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Oh man! I recommend everyone to give Sasaki to Miyano a chance, even if you are straight male (like me!). Because I truly believe that this is one of the best romance anime franchise I ever watched (and I watched a lot). This movie confirmed my belief even more.

This movie cover between Sasaki’s examination period until his graduation. It doesn’t give me a typical movie vibes that much to be honest. It feels more like a bunch of episodes being put together and made it as a movie. But what can I blame them? Because in the end it work out so well! The same ... visual effect, the familiar side character, the old familiar pace of story. It’s somehow make me feel cozy even though I was watching alone in cinema. It was seriously new vibe that I doubt I will ever experience again from other franchises.

The main element that I love the most about Sasaki to Miyano is that it try not to be offensive when it comes to relationship and let it escalate smoothly. Now that their relationship is escalated well enough after episode 12, we start to see some more aggressive moves yet still smooth by Sasaki and we also see more jealous side of Miyano. It’s truly soothing to watch.

Even though it feels like bunch of episodes of period between Sasaki’s examination until his graduation being packed together and called it a movie, it doesn’t make me feel boring at all. You would think that it will be boring due to how slow-paced Sasaki to Miyano franchise is but surprisingly it really is not boring. The story is interesting enough to make my eye feel like it’s glued to the screen.

Worth mentioning that the side story between Hirano and Kagiura at the beginning was also refreshing to watch.

Overall, it was a great movie. What more can I said except you really can’t miss this movie if you’re Sasaki to Miyano fan? After all, it’s your same old Sasaki to Miyano style that just being put into movie format. It made me feel like I came to grandparent’s home that I have been missing desperately. If you watched Sasaki to Miyano, you will love to watch this movie for sure. Even if you don’t watch Sasaki to Miyano before, you will likely thanks yourself if you start from season 1 then watch this movie.

When you look at The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten on the paper. It have great potential to be the best romance anime in this year and might even be contender for one of the best romance anime of all time. The LN of it is one of the best selling romance LN, and for a good reason. Story is so sweet and fluffy that it will make you smile and feel warm inside. Art is also great and character are likable. Well, if only they get the better studio, it would have guarantee spot for the best romance anime in this year. Unfortunately, ... it has one of the worst production I've ever seen in an anime.

The best part of this anime is undoubtedly the romance between Amane and Mahiru. They are both likable and relatable characters who have their own problems. Amane is shy and awkward but has a kind heart. Mahiru is smart and talented but has a cold personality inside and lack of friends. They complement each other well and bring out the best in each other. Their interactions are cute and heartwarming, and they have a lot of chemistry. The anime does a decent job of showing their relationship development, as well as their struggles and misunderstandings. Although could have been better especially compared to LN version. But well, nothing to really complain in this part. It is so sweet to the point that I could have got a diabetes from watching it. That alone is way more than good enough for me.

The worst part of this anime is definitely the animation and art quality. Yikes, it's hard to believe that this anime was made in 2023. The character designs are inconsistent and changed a lot from the original art. Hell, Mahiru look like Sayu from Higehiro but with blonde hair. The animation are, for lack of a better word, fucked up. The worst part? It getting worse and worse. It start from support character and Amane, but in last few episode it even impact Mahiru. The anime art's is a visual disaster that ruins the immersion and enjoyment of the story. It's a shame that such a sweet romance was given such a low-budget and terrible treatment from, again, Project No.9. So Project No.9, fuck you.

The other aspects of this anime are average at best. The story is simple and predictable, but it's not bad. It follows the typical tropes and cliches of the genre, but it also has some originality and charm. And without it, this anime wouldn't have been this sweet. The pacing is okay-ish but have a room for improvement and the episodes are not boring considered that it is SoL. The characters are not that deep or complex, but they are not annoying or bland either. They have some personality and development, and they have some interactions with other side characters from time to time who are also decent. The comedy is not very hilarious or clever, but it's not cringy or forced either. Ending song are great, although it's impossible to ruin Chiisana Koi no Uta and Ai Uta anyway. However, opening song feel unfitting for this anime.

Overall, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten is an anime that has a great romance but a terrible production. If you're looking for a sweet and fluffy romance that will make you smile and feel good, you might enjoy this anime despite its flaws. But if you're looking for a high-quality anime that will impress you with its visuals, you might want to avoid this anime at all costs. I personally liked this anime for its romance, but I absolutely hated it for its production. Still, I still like it just because how great romance is here and I still believe that it will be the best romance anime in this year, just because we probably won't have romance anime like Kaguya-sama or Horimiya in this year. But god, Project No.9 must stop getting good LN/manga to adapt. They are doing absolutely fucking terrible job here and ruined this anime, and there are more to come.

[Note: I haven't watched part 1 yet since I can't book a movie ticket for part 1. While it's "not necessary" to watch it, it might affect the context of this review. This review might be edited/deleted if part 1 have a significant impact on this review]

An overdramatic romance drama anime movie building up by using every possible repetitive tropes to make itself become a borderline laughing stock. Like seriously, I'm holding my laugh while watching in cinema.

