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I've been struggling with trying to write this review for weeks at this point, and I am as a result also still unsure if "Not Recommended" is too harsh a rating to give the show for what I actually think of it.

The reason this review has been so hard to write is because Mecha-Ude isn't an outright bad show, but it is also not a good show either - it mostly just feels like a chore to sit through most of the time. As a result, my feelings on this show are more subjective than average and I could fully understand why some viewers might ... come away from it having completely loved it.

However, when watched with "my eyes" Mecha-Ude is a bit of a mess that jumps from scene to scene with very little connective tissue between them; and even worse, the show barely feels like it has any story to tell to begin with. This COULD have been fine, since this show is clearly focused on its action first and foremost, but since it has so little story to tell, it becomes very hard for the viewer to find themself invested in what action scenes are presented to them. Mecha-Ude thus has very little going on other than "fireworks" most of the time - "fireworks" the viewer barely even feels like watching.

As stated, I don't hate this show at all, but it simply has so little to offer the viewer that watching it feels more like "work than play" and that is pretty much as bad a flaw a show can have - especially one focused on action like this one is. As a result, the show mostly feels like a waste of time.

What a wild ride we've all been on who decided to stick with Oi Tonbo for a second season, and as such I've been moved to once again write a view for this show—as it deserves people talking about it.

As I stated in my review for season 1 of Tonbo, THAT show was not really about golf, but rather a semi-philosophical confrontation between its two main characters about what was important in life—all played out through the "medium" of golf.

When season 2 for Tonbo was announced, I was very worried that it would be unable to live up to and continue what has quickly become ... one of my favourite shows of all time. Oi Tonbo season 1 is a VERY complete story, and it didn't really feel like it needed to continue. So where did that leave the creators of season 2?

The answer is that the creators of Oi Tonbo season 2 clearly knew that they couldn't recapture what made season 1 so special and complete, and instead they simply "decided" to do the next best thing; telling a truly excellent sports anime story in the more classic style. Said differently, where season 1 wasn't really about golf, THIS show very much IS about golf, and more specifically the feelings that the people playing it has for the sport, thus reminding me of other sports animes such as Captain Tsubasa or similar.

No, Oi Tonbo season 2 might not be something "unique" like its predecessor was, but where it shines is in telling a story about the "joy of sport" in the best way; focusing on a diverse group of heroines, all with their own unique styles and struggles when it comes to the game they play. And it is all very engaging to watch as these characters try to outdo each other in their own special ways—and all while standing in awe at the oddball antics of our protagonist. Indeed, though Tonbo is our main character, as one watches the show, it is hard not to root for all of her rivals. The viewer comes to like all of them and wanting to see them succeed.

Said simply, with Oi Tonbo season 2 we once again have a very good show on our hands. And watching it feels like spending time with old friends after not seeing them for a while.

I hope this review has been helpful and thank you for reading.

"Train to the End of the World" is a whimsical show that very much felt like it had a lot of promise at the start.
Even now, 9 episodes into the show, it still feels like it intends to build to something big.
However, the show sadly also has quite a few problems that undermine its own whimsical and saney tone, and which makes it hard for me to call the show little more than "Fine" in quality.

As the synopsis for the show explains, the show is about an alternate version of our world that has been transformed into a whimsical-but-dangerous wonderworld filled with oddities and ... strange phenomena. In this world, a group of girls take control of a train so that they might travel this "wonderscape" and find a lost friend of theirs. As they ride the train from stop to stop, they experience one weird and dangerous encounter after another, seeing what has occurred to the citizens of this altered world. Furthermore, as the plot progresses, the girls slowly learn more and more about the dark secrets behind how-and-why the world has come to be as it is.

