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I know what this is; you know what this is; everyone knows what this is. Death Note’s (DN) iconicity proceeds itself even beyond the realm of anime, a feat few series have achieved. So what actually makes this series so notable? (pun intended). DN definitely features competently crafted visuals and audio (the character themes go hard) that have aged gracefully, but it’s certainly not why people would or should remember DN. What makes DN such a memorable series is the strong personalities of Light and L and how the relationship between the two of them is meticulously crafted from beginning to end and the evolution ... of such a relationship over the culmination of 25 episodes till the ultimate climax. Light and L are what make DN special.
 
Light and L
The common phrase “The villain is the hero of their own story” perhaps precisely expresses how the story of DN is presented, as it is from the perspective of Light, a man with a crazy god complex and believing that he is absolute justice incarnate. If this story were from the perspective of L, it would be quite clear who the hero and villain are. However, DN proposes a more layered approach to this, as rather than there being a defined protagonist and antagonist, the audience finds themselves choosing based on personal principle by actively judging Light and L’s actions. However, what perhaps makes DN so enthralling is some innate part of the human condition that is revealed, where the viewer isn’t necessarily in direct agreement with Light/Kira’s actions, but regardless, they ultimately still want to see the world Light envisions in the end, even though he may be the villain. The progression of Light and L’s relationship over the course of 25 episodes is constantly changing into something new and interesting. At first they are faceless individuals with no connection to one another, but through the use of their deductive reasoning and brilliance, they are able to get to the point of even understanding how one another thinks, each other's appearance, and even forming a twisted friendship. The depth of their characters elaborately expressed through their perspectives on justice, society, and truth. The way they are able to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat at all times, as two geniuses constantly attack each other's throats through layers of deception, misdirection, and careful planning. And the deep, fulfilling relationship the two have is what makes the viewer attached to these two characters. This is what makes DN exceptional. 
 
About Episodes 27-37
From the beginning, it was pretty clear that the series would conclude with Light’s death from the time Ryuk mentioned that he would be the one to claim his life. So the choice by Ohba to make that happen due to Light’s unchecked pride and arrogance after his initial victory and his subsequent complacency after L’s death is a fitting conclusion. However, the pathway to it post-episode 26 is what’s problematic. More specifically, the addition of Near and Mello as new Kira challengers. I can’t say I envy Ohba’s position when they were writing DN. Light’s victory over L was an inevitability, and there was also a considerable amount of foreshadowing with that implication. But once L is gone, who stands up to Light and defeats him once and for all? There were no remaining characters who could, so the addition of new ones makes sense. However, as I have constantly stated throughout this review, DN is Light and L’s intricate characteriszation and relationships with one another. Adding new characters to that mix who have not even half of the time that Light and L had together to develop makes them feel wholly shallow in comparison and leaves the impression that they are an unwanted presence. It’s unfortunate, but I feel that the setup for Near and Mello’s introduction was bound to be lacking from their conception. Even supposing that different characters replaced them, I feel that they would also face similar challenges in the narrative.
 
Concluding Thoughts
The 8/10 score I give DN is specifically for episodes 1-26. Otherwise, with episodes 27-37 included, I would give the series overall a 5-6/10, which I don’t believe this series actually deserves. And whilst I would recommend someone watching the series for the first time to complete the entire series from beginning to end at least once, on all my subsequent watches, like I’m sure many others do, I choose to skip episodes 27-37, which ultimately is a shame that DN couldn’t have ended as strongly as it started. Regardless, I overall would still highly recommend this series to anyone.

A series about two of the last humans trying to survive day by day in the decaying corpse of a world isn’t what I would typically associate with feelings of relaxed calmness, yet this is the odd blend that Girls’ Last Tour attempts to find. The series uses its seemingly juxtaposed elements to create a series that instills the viewer with a melancholic  but soul-calming reflection over humanities history, culture, and life, then eventual death. I found that the series excelled at creating an excellent atmosphere for an iyashikei through solid design choices but felt shallow with characters, narrative elements, and most importantly, the show's ... attempts at profoundness. This overall made it difficult for me to connect with the series beyond a surface level.
 