They try their best to make it look like a good soap opera by using tropes that has been commonly used, assuming that it work for majority group ... that watch TV so it might as well work here too. Well, it might work there but probably not here, at least not for me. Sometime it's a hit, most of the time it's a miss. But the most importantly, this movie look like a below average generic soap opera when those tropes added up together. By that, I mean it look like the one that will milk every single possible tropes. No, it's the one that milk every single possible tropes. Don't believe me? Let's see how it goes.

"Our parents are getting remarry, we can't marry each other anymore. What should we do?" [Common trope counter (Surprise Incest?): 1]
"Let's escape together" [Common trope counter (The Runaway): 2]
(My reaction to that information: ??????????)

What kind of teenage think it's good idea to run away just because their parents are getting remarry and therefore they can't marry each other? First of, what make it wrong for them for marrying each other? Second, why even run away right now, at teenage? They just either need to tell their parent right there or wait for them to grown up enough to marry each other. The runaway trope is absolutely usable in a lot of situation but definitely not this one. This one just doesn't make sense. And their parents agree! Right after some certain event, their parents told them that there's nothing that stopping those young couples from marrying each other even after their remarry.

What's that certain event though? Uh.... Guys, prepare for impact. Brace!

"I got an idea! Just use that machine to get into parallel world where our parent are not divorce" [Common trope counter (Alternate Timeline?): 3]
*they both in the machine* (Wait, how did they be able to get into their parent's lab room after runaway from home???)
Actually, this is good starting point, the execution letter on is terrible though

They both get into parallel world, male side on his home with family, female side in the middle of the road while seeing her parents on the sidewalk (ah shit here we go again). They both take a moment to realize a situation. Male side running from home immediately after realizing it to find female, female side is still taking some time to realize the situation (IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD).

And then, "Truck-kun has entered the chat"
You know how it goes next. She got hit by some car or truck while walking to her parents at sidewalk after realizing the situation [Common trope counter (Look Both Ways): 4]

Immediately, male wake up. This time in the machine without knowing the situation. The female side however is not breathing and later on, brain death. [Common trope counter (Trapped in Another World?): 5] (Not sure what it's called but definitely a trope)

Congratulations, this is where everything begin. How does it sound like? To sum it up, she died in parallel world by car accident during their time in parallel world which affected the current one too. And yes! This will be the main point of what the movie will be about for around the next 60 minutes since then, to rescue her!

Goddamn it. I want you to open facepalm image of your choice right now because that's literally my reaction after all of these. This is stupid. They could've been playing about timeline during their time in that parallel world. The opportunity is right in front of their door. Instead, they choose a cheap way and it's probably one of the most unintentionally stupid way to execute Truck-kun trope, by standing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. Like seriously, there are probably millions better way than this.

The rest 60 minutes is of course about rescuing her. The timeline of it is... kinda confusing and concerning. It involved countless amount of time that MC get into parallel world, then back to the world, then back to another parallel world, then went to the same world again, and again. It's too much to the point where I don't know which one is the world of the main story and which one is the parallel world. Maybe sci-fi is not my thing, but it's more likely that it suck at storytelling.

Even at the crucial point, I don't know if that was the parallel world or was it the world that MC was originally from. The timeline that I can connect together and still make sense is that MC met another girl (Kazune), they both compete to create a machine/theory that can possibly get Shiori back. Then they marry each other(?), went back to another parallel world then, it ended? However, this is very oversimplified and definitely missed some important turning point. I can't included any switch between parallel world, in which at one point MC become a kid, before they even know Shiori, to make sure that Shiori will be safe in that parallel without meeting him. In which, that parallel is the one that he married(?) with Kazune. However, he and Kazune still recalled about plan to rescue Shiori, in their 60(!) and it another parallel world where he didn't know Shiori? There are at least 4 switch between the world that accident happened and the parallel world which might even have more than 1 parallel world. Good luck trying to understand that, cause I won't anymore. I'm losing my mind and sanity trying to figure out while writing this.

Notice how I put "(?)" every time I talked about marrying between MC and Kazune? Because I'm not even sure if they actually marrying each other or not. And if yes, did they do it just for society and for the research? Because they don't seem to be a couple. MC still ask about her wedding ring in the end, the family consisted of only them and Kazune in their elder but they have a kid at other point during their adult age. This might mean that there are 2 parallel world at this timeframe. Oh. My. God. Why is it so hard to understand the whole thing?

Due to the extreme complex of the timeline, it's impossible to actually review or talking about this section in detail more than this. I have no idea what's going on anymore especially during the ending part which also seem like a crucial part. All I can say is that, their storytelling suck!

