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First things first, as much as I like the show, people are completely right: the plot is convoluted as hell. However, it CAN be understood: it's not that the plot is bad or makes no sense, it's just that the show-runners have WAY too much trust in me to memorize and connect stuff. Which is why you really need to watch this when you haven't watched anime in a while, and can fully focus on the story.

The story consists of Origasa - a police officer in a small town - somehow getting himself involved into a complicated political plot to overthrow the Shogunate. While Origasa's ... random missions weren't particularly engaging, the subtle storytelling of the political drama was so damn good. The various factions are characterized reasonably well, though, I admit, some characters have oddly similar designs and they're easy to mix up. A run-down of the things that happened so far every now and then would've been nice, too. Though I guess if you hate flashbacks - you'll love this.

As I said, the protagonist's story-line was pretty boring. Not only does it feel like filler with pretty bad, meaningless characters, but it also hinges on a romance we have ZERO information on. I don't think Origasa's wife even has any screen-time, yet apparently it's the major thing in Origasa's character; it's that odd.

The show has noticeable priorities when it comes to everything else, too. The focus on politics mean characters suffer and feel like caricatures. Some are there just to move the plot forward (for example, a side-character will completely change their stance on a topic, just so that one of the main-characters can be where they're meant to), others don't have much depth to them. Look, I'm human. I see a white-hair samurai with an eye-patch cutting stuff up stoically, I'll like it and watch it. But it's not peak writing or anything. To sum up in a sentence, the show's motto is a bit like "It's not important how something happened, but that it happened". So, if the main characters need to escape from a pretty disasterous situation? Rest assured, the show will whip something crazy out because it doesn't care about being unrealistic.

Origasa is your generic blend of compassionate and cool. He is not openly OP, but he has an abundance of MC energy. He has smug one-liners for every occasion, he's wise when he needs to be, stupid as a joke if he needs to be, trauma to make him cool, and so on. He can throw a sumo wrestler twice his size, if he loses a battle it's because he lost on purpose, blah blah blah. I simply don't like characters like this. Then, we have his fiance. As I said, we don't know much about her, not much is done with her character in general, and her bond with Origasa is zero. The Main villain was AWESOME, legit one of my favourite characters in all of anime.

Side plots, like a random tournament arc and everything connected to edgy boy's squad, felt out of place and added little value to the overall story. MC has some police missions early on, which follow your basic tropes. Unreasonably evil soldiers abusing their power, MC is pure-hearted. That sort of thing. The detective subplot pays off in the very end, but it can be frustrating to watch at times. The humor was scarce and hit-or-miss, with some jokes feeling forced. Mostly no fan-service, luckily.

The dialogue is extremely blunt with characterization, but quite subtle and takes some thinking to decypher with the main plot. It's an odd blend that can frustrate a viewer. World-building was great, painted the picture of Japan pretty well.

Visually, the show ranges from average, to occasionally good, to almost distractingly bad. The music was great, sound design was solid, with voice acting generally strong, though I wasn’t fond of Origasa.

Overall Enjoyment: 7.0/10.
The political plot was brilliantly crafted, and it's a shame most will fail to appreciate it. Don't expect much from the characters, though something brilliant might just sneak up on you. The random focus on fight-scenes when what this show does best is politics was odd at times.

TL;DR: great if you're expecting an average isekai. Bad if you've hyped the show up to be a reinvention of the genre.

It's one of those anime where its name basically tells you all you need to know. I was intrigued by the premise, but that alone isn't enough to carry a show. It takes TWO episodes for some random girl to propose (marriage, as in) to the protagonist because apparently he's just that awesome, and his backstory itself is very "isekai" (extremely diligent, capable worker whose work isn't appreciated by his employers for little reason - it's basically "banished from the hero party" with extra ... steps). So, rather than feeling like something new, it's like you added some coating to a generic isekai, kicked out the action, replaced it with lots of exposition dumps and some not-particularly-engaging negotiation. This isn't necessarily bad, I just want to get it out of the way - no, this show isn't reinventing isekai.

Why isn't the thing you'd want to watch the anime for, negotiation, engaging? Well, several reasons.

1. Let's talk about Frieren (no spoilers, don't worry). Basically, Frieren is super old, and she did tons of stuff throughout her life. As we go through the story, she'll occasionally remember something that happened in the past, and that thing will happen to fit the current situation to a tee (so, someone doesn't want to negotiate? Frieren had the same problem 10000 years ago and knows exactly what to do). This is pretty much the EXACT structure Salaryman takes. Basically, the protagonist is living through the same thing for the second time, so he knows what to do this time. It's not particularly interesting because you don't really feel as though he's problem-solving, or that you're watching a story unravel. More-so as though he has the script / God himself speaks to him and tells him what to do.

