Back to Tyrannicswine117's Profile Tyrannicswine117's Profile

Warning possible Spoilers

Going into Killing Bites, I wasn't expecting a lot, which didn't surprise me when I thought it was in the meh area after finishing it. A story about humans that can morph into animals did sound interesting, but the execution of it was pretty bad.

Story (5/10)

The story starts when Nomoto Yuuya encounters a girl called Hitomi Uzaki, who has the animalistic powers of a Honey Badger. After being saved by her Nomoto has been assigned to stay close to her, for his own protection.
The show starts off pretty boring, as we get introduced to the characters whilst also having a few fights with ... other people with these powers. We do get an explanation for what these people are used for, which is for a battle royale type tournament where 4 separate houses use their therianthrope's to battle it out till someone wins.
Pretty much from episode 4 till the very end, the show concentrates on the tournament. I did like how the game worked, it had a mixture between chess and battleships although it was pretty annoying how the show started forgetting it's own rules as the tournament went on.
I thought the fights were pretty cool, but they were quite short and were often interrupted by some other character until the final fight which was the highlight of the show for me.
There was also a lot of info on the animals the characters possessed, I'm unsure if all the info is true (probably not), but it was still interesting to know the strengths and weaknesses of these animals.
When it came to the ending, I didn't know whether to be surprised or angry, because it turns out that there was a coup going on the entire time so a bunch of the higher people died, but not only that Nomoto ends up getting the short end of the stick at the end too which surprised me too and then we end on a cliffhanger for whenever a second season will come out.
Yeah the ending just didn't feel deserved after the tedious trek to get there.

Characters (5/10)

The characters weren't anything special, they just had the usual cliched tropes I've seen a bunch of times although there were a few good moments with them.

Hitomi is kinda your typical bloodthirsty type Tsundere, who will pretty much get pissed off if you question her even a little bit unless you give her something honey related then she'll become a sweet girl. She is very determined when it comes to fighting against her opponents and never gives up, even if she loses an arm, but it gets kinda annoying when she says her catchphrase every goddamn episode sure every so often is fine, but every episode just makes the catchphrase boring. She can be a curious person too when she experiences new things and despite being a bloodthirsty Honey Badger she does spare a few lives sometimes.

Nomoto is probably one of the most unnecessary MC's I've ever seen, I thought Harem MC's were boring, but this guy is right up there with therm. He really had nothing interesting about him, other than that he cowered in fear most of the time, then again considering the mess he was dragged into I wouldn't blame him. Even though I say he is a boring character I still think he didn't deserve what happened to him at the end.

Eruza is a cheetah of a rival house, she was a playful character and quickly grew to like Hitomi despite being enemies. Other than being a badass fighter she really didn't have much to show when it came to characterisation.

Ui is a rabbit, who ends up getting caught up in this mess much like Nomoto, surprisingly enough she is my favourite character, then again that could be due to her cuteness factor and considering the situation the urge to protect the cuteness was strong with this one. She isn't strong when it comes to fighting and all she can do is either dig or run, but her luck in the whole tournament is extraordinary since she is the one who wins the whole thing which actually made me happy as the weakest character won the whole thing.

Art (4/10)

Killing Bites is not a good looking show and it really shows too in certain scenes. That doesn't mean all of it is bad though, the different forms of the therianthrope's looked pretty good and there was a wide variety of choice for the animal powers they had. It's just kinda boring how must of the show is set in one location that consisted mainly of 2-3 areas, hell we were in that area with deserted buildings for like the entire second half, it got very boring looking at the same place for a while.
I also have to mention the atrocious CGI, it looked nasty, but luckily it was only used for specific characters and wasn't around often.
The characters looked pretty generic too, I mean considering how many anime's there is it's going to be difficult thinking up new looks for characters, but I got nothing from these guys. Also the way Hitomi's hips looked were pretty ugly too, not sure if it's just me, but her hips just didn't look right.

Sound (6/10)

The sound is actually one of the better parts of the show, the OP was generic as hell, but the ED and the ost was actually ok. The rock based music actually fitted well for animalistic tone the show was going for and it made the battles much more fun to watch.

Extras:

Since this was mainly a battle royale type show, there was a lot of action in it. I thought the action was pretty good especially during the final battle which was actually quite tense, but a lot of the earlier battles felt a little quick while some just dragged on because of other characters interrupting the current fight. However this show definitely fits the right areas for someone who loves watching action and will probably come out of this happy.
Ecchi has started to become something that needs to be used in the right way whenever it appears in the show, this is one of those times where it made me feel both uncomfortable for certain scenes and kinda aroused for others. The amount of forced rape moments was pretty high and made me feel very uneasy especially when one of the characters couldn't escape from it, but the moment between Hitomi and Eruza when they were influenced by a hormonal gas was pretty steamy, yet the amount of nudity was very low despite the revealing outfits for the female characters, there was actually only one scene throughout the whole thing where we saw bare breasts and that was very early on, so the amount of Ecchi despite being mixed for me was actually a lot lower than I expected.

Enjoyment (4/10)

Aside from the battles and a few characters I was more bored than excited with this show, plus the ending felt more annoying than an actual decent payoff.

Overall (5/10)

True this isn't the worst thing from 2018 I've seen (that goes to A.I.C.O), but it isn't far off. At least the action wasn't disappointing to the point where I felt like dropping it, but if this does miraculously get a second season then hopefully it will be better than what we got.

Warning possible Spoilers

Last year we got Youjo Senki, which focused on the aspects of war from the MC's perspective. This year we get Violet Evergarden, which has our MC try to live a new life in a post war world.

Story (9/10)

The story is about a young girl named Violet Evergarden, who has been fighting in the Great war and has sustained major injuries. Now with the war over Violet must now live in a world completely different from what she has been used to.
What I really loved about the story, is how it took it's time with Violet's character because this show is really about ... her and how she can cope and adapt to a post war world.
The first half does start off a little slow, with Violet waking up from her injuries and being taken in by Claudia who offers her a job as an Auto memory doll. Seeing the way Violet reacts to stuff and the people around her was pretty funny as she is seeing new things that she hasn't seen before and still operates in a military fashion which does surprise people often.
Over the next few episodes however, the show goes in a sort of story per episode type fashion, much like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun where Violet goes on random missions meeting a new person each episode to help them write letters or documents. Each of the episodes did feel satisfying as the people Violet met helped her understand certain emotions she wanted to know and started to become more human than the machine she used to be.
The first half of the series felt a little slow, but it was a nice buildup to the second half as the episodes previous always ended in a happy way, but the second half is where the emotions really start to kick in.
Episodes 7 onwards concentrates more on the relationship between Violet and Major Gilbert, who was the only person that treated her as a human being and not a weapon. So when Violet finally finds out that he died in the final battle, you feel sorry for her as she had lost the only person who cared about her and she wonders whether her life is worth anything now that she has lost the only hope in her life.
She eventually moves forward from this and some of the other missions she went on followed very closely to what she had experienced, making some of the later episodes feel like big tear jerkers.
The final couple of episodes really show how much Violet has come as a person, as she ends up in a situation where she has to fight an old enemy, she comes to the conclusion that she doesn't need orders to be useful and doesn't want to kill anyone anymore.
I felt satisfied with the ending as Violet has finally accepted who she is and is moving forward from the death of Gilbert, by being useful as an Auto memory doll so she can help create emotional letters for her clients.