So the reward for the best at mixing up common tropes together shall go to them. They managed to use every single commonly overused tropes that they could yet still make it look watchable, kinda. Actually, I want to go to parallel world where I get my money and my time back so that I can watch "The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes", another anime movie that seem promising and also available in this movie festival that I attended although at more expensive price.

But let's set that aside, this thing is not that bad to watch, right? I mean it have some decent reason to watch it. It's possibly the first anime that have two actual parallel world in real life, one is part 1 and the other one is part 2. It's also not that terrible especially if you have better brain than me. Animation is also okay although kinda dated, like what you would expected from TMS especially if you've watched Fruits Basket before because it kinda have somewhat similar art style. The story is probably considered decent at the first half if you can ignore the overused tropes that will keep spamming on your face. The second half seem to required big brain to understand but I think it might be enjoyable for some especially for sci-fi enjoyer?

However, I believe that I've seen sci-fi anime that have done a better job. Notably, "Hello World" did better job in my opinion. While it's not as complex, it still have a strong sci-fi theme revolving around time manipulation. It also did as better job than this. By reducing the complexity of some part when possible but also by more competent storytelling. Which is not the case here. We have overcomplicated story with not-so-great storytelling combined with complexity of parallel world.

So to sum it up, it's not exactly the worst watch that I had. However, if I can go into parallel world and get my time and money back, I would do it. Recommend to watch? Maybe if you want your brain to have a workout and have plenty of free time, assuming that you also want to throw your money away if you're watching it in your local cinema (I assume not yet for most people). Would I watch it again though? Definitely not.

I felt like romance anime has been stepped into wrong direction for a while now. Every "romance anime" nowadays are mainly comedy with romance as a side dish. Those that actually counted as romance anime are either have no relationship development at all (known as "romance subtext") or didn't know how to balance romance with other thing (e.g. Horimiya). That's why for the past exactly 100 romance anime that I watched, there's none that actually satisfy me for romance purpose. Until I watch this anime.

For the first time, I actually got what I'm looking for. A romance anime that actually a romance while maintaining decent ... aspect of drama, comedy, fan service. This anime is also one kind of anime that make you want to fall in love. I will called it as "fluffy" anime. An underrated thing inside romance genre that lot of people overlook. Does it work though? Does it make me want to fall in love? Yes, it does. Sort of.

Fuufu Ijou's anime is overall okay-ish with a bit of disappointment. I'm not talking about source material, that thing is great. Fuufu Ijou is currently one of the very few manga that I'm still reading, that alone should confirm that I seriously love it in some way. However, the anime adaption didn't do justice to series.

The concept of Fuufu Ijou sound stupid (although unique) when you look at the surface. That's the weakest point of this series in the beginning too in my opinion. However, the story of relationship development between Jirou and Akari made up for it. Well, sort of. It's not perfect relationship development by any mean. In fact, I would say it's worse than average. However, the best we got in this "fluffy" genre is Tonikaku Kawaii and that have no relationship development at all in my opinion. So at least, okay-ish relationship is better than no relationship development.

However, I believe that the real magic of Fuufu Ijou is it gap moe. Gap moe is what make Fuufu Ijou shine as gyaru of this series is always trying to be "lovey-dovey" with MC. Well, in sort of Tsundere way. Guess what, the concept of Fuufu Ijou is the magic behind this gap moe. Having gyaru that becoming lovey-dovey is of course, a strong gap moe. It gap moe is surprisingly effective and giving itself free pass for a lot of thing that it missed and somewhat making me want to fall in love, the main reason I watch romance in the first place (Seriously, none of romance anime that I watched actually archived this and I watch hundredth. This thing is great for that).

Animation is good and studio is pretty faithful with manga for the first seven episode. I must admit it's beyond my expectation as a manga reader. Especially episode 7 which almost everyone will say that it will be peak of Fuufu Ijou's anime adaption, which it did. studio MOTHER deliver it so well. It's honestly mind-blowing because I thought that studio MOTHER will messed that up. After episode 7, we thought that we're safe now from any disaster adaption.... right?

Episode 9 is where everything starting to be little bit off. Character in the background isn't moving and animation seem little bit worse but that's not the end of the world. Episode 10 is where it become obvious that studio is probably running out of budget. Every background character aren't moving at all. Not to mention that fanservice seem to be little bit much. It's now clear that we're driving to the worse direction episode by episode starting from Episode 8. Storyline has been cutting out like crazy and animation is clearly worsen episode by episode. This is becoming disaster after what we thought that we're safe from it. It seem like they pour all budget on episode 7 already.

Episode 12 is where it starting to do justice more for anime adaption. Despite original ending, it was good original ending and also necessary one. However, I believe this is little bit too late to recover all production issues.

Music choice in anime adaption is what I questioning the most. How can you have one of the least likable and most generic opening, both animation and music, while having one of the most banger ending. Again, for both animation and music. It's hard to believe that it's made by same studio for same series. Unbelievable. Especially when considered that opening in the first thing that people gonna see and might be the first thing that people will judge it series.

