Back to VivavideoUser2x's Profile VivavideoUser2x's Profile

Okay, im done with this shit. At first I wasn't even gonna review it because for the most part, this season just felt like an inoffensive drama that seemed to be lacking a lot of the transgressions that the previous seasons had. But the final two episodes infuriated me. Not gonna lie, this season broke me.
My overall rating of this series is not reflective on how salty I am, because Mushoku has a lot of great things going for it, like its setting, its art direction, the animation is a step up from the last part. Not all the character writing sucks major ass ... and some of them are concluded well enough, and its music has more of a presence this time. But I cannot go into detail because most of what I take from Mushoku are its terrible moments. Lets put it into perspective.
Let's say you are on a date with someone, you hit it off well, the vibes are excellent, and the food is top-notch, but suddenly while you are eating, a drunk dude comes up to you and projectile vomits on you,your date and all over your food. What would the first thing you will talk about your date when you leave? I doubt its how good the food was. See what I mean? Mushoku is the same way. It really uppercuts me constantly so much that I cant even appreciate the good moments because the bad ones are shockingly bad.

ART and ANIMATION
Getting to my criticisms that are not story related. While the animation was good and the final fight scene was absolutely stellar , sometimes the characters were drawn weirdly, Idk maybe I was paying too much attention but some of the characters looked cock eyed at times, others had inconsistent proportions, yknow technical stuff like that. Now on to my major criticisms


STORY and CHARACTERS
The final three episodes pretty much ruined the season for me, because it just felt like the whole point of anything happening is nonexistent. This sucks because this whole plot of finding Rudy’s mother was the one and only reason I was still invested somewhat in this series. But its just handled so poorly that it goes beyond common sense and just becomes self-indulgent/. Speaking of which.

-Chapter 1:Rudeus is a selfish fucking piece of shit.
And the anime tries to circumvent this by making all of his actions look justified.He helps his sister overcome her introversion NOT because the anime wants to teach a lesson that helping family is second nature, but because it reminds him of how his past was.This is fine since he is emphatic, but it does this shit again later on but instead, there is no empathy to be had.Rudy just straight-up assumes his mom is already dead and hesitates to rescue her.And when Paul is out there fighting to save his wife. Rudy just stands there and immediately thinks of himself instead of his mom who is literally in danger. But then the anime tries to justify this by making Paul praise him for being calm and collected.

-Chapter 2:I don't like speaking ill of the dead but.
Don’t get it twisted,Paul was kind of a shithead at times.Over the past couple of seasons, my hate for him diminished due to how decent his character arc was in season 1. But here it tries to pull the wool over my eyes by making it seem like his relationship with Rudy was all sunshine and rainbows.I appreciate the attempt for the anime to make morally grey characters the focus of the story, but the attempt fails when there are moments that seem to be working against itself all for the sake of being “funny”. For example that cringe-ass scene of Paul going to Rudeus and basically asking him to cheat on his wife, but instead of outwardly stating it, he compares the relationship he has with his wives as “having two swords that can both help you”. And its like, did we NOT just spend like twenty-something episodes developing Paul? You would think he would treat his family with a little more consideration outside of objectification.And of course, despite Rudy having the mental age of a 40-year-old, this analogy goes over his head.

-Chapter 3:“Betraying your loved ones is a good thing and everyone should do that to have a happier life”-
The main problem that I have with Paul is what Rudy learns from him. All of the worst traits that Paul had seemed to be the only ones that Rudy has picked up on. Mainly him being overly horney and selfish, but what pissed me off is how Rudy justifies his actions. For example, his justification for marrying Roxy on the fly and having two wives was that “ Hey Paul did the same thing and I got a bigger happier family because of it”. But Rudy never thinks about the actual context of the scenario. Like the fact that Paul didnt have feelings for Lilia, he literally got drunk and slept with her when he saw her naked one night. And her job is to serve the household so she didn't have much of a say. Also, he never thought about how her mom Zenith was affected, or how the economics of this fantasy world or her background would prevent her from just leaving Paul after what he did.Maybe she had to cope with all of these harsh emotions for the longest time and the only person who could help her was Lilia. Because lets fuckin face it, in Season 1 she had better chemistry with Lilia than with her own goddamn husband.Rudy never considers this, and by Rudeus, I also mean the writer. WHY? Because.At the end of the day, this whole anime is just a self-insert wish-fulfillment story. All the females have to make decisions that appease the men they are with, and if they have any more emotions or thoughts outside of that, youll never get to witness them because it doesn't fucking matter. Rudeus matters, it's all about him. This is Mushoku Tensei in a nutshell.

-Chapter 4:Your Honor, I call Sylphy and Roxy to the stand.-
The two characters who despite being disrespected by men around them, mainly Rudy, still had great character arcs that are shown as a ray of light from Mushoku. Well up until the end of this season.\ Despite alllllllllllllllllll the praise and acclaim of this franchise being from having grounded, realistic, and layered characters, the handling of these two shows that whoever this writer is doesnt fully grasp how real people and relationships work. Roxy admitting that her sleeping with Rudy while he was grieving was wrong and manipulative was begrudgingly alright and I was expecting the season to just end with this acknowledgement and the two moving on. Like real sensible people do. BUT NO. Rudy decides to marry Roxy despite already having a wife who is pregnant. but no it gets worse. He tells Sylphy this when he returns….And shee’s just fine with it. That's when I lost all hope for humanity. I literally had a fist clench and was in fight or flight mode, because this whole thing is so dumb for multiple reasons. Firstly, having an open relationship like this especially while married can lead to ridiculously toxic and manipulative behavior. Relationships like this cannot last unconditionally, one party or the other is eventually going to feel like they aren't getting as much attention as the other, and the fact that the two are just fine with it is basically enabling Rudy to be unfaithful I bet my salary that it's going to happen when Eris shows up again.

-Chapter 5:I love you Roxy but what the hell.
The series really did her dirty.It really tries gaslighting you into thinking her falling in love with this kid who is over 40 years younger than her is justified. Rudy doesn't come to this decision on his own, multiple people really want him to be polygamous, and these people aren't the best role models ngl.His father(the pig who is infamous for hooking up with multiple women. His grandmother-in-law,( the blonde THOT girl who is also infamous for hooking up with multiple men) is God himself…for some reason. And Sylphy. And the main justification for this infidelity is that Roxy can’t help having feelings for Rudy and she shouldn't have to suffer with being alone. WELL BOO FUCKING HOOO. WHO CARES. She can find someone else to love. Roxy is a grown-ass woman. She’s literally in her 50’s. She is mature enough to know that lusting after this child is futile and she can just find other people to bond with, she can find someone else it's that easy. Do you know how many people there are in this world? Rudy is not the only fucking person that exists. And Rudy is all like” Well she helped me cope while i was grieving over Paul”. Which is fine but. THAT DOESNT MEAN YOU HAVE TO MARRY HER. I've been through grief as well and my family/friends have helped me deal with it, but do they mean so much to me that I marry them on the fly? No. Sleep with them? Maybe….but marrying NO. Even Rudy’s little sister points out how dumb all this bullshit is, but everyone else around her just disregards her like somehow she’s in the wrong for calling her brother out.
And the icing on the cake that really made me want to put an evoker to my head and summon a persona was when Sylphy just admits that she knew that Rudy would eventually decide to cheat on her because he is a horny bastard. And like………..dawg.
𝓌𝓱𝔂 𝐓𝓱𝑒 ⓕยĆⓀ 𝓭Ɨ𝓭 ץ𝓸ย ｍ𝐀𝐚яя𝔂 ⓗƗмм Ｔ𝓱𝑒𝐍 𝓼𝔂ᒪp𝓱𝔂??????????????????
Her having this mindset should theoretically backfire because she is literally enabling Rudy to just continue being unfaithful, next thing you know he’s gonna have a Playboy mansion of random girls and Sylphy is just there trying to deal with the 800 trillion kids Rudeus makes with like 70 different women and will she be fine with that later on? She shouldn't. But she probably will because at the end of the day, the writer says so. Who cares about using fiction to be a commentary on reality and how complicated open relationships can be, who cares about people with autonomy and mixed emotions, all that matters is that Rudy has multiple wives so that he can have sex all the time because that is really hot- i mean. heartwarming

ENJOYMENT
Mushoku Tensei really is attempting to do something poignant here, but just like every other goddamn season, this series' own erection keeps getting in the way. It's almost like there is a term I coined for that in 2021. Oh yea,” Horny Male Writer Syndrome”.
This is where my “enjoyment’” of the series is starting to die. You can make Rudy obnoxious for like 200 seasons I don't care, but when you make the other better-written characters around him dumber all for the sake of making him look like a good person, that's where you go too far. You know I look back on all my reviews of Mushoku and then I also see how critically acclaimed it is and ask myself. “Am I being too nitpicky with the anime I watch nowadays”. I think the other anime I have seen this year have confirmed, nah I'm still the same old dude who just likes to watch anime first and critique it second. But this series pisses me off constantly.

Mushoku is such a weird case of having great ideas ruined by really stupid and unnecessary writing choices. Each season has a horrible case of these. In season 1 it was the pedophilia, in season 1 part 2 it was the loli fetishizing, in season 2 part 1 it was impotence, and in this season it is INFIDELITY. At this point, you gotta call a spade a spade. Mushoku’s acclaim seems to be relative to how dogshit and cashgrabby the isekai genre is. Sure the anime tackles more personal themes, and isnt as flashy or transparent on what it was made to do. Sure its direction and animation at times is stronger, sure its worldbuilding can be impressive and its characters SOMETIMES are tactfully written. But when I look beneath that to what it has to offer as a fictional work instead of just another escapism isekai, I see horrid character writing.blatant self inserting,and ill-intented morals.
As an Isekai,its alright,
as an anime, its dissasppointing,
and as a piece of fiction, its infurriating.

“Same shit, different day” sums up my overall thoughts on this season of Classroom of the Elite. I will never expect more from this series ever again, because, after years of this anime, it still does the same crap over and over and over and over and over and over again.

STORY/CHARACTERS-

Recapping the plot, the school year is almost up and the classes have more exams to do. It has been 7 years now since season 1. I have made up my mind about this series more clearly. COTE is a series that has good ideas, but they are executed in really underwhelming ways. There ... is a lot of buildup for these dumb exams they're taking(ie people talking to each other)for multiple episodes, but when the exams happen, it's anticlimactic and boring. There is just no conflict or sense of consequence, it's just people talking to each other about what they plan on doing. It’s so mind-numbing.

It also…..ugh… im sorry CAN WE STOP WITH THESE STUPID EPISODE TITLES? Not only are they pointless and fake deep but they have nothing and i mean nothing to do with the episode itself

Also, the whole high school gimmick dictating these students' lives starts to get tiresome. Because the anime never really convinces me to care about any of them. There are too many goddamn people in the show to keep up with. And even if that is the point, these characters are ridiculously hollow and boring to see on screen.
The antagonist this season is basically Ayanakoji: Part 2, but with more emotions, I didn’t hate her, just the characters around her. Horikita couldn't save this season because despite warming up to others. She tries negotiating with people who hate her, which is just dumb. I appreciate the plot with her brother, but the anime does little to no justice, no sense of artistic direction, or enhancing it from its source material. It felt like I was watching a history documentary at 12 am on a Wednesday. I completely fell asleep on the episode that concluded her character arc, because surprise surprise, it was painfully boring.

And the anime still does that bullshit where it takes itself way too seriously. Some of the most dramatic moments in this show are super immature and dumb. For example in this season, a girl has a mental breakdown over a hairclip she stole in middle school. Lol im not joking. Then you have the main antagonist in this season who goes around spreading unconfirmed rumors, just for Ayanakoji to go tell the teacher to make her stop. What the hell, I thought this was high school, not kindergarten. This right here is the “mind games” you are in store for with Classroom of the Elite.