Characters (8/10)

Despite the amount of supporting characters, the show is mainly about Violet and honestly she is the only one worth talking about. This doesn't mean the others characters are bad or anything, their just not easy to describe other than being a support character.
Violet Evergarden is a very well done character, her evolution from a simple killing machine, to someone who understands emotions, how to express them and is able to make her own choices in life is an extraordinary journey. She starts feeling more machine as human since she still operates under orders and feels like this is her only way of doing things. The people she meets overtime really build her character up as she experiences new emotions and finds out the meanings for them, she develops more and more especially during the second half. By the end she has become a confident and positive person who can make decisions for herself and is ready to experience the world in front of her.
There is a huge amount of supporting characters in this show, who help move the plot forward and develop Violets character. True there are some that stand out like Claudia, Benedict, Cattleya, Erica, Iris etc who often appear from time to time sicne they work with Violet. However they only felt like guides and emotional support for Violet and never really got expanded upon further than this. This doesn't mean they are bad or boring characters, they were just devices used to make the main character better.

Art (9/10)

Violet Evergarden is definitely one of the more beautiful looking anime's from this year. The setting felt like it was in Europe, but it's actually on an island so a different range of environments brought the world to life in this show, the detailing to the 1920's buildings, cities, clothes and other objects was incredible, it even had a few other things thrown in to make it look like it's from another distant place.
Violet was designed really well and the motions on her arms felt good too and didn't look like crappy CGI, there was actual care put into the motions of her metal arms and her look and fashion made her stand out too. The other characters were ok, but you could tell they were just there for the sake of it.
There was surprisingly more gore than I was expecting from the war scenes, but it comes to show just how gruesome and horrifying war can be, even if it is one that never existed.

Sound (9/10)

What I really loved about the OP and the ED is how simplistic they were, most anime OP's these days keep trying to be flashy and one up each other yet Violet Evergarden decided to go for a more scenery look, where we see parts of Telesis and the different parts of it along with a few shots of Violet showing her emotional stages during the show. It felt refreshing and calming did the OP, which is a nice change from the usual stuff I have seen.
The ED is pretty much the same, showing vibrant colours to depict Violet in the different seasons of Telesis as she goes about on her journey as a Auto memory doll, before ending with her in the real world resting beside a tree giving us a feeling of gladness as Violet has reached her journeys end.
The soundtrack was also spot on, "Across the Violet sky" depicted Violet's character incredibly showing that she has been introduced to a new world and can roam free amongst it, whilst "Never Coming Back" truly showed the struggle within her as she can't accept the death of Gilbert. The orchestral symphony really hits you in the right places for emotional scenes and this is definitely true for later episodes.

Extras:

I usually like my slice of life anime's, if it is shown in the right fashion and Violet Evergarden really nails it, as it only focuses on one characters struggle to accept and move on from something they have held very dearly to them for a long time, while also adapting to a new world they aren't used to.
The communication between the characters also great, seeing Violet trying to solve the situations she encounters despite not having the complete understanding of certain emotions was a true testament to her character as she was willing to get through any problem even if it seemed impossible to get past.

Enjoyment (9/10)

This was a very enjoyable show, it does take time to get used to the pacing and the story, but the outcome was well worth the journey.

Overall (9/10)

Overall this was a nice anime showing the struggle of someone in a post war world trying to accept the loss of something precious to them and moving forward to make their life their own.

Warning possible Spoilers

Makoto Shinkai is definitely one of those directors, who has gotten better with age. Each of his films get better and better over time, so finding out this is the fourth film I've watched that was made by him is pretty surprising.

Story (8/10)

The story is about two people called Takao Akizuki and Yukari Yukino, who meet in the same place whenever it is a rainy day and start to form a connection.
Considering this is only 45 minutes, I was wondering how a full story would be told and despite the short length it managed to pull through.
It nicely showed the perspective of two ... people, who weren't enjoying the life they were living and wanted to change that. This is what brought Takao and Yukari together as they both went to a spot they enjoyed going to on a rainy day, the conversations they have build a connection between them as their goals in life were very similar.
They eventually encounter some obstacles that threaten their relationship as Takao finds out who Yukari really is. The argument they have when their true feelings are revealed felt right since both characters have a bit of an age gap and this would cause problems if people knew they were together, but I really liked how they resolved it by saying how important they are to each other.
The ending felt satisfying mostly as both characters went their separate ways, although it felt kinda weird how the film just stopped.

Characters (8/10)

Considering there is only two characters worth mentioning, the conversations and chemistry built between them was done pretty damn well, it's surprising how you can make a strong connection between two people in such a short amount of time.

Takao is trying to be a shoemaker, which I will admit is something you don't see the main protagonist doing often. He seemed like a simple guy, but he had a inspired feeling as he wanted to make sure the shoes he made would be good enough for the person wearing them, which Yukari eventually became one of these people.
He's also willing to stand up to people whenever they bad mouth someone he cares about.
Yukari is much different, she is a teacher at Takao's school and is a shy, yet depressed person who has been through a failed relationship and is talked about bad things behind her back from certain students in her class. She was also pretty mysterious as she didn't much information about herself until we see the scenes that concentrate on her.
These two had a surprisingly interesting chemistry as their different backgrounds yet similar goal in life brought them together, seeing this relationship build over the short time of this film was very sweet, but sad at the same time since there would be a lot of problems if they actually got together.

Art (10/10)

Makoto's films always end up being beautifully made, even though I disliked "The place promised in our early days" and "5 centimetres per second" I still loved the artstyle behind them and despite Your Name also looking fantastic as well, I think The Garden of Words is my favourite looking Makoto film now.
The attention to detail is near pitch perfect and the shots of the landscape and how the rain is used to set a scene is done brilliantly. The Garden of Words is definitely in my top 10 most amazing looking anime films, because it absolutely deserves to be there.

Sound (8/10)

The soundtrack was also very nice to listen to, the soft notes for the scenes between Takao and Yukari felt very relaxing and sweet. The same could be said for the music used during their confrontation on the stairs, the outburst of music was bombastic and made the scene feel even more emotional.