Overall, disaster adaption. It was great until episode 7 but quality has been dropped since then, both animation and directive choice. It went downhill all of sudden. I (and lot of people in community) believe that studio might actually running out of budget after episode 7.

Despite disaster adaption for the last 5 episode and one of the worst opening in my opinion, I still enjoy it a lot. Enough to make me immediately finding all limited edition boxset for it manga and empty my wallet for one whole month. However, I believe that studio could have done a lot better job and story could have better than this. I will still recommend this anime to almost everyone, despite the fact that it have major issue. Not because it's great, it's because you might want to continue reading manga.

Mamahaha was okay-ish at first. It definitely isn't one of the best anime out there. However, it's good enough to be acceptable mainly due to the way its directing makes the atmosphere feel calm and weirdly wholesome. The way they both acting Tsundere to each other is also kinda enjoyable. That's until everything changes after episode 6.

In episode 6, Mamahaha introduced a new character. That character is Isana Higashira and she can significantly improve this anime. While Mamahaha was fine, it's starting to become repetitive and boring after time so having a new character is great. Her personality is also perfect for this anime and ... actually more compatible for MC than Yume. There is a caveat though and that is she likely won’t win no matter what happens. It's pretty obvious that Mizuto still has Yume somewhere in his heart therefore Isana likely won't end up with Mizuto. That would be fine. I'm pretty sure everyone can see it coming.

However, they decide to fuck up episode 7 so bad. Episode 7 was set up for only one purpose, to throw Isana out of the love triangle and make her become close friends with MC instead. She just got introduced in episode 6. How did they manage to make confession and rejection happen immediately in the next episode? Wait, how did Isana even have a feeling then confess in the next episode after she is introduced to begin with? You could’ve guessed the outcome. It’s a mess.

Obviously, they didn’t set anything up earlier because they just wanted to throw Isana out of the love triangle right after she got introduced so setup look stupid. Setup is like this, you got their so-called "friend" trying to help Isana out. Unfortunately, I see this at stupid setup because OP and her ‘friend” just know her for 1 episode. The way their friend helps her is also as if they intentionally want her to fail. I mean, who the hell in their right mind tells their friend to approach their crush by “using their body”? Plot of episode 7 before confession is straight out of hentai world.

That's not enough of course! In episode 8, they go out of their way to make YouTube decide to age-restricted that episode (In Asia, YouTube is one of the legal distribution platforms by many licensors). I watched that episode during the train ride to university when it was not age-restricted and it made me not want to watch anime in public for a while.

Okay, let's just put the whole new character issue aside, what went wrong then? After all, girls getting thrown out of love triangles is normal. Well, remember that I said Mamahaha is starting to become repetitive and boring right? Oh hell yeah it’s starting to be more boring now.

In episode 9, they reveal what happened during their relationship. The reason they broke up was kinda dumb. It was all about misunderstandings between each other which is absolutely preventable. Yes, I know that they are introverts but still, that shouldn’t prevent you from communicating with each other.

Okay, let’s say if the reason they break up makes sense. Episode 11 was confusing and should be made fun of. Imagine thinking about your ex-boyfriend when reading the autobiography of your great-grandfather then cry about it. Also, it seems like that autobiography is pretty good. How about this, why don’t they just create an anime about that autobiography instead of this mess? From what Yume and Mizuto said, it actually has more depth and is more interesting than this anime. That’s why it should be made fun of because the book that they read is better than the anime itself which is now in a horrible state of getting boring.

It’s as if this anime went downhill after introducing Isana while she was supposed to be the golden ticket of this anime but in reality, Mamahaha has nothing good to begin with. Below-average story with obvious issues waiting to happen coupled with big amounts of fan service. It’s just that they got their opportunity that might make themselves more interesting but then they threw it away. At least it was having an okay-ish first half I guess.

(This review only cover Suzumiya Haruhi Season 1, I will review Suzumiya Haruhi Season 2 and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya seperately)

I must admit, Suzumiya Haruhi Season 1 is a disappointment for me. What's worse is that Suzumiya Haruhi Season 2 is even worse to the point of disaster. What make it even way more worse is that The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is the best firm I ever watch.

Now, I'm going to act like Kyon and try to figure out, "What actually went wrong?". After all, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya proved that this franchise have HUGE opportunity to be best series of all ... time. I manage to come up with one theory after think about it for a night and it's actually surprising one.

"Suzumiya Haruhi franchise will be way better without Haruhi Suzumiya"

It might sound confusing and weird but I have a lot of thing to back this up especially from The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi which obviously, Haruhi went missing. Let's me explain why.

