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Fate is without a doubt among one of the best Visual Novels out there but unfortunately at first it didn’t have much luck in it’s transition into an anime, that is until Ufotable partnered up with Type-Moon and with Garden of Sinners they proved they know how to handle Type-Moon works and with Fate/zero’s success they jumped right into Fate/stay Night. In Fate’s story there are three routes you can take and Ufotable chose the second route for their TV series while leaving the 3rd route for a movie.

For the second route(Unlimited Blade Works) there is already a movie done by Studio Deen. They also ... handled the adaptation of Fate/Stay Night’s first TV series and they already proved it is too much for them to handle. while that movie has good animation and great soundtracks there is no other reason to watch it if you haven’t other than to spoil yourself the important parts without any right explanation so keep that in mind if you haven’t watched that already. (on it’s own their adaptations weren’t really all that bad but when compared to the source material it really lacks the depth and lacks proper explanation so if you already read the visual Novel before watching them it can enrage you even more).

Just like Fate/zero the anime is divided into two seasons, with the first one doing all the introductions and building up and with the second one showing the results. Sadly while fate/stay night’s first half is amusing it can also get a little slow and tiring at some points but we get to that later. One of the most important parts of Fate/stay Night is Shirou’s ideals and you are treated with it’s evolution in each route. The second route brings balance to his ideals, that in real life you can’t be a shounen hero and you can’t expect to help/save everyone. Also in this route Shirou gets closer to Tohsaka and form a deeper bond with her. I was very glad to see from the very beginning Ufotable focused on Shirou’s ideals, showing fans that they know what they are doing and bring some depth to the story along with it. It is details like these that Ufotable cares about and they know we care about them as well which make their works ultimately a great experience to watch.

There are of course some problems with the story as well,(nitpicking) granted it is all subjective and this mostly has nothing to do with Ufotable as they were trying to follow the source material(they added their own things as well which i liked not saying they 100% succeeded in their adaptation but i liked it) but of course they could improve some parts if they wanted to(like pacing) so time for nitpicking. for example Archer’s convenient different “look” that helped him mask his identity always bugged me,(there is a reason for it like side effects of his Magecraft but I am not satisfied with stuff like this sadly, I rather if he had a burned face or had a mask) or one dimensional characters like Kuzuki(Caster’s master) or even Shinji (for example Shinji is also a tragic character, sadly he still lacks depth and is just In the story to ironically get manipulated by others and to piss you off). Now back to what I wrote earlier about the show being slow in the first season, it seems Ufotable’s faithful approach turned into a double edge blade for them. In this season the real deal starts only at the last episode, leaving the rest of important stuff for the second season and beside Shirou’s ideals getting discussed we only get to see a handful of events(that of course foreshadow stuff) and for those that only follow the anime it is hard to care for the stuff that happened. (granted Shirou already started growing in this season and there are some hints of what’s going on around already) Plus Ufotable tried to implement some of the comical scenes inside the atmosphere they created and in my opinion in that aspect they didn’t exactly succeed but the lighthearted scenes in the last episodes served it's purpose very well since it gave you the “calm before the storm” feeling and you actually see the start of that storm in that episode. Also while I understand that the three routes of novel are suppose to be seen as one story all together it is a shame that characters like Rider are not explored till the 3rd route. Last nitpick is the amount of all “I beat you but I won’t kill you” moments that got out of control in Fate/Stay Night. One could rename this as “Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited -Can kill you but won’t- Works” Of course there are explanations for each(like characters having their own plan for later or because of their personality) but it doesn’t mean getting lots of these moments is a good thing since it can take away from the tension. But enough about the story and the characters, these are all things of the past and Ufotable is just trying to be faithful by following them and i liked some of the things Ufotable did that added to the whole experience. I just mentioned all these so the review feels complete.

The art is as fantastic as ever, while it feels there are no real improvements in the animation it feels this time around without the previous budget limitations the true potential was realized and overall we got treated with lots of impressive scenes and thankfully there was no sudden drop in quality unlike the temporarily one in Fate/zero. The character designs are faithful to the visual novel as well as expected although some of them like Rin felt a little strange at first. This time there is no fully 3D berserker like in Fate/zero so the 3D focus shifted toward Caster’s familiars and other small things (even Rin’s hair at one point at least). The old voice actors are also back again for another Fate ride and it is enjoyable to hear their voices again. Sadly I didn’t enjoy the Opening song of this season while I enjoyed the Ending song as I expected cause…Kalafina. About the music, While the music is good and the new composer Hideyuki Fukasawa tried so hard to be unique while staying true to previous material it didn’t feel as epic as it could be but there are lots of chances in the second season to make that right with all the emotional moments.(he already got one chance in the last episode and pulled it off at least to some extent)

Now time for building up more hype for the next season. Of course without a doubt the second season is gonna be one hell of a show and I am sure everyone is eager to see it. April 2012 is gonna be repeated all over again which is awesome.(again this time Caster class is responsible for the closing act) As for this season the production value and the attention to details really held it up and turned it into an epic ride for both old and new fans. A big thanks to Ufotable and Type-moon for entertaining us with this level of quality.