Creating an engaging atmosphere
Girls’ Last Tour’s best feature is in how an engaging atmosphere is created through competent design choices. The art excels at expressing the series themes with haunting sceneries of an empty, endlessly sprawling series that constantly remind you that death is imminent and constantly highlights the struggle to survive and press forward in the journey and muted colour palettes to add emphasis to the bleakness of the world. Most of the series audio elements were exceptionally crafted and absorbed the viewer into the scene. For instance, from my chair, I could really feel whenever a frigid gale was blowing in the show. Or when you could hear soft echoes of machinery at work, either as a hollow reminder of what was or meaninglessly working for a purpose long lost. It really added a fine touch to the atmospheric intent of the show. The only audio decisions I’m a bit torn on are the ‘cosy’ tracks, which occasionally play over scenes that are somewhat intense. It’s that juxtaposition the show is trying to go for, but in some regards it also removes tension, which could be gripping. You could argue either way for those tracks, but I’m not sure what would be better. With that said, these combined design choices make an interesting world that draws the viewer in, and if the series narrative, characteriszation, and philosophical elements were as strong, combined would have made a very memorable title.
 
Notable flaws
The few side characters met in the world are fairly empty and devoid of all personality due to the limited time spent with them, but also as they are designed to serve as a representation of a theme rather than an actual human or character. Their concepts don’t lack intrigue, but once again the series chooses a shallow path of exploration, making them lacking in execution. But more importantly, the two central characters, despite being with them for 12 episodes, felt zero connection to them. They have fairly defined characters from the start, which is a good decision so the audience can understand who the characters are from the beginning and distinguish them from one another based on their values, fears, etc., but over the duration of the series, there is little to no meaningful expansion or growth of these personalities, which would make me attached to them as people and their struggles on screen. They feel more like a vehicle for the viewer to look through their eyes into an unfamiliar world than actual human characters that develop.
 
A common expression is often exploited in the show, which is either “I heard this” or “read this in a book,” which is used by characters to supplement otherwise lacking knowledge, which, in a post-war torn world, would be hard for children to obtain. While there are in-universe reasons to explain this, it often feels like the series is cheapening out at what could be a more interesting series of events where the characters have to discover more for themselves. This is even done in certain episodes, like when the characters are learning what a camera is and how it works, and this I found to lead to more interesting discoveries for the characters, consequently creating more entertaining sequences for the audience.
 
As I mentioned earlier, I felt that the various philosophical discussions the show presented were fairly shallow, offering little insight into the topic of the episode or scene. There are a couple reasons as to why I feel this is, and I find the series Kino’s Journey to be a perfect comparison to Girls’ Last Tour as their themes and premise are very similar, but Kino’s Journey is able to discuss philosophy, morality, ethics, etc. to a more meaningful level. The first comparison being the pacing of episodes. Some episodes focused on three ideas, items, or concepts, leading to their simply not being enough time to go into depth, as additionally the show's overall pacing is towards the slower end, meaning things including exploration and discussion take time before getting anywhere. This is fine for an iyashikei to do; it's part of the genre to take things slower, but Girls’ Last Tour feels a bit greedy in trying to balance both precisely. Whereas Kino’s Journey typically has a whole episode around one concept, allowing plenty of time to communicate to the audience the meaning of what they have watched. What is explored is another distinguishing feature, where in Girls’ Last Tour part of the shows charm could be considered in its discovery of the simplistic ideas and items, such as alcohol, a camera, a temple or a graveyard, etc., and then seeing Chito and Yuuri’s response to these; however, they are already concepts that the viewer would already be familiar with, whereas Kino’s Journey chooses to explore more niche complex ideas and perspectives that the viewer may not have considered before, keeping the viewer more interested as Kino’s Journey is an exploration not just for Kino and Hermes but for the viewer as well. The final main difference is setting. Whilst I have highlighted that Girls’ Last Tour’s setting is the best feature of the series, it does lack variety, which can limit the perspective provided to some of the themes and concepts, whereas Kino’s Journey has free reign over where certain discussions are had. Hopefully this comparison provides context as to why I feel that Girls’ Last Tour is sufficiently limited in its exploration of humanity, which I believe to be a core focus of the series.
 
