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Its weird for me to do this but since i haven't watched that much anime that came out in this entire year i decided to make a review for an anime that i just finished watching a few weeks ago. But what makes this so weird is that i'm making a review for an anime that came out like 13 years ago but nonetheless this anime still holds out to be timeless (Kind of). So this is my review for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and this is my first anime review in the past months considering i haven't opened my MAL after the ... whole guidelines thing, now you can consider this my entire review in both seasons of the anime.


Story:
Now for those who is reading this, this is the second season of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni so if you haven't watched that I totally recommend watching the first one.
A quick explanation on how the story of Higurashi works is that it is separated in arcs, there are two types of arcs The Question Arc and The Answer Arc each of these arcs featured a different MC and Antagonist. Now how this work is that the setting of the story is that its in a time-loop which resets for when everyone dies (And of course everyone dies in this anime like all the time) so each reset would feature a new story arc with a different Question and Answer arcs with of course different scenarios and mysteries to be solved.

Higurashi is quite different from any other Visual Novel Adapted anime, for example is Fate/Stay Night UBW (I'm not gonna use the 2006 since it has combinations of the three routes of the VN) when it comes to UBW they take the best part of the routes and the true ending of the VN. And almost other Romantic VN adapted anime is that they take all the best part of each Route combine them and make a new ending with it. Higurashi isn't like that it takes every part of the VN and shows it to you in a perfect way, It will show you what it wants to show you and in the perfect time

What makes Higurashi incredible is just how the story is built up to create tense and mysterious moments and perfectly gives you the answer, remind you this while i was watching it i had a notebook and pen all the time and i wrote every hint they give me and try to figure out the conclusion before they could give it.

Though the main flaw of this is that it can make you expect something big but sometimes get disappointed at the end but after re-watching it i haven't faced this problem yet considering i haven't watched the OVAs
But nonetheless the Story is written and built up great, if you are the type of person who likes to solve mysteries rather than waiting for it to be told to you this is your cup of tea
i would give it a 9/10 in the story

Art:
Now unto the animation and ooh boy this is really difficult to explain, now when it comes to animation when someone ask me the question "What do you consider a bad animation" my immediate answer is if its not appealing to me at all. But that doesn't mean its a bad anime and in fact Higurashi's Animation is perfect for the theme and story of it let me explain.

What makes Higurashi's animation perfect for it is how it can transition to a happy and fun type of animation to a much more darker and disturbing look to it, and in fact with having not a very good animation fits perfectly as gives off this disturbing look when the scene is disturbing but also when it comes to happy moments it uses those weird animation style to make it more upbeat
my point is that even if the animation of the anime is bad in appearance it doesn't mean its a "Bad Animation" since the animation fits perfectly with tone and story of the anime and Higurashi's animation is really on point with scenes, if its supposed to be disturbing the animation would be disturbing and if its more happy it would be more happy and that's perfect for higurashi's setting
plus in each opening including the first season has one of the gorgeous visuals i've seen.
I give the art a 10/10

Sound:
Incredible is one of the words i could describe the OST having a very melancholy theme to it fits perfectly and its just like with the animation It can be a very dark tone to its OST and it can a more upbeat theme to it. I also like to point out the openings, this are one of the masterpiece of anime music of all of time having the sad tone to it but also giving a faint disturbance in each of the OP is truly fitting for the anime with its amazing visuals

The Sound gets a score of 10/10

Characters:
This is one of the interesting parts of this anime other than the story, Higurashi has very big cast character with arranging from different age and personality but what separates them from each other is each one of them have their own mental issue and dark past. It really tells you much on their personality on each arc that some of them can easily breakdown from their usual selves and with the eerie and disturbing setting and a large of mentally unstable characters and you get a perfect combination of Thriller, Psychological, Mystery, and Supernatural Story. And thing about this is that each character a quite relatable and understandable from each of their action and choices. The Characters of Higurashi are quite likable and easy to be attached to and this is perfect especially since you can consider this a good horror anime, when it comes to horror you mostly need to have the characters to be relatable to the viewers as it gives it more tension for every dark scene and Higurashi does not fail at that as most characters in this anime is i never saw quite bland and lacking any personality.