Here we are with another positive review for Ufotable and it’s Type-Moon works…and well, they deserve it. Once again they shown their strength with great care and attention and brought it all to life this time with Fate Stay Night’s Second Route – Unlimited Blade Works, focusing on Rin Tohsaka specially for this prologue. So naturally this episode starts with her, focusing on what’s going on with her life and what’s about to happen so it prepares you for the fifth Holy Grail War. This long episode dubbed as episode 0 (smart move) tries to make you ready for what is about to come and ... as a prologue it really covers what needs to be covered very well.

Just like previous wars, there has to a summoning ritual first. After the introductions we get the famous summoning scene and Rin's banter with her new servant Archer. Story telling here is simply amazing and there is a good flow and order for events. We get to know Rin, those around her and her desires, plus we are fed with information about how things work which is very helpful if you are new to the fate universe, and it all ends with what Rin desired the most…Saber. (also nitpickers can't say why Rin screwed up her summoning because even that is covered) Plus the attention to some details is already easily noticeable in the story and also visually.We are treated with a good orchestrated fight scene and on top of that it is visually a pleasure to watch as well even if you already know what will happen plus we get to see an encounter filled with spoiler(depends how you think about it) too!

as you can expect from Ufotable the animation quality is great and far above the standards, it’s smooth, Dark with some sharp lights and effects although some character designs feel a little off but it’s still close and hopefully budget issues won't become a problem in the future.(like some quality drops in some of Fate/zero episodes just so they could save their efforts for battles). as for voice acting Fate has an strong cast so no one should worry about that. About the OP song to be honest I didn’t enjoy it as I think I would but it is still solid. you might noticed that the music tries to stay true to the feeling of Fate/zero at least (done by the legendary Yuki Kajiura) and it is a great thing since it makes the bond it has with it's prequel even stronger and yet it doesn't just rely on that so props to Hideyuki Fukasawa. also looking forward to Kalafina's ED (not in Episode 0)

Basically while this episode is satisfying for Fate fans (well at least as long as you don’t hate Rin) it can also be good for newcomers although I am not suggesting to start from here but if you do you can probably handle it and it won’t be that much confusing. If you are new you might think there is already a movie for this, well we (most of us anyway) pretend that’s not true since it is done by studio DEEN. While it might be considered good on it’s own it leaves lots of things out of it so just watch this one and focus on the TV version done by Ufotable (there is also Fate/stay Night anime that focuses on the first Route of the Visual novel but again Studio DEEN didn’t do it justice, I suggest you read the Visual Novel for that but it’s not bad on it’s own, until you read the visual novel that is then it might make you angry). Anyway whether you are an anime fan or western animation fan this season is great (for example new Fate and new Mushishi for anime fans and Korra Book 4, TMNT S3, Star Wars Rebels! for western animation fans) and hopefully they all will meet the expectations till the end and Fate UBW TV already passed the first test with Episode 0.

It's not an easy task to make an interesting story about a calligrapher and the fact that Barakamon pulled it off is simply amazing. the whole thing is about the power of inspiration and to some extent non conformism. the protagonist tries to learn the true meaning of life from things around him and whenever he is inspired you feel inspired as well so what you can expect from Barakamon is a light but smart emotional ride.

Seishuu Handa a famous calligrapher with a respected style is on the path to find his own calligraphy thanks to an accident that forced him to leave his city ... and to live in a village to rethink his life. as you can expect the village is filled with bunch of weird people and Handa gets inspired by the way they live and think so another aspect of the story is simplicity. it focuses on it even more with introducing Naru, a wild brat that befriends Handa and through her simplicity Handa learns lots of things and we get to see the brilliance of a child's mind. also as it happens Handa is a natural with kids so he is always surrounded with a bunch of them. while the story is mostly presented episodically (stories feel separated) there is a good flow and each section got tied with others pretty well and if you didn't read the manga sometimes you probably won't notice that they just attached different events and mixed things. it is also sweet to see how Handa improves himself with anything even remotely related to Calligraphy (Writing on a boat with Brush)