Perhaps more of a nitpick than the other points, it still bothered me nonetheless. The use of 3D in scenes with the main vehicle unfortunately stood out too much, with cuts between characters in 3D and 2D being relatively awkward, and the placement of the vehicle and character models in the 2D environment felt cheap. I understand that the series likely did this due to funding reasons, but regardless, as a viewer, it did remove me from the atmosphere of the scene at times.
 
Conclusion
I didn’t hate this series, but I didn’t love it either. Which leaves me with some lingering feelings of mild disappointment, as it is a series I wish I enjoyed more. Additionally, I find this series to be a difficult sell to most anime watchers, as many will check out early due to the slow pacing and overarching lack of plot direction, and those looking for a profound series will likely find it lacking in depth, which I find myself aligning with the latter. However, for those interested in the niche atmosphere that this series can immerse the viewer in at its finest, this can certainly be an enjoyable experience that inserts itself as a memorable addition to the Iyashikei genre.

Gainax is a monolith in anime history. You would find no one to dispute that. The studio produced arguably one of the most influential anime ever, Neon Genesis Evangelion, to mass acclaim. So it’s no surprise that the studio has garnered a cult following due to its legacy. But for this review and series, I approach it as someone who respects and appreciates the legacy of the company but is not particularly a fan of any of their works. So I stand removed from the “Gainax can do no wrong” crowd and seek to view Gunbuster as its own piece of media, independent of Gainax's ... accomplishments on other projects and Gunbuster’s theme influences for the studio’s projects moving forward. So to commence this review frankly, this series is irredeemably appalling, and I cannot recommend it to anyone. Here’s why.
 
The pacing/writing
I’ll begin with what I consider to be the most irredeemable failure of the story, and that was in its structure and pacing. Things went by way too quickly, with minimal reasoning or connection, leading to me being in a constant state of bewilderment while watching. A good example is episode 3. In the space of 15 minutes, the protagonist interacts with a guy, falls in love, he dies in space, she’s traumatised by this and cannot go into space anymore, and she makes a vow to never cry again, and then proceeds to cry in this episode and every one after... I couldn’t believe what I was watching; I still can’t believe it even... And as a consequence of this pacing, there was never a real moment to actually understand the main characters or care about them in any shape or form. The show does an exceptional job of keeping your head spinning and realising that none of these characters have any depth or real personality whatsoever. Even conceptually, nothing ever links together in a logical, coherent way in Gunbuster. It’s almost like every character and idea is communicating in a different language; there's just this really odd disconnect, which I have to assume is a result of both poor writing and inadequate use of the runtime. 
 
Shameless product placement
This might be more of a debated topic, as this is likely how Gainax was able to in part fund the production for the series, but since Gunbuster is a piece of shit, I rather they didn’t get the bag. In some cases, advertising can be an additive to world-building, like real-world advertisements in sports video games. But in this sci-fi futuristic "epic,"  I found it removed any semblance of investment I had in the world, as I had to shake my head at how shameless Gainax was in placing products in the centre of a frame. Off the top of my head, there were ads from Pepsi, Japan Airlines, and Seiko clocks (this one was less egregious), but I’m certain there’s likely more I’m blanking on. This point is more of a nitpick, I confess, but it took away from my experience watching the series, so I believe it is worth addressing.
 
Gainax… please…
Holy shit There is way too much teenage nudity in this series, which is incredibly uncomfortable. I had to skip through quite a few scenes because of this, but fortunately or unfortunately, there was zero reason for these scenes to exist in the narrative other than to be fanservice. Yep, gross…
 
Positives!?
Ok, so I’ve gone pretty hard on this series, and deservedly so, but are there any redeeming qualities? Well, the series isn’t quite a 1/10; I’ll give it that. It has some decent music, fun corny 80’s tropes, and some visually interesting animation in some areas (although, on a serious note, if you somehow still want to watch the series, be aware that there are multiple potentially photosensitive epileptic-inducing scenes; this did air the Pre-Porygon incident after all). But do any of these positives actually add up to a series worth watching? Nope.
 
