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I played Tekken 1, 2, 3, and Tag back in the day. I always dug Tekken (and Soul Edge/Calibur) more than the Street Fighter because it was more realistic for a fighting game. Fireballs and flaming kicks, I dunno. But jabs and roundhouses, yeah I can do those. And then Tekken had stand-ins for Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, a WWE wrestler, and a bear. How cool are those? And the soundtrack for Tekken 3 was funky as hell. Those baselines killed it. I still have the Jin, Hwoarang, and Nina tracks on my playlist. Tekken was always so damn cool.

So how about the ... latest anime? It was ‘right. Not great. Not even good. But alright. I made it through all 6 episodes and only got a little bored along the way. There are worse things to watch out there.

Story
This is a retelling of the story from Tekken 3. Being a fighting game and 6 episodes long, there is not much to it.

Our boy grows up in a forest because that’s how you raise well-adjusted young men. His mother trains him in martial arts emphasizing honor, compassion, and the noble values. And then he decides to crash his grandpa’s and learns the ass-hole version of karate. There is a fighting tournament and people fight. Along the way, they touch on archaeology, mysterious disappearances, and the family business.

Art
The animation was not good overall. It looked cheap. They took every shortcut to save on the budget – slow pans over still frames, still character models with only their mouth moving, and low frame rate.

The artwork was okay. The faces and the animation style looked off but could pass for the characters I know and love.

The fights were pretty good. They modeled the moves from the game - Paul and Hwoarang had their unblockables, Xiaoyu did her AOP, and Jin & Heihachi had their godfists. They animated the impact effects faithfully too. I loved the impact effects from the game – the energy balls when you hit, the mixed colors of the counterhit, and the ice dust on block. In the anime, there were times when critical strikes were thrown and they would turn the image black and white to amplify the impact. Those were cool.

They tried to highlight the strengths of the strikes rather than speed and fluidity. That’s a minus in my book. High level Tekken play looks amazing. You get the characters dashing, sidestepping, and feinting in between landing pokes and counters. And then there are the juggles. I was hoping to see some of the classic Tekken movement in the anime but was let down. And then the director went a little crazy with the camera angles. Not a fan.

Sound
Not great but not awful. I watched it in Japanese and the voice acting was competent. The voices sounded like they belonged to the characters and they were dramatic where they needed to be.

The music was below standard. Tekken 3 had one of the most kickass game OSTs of all time. They got that 70s funk guitar sound and the groovy-af baselines. I was hoping for that in this anime but got none of it. Instead, it’s just the standard electric keyboard orchestra.

The opening and closing themes were uninspired. Just boring wannabe dramatic orchestral music. I will mention that the OP featured the arcade cabinets. They honored the roots.

Characters
Yeah, they were there. Jin, the angry anime devil boy. Jun, his noble mother. Heihachi, the abusive granddad. Some of the other popular chars were there too. Nothing special. No surprises. We get a little bit of an arc with Jin but nothing interesting.

Enjoyment
I made it through 6 episodes on the strength of nostalgia and okay fight animation. They play the story straight forward. There was a little bit of the flashback-induced-finding-inner-strength power up at the end that reached for the next level of drama. In those moments, the music and the animations were flat and they didn’t reach the level of anime drama that I’m used to.

Overall
This anime didn’t crap the bed but wasn’t as cool as I had hoped. I liked it because it was about a video game that I remember fondly. If I hadn’t played Tekken, I would not have stopped halfway through. Tekken Bloodlines is average 5/10 but I’m giving it +1 for nostalgia. 6/10.

Nuku Nuku is a fun. It's got the catgirl, robots, big business, a school, a restaurant, the beach, and space. Mash it all together and you've got wacky 90s anime.

Story
Don't take it too seriously. It's just there. Here is the lowdown: The father and mother are divorced. The mother is the president of a business conglomerate that builds weapons for the military. The father has custody of the son. To alleviate his loneliness, the father makes his son a companion: a battle android with a cat's brain. Why? Because anime.