Sadly because the anime is only 12 episodes they had to cut some of the stuff and that created some small problems specially with characters. there is a good amount of characters in the story and the anime doesn't have the time to focus on all of them. for example you get too see the teacher dude in the main story only in Episode 1 and after that he just make appearances in scenes after the credit.characters might not be unique and you might even forgot most of them after a while but they are well thought and real. they have their desires, characteristics and some of them grow along with the protagonist which is one of the strong points of Barakamon. so naturally expect a good amount of growth from Handa while he still stays the same person.

the animation quality is good but it is not anything special and character designs are mostly true to their original design (except for...for example Miwa, they probably changed her skin tone so people don't confuse her with Tama...). voice acting is pretty strong and i really like Daisuke Ono in this one and he shows he can handle anything thrown at him. although voice acting sometimes can feel off and sometimes it doesn't match character's expressions but overall it's great and obviously it is opinion based.

all and all Barakamon along with Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun are best comedies of Summer 2014 and if you are into emotional yet light stories i strongly suggest Barakamon. as i mentioned making an story focusing on calligraphy is hard and keeping the reader/viewer interested is even harder but you don't have to worry about that here.

Whenever I read or watch Haikyuu I usually smile, not because it has some funny moments but because it is done right. sure it doesn’t have the strongest start and it can take some time to mature but with it’s current state it can easily rival sport giants in anime/manga history like Hajime no Ippo. Production I.G is on roll and they are no strangers to adapting sport manga. with Kuroko no Baske anime series getting closer to it’s end they started another sport anime already and once again they did a great job.

Haikyuu does not lack in having cliché, but it doesn’t rely on ... them forever. The story isn’t something complex. It’s about a volleyball fan trying his best to be the best with what he has even with his shortcomings. the presentation is also good and there is a good amount of detail in the story but i enjoyed the good variety of quality characters the most in Haikyuu. I usually get to like one or two character from each series and don’t care about the rest but with Haikyuu i can’t decide which one I like the most.The confident yet not arrogant Oikawa,(as oppose to Kuroko no Baske, all the opponents are arrogant) the refreshing yet wise setter Sugawara, the manly and trustworthy Noya(he is technically the best player of the team after Kageyama at least) etc…speaking of Sugawara he is not even the main setter of the team yet he is not just some useless background character. of course like many other stories you shouldn’t expect much from female characters although the story does try to include them and the most useful ones only got mentioned/showed once or maybe twice (female group that trained Hinata) but other than that…well…it’s just a sweet waste of time at best to me. (although it’s better than having unbelievable female characters acting like males or doing things that they normally won’t just for the sake of having a female character included). Although there is a chance we get to see the female team of Karasuno more because of some foreshadowing in the manga (appearance of the queen). It would be fun to see the male team cheering their female team in a serious match. also guess what...i didn't even mention main characters, that's how strong supporting characters are here.

The adaptation is done very well. The team did pay a good amount of attention to lots of details and added things of their own to make it even better (special cheering for whenever Oikawa is doing a serve just to show how epic he is). character designs are true to the manga (even those weird smiley faces) and you don’t see a sudden drop in quality in most of episodes at least and thankfully they don’t resort to just showing “shots” of things happening in matches and they show the whole thing (for example they could just show one guy doing a serve and then cut and show someone with receiving pose with some sound effect suggesting he got it, sadly things like that are done because of budget issues, here there was no need for it much thankfully). The voice acting is also good although i expected a different voice for Oikawa at first but i also like Daisuke Namikawa and he pulled it off again.. Some voice actings give extra characteristics to a character and if done right it can level up things a bit (watch Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and concentrate on voice acting you will 100% understand. There is nothing challenging there and yet some voice acting made the whole thing more interesting). in Haikyuu that is also the case to some extent at least.

All an all Haikyuu has a bright future if the Mangaka keep up his good work. to me Seijou’s match was the peak of the story so I don’t expect him to have lots of those moments again if he could have another one ever (I could read/watch that match 10 times over and won’t get tired at all, and I did) but the story hasn't even reached it's heavy parts yet and some strong characters are yet to make their official debut. (they got only mentioned. we probably get to see them after they get into national level.)

Let me be honest. When I read the manga I didn’t find Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun that funny. Sure it has it’s moments but ultimately it might not pull you in…until you watch the anime. It was one of those cases for me that the anime surpassed the manga. the quality here is simply amazing and I am not talking about the quality of the animation. I am talking about the amount of detail and care you can see in this anime. Specially the voice acting that really gave soul to the whole thing.

