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Oy, Hollywood, you dropped this garbage on your way to the d̶u̶m̶p̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ cinema.

Sakugan must be the worst anime I've seen this year, and I've seen some big stinkers. Don't let the budget fool you, this thing is the equivalent of "The Acolyte" or "Madame Web". Good for it that it came out in 2021, cause it would be thorn to shreds today. To shreds, I say.

Where do I even begin with this? I guess we have to address the elephant in the room, so we'll start with the characters.
- Memenpu is one of the most unlikeable protagonists I've ever seen. Arrogant, dumb, extremely ... annoying and a Marry Sue to boot. I haven't seen a "Childcare" themed anime waste so much potential since Usagi Drop.
If you're expecting any heartfelt moments between father and daughter here, you're knocking at the wrong door. Memenpu will literally ruin every moment she is on screen.
There will be times where you're going to say "this is the perfect moment for some good old domestic violence". I swear the show is actively baiting that feeling out of viewers with how Memenpu is acting, but it delivers 0 slaps across the little rat's face (or gigantic forehead).

- The father, Gagumber, I nominate for worst father of the year. At least it's realistic how little he cares about Memenpu, despite the show drilling into your skull the complete opposite. Honestly, he's just there to entertain the audience and act like a plausible plot point on why Memenpu is allowed to do whatever she wants at 9 years old. He's nothing more than a pet on Memenpu's leash.

- Yuri. Who the hell even is this guy? He kind of just drops in one episode and sticks around like a pesky thistle.

- Zackletu. Ah, Zackletu. Honestly, I can't even write anything here because it would just probably be every swear word in the dictionary stringed together. The story of Zackletu isn't something that can be defined with words; it has to be experienced. Like a nausea, vertigo and migraine at the same time. The one thing I can say is that episode 8 must be the stinkiest turd ever crafted by a human mind.

The rest of the supporting characters aren't even worth mentioning as they're unidimensional and just help the story move along.

Speaking of the story, it's bland. If I had to summarize it as a food, I'd say oatmeal.
It's a shame, really. The setting almost gives you Made in Abyss vibes. And with a Father-daughter theme? *mhua* Chef's kiss. Easily could top the charts. But it's all so bland.
- There is no monster variety. The monster you see in episode 1 is the same as you'll see across the entire show.
- There is nothing to the world. We travel from city to city and most of the plot will happen within the confines of a city or another. I think there's a total of like 2-3 episodes that happen outside and even then it's bland.
- The world setting is poorly crafted. We're supposed to be underground, in a strange world, but this is literally just Earth environments with a cobblestone skyblock. You got a forest, a desert, a frozen biome, all exactly as you would expect them on the surface... just underground. Compare this to MiA where, when you hear Riko say "Whoa!" you know you're going to see something strange beyond human comprehension.

The animation is quite good. I wish we'd give this kind of budget to stories that deserve it. The CGI is, unfortunately, quite in your face. If it's a monster or a mech, it's going to be CGI. But I'll say it's not the lowest quality; maybe one or two ranks above it. The overall colors are nice and bright, the characters are all animated properly and the fight scenes would be ok if they weren't badly choreographed.

In conclusion, this anime gets Memenpu/10 points from me.

Yet another generic harem anime.

Honestly, if it weren't for a challenge, I wouldn't have watched this to the end.
There's a lot of issues with this show, but I think the main one is that it's a rugpull. "In another world with my smartphone", but the smartphone isn't even used 90% of the time. It's really just a Wattpad level competence porn. The protagonist is good at everything, can cast any spell for any situation, never runs out of mana, straight up copies Kirito's appearance, and I don't think he even gets hit in the whole show (outside gag situations where the girls smack him).
On top ... of competence porn, it's also straight up harem. I don't even know why he stops at 4 girls. Might as well charm one or two girls every episode if you want to go there.

I think I might have liked this if I was like 7 and this was my first anime. But for a developed brain, this is brain rot.
I counted exactly 1 joke. In the beach episode (because of course we have a beach episode), Touya and a plushie bear prepare to go for a swim, and, as they enter the water, the plushie is washed away by a wave. It was a visual gag that's easy to miss, but it caught me so off guard and it looked even more ridiculous on 2x speed. So I have to give it an extra point for that.
But otherwise the whole thing is dry. It's not even comedic. There is no plot, just a series of setup situations to showcase whatever cheat ability Touya remembered he has. The best thing I can say about it is that Touya at least kisses the girls towards the end of the show. It's a low bar, but other anime don't even cross that. So kudos, I guess.

