characters Chisato being called to "work". She had a hangover so she had woken up a little late and was making her coffee. We can already see from this start that she has a cheerful personality. Then the scene changes to the mission that our other main character, "Takina" is taking a part in. The mission consisted of recapturing the guns that were stolen. In the scene, a Lycoris-

What is a "Lycoris"?
The Lycoris is a tag is given to young girls that the DA (the company behind this lycoris group) has gathered at a small age, making them feel embedded to them by saving them and raising them as their own, and making them work as spies to repay. They are pretty much the ones that keep the peace in the current state of the city.)
[my comment: this has already given a good brick wall the story can build on]

- was captured. So our protagonist Takina gets a machine gun, and precisely eliminates around 8 terrorists that were sent here to make a deal without killing the captured Lycoris. Chisato was rushing to the apartment where this case was happening, and Chisato had just arrived in time to see the chaos with her own eyes too.

Because what Takina did was not in order, she got a suspension from DA, sending her to the branch "Chisato" works for, LycoReco Cafe. She still believes what she did was right and she is trying to do everything she can to get back to the main building.

(She doesn't know that they used her as an excuse to not show that they failed to retrieve the guns though.)
------------- a little rant from me ---------------
This is roughly what happens in the first 15 minutes of the series, and already a mysterious vibe, and a big potential. Just imagine, there is a city where terrorist activities going on actively and there is a company connected to the government where they are hiding everything that happens. The story seems all good so far. And their storytelling is actually pretty good throughout the series too. Then what did it do to flop and is in this Anime Slander?
Let's get to the explaining then...
I will be skipping some parts as explaining the entire story would take hours, I will just explain what makes the story build up so good and why the ending is supposedly "RUINED".
But, the anime itself is decent, so you should watch it if you haven't already.
"LycoReco" is supposedly a cafe that Chisato and her sensei Mika had opened, and Takina was sent there. The day she came, they handle pretty usual errands like delivering coffee and suddenly they are on a dangerous mission... How did that happen? Anyways a girl that I can't recall her name at the moment was being stalked, and Chisato and Takina are commissioned to take care of her until the stalking stopped. The person being stalked had taken a selfie and that selfie had some confidential information about the gun exchange Takina had demolished earlier in the story.

A little later that day, they were going to make a "slumber party" in the captured's house. So Chisato rushed back to LycroReco place to gather some materials. Takina and the capture were walking alone in the night when Takina realized a suspicious car was chasing them. So she used the culprit as bait to be able to stop them and kill them... Keyword, "KILL THEM". At that moment Chisato sweeps in, stops Takina from killing 2 people that have the girl captured in the vehicle, and after making them unconscious with plastic bullets, and makes Takina shoot a drone really far away that a hacker is using...
Wow, that was a lot to unpack.
Anyways, in this scene, we understood that Chisato doesn't like killing, and Takina is the person that will do anything to get back to her main workplace. A nice place for them to develop.

Now I will mention the background of this whole storyline from a different perspective.
There was a customer that often comes to "LycoReco" cafe. And his name is Mr. Yoshimatsu...
He was the one that set the whole gun transaction gig up, and he was trying to get rid of all the evidence.
A wall of text, I love not having to type this in one sitting.
The thing is, this adds a whole lot more chaos to the series and increases potential, so after the ending, you can imagine my disappointing reaction.

Anyways, talking about the chaos he added to the series, time to make a big reveal so get your spoiler glasses ready.


They reveal that Chisato had a poor health condition, we already learned that she was a fighting prodigy and as long as she can see, she will be able to dodge a bullet that is fired from a face distance from her. But she had issues with her heart... As a lycoris, they had used her to prevent a major incident from causing huge chaos, known as the "Tower" Incident, and Chisato had taken a major role for this to stop with minimal damages. After that, the government kept the remnants of that tower for memorial purposes, and they built a new one a few years later. After that incident, Chisato struggled even more and she was on the verge of dying... But. Mr. Yoshimatsu and Mika saved her. With a mechanic heart that doesn't pound.
THIS CREATED A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF COMPLICATION TO THE SCENE, THE WEIRD CONNECTIONS, THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR A GOOD MAIN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE EPISODE ALL THIS INFORMATION WAS RELEASED, I WAS ACTUALLY HYPED AS YOU CAN SEE FROM MY ALL CAPS.
It went down after that though...
Went downhill and ruined all that hyping...
Well, let's see how it happened.