Now, this premise sounds like a really fun and technically quite simply structured adventure. The show offers the viewers a sorta "monster of the week"-style story (but with a focus on one or more oddities rather than monsters as such). This is however where problems start to show with the series. The pacing of the show is generally quite fast, which I acknowledge doesn't have to be a bad thing, but in the case of "Train to the End of the World" it constantly feels like the show is rushing itself from one conversation to another or from one oddity to the next. The show almost never allows itself to settle and truly explore its odd ideas. And when the show occasionally does try to take its time with a scenario, it often does this with some of the least wacky of its ideas (such as spending two episodes on a town of tiny people).
This really "rushing pacing" also frequently hurts the show's emotionally complex scenes. The show very clearly wants to be something more than just a wacky adventure, and thus it often attempts to have deeper scenes, especially in flashbacks to before the "end of the world---if you will." And these scenes are indeed also some of the times when the show shines the brightest, but even still, they are rarely allowed much room to breathe before we have to rush on to the next scene----be it serious or silly.
Thus, if people will forgive me a reference to a show outside of anime for a moment, it feels like "Train to the End of the World" is trying to be something akin to the show "Adventure Time," a show that masterfully balances both serious and silly scenarios. However, it is also a far longer show than "Train to the End of the World" is, so I can't help but wonder if the problem deep down simply is that the show is too short? Would it have benefited from having a 24-or-so episode run? It is hard to say.

In conclusion, "Train to the End of the World" is not a bad show in the slightest, but it is a "busy" and "messy" that seems to struggle with where to put its focus and time, a lot of the time. The show has had a lot of promise since its beginning, something that it has struggled to live up to during the majority of its runtime, but even still it does still seem to be building towards an interesting ending. However, even if the show manages to stick-the-landing, viewed as a whole, I would still only consider it a decent experience.

I hope these thoughts have been helpful to any potential reader.

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Update:
With the show now over, here are a few final thoughts.
As suspected, the show did indeed build to a relatively big finish, but certainly not one so big or emotionally impactful that it saves the show as a whole. No, the final few episodes too were filled with issues, even though it was quite clear that a real vision was in place for them in the "writing and directing rooms."
Overall then, the show is a massive, messy experience that I have a hard time recommending to anyone, especially since it isn't even wacky enough to be a "must-see" for fans of that sort of shows.
No, for the most part, the show is just an example of how big concepts sadly don't necessarily amount to something great.

It is a real shame that so many people seem to be missing this particular show this season. A shame, though not surprising.

It is a shame, however, because Tonbo is quite different from most other Sports Anime; indeed, although the show is about golf—a sport quite a lot of people seem disinterested in, and I am one of them too—it is important to note that Tonbo isn't REALLY about golf. No, what Tonbo is about is rather "Wasted Potential," which I would call a far more interesting focus for a sports anime to have than average.

As the plot synopsis for the show describes, Tonbo is ... about an ex-professional golfer who travels to a nearly deserted island to leave his former life behind. However, as he arrives on the island he finds not only a golf course there, but also a young girl with incredible but also highly unconventional golfing skills. The ex-golfer soon develops the desire to bring the girl into the wider world so that she might experience golf on a greater scale. However, the girl is completely disinclined towards this idea, viewing golf not as a competitive sport as such, but rather as something akin to a casual game a child might play on the playground—while also being a way for her to "deal" with her own past traumatic experiences.

What the show is then REALLY about is the two main characters basically butting heads through the playing of golf. And this is a highly compelling semi-life-philosophical confrontation to see play out—even if the characters are only partially aware of this confrontation themselves.

Now, with all of this being said, it is important to acknowledge that the art-style and animation of the show is somewhat underwhelming, frequently reusing pieces of animation during the golf-playing scenes. So the show is by no means a feast for the eyes. It is without question the characters and story-telling that does the heavy lifting.

I am not here to say that Tonbo is the greatest anime of all time, or even the best sports anime around, but what I do think it offers is a cast of some rather compelling main characters, who in turn deal with some truly interesting personal struggles. All while simultaneously managing to juggle a decently lighthearted tone throughout most of the show.

I hope this review has been helpful.