Conclusion: would recommend for a bad anime challenge.

What did I even watch? What's the point to anything in this anime?
This feels like one of those books english teachers salivate over because it's drenched in allegory and meaning. Yet there's no entertainment to be found.

There are way too many rules in this world. Not only is it difficult to keep track of, but sometimes the plot breaks them too.
- Swords are grown and shattering a sword is bad. But we're never shown how a sword is grown. And towards the end there's a moist bint who just hands them out. So might as well throw this plot point out the window.
- ... People are anthropomorphized animals and Belle the protagonist is the only human around.
- There's an "army of insatiable emptiness" who does god knows what, because we aren't shown or told what they actually do.
- You need a contract with the king to become a nomad and travel the land, which basically boils down to serving in the army for 3 fights. But in addition to the contract, you must also take on a curse. But in addition to that, you also need a good enough reason to become a nomad. Belle has the checklist all ticked off and she's still not allowed, because the plot wants her to stay.
- Music makes things grow and repairs stuff, so everything is themed around concerts and the like.
- If you die, you sprout a plant that makes crows which send word of your death to your loved ones.
It all gets too overwhelming. It's like an Alice in wonderland story, but the wonderland is fuzzily described. You can't grasp the end of any thread of reason as to why anything is the way it is.

The plot can be summed up as Belle wanting to travel the land, so she fights in the military for the right to do so. Except once the checklist is completed she doesn't know what she wants anymore. Then we follow the love interest cat boy for another two episodes as he does a Sasuke and joins the bad guys?
But nothing of what happens is fun. Belle is a Marry Sue. There is no tangible enemy. It's all episodic villains who woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day. We even abandon the "traveling the land" plot towards the end. The "love story", if you can even call it that, makes me want to puke.
I know I'm kind of stringing almost unrelated things that annoyed me one after the other, but that's the whole show. A string of unrelated plots and characters stitched together like a Frankenstein's monster.

Save yourself the time and skip over this.

Strongest Exorcist has a good start, but it lost me by the end.
The isekai, for once, is not of someone from a modern world. The protagonist is one of those chinese cultivators that attained an infinite amount of power.
He is now reincarnated as Seika, a noble (but not too noble as to have any responsibilities) who has no magic, but uses his mastery over the four elements to trick people into believing he does.

Unfortunately, his past life as this amazing exorcist goes only as far as granting Seika the power to do whatever he wants any time he wants.
Most other isekai choose a twenty-something-year-old from ... the modern era because they're a blank slate. In a way, a sort of mechanism to self insert but also keep the story relatable to the viewer. By contrast, someone like "Haruyoshi Kuga" — an old and wise exorcist from whatever ancient era — he would come with some baggage.
Be it cinicism from old age, or a particular way of drinking tea, or his regards of what clothes women should be allowed to wear. AT LEAST GIVE HIM SOMETHING! But no, he's as much of a blank slate as the next isekai protagonist.

And, of course, he's awesome and perfect out the gate. And a saint to boot.
There is no situation that poses a threat. The most he'll struggle with is his relationship with women, like most of these shows go.
So I wonder, why is it that Seika is cringe, but Ainz from Overlord is awesome? They're both equally overpowered.
In my opinnion, it's because of the focus. In Overlord, Ainz is a quasi-protagonist. You'll notice that when he does something, it's not his reaction that we focus on, but the reaction of the people around and that of his enemies. It's not the amazing spells that Ainz casts that make the viewer giddy, but the exaggerated expressions of the people around him.
In contrast, the author of Strongest Exorcist has written himself into the opposite corner. Seika doesn't want to "stand out" because that's how he perished in his past life, so now all his maneuvering is covert. On one or two occasions, this was done well as we focused on his enemies. But most of the time, Seika will just go somewhere, parry an attack with his amazing shields or whatever and immediately kill the bad guy; end of story. And there's nothing for the viewer to enjoy.