The episodes follow the catgirl, Nuku Nuku, and her shenanigans with the father, son, ... mother, and misc characters. In most of the episodes, the mother tries to gain the favor of her son by sabotaging the father and Nuku Nuku. Her attempts involve robots, missiles, and her henchwomen. It's lighthearted, cartoony fun.

My fave episode plot: Nuku Nuku goes ham on Ryuunosuke's bike and wrecks it. She gets a job as a waitress to buy him a new one. Being a cute catgirl, she's a huge hit at the restaurant. The henchwomen get jealous and try to spoil the restaurant. Hijinks ensue.

Characters
The characters are one-dimentional and goofy. Nuku Nuku is our catgirl android. She's mostly indestructible and has the brains of a cat. You can think of her as A-ko (of Project A-ko) but a cat. There is the father, Kyusaku, and he's your stand-in for the neglectful, science researcher dad. Think Gendo from Evangelion but not that much of an asshole. There is the son, Ryuunosuke, who is a basic bratty kid. Akiko is the mother. You can think of her as Heihachi from Tekken minus the lightning. She runs a big military contractor conglomerate and is focused on her business but also wants a part of her son's life. There are the two henchwomen and then a rogue android girl.

They are not multi-layered characters who are the pinnacle of genius writing. They're just fun.

Art
The art is clearly from the 90s - it's in the 90s style, has faded colors, and some repeated sequences. Still though, you get some decent character designs, kinetic action sequences, and adequate visual quality. It's not the best but will not kill the experience.

Sound
The VA is good. Nuku Nuku sounds cute and quirky without being loli. The mother character does the same laugh as Kodachi from Ranma (same VA, I knew it!).

The music is actually pretty good. The OPs and EDs are sung by Nuku's VA who sings in an actual singing voice. They're cute and upbeat, befitting of this anime. They have separate OPs and EDs for eps 1-3 and 4-6. I liked the 4-6 ones better. They are happy 90s pop music.

Enjoyment and Overall
I liked this anime. It's not top of the mountain stuff, not pushing the creative envelope, and not a critique on the human condition. They're goofy non-sense fun with a family's cat girl android. It's a cute and happy time filler.

Note: I watched this concurrently with Nekopara, another catgirl anime. I'm not all the way through that one yet, but I have to say that Nuku Nuku is the better of the two. I like the excitement, the wackiness, and the voice acting.

This guy reminds me of Shinji. Checks MAL. . . Hey it's Shinji's VA! It is Shinji. Nice!

JJK 0 is decent. It's not as good as the TV series. I thought of it like a two or three episode prequel arc. It's not going to any places we haven't been before with JJK. But it's solid and features our secondary trio of students.

Story
The story is based on the power of childhood love. Child Shinji-lite has a girlfriend and they love each other. He gives her a promise ring. Truck-kun breaks up the cute couple and Diet-Shinji is traumatized so badly that a curse manifests ... from his girlfriend. He grows up and has to learn to deal with his demons. Not a bad set up.

Gojou recruits Shinji to JJK school and he meets and trains with Maki, Toge, and Panda. Unbenowst to them, there is a bad guy moving in the midst to take advantage of Shinji.

The story is pretty basic and that's fine. Mysteries, plot twists, and nuanced storytelling isn't what JJK is about. JJK is a battle shounen. Did I care about the story? Yes, enough to get me through the hour and a half runtime.

Characters
The characters are a plus part of the JJK experience. Characters in JJK are likeable. They feel like real people who grew up in our modern society. The characters are rarely holier-than-thou, detached, warrior-monks that some shounen-type portray (Jedi types). Even our invincible man Gojou is wacky and has you wondering if he really should be doing what he is doing.