Extras:

It was kinda surprising how quickly a romantic relationship developed between Takao and Yukari, but this was only 45 minutes long, so a lot of time skipping had to be implemented to make sure it worked. However I did believe the relationship that had developed between the two, because they both talked in a way where there was a mutual trust, which helped sell it for me.
The slice of life aspect was done really well as both of these characters just went about their usual lives, until certain things happened to them just like in real life. It just felt nice seeing normal people doing normal things for once instead of seeing characters going around defeating monsters with special powers.
Looking at the genres, it was a little surprising seeing psychological being part of it and after watching this, it isn't much of a surprise anymore. This aspect mainly concentrates on Yukari who has had a very unlucky life since she has experienced a failed marriage, is being bad mouthed from her students and can't even look after herself properly since you see her drinking alcohol and eating chocolate all the time. So it is obvious she is going through a deep depression and desperately wants something or someone to help her break free of it.

Enjoyment (8/10)

Despite the short length this was a nice enjoyable film about two people forming a bond just by meeting each other on rainy days.

Overall (8/10)

Overall this was a nice film and is definitely a great improvement compared to Makoto's earlier work, so if you're a fan of Your Name then you could check this one out too, which also has a nice story between two people.

Warning possible Spoilers

Children of the Whales was incredibly close to being dropped from me, it starts off poorly and yet it somehow manages to make me watch it till the very end. This is thanks to a alright yet very familiar story.

Story (6/10)

The story concentrates on the people of the Mud Whale, an island drifting an ocean of sand. They discover a girl who turns the whole world of the Mud Whale upside down.
The first two episodes really didn't do much for me and almost made me consider dropping this show, the artstyle, music and the world of the Mud Whale itself had me interested. ... The characters were the main problem, they were just bland as hell, thankfully the ending of episode 2 kept me on board and I don't regret it too much.
Episode 3 and beyond changed everything, it's development changed the show from being mediocrely sweet to surprisingly dark. The fact that a new human civilisation had come to destroy the people of the Mud Whale was pretty hectic and seeing characters, who I thought would have a big role, die was also surprising.
However once you get past the initial battle and the people on the Mud Whale try to recover and build up for another attack it does slow down again. Then it picks back up again once the next battle arrives, I was entertained for a good while as the battle got more and more brutal for the Mud Whale people, plus there were some pretty cool battle scenes between certain characters.
When we reach the final episodes though, the direction of the show shifts immensely as other human factions are introduced and we see the scope of the world itself, which leads us to our cliffhanger end of the series, although with the way things were going this seemed inevitable.
I did like the emotional split between the human factions, as having emotions was a bad thing and not having them was good. I enjoyed this aspect and gave more weight for the opposing sides, however this setup felt way too familiar to Attack on Titan. I mean think about it, a secluded bunch of humans being attacked by a larger faction of humans because they have a specific trait that is wrong to the rest of the world sounds very familiar.
Despite this, I am a little surprised how this anime managed to narrowly escape me dropping it.

Characters (5/10)

The main problem of this anime, is the characters, true there is a whole emotional war going on, but when you can't make your characters feel interesting then whats the damn point of them.
Chakuro is the male MC, an expressively emotional guy who is very interested about the world he lives in, Chakuro just didn't do much for me as a character. Sure he has an adventurous spirit, but most of the time he actually doesn't do a whole lot. He just points out certain things and obtains certain things, because story plot I guess. By the end of the series I felt barely any different of him than I did at the beginning.
Lykos is the female MC, ok I get that she is from a race of people who have discarded emotions, but come on she was another boring character. Although not as bad as Chakuro since you see her slowly develop emotions again over the course of the show, which gave her some development, but she didn't do anything either. She just felt like a character for Chakuro to hold hands with.
Ouni felt like the only character, who was actually worth a damn in this show. He already seemed like an emotionless person from the get go, but as he starts fighting against the enemy and starts losing the people he cares about, you really see the devastation erupt from him and he starts to care more for the people of the Mud Whale instead of being an outcast. True his overpowered legacy is a little cliche, but I'm willing to put that aside since he was an actual badass character.
I'll also talk about Suou since he felt like a major character, I thought he was alright since he had the difficult job of being the new mayor of the Mud Whale when the previous one died in the first attack. He tries his best to find peaceful solutions that will keep everyone alive and even when this doesn't happen he still stand up to the enemy so he can protect the others. Suou was a very respectable character compared to others.
There was a lot of supporting characters, but they don't seem worth the mention since they were only there for a specific role and that was it really, however it did surprise me with certain characters who ended up dying.

Art (8/10)

I have to give credit where credit is due, because Children of the Whales was a beautifully made show, there was barely any notice of CGI apart from a few cases, but the detail put into the Mud Whale and the scenery was applaudable, it looked fantastic. I also liked the roughness of the characters look too, it gave off a unique feel I haven't seen for a while in an anime.
I think the artstyle is what kept me watching the show mostly, as there were so many scenes you could look at and pick apart how good the animation and background was, like for example the scene where Ouni sees one of his friends die and he sees his spirit sail away or when Chakuro receives a weird object from one of the enemies creature thingies. These are just a few examples, but it proved how good looking the show was.

Sound (7/10)

The sound was also done pretty well too. The OP felt like it was made to fool you into thinking this was a happy show, sure there are moments where you see certain characters arming themselves for action, but you don't know what for and the happy tune the op has along with the scenes being shown helped really well with covering the true nature of the show.
The ED was also really nice too, it had a calm, but sad feeling to it and this definitely fitted for the later episodes when everything gets brutal with the battles and everything. I also liked how it just showed the ocean of sand like there was an infinite bleakness to it as well.
The ost also felt magnificently done too, the scenes where it felt calm, sad or something amazing was happening the music just kicked in at the right moment and had some really powerful stuff.

Extras:

The fantasy setting this anime has was pretty interesting, seeing people on an island that is endlessly drifting an ocean of sand until another human civilisation comes and destroys everything they knew, however this is a little ruined when you compare it to Attack on Titan, but I'll give it points for coming up with a fairly unique setting.
The mystery element in the show, kinda falls short as we get a lot of stuff thrown at us, but not a lot of it is explained. Like for example the weird creatures we see that take human emotion or don't in the case of the Mud Whale, these creatures are a big part of the show, we just don't get a lot of exposition of them which is probably being saved for the sequel.

Enjoyment (6/10)

I'd say this is a fairly mixed show, but it felt more positive than negative. The characters are really what lets the show down, but it had it's moments of surprise.

Overall (6/10)

Overall this show had something, but didn't really do a whole lot with it. We get an interesting world, but sadly it felt strangely familiar to another anime, however I am interested in where the sequel series will go.