One quote that sums up my frustration with this anime is when one character,Green haired short dude, is talking about his past in middle school dealing with bullies. He says that him dealing with them is like “seeing the darkest depths of the human psyche”. Wow…. I just can’t. Serial killers? parasitic politicians? domestic abusers? suicidal people? trauma victims? and the mentally ill? Yea fuck 'em all, truly the darkest and most depraved of the human psyche come from a bunch of bullies in middle school. This is the most r/im14andthisisdeep thing possibly ever. I mean yea I get it, school bullies are pretty ruthless, but the “greatest depths of human darkness”? Give me a fucking break, writers.Such an ignorant and closeminded representation of how humanity works.


'THOSE WHO CAN NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT"-
Ok so I ripped this anime a new one, so I guess I’ll talk about the best episode in this entire franchise. Episode 8. What can I say? I enjoyed it a good bit actually. Only because of the concept. Instead of having these stupid and complicated exams to test the students….wits?This time, it's a popularity poll to determine which student should be expelled from each class. And things I was asking the series to do, it did! A simple yet effective concept? A sense of consequence resulting in tensions rising? A shocking revelation that wasn’t calculated by Ayanakoji-sama? And I can't believe it! An actual exam that seems to simulate the harsh and cutthroat reality awaiting these students after they graduate? Nooooooo wayyyyyyyyyyyy! My prayers have been answered.

I guess God was on a budget though, because the rest of the show was like overdosing on melatonin.I legit don’t even remember what happened in like 80 percent of the season, not because I didn’t pay attention, but I just did not care at all. Even when I get invested, there are just some really stupid and convenient plot moments that just take me out of the show. The ending is absolute ass. Someone literally hacks into the final exam and cheats, but Ayanakoji just doesn't care to tell the staff. And the last two episodes were an absolute snoresville. Sure it ties loose ends with Horikita and her brother, but its executed in the stalest way imaginable. Also, it teases some new things like Ayanakoji’s past but fool me once, shame on you. It did this exact same thing in the last season, teasing his past and that basically was not developed until the last two episodes of this season. Just get on with it already.


MY THOUGHTS ON AYANAKOJI THREE YEARS LATER.
So after three seasons with Kiyotaka, do I like him as an MC? Not really. I'm still sick of his lack of a personality, I'm sick of him coming up with solutions out of nowhere and ruining any tension. I'm sick of how many times he talks about how he is the best at whatever but doesn’t try too hard because it would be boring(not like the anime wasn’t boring enough already). I'm sick of how the show just makes him this Messiah who just solves everyone’s problem conditionally, I’m sick of how everyone just likes him despite how boring he is. I don’t like any of his interactions because as seen from the past two seasons, his interactions and connections mean nothing to him……but hear me out. He actually developed a little. Don’t get your hopes up, I did say a little but I am concerned with how he’ll play out. The anime caught me off guard for moments, because it felt like at times Ayanakoji cared about someone, saying he would protect them, buying them presents, and whatnot. I wasn’t convinced with these moments because I felt like the anime was bullshitting me for that“aha gotcha moment i actually dont care” plot twist that he did in both seasons.But this time around, Ayanakoji wanted to feel more of these moments, not for some prize or intel, but to at least understand more of these emotions. This is a commendable angle that I'm sure the anime will just disregard in later seasons.And there was one time I related to him. The facial expression Ayanakoji makes is the same facial expression I made while watching this anime.


ART/ANIMATION-
The anime still looks very bland and boring with subpar animation and character designs. Its like, why even bother being an anime when you don’t take advantage of the endless artistic choices that can be made in the realm of animation? At this point, COTE could just be a live-action show, even then, the actors would be able to show more emotions than the multitude of characters in this anime who make one facial expression and nothing else.One notable shot in this anime was when two people were playing chess, and their hands were so obviously CGI. It looked like crap, to be honest. It reminded me of the CGI hands Kakegurui had back in 2017. And then my mind wandered off and thought, if COTE had the same visual flair and lavish artistic direction that Kakegurui had, it would be really good. Im not asking for this anime to be a style over substance type of thing, or give the characters kookie faces; I just want the anime to dooooooo soooomthing that justifies its existence.

MUSIC-
And the soundtrack isn’t intense yet bland now. This time, its intense and annoying. It repeats that bass drop creepy track literally every time a character speaks now, and there was one track that sounded like something from Death Note. It was this over-the-top choir opera ballad. But it was so on the nose that I just laughed every time I heard it. I guess the anime was really feelin itself trying to channel all the Light Yogami vibes, but I doubt this anime has the balls to kill people. I mean we all know that life in anime just ends when you leave high school.

ENJOYMENT-
So as you can tell…I enjoyed this anime a lot and I think it is a really good one. As much as I wanna say “I'm too old for this shit”. I can’t. Season 1 of COTE aired when I was in my senior year of high school, so I thought I was the perfect target audience for it. But I found it mediocre. Then more and more seasons started coming out of the same crap. What makes this season hard to rate is how good it is compared to season 2. I barely remember the first two seasons, but I remember even less from season 3 which I just finished a day ago. All I remember is this season having more bullshit than the first two. It goes back to that internet argument on if forgettable is worse than bad since bad is more memorable. In my opinion no. That time you broke your leg is more memorable than that time you got a paper cut, but would I rather get a paper cut than break my leg again? Yes. Real talk though, I still think episode 8 is the best out of the three seasons, but the other 12 episodes of pure boredom/frustration/sleeping/head shaking do not make it worth the time.

Vinland Saga is like a really bad bike accident. Everything is fun when you're riding, but when your bike chain breaks and you go tumbling to the ground, everything starts to feel like it's going in slow motion, and your life flashes in front of your eyes before you make contact. Vinland Saga season 2 is the aftermath of that fall. By the end of this 24-episode series, itll leave you in pain and you will end up with a moderate amount of trauma that will probably stay with you for quite some time. Or at least it did with me.

STORY-
After the events of ... season 1, season 2’s story takes a slower pace this time, Thorfinn is now in slavery and a new protag Einar who is also in slavery. The first season was a road trip across the country, but this entire season takes place mainly on a farm lol. Two bros, chillin' on an English farm, two feet apart cuz they're enslaved. One thing I love is what it does with the setting, it gets you so familiar with it that it almost has a character of its own. And its not just only one location, There’s the crop fields, the farmhouses, the stable, the forest, its almost like I can navigate the farm itself because of certain events that happen at these different locations.


Now I know this change of pace with the story wasn't everyone’s cup of tea. But I was entirely fine with it. I knew this season would be slower-paced because season 1 was just the prologue to this story, so I wasn't expecting the beginning to be balls-deep into the story quite yet. The story this season is a whole different beast than season 1 though.

Remember in my Mushoku Season 2 review when I said “Don't mind stopping the plot to introduce characters, but you better have some solid goddamn characters”? Well, Vinland Saga season 2 is an example of what I mean. This does a lot of things that Mushoku tried and failed at. It introduced new characters with a lot of depth, explored themes of trauma with dignity, still kept the story interesting by incorporating a side plot involving the kings, and best of all, there’s no cringy anime humor. It has that fma style of humor where the jokes itself is pretty modest, but it's the characters that make it stronger. I mention the humor, because goddamn, it's necessary to get through the absolute soul-crushing moments of the anime.

The reason why this season was a tad more effective than the last is because there is a sense of empathy I developed after i finished s1. I grew attached to these characters, and I just wanted the best for them, especially in this horrible world based on reality.What Vinland is great at is making these characters feel human. The script, the voice actors, the character expressions, and the way they move, it almost feels like I'm watching a live-action historical drama, there is something that just clicks with them, and it makes the way they act on screen all the more immersive.

The first season just showed unfiltered blood and brawls. So many people were killed left and right indiscriminately by the Vikings.S2 takes you outside of that view to focus on the consequences of these actions. The people whose lives were affected, and even the ones dealing with the guilt and trauma of taking part in those actions, mainly Thorfinn.


Complaining about this season not being good because it doesn't show a lot of action like season 1 did is such a slap in the face of this writer’s intentions.
What makes this story beautiful are the more cathartic moments in this slave life. It's the little moments when you are farming, cutting trees, asking to borrow a horse, or enjoying a meal. It straight-up becomes a slice of life for the first half. Also, one trope that I am such a sucker for is the found family one. Maybe because of my core values and experiences, but God, it's done so well in here.


These moments are the little bits of hope that get me more attached to these characters, and right when I become attached to them, the second half kicks in, and things get horrible. Abandon all hope, ye who gets to the second half of this season. Just when you expect things to get better, they get worse.
I'm not ashamed to admit it, I’ve cried so many times. The anime is just harrowing, dude. It gets really hard to watch at moments.

It's not just pure shock value though, it's a combination of so many things that it starts to break you. The context of the characters involved, the animation/music, and how the theme ties back into season 1. And that is the theme of Hatred. The show surprisingly takes a nuanced approach to such a concept. These things being shown on screen are awful, but it's there to explore how easy it is to destroy another’s life. There is so much that the story explores through these characters as well. There are the people who condone this, the people affected by it, and the people who have to live the rest of their lives lamenting over the actions they chose. The best way to address these aspects is by mentioning them in the character section.




ANIMATION-
-MAPPA controversy
Oh MAPPA. MAPPA, MAPPA, MAPPA.Can I do at least one anime review without your name on a project? Mappa seems to be making headlines pretty much every week because of the backlash on how animators are treated. So it's hard to give the studio credit, because of the way they treat their employees. Luckily, I don’t have to do that this time because all of the staff from Wit’s first season are back for this season at MAPPA’s production house. Despite a different environment, it's still the same iconic WIT, this time with some improvements.

As a result, the anime looks pretty much identical to its previous season. And hell even better in some ways. This season doesn't use CGI nearly as much as the last, when it does use it, it looks so much better. My god, the backgrounds in this anime are mesmerizing. It has a certain painterly style in places. The skies look like Shinkai painted them, and this attention to detail for such a simple farm setting makes the environments all the more memorable.

One thing I loved about Vinland is how colorful it feels for a historical setting. And the anime really does take some risks visually, mainly with the horrifying dream sequences but it tones it out with beautiful moments as well.The characters are designed modestly, but animated with a lot of life and personality. And im also impressed on how consistent they are with the designs as well throughout the series.If someone has a scar or injury, the anime becomes really consistent with that injury throughout the remainder of the show.But yea, overall, Vinland is visually solid.



MUSIC

I was really surprised how ambient the music in Vinland is, just like any good score, it enhances the scene instead of clashing with it. And some of the piano tunes really got stuck in my head. Especially that one piano tune that sounded like the beginning of that Demi Lovato song “Cool for the Summer”

The openings and endings are fantastic.One thing I love about the first cour’s themes are how they build anticipation, in which even if the episode itself is very lighthearted, the ops and eds remind you what to expect when you get to cour 2. The ending themes, Without Love and Ember, are emotional ballads. And I think they give off this tortured yet liberated feel. They give me that small dose of confidence, especially after how depresseding the episode before it is. Rivers is a very soulful and ambient track with great lyrics. …..The there is “Paradox”. This is by far my favorite song from Survival Said The Prophet ever. I wasn’t a huge fan of “Mukanjyo”. It just felt like some rock song that just happened to be the theme song to Vinland Saga.But OH MY GOD, “Paradox” fits the tone of Vinland Saga s2 to a T. Really passionate, hard-hitting lyrics, and the music itself sounded very grand yet maddening as if you were having a mental breakdown on a battlefield. Put that along with the absolutely disturbing imagery in the opening animation, and god, you have a very iconic anime opening.