The story is about a girl that fell in love with a Mangaka ... named Nozaki and become his assistant so she can win his heart. She gets to know a bunch of weird people through Nozaki and vice versa and lots of funny situations arise from their encounters. Fortunately characters are mostly already paired and there is no unnecessary harem. (not against harem just find most of them unnecessary). Each character as you can expect has it’s own unique joke but fortunately they don’t feel forced and the timing for most of them are right. Sometimes some jokes are just repeated to show you that the story still remembers the things that happened previously.(drawing a house as a background joke) The anime had to cut some of the stuff sadly even though they were funny (Nozaki saving all of his ex-editor’s messages so he can tattle him later and OMG NO BEACH EPISODE) while leaving some unnecessary ones in.

The good part of Gekkan Shoujo is where it pokes fun at Nozaki’s manga. sometimes when you read a manga you find things that are unintentionally funny, Gekkan Shoujo focuses on that aspect sometimes. For example Nozaki’s manga is about a girl named Mamiko that fell in love with a boy named Suzuki and at some point Nozaki’s new Editor notices some panels are exactly the same with Mamiko saying “Suzuki-kun” over and Over again (this reminded me of Orihime from Bleach). Another funny example is when Nozaki found it easier to leave backgrounds black (again Bleach? :P). As I said the anime has a good amount of details. For example they cared enough to show you a basketball poster in Nozaki’s room just to foreshadow his previous involvement in Basketball and his friendship with Wakamatsu.

The best part of the anime is the voice acting and is filled with experienced voice actors.(Ari Ozawa, Sakura’s VA is still new and it is her debut role as a main character and she really done a great job). Sometimes they make even unfunny jokes funny. As for most of comedy shows there are no memorable tracks or music but it is fine. The animation while is good is not something special either. Character designs are faithful to manga and everything is smooth. also i find the OP good and silly at the same time. also thank god for the character designs. sometimes only main characters are drawn good but here everyone feels the same and the whole world is pretty not only the main guys !

It’s not like Gekkan Shoujo has no weak points at all though, for example some characters act ignorant or stupid very convieniently sometimes(Seo is probably doing it on purpose, at least to Wakamatsu) or they act way too unreal.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun can be a weird anime. It is one of those that you think it is not that good but you keep watching it and keep enjoying it. Ultimately Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Barakamon are my comedy suggestions of Summer 2014.

First of all a big thanks to George Morikawa because he did something nearly impossible with Hajime no Ippo. He managed to keep his story interesting and his comedy fresh even after all these years. Sure it has it’s weaknesses(for example some short chapters in the manga plus some repeated stuff in the story etc) but it is still a great accomplishment that only a few are capable of.

The story is about Ippo a kid without any purpose in his life and fate decides to make a boxer out of him. This season focuses on his challenges to keep his special move sharp and fresh, ... the Dempsey roll. in the manga the reason for the focus on the Dempsey Roll is explained better but since madhouse tried to handpick parts of the story there had to be some changes so they could fill it all in their schedule which is still no biggie since Ippo is not the best part of the story for me anyway(cause most of the times we know he is gonna win so it takes the tension away for me at least). His coach Kamogawa and his hero Takamura are the best parts and both get to shine in this season. Takamura aimed to rule 6 classes and his fights are always exciting and we get to see his second conquest in this season with a classier opponent this time, Eagle. A man that is exactly the opposite of Hawk, not just in style but also in personality. This is specially for American so mangaka could show better to them that he is not against Americans!

Madhouse decided to put the best part at the end of the season of course and along with some changes they put the Kamogawa background story at the end of this season which is probably the best part of the whole story and it explains why Kamogawa and Nekota are in their current state(plus Dankichi). As for the other characters Aoki and Kimura are mostly for comical relief like most of the times (even Aoki’s serious fight was funny and unreal probably on purpose) and Manabu is yet to reach his best condition in the manga but he is not liked by many it seems so I guess it’s for the best. (I actually like his character specially his expressions during matches and his second fight with Imai but he seems to me just like an extra character just to extend the story and doesn't add anything meaningful. I get it that he is there to show the growth of next generation but if it is going to be the similar rivalry thing that happened in the previous generations then who cares?!...). as for female characters…sigh, Sport genre and good female characters usually don’t go hand to hand(there are some strong or useful ones in some stories still as characters they are not that interesting). also this season shows one of the key messages the manga has: the importance of rivals.