Warning possible Spoilers

Eromanga Sensei made the brother/sister complex romance type stuff gain some more popularity, especially when it came to memes, I thought it was awful. So going into this anime I was a little sceptical and was expecting the same kind of treatment, but to my delight it surprised me hugely and is definitely one of the funniest anime's I've experienced in a good while.

Story (9/10)

The story focuses on Itsuki Hashima, a growing Light Novelist, who has an obsession for little sisters and puts them into his stories.
That's pretty much the gist of the story, mainly because there isn't much of a story here. ... Instead it's more of a character driven story, where it relies more on the chemistry between the characters instead of like a big end goal you usually see.
It still shows what the life of a light novelist is like, much like in Eromanga Sensei. However that is just an example of what it's like starting out as a light novelist, whereas here we see it in much greater detail as Itsuki struggles to keep up with deadlines and trying to make sure his stories are at their finest quality. Itsuki and his friends often travel to places to think up of ideas for their stories and even shows how manga artists operate too.
Compared to Eromanga Sensei, this anime goes into much deeper aspects of the life of Light Novelists and other various stuff linked to it, like anime and manga.
The meat of the show though, is the characters themselves. I absolutely love the amount of chemistry the characters had and made each episode so much fun to watch. They usually had meetups, parties or played games from time to time and these instances were really great, it was really funny how quickly all of the conversations and games got out of hand making for some spectacular moments of hilariousness.
There was also a some what deepness to the anime, the interactions between the characters as we got to know them more showed a deeper meaning to their relationships and how much they mean to each other. These moments were nicely spaced inbetween the comedic stuff and gave you a reason to care for the characters.

Characters (9/10)

It has been a long while since I have seen a group of characters and enjoy every single one of them, usually there's always one character who seems bland or dislikeable. I could not find that here and I applaud the anime for managing to do this.

Itsuki is the male MC and creates light novels that always involve the main character having a little sister. The fact that for once he isn't a 15 year old sex thirsty teen felt refreshing, yeah his fetish for little sisters is pretty damn creepy, but the anime turns it into a big joke that just made me like the character more. Also despite looking like he isn't always in the best mood, he respects and enjoys the company of his friends and has brilliant banter with them. He also puts a lot of passion and determination into his stories which also has to gain some respect as well.
Nayuta Kani is the female MC and also a light novelist, she is pretty much the character who steals the show, sure all the other characters are great, but Kani is absolutely hilarious. She has an immense affection for Itsuki since his stories saved her from a deep depression and she hopes to be his girlfriend one day, luckily she doesn't force this in a stupid like most other characters I've seen do this. She also has a really lewd mouth meaning most of her sentences will always end up being something sexual and oh boy can it be pure gold, because no matter what she said it always made me laugh. She also has this funny obsession of having to touch another girls breasts just to help her create an image for her story, which was always funny with Miyako.
Haruto Fuwa is another male character, who is a light novelist. He and Itsuki always have a friendly competition with each other when it comes to the sales and feedback of their light novels, but they respect each other in the area they work in. Fuwa is a pretty cool dude and you tend to feel sorry for him when his work becomes a poorly made anime, he usually gets through the hard times thanks to his friends and sometimes even gains determination from the way Itsuki does his work.
Miyako Shirakawa isn't a light novelist and used to be Itsuki's friend in college before he dropped out, she tends to be the one who doesn't know as much stuff when it comes to the industry her friends work in and wishes she could understand it better with how much they talk about it and love doing what they do. You also tend to feel a little sorry for her innocent nature as she tends to get caught up in pretty funny situations with Kani that end up with her being nude.
Chihiro Hashima is Itsuki's step-brother, well in Itsuki's eyes she is since Chihiro is actually his step-sister. She tends to look after Itsuki when the going gets tough and makes him meals and does chores around the room when he doesn't have time to do it. She's a pretty strong and capable character, despite ending up in a few funny situations with Itsuki's friends and associates.

Art (8/10)

Even though the artstyle isn't really amazing, there is still something there. The characters did have a familiar look to Tsurezure Children with the sorta play doh look except it wasn't as strong here, although it made the female characters a lot cuter despite them being 18 and older.
I did like the different locations the characters went to for their story ideas, so the anime wasn't limited to one area and some of the stuff to represent manga and light novel drawings were pretty damn good replications, kinda inceptiony really.
I also liked some of the other stuff like that one episode where they tried to play out a fantasy game, that felt pretty interesting with the designs as well.

Sound (7/10)

The sound is admittedly the weakest section of the anime. The op was alright, but didn't grow on me much by the end.
The ed however was actually sweet and had a nice soft beat to it that always felt relaxing to hear at the end of an episode, but there was a particular section of the soundtrack for the ed that sounded a little like The Devil is a Part Timer ed.
The soundtrack is also pretty forgettable.

Extras:

Even though there is quite a good amount of ecchi, it is nicely used as a tool for the shows comedic elements and the both of them work incredibly well together, which surprised me. Usually whenever anime's try to combine these two things like most Harems it kinda falls flat and ends up being more cringy than funny, here they are used at specific moments and boy are some of these moments absolutely fantastic, my favourite being the encounter between Chihiro and Ena, where Ena wanted to sketch Chihiro's ass and the way it was done was friggin hilarious.
There is a romance element here too, this subtlety grows over the course of the show especially between Itsuki and Kani who become two really lovable characters by the end and actually seem like they have a chance of ending up together.

Enjoyment (9/10)

This is probably one of the funniest if not the funniest anime I saw from 2017.

Overall (9/10)

Overall this is definitely an anime that thinks you're in for more of the stupid brother/sister complex crap, especially with the opening sequence. Instead it uses that stuff as parody material and uses it to great effect, this definitely feels like an underrated gem.

Warning possible Spoilers

The survival game genre in anime has created some nice gems over time, like Death Parade and Future Diary. However now I have arrived at Kings Game, which has no idea how a goddamn survival game works.

Story (5/10)

The story concentrates on a group of classmates, who have each been given an order by the King. If they don't complete the order within 24 hours they will be punished.
That's pretty much the gist of the story, however this anime has no idea how to tell a story properly. Our MC Nobuaki Kanazawa is a new transfer student and tries to warn his current class ... about the Kings game, but their having none of that and have a big dispute in the middle of a park at night. This lasts for almost 3 goddamn episodes, putting that aside though most of the first half concentrates on what happened at the previous school Nobu was at.
This irritated me, because it cut time from the present events that were happening just so the anime can explain what happened in the previous Kings Game, this felt really unnecessary, because we already had a line up of characters ready to go and now the anime wants us to feel bad for some other characters who had already been killed by the game. What makes it even more annoying is that these characters were more appealing and interesting compared to the present group, who had only one or two somewhat tolerable characters (if you discount Nobu).
So after the flashback episodes, the second half finally concentrates on the current group that we began with and I will admit the story did pick up a little as the final episodes approached and the numbers of classmates continued to dwindle.
But after fighting against the impossible, the remaining characters at the end figure out that the only way to finish the game is to actually kill yourself and guess what, everybody actually dies. Although it was done in a pretty surprising way, which is then completely killed by the after credit scene trying to fool us into thinking a sequel could be possible.

