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An engrossing and thought-provoking film that descends into the nuances of politics, power, and identity. The film is a visual feast, with the dark and moody animation complimenting the gritty nature of the story well. What makes Jin Roh so special is its portrayal of how war affects psychologically on both individual and societal levels. The characters struggle with their humanity as well as the blurring of borders between duty and personal values.

The political entice and metaphorical themes add layers of complexity to the film, making it one that stays with you long after the credits have rolled. I watched the film a week ago ... and I still cannot describe it in words how hard this film impacted me. Not counting End of Evangelion, this might be my favorite anime film of all time even ahead of Perfect Blue and When Marnie Was There.

“You told me once to forget the past, cause it doesn’t matter, but you’re the one still tied to the past, Spike.”-- Faye Valentine

This one dialogue perfectly encapsulates everything that Cowboy Bebop is. It’s a struggle between trying to break the shackles of the past yet the more you walk forward the more you realize that you are just falling deeper into the pit of your own past because despite your better judgement, you are what your past defines you to be. Sometimes we can break this paradox and free ourselves from the past but most of us are just stuck on this endless loop ... of the regrets of our earlier days.

Cowboy Bebop is set in a futuristic western setting that is clearly inspired by Western pop-culture. This is very evident from the homage that Bebop pays to the likes of Sergio Leone’s classic The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and the Bruce Lee inspired fight choreography in the very first episode. We follow the journey of two space bounty hunters, Spike and Jet. They try to catch criminals in space and earn reward for their hard work. After awhile they get two more crews, Faye and Edward. Faye is a sexy yet problematic woman who is always on debt due to her rather unusual spending and Edward is a young computer genius. Their crew is also joined by Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Ein. Since Cowboy Bebop is an episodic show it predictably has a repeating formula. They do a mission, cause a lot of commotion and damage and once they go to collect their bounty they realize that the cost of the damage outweighs their bounty prize. So, basically they return to square one.

This is why I don’t like episodic shows yet Bebop despite it’s repeating formula stands out. This is because these repeated acts are not due to the writer’s inability to have creative assertion but they explore each character and their belief with great subtlety and care. A beautiful example of this is showcased on the very first episode. Both Spike and Jet witnesses a tragic end between two lovers but despite this, they both move on with the weight of this tragedy on their shoulder not holding them back. They have seen enough to know how cruel the world is and they know not to form any connection to people when everyone is trying to better one another. This is where the beautiful tragedy of Cowboy Bebop begins. Since this is a spoiler free review I won’t point out the specifics but watch Spike and Jet’s behavior towards the end of Episode 24. An ingenious reversal of how they were able to break free of that weight when they were not attached and how human attachment suddenly changes everything.

What truly separates Cowboy Bebop from every other show of this similar style is it’s characters. Each character is beautifully well designed with unique attributes to remember them. The back and forth between Bebop’s crew is one of the shows outer charm but what lies inside is the intrigue of their past and the decisions that made them who they are today. Unlike most stories, they don’t dump their story in one episode and be done with it. No, they carefully weave their characteristics with every episode. They gives us bits and pieces and even before their eventual reveal, we already know them enough to know how their past shaped them and how they shaped their past. By the end, everything beautifully falls into place as these characters chooses their path when they are standing at the crossroads of letting the sleep of your past drag you deeper into your dream or to wake up.

It’s mesmerizing to witness these characters finally reaching their own resolve with their broken past and chose their own redemption. Some make the right choice and some don’t but this is how life is.

Cowboy Bebop essentially has everything. It has the perfect start that sets up the preceding events beautifully, it has the perfect story midpoint in Jupiter Jazz Part 1&2 and it has one of the finest ending of the medium in The Real Folk Blues Part 1&2. On top of all that, it has what is highly regarded as one of the greatest episode in all of anime and what I consider to be my personal favorite episode in anime, Episode 5, Ballad of Fallen Angels. This episode introduces us to the show’s main antagonist, Vicious. It’s a perfect mixture of intrigue and high octane action that sets both Spike and Vicious on a path that they left unburied all those years ago. I have probably seen this episode atleast 50 times yet I can’t grow tired of watching it.