First, we gonna need to take a look at what Suzumiya Haruhi franchise supposed to be. This is very subjective because people can (and likely will) have different expectation. One could say that Suzumiya Haruhi franchise should be comedy slice-of-lice with mystery as a part of background which is what you get in Suzumiya Haruhi Season 1 and Season 2. Some could even say that Suzumiya Haruhi franchise should be a mixed between romance and comedy which seem to be what The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is. I can't confirm because I don't (and will likely not) take a look at it even as someone who watch romance mainly. In my opinion (with strong evidence backing up), Suzumiya Haruhi series should be mystery completely (that mean comedy at minimal) running in slice-of-life background, exactly what happen in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Why Suzumiya Haruhi series should be pure mystery with comedy at very bare minimum while running in slice-of-life background? Because it work so well in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya and for one simple reason, comedy mood don't go well when advanced mystery stuff happen. You want to be in thrilling experience, not laughing. What happen in Suzumiya Haruhi Season 1 (and Season 2) is not what I'm signing up for and not what Suzumiya Haruhi series is good at either. The author is very good at writing mystery stuff. He manage to built insanely amazing timeline for The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya and deliver full thrilling experience as if I will bite my nail if I don't control myself and as if I will cry from full of emotion. In contrast, he's not so good at building comedy. What actually happened in Suzumiya Haruhi series in Season 1 throughout Season 2 is "WE MUST CONTROL SUZUMIYA HARUHI OTHERWISE WORLD GONNA EXPLODEEEEE" and what did Haruhi do? Basically bully Asahina 24/7 and accidentally cause some change to the world's current stage based on her wild imagination. Sound fun right....? No, definitely not.

Let's get straight to the point. Haruhi herself bringing in WAY too much unnecessary filler. I don't hate her for appearance nor personality. In fact, I kind of like her in some way (Goddamn it she should be in some romance anime with mystery circling about it instead). However, some part of her personality didn't fit in this anime.

What's her personality? Weird girl. She questioning about an existence of alien (which, who know, might be actually exist in our universe). She want to know mystery stuff. She is questioning everything. She always having weird idea. She supposed to be perfect for franchise but you don't take one thing into account.

Without mystery, this girl will be annoying freak. She'll force MC to do any shit she want as if he's her slave. She will bully Asahina 24/7. She will be selfish. She will be self-centered and worst fact is, everyone need to follow her way. Now, let's count how many time that we didn't in major mystery? Literally majority of season 1.

Guy, we are in MYSTERY anime that mystery ISN'T a major role. We are now in (bad) comedy with mystery as just some background that can erupt sometime. Think about it. How does that make sense? And who's main reason why this anime didn't have as much mystery? It's Haruhi who bringing in random joke/bully in serious moment. Sure, some moment are getting serious but most of the time Haruhi is annoyer of series.

Wait. How will this anime be without Haruhi then? Without Haruhi and instead opting to find troublemaker, it might eliminate this issue. Some joke and comedy might be there but it will not be a main selling point because world is in danger situation and we don't even know who's the one causing them. After found troublemaker, continue story like Suzumiya Haruhi Season 1 but with more serious tone. This way, author also get to write more of story and also use main strength of franchise as selling point. This is my opinion and other might strongly disagree with it which is completely reasonable. After all, Haruhi herself is one of the main selling point of this series. However, is there any better way to utilize her or at least, make her less annoying and disrupt the overall flow of series? I'll leave you to decide this since this is very subjective.

And when you think more about it. You realize that story actually doesn't go anywhere. This is not as big problem as the first one but still a pretty big issue. Mystery anime like this supposed to have story going somewhere or at least some goal. The goal right now from what I've seen is basically waiting for "Data Integration Thought Entity" to find a way to stop Haruhi. In a meantime, Kyon and his SOS team gonna team to hold Haruhi from fucking the world up.

If you didn't know what I'm trying to say. We're now in soft-Endless Eight situation throughout the entire Season 1. You may already know Endless Eight, it's basically looping of same event and almost exactly same scene for 8 episodes. What's the difference here? We are in same situation of needing to find a way to prevent Haruhi from messing with world over and over again without any update from that team responsible for this. Kyon and SOS team gonna need to keep finding a temporary way to solve unexpected situation from Haruhi over and over again. Isn't this basically mean we will never find a way to the end? I'll leave you to decide if this is considered soft-Endless Eight or not.

In the end, Suzumiya Haruhi franchise is doom to fail from the very beginning by how they choose to begin story. It really is a subjective and I can see why people like it since Season 1 and might even include Season 2. However, I find a lot of their selling point (e.g. comedy, Haruhi) to be one of the weakest point while other part that author is really good about (e.g. mystery, thriller) is not one of the main selling point here. I find Suzumiya Haruhi Season 1 to be unfortunately wasted prodigy that just failed from picking their main selling point. What's worse is Season 2 is even worse than Season 1. Overall, I don't think Suzumiya Haruhi franchise is worth a watch for me. While The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is the best firm that I ever watch by mile, it really didn't worth to watch Season 1 then need to be torture from Season 2 just to be able to watch The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. With the whole Suzumiya Haruhi franchise left Netflix, the only licensor in my country (and probably whole SEA), I'm sad to say this but there's little to no reason to watch it anymore. It's not exactly a bad show but it just didn't worth my watch.