Characters (3/10)

The most annoying and boring part of this show was it's characters, I'm only gonna mention the interesting ones because practically everyone were either assholes or cannon fodder for the king to kill.

Nobu is the MC and the only character you really feel for. Being the only survivor of the previous Kings Game he desperately tries during both games to save everyone and since everyone keeps dying from every angle, you feel sorry for the amount of effort this guy puts in to try and save his friends, hell even the new class treated him like sh*t at first and he still tried to save them. It's even more sad what happens to him in the end.
Natsuko Honda is the sister of Nobu's previous girlfriend Chiemi. At first she seems like that cute girl, whose always helpful and everyone likes her which really annoyed me from the get go. However she is also like Nobu, a previous survivor of a Kings Game and is actually a complete and total Bit*h, this made her character 100x more interesting. Her levels of evil were so high that no matter how much you hate her, you have to respect the evilness within her. Luckily she gets what she deserves in the end.
Ria Iwamura is a character from Nobu's first game. Compared to everyone else playing the game, she was actually trying to figure a way out of it and despite her cold, isolated nature she was actually pretty badass and was the only other person aside from Nobu that you wanted to stick up for. Hell even the way she died was badass compared to everyone else.
Riona Matsumoto is sorta like Ria when it came to playing the game, she tried to figure out a way to end the game, but she felt like a bit of a hindrance and never really made things easy for Nobu, plus she and Nobu do develop feelings for each other which also felt kinda forced. Although I do feel pretty sorry for the girl as she ends up seeing her new love die right in front of her and ends up killing herself to stop the game ever happening again.
All the other characters were like I said either assholes or just cannon fodder for the King to kill, so don't bother forming attachments to any of the other characters, except the ones I said.

Art (5/10)

Now these types of anime tend to have pretty gory stuff and this anime is no different, however when it came to the artstyle of the deaths themselves they felt bland and pretty overexaggerated really. The looks on the characters faces whenever they were or were about to die looked really goofy, almost to the point where it was as hilarious as Kakegurui's facial expressions and they were something else.
The designs of the characters also looked bland as hell, I mean they looked like they were stolen from a bunch of different anime's and slightly changed.

Sound (5/10)

I will give credit to the OP, the music was alright and didn't make me skip it everytime I saw it, although the OP's animation sequence was pretty poor and looked like the bare minimal was put into it. The same can be said for ED, which wasn't as enjoyable to watch or listen too.
The soundtrack wasn't really memorable at all and seemed like the kinda stuff you'd usually experience in these kind of anime's.

Extras:

Now as a Horror this sucked pretty much, the deaths seemed bland and didn't have a lot of variety, it was mainly people being hung or being dismembered which is the usual way people are killed in these types of horrors. Although I will admit there are a couple of deaths that were pretty gruesome like some of the characters were killed with a Chainsaw which did make the current scene a lot more intense. I also liked the episode where the remaining characters had to form a circle and had to choose whether to break their fingers or not, this scene was pretty tense and the way it turned out was a lot more brutal than I was expecting.
Usually there is always an element of mystery in survival games, which is usually the key to surviving it. However this anime completely butchers it's mystery element and really pissed me off, at first the characters suspect it's actually one of them pulling a prank until it got way out of hand with most of them dead. Then they try to go to the location of where it all started, turns out the King is actually a parasitic virus within the internet that only affects certain people. This was ridiculous and completely stupid, making it look like it had copied When They Cry's plot twist and just made it more technical, which was absolutely bullsh*t.

Enjoyment (5/10)

This anime annoyed me, but also entertained me at the same time. Some parts had their ups while others had their downs.

Overall (5/10)

Overall this is a pretty mixed bag of annoyance and thrill, it starts off pretty damn annoying, but if you stick it out till the end you might some enjoyable moments. Until you watch the ending where literally everything was for nothing.

Warning possible Spoilers

Death Note, Ghost in the Shell, Psycho Pass and ACCA 13 are all interesting police/mysteries that I have fondly enjoyed and I wondered whether B: The Beginning would repeat the same success like these have. It's great to say that it's another one to add to the list.

Story (8/10)

The story takes place on the island nation of Cremona, where a series of intense and strange murders have been happening. They have been caused by the criminal known as Killer B and only the RIS legendary detective can figure it out.
What makes B: The Beginning pretty different compared to most anime's I've seen is, ... it feels like it's juggling two stories at once and trying to tie them together. One of them is a police/mystery drama that concentrates on Keith Flick and the RIS, while the other story concentrates on Koku's mysterious powers and supernaturality.
It concentrates mainly on the police/mystery during the first half while subtly having Koku's story in the background, I enjoyed how each episode got more intense as the RIS were trying to figure out how to stop more of the big crimes from happening like when the whole building was held hostage and had gas canisters hidden inside, which considering most of our RIS characters were in the building made the situation incredibly suspenseful.
My interest in the anime kept growing every episode as Keith and the others kept hitting brick walls or had more problems coming out of nowhere to hinder their progress, until we reached the halfway point. This is where the story decides to concentrate on Koku for a while as we see his past and why he is hunting down these other supernatural beings, it actually creates an interesting mythos to the islands history. Then once you enter the final episodes, it felt kinda obvious that this needed to be longer than 12 episodes, maybe 15 at most, because the story struggles a little to balance the two stories and making them connect. Instead it concentrates a lot more on Keith and the horrors from his past as they finally find out who the main villain is, while on Koku's side it just has him trying to defeat the other main villain and saving his apparent girlfriend.
I will admit the way it ended for Keith and the RIS side of the story, it was very satisfying and made me wonder how it would affect their characters. Whereas I was a little disappointed with how Koku's part of the story ended, it just didn't feel resolved which looking at what happened in the after credit scene proves there could be a season 2 for this very thing.

Characters (9/10)

In just 12 episodes B: The Beginning had to mess around with a large amount of characters ranging from the RIS, the villains and the main characters, for the most part it actually worked.