The characters in the movie are good. Yuta (Shinji) is the MC. He's your stand-in for the loner high school type. Maki calls him out for having no friends, being insecure, and the like and she is spot on. Maki has a healthy amount screentime (that's a good thing) and she is exactly the way she was in the TV series. Toge, Panda, and Gojou are here too.

The bad guy is someone from the TV series that I didn't remember. He is casual like Gojou and has a plan.

The best part about the characters was Yuta and the trio's interactions at school. I really enjoyed the parts where Yuta was asking Maki questions and she shut him down. She seemed cold to him at the time and he was taken aback. But he realized later that he got shut down because were sensitive subjects to her (family name & cursed energy) and realized that she wasn't actually trying to be mean to him. That's a good lesson in life and making friends in general. Yuta had other moments like that where he realized that Toge and Panda were his friends too. It was good stuff.

We see other characters too: The staff from JJK, the Kyoto crew, and Nanami. They show up quickly and have their moments but ultimately don't do much in the movie.

Art & Direction
The art was enjoyable. The TV series art was really good and the movie is at +1 on that. I'll just say that it's theatrical quality.

The action direction is top notch. It's awesome. They reuse some things from the TV show (the superman followup, the advantage switcheroo, misdirections) to good effect. When the music comes on, you know shit is going down.

The way the Black Flash is used is beautiful. I pumped my fist when it landed.

Sounds
The best parts of the TV series were the insert songs. When they play the music, you know that hype is coming. It's here too but songs don't land as hard as some of the moments in the series. Still good though.

As mentioned above, Yuta was voiced by Shinji's VA. It's very fitting.

Enjoyment & Overall
It's solid. I had a good time. I'd say that this movie is about as good as the eps 10, 11, 12 in the series. It's not as good as the second half of the series. Overall, it's worth the time and money.

Misc good point: Gojou's invicibility didn't automatically solve everything. Would have taken the piss out of the movie.
Misc bad point: I wish the story had a few more folds to it. I'm not mad though. I know what JJK is and it delivers.

Nostalgia Alert - I used to see the laserdiscs for Armitage at the video store way back in the day. I was intrigued because I was a teenager and the cover art featured a scantily-clad waifu. Also, I was into cyberpunk and robots and all the like. So that was in 1997 or so and I finally got around to watching all four episodes in 2022. 25 years later but I got it done.

Story
The story is pretty good actually. It's a Blade Runner type set up with a few twists and turns. I always enjoy stories about robots and people grappling with their humanity ... and this is no exception.

While the concept is intriguing, it's played out slowly and awkwardly. I was not a fan of the pacing. One of the problems is with the runtime. There are only four 30-minute episodes isn't much time to explore all the story has to offer.

The ending was definitive and satisfying and that's always a plus.

Art
This anime is from the mid 90s and it shows. The art isn't good. The animation similarly is not great even though there are some high points during the action scenes. There were times when the character faces and body parts were far out of proportion.

That said, the backgrounds were generally well done and interesting to look at. The action was pretty good too.

Sound
The OP was slick and cyberpunkish. Cool stuff. The ED is a basic ballad. I watched this in Japanese and people sounded the way they look. Sound was average +1 for the OP.

Characters
Decent chars. Armitage and Ross make a decent cop buddy duo. Armitage has her character evolve a bit and its nice. The bad guy is a constant force through the OVA and has a little twist. The supporting cast is basic but solid. Nothing out of the park with the characters but they are solid.

Enjoyment and Overall
Armitage is a decent time. It is a little slow and has the plot explanation dumped in the last episode. There are only four eps so I can't hold that against it.

It is decent sci-fi fare. I think of this as the Anime Blade Runner. The story concept is the best part and the other aspects are very average compared to modern times. I wonder how it was received in the 90s.

The Ranma OVAs are little side stories to complement the main series. They're short, fun, and have better animation.

Story
Akane has a flashback to her childhood where she was saved from monsters in a forest by a mysterious boy. She hears that monsters have reappeared in a village and she heads off to investigate. She meets the boy who has grown into a man and discovers the nature of the forest.