"
Farewell, Love Comedy

To all of you who are in love.
The legendary episode that dyed the world with the color of love
is finally getting animated.
"

This review contain spoiler (marked), although title should already give it away.

... In every century, there will be romance anime that set the new bar on anime industry by it story and production value. In 2000s, we have Toradora and Monogatari series. In 2010s, we have Your Lie in April. Now in 2020s, it's safe to say that this season of Kaguya will be the one that set the new bar.

Everyone know how great Kaguya-sama series is. It concept alone is enough to stand out by far. Production is also insane but something feel... kinda off. Mainly due to very slow development but also lack of role for support character. Both are really only important factors left for Kaguya-sama series to fix to become masterpiece. Season 2 improve that but pace still going slow and there's no actual good support character. That's until the Ultra Romantic and holy f***. Not only story went masterpiece but A-1 also absolutely deliver it soooo well.

Let's start with non-spoiler stuff first. With addition of Maki Shijo, she's one of the best support character as if she can be put in main character if author want to. She's really good addition to series and solve lack of good support character completely.

Now, let's begin real talk....
***SPOILER STARTED***
If it's not obvious enough already, there will be confession in this season. Akasaka is genius. Ask every manga reader or anyone who watch confession scene and they will tell you that this is the best confession scene in every aspect. He built it so well beyond belief since the very beginning of event.
***SPOILER ENDED***

"Farewell, Love Comedy" is not a joke. "Legendary episode" is not an overstatement. This season prove that you can put any emotion at any given time or situation when it's done well. You won't expect deep story from Kaguya-sama? Season 2 already proved that you can do it with Ishigami's backstory. Season 3 is even more touching than season 2 especially in last 2 episodes which aired AT THE SAME TIME.

Yes, you read that right. 2 episodes in 1 week released on TV at the same time. In total, you get 1 hour episode instead of 20 minutes. You already know how important it is because there's no anime that gonna put extra time like that to waste.
*Looking at Bloom into You*
Actually, let's say most of the time they aren't being waste. Definitely not being waste in Kaguya-sama, I can guarantee you that.

Here's my take, Last 2 episode will be the best episode you ever watch in romance anime. Without any doubt, you won't find anything reaching this level for long time. I watched decent amount of romance anime and media. Maybe not a lot compared to most people here but definitely good amount. I will tell you that I've never seen any arc being beautifully built like this before in romance anime and media. This is the best arc I ever watch and read by miles away.

Let's not forget that they still be able to deliver comedy without any trouble. It's INSANE how that's possible when tone start shifting from comedy (Let be real, Kaguya-sama was mostly comedy) to romance yet still can keep tone of comedy in without messing up romance. Not an easy task.

Production also always great. You can make sure that A-1 didn't let you down. They adapt from manga very well and manga reader could never be more happy than this to get such a good adaption.

In short, Aka Akasaka just wrote unbelievable insane arc for his "Ultra Romantic" especially last few episode and add very good support character to improve series even more. Last 2 episode will belongs to history as one of the best romance arc ever create. If you already watch season 1 and season 2, you should watch season 3 without any doubt. Watch it right now, there's big chance you will get spoiled by social media of any platform or even in review. Just watch it now, you won't regret.

TL;DR: If you're here for romance, this anime might not for you. If you're here for ecchi, this anime is definitely for you.

Coming to Winter 2022 as someone who mainly watch romance, I have no expectation about this season at all. I have this anime as only anime that I will watch in this season because it seem to be only watchable romance anime in this season (No, Takagi-san isn't watchable for me). I have low expectation and funny enough, despite all overhype that coming to this anime for unknown reason, I wasn't wrong much. Luckily, it got carried by production value as expected from ... CloverWorks and it actually filled gap for gyaru romance which extremely rare in anime.

First, I've been waiting to call it since episode 1. I want you to watch ED and look at Gojo face expression in whole ED as that sum up story pretty well. The only moment where Gojo look comfortable in ED is last part and that's exactly issue of this anime. Gojo didn't even feel comfortable doing this at first, he just have feeling of "If I didn't do it, I'm fucked" because Marin have big influence. Even after he start to realize that Marin is good person, he still think "Everything is over when job is done" attitude. It's clear that Gojo have this kind of attitude for at least half of this season. It made me feel little bit uncomfortable. At least, it's still kind of cutesy story and it's much more comfortable for me to watch after first cosplay event ended thanks to Gojo being more comfortable in anime as well.

However, there's another big issue in story. It completely failed at making itself have some identity. By that, I mean it have no characteristic at all. It basically just bring common romance anime thing (Stranger that have no friend at all --> Have the best girlfriend in school out of nowhere) but change from cute girl to gyaru girl. Now, I don't hate what they're doing. I actually think it's great that finally someone make anime that have gyaru as main character. I just think that story could be way better than this.