The animation doesn’t seem too much improved to be honest specially when you watch Kuroko no baske’s second season and see the improvement there in the short time it had from it’s previous season(although they didn't keep it up till the end) but it still feels a little cleaner and sharper than before. voice acting is strong just like previous seasons although Kamogawa’s voice actor passed away (rest in peace) so they had to replace him. Sadly they replaced him with Miguel’s voice actor but many probably don’t even remember Miguel so who cares and they might not even adopt Wally’s story so he might not be needed since if there is going to be a fourth season they might go for another epic fight or something (Volg’s fight would be good if they could somehow include it too since they had to show Volg this time too so it would be cooler narrative-wise but guess for that reason they should go for Randy J too.). also Coach’s voice in his earlier days didn't fit him(it is done by Mamoru Miyano mostly famous for Light Yagami) it was obvious they were just trying to use a famous Voice actor cause he is an important character but to be honest the fact that it doesn't fit is not a bad thing cause not all characters should have voices that matches their faces or style and as long as voice actors do their job fine they are fine. As for OP and ED I didn’t enjoy them although they made a smart use of a front page of one of the chapters in the ED which I liked.

2013 was filled with great sport anime like Yowamushi pedal, Kuroko no Baske Season 2 and Diamond No Ace and sport fans are hopefully pleased. Hajime no Ippo Rising doesn't lose to those anime of course and it is a worthy adaptation. also Hopefully George Morikawa will start another Takamura fight soon or something as epic so Madhouse gets more tempted for another season.

Let me be honest here.at first when the first episode of Gatchaman Crowd came out I didn’t like it so i decided to put it on hold and give it another shot after it ends.this time however I actually liked it better and marathoned the whole thing.the problem with Gatchaman is like many other stories it leaves many things unexplained and it is up to your imagination to come up with some sort of logical explanation and misunderstandings are bound to happen because of it.also not all of them can be really logically explained unless you write a complete fan-fiction by yourself which is the ... main problem here.(even in sci-fi and fantasy stories there are rules to explain things otherwise it becomes a mess and anything can be explained without any reason which is no fun).Gatchaman uses aliens as an excuse to talk about some serious issues like the problems with “chains of commands” or “extra expectations from heroes or superiors” and it’s huge ambition is its double-edge sword that caused more harm to it than good since it only deals with the surface of the problems and to be honest underestimates them.we all know that the show targets teenagers but that doesn’t mean the writing should be done like it is a work of teenagers as well !(sadly this is not limited only to this show)

Lets get it straight.most of the cast are all useless idiots that are waiting for the protagonist to guide them with her magical words.Gatchaman is a group of heroes that tries to protect the universe from aliens.the latest generation is leaded by Pai that throughout his battles lost his confidence and is drowning in doubt whenever a time for decision shows up and he relies on JJ the one that gave Gatchaman their powers while in his heart he knows he won’t answer,basically he runs away and because of that he becomes ashamed of himself and hurts his own self-esteem in the process and continue to run away and the circle goes on.characters on Gatchaman have problems like these that makes them real but at the same time they are not executed well which ruins it and by that I mean they act too stupid and slow sometimes while they get convinced with only words too easily after.the main problem here is Hajime-chan.she is trying to be this weird kid that knows everything while acting stupid and pretend she doesn’t know anything which could be cool if others weren’t so stupid.but that is not the main problem with her.she tries to confront everything head-on and in an honest manner while in reality only honesty won’t solve all your problems specially problems at that scale.she gets chosen by JJ as a Gatchaman probably because of her power to sense JJ (probably that is how everyone got chosen so far) and have to deal with a team of heroes that in reality are not a team nor heroes and later have to solve the problem with the Crowds.the interesting part is they really don’t know what they are up against at first either so they attack anything that looks like a threat until Hajime question this act and tries to break the rules by ignoring the chain of commands.then slowly she helps everyone to realize their mistakes with her magical words and again poor execution makes it more annoying than enjoyable even though without considering the stupidity of other characters she can be likeable.as for other members we have Joe that think of himself as someone special and coo at firstl,OD a half-human that is the second smart person in the team but can’t do much cause the consequences of his power are great,Sugane which is a Samurai-Soldier hybrid in personality and Utsu-tsu that can’t connect with others well.also there is Rui that joins them later,he is the admin of GALAX,a cool idea that allows people to be connected with each other and possibly help out each other all the time even though in reality government won't allow something as powerful as that to be run by a kid alone and at least they will consider it a serious threat and will always be on the hunt for its source but well things like that are not fleshed out at all in the story.