When we go a little further, we learn that Chisato's fake mechanical heart won't even last until her mid 25's, and she is 16 right now. So, in a way, they tease the fact that Chisato might actually die. Usually, people don't want endings like that and if they were gonna actually go with that route, they'd tease it earlier... But then something shocking happens.

Because Chisato's mindset was that she wouldn't kill anyone. And Mr. Yoshimatsu only accepted the deal of helping her because she was a "KILLING MACHINE" They decided to break Chisato's heart by giving it an electric shortage. After that incident, it is implied that she had only 2.5 months to live. Even "HIGHER" stakes in the story. It was really getting intense at this point and I was thinking that if they played their cards right, this could be one of my all-time favorite series. Oh boy, how wrong I was...
Anyways.
Let's get into the action scenes now that we have context for why stuff is happening, and what are the characters' motives.

I forgot to introduce one character though, Majima. He is a tool that was created by Mr. Yoshimatsu as well. He has intense hearing capabilities and he was the one that was behind the tower incident that Chisato had saved... His ideals are to make the public Lycoris's existence and get rid of the perception that "Japan is a perfect city with no terrorists.". and to kill Chisato finally as she prevented him from succeeding in the first attempt.

So, let's begin. THE SLANDER.

Action scenes begin with Chisato having to make a decision, helping DA stop Majima from destroying the new tower or saving Mr. Yoshimatsu.

Of course, she made the choice to save Mr. Yoshimatsu as she knew he was the one that gave him the mechanical heart and saved her life.
At the same time, DA was trying to stop Majima's attack by sending a Lycoris army to the new tower, trying to find the bomb's location so they can prevent from history repeating again. She was aware of Mr. Yoshimatsu's intentions, yet she still decided to save him as she just wanted to stop all this mess without killing anyone.
So, she went directly to the place that Majima's hacker told her to go, in that place she was lured to, it was completely pitch black to weaken Chisato's seeing capabilities, and make his hearing talent shine.
There was an intense fight that Chisato was about to lose. But... I said Takina wanted to go back to DA right, for that mission she was able to go back to DA as well but she took the decision to betray that mission because she realized Chisato was in trouble, and BOOM, Takina breaks in, creates a light source by entering while breaking the wall. And shoo's Majima away... Temporarily.

Then they find Mr. Yoshimatsu being tied down, when they try to get to him, his bodyguard attacks Chisato and Takina and there is a conversation going on about a new prototype heart that is upgraded in Yoshimatsu and Chisato needs to kill him to get the heart, (the bodyguard is a woman BTW) Chisato is able to dodge the kick she serves, but Takina is thrown out of the tower and she almost dies, so Chisato jumps to rescue her. While on that, the bodyguard is trying to kill Takina by breaking the steel rod she clung on to right before she fell to her death. Chisato makes her drop her gun with real ammo beside her. This time Mr. Yoshimatsu himself stands up and aims at Takina. To save her, Chisato SHOULD kill Yoshimatsu for real right? No. She hits him with a real bullet but the damage is non-lethal and Chisato is still on a clean record of not growing as a character.

After this, I was like, it's fine. This is salvageable. But you don't wanna know what happens next...
They expected that Majima is dead so they sent some cleaners to clean the fact up...
But those cleaners went missing. And while the now recollected Lycoris Team is going up the elevator to see what's going on, when they arrive Chisato leaves the elevator, and the rest of the team almost dies, one being severely injured and Chisato doesn't even care. She just says "Hi!" to Majima not realizing her teammates could be dead.