Seika's goal of not standing out is also extremely frustrating. In short, this is a mechanism for the writer to say sometimes "I won't get involved" whereas other times "I will get involved". What is too much standing out? That's for the author to decide. It's as vague as a cloud, and even this motivation is outright dropped like 75% through the show.
Really, from start to finish there is no goal. There is nothing happening. The most this show has ever set up was a group of discount akatsuki that die as soon as they meet Seika. It's all just a series of adventures that will probably end up with Seika saving one of the harem girls he has gathered in order to accumulate an infinite amount of good boy points that he'll never cash in.

In conclusion: a great start that might fool you into believing this is decent, but by the end you'll probably give this a score under 5

A disappointing adaptation, like the rest of the show.

Once again, I'm feeling left down by Overlord. The original source material — volumes 12 & 13 — were one of my favourite parts of the series. But the adaptation falls short of their great potential.

To start with, I think the most egregious mistake of the movie is pacing. The book takes this very slowly; I believe Ainz spends about an entire year in the Roble Holy Kingdom. The pacing of the movie, unfortunately, fails to communicate this entirely. We jump from incomplete scene to incomplete scene at the beginning in a mad rush to get to ... our... supporting character Ainz. Yes, Ainz is a supporting character in vol 12 & 13. But the movie is obsessed to keep him on screen at the detriment of the actual protagonists: Neia & Remedios. I was very disappointed to see that we rush through some paramount scenes at the beginning that establish the nation of Roble, the rulers, and the characters of Neia & Remedios.
The pacing continues going extremely fast even after we get Ainz on the screen. After all, they've adapted 2 entire books here in the span of 133 minutes.
I was initially taken aback by the decision to blend 2 separate conflicts into a single one, but I'll let that one slide; thinking back on it, it wasn't that bad of an idea. But other scenes are a complete head scratcher as to why they were changed. Case in point: the setting of the last battle was changed completely. If that scene makes it to Shadiversity, and he compares book to movie, I think Shad would actually die.

Speaking of which: fight scenes.
These books had plenty of fight scenes, and some of them very flashy too. What does the movie do? That's right, cut away from them.
In fact, there's a hilariously bad scene in the middle of the movie that was seemingly put there to make the trailer and that's about it. They actually switched animations for about 5 seconds there as Ainz and his enemy are about to clash, only for the movie to immediately cut away after the scene. A shame too, because in the book this is one of the moments where Ainz finally puts together all the lessons learned from Clementine and the Martial King in a detailed fight worthy of the likes of Brandon Sanderson.
To sum this point up, you won't be looking up on YouTube any fight scenes to relive the moment after the movie is done. They're all pretty rubbish.

Third point: animation.
Usually, anime switch styles between show and movie. The movies usually get the princess treatment with about as much budget in 1 minute of film as the show had in 10. But Overlord likes to break the mould like that, so you're getting the same kind of animation you had in the show.
- CGI out the wazoo. If there's more than 3 people in a scene, it's going to have nasty 3D CGI. It's not even above average.
- Panning shots and more panning shots. I know Overlord is heavy on dialogue, but for a movie, can you not pan over a character from feet to head as they speak?
- I mentioned this above, but I'll mention it again here: bad fight scenes. If the entire movie had the look of those 5 seconds I mentioned (and you'll notice them when you watch it), it would have easily bumped it up to an 8 for me. But the movie isn't even ashamed of showing fight scenes with looping 0.5s gifs of CGI monsters fighting.

Conclusion
Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom is unfortunately a mediocre adaptation to a great book. If you're watching this without having read the source material, I'm afraid you won't really understand the scenes you are presented, the characters and their motivations or many other things that were left out. This movie is the studio's first straight-to-film adaptation (the previous 2 movies being recaps) and I think it was a bad call. The show is bad enough compacting 3 books at a time into a single season, but the studio has shown us things can get much, much worse. Unfortunately, if you're an anime only fan, this will be all you're getting, and it's a shame.

What if an idiot had a time machine?

Stein's Gate is a weird one. It doesn't have a fantastic plot. In fact, I'd say the plot is what drags it down for me.
But the characters make up for it. The cast have a great dynamic, and most of them are lovable.

I would find it difficult to recommend, however. The length feels a bit stretched; the plot is comprehensible, but the way the characters carry it out is pretty weak; and I think Okabe really drags the story down.
As I mentioned at the start, he's an idiot. I hate that he's so well written that I can't ... hate him even more, but he still ruins the experience quite a bit.