A seriously lacking execution
The heading here sums it all up. There were some ideas with potential, like the whole time disconnect of time and space between characters, interfering with their relationships. But the execution was so lacking in depth, like everything else, that I felt nothing but confusion and frustration, which I highly doubt was the intended effect. So I feel that this series really came apart before anything was even animated. All in all, I cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone, and I have to believe that this is primarily enjoyed by Gainax fans, as the MAL score is way too high for what this series actually is. So seriously, please save yourself a precious two hours.

After finishing this series I am left with two questions. Who is this for and why does this exist? Seriously, it's not for kids due to the constant oversexualization of every female character, the jiggle physics on some of these women is insane, even by anime standards (I have no idea how this isn't tagged as an ecchi series, because that's definitely what it is). This series isn't for those that like good... anything. Characters, story, art, music, all of it is unoriginal, average or just downright terrible.

Characters are bland and lack any originality in design and personality, the story is practically nonexistent and ... only progresses this season. When the story is actually important and there's not another filler episode where the girls play dressup for the coomers in the audience, it's uninspired and uninteresting, I was so bored that I had to watch the series on 2x speed, and even then it was pure misery. The art is lackluster, even from 2004, there has been much better TV animation in that year, and even though it looks cheap, the colours are too sharp making your eyes bleed. The music was mostly unmemorable and constantly made me think "oh, that's like that one other song".

Even if you are a mecha fan/fanatic, there is nothing new or cool here to entertain you, it is the living embodiment of the 'average shitty mecha show'.

There is zero reason for this series to exist and especially for anyone to watch it, if you somehow landed on this anime's page and are considering to watch it, my advice, steer clear of it, you will save yourself precious time better put elsewhere.

Well well well, here we are again two days later, in this hallowed month of June. After my review of the first season, I hastily started and finished Higurashi Kai to get the conclusion of the story, and it really was a conclusion, kind of. But anyways I’m getting ahead of myself, whilst the first series and Kai were made by the same studio, and only a year apart, my main issue with the first series, laid out in my previous review, was the technical production elements of the anime being of average or poor quality, in my humble opinion. I am pleased to have ... found that Studio Deen definitely upped their game with Kai, as the animation looks crisper, soundtrack less obnoxious, etc. However, in a twist of fate (how dramatic), the story experience for me had ‘degraded’. But first, let's talk more about that improved production.

Overall, the production quality was a lot nicer this time around. The animation felt crisp, like a new coat of paint, but was still the same, or close to, the style of the first series that there was no jarring difference. Whilst in slapstick scenes, (which I still don’t enjoy personally) they used a really nice sort of pen outline style? I don’t really know how else to put it, but it felt fresh and interesting. However whilst I’ve been mostly positive about the visual elements, something that remains consistent with the first season, which I forgot to mention in my last review is the uninspired or unutilised visual representation of time. In Kai, there were more time periods shown to the audience, (hell, the season started in 2008) but there was no visible way to discern the difference between them, and nothing that stood out to show the different times. An old film classic would be putting a grainy filter over the screen which whilst generic, at least provides some sort of visual representation to the audience. To summarise, there is no discernable difference between 1983 and the other shown times other than, “oh, that phone’s from around that time period”, which for a show with a large focus on ‘time stuff’, was a bit of a let down.

Not too much on music/sound, but the music this time around was similar in quality with the first series, albeit a less memorable intro. However, the utilisation of it felt much less bothersome or intrusive, for the most part. Overall, definitely more points for production this time around Studio Deen, good job.

Ahhh, the primary allure of Higurashi for me, the story. This time around, Kai unfortunately did not provide that same sense of mystery and intrigue I was invested in. Not getting into too much plot detail, the way the story was told this time around was less focused on the mystery, and more on the bonds of friendship/community and actions/determination (very anime-like). Whilst this isn’t inherently bad, it's not what I really was invested in so I was very underwhelmed when there were multiple large exposition dumps throughout Kai which basically killed a lot of the fun mystery solving of the first series. Regardless, this is technically the conclusion of the original Higurashi, ignoring the Rei OVA series which seems as pointless as the Steins;Gate movie and the absolutely despised remake (which maybe I’ll watch one day to laugh at) the conclusion was expected but left a lot more open than I would have liked, the hidden big bad was name dropped in the last episode but nothing’s gonna happen with that I guess? It’s been 16 years since Kai sooo yeah… guess not. And like Satoshi just gets to chill in a coma I guess, definitely felt like there was to be wrapped up maybe not in Kai, but in an epilogue series, but as stated, probably never gonna happen at this point.