Ranma chases her and Ryoga shows up too. Hijinks ensue.

Art
The art is actually pretty good. It is better than I remember the original series being. It looks more clean, more consistent, and better ... animated.
The animals look hilarious with giant eyes and the cutesy proportions.

Sound
The opening and ending themes are great. They're music videos by DoCo, a group made up of the Ranma voice actors (Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Shampoo).

Nostalgia alert - Way back in the day of 14.4k bps modems, I went way out of my way to download a motherlode of Ranma music in MP2 form. Yes MP2s, not MP3s. The collection took me weeks to amass. The most recent and rare of the music were the DoCo tracks. I even downloaded the music videos and didn't know where they came from. I just thought it was cool that they used the characters in dramatic montages and there was professionally produced music. Super nostalgic!

Characters
This is Akane's OVA. She gets the spotlight. Ranma and Ryoga are her supporting characters and then there are Shinnosuke and his grandfather.

Akane and Shinnosuke have a little thing going on and Ranma gets jealous. It's a good reversal from the typical.

The Ranma characters are always the strong suit of the series. They're wacky, driven, funny, and occasionally serious.

Enjoyment & Overall
I like the Ranma series overall and this is no exception. It had its funny moments, its dramatic moments, and its fanservice.

Ninja Scroll Review

"That was sick. I mean really gross."
"That was sick. I mean really cool."

Ninja Scroll viewers will either love it or hate it. It is the anime that will scare your parents. None of that happy, cutesy, Lucky Star dancing shit here. No sir. This is about the supernatural battles, the gore, the tits, the monsters violating our heroine (ewwww), and the revenge. Even though I'm sure many of us watched this when we were young, Ninja Scroll is not for kids.

Story

It's a basic story but well told. The movie opens with magical shenanigans being used to fool people into thinking that there ... is a plague in an area. The plan works and people clear out. However, a ninja clan (correctly) thinks something is up and investigates. And into the action we go.

The story plays its cards one by one and punctuates it periodically with action. I think it's a good pace. I got a little bored and confused in the middle. But once things came together, it got good.

The end has some expo dump and a case of the bad guy being bad mwahahahah. It's all good because the story is not the high-impact part of Ninja Scroll.

Characters

Cool. Our swordman is the cool good guy. He's the laid back ninja mercenary righting wrongs in the world. The lady ninja is cool. She has her code, her vulnerabilities, and her own motivations. The old man is a government spy who is astute, wiley, and powerful in his own right. He knows what's up, fucks around, but is game when it is game time.

The bad guys are cool. They all have their own personalities, powers, and drama. I like how the guy with the string and the chick like and don't like each other. It was an interesting wrinkle in the characters. They all act the way that demon people would act if they were to team up. I look at them and I see the team from Blade 2. They're cool, deadly, and act like villains in a adult film.

The characters are cool.

Direction & Animation

The direction is great. This is textbook show-not-tell. Ex: The scene of the sick woman stumbling into town. She tells the townspeople that she is sick. They zoom in on her mouth as she speaks and they overlay someone else's mouth speaking the same words. It's clear that she is being controlled and there is foul play present. All in ten seconds.

The action direction is great. All the strikes are impactful. I hate anime fights where the characters line up and then punch, kick, and block so fast it's a blur. There is no danger and no impact. There is even less meaning if there is dialog going on at the same time. Nobody is going to get hurt. They're filling run time. It's not exciting.

Jubei's fight against the stone skin guy is amazing. It's short, quick, and to the point. Walking along the wall, horse goes by, hello there, the gut punches that break the lantern (amazing shot btw). And then we get introduced to Jubei's quirk. Not a magic power or anything, but rather, it's simply a string attached to his sword like a surfboard leash. Fuckin sweet. The stone skin guy launches his boomerang sword intentionally high. Jubei doesn't need to dodge, so he doesn't. He's in his crouch ready to pounce. Flies in single sword swipe. His blade shoots a sonic wave. It lands but it's blocked. Baddie taunts. But the sword damage takes its toll.