Cowboy Bebop doesn’t only let it’s narrative define it but it also lets it’s production define it as well. It is easily one of the most well directed tv show to be ever aired. Each episode is filled with magnificent scene composition that lets it’s perfect color shading and detailed background to flourish. One can not believe that this is actually the debut work of Shinichiro Watanabe who went on to make more great shows but none quite as definitive in it’s brilliance as Cowboy Bebop. It is often said that an artist’s first art is what defines them and Watanabe lets Cowboy Bebop’s sheer genius in story telling define and shape his legacy.

Now it can’t be a Cowboy Bebop review without talking about it’s brilliant musical score by the musical genius Yoko Kanno. The musical score of Cowboy bebop is just as important to it’s impressive legacy as it’s narrative brilliance. Yoko Kanno and her band Seatbelts created what is arguably the greatest musical score for a Television show. Each episode is blessed with fantastic tracks that compliments the amazing scene composition of Shinichiro Watanabe. The music mostly focuses on jazz but there is no lack of diversity throughout the soundtrack. The opening, Tank is one of the most recognizable and beloved anime opening ever. The ending track, The Real Folk Blues is a perfect mixture of melancholia and jazz that sets the mood of the show. Some stand out tracks includes Call Me Call Me, Elm, Space Lion. Every episode of Cowboy Bebop is named after either a famous song or a musical reference.

Now since this is an episodic anime, some episodes are bound to be better than the other ones and some will be weaker compared to the show’s peak. There are no outright bad episode in Cowboy Bebop and even it’s weaker episodes can easily claim to be better than most other anime’s peak points. The particular episodes I am not quite a big fan of are "Toys in the Attic" and "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui". They are by no means bad, it’s just that they are not as good as some of the other episodes.

Cowboy Bebop is a show which wears a mask. The mask is the fun action-packed show with cool dialogues with distinctive western style but what lies underneath the mask is the cruel truth of how we have to carry the weight of our past and move forward, not let that weight slow us down. You can try all you want to not be attached to your regrets but in the end it’s our past that defines us. Some people choose to walk away yet the others let their past sink them until their present reality becomes an extension of their past regrets.

Anime like Zegapain proves there should be a dedicated Critically approved section for preserving anime. Evangelion bought a revolution which was followed by plethora of original anime that had incredible ideas but not as good as direction or cinematography or execution. Sadly, most of them will be forgotten with time. I myself had forgotten about it. I downloaded the anime after watching a "Anime Everyday" recommendation video or was it Digibro? Well both of those channels are dead anyways. So, it was basically from my pretentious elitist phase of 2017/18. I plan on catching upto all these shows that are downloaded on my old harddrive. ... An anime like Zegapain deserves atleast some level of recognition. It might not be on the level of something like Evangelion or Gurren Lagann but it is a solid show with incredible ambition and ideas, many of them landing very well. The last 2 episodes has a lot of corniness but it is still very nice. Sadly Zegapain is more or less forgotten at this point. When I started watching anime, shows like Revolutionary Girl Utena or Texhnolyze were highly rated. Fast forward to a decade later, and now look at their state. How many new people has watched something like Utena? When even those shows are not properly remembered, I doubt a far inferior show like Zegapain has any chance of having a popularity revival.

Also almost the entire plot setup of 13 Sentinel seems to be hugely inspired by the first act of Zegapain. Play 13 Sentinel, amazing game and also if you are in the mood for a classic 2000's original mecha anime with a lot of bullshit mumbojumbo philosophy, existential crisis and whacky reality with highschool students piloting a mecha to save humankind, give Zegapain a shot.

In The Mood For Love but hentai.

It's an NTR/Cheating story that's actually wholesome. It feels weird to say it but yeah this actually happended. I am just so tired of degrading hentai that getting this was like an unexpected gift. The guy was an ass and he had it coming. Just as I've said in the beginning, this is basically In The Mood For Love as in the plot is pretty much the same thing. I am 90% sure the author watched In The Mood For Love and was like you know what it needs? It needs less artistic vision and sex in it. Boom! ... An art was created. Can we please get some more stuff like this?

I cried, I wept, I smiled, I felt empty and I felt happiness. The feelings that I had watching Evangelion 3.0+1.0 can't be properly explained in words. I just completed the film and despite knowing most of the spoilers since March, never in my wildest dream I would've thought it would hit me like a bullet train with the emotions. There's way too much to unpack and definitely needs a few viewing from me for a much more detailed writing but it is Hideaki Anno's final piece to Evangelion. The final gift to the industry he helped give a shape to. And after 26 years ... he is free of it's shackles. Thank you Hideaki Anno sensei for Evangelion 💖

USA Made Zootopia
Meanwhile Japan takes a look at Zootopia and says "That's good but we can do better."