DUB
-yep thats right,bitch, I watched this series dubbed lol. And tbh I wasn’t expecting much but…. This is by far the best dub I've watched in a long ass time. Mainly because the story asks so much from these characters that if these VA’s missed even one mark in the acting, it sticks out horribly. And I was expecting that, but that never happened. The main reason I got emotional was because of the voice acting. These actors do such of good job of showing just how mentally troubled each of these characters is that it becomes scary. I'm tearing up just thinking about some of the certain screams or cries of agony I heard from them.


CHARACTERS
Einar
He is the new introduced character and the FOIL to Thorfinn. He basically goes through the same level of hatred that has ruined Thorfinn’s life and he was really refreshing as a character, the show doesn't put him in the wrong for acting in ways thorfinn disproves of and that makes it all the more nuanced.
-
Thorfinn
-Thorfinn is a, but its justified, because he deals with horrifying ptsd that affects him every night, If you had those moments, you know how hard it can be to just sit and deal with your hatred internally. Thorfinn had to deal with that in season 1. But now he is dealing with something much worse, atoning for the lives he's taken. Thord from season 1 put it best, “A true warrior doesn't need a sword” because a true warrior is already fighting a mental battle in their head constantly. And in the case of Thorfinn, his trauma is portrayed is way more difficult for him to deal with than anything he dealt with in season 1.

Arnhide-
-Arnhide is a character that really makes Vinland Saga a well rounded package. One thing I appreciate about Vinland Saga is how it focuses and the experiences of women, who struggle alot in this brutal patriarchy. But Arnhide is just the pennicle of hope. Despite all the odds. But its not all sunshine and rainbows with her character, no not at all. In fact the more brutal and hardhitting facts about this reality are shown through the eyes of this character.

Olmar-

-Olmar is a nice deconstruction of the idealized heroic figure trope. Yea at first, you see him as basically this whiny brat who angsts over the fact he hasnt fought in a battle. But throughout the series, the show just mentally breaks him. This gives commentary to how fucked the cultural and societal expectatiions of the time period are. In a time where you’re worth is based on how many you have killed,and the wars you fight. This is then when the show points out the irony of striving to be chivalrous. At the end of the day, it doesn’t mean anything if you end up dead.

And speaking of which. King Canute, dude. He takes such a heal turn I didn’t expect. He still is a pacifist, but his intentions this season are not “ well’ in the slightest. He is basically a snake. He uses this foolish notion of chivalry as an actual weapon to manipulate others,and I just find it extremely clever how they make him antagonistic without giving him a sword. Not to mention the trauma he is facing and his goal to strive and not be like his evil father, but more and more you realize that is exactly what is happening. Im really excited where the show takes him next.

There’s not a single weak character in this season at all.All of them feel so real. The desperation, their struggle to protect others,the dehumanization of men,women,and children all based on this slave status, and how normalized hatred and abuse is in a society bred by war.This is where Vinland Saga truly shows itself as to what it is about and where the story is going to go from here on out.




-I know, im a fucking crybaby.

Goddamn, this anime messed me up. I don't continuously weep when watching something fictional, especially if it's animated. I can watch Koe no Katachi and Grave of the Fireflies with no problem, but with this, I couldn’t handle it. I cannot think of an anime that has struck such an emotional chord within me before. It hit me just how helpless these characters are in a barbaric world like this. Physically because I've grown so attached to it, that when it ended, it left a large void I haven't felt in some time. But it's not all dark, there are hopeful moments that help balance out its grizzly nature, just like real life.

Overall on a technical aspect, the anime blows it out of the water, and it really does enhance the story to a point where i became helplessly immersed with it. And story wise, I love its commentary on the human psyche, i really empathize with its characters, despite the setting being based on reality, it still feels very rich and familiar. The music really hit when it needed to, the animation and art take more ambitious liberties than it did last season,the dub is one of the best ones I've heard in a while, and there is just a great sense of consistency and attention to detail with this anime. From the writing to the actual character designs. Goes to show that if you or a team of people are very passionate about something, the audience will see that passion.
And as for me, it has been almost a week since I finished it, and i haven't been the same, this really did leave a mark on me. But at the end of the day, I see Vinland Saga as a cautionary tale and a reminder that hey…this shit is real.…this is what humanity was really like years ago. And despite how awful we are now as a society, we were a hell of a lot worse back then.

Pluto, as it says on the subtitle, is based on the Astro Boy story, “The Greatest Robot on Earth”. But instead of just focusing on Astro Boy, it focuses on the entire world of Astroboy,
Fun fact, the original 1950s manga Astroboy takes place in the year 2003, and that year was when the Urasawa’s manga of Pluto was published, then an anime happened and the rest is history.

Bit of a warning right now, this anime is not as much of an action packed spectacle as seen from the trailer. I can see this anime boring a lot of you, especially in this era of ... anime fans with short attention spans. This isn't an anime to watch for instant gratification. Just like Monster,It's very slow paced and the runtime is hefty too with eight episodes, each one about an hour long.And there is a lotta dialogue. This anime does ask for your time and patience, but if you commit to it, you are in store for some very top-tier and well-written sci fi crime drama. While the pacing is slow, it uses its time well and the main story is compact and delivered without confusion. Also, Urasawa has such a great way of characterizing people in Monster and you can see it here as well.

STORY
The last anime i remembered with this premise was Vivy:Flourite Eyes Song, while interesting, didn't really explore the facets of AI as much as I would hope. But Pluto goes as deep as it possibly can with it. And it started to have my attention when it brought up things i've never thought about when it comes to AI.Not only that, but the world building in Pluto is just beautifully written. It shows great use of visuals to show this futuristic society, and even Urasawa’s great writing shows little pieces of worldbuilding without dumping it all on you at once like other bad sci fi novels do.
One of the best examples of this is a scene where an AI person is talking to a human who is about to commit suicide, but then the AI tells the human not to do it because there is an electromagnetic net below. Its just the dialogue like this that i love. It both introduces new technologies in this world while also exploring to struggles of human emotions and the antithesis of that which is artificial intelligence. Getting back to the setting of Pluto, I think its one of the more creative ones I’ve seen in quite some time. AI has advanced to such a state that there are even services for them.There are adoption services,recreational sports, etc. And I appreciate how the anime addresses their assimilation into society. I was worried it would end up like Detroit Become Human. That story bothered me because it just transforms this scifi element into a heavy handed social commentary without exploring how AI has evolved enough to be aware of their own autonomy, also David Cage is the worst thing ever to happen to science fiction.Glad to say, Pluto does explore that. And you experience that evolution for yourself through all the characters, and there will be certain points where you question what really defines a human.I have one complaint with the story though, and its how it ends. It feels a little too abrupt especially after all of the events that took place before.And i guess this an anime moment, but some of the characters and their motives weren’t really explained. Like i don’t understand what that teddy bear was all about.Usually an anime ending will make or break an anime for me, but at the end of the day, it is an Urasawa story. And as he proved in Monster, its not the destination that matters, but the journey.

ANIMATION
What the fuck even is Studio M2, who are you and what have you done with Madhouse?Because holy shit, this studio did a fantastic job. For a netflix series thats over 3 hours long, I was expecting the animation to be rough, like the budget wouldnt cover my rent rough. But no. Its extremely consistent and solid throughout. Just like Monster the animation is not mindblowing all the time,but it is consistent, which is impressive on its own. And what is also impressive is how the styles are combined. It combines the distinct Urasawa style with the colorful and shiny world of Tezuka. Also the designs of the robots fit the world of Astroboy and guess what…. THEYRE ANIMATED IN 2D!!!! I was expecting this to be a CGI fest, but they were committed to it.There is cgi used for some of the special effects, but the effects looked really impressive. And the character designs are so similar to Monster, a bit too similar in some cases. There are points where I look at one character and I'm like “ ok that's Reichwein”, I look at another, and I'm like “Oh okay that's just a gender-bent, Nina”. They're both from the same creator so I should expect their designs to be similar, but it was so similar it started to become uncanny, But it's okay, I like Urasawa’s art style. At the end of the day, the anime looks impressive and we know what studio to consider whenever a 20th Century Boys adaptation ever becomes a thing.

MUSIC
While I don’t remember a specific track from Pluto, I think the soundtrack is solid in being a homage to the retro 1950s Astro Boy style while also having a 50s noir vibe . And also, bravo to the actors who worked on the dubbing, because my god it was pretty freaking solid. When there was a kid, it sounded like a kid, when there was a guy with a heavy Persian accent, it sounded as such, so great job there.

CHARACTERS
Something a bit interesting comes into play here, and its the emotional moments. In the anime Monster, all the characters were human. And Urasawa developed them so well that the sadder moments really hit more. But for some reason, I did not feel much for some of these characters. BUT, funny thing is, I think is was intentional,because the anime itself touches on AI bridging the gap between lack of emotion and human emotion. At first, I thought, yeah they're robots so of course they do not have emotions, but then the anime shows all of the different values and passions, and just like the AI in this anime, I started to build a sense of empathy for these characters. What really gets me are the ai struggling to deal with their human like emotions and how even the most evolved and artificial of minds can still be scarred through trauma and social pressure.Also, some discriminatory humans dont see ai as minorities but as just an object that doesn't deserve human rights . And the way it explores grief through these classic Astro Boy characters like Atom, Dr Tenma,Uran was very sincere and hit me like a truck.Bruh, Urasawa could make a spinoff of Tom and Jerry and find a way to make it depressing. Maybe im just capping, and it's just the emotional moments failing to connect with me at times, but either way, I love that aspect of Pluto.


ENJOYMENT
Now despite the greatness in store for this anime, I dont think this will be the type of anime that becomes a sensation overnight. Probably because of its very mature subject matter, its slow pace, and the fact it's a Nutflick anime won't do it any favors.

Yes, I enjoyed it a lot, but it hits differently than other anime, it doesn't give me much of that adrenaline rush that I get when I finish other good anime. It's a personal interest thing, it's more of an appreciation rather than obsessing about how good it is. I don't care about idol and celebrity culture, but I appreciate the relevant social commentary in Oshi No Ko. And here, while I have little interest in sci-fi, specifically with robots, I appreciate an anime like Pluto existing at this time right now where AI is relevant.

I can see Pluto aging well as a sleeper hit in the future especially when AI itself evolves. Also, this is an anime that is begging for a rewatch with fresh attentive eyes. And maybe in the dark and uncertain future where AI starts to take over our lives, this anime might hold a special place in my heart just like Monster does. Idk, talk to me about my opinion on this anime again 54 years from now.

WARNING: massive spoilers ahead.

Ok, so its over. I still cannot contemplate how its over. But it is. This review was long overdue because every new season of AOT I kept expecting to be the last, but boy was I wrong.Attack On Titan has a whole lot going on,and thats both a blessing and a curse for it. This season is basically summed up as one really long fight.And its probably the most epic fight ive seen in sometime. This is just hype in its purest and rawest form. My patience was tested in s4 p1 especially because of all the talking and politics, but goddamn, ... did it really pay off. But when the anime ended, I felt a bit hollow, because there were a loooooooooot of moments that really confused me.

STORY-
Lemme whine about how stupid I am real quick.. The anime is so jammed packed with lore and info that the ending felt as if the writer was on the verge of a breakdown. There are just a lot of things that I didnt feel were explained enough, and this isnt a evangelion interpret for yourself type of thing, its more of a “huh, whut was that? Thats not explained very well” Thing. For example, Zeke somehow emerging from Eren and all of the founding titans fighting against Eren. How? Zeke kinda has the power to talk with titans, but if Eren can spawn them, how did they end up fighting each other? Also how did Zeke appear from the spine? Where the fuck did the human centipede thing go? Did Eren still have it? And why is it just embedded inside of him? The most questionable thing, is the whole Ymir actually being in love with King Fritz plot twist. Which just felt shoehorned and not explored that much.