I love that. I love the reversal of fortune in fights. The Avengers had it when Loki caught Hawkeye's explosive arrow. You think Hawkeye lands it. But Loki catches it and is all "nice try buddy". And then it explodes. What a great action moment. Same with AoT's Eren's broken jaw punch on Annie in S1. Ninja Scroll has those moments and they're awesome.

The animation is delightful. It's not realistic in the least. It's primitive compared to modern stuff but it is incredibly stylized. The characters and scenes have so much flavor to them. The movements are crisp and the physics are great. The fights are not realistic at all but the strikes land and affect the surrounding objects in such a realistic way.

The art is fascinating and the shots are amazing.

Audio

I watched the Japanese version. I don't speak Japanese but I could feel the emotion in their voices. It passes.

The music is atmospheric. It sounds like a proper accompaniment to viewing Japanese wood block prints. WTF is up with the ending theme though? Lol.

Enjoyment and Overall

This movie kicks ass. This is the brutal weird shit that intrigued me when I was young. For all the cutesy Disney and Pokemon stuff floating out there, this was the real shit.

Random thoughts
1) Warning: Our gal gets violated. It was disgusting. "Just be quiet and you'll live a little longer. Either way is fine with me. Could be interesting to fuck a dead girl." Ewwwwww.
2) The dude with the hump was disgusting.
3) Shadow man was cool. I love that type of power. It was Vampire Hunter D 2000. Same studio.
3) The main baddie reverting from his human disguise was so WTF but also really cool. That flesh shifting sound effect. Why was he immortal again? Oh yeah. They just never explain it. I'm cool with that though.
4) Did that dude jump out of a robot suit in the beginning? Hahahah.

Nostalgia goggles on! We're hopping into a time machine and heading to the 90s. Isekai, harem, time loop? Check.

El Hazard. What a strange name. I wonder if the writer thought it sounded cool in Japanese. Either way, don't take this one too seriously. It doesn't take itself too seriously.

Story
Our crew gets transported to the new world. There's a conflict between humans and the bug group. Most of the crew ends up with the humans but the annoying guy get matched up with the bugs and fits right in.

The sides are fighting to control the Eye of God, a sort of WMD. Our ... good guys gear up, meet the three goddesses, and do their hero's journey. Our baddies are a little menacing but mostly goofy.

The story is very average but the series is short enough to not drag.

Characters
I had a good time with this bunch.

The MC guy/girl-in-disguise is a dud. It's one of the things I dislike in anime in general: that the main guy has absolutely nothing going on. And for some reason (viewer self-insert) all the women can't get enough of him. For the love of anime, just give the guy an attribute or two. And make him not a complete pushover. That said, the crossdressing is a good gimmick and I almost always find it funny. This is one of those cases.

Then there is my man Fujisawa-sensei. What a dude! He is a teacher by profession and true to his duty, he is there to protect the children. He drinks, smokes, and, most importantly, he's man enough for the ladies. There is a scene in ep 3 where he impresses the water priestess that is just gold. He springs into action, calls out his kick, lands in the hero's pose, deepens his voice, and asks the damsel if she is alright. She was never in danger but calls him her savior and falls in love. Oh yeah, she's desperate for a husband too. The guy is an easy-going drunk and all-around good dude.

Nanami is the plucky girl who got the short end of the stick during the world change, but worked her way out of poverty, and started her own business. She's cute, fiesty, and plays a corner of the love triangle.

Arielle is the flaming lesbian loli. What exactly is she licking? She is a loyal friend who is never above taking the opportunity to cop a feel on one of the ladies. She's annoying but this is a goofball isekai romp so it's all good.