I give this a score of 9/10

Enjoyment:
My expectations of this anime was really turned around at first impression i had mix look unto this with its disturbing and very graphical moments into it but past that it is quite fun to trying to figure out the mystery before the anime tells you the answer. And i may say this really weird but i wish it had more gore in it just to be more darker to it but overall i enjoyed this anime its really the type of show that will make your head spin with the twist and turns and every Answer Arc is always satisfying to watch as it connects all the dots in the mystery and gives you a good conclusion (Though don't expect everyone to be alive).

Enjoyment of this anime is a 9/10

Overall:
This anime is truly the closes thing we can get of a good horror anime as its really difficult for anime to make a good horror since it needs to be very realistic and since its animated you don't really care for them cause they're aren't real (Yup Anime isn't real) but this anime captures of what to do when tense moments come, it has a very good mystery that will keep your head spinning.
I highly recommend this anime however if you are the type of person that can't handle disturbing and graphical violence that much i do not recommend watching this, but if you can bypass those things then this anime will not disappoint you to an extent.

After watching ping pong i said to myself "Hey why don't i share my opinion about this" and that's why i'm here. There will be spoilers ahead and i really recommend you watch it first before reading this review.

Story:
Ping Pong The Animation an anime about, you guessed it ping pong what a surprise. Actually you are half correct the show is about ping pong but its just a platform used to tell the stories of each character. Rather than focus on the two main characters, the show itself focuses on almost all characters mostly the ping pong players. As each character's story are told you ... get more deep and strong connection to them whether they are trying to achieve something or trying to prove there worth to others.

Art:
At first the art of ping pong is not very appealing, But as soon as i watched the show i realized this that each of the art and character design were very fitting for each of them. Now this spark a great debate back then in 2014 whether animation is important or not, now in my opinion anime doesn't need to have a good animation or action scenes all they need is a story that people will understand and keep them listening. Take example of the Monogatari Series, Monogatari Series is Heavy Dialogue Based Story as most part of the show is just talking but once you gone through that barrier you will be immersed in the story and how the characters interact with each other and how they build the world of the story. As to what i'm saying with Ping Pong is that you don't need something appealing to be something good its basically like jotaro's stand Star Platinum from JOJO's Bizarre adventure looks ridiculous but is fucking bad-ass. Not everything has to look amazing in order to be called a masterpiece and that's what Ping Pong tells us. As the animation was all perfect for each character as each of it was basically describing their personality and emotions from character design to atmosphere. Here is my opinion, the animation is the outstanding thing I've seen in an anime sports ever.

Sound:
The soundtrack of the anime itself is basically outstanding from Bakudan Johnny's hype building opening to Merengue's soothing ending theme. All of the soundtrack weren't out of place at all mostly i'm gonna give credit the most is the Japanese children's song used at the final episode in peco and smile's match. Palm in the Sun this is the title of the song used in that scene and the way they used it is amazing as it show each character from just being a baby to elementary student playing ping pong, as this scene shows each character growing up playing the sports they known to love it shows each character's compassion to ping pong and how its not just a sports to them nor a game as its one of the things they've known to love. This scene also shows Smile's growth through out the entire show and his life as he learns to accept his emotions rather than to use it in a strategical way. this scene particularly is the greatest part of the anime and the soundtrack just made it 50% better having the greatest conclusion in anime not leaving the viewers unsatisfied.


Character:
Ping Pong has one of the most greatest character development, as each of the characters has different drives, different ambition as it show a great realistic look at the real world itself showing how far you would go to achieve your dreams and aspirations. There was not a single protagonist nor antagonist as each of the character's life is seen as we watch them grow and watch them win in ping pong. I personally have grown attached to all characters whether they win or lose as all characters learn something valuable in each of their lives whether its to learn to smile or to accept defeat.

Enjoyment:
Watching a game of Ping Pong could never be this entertaining as not just we learn how the game works but also we learn more things about characters and relate to them. Tatsunoko Production especially Director Yuasa, Masaaki did a fantastic job of representing the character's emotion and personality, each scene of the anime was neither bland or just out of place. After watching this i not just learn that Ping Pong is great sport but as how it is needed to be taken by some younger generations seriously as the seriousness of the players and how much pressure and training they do in their everyday lives.