This scene doesn't even match her personality at all and the storytelling was just getting worse and worse by this point. She had no progression as a character yet. And they teased that there will be a final fight, maybe this time she will actually grow right?
Right?
Well in the final episode Majima proposes his plan. He told us that he had planted bombs, enough to explode the new tower, and started a countdown that is an hour long. Then he told Chisato: To stop this, YOU must kill me. After that, they started fighting. The fighting was pretty epic but... The whole time Chisato was focused on getting the remote so she can stop the explosion. For that, she almost died, then Takina comes to her rescue again... But this time, when the severely injured Chisato sees Takina, she does lethal damage to Majino and he dies... (or does he?)
But it was too late and the explosion happens anyways...
Or does it?
No, those were fireworks.

THEY HAD THAT INTENSE BUILD-UP, JUST TO THROW IT AWAY???? WHAT ARE YOU ON? WHEN I FIRST WATCHED THAT SCENE, I LAUGHED BECAUSE I WAS SHOCKED AND THOUGHT, REALLY? AFTER THAT, THE DISAPPOINTION HIT AND I JUST WALKED AROUND SCREAMING WHY FOR LIKE 20 MINUTES.

Then when Yoshimatsu who was looking at the scene from afar gets caught up with Mika, his crime buddy. Mika had grown a liking to Chisato. So to keep her alive, he killed Yoshimatsu, taking the mechanical heart inside him.
So they did not even let her do that herself...
At that point, I was really disappointed that they had thrown an opportunity like that away.

And this entire event would cause huge chaos in the public of course as it was streamed to the general public by a hacker. But DA is able to cover that up too so people in Japan have no idea that this even happens in the background.


So to conclude, they basically had an insane buildup, just to throw it away like that. To be able to make a season 2 on good terms. It was one of the biggest fuck ups I have ever seen on a series. EVER. They had made insane stakes yet nothing happened, and no one grew as a character which is quite disappointing.

One of the longest reviews I will ever write, this had the potential to be one of my all-time favorites but it was ruined miserably.
I hope you understand why I feel upset about this series, have a good night.

My first true 10... This season of Kaguya-sama Love Is War is the best season so far. The animation quality has gone up from last season, and the buildup of the story finally paid off. Love is a complicated feeling, and can be destroying, but rewarding at the same time. This story was able to show us what it actually feels like and make us emphasize with the characters so that we have built up a personal connection with them which made the ending even more hype. Storytelling's quality was insane and it kept me engaged through the entire series. For more detailed look and ... my rating, continue reading. vvv





Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic

Story: 29/30
Main Characters Development: 10/10
Storytelling: - 10/10
Side character development: 9/10

Comment:
There was a long anticipation from last season because it didn't really end with a closure, so this season was expected. It felt like all the pieces of information we had were compiling in this season and this entire season was building up for that one single moment, it felt like watching a movie, the story chain didn't feel off, and it actually kept me engaged through the entire series and made me watch it in one sitting. While Kaguya Shinomia and Miyuki Shirogane's relationship was building, we had Yuu Ishigami having a small harem, with Tsubame Koyasu and Miko Iino, I wasn't sure of the introduction of Miko at last season but she had a great role this season as well.

TLDR: You won't get bored from this story if you like Romance Comedy, and there will be sad moments too. But the quality will shock you.


Art: 28/30
Characters Design: 9/10
Scenery Design: 10/10
Light Reflection: 5/5
Background Characters: 4/5

Comment:
As I stated in the intro, the production quality of this anime really has increased, it didn't feel like they were releasing sketches that weren't complete unlilke the last season. And the enviroment deisgn was truly incredible, and animations complimented it, A-1 Studios know their shit when they take their time.

Sound: 19/20
Use of sound effects to emphasize the story: 9/10
Music: 10/10

Comment:
This season's opening was the worse out of this series, but the fact that they had special outro musics for some episdoes, and the clever way of using sound effects was a key part of me to keep staying engaged.

Animation: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10



Overall Rating: 95/100
Favorite Character(s:) Kaguya Shinomiya, Yuu Ishigami