the good thing about the story is its villain and the main reason for it being good is its damn voice actor.Mamoru Miyano voiced Berg-Katze the antagonist of the story and really made it alive,although he is no stranger to these kinda roles which Is why he was picked in the first place probably.other than that the voice acting for others are nothing out of ordinary mostly because they are not as challenging as Katze.the music you hear most is the “Gatchman Music” in the background and the rest of the tracks are not memorable(if there is any more OST that is cause not sure all I can remember is that one track…) and not as catchy as that,although the OP is good.the animation&art are nothing impressive either not that they are bad but there is nothing special as for their gatchman form they use a 3d model something like in Tiger&Bunny.the whole anime has some sorta similarities to that anime as well but the difference is that the former doesn’t aim too big to screw it up and actually tries to make things better as it gets near to the end instead of making more questions and possible plotholes.

Anyway Gatchaman Crowd tries to talk about many subjects at the same time in its short time and while it fails because of that it has a fun weird atmosphere which is enjoyable if you are a fan of these sorta things and can surprise you at times.

Shingeki no Kyojin is based on a manga by Isayama Hajime.it got adapted by Production I.G after their great adaptation of Kuroko no baske.both are among the Hyped ones in their own seasons and fortunately they both deserve it to some extent.some may rise against the hype and some of them have the rights to cause neither this or KnB are the masterpiece some claims they are but both are among great works in the industry and deserves some of the praises they get.

The story is about a time when humanity is surrounded by titans and forced to cage itself in big walls for protection.one ... day though after years of peace a mysterious colossal titan appears out of nowhere and attacks the humanity and their walls leading many titans inside the walls.this attack leads to an event that sets our protagonist on a revenge journey so he joins an elite group tasked to fight with the titans.that is not all of the story however and it looks good already and it also has another side.the mystery side.at the same time there are also things happening in the story that you will realize later and there are some good hints implemented about them in some parts for mystery fans.as good as the story is it is far from masterpiece though.for example Eren’s squad is filled with the key people for the future events which isn’t very realistic but still overall SnK has a very good story with good presentation although keeping it up till the end is gonna be hard.

While the story has many supporting characters sadly only a few of them are realistic.Eren the protagonist is your typical hot-headed naive brat which only do things with courage and his temper although I still like naïve characters that get to taste cruel things and grow up because of it but I don’t really support one dimensional angry kids…Mikasa is a girl that because of her hard past is apparently very powerful now and is perfect in many ways and through out the series everyone praises her until your ear bleeds. sadly having a hard past is hardly an excuse for being powerful since surely she is not the only one that suffered during those times but the creator wanted to have a powerful heroine so there you have it.at least the mangaka didn’t try to make her a beauty queen as well although in the anime they beautified everyone cause that’s a rule in animations it seems.she also doesn’t have any goal in her life so she just follows Eren cause she owes him(maybe there is a mysterious reason for that too beside her debt to eren since SnK love mystery)..sadly in the industry there is no middle ground for most of female characters,they are either too strong or too weak unless they are villains and in that case they only get good when the plot needs them to…on the other hand we have Armin,Eren’s friend that lacks the perfection and confidence but is actually a better character than both of them while ironically is not as popular and the reason for him being better is simple because he has better development through out the story and he is more real.the good thing about the three of em is that Eren is not the only one that steals the glories and the three of them helps and influence each other again and again and none of the three are useless which is a fact that I love about SnK.unfortunately the rest of the cast are usually titan food and are used for shock values except those that are important to the plot and most of them aren’t well developed although I can see their appeal for example Levi being among the strongest or Sasha being cute while hungry and weak and trying to be strong but still those doesn’t count as huge development or characterization although it is not that there is zero development here for example Jean’s growth can be easily seen through out the story or Sasha getting stronger a little later.also the characters are saved by the story and the dialogues for example I enjoy most of Reiner’s dialogues and actions cause its all misleading but at the same time it is not aiming to deceive the audience that much and its mostly aimed for deceiving the characters.you may think with yourself that screw development but sadly in these kind of stories which swing a death hammer on characters often knowing about some of them can make us care more about their death.it is true that the characters inside the story doesn’t need to know about them but the audience of the anime should know otherwise it turns into Danganroppa: The Animation.