Now that's all bad thing. Let's talk about good thing and the good news is pretty much everything else beside story are good. First, it tried lot of thing in production as expected from CloverWorks. Put OP on minute 8, gorgeous animation, new face of voice actor, even having their Chief Animation Director breaks down (search it up). Also lot of effort have been going on production for this anime and it paid off for that.

What talking about this anime, no one can't agree that they have the best art out of any ecchi anime out there. While it didn't go as far as showing booba like High School DxD, they already went very far enough. So they done ecchi thing pretty well and their art is the best I've seen out of any romance anime. Character is also main selling point here for girl main character. There's no anime that actually dedicated to gyaru. They filled that gap and make bar pretty high for art which is probably even more important than story when it come to anime like this. Music is also better than average. and both MC voice acting also pretty spot-on.

This anime is like Horimiya, you could bring generic story all the way you want but whole anime still serve it purpose. Horimiya have pretty generic but heart warming story, all character get their story even for side character, that's more than enough for me. That can also applied here, it bring one of the most generic story but filled gap for gyaru wholesome romance story and serve ecchi extremely well and topping up with top-notch art. That's way more to ask for anime that dedicate to ecchi.

It still didn't justified on how bad story is however and while I find Horimiya to be acceptable. I must disagree on this one. Horimiya didn't actually have any room to improve much anyway but My Dress-Up Darling have HUGE room to improve but they don't. Instead of having at least average story, they now having below standard story. Therefore, if you're looking for good romance story, this anime is likely not for you. If you're looking for generic romance, maybe because art is one of the best in romance anime but you gonna need to accept that story is below average.

However, if you're looking for ecchi anime, definitely this one. You likely not find good story in ecchi anime anyway and this one might have better story than average ecchi anime. It also likely to have the best art out of any ecchi anime and gyaru is rare as hell in anime.

Oreimo is probably one of the worst anime you will ever watch especially if you're against incest. If you’re not siscon, you should avoid it. Even if you're siscon, Eromanga Sensei might be better option.

The problem with Oreimo is definitely not only siscon. The problem is that everything of this anime is pointing out that it’s gonna be awful and there’s no single decent thing there. It have very poorly made ending ahead that anyone with some sense in mind know what gonna happen without even need to watch next season.

It also have bad supporting character. Beside Kuroneko, is there any actual decent "waifu material" ... beside MC little sister? Almost all character are just there to make young little sister shine in the end.

The story, Excuse me? All of sudden sister that seem to hate you all the time went to forced you to play eroge game in single episode? What kind of character development is this? Speedrun any% convert sister to girlfriend?

Enjoyment? I watched this during reserve officer 3 days camping which is basically military camping. This shit made me feel more awful because it suck at everything and I need to put it on hold after watch for 7 episodes. Should've watch Yuru Camp instead.

The only acceptable thing are animation since it’s considered good/fine for 2010 and the voice acting since of course it gonna be good when you let Tsundere VA do Tsundere role. Still, it doesn't change fact that this thing is garbage from the root of it.

The only thing left now is the question that between Eromanga Sensei and Oreimo, which one is worse? And I would answer that Oreimo is significantly worse since at least Eromanga Sensei have self-awareness that it's trash but this one doesn't.

I will repeat again. If you're not siscon, AVOID IT.

This review contain spoiler of first minute in movie. Don't worry! It was spoiled to make you prepare for disappointment. Also, there's TL;DR at bottom since this will be long review.

Hibike! Euphonium is one of my all-time favorite series. Both season of Hibike! Euphonium was one of the best watch I ever have and even though quality dropped little bit in season 2 due to understandable rush in last few episode, Liz and the Bird bird was absolutely insane masterpiece. However, Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3 made me disappointed and I start to feel uncertain about whole series.

Start off with first minute of movie, right after ... Kyoto Animation intro finished as usual. We see Kumiko and Shuuichi together during winter. Kumiko give gift to Shuuichi in return to him gave gift to her during last camp and well... Shuuichi confessed to Kumiko and he didn’t get reject! He also didn’t get accept too though but it probably won’t take long for Kumiko to accept. It's only matter of time.

Look, I'm not Kumiko-Reina shipper. In fact, I kind of agree that Kumiko should end up with Shuuichi if she gonna end up with anyone at all. It perfectly fit for "childhood friend troop". Still, I'm pissed as hell. This will be absolutely fine if their relationship was built stronger and longer than this but how much time you've seen them together? Not much. Most of the time Kumiko spent in club was with her friends especially Reina. Shuuichi, while being childhood friend, have relationship between himself and Kumiko going somewhere only around 2 episodes ago at episode 12 of season 2 where Shuuichi give Kumiko a gift and that’s it. They barely do anything together at all from what we saw in whole series. There was some time that they're alone together but it's definitely not enough.