Anyways, with June concluding soon, so too does my Higurashi crusade (it was only 50 episodes). In a not so amusing twist, the plot/production swapped in interest for me between the first series and Kai. And with Kai being the conclusion, it ultimately leaves too much open to feel fulfilling enough. However, if you are invested enough in the characters from the first series, then you will probably find similar entertainment here. As for me, I will move on to the next series…

Ahh, those sweet summer days. Nothing says youth quite like murder, conspiracy and some board games. Higurashi is one of those ‘classics' that everyone who watches anime has probably heard of before. But does the show live up to this legendary status? Kind of, and not really I argue. Higurashi’s main strong point, and the reason why it's so fondly remembered I believe, is because of its engaging mystery/plot.

It’s brutal and intriguing, from the very memorable opening all the way till the very end, when you finish the first arc and start the second I was engrossed. Each arc of the series on a ... surface level may seem disconnected but you learn a lot about the world and its characters through each variation of the story, and connecting these dots may not be hard, but it does feel good. However, this is about the only thing that interested me in this first series, the technical components of Higurashi, I felt were average at best, the cinematography, soundtrack, sound design, dialogue, animation and parts of the cast.

There were occasionally points where the camera would be positioned in an interesting spot, like when someone's being watched, but these were few and far in between and are not the most unique idea either way. There was also this really annoying ‘triple zoom’ as I call it, which was used constantly and would make me think “ah shit, not again”. Not the worst thing I have ever seen but I could not get myself to like the crazy zoom technology. It was more goofy than anything to me, which was a real tension breaker in certain scenes.

The soundtrack on its own is fine, featuring a pretty nice intro and decent outro. But the way it was used, I typically found to be obnoxious. Blaring intense music to try to get you on the edge of your seat, it's like shoveling shit down your throat, because you’re a baby and you can’t do anything on your own. I absolutely hate when the people who work with sound in production treat the audience like babies who can’t understand things if they’re right in front of them, or they just don’t understand the word subtle. All music is emotionally manipulative, but don’t make it so obvious please! Anyways, mini rant over, sound effects were average, nothing really much to talk about there, the cicadas in the soundtrack were cool though, thematically appropriate and enhanced the summer setting of Higurashi.

Animation in the series was alright, not too much to talk about here, personally not a fan of the character design in Higurashi as I have seen it a million times, however contorting the ‘cutesy 2000’s anime character style’ when characters go crazy is creative and a nice touch. There was quite a lot of slapstick in the show, big exaggerated expressions for comical scenes, which I personally don’t like. Backgrounds and such were fine, that's about all on animation.

Not too much on characters, some were interesting, what were their motivations? Etc. But they mostly fit some sort of trope. Some cringy dialogue that I wanted to skip through here and there, not sure if that's a fault of the characters being that way or just script writers or whatever. I will say that I’m certainly put off by the p e d o doctor and weird child bait shit, always disgusting to see in anime, shame its present here. Bit of a sour note, but I believe it should be mentioned.

Anyways, Higurashi has a good story, so I will be watching the next season of the series, as I am interested enough to see where it goes, however it would be disingenuous of me to look over the many faults this series has from a technical view.

I’m not quite sure if there exists a word in the English language to describe my feelings after finishing the show, but it’s probably somewhere between depressed and sombre, melancholic? Perhaps I’m having an existential crisis? Well anyways something like that. Having finished Texhnolyze at 1 am and as stated, questioning my existence, humanity's existence, something tells me I won’t be able to sleep for a while, so, instead, I’ll write this review. Texhnolyze is certainly a show you have to stumble across, I’m surprised after all my years of watching anime, I only somewhat recently came across this show, as to me, it's a ... piece which really stands out in a medium which contains so much oversaturation and unoriginality nowadays, such as Shitsekai A and Ecchi Romcom B. Its ‘nicheness’ (which I perceive to exist) is certainly unwarranted as it hosts an impeccable soundtrack, thought provoking characters and story, engaging visuals, environments and world, every creative element of the show blends perfectly to create a very atmospheric and compelling world, however, certainly the way the story and world is presented, through its slow pacing and anti-baby dialogues (when they happen), will be hit-or-miss with viewers, for me however, it certainly was a hit. Anyways, I’ve stalled long enough with the intro, let's get into the meat and potatoes shall we?