The rest of the cast is pretty lovable in comparison.
Mayuri, for me, started out as a bit annoying in the first episode. That's due to the voice and mannerisms. But, again, she's well written and quickly takes the spotlight. Especially with that "tutturu".
Kurisu is like the voice of reason. She puts Okabe back on track multiple times. And I am grateful that she was given this almost supernatural ability to understand the situation.
Hashida is the comedic factor. It was interesting to see that, instead of making the fat guy the butt of the joke, he's actually the one who cracks them at Okarin's expense.
The rest of them are mostly supportive. I don't particularly like what they did with them; the way every character is somewhat interconnected. I think it would have been fine to leave some unaffiliated.

I don't think Stein's Gate deserves to be up there with the greatest anime.
It's passable. It hooked me for the first 10 episodes, but, at some point, it starts dragging its feet. I don't think any 10/10 anime would make me have to put in effort to finish it. It should come naturally.

In conclusion, I'd say Stein's Gate is a good drama, but only a passable sci-fi time-travel story.

Absolutely loved it! It's deranged and all over the place, but in a good way.

I'm not a fan of gourmet anime. In fact, I think this might just be my first. But this show has won my heart.
I'm a big fan of Made in Abyss, and I think the "exploring hole-to-the-nether" setting is one of the best for storytelling.
The characters and their dynamic are spectacular. You'll love every one of our main cast as well as supporting characters.
The comedy is spot on! The show takes itself seriously, but manages to weave in some great LOL moments.
And the gourmet side is not intrusive at all. In ... fact, you'll be actively looking forward to seeing the finished products.

Going in, I didn't know what to expect. On one hand, I saw a lot of praise on social media before going in, but on the other, I didn't think an anime about cooking would capture my interest. But boy, was I wrong. This is so much more than meets the eye.

First up, I like that – from the get-go – we have a clear goal in mind. A lot of adventure anime might leave the goal for episode 4 or halfway through the show, when the world was established and the characters are introduced.

Secondly, I love the world setting. The tried and true medieval time-setting (+magic) that makes the world believable. Combine that with my favorite trope of an unknown abyss that presents dangers greater and greater as you descend. It just piques your curiosity.

Next up: the main cast. You'll love them. One particular aspect that might go unnoticed as you watch is that these characters evolved with the story. But, at the same time, you'll find nuggets of personality that they've expressed in ep1 all the way at the end of the show. They're still the same people even after all the hell they've been through.

And the story is fantastic. Cookie cutter anime would not go in a 10km radius of where this show goes. It oozes originality in a way that is complemented by the gourmet theme. You could not do this in any other show. And it gets better and better as we progress. I particularly liked how jokes and gags do actually play a role later in the story.

And the show leaves off perfectly for a Season 1. You'll have to see for yourself, but the oppressive, dark place where it ends gives you a melancholic feeling that just makes you crave more.

In conclusion: a perfect rating. I can't wait for Season 2.

I had great expectations going in, seeing all the buzz about this show on social media, but it does not live up to the hype.

The greatest flaw of Kaijuu No.8 is that it does not do anything original apart from the premise. You've seen it a million times already, and you'll see it here: manufactured drama, bad characterizations and poor dynamics between protagonists.

The story holds up to an ~8 until half-way through, but does a dive after that.
I think the writer wants you to like Mina, Hoshina and the other supporting characters, but, as said, they all have poor relations with the protagonist and a ... lot of manufactured drama ensues because everybody stonewalls each other.

And, just like other cookie cutter stories, Hibino has to keep proving himself over and over again like a monkey at a circus. The bond he forms with his fellows is completely useless. A great storyteller would weave all of this personal debt that Hibino gathers throughout the show into a powerful moment where everyone has his back... but no; he still has to dig himself out of the hole others dug him in.

And what's up with Hibino being comic relief? He's literally the only character in the entire show that doesn't take things seriously. And it just doesn't work. For the most part, he's not even a fellow comrade; he's just the class pet. And it's even worse since nobody laughs.
Like, imagine if RBF Mina was all tsundere and everything, but Hibino the clown walks in, and she laughs at every joke situation. That might work. But all the comedy here is meant for the audience, not in-universe.