Keith Tucker is the legendary detective of the RIS, who despite his grumpy and intelligent status is a bit of an unlucky as from time to time he ends up getting knocked into something or falls into something. This made him a bit of comedic relief which lessened a little as the story went on and as the situation got more and more serious. Even though he wasn't the happiest of characters you couldn't help, but support the dude throughout the whole thing and even feel a little sad for him as he doesn't technically win in the end as he faced a dilemma that would've ended badly in some way.
Koku is the other main character, who has supernatural abilities like flight and arms that can turn into swords. He's a pretty quiet fellow and keeps to himself mostly as he has one goal in mind, to find Yuna. This makes his character fairly straightforward, but you still support him nonetheless since he is the good guy, he just gets overshadowed by Keith who has a much more interesting personality. Although Koku is a badass in his own terms and definitely suffers the most out of all the characters and you do feel a little more for his character once you know a little more about his history.
Lily Hoshina is Koku's older sister whose family adopted him, she is part of the RIS and strangely reminds me of Mika from Psycho Pass. However unlike Mika, Lily is a likeable character, sure she shouts and tends to put on a mood quite often, but her actions and reasons are always in the right place. Plus she is surprisingly smart, almost to Keith's levels of deduction which made her a strong character. She also tended to be the more comedic relief than Keith was, I mean the small cars she drove looked pretty hilarious.
There was a huge amount of supporting characters ranging from the other RIS members and the villains. The other RIS members were all quite likeable and had great chemistry when they were working together, even if the atmosphere wasn't friendly at times. The villains on the other felt a little wasted, true the main villains like Ross and Minatsuki were threatening and interesting characters, but I feel like the others were kinda wasted. Some did have a bit of a spotlight, whilst others just got killed off pretty quickly. I will admit though it must've been difficult having to juggle around so many characters in just 12 episodes.

Art (9/10)

Now I will credit for B: The Beginning being set somewhere else, yet I find it funny how the name Cremona is actually the name of a city in Italy. It definitely has the dark tone most of the other police/mystery anime's have although it still makes sure it's a bright island nation between all the action so it isn't all doom and gloom.
The character design also reminded me a lot of Psycho Pass especially Lily and Keith's look, hell Lily looked a lot like Mika from Season 2 and luckily she didn't turn out as dislikeable as her.
I also liked how expansive the islands were, since it wasn't just one big island it was actually a chain of islands together and there is actually quite a bit of interesting history like where Koku and the other kids were brought up added a huge amount of mythos to the islands.
It also had a 1950's Caribbean feel to it as well, since most of the cars looked like they were from that era, although the fact that the cars were CGI didn't mix too well with everything else.

Sound (9/10)

It was quite disappointing to see that there wasn't really much to the op as it was over in about 10 seconds so there really isn't much to say, however the ED from B: The Beginning is definitely the best ED of 2018 so far, because it had the right feeling for an anime like this and definitely had Psycho Pass vibes as well. It starts off slow until it reaches a certain beat and continues to escalate until the very end, which was really fun to listen to each time an episode ended, helped by the cliffhangers of course.
The soundtrack was also great to listen to, the action scenes had some really thrilling stuff that would also get pretty emotional sometimes especially during the final episodes when all hell starts to break lose, but there was also a bit of a fun beat whenever we had downtime moments with the RIS crew as they try to solve the mystery on front of them.

Extras:

As a Police/Mystery type anime it definitely nails it, the whole situation between finding Killer B and stopping the range of highly dangerous crimes that have appeared out of nowhere kept me on edge, when Koku's story came in the mystery element had been split in two, with one focusing on Keith's past and the current crime going on and the other focusing on Koku's destiny because of the power he holds and this kinda got jumbled up a little by the end.
The action was really good, ranging from the quick and intense fights that Koku had with the other villains that were like him to the drawn out gunfights and car chases that the RIS encountered, but most of the action moments were mainly in Koku's side of the story since Keith and the others were using most of their time to figure who is the main villain and why they are doing this.
Psycho Pass and Death Note had strong psychological focus in their shows, here it isn't as strong or intense, but it really starts to pick up in the final episodes especially when Keith confronts Ross, who has been trying to hold back his insanity by secretly murdering people and mutilating their bodies underneath the RIS HQ which is pretty messed up.

Enjoyment (9/10)

This was a very enjoyable anime, it gives us a lot on our plates yet it mostly manages to make it balance out in the end.

Overall (9/10)

Overall this was another nice addition to add to my great Police/mystery anime list and hopefully there is a season 2 as some story points didn't feel finished so maybe one day a season 2 might happen.

Warning possible Spoilers

With the success of Devilman Crybaby, there were two new Netflix anime's to check out B: The Beginning and A.I.C.O.: Incarnation, I decided to watch AICO first and after finishing it I had definitely made the wrong choice.

Story (5/10)

The story is set in Japan 2035, where an artificial life form known as Matter has engulfed the Kurobe Gorge. A girl called Aiko lost her family to this and an unknown student says she is the key to stopping the Matter once and for all.
Now AICO's story was a mixed bag from the get go, in fact after episode 2 I was actually thinking ... of dropping it because it was so goddamn boring to watch and the characters weren't helping either which I'll get to in a minute. I wanted to be interested in the whole science and story behind the Matter, but the conversations and exposition about this whole thing just kept boring me and I almost lost complete interest in the show completely.
Yet somehow it managed to save itself a little when our group of characters decided to set out on a journey to fight through the Matter to reach the Primary Point, which is where it all started and from episodes 3-8 the show was pretty enjoyable to watch. It had some good action sequences, fairly decent character development and the journey getting through the Matter was pretty thrilling.
Then we reach the final episodes and then everything fell apart, not because it got boring, but because it shoved so much more exposition that it got confusing and kind of annoying to watch as all this new information just suddenly came out of nowhere.
The ending also felt rushed, we get to see like a 1-2 second clip our characters doing things I wasn't expecting them to do and I feel like they skipped out on having a sadder ending, but nope we gotta have a happy ending for everyone well except for that one guy who ended up dying.
So yeah the story is pretty mixed for me with a poor beginning and end, but a somewhat enjoyable middle section.

Characters (4/10)

The characters were easily the weakest part of the whole show, with such a huge cast you'd think that there would be something here amongst them. Surprisingly there was it just wasn't the main characters.
Aiko and Yuuya are the two main characters of the show and honestly they are so fu*king boring, I gave zero damns about these two as they showed zero personality especially Yuuya, who as a character would've been utterly pointless if it wasn't for the incredibly obvious twist that he was actually someone else. Aiko could've been a decent character, but she just didn't grasp me at all. Yeah she wasn't exactly human either, but that still didn't change my perspective of her and in the end I feel like she got off way too easily.
Now the diver crew consisting of Kazuki, Kaede, Yoshihiko and Haruka were definitely the saving grace when it came to the characters. Each if them actually had a kind of personality, it wasn't amazing, but it was still something and the chemistry between them kept me watching until the final episodes came along and kinda put them in the background and the development choices for them during the last episodes weren't really great, but they still managed to keep me somewhat entertained.
Of course there is a bunch of other characters, but they were so forgettable that they just aren't worth mentioning.