The story is probably the part of the Texhnolyze I’m the least attached to, I should state that I watched the first eight episodes before taking a break from the series and anime as a whole, I believe that was more due to time priorities, but I believe it is worth of note regardless, as the slow pacing of the series can beat you down if you’re unprepared. But the story of Texhnolyze is still appealing to me as a sci fi dystopian enjoyer, crazy robot body modifications, corrupt underground city dominated by criminal organisations always at conflict? Hell yeah. Sprinkle some existential questions in there for good measure too. Texhnolyze poses many questions such as, the moral implications of technology, how it can be used and abused; fate and predeterminism, how much control do humans have over the events that shape the future? Individually and societally; Are people really able to change who they are? (this one resonated with me personally); Finding oneself, what does it mean to be human? What does it mean to live? Etc. These questions are entertaining to explore and contemplate alongside with the show, but in the end the viewer is reminded of the bleakness of reality, which despite Texhnolyze’s outlandish nature, mirrors reality very closely (which seems to be how I got into this existential muddle).

Texhnolyze chooses to communicate its story very slowly, which as stated previously, to some may be grueling, but to others such as myself, it greatly increases the attachment to the world and its inhabitants as you get to see subtle expressions and emotions conveyed clearly and then spend more time with these characters. The slowed nature of the story certainly helped to amplify my experience as I was able to digest the fantastical elements of Texhnolyze better (this is also similarly done in another sci-fi/psychological film, which also happens to be one of my favourite movies of all time, Solaris [1972]).

I don’t have a whole lot to say on characters, but they were certainly interesting enough to continue watching and learn where they end up… yeah didn’t go so great for them. Stand out characters were certainly Oonishi and Yoshii, but the rest of the cast were also compelling. However, a very important character to mention is the city Lux itself. I’ll talk more about the way it's portrayed later in the visual and audio sections, but Lux is a very important character in the world of Texhnolyze as it reflects the nature of the humans who inhabit it through its dreariness and neglected, dilapidated structures, devoid of all colour, an industrial circle of hell. Since this is the main setting of Texhnolyze, it is fortunately conveyed very effectively, further expanded upon through the ‘voice of the city’ sub plot point.

The visual aspects of the show are nothing short of wonderful for a twenty-two long episode TV release in 2003. The animation quality itself is pretty damn good for this fact, there are some areas that maybe lack much detail and the animation cannot compare to anime movie standards, however all in all the series has aged quite well for being twenty years old (as of writing this). What stands out to me the most from the visuals of the show is the art direction on framing. Somehow the creators of Texhnolyze are always able to make perfect framing choices, putting unique and interesting shots on screen constantly. It really blew me away how deliberate and well constructed these frames were, they felt really good with the addition of how long you would stay on one frame for and the atmospheric soundtrack, more on that later. Personally I find framing in most anime to be highly uninspired and boring, but Texhnolyze shows the possibilities of experimenting with the infinite possibilities of framing, to create something really interesting for the viewer to look at.

Texhnolyze houses many forms of visual symbolism, which further the worlds immersion, such as its intentional use of colour, or lack thereof, In Lux, colours are mute or not even present, the sky is a blinding white, no blue to be found, the most colour you see is when blood lines the street or in a single flower. This can be interpreted in many directions by the viewer, but the point is that these visuals greatly assist with the world's immersion for the viewer.

The music, ambience and sound design of Texhnolyze I also find is, unsurprisingly, absolutely wonderful. They really put the techno in… texhno for this one… Anyways, featuring ‘Guardian Angel (Xavier’s Edit) as the intro and ‘Tsuki no Uta’ as the outro, both of these songs are well put together and tonally accurate for the series, and I found myself very rarely skipping these (usually just to get to the show quicker). Overall very good choices. The larger soundtrack and sound design were also consistently, tonally appropriate and added to the world building, joining to the dark environments or heated conflicts, and were consistently connected with what was happening on screen. Texhnolyze utilises many sub-genres of music like Dark jazz, Goa trance, Industrial, Dark techno, Ilibent, etc. These sub-genre choices are perfect for the bleak, tech dystopia that is Texhnolyze, and becomes a core part of the world.