Overall:
Ping Pong The Animation was an underrated anime due to its unappealing animation but as you watch the show you will learn how amazing the anime itself with its very relatable characters, amazing dialogue and just outstanding scenes of games of ping pong itself each of the characters are truly relatable whether you are an athlete of the sports itself or just a normal anime fan. I truly recommend this anime to those who are in to sports anime or looking for something different this anime is a total new experience for people who are looking for something different.

Thank you for the time reading this review
I hope you like it

So now where do i begin with this. Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregototsukai is the first volume of the Zaregoto Series made by the Highly praised light novel author in japan Nisio Isin known for his famous works Monogatari Series and Katanagatari also the creator of the manga Medaka Box and is animated by Studio Shaft also animators of the Monogatari Series.

Lets begin with first impression this series is the typical mystery complete with the mysterious murder in the lock room and whodunit situation but what makes this special from any other mystery anime is Nisio Isin's interesting and compelling characters.

now as i said ... interesting and compelling characters i am not going to describe them all but we will only focus to the main character of the story. The narrator who goes by the name Ii-chan or Ii-kun he is the nameless narrator of the story to the entire show we see the story in his vision and how he narrates it. What makes him different from any other mystery protagonist is how when the mystery start he just goes with the flow. he is not type of lazy protagonist like Tomoe Houki from hyouka or the full of sense of justice protagonist like conan edogawa (Shinichi Kudo). He is basically just a regular person accompanying his cyber tech genius female friend and this is what compelled me to the anime itself is that we know he is the narrator there are some things in what he says and how he sees things that kinda makes you question him and this quite weird for a main character in mystery anime to give the viewers doubt on him which i think is amazing. The way Nisio Isin works with characters to make the story more interesting is quite amazing.

Now story wise it does start very slow but you wouldn't get bored with it as they introduce the characters and their personality also there are some mysteries before the main one begins but it wouldn't be probably explored in this anime but once the mystery begins it gets really interesting and as i said it before what makes the story so interesting is the characters the suspense and thriller of the story will make you sit on the edge of your seat.

The art of this series is amazing expected from Studio Shaft but i kinda wished they have contacted Take (Illustrator of the Zaregoto Series and Katanagatari light novels) to do the character design but this would probably be difficult for Shaft to do due to changing style of the background in order for the characters to fit in. But still amazing you won't be disappointed in Shaft's art and would compel you easily. also full of headtilts which is awesome a well known trademark of shaft.

This also goes for sound Shaft did an incredible job as always the background music perfectly mixes with the art of the anime itself as. The opening theme matches the tone of the anime also the ending theme.

The enjoyment of it for me is a 9/10 but for those who aren't the type of people who like long conversations and wordplays you would probably not enjoy it but you would be interested in it also this anime is about 30+ minutes long and new episodes comes out for once a month but the wait is totally worth it.

Full disclosure of the anime itself is totally recommend it especially for those who are a fan of the mystery genre and nisio isin's works you will not be disapointed about this.

This is your classic protagonist gets transfer to another world and becomes overpowered.


I know this anime isn't for everyone and as a person who hasn't read the light novel but lets be honest here we all know this is basically bad but if you're into the same old Dense OP protagonist who accidentally makes a harem the this is for you and you would enjoy this.
And if you're not into that kind of crap then this anime is basically like any trash you have seen in the past years.

Starting from the characters is that they are all you're typical cliche characters in a ... harem there is little character development or if not none.

the sound is pretty good thats one of the things you could enjoy.

the animation is basically i wouldn't terrible but i wouldn't say good its on a neutral position as you can see the laziness of the animator but you would still enjoy some of it.

The Story so far to me is not appealing as its basically just any other isekai story but it has a sense of like its trying to be different from any other isekai anime but the feeling of it is that you would notice that they are about to give up on that and just be another isekai anime which i hope they don't. The concept of it is kinda weird which basically normal for anime but if this your first time watching this kind of anime then this isn't for you.

The Overall of this is a solid 7 you would enjoy this but not to the point you could say this is a great anime. This anime was made by studio reed and we know Studio reed isn't going well in the anime industry. And finally i would recommend this anime to a person who likes any other harem and just basically loves the genre but to a normal anime fan i would not recommend this.