There are a lot of events that happen in this special that really confused me, its either because AOT has so much info to throw at you but doesnt prioritze whats the more important thing to remember later, or im just a dumbass, which is also valid. BUT. In my defense, this anime took its sweet ass time to finish. Not even mentioning the manga that was so controversial, that the author had to revise its ending. Attack on Titan is incredibly dense,have soooo many different elements given throughout years of content, but I dont think all of these elements work together.Whats ironic is that 6 years ago, i complained about season 2 not telling enough, but then s4 is just telling a bit too much.





ANIMATION-
Oh mappa, we meet again. I feel a little weird giving this studio praise nowadays, especially since theyre always in the spotlight for the shitty way they treat their workers. So instead of giving credit to the studio mappa, I will give credit the people who work at that studio. When season 4 started, the animation was rough, to say the least. But throughout, the animation just got better and better.This season especially shows how far theyve came with combining 2d and 3d. While I appreciate the artstyle. I will always miss WIT’s artstyle. Because the colors felt more lively, the lineart and characters were more expressive, and there was a certain distinct sheen that MAPPA lacks unfortunately. I do have a complaint with some of the other technical things. Ive seen this type of thing with Jigokuraku and some episodes of the new JJK, where some things about it feel unrefined and rough around the edges, like the compositing or the backgrounds, or the way certain characters are drawn.But besides that, the anime does make up for it by bringing its absolute best when it comes to fight scenes.



SOUND-
Sawano is great
Japanese cast is great
Sound is great


Opening theme wise is where Im conflicted. I adore the previous openings to season 4, but this special less so. I am not a huge fan of “Under the Tree” by Sim. Its just a really awkward and slow song and lets just say that singing “ Under the tree- ee -ee………-ee…-ee…ee…” is not as compelling as “ IF I LOSE IT ALL”


CHARACTERS-
Before I talk about the bombshell Eren, Let me mention everyone else. My problem with season 1 was that there were soooo many characters, and thats a problem I have here.What kinda sucks about AOT for me is that most of the characters that die are ones I rooted for the most. As a result, the remaining group of people are ones I werent huge fans of, but this special really made me warm up to them more. Storywise, there are a lot of badass moments from just about everyone, and they are really awesome. Pieck and Levi get their redemption, Falco and Gabi contribute more to the story than I thought, and Armin, holly shit, just comparing how fragile he was in season 1 to how heroic he is now, Every season, Armin redeems himself more and more in my mind.

One thing I dont like is how Connie, Jean, and Historia were just there in the background not doing much,Annie falling for Armin was kinda weird,because Annie as a character throughout the series was seen as this stoic and selfish person who hated pretty much everyone who wasnt her family, she warmed up to her friends over the years but confessing a love to Armin of all people is off.

Then there are some plot convenient moments that I wasnt a fan of. Like Zeke with his doomer mentality being convinced by Armin that life is worth fighting for, it was really sudden and anticlimatic,maybe if the two spent more screentime together or something, I wouldve been convinced that his attitude on life would be swayed.

I liked Reiner this season a lot, because he felt like himself again in season 1. Now that he atoned and apologized in part 2, he went back to his heroic self who was willing to sacrifice others. There was one thing Reiner did at the end that was a little goofy,but that goofiness showed that he is in a much better place now mentally.

Jean…was whatever, tbh real talk, i never really liked Jean, he’s just a supporting character that he never did much that made him stand out besides talk about real estate, I wanted him to die multiple times to trim the fat, but no. I mean, even Connie had some heartbreaking scenes in part 2.

Mikasa is still a badass as usual,but she definitely got upstaged by everyone else this season, mainly Levi.One thing that kinda bothered me about the ending was how Mikasa still had feeling for this dude who mudered 80 percent of the earth’s population. I just wished she had some sort of contemplation about all of these mixed feelings, if anything she shouldve went mad realizing how much she has fell for the person who saved her life, but ended everyone elses.But the anime gives her this weird forgiveness angle, where she still loves him despite everything that he did in season 4.I don’t remember if she knew about Erin’s intentions, but if the anime showed her unpacking how contradictory his intentions were to his actions, then this anime would be super profound.


Then there is Eren, oh boy. Eren Yaegar is a character people will talk about for decades. I dont think it will be out of just praise, but arguments on if his decisions were right. In my opinion, I understand some of the things he does, but then with the context of him seeing the future, now Im starting to question some of his choices.

Now hold on to your sweatpants, weebs, because this is where the can of worms are open.Erens reveal about him intentionally killing his mom with the power of timetravel to fulfill his plan was weird, without eren's mom, his hatred was fueled enough for him to go after all the titans and give him enough bravery to survive Annie's attack, buuuut, what is the point to killing all the titans and protecting his loved ones if he intentionally sacrifices the ones who means the most to him? Also, there's Mikasa. Eren has a comical meltdown about loving Mikasa and not wanting her to fall for any other man but him, and the story makes this the crucial final revelation where he gets everything off his chest before his demise, but there is lil wee problem with dat: Mikasa spent her whole life following and supporting Erens goal of destroying the titans, but what the heck did he expect when he ended up becoming the thing that Mikasa actively fights against? Also, he said to her face that he hated her in s4p1 just to pour more salt in the womb. I'm just not convinced that his actions were thought out well.Because he went so goddamn out of control blindly following his ideals that he ended up putting the people in paradis island including his friends in danger.
Not to mention, him knowing about the future


Maybe he was successful in the end because he kinda protected the ones he loved from the titans in the end even if he was doomed to give up his life to begin with, but I feel like his reckless actions aren't the most ideal because most of his closest friends either die or almost get killed because of him, and then he actively kills tries to kill them later on, but if killing him was what causes the rumbling to stop, why did he attack his friends when they tried doing so. He can see the future right? And he destroyed the earth already. But no, instead of just laying down and dying, he fought till the very end.

So Eren, for a guy who can see everything and plan accordingly, you have a funny way of showing how much you care for your friends. Maybe he secretly doesn't care about his friends and is just a ball of pure irrational hatred?Maybe he was trying to make his friends look like they are saviors, but why didnt he use the titans to kill him and kinda fake everything to make them look better,instead of spawning more titans in the end?If he really knew his friends had to kill him to end all of this, honestly, this special would have been waaaaaaaay shorter.


Now i can think about this final chapter till the sun implodes, but here's the thing.All the things I am saying might be bullshit because the problem I have with Eren is that he is made to be so antagonistic that his intentions are questionable at best and contradictory at worst.From about S4 onwards, he is treated as an enigma, and is given the same amount of vagueness as any antagonist, part 2, had some exploration of it but not as much as his father had and the whole Fritz family thing . Then halfway through the course, he just disappears.

There are parts in this special that show how he has been morally succumbed to war, but it does not explore that much about his intention and what he plans on doing when all of humanity is just dead. Now I can compliment Eren’s descent into hatred till im blue Like what is the point of trying to destroy all of the titans to protect the ones you love, when you actively try killing those same loved ones later on? I can see why the controversy happened,not because anything bad happened, but because this revelation recontextualises everything you knew about this franchise, and some of it, just doesn't sit right with me.in the face but I just cannot get behind his intentions, if he knew that everything would happen.

This is why I am very lukewarm on timetravel used like this, because it kind of stonewalls any other possible outcomes because the story says so,but if some of Eren’s diabolical actions had to happen to achieve this ending, why? Did not choosing to attempt killing his friends result in them losing? We will never know,because lol this is the only timeline that will work out.Now despite how messy Eren is written, I have nothing but appreciation for seeing a character like this. Most shounen MCs nowadays have the most bare bone of personalities. So im glad that there is a good amount of substance with Eren to have discussions about.I could not imagine talking this much about characters like Tanjiro, or Itadori. Unlike those characters, Eren is complex, which isnt a good or bad thing, its just like a supreme pizza. he’s messy, and he’s not the most well-made or organized, but he is complex.




ENJOYMENT-

Now despite all my gripes with the ending, I do not hate it at all.I mean, its better than Promised Neverland S2, because it shows reasonable consequences of actions, and there are some really beautiful moments that had me hysterically sobbing. I have been follow Attack on Titan when i was a snot nosed middle schooler, I am now a depressed college student pushing 25. And its like wow( trying not to sob writing this) it didnt hit me how much of my life this anime has influenced. Honestly though, a lot of the peak writing moments come from previous seasons. Straight up. Attack on Titan is great, a little messy at spots but great,Just all of the exploration of war, from the people who plan it, to the poor souls who have to fight it. Not to forget the social commentary on pure blind hatred echoing reality especially in the anime community. Attack on Titan truly shows why it deserves a spot in some of the most iconic anime of all time.But my score for this special is not reflective of the entire franchise. I do like the animation even if some editing choices were weird, the music is great as always, and while im not a fan of the direction some of the characters take,and while i had a problem of some story beats, I enjoyed this special. Not as much as I did other season though.Its not a perfect ending, but Im just glad its over because I can finally move on with my life.

After some months of thought, it finally clicked with me why I was super duper lukewarm on this anime. Jigokuraku has potential indeed but it's the little details that build up by the end of the season and bog down into an anime that is not bad or good, just middling.


Story-
Credit where it's due, this anime does accomplish a lot in its first season. Like the characters are already introduced to the villains, the power systems, and the history of the setting and I feel like the anime would be perfectly paced if it wrapped up in season 2.
Jigokuraku has an amazing setting, an ... island full of plants, bugs, and weird kyojin people made where everything can kill you. One thing I love is how the island and its history are really shrouded in mystery and bits of information are revealed throughout. Unfortunately, this isn't made in Abyss or anything so the setting didn't play much of a role in the story as much as the characters did.

The best thing about Jigokuraku hands down, is the Villians, holy shit these villains are unhinged. The sense of mystery really built up hype for them and when they revealed their true powers it was insane, also I find it really creative how the mangaka used their genders and sexuality to tie into the Tao power system. Some of the best fights in the anime are because they are in it and their attacks feel very unpredictable leaving you on the edge of your seat at times. And by times I mean like a couple of times. They also have a level of uncanniness and trickster-like personalities that the heroes lack.

Speaking of which the power system of Tao is really creative, which is like this weird energy that strengthens by combining opposites, in other words, you can literally have strong powers by having sex which is a first in a shounen that isn't ecchi I guess. While the way the characters understand it feels a little rushed, their fighting prowess doesn't feel like an asspull or overpowered. I appreciate the characters having a history already as samurai instead of just being random ass-school kids who just conveniently happen to be kung fu masters.





Characters-
Feeling too nice now .Time to get to the main problem. Despite a crapton of people getting killed before arriving on the island and many killed right when they set foot on the island, the story still feels overcrowded with characters and their backstories. There are 11 people on the key visual for the anime and that's not even everyone lol. I mean a stacked cast like this is doable, but there is just something missing with them. Everyone more or less has a decent character arc but they still feel lacking of something to make me care, and thinking it over, I think that it is the lack of a character flaw or a desire of some sort. Humans are flawed and they desire things, but most of the characters have very ambiguous goals. I mean everyone for the most part just wants to get the elixir and the hell out of hells paradise, but the anime doesn't really convince me that they have something to look forward to if they leave, so I'm not really wanting to root for them, The few times that the show does convince me to root for a character is either right before they die, or if they are fighting one of the crazy ass villains of the anime.

