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Musaigen No Phantom World is an interesting anime created by the famous or infamous Kyoto Animation studio. Fans of Kyoani will know that their works are graphically consistent and fluid when it comes to animation. It's no different for Phantom World. Mundane tasks such as ripping off a bandaid are animated. The characters all feel very alive in their hands, there's no doubt about that.

Also, by god is the action eye-candy! There isn't as much of it here as in Kyoukai No Kanata, but there's quite a lot.

If you came to this show from their more recent works like Hibike Euphonium and Hyouka you might ... have different expectations of this show.
This show is first and foremost trying to be fun.
The anime has some pretty light fanservice in it. It's not as bad as Haruhi, or the Full Metal Panic series though. In fact, in terms of fanservice, it feels like an older show they've made. Unlike, Euphonium and Hyouka with direct mass appeal, I wouldn't recommend watching this show with non-anime fans or prudish people. I'd consider the fanservice light, but I don't think people who've only seen Hyouka or Euphonium would.

Now that, that's out of the way let's get to the meat of things.
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The Characters:
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This might come off as surprising but Phantom World barely has any supporting characters. Almost all of the characters feel like main characters!

What makes this interesting is that these characters play off of each other so well, it takes a while to notice. They're great. Each character has their own quirks and no one fades into the background unnoticed. They all stand distinguished on their own, and each brings something important to the other's lives.

Finding out why the characters act the way they do is something to look forward to as well. I was never bored of them.

The Story:
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Each episode has a central theme that ties into the whole episode and resonates in real life. You might actually learn something new from the show.

The story however does drag it's characters along for the ride at times. If the plot needs to develop a certain way the characters might act outside of expectations. This doesn't happen often, however; and the character's personalities stay consistent throughout.

It is a fun show though. The color palette is one of the brightest, most saturated I've seen from them in recent memory. The comedy has gotten to me to. I've definitely laughed at the antics of the characters more than once. The world is interesting. It's mysterious and really makes me beg them to take itself more seriously just so I can understand it better, but I didn't want that to ruin the other aspects of the show I enjoyed.


All in All...

Musaigen No Phantom World is one of the FIRST shows I watch every week on release. I always want to know what happens next, and I think that's because I care about the characters in the show, find their world interesting, and love it's overall tone. If you want an anime to relax with, I'd recommend it. If you don't mind light fanservice with light romance, I'd also recommend it.

"A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist"

Shimoseka does an outstanding job of focusing on its theme.

If you're wandering around MAL and you stumbled upon this anime, don't dismiss it because of the cover or your preconceptions. Shimoseka is a very unique show. In the world of Shimoseka sexual morality is becoming enforced physically. People are wearing regulators where their speech is monitored so they can't say dirty words like p*nis or v*gina for fear of incarceration. In this world, there's a terrorist organization that goes by the name of SOX (the O is a censor mark in ... japan but it's pronounced - socks) led by Blue Snow. She goes around perpetuating sexuality, and believes that the freedom to have whatever adult tastes you want belong to you and shouldn't be judge by some govermental standard, and our protagonist gets involved with her through ways I wont spoil.

Shimoseka is a hyperbolic representation of our current society. Sexuality is a taboo matter, and in our society where conformity and guidelines permeate every facet of everything, sexuality is uncontrollable and therefore a problem. While the show takes a lighthearted approach to the situation, it's true that the government has intervened in the most private of aspects in people's lives.

Shimoseka asks the viewer to take a look at their own sexuality by having watered down versions of most sexual fetishes. All of it's played for laughs since the show still wants to be fun, however; it wants you to be introspective about your sexuality. The protagonist is an average guy, but even he has sexual biases, and in the end isn't that a big part of growing up left unspoken. Discovering what you're interested in sexually?

Regarding the pacing of the story, the show goes from story arc to story arc very fluidly. All of it ties together well, and the characters grow throughout the show.

I WAS NEVER BORED.

No episode bored me. Every line, and every location needed to exist and was interesting to hear. The characters weren't one dimensional. You couldn't stick them into a stereotypical cliches. They were fully fleshed out human beings with goals and quirks, but the quirks didn't define them.

The art was fantastic. The backgrounds merged well with the characters, and the animation never dipped in quality.

The audio never interfered with the story and in fact brought it along quite nicely. I have no objections.

Now the fanservice is still technically there. It is exploring sexuality after all, so be warned.

I would honestly recommend this show to any anime fans that has any tolerance towards slightly perverse situations. The perversion isn't even all that high to be honest.

Shimoseka is a show that opens the closet that you keep closed out of embarrassment and asks you to embrace everything inside as it's a part of you while taking you through a fun ride full of self-discovery and overall acceptance.

This show isn't Girls Bravo or whats another dumb fanservice anime... Akikan or whatever.

Shimoseka is a tasteful but distateful show. It's mature but immature, and even though that sounds impossible, I can definitely say it's a unique and worthwhile experience.

Do not shy away from this title because it has the word Virgin in it's title.

This anime is not about sexual themes, however; sexual themes are relevant. When it comes to telling a cohesive story, many anime fail. They don't have underlying themes, and character motivations are vague for the most part. This is NOT the case for Maria the Virgin Witch. The cast is quite large, but they are introduced in a sensible way and slowly. Each and every character has a reason to exist, and they're motivations make sense. They all contribute to the big picture ... and the show actually tackles ethical issues regarding war that can still resonate with people today.

I love the characters and how they interact with each other. The conversations feel real and while there may be drama, it's never because the characters are socially incompetent(this is rare in anime). The show also portrays middle-age society in the most realistic way I've ever seen surpassing even shows like spice and wolf.

The relationship between religion, the common people, and war is complex and makes sense, but let's not forget about Maria. She's amazing. She has her own will, and is very goal orientated. It's endearing and exciting watching her proudly struggle through achieving her goal. She's an amazingly well-written female character, and her romantic life is handled quite well.

If you like deep introspective shows that will leave you thinking about the problems it presents after watching it, you'll like this show.

If you like interesting character interactions and a really nice romance, you'll like this show.

This show is the sleeper hit of the season.