Honestly I needed to watch something to help me calm down after the hundreds of spoilers I got about Evangelion 3.0+1.0. Decided to watch Beastars because Yoasobi's Kaibutsu has been on my playlist for the last two weeks. I genuinely can't remember if I have binge watched a full anime in the last 12 months. I've been going through an anime fatigue and i end up taking weeks if not months to complete a series.

Beastars has CGI animation so I guess that's what turned people ... off. I wasn’t too much bothered by it. After 10-12 minutes my eyes adjusted those movements. The main attraction however was the direction and editing. From Episode 3 and onwards the editing is sharp and snappy something like a Guy Richie film. Episode 4 is genuinely one of the most beautiful anime episode I've ever seen. From the moment Legoshi enters the stage to the moment the credits starts rolling for the episode, my eyes were glued to the screen. Beastars has incredibly diverse cast with distinctive personalities something that's helped by using animals as it's characters to symbolize the class difference.

I see a lot of people preaching that oh my god it's furry so bad. Idk man. It has explicit content but it's not really fanservice. None of the thing that happens isn’t warranted in the storyline. Beastars feels like the best Shounen to never be shounen. The musical score of Beastars is godtier so as the Opening and Ending. The file I downloaded had default English Dub and I watched 5 minutes with dub before changing it to sub just to compare. Found the dub to suit these characters better specially Jonah Scott's voice in English Dub absolutely kills it! Overall a pretty fun anime with great characters and fantastic direction. Definitely recommend it.

Velveteen & Mandala is absolutely messed up to it's core but in the right way. It feels like a B Grade Japanese Psychological Experimental film more than a conventional seinen manga. The art is a bit hazy and the manga has a tendency of using weird angles to focus on the characters. This adds to the whole vibe of how the main characters are messed up in the head due to their upbringing in this dystopian Tokyo that is midst of a war.

The story centers around two highschool girls, Velveteen and Mandala who lives inside a tank on the riverside just outside the city. ... They are tasked by a certain powerful group to exterminate Zombie like creatures that are being dropped by huge airplanes on the riverside where they live. The main two characters aren't friends, they are not really enemies either. For the most part Velveteen loves to hate Mandala but they seem to always fall back to this weird state where they keep on working and living together.

This manga isn't for everyone. I mean it's filled with every messed up shenanigans you can think of. I mean this manga has gore, profanity, necrophilia, attempted gangrape?.....I don't know what you can call that. so you get that you need a strong stomach to digest these. This manga is laced with quirky and sharp dark humor with inappropriate but chuckle generating comments on our lifestyle and the downward spiral of humanity under such conditions of dystopia. This manga is pretty pretentious and for the most part the themes are all over the place when put into a context of a complete story but it's the type of pretentiousness that actually helps the manga to standout.

One of the things that I genuinely love about this manga is how brilliantly this manga can change it's tone from inappropriate jokes to such messed up reality with sharp turns that makes you go like that's quite funny to Fu** that's messed up!

It's not a manga that's perfect and a lot of it is up for interpretation so definitely people will have different opinions. If someone comes out and says that it's a pretentious gibberish dumpster fire, I won't really complain. It's upto the individual reader to decide what they take from this manga. I myself absolutely loved the entire thing despite it's shortcoming and although the themes individually can be very intriguing, they start falling apart when placed under a larger picture. Reading the manga made me feel the same feelings as I did when I had first watched Eraserhead and it's a damn good feeling atleast for me. It's only one volume that's just 14 chapters so maybe give it a shot.

2018 was a packed year with a plethora of great shows every season. So a lot of great shows are bound to be buried under the hype of the big name hits. One such case is Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight. It's a great shame since Revue Starlight maybe the most ambitious anime I've seen since Revolutionary Girl Utena, a show that definitely played a huge influence in every turn of Revue Starlight. This leads many people into calling Revue Starlight, The wannabe/ Discount Utena which isn’t a completely unfair judgement but then again is is really a bad thing to get more of Utena?

This ... show has received widespread critical acclaim in Japan but overall has received a mixed reaction outside. It's due to the shows dependence on a labyrinth maze of symbolism, themes, philosophy and a convoluted finale. This show hugely depends on your knowledge of how Japanese theatre works specially the all women theatre troupe known as Takarazuka. The system of Takarazuka is there is the perfect, tall and beautiful character troupe that is knows as Otokoyaku and her equally beautiful and talented Masumeyaku. They are the lead roles in such theatre based play and everyone wants to play them but since it has a huge emphasis on height, most girls can't get these roles. Takarazuka's troupe is also based on this pseudo tragedy/bittersweet stories.