As I said shock value plays a big part in the series that sometimes works but not always.the first reason is as mentioned above lack of development.the second is some forced ones like the first scene with the survey corp which tries to show how helpless the humans are but just doesn’t have the impact it is meant to have although it is just my opinion on the matter…also sadly being branded as shounen you will see many adults being useless or stupid while kids doing the works but since 3D gear is probably better for young ones you can justify them doing some of the fights or doing it better at least.
The art and character designs are sorta faithful to the manga but not that much which can be both good and bad since it effects presentation for example Misaka’s character in manga is presented better because of the dark impressions she gives in the manga while in the anime she is just a pretty face for viewer’s sake(first ED’s art can be considered closest to the manga’s art and design).on the other hand they did well with little details that weren’t included in the manga’s art to make it look better.while the production value is high and the animation is good when it is needs to be in some episodes you can easily see them saving budgets for big events so don’t get discouraged by those episodes although sadly many episodes feature long recap of previous events so you can be discouraged by that :D.but a good visual is not the only thing that this anime has.epic music was very helpful to the mood of the series specially with the good opening song that can give you a first impression of what kind of music you are gonna deal with through out the series.the voice acting is also strong although it cannot be considered a challenge for trained VAs.

Overall the team actually put a lot of effort into this anime it is not just some random high budget one and since the material was good to begin with they managed to succeed once again so don’t be fooled by haters and give this a try if you like action genre.lets hope they continue with another season when they got enough material.also I gave this 8.5/10 but sadly MAL’s scoring system is flawed so it turns into 8/10 here.

Aku no Hana in truth is the plant that grew in the “other side” and is the source of madness for all the characters.it is a giant eye in the shape of flowers that watch over them all and with their madness it remains open.it also questions the conformist life style and shows it’s ups and downs.
AnH is based on a manga by Oshimi, Shuuzou or at least the story is based on it but the studio that adapted it decided to mix it with a reality style animation (rotoscope or w/e) and the result was an unholy mix...not just because they tried to make ... it look real though it is because mixing anime world with reality is not an easy thing to do and they tried to make the characters and other things real as well in a bad way.sadly Aku no hana anime failed but at least it tried but as a result what could have been an 8/10 turned into this.

Aku no hana is a different read from the usual things around.we all like unexpected things in the stories and the Aku no Hana tries to be unexpected.but we need a reason or motivation to like them.simply caring for mad characters that harm others is...a waste of time.although it can be considered a good thing when we have time to waste….sadly it seems that I am mostly going to talk about negative things about this anime but that doesn't mean it doesn’t have good points.for example it makes you yearn for more to see what happens next cause it is unusual and Aku no hana is good at presenting the story so it helps a lot and also the opening songs are interesting but the negative points were the things that drove me to write a review since it didn't do justice to the manga.

in reality Aku no hana manga is about a boy that turns into a freak for the sake of a girl and it was about the madness that sorrounds them and took the shape of a flower.the story itself is simple.it is about mistakes and misunderstandings of teenagers about the events of their life.although not sure that is what the mangaka wanted it to be but in reality that is what this anime is.the main focus is characters take on the events of the story.Takao is in love (or so he thought) with a girl name Nanako and by pure accident one day he finds her gym cloths in the class and without thinking he is forced to take them with himself.while what he did was wrong it wasn't the greatest sin of all times and he could just laugh about it when he grew up but since he was a teenager he was more pure and it was enough to make him feel very bad about himself.although since middle schoolers in Aku no hana have thinking patterns and psychologies of adults one cannot simply accept that whenever they make a wrong call it is becuz they are middle schoolers but sadly many anime these days have this loophole.although the anime is yet to reach deeper parts of the story where characters express their thoughts more so maybe its too harsh to judge the anime for that yet.Nakamura is another character in the story that tries to be weird.although in the manga she doesn't need to "try" but in anime perphaps because of it’s style she just doesn't fit.she saw what Takao did and use that chance to tame him into a man he wants him to be.Nakamura hates everyone and thinks that life is boring and she doesn't want to be normal and boring.while she could be a good character she is too extreme and that makes her annoying at some points specially in the anime.in the end even Takao wants to be like her and that explains why he never resist her abuses to an extent.but what both characters didn't realize again maybe becuz they were too young was that if they think everyone else is normal and boring then no one is or maybe those things that are deemed normal like love/hate and marriage are bound to meanings of life and many people values them and while they didn’t need to accept it they have to respect it!