This is not only way too soon to destroy all shippers but also horrible way to do it. Basically, support character that do almost nothing in series can apparently confess to main character for having 2 episodes relationship and didn't get reject (likely to be accept in the end) just because he was a childhood friend? While Kumiko-Reina relationship happened for at least whole season? Nice! At least I didn't feel that much pain since I didn't care much about romantic stuff in this series but if this happened in romance series, it surely will be worse situation than this.

Now, this movie also trying to fix that problem. They put much more screentime for Kumiko and Shuuichi to stay together now. Oh boy, it's too late! In fact, that make me feel even more uncomfortable. Rome wasn't built in a day same goes relationship. You just can't built it improperly then trying to fix broken part in it core.

That is not the only problem in this movie. Actually, that is smaller issue compared to next one. The real problem was that it was extremely rushed and pace of it is absolutely dumb and it lead to multiple problem.

This movie covered from recruiting new member to participating prefectural competition. Exactly the same as season 1 pattern. Wait... 13 episodes in only 1 hour and a half? Kyoto Animation, are you serious?

Now, you might argue that there's some anime that can make this happen smoothly. Sure, I won't deny that. There’s lot of case that they can rush. Take a look at Horimiya for example where they skip lot of chapter, multiple volumes in fact for the last episode. Yet, it still turn out decently. However, Hibike! Euphonium isn't one of series that can do that.

Hibike! Euphonium season 1 and season 2 feel very rushed already especially season 2 where they can't even include last band performance in competiton. Rush of both season is understandable however because Hibike! Euphonium is strongly drama driven anime. If it's bad drama, it will make this anime become horrible anime. If it's good drama, it will make this anime become legendary anime. Same kind of thing with Your lie in April basically (Yes, there are good reasons why it used 22 episode). Both season of Hibike! Euphonium has been constantly bringing in unbelievable great drama especially season 2. This is one of main reason why I rated both at 9 even though I need to admit that I'm not sure if the rush on season 2 was justified or not. No matter how I look, season 2 almost crossing the line of acceptable rushing.

However, Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3 have extremely rushed drama and this time they indeed crossed the line of acceptable rushing. This might be one of the most rushed anime so far when it come to drama. It's so rushed that it turn whole drama on this movie into confusion mess. Arguably on same level of fucked up with FIREWORKS which is absolutely incompetent directing on it peak and it shown that even one of the best directing group of people can make worst directed anime. Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3 is following that route but at least story is crystal clear unlike FIREWORKS, it drama however isn't. To be honest, I feel like movie 3 have really bad drama compared to both season and not only from bad pacing.

There are 4 drama in this movie. First and second are bad and rushed. Third one is really good but need better way to explaining thing and it also lacking of time. Fourth is too short to judge but I can say that it's as expected. I won't go to detail but it should be clear by now that drama in this movie is definitely worst of whole series. I never expected myself to say that some drama in Hibike! Euphonium series is bad before and this movie have 2 of bad drama out of 4, ruining at least 20 minutes of movie. The best drama of this movie was ruined from lacking of time and I can say let's not judge fourth drama because any competent director won't be able to ruin that easy drama (they didn't fail it obviously).

Story was rushed too. It's obviously clear to me in this one. Too many events happened in 1 hour and 30 minutes that even if directing was on it peak, it will still be obviously rushed. There are 1 confession, 1 recruiting, 1 festival, 1 competition, 4 drama in this movie. It's just too much for 90 minutes.

I also have one more small thing to complain. The use of portrait video record implying that it's currently recording on phone in some scene isn't exactly a good idea. It just feel wrong and it feel unnatural for me. Better be landscape or actual camera instead of portrait video. It was good attempt but I feel like it sadly didn't work out.

Why I feel uncertain about future of series as well? After all it's just one movie that fucked up. Right? Well, this movie completely fucked up relationship of main character. You likely gonna see less screentime of Kumiko and Reina together while both two gave one of the best chemistry vibes. It also gonna be so awkward for me to see Kumiko and Shuuichi together as lover. This might be movie that actually ruin the whole series. If season 3 actually come, it likely won't be as good as previous 2 seasons.

Overall, I'm not impressed by this movie at all. It might be (and should be) worst anime in Hibike! Euphonium series so far with multiple incredible mistake that I didn't expect it coming from Hibike! Euphonium series. Giving it 5/10 might even be way too much as drama of this movie is worse than Kokoro Connect: Michi Random and I gave that 3. I just feel like something holding me from giving it 3 or 4 and instead make me give it 5 (likely my bias). I hope season 3 will come soon and even more, I hope it will not disappoint me like this again.

TL;DR: Hibike! Euphonium Movie 3 have multiple severe issues that was a main strengths of series. Notably relationship between character and drama. This make Hibike! Euphonium series went from one of the best drama series so far to become your typical average soap or even worse. Story is also very rushed to the point where it's somewhat unwatchable. 5/10 might even be too much and the thing that fucked up in this movie might also affect season 3 heavily if that ever come.