The plot of Revue Starlight is about trying to break from this system. The series's main two characters Karen and Hikari tries to break the mold of the system. This show serves as a critique of the hardship that comes with theatre works, the desire to be on top and how it drives them to break themselves, the isolation that one feels when they are on top, the sin one commits when they compete against one another and of course how this theatre troupe is bounded by it’s system. The concept of height plays a major role throughout the show and it's constantly being referenced through metaphors throughout the show.

This is also one of the most technically Impressive show I've seen in quite sometime. The visuals are stunning, the musical score is the best I've heard all year, the fights and performances are among the most impressive of 2018, has the best cast of characters out of any 2018 anime with a great afford put into making every character relevant. Episode 6 and 7 are easily among the best episodes I've seen in any anime in 2018. There is a blinder of a twist in episode 7 that I could never see coming! This show also has an ingenues metaphor with a Giraffe that caught me off-guard. When Episode 10 completed I thought this will be my favourite 2018 anime but sadly the convoluted last 2 episodes sort of lets it down a little. They tried to chew more than what they are capable of as they tried to cramp the episode with way too much. Some were great like the Giraffe metaphor and the reference to Sisyphus others not so much.

Despite the problems, it still has an emotionally satisfying finale and overall is easily among my favourite of 2018

Two month or so ago back when the first episode of SSSS. Gridman came out, it was met with a mixed reaction and many people didn't continue the show. This is due to a huge chunk of present fanbase only tries to find context on surface material. In fact, a huge part of anime fans thinks any show with giant mechs fighting have no other theme or story other than cheap monster-a-week fights.

Everything that happens in the show is part of a meta-narrative. As the story progresses the narration slowly expands and by the end you'll view every incident of the story in a ... different angle. Although you'll probably be able to guess what the meta-narration is for by Episode 10,it still doesn't make the ending any less emotionally powerful.

The cast of the show is a perfectly balanced mixture of Goofy Side Characters and Emotionally driven protagonists. Something Hiroyuki Imaishi does in a lot of his works. It's hard to get into the characters without giving away spoilers so,I'll just point out my favorite two characters and their brilliant dynamic. Akane and Rikka are my two most favorite characters and their relationship has the best development in the entire show. Rikka had thousands of reason to turn her back on Akane but she didn't. She reached out to Akane and was genuinely able to get through.The most amazing thing is this brilliant character arc never played second fiddle to the show's actions.

Neon Genesis Evangelion's influence in the show is very evident.It's a mecha driven narrative with underlying themes of loneliness, isolation and escapism.In fact,the SSSS Gridman team is called Neon Genesis Junior High Students. This is the beauty of the show to be honest. This show is made by people whose passion for the shows that inspired them sips through each and every frame of the show.

"You write because you're alive.You're alive because you write.Still,does living really require anything to put on a scale against itself?"

The sole reason why I picked up this manga is because I came across this obscure manga review on youtube and the synopsis looked intriguing but what I found was possibly the best manga I've read.I read the manga twice in one day and I don't think I've read any Psychological Thriller that kept me second guessing myself throughout their entire length.This is feels like something right out of Satoshi Kon's mind and it's fitting cause the manga reminded me of Perfect Blue.

The story revolves ... around a famous author named Shun Mizorogi whose creativity seemed to dry up and haven't been able to write anything new for awhile thus he succumbs to plagiarism.The only issue is the true author whose work he stole comes to meet him and commits suicide in a very mysterious circumstance.Once she is dead her twin sister shows up and thus the mystery begins for Mizorogi to keep up with what's fiction and what's reality.

The unreliable non-linear narration makes it tricky to understand.Specially when the narrator himself has a hard time distinguishing who is real and who is fiction.The manga itself is so hard to keep up with because of the different motivations each character has also the motives themselves serves as meta-narration for how the characters perceives what writing means and for the ones who write it is perceived as to what living is.There's a brilliant metaphor which is tied to Mizorogi's sexual impotence and how it represents his ability to write.Also watch out for an amazing monologue about the duality of both human eyes and how each helps the other to construct a proper object.

Just read this.You won't be disappointed