but one thing that takao got right about himself was that he is empty.that is why he was easily changed by Nakamura even though probably he had a talent for being a perv too.also sadly the only normal person in the story is Ai, Nanako’s friend and others are just too extreme.Nanako thinks that what Takao did is completely alright while Takao thinks that he did the greatest sin and Nakamura things everyone is trash and sadly there is no middle ground and no one else tries to teach them that.and like many other animes their parents are just useless.(or maybe becuz they were useless that the kids turn out like that).although I am not saying that main characters should be more logical to be acceptable,I am saying that no one is completely logical in the story…the irony that the anime decided to make aku no hana more real while it is not fit for one.not just becuz their parents aren't real enough as characters but becuz characters like Nakamura can't easily get adapted anywhere besides anime world.not that it is impossible but it is a hard work.one good thing about the anime is that the viewers are yet to see Nanako turn 180 completely since even if you fake your personality for a long time it will become a part of you no matter what and while changing yourself Is not impossible it can’t be done so quickly and a kid can’t be that complex in the first place...as you get close to the ending the anime gives you “school days” vibe a little although those that alrdy did read the manga knows that it won't go that way at least for now.

another thing is that there are a lot of wasted times in some episodes.characters walking for minutes or just stay silent for minutes...it just makes you wait more and by the end you just get a recap episode and some random shots from future chapters of manga and the anime just needed to adapt one more chapter for better ending but they decided to waste time with recaps and long walking scenes...(even though they were probably bound to limited budgets they could use it better).let us hope that they really do make another season with higher quality.

although in the end AnH's manga wasn't a masterpiece itself so the anime at best could get an 8/10,now it is 6.5/10 and I rounded up to 7 in hopes of a better next season if there is going to be one.

"Though i Devour Five Lands and Drink the Three Ocean Dry i am powerless Against the Sky,for i have neither Wings,nor Legs nor Hands.i am the World Snake and My Name is Jormungand"
Jormungandr is originally a son of Loki the Norse God and the enemy of Thor(his uncle).a great snake that is known as the World Serpent.although Jormungand anime is not directly connected to the mythology it uses the name to represent Koko's personality.she looks innocent and cute at first but with a look at her eyes you can see she is a Dragon without wings that devours the world.(she even has complexity with the ... sky like the original Jormungandr.as one of her men always says "nothing good comes from Koko and the sky")

Story and Characters

Jormugand starts with a young boy named Jonah that hates weapons but has nothing else to depend on and have to use them.an arms dealer named Koko hires him and they travel the world with Koko's team.in their travels and missions Jonah Learns about each of the team member's past and skills and we also learn why he is sticking around.(he also has to learn school stuff from the gang too but he ditches his classes most of the times).

every arc features an story about one of the Jonah's Squad mates,their background and their abilities in battlefield.even those that might seems less capable at the first glance can take your attention when they finished showing off in their own arc for example Mao seems like an empty character at first but when you find out that he is a family man and can rain six thousand steel arrows on his enemies with ease you see there is more to him.there are also characters that can get your attention and love from the beginning like Lehm or Valmer (my favorites from the squad)

throughout the story the squad get involved in some awesome fights featuring Guns,Blades and Blood(what more do you want?) but that's not all we get from Jormungand.behind every fight most of the time there is a mind game going on between Koko and her rivals.while the talk of blood and tricky games gives a serious theme to the series it always managed to have its own style of comedy as well which is mostly shown at the start of every arc(R going perv on Valmer or Lutz playing Paintball with Jonah).another good thing about Jormungand is that no one is invincible in it and in every mission you get the feeling that someone may die specially with the way they adopted the manga.(like Ugo's scene that they made a cliffhanger out of it).even the mighty Lehm can get Knock out anytime like real humans.although you will see some unreal things in this anime as well like dodging hundreds of bullets...

Animation

you can feel the animation getting better through out the series.it always tries to be in synch with the ongoing theme for example you can feel a dark shade most of the times on battle scenes and a light one on comedy scenes.the character design is good as well although it doesn't completely stays true to the manga.

Sound

"her name is Koko she is Loco i said Hell Yes!"
with good action scenes there is always a need for a good music as well to gives you enough adrenaline rush and Jormungand is successful at that.the BGM and OSTs in this series are one my favorites.also its worth mentioning that the series has a good Opening theme done by Mami Kawada named Borderlands as well.
also they did a good job at voice casting and it has .Valmer and Lehm are perfectly fit from the beginning and we heard their voice on similar characters before so that helps as well.you might think that Koko's Voice is little of at first but the more you get to know her the more you see that it suits her well.they even brought Isobe, Tsutomu as Bookman which is nostalgic since he voiced Dutch in Black Lagoon(a similar anime.also both of their mangas are being published in the same magazine)

Enjoyment and Overall

Jormungand might not seems like something complex at first but the more you get to know it the more you feel its not just a simple gunfight anime and that the creator actually put a lot of thought and feeling behind the story and characters and the staff did a good job at bringing it to life.