Starting with Gabimaru, the “main character” I guess. Most of his character is shrouded in mystery so it was really hard for me to open up and connect to him like I did with Sagiri or Shion. Trust me, if Gabimaru died, I probably would have been like “Oh well I guess, I hope Sagiri is okay” but she probably wouldn't be okay since her main goal is making sure Gabimaru gets off that island and pardoned of his crimes. He has his moments, I mean who doesn't love a stone-cold ninja having his heart defrosted, but the problem with him being a part of such a large cast is that almost everyone has just as much development and characterization as him so he feels like a side character.

So I guess the true protagonist is Sagiri, which is fine because she is my favorite. Her arc is one that resonated with me the most because of her insecurities and struggles to prove herself in a patriarchal society. The speech she gave to one of her superiors was really quoteworthy, especially for this day and age. But she does get sidelined a great bit compared to the other battle-crazy characters. While she is responsible for the more down-to-earth moments in the anime, I'm still waiting for her huge Nobara moment where she can immediately prove herself and not get upset by someone.

Shion also had a descent arc along with Tenza, and both of them experience a level of trauma that gives them that vulnerability that makes me root for them. The same goes for Senta even if he was the quirky bookworm character for like three-quarters of the anime.

Yuzuriha provided some comedy/ cheeky fanservice but she does break out of her trope by providing smart tips and contributing to fights. Also, her ninja power is kinda gross ngl.


Nurugai has a decent backstory and I love her role as a student training under her persecutors, her joke of “Oh i look like a boy but I'm actually a girl” is kinda a cringe trope that lived and died back in 2010 when Hideyoshi Kinoshita owned it. This trope is also in a critically acclaimed isekai that I will not mention and it was stupid there too, so and it should stay dead honestly. But I look forward to her learning more in season 2.

Then there are the others, Gankatetsu is a big meaty crackhead who just likes to fight all the time, and his samurai buddy Fuchi is this weird evil genius character, I don't even remember if the show talked about his past. Choubei is also another big crackhead who likes to fight all the time, When I see characters like this, all I see are a bunch of Astas running around, and the fact that the only things they think about are just dominating everything they see is comical so there is not much to get out of those two. Touma is probably the weakest written character because it feels like he is only there to support his crackhead brother. If this anime was made like 20 years ago, I bet you, he would be a hot and sexy female side character supporting her main character's brother.
‘




Animation-
Okay, MAPPA, we need to have a talk. This is by far what really bogs down the anime. And looking at the show compared to MAPPA’s other recent works, you should understand how underwhelming the visuals are. I don’t know what Makita Kaori was going for stylistically but it's just not working out too well. This isn’t a dumb manga vs anime conversation, I’ve had enough of those, especially in 2023. The show just feels weird sometimes. the character designs are great but I give credit to Yuji Kaku for that. The anime style doesn't do them much justice. Despite the colorful and trippy vibe of the setting, the characters look muted and super washed out, and the shading is minimal, it looks like some shit from Shinsekai Yori.

The animation feels really odd. This is insanely weird for MAPPA, a studio that seems to set, raise, and lower the bar of animation basically every single year. Despite the source material being really popular, the anime is about on the same level as that Netflix show Yasuke, except Yasuke had remarkable sakuga moments that kinda cover up the wonkiness, and Jigokuraku does not have nearly as many sakuga moments. Maybe Jigokuraku was in the same situation Yasuke had where animators were barely underpaid, overworked, and exploited. But that's another conversation for another day. If that was the case, though………………..well it shows.Not only in the animation but in the editing which makes the animation look worse than it is.


I wasn’t expecting the editing to be the worst thing about the show but here we are. There are multiple POVs since there are a shitton of characters but sometimes the editors jumble up the scenes of them together. Sometimes one character would spout exposition while another scene is going on involving a completely different group and location that has nothing to do with what the character is talking about. Sometimes there would be these weird nanosecond cuts of a whole new scene but it cuts back to the previous scene. Like nothing happens. It feels haphazard like the editor was throwing clips into the timeline without looking over it to make sure it makes sense. Hell, it might be intentional and the director was fine with it. Well if that's the case. Yikes. As I mentioned before, it's the little details, once you notice it, you won’t unnoticed by the editing in this anime. I surprisingly haven't seen anything recently with such noticeably messy editing. It feels like a rush job which is unsurprising for an “ENERGETIC” studio like MAPPA.
Now, there are some good things, a few good directing moments, also appreciate the anime refraining from turning everything into 3D. While it seems like I'm dunking on Makita, I did appreciate his work on Banana Fish and I appreciate some of it here. There are some brilliant scenes, but they are really few, really short, and really far in-between moments. It felt like this directer saw the backlash that the Chainsaw Man director got for his creative liberties with the anime and just played it straight, doing the bare minimum when it comes to an adaptation, while there are some creative things here and there it is just not enough for me to say that Jigokuraku looks spectacular. It's fine, but it doesn't feel like Mappa, it feels like Studio 8bit on a good day.


Sound-
I guess the soundtrack was decent, It was really minimalistic at some points, sounding like run-of-the-mill traditional Japanese music, other times it sounded like something from a Harry Potter PS2 game, which isn't too much of a roast because Harry Potter PS2 music kinda slaps, but those games came out in the early 2000s and this anime is something from 2023, so it doesn't help make the anime look less dated.


-One huge complaint I have sound-wise is the opening by Millennium Parade and Sheena Ringo. Don’t get me wrong it's a bombastic song with a lot of trumpets and guitar. But when I heard the opening, it did not fit the style of Jigokuraku at all. It feels like an anime opening for something like Tokyo Revengers. When I listen to it, I don’t get an Edo period story about samurai on a mysterious island vibes, I get boys on motorbikes fighting in Tokyo city vibes.



And for now, I feel like this pie is just a sample size, I know I shouldn't expect a lot for a show with only one season, but JJK Jigokuraku compared to other shounen after their season 1’s(like aot,mob psycho etc) didn't really leave too much of an impression on me, I feel a lot of the elements about this show leaving my mind, and when I wake up tomorrow, the only thing I will remember is the villains, the setting, and really wonky ass editing in parts. I know it looks like I'm shitting on this anime, but it's far from being bad. It's just that the good things about it are things that literally everyone has praised at this point and the other things I'm just kinda meh on.


The best thing visually about Jigokuraku is the background art, which is expected because the setting is what the whole story of Jigokuraku centers around.


I guess that definition would put it in the average category. I dislike the internet stigma where if something is average that means it's mid which means it's forgettable which means it's worse than bad for some reason. But the way I categorize its averageness is the good kinda average, that doesn't blow your socks off but it does the job. Jigokuraku does have the potential to be a solid series. Just a nice little clean up of all the technical things and just a tad more creative vision, and season 2 will be a fun time. I don't need a new genre-defying masterpiece, I already have Chainsaw Man for that lol.

I’ve rarely been in this situation before when watching something. It feels like I'm playing Russian roulette with this anime, and half the time I'm losing. Mushoku Tensei is a beast of an anime to critique because there are just a lot of little details that I dislike about it. For every great thing, there is something stupid and infuriating to counteract it.
The writing in this anime is like eating a chocolate chip ice cream sundae with bits of rotten egg, expired mayo, and wasabi. Even if they are bits, those bits spoil the sundae and I cannot in good consciousness say it's the ... best sundae of all time. I wouldn't be watching this season if I didn't like things about MT’s previous season.
I like its setting, its visuals, its music, and its themes are poignant for an isekai. And some of the side character arcs are phenomenal,

Getting to the things I don't like, buckle up because this is a doozy.

STORY-
I don't like the pacing this season at all. The first 3 episodes had okay progression, followed by 6 episodes of nothing happening, episode 9 was the best at progressing the plot, and then the last 2 episodes were just bullcrap happening. A lot doesn't get accomplished in this season. Compare this to s1 where Rudy went to a lot of different locations, this season Rudy is at the tavern, then he goes to school and that's it. Rudy just forgets what his goal is for some reason and just ignores the external conflict that causes the plot to go on in the first place. What doesn't help the pacing is the painful attempts of halfhearted comedy, the basic romance plot line, and the lowbrow ecchi that does nothing for the story, speaking of which.

BLONDE THOT GIRL-
I don't like Elinalise. She is one of the reasons why the ecchi in this show annoys me to no end. I don’t like how her whole character is someone who is just there to have sex and that is it. The anime tries to explain that she is infected with a curse that depletes her health if she doesn't copulate, but it does not feel like a well-written fantasy thing, it just feels like the writer is justifying her role in the story to be the one dimensional and lewd fanservice girl because, despite her life-threatening curse, the anime just makes SEX her entire character.

Before the MT fanbase comes for my head, my disdain for the overt fanservice and ecchi is NOT a case of me “virtue signaling”. It's not like I'm standing at a podium wearing a priest robe shouting “Sex is bad”. I like some dumb fun ecchi moments as much as the next bisexual guy. It's just that the way Mushoku does ecchi is …..shit. It's either really dumb, kinda problematic, or both. The fanservice is not subtle literally at all, and it feels like it only appeals to horny teenage boys and lolicons. At least when George R.R. Martin or Tatsuki Fujimoto puts sex into their stories, it gives more context to the characters or the setting they are in. But here it feels like characters being horny and having sex is the priority while the most important thing, yunno, the plot, and the setting, are second nature.

- RUDEUS GREYRAT SUCKS : /
It's one step forward, two steps back with his character, I went from hating him in s1 to sympathizing with him before s2 started, and now… I just don't care about him at all, because the writing of his character is all over the fuckin place, dude. There is nothing for me to appreciate about Rudy because his actions are so wishy-washy, that I don't really support or hate him. He just does nothing for me.

WHY THE “DEPRESSION” ANGLE, DOES NOT WORK-
“No, but you don't understand, my guy, MT addresses very “impotent” themes like Rudeus’ mental depression which is profound for an anime in this genre”-Random Mushoku Fan
My problem with this statement is that it feels disingenuous because of how we are introduced to Rudy in season 1. Now, I don't want to sit here and devalue what other people take away from this anime. If this impotence character arc resonated with you, then that's okay. But let me explain why his character just does not work for me. I think the best way is to compare him with other characters in the same genre

SUBARU FUCKIN NATSUKI-
Say what you want about Rezero, but the creator of the show is very genuine with Subaru. He is depicted as being a delusional loser with next to no powers and the only powers he does have caused horrifying trauma.his previous life wasn't all that better, because of his depression and anxiety, but he still achieves most of his goals through his determination and the friends he makes.
Ugh, now looking back on Rudy Two Shoes, Rudeus as a character is still written halfheartedly like he was in season 1. Everyone on the block says that he is supposed to be trash but he gets better since this is a redemption story. But other people see him as this Chad anime protag who is already a great character. The writer wants to have it both ways with him, without giving him a humane level of vulnerability.

Subaru in Rezero starts out being depicted as an undesirable neet, and throughout the show, he is put in multiple situations that show just how helpless and weak he is and that fuels his development. And when he acts chivalrous he sometimes gets clowned on for it.
Rudeus starts out being depicted as an undesirable neet, and throughout the show, he is depicted as a super talented perverted prodigy child who acts kinda sassy, teaches a lot of people, and is well-loved. Yes, there are some moments throughout the series where Rudy shows weakness, but the rest of the time, he is just the stereotypical MC who casts high-powered spells, can see the freaking future, knows all the languages, gets a juicy body, stops bullies, ends slavery, and is respected by nearly everyone. So his moments of vulnerability or weakness are overshadowed by how idealized of an MC he is.
Rudy as a character is defined by the people around him. The writer wants to focus on the bonds Rudy has built on his journey, rather than his mental state, which was a great decision in S1p2, but in doing so, it makes the depiction of mental health very surface-level.
And it's just that Rudy being lonely sometimes just does not compare to Subaru suffering trauma and depression from watching his loved ones die over and over.