Texhnolyze’s individual aspects alone are indeed top notch, however together, they merge together masterfully, creating the enthralling anime that is Texhnolyze which makes me question my existence. Certainly, Texhnolyze’s uniqueness in storytelling in my eyes is one of its strong points, however, to others it may be its largest detriment, this point is simply up to personal preference, but I would implore all anime enjoyers to give this show a chance, as I certainly believe it deserves.

If you made it all the way to the end after reading all this shit I typed while very tired, you’re probably crazy. There's probably a good amount of mistakes and some parts might have been analysed too much, but oh well. Either way I appreciate your time you took to read this all. And if you scrolled to the bottom, that's cheating, go back >:(

'𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' is a show that attempts to create an immersive representation of the Edo period/17th century through every aspect of the show, from its classical style soundtrack, muted colours and swordsman focused story, setting a tone which shows the hideous sides of this time. However, was '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' able to effectively immerse the viewer and tell a compelling tale? In some ways yes, otherwise, mostly not.

The strongest aspects of the show as previously stated, are the artistic elements, but they are certainly not without their drawbacks. The soundtrack is solid and is reminiscent of what the Edo era would sound like, it is also applied ... appropriately to what is happening in a scene. However, there was one or two tracks which whilst sounded good, featured immersion breaking electric/synthesizer, mixed into the song. The soundtrack by the end of the series also felt repetitive as there was little distinction between tracks, and sometimes the sound mixing felt poor.

The art of the show matched the tone nearly perfectly, muted colours in contrast with the emphasis of blood (deep red), excess of shadows and blinding lights, and unique X-ray shots, these were all suitable, however the 'generic anime character designs' were fairly unambitious, when a more 'grittier' character style would have been more suitable (something like '𝘔𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘹' in character design).

The area where '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' egregiously fails, is in creating an interesting narrative with interesting characters. Characters were mostly boring and felt as if they had no character, either due to lack of development or poor writing (there were also multiple times where I was unable to recognize a character even though I watched the entire show in two days). And because the characters were so uninteresting, the simple plot was never compelling and its awful conclusion certainly does not help.

Ultimately '𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘶𝘪' falls short by its own mediocrity, being unable to tell an interesting story with captivating characters. But at least it looked and sounded a bit pretty whilst trying to. I would only recommend this to those looking for an inferior '𝘝𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥'-esque experience in anime.

Communication is more than just words. This is a concept '𝘓𝘪𝘻 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘰𝘪 𝘛𝘰𝘳𝘪' masterfully understands and utilizes to create an engaging and emotional character piece.

The film features two gorgeous and vibrant animation styles, perfectly creating a distinct contrast between fiction and reality - both these stories are connected by their shared symbolism of the colour blue, expressed through the 'bird' characters expressing their limitless freedom like the sky and the ocean, but their melancholic fate to fly beyond what they love. Both stories aid each other in delivering an emotional narrative.

The plot of the film is straightforward and uncomplicated, but the smaller scope ... worked in the films favour, in connecting with the audience on an emotional level.

The film whilst being primarily focused on the interactions between the main characters, it also features music as a core part of the film (being a part of the Hibike! Euphonium series), which is why it is pleasing that the soundtrack was certainly another highlight of the film. The soundtrack itself was solid and the utilization of it was appropriate and suitable in establishing tone and ambience, adding to the narrative perfectly.

The film greatly has the characters communicate to the audience and to one another through typical dialogue but also detailed and realistic actions. The film shows the audience through effective 'camera' framing, the slightest motions of the characters adding increased depth into what they are saying or not saying, giving the audience an engaging experience as they connect with the characters to better understand them.

The only negative factors about this film are the sometimes convenient dialogue featuring the 'Liz and the Blue Bird' story, forcefully hammering in the symbolism, and perhaps some people may find the pacing of the story to be on the slower end (although in my opinion, it was perfect), this film is a prime example of why animation and stories as a whole are compelling, so I recommend this film to all.