Jinnai is the power-hungry, goofball, bad guy. I think of him as Dwight from the Office if he got transported to the fantasy world and was actually somewhat competent. He's got the Kefka-esque evil laugh. It's goofy and menacing at the same time.

And of course, there are the three priestesses, the WMD-waifu, and the princesses.

It's a pretty good cast. The characters have unique personalities that mesh together and create enjoyable and funny situations.

There was a scene where Shayla went to drink with Fujisawa-sensei to figure out the relation between Makoto and Nanami. I love it when two unrelated characters befriend each other.

Sounds
The music is pretty good. I liked the opening theme. It was grand and had the exotic Arabian Nights feel to it. Very fitting and cool stuff. The ending theme was a catchy, bubblegum pop tune. Warning: there is fan service in the ED.

The BGM fit the desert vibe for the most part. I liked it. The battle music was jazzy. Decent but nothing great.

The voices fit and were pro level. I don't understand much Japanese but the emotions and delivery were good.

Art
I like the character designs. The MC is a basic dud. Fujisawa sensei looks like an old dude who doesn't give a shit. Nanami is cute. I like her hairband, short sleeve button-up, tank top, shorts combo. Jinnai has the asshole combover and his school uniform/suit. Arielle is cute. And the priestesses look their part. Miz's costume is hot.

The art looks very decent for the 90s. The colors are supposed to be bright but they don't pop like the modern colors do. It still looks decent. The action is animated well enough. The transformation/attacks are repeated several times. It didn't detract from the experience for me. There were some points where the animation quality fell off. I liked the Arabian themed architecture and art. The backgrounds were nothing special but still nice.

Enjoyment & Overall
El Hazard was probably my first isekai and one of the earliest animes I watched. It was fun, dramatic, and a huge departure from the media I was exposed to at that time. This was one of the animes that blew my teenage boy mind.

I watched it again recently and I still like it. It's all about the characters, the cute girls, and the vibe with enough plot to keep things moving. El Hazard is not going to change your outlook on life. But it is a ton of goofy fun.

Angel Beats is pretty good. I got this recommended to me for its music and it didn't disappoint. The OP and EDs are good tracks that are paired with pretty visuals that fit the vibe and story. Girls Dead Monster was awesome.

AB hits the popular anime points: high school setting, dictatorial student body president, nostalgia, and dealing with regrets. I was with it for the most part.

Overall, AB was an above average experience for me, plus one for the high art and music production.

Story
This is an old anime and I'm not going to do the story summary. I will say that it ... gets off to an interesting start. I was confused as to how much peril the setting presented to the students. They wanted to perform missions to figure out the nature of their world and there was a slow-walking, invincible Angel stalking them. But they'd get reincarnated after they died. What was the danger?

Then more of the story got presented and things made more sense.

We get a little bit of backstory from some of the characters. I wasn't sure where they were going with it until the musician disappeared.

I feel like I didn't get to spend enough time with the characters to feel for them deeply. I read somewhere that AB was initially slated for 26 episodes but got cut down to 13. I can see that now. The crew at the end just kind of vanished without much fanfare.

I liked the graduation scene at the end. I haven't seen something like that before. For all the viewers like me who had regrets about their high school & college experiences, the scene was nostalgic and helped to tie up loose ends.

Characters
There were too many characters for the short length of the show. The male characters were a bit on the copy and paste side for me. They were not too distinctive personality-wise. The girls were better.

I can't say that I related to the characters deeply. That said, the MCs were fleshed out and I was on their side by the end of it.

Art
The art style was not my favorite but high quality. I generally am not a huge fan of the stereotypical anime look with the giant eyes and the colorful hair. I like the more realistic grounded look. But I have to give it up to AB because it was well drawn throughout. The designs were school uniform based but solid. The animation quality was consistent throughout and there were no times when I thought the portions or the angles were off.

The characters were cute and distinct. I'm a sucker for anime musical performances and the concerts looked good.