What about the story? Eh, it's fine. A bit JJK-esque even. But the villains get little screen time. They're evil for the sake of evil, they don't communicate between themselves. Don't build any plans or team up.
I really liked the bad guys in JJK. They have a great dynamic together, and you can see them building towards something. But there's nothing of the sort in Kaijuu No.8.

In conclusion, a very mid-range meh anime that you can skip without feeling like you've missed anything.

I'm on the lookout for anime that don't deserve their rating. This one isn't it.

My main issue is that none of the characters are relatable. Maybe I'm just too old for this kind of stuff, or maybe because I'm a man, but I could not connect or cheer for any of the characters here. They all have good moments, but just when it gets good, it feels like another one of our main cast steps on the foot of the character we're focused on. Heck, there are like 2 or 3 moments where the suspense is actually tangible, but then they drop a cliché interruption ... that just ruins the moment.

The first few episodes do actually have a good hook. It's something new that we don't see in generic high-school anime. But, for me, as the story progressed, I felt like I could not stand most of the main cast.
As controversial as Hongou's relationship is, I think that one worked out the best, in the end, as it's so sequestered from everybody, and we actually get to explore her thoughts and feelings the best.
The rest of the girls, however, I almost completely hated. In fact, I was actively hoping that they would fail in their endeavors.
They all try to get with boys for one reason or another, but the way they go about it is, for lack of better terms, dumb and annoying. This is why I say I might be too old for this kind of stuff; I just wouldn't have the patience to put up with their shenanigans.

I would say that there are 2 parts to the story here. There is a tipping point around halfway through.
The main cast stops being so exhausting after that, but the plot doesn't get any better. The girls actually start stepping on each other's toes even more after that.
Honestly, it kinda made me wish the story would just go haywire like in School Days towards the end. There is some mild tension that could actually explode in a glorious way, but unfortunately the author never sets fire to the keg. Instead, we get a wishy-washy ending that solves all the problems and everybody lives happily ever after.

It is sad to see a story that has a strong start become more and more generic as it goes on. This could have been much better.

This sequel fully deserves the rating it has.

I'm sure, by now, all that had to be said has already been said in the numerous negative reviews. But I'll add to the pile anyway.
The second season has a massive tone-shift from the first. It is a completely different genre and doesn't hold up to even 1% of the first season. It is as if an isekai writer — and not even a good one at that — has picked up the series and was tasked with ending it.
Well, he ended it alright. Ran it straight into the ground.

The events of the second series pick up exactly ... where the first one left off. And we're immediately shoved into this new magical world full of wonders and dangers... that do not resemble the fauna and flora of the farm in the slightest. It's as if our children lived in Sandy Cheeks's underwater habitat and suddenly, when they go past the wall, they're in Bikini Bottom. I don't think I have to elaborate why that is just bad writing.

But all that is fine. You changed the setting, you changed the dynamic, you changed the goals. That is all peachy.
Where is stops being peachy is around the halfway mark. I don't want to give any spoilers, but if you thought things were bad until here, they suddenly plummet.

Massive character assassinations, all for the sake of progressing the plot. A stupid plot to begin with. And, of course, a very anime-ish Heel-Face Turn because god forbid our protagonists stand for what they believed in 5 minutes ago.
Now if you thought episodes 7 or 8 were a plummet, from here it's like a piece of shit detaching from a falcon doing a skydive at 200km/h.

Massive plot holes and very, extremely, unequivocally poor — both in taste and execution — plot twists that frankly serve no purpose and are set up and revealed in like a span of 5 minutes.
Heck, one of them is set up at the end of an episode and immediately revealed at the beginning of the very next, right after the intro. In fact, had they waited with the plot twist like 5 minutes, they might have had some suspense there for a second, but the action scene that follows lands flat on its face because of this.

And to top it all off, we don't even get an impactful ending to the story. The best analogy I have for that ending is: you're falling to your death; the end is in sight; you can taste it! The sweet release of death after an arduous journey. But just before you hit the ground, you actually fall on a whoopee cushion (like a small one, not big enough to save your life) that makes a fart sound and literally ruins even your death.

I cannot comprehend how we can go from a season 1 that, I would argue, rivals the writing levels of Death Note (both in tension and intensity) to a season 2 that is a subpar isekai.
My advice: consider the ending of season 1 as all there is. The kids escaped and they lived happily ever after. The end.
You can come up with head cannon that is better than this.