Art (6/10)

Surprisingly enough for a show as mediocre as this, the artstyle was pretty good. The design of the characters gave me a early-mid 2000's nostalgic feel and the suits plus the weapons the divers used were actually pretty cool. There was a nice variety of weapons and each of the diver characters had a specific weapon they liked to use which kinda helped to separate them as individuals instead of making them random cannon fodder, also for weapons that exist in the 2030's they look pretty damn advanced for that time period. The suits did give me a sort of Halo, Mass Effect feel like this what you would get if you combined them and gave them kickass roller skates.
Now despite being CGI the vehicles still looked good especially the giant tank thing they had which kinda sucked to see get destroyed, yet I am kinda surprised the Matter wasn't CGI, well for the most part it wasn't, but I have to respect the animators for not making them completely CGI.
One more thing there was one scene where one of the characters was standing on a beach with sticks everywhere and I noticed how detailed that one scene was and it just impressed me to the point where I had to mention it.

Sound (6/10)

Also surprisingly the op and ed were fairly decent as well. The op had a alright beat, but it could've been better. It's mainly the ed that caught my eye or ears in this case, because I liked how it showed Aiko walking up the gorge before the incident happened and gave me the feeling this the journey she is going to experience just with a lot of monsters in the way and that it'll eventually lead her to her goal. The soundtrack was fairly forgettable, but the instrumental notes in some scenes that had some emotion to them were nice to listen to.
The last thing I have to mention and this is what completely killed my ears and brain throughout the whole thing which is the goddamn dub, now usually I'm pretty cut lose with dubs, but there have been a few in the past that I cannot defend them in any way or form because the dub here is absolutely terrible so for once I would actually prefer the sub instead of the dub.

Extras:

The action was pretty good and kept me entertained longer than I expected, the fast moving divers going up against an enemy that couldn't be completely defeated by their guns was kind of intense. But I am a little disappointed that only one character of the group died and it probably would've sucked seeing some of the other characters die too, but I felt like having a few extra deaths would've helped make the journey a little more emotional and would've helped develop the characters a little more.

Enjoyment (5/10)

Yeah the enjoyment factor was very mixed, one moment I'm hating it, being confused or just bored by it. Another minute there's a scene that was actually fun to watch and kept me going a little longer.

Overall (5/10)

Overall this was like I said a mixed bag of an anime, some people might like it more than I did, but word of advice watch this in sub and not dub (although considering the division between these two fan factions I doubt many will watch it in dub).

Warning possible Spoilers

Usually in anime monsters, demons, vampires etc are considered the villains of the show and end up being defeated by the hero, however Blood Lad decides to concentrate on the whole monster aspect and their world making for one somewhat interesting setup.

Story (7/10)

The story focuses on Staz, a vampire who rules a section of the demon world. One day a random human girl called Fuyumi finds herself in the demon world and whilst under Staz's protection she gets eaten and becomes a ghost. Staz vows to bring her back to life.
Now as simple as the premise is, a lot more stuff goes on ... in this show than you think especially considering it's only 10 episodes, so a lot of content was squished into this.
It starts out fairly normal as Staz tries his best finding ways of bringing Fuyumi back to life while also getting caught up in ridiculous situations.
But as the show goes on it starts to get more plot heavy as more characters are introduced and we get to know more about Staz's history and other family members, I thought this was an interesting addition to the story and kept me hooked, then as we enter the final episodes the story focused more on Fuyumi and her family issues which seemed like it had cropped up out of nowhere, but if have good attention to detail then you probably knew there was something odd about Fuyumi in the first place.
Another story line develops along the way too, which is the state of power in the demon world and this was mainly to do with Staz's brother Braz. This tied in once again with their family history and showed how open and expansive this world was.
The whole however really has it's up and down moments, the 10 episode length doesn't help with this as I feel like the plot advanced very quickly and never settled in one spot for too long, now this wasn't entirely a bad thing as it kinda suited an anime like this. The problem is that one moment you're concentrating on this thing, then something else gets thrown at you and then something else comes outta nowhere, it got a little tiresome trying to keep track of the amount of things going on and it hurt the story in some way.

Characters (8/10)

Despite having quite a large cast of characters, most of them were particularly interesting whereas some were interesting, but got a little worse over time.
Staz is the MC and a vampire, now even though he's a vampire he tends to have a lazy kind of attitude making people underestimate him, but that is always a bad thing as he is incredibly powerful. He is also very stubborn, doesn't really have much sense of things and is very impetuous, but despite these shortcomings whenever he sets a goal for himself he always makes sure it is done, plus unlike most monsters you see he has an extreme interest in the human world and the products they have.
Fuyumi is the female MC, she randomly ends up in the demon world and becomes a ghost after being eaten by a plant. Now you may think she is there for just bland fanservice and in some cases you might be right, but she had a mysterious nature and always had some kind of importance even though she was the butt end of Staz's jokes and actions yet out of all the characters in the show she seemed like the most reasonable and always pointed out how stupid some situations were. Plus she's cute as hell, you can't ignore a cute girl like her.
Bell is a sorceress, who tends to get in Staz's way of his goal. At first I really liked her personality as it reminded me of Haruko from FLCL, but despite her funny, playful yet short tempered attitude she slowly became a somewhat forced love interest for Staz and this just didn't fit right for her character, which in the end hurt her reputation a little.
Wolf is like Staz, a demon boss, but he is a werewolf. Wolf is a badass and definitely goes great with Staz's character since the two are friendly rivals, he is strong willed and ambitious making him a force to be reckoned with which is why you wouldn't want to fight the fella. He also has a short temper, though much worse than Bells and tends to take his frustration out on his goons, but he means well and does have a caring nature especially towards Staz and his friends. Sadly his presence in the show is kinda cut short as he leaves the group shortly before the final episodes, which sucked since he was a great character alongside Staz.

Art (8/10)

I will give credit where credit is due, because this was a surprisingly colourful show, each scene looked like a goddamn rainbow, well unless the setting was dark and evil then that's a different story, but it always captured the scenes very nicely. I also liked the punk aspect of Staz's area and the lettering too making it seem like he was a proper gang boss. The other areas were alright too and made the demon world look big and expansive showing it could be as large or even bigger than our own world.
Even the characters had a very colourful essence, the amount of outfits and costumes they wore was a lot and surprisingly they fitted the characters well, I especially liked the black jacket getup that Staz had at some point making him look pretty badass, plus it was also funny how the show kinda knew when it was putting Fuyumi in revealing clothing like it was a joke towards other anime's that had busty looking female characters wearing revealing outfits.