The art for the OP and ED were really good. The OP introduced the characters and the girl playing the piano was dramatic. The ED set up the nostalgia and sadness of the ending well. Good stuff with it.

Sound
Great. I enjoyed the OP & ED as well as the Girls Dead Monster songs. Shout out to the forum recommendations for suggesting AB to me for the good music. It delivered. Thank you.

The OP and ED convey the nostalgia of times I never had. The music plus the visuals capture AB perfectly.

The in-show band was great. They were not necessary for the story but I'm glad they were included. I really like anime-live music for some reason and this was great. The animation during the performances was exciting and well-animated. The characters moved their fingers to play the instruments and it was cool to see. Loved the guitar riffs, the vocals, and the overall vibe of the performances.

I watched the dubbed version and it was fine. I had a poor experience watching dubs from the 90s and am glad to say that those experiences are being replaced with better ones from more modern animes. This is one of them. The English voice acting is well-directed and include some common English phrases. It seemed like someone took the effort to not only translate, but to make the English not sound awkward.

Enjoyment & Overall
I had a decent time with this anime. I didn't feel like I was wasting my time. It was short enough so that it felt like something was happening each episode. At the same time, not all the characters and their relationships were fleshed out. For some characters, we got a flashback and then poof, they were gone.

The Good
1) The music
2) The animation

The Okay
1) The story
2) The characters

The Stuff I Didn't Like
1) The computer hacking
2) The NPC ghosts at the end

AB tries to convey the power of friendship and the trauma of regrets. I wasn't feeling it through the characters alone, but with the music and cute/fun moments, AB got the job done. I had a good time.

This show is crazy. WTF did I just watch? I'm not sure, but it kicked ass. When the MC girl shouted "People are people and clothes are clothes", I nodded my head and said "Damn right!"

I watched the first four episodes of this show and put it down for a while. I got a taste of the animation and the style and thought I had a read on it. And then I get a recommendation for this anime based on the music and that was the motivation I needed to finish this. I am glad I did.

This show is just oozing with style. The ... art, direction, & cartoony nonsense all hit.

The Story
There is a high school ruled with an iron fist by the student council president. A new challenger shows up to figure out who killed her father and stir things up. Their uniforms give them powers. Who are these people? What do they want? What are the uniforms? It all gets worked out.

There is a lot of repetition in the beginning. I guess they needed to fill out 24 episodes, but it felt like there was a lot of padding.

As strange as the entire set up is, the story actually comes together and makes sense. Honestly, I wasn't following the story intensely all the way through. I was admiring the visuals, the music, and the style. But the story is consistent enough with itself to work.

The Art & Direction
Wow. It popped. A few episodes in, I switched to the dub so that I could appreciate the art style. It's abstract, cartoony, and utterly insane. There is so much style in the art. It's anime turned up to 11.

I loved the tableaus with the giant red lettering; the old-school green and grey digital readouts; the abstract asides; the eating; the farting dog; Mako's timeouts and explaining her thoughts; the power ups. The art is 10/10.

The Sound
I switched to the dub a few episodes in to appreciate the art more. I couldn't read and watch the insanity on screen at the same time. I have to say that the dubbed voices are really good. This anime is insane so they needed crazy sounding voices to match. Bingo. The voices match the characters. At the high points, the voices emote to the intensity level of Japanese voice acting. And on top of that, the translation worked out well too. They mix in a lot of common English phrases and none of them seem out of place for what was going on onscreen. The English voice work is really good. Among the best dubs I've heard.

I got recommended this anime for the music and rightfully so. It was good. There were the uptempo pop-rock songs that is exactly what this crazy anime needed. The OPs and EDs were catchy and upbeat. I will need to check out some of the songs on YT after this.

The BGM kicks ass. Someone on the forum mentioned that the composer for AoT did the soundtrack and it sounds like it. You get the orchestra and rock beats. It's good. And that the visuals are so strange makes the serious & intense music stick out more. It's great.