Sure this toss-up of these qualities makes him more of a realistic person with moral ambiguity, but he is depicted as a super-talented individual one moment and a sex offender the next,(I still have PTSD flashbacks to season 1.) I dunno, man, it just feels like the writer doesn't truly commit to making him a character who struggles with his mental condition. There are only a handful of moments where he does, but then the rest of the show just either forgets about it or focuses on his penis instead.
The beginning did a good job of showing Rudy’s troubled state, but at the end of episode 3, the anime tries hard to show that he has accepted his new friends and moved on. Everything is fine, right? Not.
Episode 4 shits the bed writing-wise. Rudeus’ depression comes back in full swing but this time it is portrayed so weirdly and offbeat compared to the previous events and it feels comical. And I say comical for one reason….




WHEN A GREAT STORY IS RUINED BY A TEENAGER’S PENIS-
. The erectile dysfunction storyline is appalling. It's a fucking joke, and I don't care what you say. I just don’t buy the “his depression is so accurately portrayed” thing one bit, because the setup for Rudeus’ emotional breakdowns in the show all feels goofy, immature, and childish. Touching on mental health is such a sensitive and heavy topic, but by having his penis involved, it then just becomes a joke. Or maybe since I'm an adult and not a horny child, I cannot take any of this seriously. I mean it's a goddamn erectile dysfunction for crying out loud.
MT already gets shat on because of its overly horny nature, so how the hell does this make it any better? What human on the earth is gonna resonate with a dude who’s biggest problem right now is how his penis doesn't work right? And how the fucking fuck did this writer expect to put something as crude and nonserious as a common genital condition most prevalent among men in their 40s into their magical fantasy story starring mostly children and expect me to take it seriously? Out of all the other themes explored of loneliness and commitment in the previous season. This is what you do to the main character to give him motivation. And sure this does tie back into his character being overly horny, but why the hell does a comical sex drive have to be the only thing of substance to explore with a character? oh, I know why because the writer is a horny teenage boy. It's bullshit like this that makes me doubt the writer's talent because if they were actually a good writer, they would not need to use something so goofy as commentary on something so poignant.
What sucks is that this season shows Rudy’s more emotional moments, but what ruins most of these moments is having his pee-pee problems being the reasons behind his emotional breakdowns. And then the final episode is just a slap in the face of everything because he is immediately cured by an aphrodisiac. So the show hinting at depression being the cause of Rudy’s ED, then just having it cured suddenly is supposed to teach a lesson that a year-long depression can go away if you take Viagra?


BRUH


The audacity to act so genuine about this goofy character conflict and then make the solution for it the most anti-climatic thing ever, This is by far the dumbest thing I have seen an anime do in quite some time.
You know what, I've reached saltiness overload, Let's tone it down with ways the story can improve.
1. Just get rid of the ED, and just let Rudeus turn down his sexual advances because he doesn't feel as interested as he was with his previous partner. Then the characters visibly see him in a low mood not being as cheery as usual, and they will know something is up. Or you can use something that's not as tasteless, like a loss of libido or a low sex drive which is much more subtle, then you can make Rudy an antithesis to the blonde THOT girl who has sex with just about anything.
2. Get rid of the scene where he has that meltdown at the tavern since it is an overdramatized caricature of depression, Rudy’s overbearing screaming after a scene of him falling butt-naked on the floor feels like a comedy bit rather than explored character drama
3. Get rid of that god-awful scene where God promises to reward Rudy with his erection back, it makes his mental health playoff more of a joke. It's stupid because instead of God motivating Rudy to go to school to find out more about the teleportation incident and his family, the G man is like “ If U GO 2 SKOOL, UR PEEPEE WILL WURK AGAEN :)”

4..You can keep the brothel scene as long as it's just the characters trying to unpack his low mood and him opening up more, which is what real friends do. You can keep the steamy scene in the final episode, but you are gonna have to cut a lot of it because most of it is just a waste of time, this would be your perfect opportunity to have a sex scene that's not just steamy but also a pivotal moment for these characters.
5. And get rid of Rudy getting drunk, pissing off his friend, and him becoming suicidal, because it's written like a really bad Tyler Perry film rather than a “refreshing take on the fantasy genre”.
And boom I just improved the show twofold for you writer, you are welcome.

SETTING-
I praised Mushoku for having a setting that was well-fleshed out and very interesting. Sadly, I cannot say the same for this season. I'm sorry, but this anime is not doing this school setting any justice right now. The most interesting thing about it is that any species can attend, you can decide not to show up to classes if you don't want to, and they serve some yummy fried chicken. That's it, we don't see any world-building coming into play. Most we see of the magic is either random handwaving incantations that arent explained, tiny bits of lore that isn't told to build the world,but just to make Rudy look smart,in the school is through scribbles and incantations in books n shit.

We just see Rudy walking around campus, reading books, and talking to people. It sucks because this is a fantasy, a genre that is well-known for creative settings. And yeah I get that it's just character introductions, but you can do that while also making it interesting. Perfect example Harry Potter perfectly juggles its characters, lore, and plot together and makes it interesting. Or if you wanna narrow it down to anime- Little Witch Academia, KLK, hell even Kakegurui had a more interesting school setting and characters than this. Also, the anime does a shit job of portraying the passage of time, apparently, years go by, but you wouldn't even know, just imagine how cool it would be to use the magic system to explore how much the students learned over the years or something.
Outside of the actual mystery which evolves around Rudy just sitting in a library reading and carving clay with a hair bowl cut dude, everything that MT does story-wise is the most basic thing you can do with a school setting, “Oh look, Rudy makes some friends, rudy gets into some kono hentai anime hijinks at the girl's dorm, rudy meets a cutie anime “boy” and they become BFFFFFs, rudy deals with some high school romances, rudy fights some random furies because he is the strongest ever or something. So instead of being your generic isekai fantasy anime, this season of MT is just your generic magical academy fantasy anime. So props to paying homage to anime trends from the mid-2010s I guess.

THE OTHER CHARACTERS-
Honestly, I don't mind stopping the plot to introduce characters, but you better have some solid goddamn characters. And MT kinda fumbles in this respect as well. I'm just gonna say it, a majority of these characters this season are not interesting in the slightest. The only new ones I liked were the ones introduced in episode one, the white-haired elf boy, and Badigadi because his power was somewhat interesting also he looks absolutely absurd in his student uniform. Everyone else has the depth of a Makoto Shinkai character despite being in this fantasy that prides itself on good characters. Glasses dude who sculpts, he was just a caricature, the little slave girl was just a little slave girl with no personality because shes a slave, the black-haired guy was boring, I already mentioned Blonde THOT girl - I genuinely don't care to even mention the rest.
I also don't like how these characters change emotions at the drop of the hat and cause really forced drama conveniently for Rudeus’s sake. For example, Soldat conveniently gets drunk and acts forcefully towards Rudy out of nowhere in episode 3. Dafuq is this? Wonder Egg Priority?. For an anime that wants to be a serious commentary on mental struggles, it sure treats some of its side characters like they are caricatures. There's even a cat girl and dog girl who eats chicken that is just comic relief/boob characters and they do nothing. So as you can see MT has a profound story, an imaginative setting, with great character writing indeed!

CHARACTERS I LIKED -
My favorite characters this season were the ones introduced at the beginning. While they were boring, they did a good job of helping Rudy find a new sense of belonging with others. Also, for the things I liked, Episode 9 is definitely when the anime picks up, it gets the story and mystery rolling again. Also shows Rudy at his worst moment, also it introduces a new character that is like the antithesis of him. Definitely the best episode of the season. Episode 10 wasn't bad either, it puts Rudy’s loneliness and thoughts on the same level as S1P2, and shockingly I started to empathize with him. This happened for like 3 minutes then I guess the anime knew I was giving it too much credit and started dropping the ball again.

MUSHOKU ROMANCE-
Despite being bored to tears, I was rooting for the romance in this season, but then as it wraps up, it spends way too much time trying to focus on this romance that it becomes tiresome. Backhanded compliment incoming but while I think MT does portray sensuality better than other skis, all of the story and characters do not justify how dragged out the romance is. I care more about the characters getting naked than anything involving their personality or their relationship. There is a focus given to sexuality and gender in this relationship, which is engaging,.. But since this is MT, these things I mentioned either go nowhere, treated as a joke, or become a segway to a really cliche high school romance makes me convinced that the writer's priorities are shipping these two rather than anything else storywise. It's like Wattpad fan fiction. I appreciate somewhat an improvement by not making the entire series lowbrow/problematic ecchi, but this season and its characters are just spoiled with tropes that aren't refined nor do they fit with its setting.
For example, Fritz is given this plot twist in this season that is really predictable. The ED starts to feel more like a joke when Rudy just starts asking his friends if they can cure his penis problems, and they’re just like..” no”.And then the other supporting characters including the princess and her bodyguard have nothing to their personality and are just there in this season to get these two together. It gets to a point where this lovey-dovey romance just becomes stalling to make up for the fact that nothing is really happening. And it's really hard for me to justify why this had to be twelve episodes when only 4 episodes had substance for me to care about.


ANIMATION/SOUND-
Even the best thing about the show, the animation\ is a remarkable step down this season. Lot of awkward poses, characters drawn weirdly, and stiff movement that was uncanny. so the one trait that separated MT from other run-of-the-mill isekai isn't there anymore. Even the direction could not save it despite how okay it is. I will admit the scenery was really beautiful though. The soundtrack was barely noticeable, and there were a lot of scenes of just pure silence, with no music. Some might say that was intentional to get immersed in the environment, but I would say since nothing of note is happening most of the time, there is not enough music that portrays the vibe of the scene well enough.

ENJOYMENT-
Now I have been interacting with a lot of fans of this anime and the conversations mainly boil down to its controversy. Im not really interested in that alone, I just argue about how weak most of the story is, and the discussions have been "engaging" to say the least. I mention this because arguing with MT's fanbase was more enjoyable than watching the anime itself, and I mean that wholeheartedly. There is just nothing in this season that won me over, unlike the last season. maybe it's just a case of why splitting the course does not work in MT’s favor, but judging by “this cour” alone, I was not having a good time. It's all the more annoying feelings I had with season one, but just magnified and dragged out.

I can hear some of you already saying “Oh he's just complaining about the lack of a story, he can't appreciate good character development” Cmon man, yes, I'm complaining about the lack of a story because the story portrayed in the last season was really good, but everything in this season being shown on screen has little to no substance, goes nowhere, or is built on absolute bullshit. It pisses me off how much potential this story has to be great, but then decides to fuck itself with its own horniness while looking in the mirror and saying “ yea, I am the best isekai there is!”. I was giving this anime a benefit of a doubt when it stopped exploring its worldbuilding and its plot, but then when I realized that it did so to focus on uninteresting characters, a tiresome romance, and a story arc about how a teenager trying to fix his dick instead of finding his missing family members, I just could not take it anymore.

I feel like my thoughts about this movie are my thoughts about almost every Shinkai movie. The story is kind of messy, the editing can be unfitting in places, the characters are kinda shallow even if they do have chemistry with each other, and the movie does feel a little long because of its weird pacing.But visually, it looks really impressive, especially when it combines the 2D animation and the 3D cinematography.

The paragraph above was the same one I used for my Weathering With You review almost 3 years ago and it applies to his latest project Suzume. But hear me out, it's not ... as predictable as I make it sound. Shinkai does take things in a new direction here a little bit and for the most part, he pulls it off very well. Out of his previous three films, I weirdly enjoyed this one the most. It's not perfect obviously, There are issues, but there are also really silly things I enjoyed about the film ironically.

