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The animation in this show was amazing and worth the watch purely for its style. I love seeing anime that pushes the boundaries of convention in a way that is artistic, Ping Pong did just that. There were some breathtaking scenes that were matched by incredible sound design and score.

Each character design was unique, the voice acting was good (though I felt they cast a little too old for some of the characters who are supposed to be teenagers) and I definitely got a strong sense for who everyone was by the end of this short show.

The problem I had with it was ... simply the story wasn't quite engaging enough for me. It was decent enough and I liked the characters, but I didn't feel truly connected to any one individual. It felt like a collection of character studies, which were great, but when the only thing that stitches them together is ping pong it's hard to get truly invested in the overall story.

Saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Ping Pong, but for me it was a good "one watch" type show.

I started watching Hanasaku Iroha immediately after finishing (and loving) Shirobako. I wasn't expecting to love this show on the same level, but I wanted another slice of life type anime. What started off promising turned into such a drag to get through. The first half of the show I enjoyed - I didn't mind the premise and I liked the characters enough to get on board, but around the halfway point the quality of the story plummeted.

[Slight spoilers in this review] I think the problem I had with it was the cast of young characters, who I think I am just too old ... to appreciate because of their ridiculous high school problems that I don't relate to/care about in any way. The omurice episode had my rolling my eyes so far into my skull for example. I felt like their characters had potential in the beginning but their development slowed to a snails pace and didn't recover by the end. The adult characters were the ones I liked the most, but they weren't featured in favor of teen drama/slight fan service (we get it...shy girl has huge boobs).

I think the show tried to focus too heavily on making a job in hospitality more romantic and whimsical than it actually is. There is a genuine comradeship that comes with service jobs sure, I've experienced it, but not to the point where it becomes your entire life. All in all, and this is a rushed review, it wasn't for me.

(After watching final episode) I'm not crying, you're crying!

On to the review!

I loved the story of this show, the premise immediately caught my attention when it was recommended to me and it did not disappoint. "An anime about making an anime? Sure, that could be fun!" I thought the insight into the effort (and all the frustrating delays) that go into making anime was wonderful to watch over the duration of the show. I'll admit that, as a creative freelancer myself, this story resonated with me on a personal level and I felt it reflected what it's like to work on a project as a ... team of individuals all striving for greatness. I was surprised at the depth this anime had too, as it showed the path each person had in achieving/figuring out their dream.

The art style is what let this show drop from what could've been a 9 rating to an 8. While it was not bad by any means and there were some lovely moments of animation, especially when reviewing the creative process of the anime they were creating, in general this type of design doesn't overly impress me. I tend to lean towards striking art styles that can look a bit ugly at times, perhaps somewhat sketchy, rather than the clean look that this show had for the most part.

The characters were wonderful, while I thought the show would follow the five girls that are featured in the description I was pleasantly surprised at how much time was spent developing a vast cast of characters. I tend to gravitate towards female characters in general, but most of my favourite characters in this show were the men. They felt so genuine and for lack of a better description, real. I could tell that the writer of this show definitely used some real life experience to create such a colourful cast. I found myself pleasantly surprised at Shizuka's arc, which honestly had me crying like a baby by the end of it. The payoff of each character's story was so beautifully told and delivered, with minor exceptions such as with Misa and the late to the story Ai (who I found annoying for the most part!)

It's usually a good sign if I end up watching episode after episode of a show, one lazy Sunday I think I watched about 5 episodes in a row. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a funny, heart warming, slice of life story. For now I'll rate this an 8, but in time and with subsequent viewings it may creep up to a 9.

I really wanted to like this more than I did, which is why I ended up finishing it rather than dropping it.

When I began to watch The Ancient Magus' Bride I was really excited. I loved the concept, the initial world building, Elias as a character in particular and the lovely animation too. There were some nice, emotional moments near to the beginning that had me tearing up, so I was definitely open minded to give this show a chance to be something great.

Then...nothing really happened. As I'm typing this I actually can't remember what happened in the middle of this series arc ... and I JUST finished it. Each episode seemed to be about Chise being the best thing to walk the Earth and everyone falling madly in love with her for no convincing reason. Her only "flaws" were a) caring too much and b) not realizing how important she is. Yawwwn. This definitely felt like a shy girl's escapist dream where they have to do very little to appeal to others.

My favourite episodes were definitely the ones that focused more on Elias, which started to become few and far between towards the end in favour of highlighting lackluster Chise. I also want to mention his and Chise's dynamic, which for the most part is why I started to watch this show. How does a young woman end up being the bride to beast-skull-man-mage?! Instead of a intriguing progression of their relationship, where perhaps she would be fearful to begin with but then slowly fall for this being, it felt like a middle school love story of confusion, lots of glances, hand holding and ultimately no real substance. I wasn't expecting this to be some R-rated story, don't get me wrong, but their development as "man and wife" was just so arbitrary.

The music featured in the show was extremely cheesy, in my opinion, and made me cringe at times. The score was nice enough, nothing ground breaking, but not bad. Random note: *Spoiler* I dunno why when Chise would sing her sleep spell it would cut from her voice actress to a singer, it really took me out of the moment. *End spoiler*

What I did like about this show was the world, those character designs were fantastic, especially all the little creatures. I felt like this story had so much potential, there were rules in the world that were hinted at but never really explained. Everything just felt like it was touching the surface of what could've been a complex and rewarding story. Yet the world, the characters, the story - everything was shown at face value.