Characters
The characters are colorful but mostly one-dimensional. They mostly have one characteristic that gets repeated. I am okay with the simple characters so long as they are entertaining. And, yes, they were entertaining here.

The character designs were a big part of them. The outfits were plot relevant. No spoilers here though. I'll just say that the characters were interesting to look all the way through.

Enjoyment & Overall
I turned around on this one. I thought it was boring in the beginning and gave it a chance. It caught with me and I found myself bingeing the 2nd half of it in a day. It was a ton of fun.

I loved the plot twist, the crazy art and direction, the music, and the general insanity. There was a scene in one of the last episodes where it showed the engines of the aircraft carrier they were on. They weren't engines though. They were hamster wheels with people running on them. And then when the ship needed to boost it's power, the girl jumped on and went into turbo mode. It was nuts an I loved it.

Overall, it was crazy in a positive way. Kill La Kill is oozing with style, has good music, functional ecchi (the man had glowing nipples!), and a solid plot. Loved it.

Internet confession time - I have been digging into the anime & J media I experienced as a teenager. I remembered this e-game I played called Season of the Sakura. I found some commentary about it and discovered that the main characters were based on the characters from Magic Knight Rayearth. What a trip! Maybe I should check out the actual series.

So I did a little bit. I went through a few episodes of the beginning and a few at the end. Watching 1/2 of the series doesn't put me in good position to write a definitive review. So I'll write a little one. ... Take it with a grain of salt.

Story
Three high school girls get transported to a fantasy world to be its saviors. They meet friends, fight enemies, level up, and eventually discover the true nature of their mission.

The set up takes place in the first ten minutes. Our gals get whisked away to the fantasy land. We get the idea that the princess who transported them is in distress and needs their help to save the world. We meet the some allies, the bad guy, and bad minions. It's a decent start.

The end of the story, the twist, is actually pretty good. It turns out that Zagato and the princess have something more going on and the princess has a different interpretation of the Magic Knight's mission. No spoilers here.

Characters
There are the three main girls: the smart one, the fiery one, and the calm one. They are designed so you can tell which one is which by looking at them. I love it they do that. From what I can tell, the characters act true to their personalities throughout the entire story. They're cute too.

There is Princess Emeraude who summoned the girls to the world. She seems distressed and to need some princess saving. She is imprisoned (presumably) by Zagato, who is the main baddie. He has giant shoulder pads and a deep voice.

The mascot is Mokono, a rabbit thing, because animes need cutesy mascots.

Art
The characters have a distinct look: giant eyes, eye shadow & lashes that extend off the face, brightly colored hair, and a color scheme. I like that the personality of the characters can be inferred from their look.

This anime looks like it is from the 90s. Everything is hand drawn, frames are reused frequently, the colors are faded, and the motion is choppy. I don't mind it, to be honest.

The designs are interesting. The MCs color schemes are consistent with their elements. The backgrounds are average for the most part. Many modern animes have backgrounds that can probably pass as wall art. Not in this anime.

The normal animation breaks into cuter animation occasionally to play up humor and panic. It's anime.

Sounds
The voices are good. The characters sound the way they should. It's pro work.

The music is pretty good. The OP is distinctive, upbeat, and catchy. The ending theme is not quite as catchy. The songs sound very 90s with the light rock/pop feel. I like.

The sound effects are not good. The strikes sound like squeaks. The magic sounds are cheesy. Cartoony sound effects punctuate their moves.

Enjoyment/Overall
I had an okay time with MKR. It is like a less girly & more adventurous/ dramatic than Sailor Moon.

I think it's kind of funny how I came to watch MKR. It added to the enjoyment.

Overall, it was decent. I remember hearing that it was popular when it was released. I can see why. MKR is targeted toward girls, has a cute fantasy setting, and is adventurous.