Sound (7/10)

The sound wasn't too bad either, I enjoyed the op which was nicely tuned to the way the show was, which was all over the damn place. Although I feel like the opening kinda spoiled the events that were going to happen and this is something I slowly noticed over time and I suddenly knew where the next locations were going to be. However the op was still fun to listen to.
The ed was actually ok, it had the mysterious element that represented a part of Fuyumi's character, but just like the opening it kinda spoiled a story line that would connect her and Bell's characters although not in the way I was expecting.
It's soundtrack was pretty surprising, it had great intense pieces for when the action scenes happened and gave them a feeling like there was a lot at stake if the hero's didn't win.

Extras:

The action was pretty damn sweet, they were quick, thrilling and pretty suspenseful considering what was on the line. The best was definitely the boxing match between Staz and Wolf which just seemed funnily out of place compared to every other battle. However there were some battles that relied more on wit than brawn like when Bell was trying to trap Staz in one of her dimension cages and he ended up outwitting her in a pretty hilarious way.
Now when it comes to comedy, this show was a bit of a mixed bag. It didn't start off too well with the comedy and the only funny moments were mainly between Staz and Fuyumi along with the instances that involved Bell, but slowly over time the comedy did get better and better as the characters got into more ridiculous situations.
I liked how the supernatural was the entire focus point of the show, usually if would be something supernatural set in the human world, but for once it's actually set in the world of the supernatural which isn't something where many anime's (from what I've seen) are set. So it was nice to see a different kind of setting compared to other anime's I've seen in the past.

Enjoyment (7/10)

Overall (7/10)

Overall this is a pretty short and sweet show, colourful and mostly fun characters and a heavily focused supernatural setting makes this a pretty memorable show that hopefully one day will get the second season it deserves.

Warning possible Spoilers

Whenever anime focuses on characters who have to deal with the death of someone close or related to them, it's always focused on one or two specific individuals. We never really get to see a whole group of friends affected by something like this, until Anohana came along.

Story (9/10)

The story focuses on a group of kids who called themselves the Super Peace Busters, until one of their members Menma accidentally died. Now as teenagers Menma's ghost wishes for the team to come together once more.
Anohana's story is incredible in some way, it's a story of redemption and getting past the guilt and regret ... from the loss of a friend. Seeing these group of characters coming miraculously together again even after they had all gone their own ways was a sight to behold and shows that a bond between friends never truly dies out.
Each character had some kind of regret from the event that happened, seeing them work this out and overcome it was emotionally enjoyable, it got even more interesting when the whole situation suddenly had their separate regrets connect together to form one big pentagon.
The development of the characters was also impressive, they started out angrily repressing the issue and just letting it float by hoping that it'll go away. But as more members slowly came together to try and grant Menma's wish you can see the old spark reappear amongst them as new found determination started to kick in. I also liked how it kicked it up a notch at a certain point when most of the characters were really doing this for themselves and they eventually noticed what they had done was wrong, leading them to reveal their true feelings.
I think my only downside with the story is, I feel like 11 episodes just isn't enough for a story like this. After watching it the second time I realised just how quickly the show went and I was a little sad it didn't last longer, however the whole journey despite being short was definitely an emotional hurdle.

Characters (9/10)

The characters were done really well, they each stood out and had their own problems with the situation and the chemistry between them was handled brilliantly.
Meiko "Menma" Honma is the main female protagonist and the character that the story revolves around. Possibly one of the cutest female characters I've seen in anime, she can be childishly adorable yet childishly mature at the same time. She tends to be the key for Jinta to do anything as she mainly forces him to do stuff that he hasn't done for a long while. Most of the time she has a smile on her face and it rarely goes away, unless it's a really big tear jerk scene. With her being a ghost she tends to go on random adventures sometimes leading her to discover certain things that she probably shouldn't have discovered.
Jinta is the main male protagonist, in some ways he is the most affected by Menma's death as he was the closet to her and is the only one who can see and interact with her ghost. He has hugely changed from being the leader of the group and has become a moody shut in who doesn't really want to do anything. However as he tries to grant Menma's wish alongside the others, he starts to become more determined and open with the others as he tries to put in all of his effort to make sure her wish is granted.
Naruko is another member of the group, who sparked the question that lead to the terrible events. Despite having a bit of an attitude towards Jinta, she is more concerned for the way he is living and how Menma's death has affected his personality. She has a crush on Jinta and always admired Menma because she was the closet to Jinta, she is also greatly concerned about the others too when it comes to Menma's death.
Tetsudou is pretty much the joker of the group, definitely a funny character whenever Tetsudou is on screen everytime he makes a joke it's pretty damn hilarious making him standout from the other characters pretty well. Despite being a big guy he is actually very friendly, energetic and loyal especially towards Jinta. He blames himself the most for Menma's death mainly due to the fact he actually saw her death happen.
Chiriko was the shy member of the group, now at an elite school she has become a serious, stoic yet cocky person making her a bit of an asshole sometimes as she tends to comment on some of the other characters actions. Despite being this way she still cared for her friends and was really devastated by Menma's death.
Atsumu is another member who has been greatly affected by Menma's death. He is a pretty big asshole as he always looks down upon Jinta and the way he has become, but he secretly loved Menma and has gone so far to look like her just to satisfy himself, so he is a bit of a creep really.

Art (9/10)

After watching this a second time and looking at the character designs I noticed it had a similar look to Toradora, which is no surprise since this had the same production staff as Toradora. The location being set in a fairly small town was pretty nice especially the wooded area where the groups base was which had some good attention to detail on the vegetation. Comparing the character designs in this to Toradora was quite surprising as the characters in Anohana had a certain roughness to them which kinda goes with the way they are feeling. I also liked the way Menma was designed, her dress despite being something she wears often felt like it was the presence of a ghost.

Sound (9/10)

The op was actually very nice for an anime like this, the calm soft music showing each of the characters seeing their younger selves nicely fitted the scene and as we see them all come together the music really picks up as they get ready for action to grant Menma's wish.
The ed was alright too, it had a tenderly, sweet feeling as we see the characters present and younger selves surrounded by flowers, hence the name of the show.
The soundtrack was done really well too, it always kicked in at the right moments for when an emotional scene appeared especially when it got to the climatic ending during the final episode.

Extras:

There was a ton of drama in this show that really hit all the right marks. Each of the characters had some kind of guilt or regret eating at them and most of it was to do with the characters having certain feelings for each other, making this turn into a pretty big love pentagon while excluding Tetsudou because apparently nobody felt that way towards him. However I thought the whole love drama between everyone was handled really well and to me Anohana restored my faith in the use of Love triangles or shapes after the stupid, ridiculous one I saw in Your Lie in April.

Enjoyment (10/10)

Overall (9/10)

Overall this was short, but sweet anime showing that even when you lose someone close to you, the spark of friendship never disappears fully.