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Oregairu was an enchanting series from start to finish. It was a series in which there was a lot of deeper messages and underlying tones, which leaves a lot for me to think about. I think that what makes this anime so special. Its open to interpretation and not everything is delivered to you in face value. This was conveyed subtly with a sophisticated delicacy. Although admittingly, a lot of these themes went straight over my head. But I had a lot of fun reading forums and analysis's that break them down.
To me this series was a classic series that follows a trope I ... love, where you are Introduxed to the world and characters in a light hearted and fun way, and then you slowly start to realise the deeper consequences that the situation and relationships present. This really helped me get immersed into hikigayas story, and how his view on relationships made it difficult for him to pursue friends and lovers in a typical fashion. From this, it was delightful to see his growth in terms of his cynicalness and for him to achieve the happiness he was looking for. I think in that sense, this gave yahari one of the biggest pay offs I've seen in anime. As we have continuously seen for 3 seasons hikigaya struggle and self sacrafice, traumatised by his past relationships and bullying. To then finally him being able to find someone who he really connects to, someone who, for some reason that is unbeknownst to him, gives him the desire to be connected to despite there being a lack of any reason to. Contradicting his logic and values. This pay off was incredibly satisfying for me, and I was genuinely happy that he was able to find this.
As for any lasting messages that I can resonate to, I find that I am unable to think of any. To me this was a feel good series of drama, romance and comedy. However, any lessons or morals that are being conveyed have not come through to me. It is because of this, that I am unable to give this series a 10/10

- that anime guy

It is 3am and i have just finished beck, and i find myself left with feelings of fulfilment, longing, motivation and awe. Its hard to describe what kind of impression this anime has left on me, but i am sure that i will look back on this fondly and will always have a special place in my heart. Beck has inspired my views on music like no other form of media before. I have now a deep sense of appreciation, respect and truthfully jealousy for those who are talented enough to make music. It really gives the impression that everything is filled with so much ... passion and that they have expressed themselves in ways that many are seldom able to. I want to devote my respect to music thanks to beck and even if this interest is only temporary, i am glad to have found this anyway.

in this review i want to talk about the things that personally speak to me when i watch anime and they are the 'feel of the anime', the sound, the highs, the characters and the takeaways.

feel - beck is an anime that could easily function as a tv series or movie, it did not feel like this had to be an anime to work. it is a drama that tells the tale of a boy who bored of life is able to find his true passion and journey through the path of a rockstar. Beck maintains a feel that is grounded more in reality, which really helps sell the passion. it really makes you believe that somewhere out there, there is a place where you belong and you just need to find and run with it.

sound - in terms of sound... well its a music anime so of course the sound was great. i did watch the dub and it was jarring that everyone in the anime was praising the main character for having a crazy voice when i can only really hear kaoru haha, but once i had gotten used to it, i began to dig some of the songs. Even though i am not into rock myself, i couldnt help but find myself enthralled in the music.

highs- by highs i am referring to specific scenes, scenes that were so well done that it leaves a huge impact on you that this is what you remember the show for. And truthfully this wasn't becks strong point. ALthough beck maintained a great level of quality and engagement through out the whole season, there were very little moments which stood out to me as the 'it' moment. Thats not to take away from the anime tho, as i was engaged throughout the whole thing, binging 20 full episodes in one day and 6 the next. i guess the moment i remember the most right now is the scene where maho and tanaka go swimming under the moonlight.

Characters - the characters in beck were interesting definately a different take to the conventional means of anime characters. On one hand you have a plethora of characters introduced who you thought would have a longstanding and pivotal role in the story like izumi or tanakas friend or tanakas bully or even maho to an extent, but they played a smaller role than expected and even phased out in certain cases. But i think this might have been done to reflect life, as you grow up you will meet many people but not all will stick around, you will go through different phases and things that seem so important and so permanent are in fact just one phase in your life. in regards to the main characters, there isnt really much to say i dont think there was anything particularly noteworthy outside of maho and tanaka. tanaka was a main character who i really liked and is almost my ideal for a main character. Someone who is rough around the edges to start but grows as the series goes on, tanaka also wasnt like your typical wimpy main character, usually anyway, and to an extent knew his worth and knew when to back away which i really liked. he had passion talent and an ability to attract people by being himself. Maho was also a really good character too, i thought her dynamic with tanaka was really nice and her moments with him were really engaging to me. I do think maho was a victim of bad story telling in which the author used this great character to create uneccessary drama. I really wish the author wasnt always baiting the fact that she might be into another guy or something. They really had potential to be one of my favourite couples

lastly takeaways - the takeaway for beck is what every story that is like this has, and that is to follow your passion. and stories like this really strike a resonation within me. for me to have a turning point in life, be myself and believe in myself and i can achieve my dreams. and for that reason beck will always be something special to me.

- that anime guy

This is my first ever anime review, I have begun to want to organise my thoughts and feelings about anime and document them for me to look back on. In a sense, i am sure that i will look back fondly of golden time for this reason.

Preamble: Golden time for me is in a weird place, on one hand i can't help but compare it to toradora (an anime from the same author) as toradora is one of my most favourite anime's. And i then begin to see all the areas in which golden time falls short. On the other hand, i had a ... very enjoyable time watching golden time watching the 24 episodes in 3 days (a rare feat for me nowadays) and also heavily enjoying the opening and ending songs. I think in the end i want to isolate golden time away from toradora and say that this was a genuinely good series, not great, but very good. In the end i even would say i miss watching this anime.

Characters: The main character tada banri had his funny moments, even his cool moments but in the end... i still dont like him. I just felt like his character didnt have much going for him outside of the whole memory thing. and old banri was basically just a linda simp. Koko was a good character at times i find her appealing and cute, but other times very annoying. Her character in all honesty felt hollow and lacked depth for me. But i enjoyed how passionate she was. yana and oka was quite lackluster, not much to say there. linda reminded me of minorin, somewhat of a mystery on how she truly felt and very savant in how much she cared for her friend and truly wished the best for him. Even if it meant she couldn't be with him. Lastly there was 2d kun. I actually liked him the best, i have a soft spot for characters like him. I felt his character (although heavily under developed) was interesting, his dynamic with the other cast and how he really cared about his friends. To conclude, i know my review seems harsh on the characters relative to the scores i gave, but i would say the dynamic between the group really pulled this together. Although by themselves not very interesting.

Sound: by sound i am reffering to the opening and ending songs. Opening 1 and ending 1 are iconic songs for me which really stand out. I am however dissapointed in the lack of utilisation of these songs within the anime themselves as that is usually the gene se qua which really hypes me up in anime. The OST were good/great, some songs were very reminicent of toradora ost's and gains some points for me there. Overall, outside the opening and ending songs, nothing too notable. But definitely a banger op and end

Story: I think the story had a good premise that was interesting. There were no particular points where i was left stunned by the plot and there were only very rarely times where i was dissapointed. Golden time is great in the sense that it gave me time to like the characters in a superficial sense and then diving into drama later on in the series like toradora. Just not executed as well. I would say the only bits which stood out to me as bad, was the supernatural element like old banri cursing new banri with bad weather. or like linda hugging old banri. Im all for when anime stretches the plot and conveys things that only work in a story. However this just felt like lazy writing

Overall, looking past golden times shortcomings, there was a lot for me to be happy about. The comedy was good, the pacing was entertaining and well thought out. The drama had kept me engaged and hooked ready to watch the next episode. and this is a quality which is really hard to achieve. Golden time isnt meant to be an cinematic masterpiece, and does well in what it delivers: being an entertaining romcom.

That-anime-guy