STORY-
This film is Shinkais most action-packed one yet and I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of it, maybe im a sucker for a road trip adventure film, but I had a lot of fun watching. Even if the pacing takes a hit from all of the random eating scenes, it wasn't too noticeable because of how much goes on in this film. Usually in Shinkai films, there is always that one moment where I struggle to stay awake because the plot slows down to a near stop. But I never had that moment with Suzume. Yes, it still is a Shinkai film so of course there is an insta lovey couple that has really forced chemistry, but I feel like this film is not a romance film as much as it is a family film. The writing at its best is when it adheres to its themes of familial bonds, childhood trauma, grief, and unconditional love. Many side characters in this film relate to these themes in one way or another whether it's Suzume’s aunt, her mom, the friends she meets on the journey, and even the chair she falls in love with. Speaking of, I think turning one of the characters into a chair was ballsy but it played off very well. I focused more on what the chair meant to her in her childhood rather than the random dude she met who got transformed into it. And while their relationship is kind of goofy, i still felt like Suzume’s feelings towards Souta were genuine. Still though, I cannot take the premise seriously because seeing a stupid-looking kiddy chair parkouring around Japan trying to close doors from other dimensions was extremely funny. I cackled like a madman seeing Souta the chair trying to bond with Suzume. There are scenes where she randomly kisses the chair and one scene where she just sits on him,lol.Shinkai knew what he was doing when made that decision. Another thing that got a laugh out of me was the unapologetic product placement all over this movie. There’s even a Suzume-themed MacDonalds commercial that gave Suzume’s mom more screentime than the actual movie lmao. Shinkai definitely starts to lose steam when it came to his lore and worldbuilding because its sloppily explains what most of the antagonist's motives were, the function of the door worlds, and what the kitties are all about. It legit took me till the end of the film to understand what the hell was actually going on.Maybe I was just distracted by the food scenes.


CHARACTERS-
Suzume herself is as basic as anime protagonists can be. One thing to note is that this girl’s got legs for days. This random teenage anime girl happens to have the calves and stamina of an Olympic athlete. Half the movie is her running everywhere Me and my fat ass were screaming seeing her Forrest Gump her way across all of Japan without getting tired. She straight up turns into a parkour god at moments. It gets really funny at times when the film is just the routine of Suzume running away, not explaining why she ran away, meeting some random person who lets her live with them in exchange for unpaid labor, then she eats a big ass well-animated meal, then a worm appears and she runs away again. Rinse and repeat 3 times and that's like an hour and a half of the film.

The main flaw with Suzume is the flaw with the story as well. Suzume loves not explaining things to others. People would genuinely be worried about why she randomly runs off and she’s like “it's a long story you won't understand” Then she just runs away again without saying basically anything else. Suzume comes off as kinda mean sometimes, her aunt has every right to be worried about her, but Suzume just ignores her, and this comes back to bite her in the ass later and causes some really forced conflict. Her aunt just wants an explanation at this point. I mean it's not hard to say “Well, my friend is in danger, and I am going to help him” but no she doesn't say anything and causes more trouble for the people who care for her. IDK if real Japanese society is like this, but some anime depict how innocent people worry about causing trouble for others, but Suzume purposely leaves her aunt worried sick over her rampant behavior. I feel like if there was some more backstory into why she has trouble opening up to her aunt, this would make more sense, but Shinkai’s more popular characters are very stereotypical Japanese teenagers so that would probably be asking too much from him. The moral of the story, be honest with your loved ones, even if it's a little bit. A small explanation is better than none at all.

ANIMATION/SOUND-
Im wasting my character limit talking about how good the animation is, it's a Shinkai film, and it's really hard for me to even compare his animation quality throughout his filmography because they are all set at such a high ass bar. I see that Miyazaki's inspiration also hints of ufotable inspiration too in some of the settings and 2D effects.

Sound-wise I think this film has my favorite Shinkai soundtrack, it feels really whimsical and fantastical and at moments gave me chills. And the sound is epic as well. I kinda wish I got the chance to watch this in Imax or something. I will say that there was one really funny scene where Suzume is running on this terrain and it sounds like the default Minecraft stepping-on-grass sound effect lol.

ENJOYMENT-
Of course, this film is not the best, but it's a fine watch. I totally get why the film was successful because it's very fun to watch, especially with friends. Yeah sure some of the writing is messy in spots but I feel like a film like this is a good step in a new direction for Shinkai, and his breaking out of his comfort zone is more than enough for me.

I love Cyberpunk 2077, its a great story about a young boy who has lost a loved one,as a result he receives a weird body modification that he can use to fight. And his new powers capture the attention of a beautiful woman who works with a group of misfits from a seedy organization but little does the main character realize that people are after his strange power for some reason. Oops did I say Cyberpunk 2077? I meant CSM i just mistyped.
STORY
I just need to say this. If the author of this anime is reading this. Good job, buddy.The writing is pretty solid. Lore ... wise, it does take elements from other anime, but puts its own twist on it. Instead of demons its devils, and the whole making a contract with the devil motif is here as well.It has many intense crazy moments offset by peaceful and docile moments with sprinkles of comedy to spice things up.It reminds me of FMA and Black Clover in a way. Its like the law of exchange 2.0. Also, I didn't know it, but this anime is actually a period piece taking place before the 2000s I believe, I guess the modern look made CSM look current time,but when you pay attention to the scenery and technology, you can see that it is older looking. The world of CSM gives this very icy and sterile view on city life,and it contrasts really well with the other elements like the devils. And speaking of actual events in the show, CSM does not give you time to breathe, you're either holding your breath for the very sensitive moments or gasping at the intense action. And it has that perfect amount of progression that justifies its 12 episode runtime, unlike other shounen that take at least 20 episodes just to even get its story going.
I swear, there are many scenes in Chainsaw Man that will be burned in my mind for a long time.Even ignoring the shocking ones, there are just really hair raising fight scenes that use
a combination of things like animation, music, direction, and sound mixing that makes everything feel demented.Instead of hype, I felt fear, instead of adrenaline rushes I got rushes of anxiety.I swear this anime is one of the closes experiences I have had to seeing what the hell actually looks like,and its not as cool as thought it was, Its horrifying.This anime is just nightmare fuel in general to be honest.


ANIMATION(addressing the controversy)

This part is gonna be me addressing the criticism,because a lot of things I liked about this anime are things that others have been vocal about disliking.So if you have these opinions, just know you're opinion is wrong and mine is factual lol.jk

“The art style is way too clean and does not fit the tone of the manga”

This is the most prelavent criticism,and one that I cannot wrap my head around, i guess they favor a more wild and rough artstyle but I am fine with the style they are going for. Its hard to put into words but bear with me. Lets look at another anime , Dorohedoro. The art style for that anime is extremely grimy,gritty, and gross cacophony ,but it fits the show. Dorohedoro is not a thought provoking show, its just chaotic absurdity in its pure form. But CSM has more to it. On the surface, it may be all Battles,Boobs, and Blood, but on the inside handles intense poignant themes and important character dynamics, and those things are handled with the right amount of sensitivity and maturity. the visuals make the themes resonate more.And even if the anime were to be more loyal to the art style. I basically don’t see any other way it would go about doing that. No shade,but I’ve been in this community long enough to know that the anime community is never satisfied.If Trigger did it, people would complain that it looks too cartoonish, if Yuasa did it people would complain that it looks too experimental for a shounen. I could see the staff behind Kizumonogatari doing it, but could you even imagine Shaft deciding to animate a shounen jump anime? Thats like getting Ari Aster to direct a Pixar Movie, sounds wonderful but highly implausible. MAPPA showed with Dorohedoro that they could make a grittier style, but they didn’t because that's not their intention, you can tell their intention through the movie references in the op. They’re trying to make the world of CSM a theatrical spectacle with homages to horror films. And I think they did a great job of that. The great cinematography, and the use of color contrast with the gray cityscape and pops of color coming from the characters and the gore. The ambient lighting in scenes adds to the unsettling factor. This anime does an amazing job of juggling all of these tonally different scenes while still being cohesive. MAPPA could've decided to just merge all these episodes into a film and put it in theaters, and I wouldn't know the difference.


“The 3D sucks”
I thought we were past the whole “3d in anime=bad animation” phase after Attack on Titan s4p1,but no.i said it once and will say it again. if you think this is bad cgi, you have not seen bad cgi. The only problem i do have is how ambitious they are with the 3d in fight scenes, the only time it looks jarring is when the characters are standing around talking full in 3d.Buuuuuuuuuut, i will mention the 3d in this anime is honestly a remarkable achievement in animation. Its combination of both 2d and 3d has never harmonized so well. CSM animation is like making passionate sex, there is a twinge of pain occasionally but the rest of it is pure ecstasy.Oh, i almost forgot about the use of texture and it makes the animation look so alive.The scratches and the glossiness of Denji’s carburetor box,the fleshiness of the organs,its wild. I'm not gonna say that the 3d in this anime is perfect all the time, it looks wonky in spots, but I have seen way worse from mappa in the past. And for people saying the CSM animation is bad because of the cgi use, I gonna piss myself because that's just blatant overlooking of all of the amazing mind-bending 2D animated moments that do more than makeup for the one or two scenes of questionable 3D.Probably the most impressive feat of animation I have seen in 2022 was seeing The Eternity Devil for the first time. How in the hell is it even possible to animate something like that in full 2D.CSM loves to take risks and I appreciate it.


SOUND

Okay Kensuke Ushio is an absolute legend. He gave us the iconic Devilman Crybaby ost, he composed the soundtrack to Boogiepop 2019 and that was the best thing about the show.I just like the way he companies electronica and atmosphere.This ost is his most experimental,some parts of the ost sound like he played with kitchen instruments, and other parts literally sound like his audio was corrupted and he just rolled with it. And it still sounds good. It sounds like something 100 geccs or death dynamic shroud would make.The opening is indescribable. I can’t say enough great things about it. It fits the anime to a goddamn T. Even in the song, Kenshi Yourezu sounds like a chainsmoker, and his raspy voice really compliments the chainsaw motif. There is the sick ass bass in the background,the dark and weird lyrics,the descending notes,and a catchy chorus.This song feels like you are on a party elevator thats plummeting into hell.And the visuals as well, I appreciate how the op incorporates just about everything that makes CSM so devilishly fun. The characters arent super serious or walking around, they are having a fun time at the bowling alley,the beach, and so much more.And as for the endings. ALL 12 of them, each of them are really well created and each of them do a good job of echoing the tone of the episode and gives you something to think about before you tune in next week.But who cares, you probably want a definitive ranking. So 2>6>11>7>1>12>5>4>9>10>8>3. And #3 was one of my favorite endings of the year.I don't even wanna comment on the dub, its almost perfect in a way. Literally, look up all the dub memes to see what I mean.


CHARACTERS
The characters in chainsaw man happen to be way more layered than I expected. Its an odd moment where the character interactions happen to be more interesting than the characters themselves and those dynamics are portrayed impressively on screen.I can’t really make an overview of them all so lemme go down the list.


Denji(aka the Chainsaw Man)
He’s a piece of work. I can see why some people dislike him as an MC. He’s very crass,rude,and,obnoxious. A dog is the perfect description for him,because his only goals in life are eating food and having sex with girls.But hear me out,this dude happens to be one of the more interesting shounen protagonists i’ve come across.Denji is a perfect example on how to write unlikeable characters really well. I don’t necessarily like him but I relate to him and appreciate how he develops. Even when we’re first introduced to him,you can tell he’s been in a shitty situation for a majority of his life.He’s not just some regular school kid or tragic hero who’s family was killed. He was forced to pay back a debt that was forced on him, as a result, he barely had control of his own life since everything he does to live is for the sake of the mafia. And as a young school student drowning in debt and money situations, I could relate. I mean, im not hunting devils or anything. The closest thing I have done thats similar to Denji was eat out of a dumpster. But when he meets Makima for the first time, he grows from just a man and into a human,he enjoys the good sides of life and those privileges give him more motivation to reach his true goals: have one night with Makima. I will admit, he wears his character goals on his sleeve so obnoxiously its like a tomato soup stain on a dresshirt.And him reminding me over and over that he wants to grab some tata’s got annoying for a bit.Usually a winning formula with character writing is introducing a character’s goal, their fear, and how they challenge that fear to reach their goal. In Denji’s case, his fear develops after he reaches his goals. This brought up a question on if achieving our goal matters more than the pursuit to achieve it.This is something that resonates with me a lot,I’ve faced disappointment so much in my life that I hesitate trying something in fears of being dissatisfied with my goal,but what Denji taught me is that you should embrace the work you put in instead of the reward because thats where you learn more as a person. Also there are other things I appreciate about him.He self reflects on things like grief and empathy later in the series, and it felt almost shocking how a psychotic blood hungry and bluntheaded pig like him had so much insight for a main character.


Power(aka the crazy cat lady)
Do I even need to explain who she is. Power is a legend,she is an icon,and she is the moment. What so special about her is that she is unappoligetically the most abhorrent thing ever to exist, but in a good way. She literally has no care for humans and only sees them as food providers.I was expecting her to be a one dimensional side girl who was there for fanservice,but she’s not that at all,she’s a fucking neanderthal.She jokes about killing her teammates constantly, she makes fun of their trauma,and she doesn’t flush the toilet.Her giving cats more consideration than humans is pretty based.But despite her being a shithead. She had some very funny one liners and her “gives no fucks” attitude really gives this show the edge it really needed to balance the tone out.I need to call her out though for disappearing during one of the most climatic scenes in the show. WTF was she even doing at that time?

Aki(aka the grumpy gum guy)
I think most of his intriguing parts of his character come from his dynamic with Himeno. He has straightforward motivations for being a devil hunter,but a cool thing that the story does is show what Aki is destined to lose,which honestly isn't much,he has lost so much already,that its perfectly understandable why he risks his own life to at least get revenge. And just like someone his age would be, he's persistent, blunt, and acts like he has his emotions under control,but he doesn't.

Makima(aka the true gaslight gatekeep girlboss)

The lion,the witch, and the audacity of this bitch. Makima is such a snake dude oh my god. I didn't see it at first but its the little actions that show her fakeness. When she's in the car with Denji, she acts interested in him but when she turns away and looks out the window,her face is deadpan like she couldn't care less about the dude.Half of her team doesn't even trust her.Another character even admitted to sensing her phoniness, and shes basically sitting there like "😏" the whole time.And the fact she stoops so low as to even use her sex appeal to get Denji to do anything she wants shows how she has no chill. The dynamic of her being a pet owner and Denji being a dog is sooooo accurate. Just like normal pet owners, she hand feeds Denji, she pets him and gives him kisses, when the poor boy gets sick,she buys him stomach medicine, and promises him with treats in exchange for him fetching the gun devil. I think this was what Classroom of the Elite was going for but failed since unlike that show,the manipulator has much more of an aura that makes her alluringly dangerous. Shit, I would argue she's the villain of the show, everytime she gets the squad to do something,it almost never goes well.Chainsaw Man female characters are horrifying,man.

Pochita(the cute devil dog)
Pochita, he is cute ngl, i feel like there's more to him that the show teases at the end but still, he's cute.I would buy a plushie of him.

Himeno(aka the one eyed bandit)
Himeno's character is responsible for the more stomach turning moments of the anime,but her character overall is a very tragic one.She feels so realistic.She acts aloof and carefree to keep spirits up,but when she panics, it doesn't take much for her to snap. As seen from the montage of her house in Episode 8, you can tell that she is a very very lonely person.She has experienced so much loss that when she develops a bond,she wants to protect this bond at all costs even if it means putting everyone else including herself in danger to do so,she copes with her situation by smoking and drinking.And her life is really sad,that's why i defended the art style because it really made these themes resonate strongly and subtly.
Kobeni(aka….kawaii richard nixon)
Might as well mention Arai here because why not. A lot of characters in anime are known for having tragic pasts, Kobeni is going through her tragic past right now. Apparently people hate her…IDK, shes like an Asuka situation where she makes extreme decisions,but honestly can you even blame her? She’s hit a dead end in life and only being a devil hunter will help support her and her family. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut she’s finally realizing the catch to it all. A cool thing they do with her character is make the audience,at least me, empathize with Kobeni’s and Arai’s intense fear.The fact that most newbie devil hunters immediately die, not only do they feel it, but you feel it as well.I just wanna jump into the screen and save Kobeni from this scary life,but I can’t ;__;

Villains
I will admit the villains are cool as well,even if they don’t have much to their character. Most of their motivations are shrouded in mystery,and one has some beef with Denji.What's great is that these villains feel just as if not stronger than the main characters and it feels as if there isn't as much plot armor.They feel balanced.

ENJOYMENT
Looking back on the show as a whole,i was close to giving it a 9,but looking back on the other elements of the anime like the spectacular animation,the super in depth character writing, the experimental soundtrack,amazing voice acting ,and even other things like the cinematography and masterful direction . This anime is the definition of a masterpiece.Merriam defines a masterpiece as " a work done with extraordinary skill". And yea i would agree that Chainsaw Man along with Bocchi is "extraordinary". Both for extremely different reasons.And as for my enjoyment, this anime hits pretty much every genre I love, and sensitively touches on very heavy themes that makes me think more of my fleeting life. I mean, fuck man, i could die next year,next week, tomorrow, or even in a few minutes after I upload this review and not even know it. So I gotta cherish all the little things in life like Denji does.Whether its my friends or a piece of toast with jam.My favorite feeling i like to have is that feeling of finishing an anime and thinking "wow, i felt like i went on a journey through hell, i wanna do it again". And this anime gave me that feeling.

This anime is exactly what I needed to keep my will to live.

Now, to be honest, i don't really care for the CGDCT genre, I have nothing against it, the first anime I watched was Lucky Star FFS, then i discovered Azumanga Daioh, the peak of CGDCT and eventually, I got bored and moved on to other genres the only way nowadays that you can get me to watch something like this is if it does something super interesting with its setting or characters. Usually, with all of the CGDCT shows, the consensus is always, to turn your brain off and enjoy, I don't ... think Bocchi is one of those shows because Bocchi has some actual substance for my brain to engage with.


What makes Bocchi special is that she doesn't really fit into the "cute" mold Unless you consider her having anxiety attacks and mental breakdowns as "cute". I mean they're treated really lightly as comic relief but it's not there just to be cute and lighthearted it's written as a part of her internal conflict. It's still a pretty amusing show but overall the comedy isn't the main reason why I love this show. Bocchi the Rock does both. It took me back to my younger days of watching Azumanga for the first time and just like Bocchi, Azumanga has jokes I will never forget. It's funny how the two anime are 20 years apart because their styles of comedy are really similar.

Unlike other CGDCT,it feels like there is still some semblance of progression that keeps me tuned in, that's mainly with Bocchi. I would argue, she carries the entire show. She seems like such an outlier compared to the others that she could be in her own show, so what keeps me invested is her struggle to make her way through different scenarios that put the spotlight on her. It's just the little things, Bocchi attempting to strike a conversation, trying to fill the air with at least something because she worries about making the other party uncomfortable, and ultimately she flops more than succeeds but the people she hangs out with like her all the same. The other characters seem to be living their anime lives flawlessly while Bocchi struggles to even be a normal human. sometimes the girls would be doing stereotypical moe things like trying on maid outfits or taking group photos while Bocchi is visibly not having a fun time at all. The others are really nice characters, they feel fully rounded and all have nice personalities with some irredeemable qualities as well. Nijika is a cheery optimist, but sometimes she cannot keep her mouth shut and can come across as rude. Ryou is cool and collected but she loves to beg people for money that she will never return. Ikuyo is the most sociable one but she can be a bit aloof at times. These three along with Bocchi make a perfect quartet, and it's just amazing seeing Bocchi open up to them at a point where her friends are aware of her social anxiety and want to help her overcome it. This is truly what separates the Bocchi's from the WEPs.And it really adds a sense of connection because it shows that Bocchi along with others is an imperfect person, but they all have shared interests which is what matters more. It's amazing how realistic they feel as a group of friends, I can tell the creator based at least some of this story off their own life.

And putting on my "he's like me frfr" eyeglasses on for a second, it feels very humanizing seeing her overthink scenarios, hesitate to interact with others, and have panic attacks over trivial things, just to be comforted by her friends. And what's funny is that the show itself makes a gag of this progression by showing that Bocchi when it comes to socializing has a long way to go step by step. And it's each of these steps that she takes which makes the show so down to earth and the kawaii moe shenanigans surprisingly don't foreshadow the show. Another thing about Bocchi is how she makes some really wild decisions about how to handle awkward situations that result in me either rooting for her efforts or cringing beyond belief. At first, I thought her being cartoonish conflicted with her character but then i realized, even a human being like me has done overly cringy things in public but I just try to forget those moments until they, unfortunately, creep back up in my mind and I have hardcore PTSD of my cringy high school life.


The only minor of the most minor complaints i have with this anime is some of the humor. This anime was hilarious and cleverly written but the style where one of the characters explains the visual metaphors to you was the one that doesn't fit my sense of humor. But that critique doesn’t even matter because I think this anime was the funniest I have seen all year. No shade towards Kaguya sama,but what really elevates the humor in this show is how its animation is absolutely boundless, it transcends not only styles, but mediums, and even dimensions. Sometimes you get the insane character sakuga, other times you get stop-motion, live-action. faces falling off, and hell even uncanny 3d models. This creative use of animation takes me back to the older days of 2000s SpongeBob which is literally the peak of all comedy ever in human history. When comedians and writers try to make a comedy, they look at Spongebob for inspiration.

The best way I can describe Bocchi is "sincere". Focusing less on the kawaii moe idealism to appeal to male otakus and just becoming an authentic and relatable slice of life that shows the struggles of a socially awkward person trying to fit in. Some gags with Bocchi are over-exaggerated and others are so hurtfully true that it can feel a little depressing. Also, much like one of my favorite anime from 2021, Kageki shoujo, this anime dives into the thought process of the art form. In this case which is musicianship. And tbh i barely know anything about that. I played trombone in sixth grade but that was all. Despite the anime not necessarily speaking to me as much as actual musicians, I don't think that's the anime’s intention though, Its main theme is about social interaction. The entire reason that Bocchi even wanted to start a band wasn’t to play great music but to be popular, which can be both a well and ill intention, and Bocchi’s struggle comes from her goal and her fear. there were some really insightful messages including who you should cater your work to and what really motivates you to do what you are doing in the first place. Goddamn. The speech given to Bocchi about trying not to give up your originality just appeal to the mainstream was so motivational..

Also, this anime does what i love the most in these genres, it shows the band members working hard to achieve their goal, and overcome some problems and in the final episode, everything they have learned throughout the anime is showcased when they finally get their deserved time to shine. I was getting emotional ngl i love it when people from a humble beginning work hard and their work pays off,i'm not gonna use some cringy ass buzz phrase like "peak fiction" to describe writing like that, but when it's written really well, those types of stories are the ones i enjoy the most of in anime. And combining that with probably the most creative,faithful depiction of social anxiety i have ever seen in anime, it's no surprise how this anime got so much praise.

When I said this anime was a reincarnated version of Azumanga Daioh I meant it. And that's a big deal. Azumanga was one of the anime that made me become an anime fan and it gives me a rush of nostalgic times, and I feel like the only anime that have gave me that exact same nostalgia… it is Bocchi the Muthafuckin Rock.