Which is also why this doesn't feel like an actual story for now. It's one of those anime that has the protagonist arrive at the correct solution at the very end, just to reveal he's had a plan all along and explains that plan at the very end. It's like a bad mystery show that explains the murder by adding a bunch of new stuff you didn't know about before at the very end, then acts smart because the solution ends up fitting. Yes, it makes the protagonist look smart and capable, but it's like I'm watching someone's narration rather than an anime.

I saw another reviewer call it a salaryman's fantasy and I cannot put it any better, that's exactly what it feels like. The fact he doesn't one-shot anything or isn't overwhelmingly strong doesn't make this any less of a power-trip fantasy: if anything, I'd say that's exactly the reason why it's even MORE self-insert-y.

2. The protagonist is extremely bland. The negotiations both have zero "political" (I don't know how to call these) stakes, because the world exposition is pretty hasty. And zero emotional stakes because MC's only reason for being here is because he likes his boss.

I'll end with the positives, because they do exist. 1. I like that the protagonist's past experiences exist, even if overplayed (it's an actual isekai which is rarer than you might imagine). 2. The short-fuse girl side-character is actually sort of reasonable (like apologizing when she's wrong). 3. The protagonist is a chill dude (maybe too chill). 4. I like the guitar music.

So, if you're absolutely in love with the premise or liked the Frieren plot structure / down for a normal isekai, it's an okayish show. Me, personally, I like being more involved with the plot, finding stuff out along with the protagonist rather than alongside the side-character. And, honestly, I really did expect something new from this show, but it's basically your average isekai except it kicks out all the aspects that make dumb isekai stories watchable. I don't know if I can even recommend this if you enjoy isekai slop, it's a particular niche that's really not for most people, but I'm sure some will love it.

This movie is basically evidence that people were wrong about Season 1, and hated on it for no good reason. This movie? This is the one where all of people's criticism is actually on point. Pointless rape, complete dissonance between "dumb fun" and "brooding melancholy", Goblin Slayer being a self-insert. This time: yes, yes, and yes. And I'm so glad it exists, because I already thought I was the one in the wrong for liking S1.

There's simply something missing in it. The characters parrot the exact same phrases and things you've heard before, making it filler in every sense of the word. It's to the ... point I genuinely felt as though the entire story was AI generated (as in you fed the AI information about how dwarves hate elves and Lizardman likes cheese, and now every conversation of every character boils down to those three things) and any potentially new information is skipped (the only interesting memory the 2000 year old elf can muster to remember is following a pebble down the river). Blond girl's flashbacks are probably the only thing that was well-done in the movie, yet it feels so demeaning and sad to watch. We never find out anything about her, which felt like the POINT of the movie. As it turns out, this movie has no point. Every scene of her crying, every scene of her friends being brutally murdered, every scene of her second-guessing herself, every scene of her having an emotional breakdown just become obsolete. Those breakdowns, as justified and sad as they are, are simply annoying to watch because there's no pay-off, they exist solely to make Goblin Slayer look cool (and yes, I think Slayer's character is more than just an edgy self-insert created for the women in this universe to drool on).

What actually, genuinely remains is probably like the ~5 minutes of info dumps about Gods and goblins evolving which can be summarised in a single sentence and is revealed really out of tact, and the admittedly fun, chaotic last act. There's lots of "fun, chaotic" action sequences throughout the movie, but I didn't like any of them cause they neither made sense, nor were fun (and Goblin Slayer is usually at least one of those things). By didn't make sense, I mean both wondering why are they even doing the thing they're doing currently (other than "well, the show's called Goblin Slayer, so, we must throw in some goblins getting slain so that things don't get boring") and that the scenes themselves sometimes were so unrealistic they actually took me out of the story (which says a lot if it happens in a 1. fantasy show, and 2. fucking Goblin Slayer out of all things). The least spoiler-y one I can think of is that at the very end of the movie, Slayer fights against the Goblin Lord, 1v1. Except this time (unlike in S1 where getting him alone required cunning), the Lord literally has his entire army at the ready, but he CHOOSES (yes, the race whose only trait is being cowardly and raping) to fight this dude 1 on 1, despite his army being able to swarm Slayer's party. Now, is the fight cool? Yes. Does it take you out of the story? Yeah. It boils down to whether or not you care. There's also multiple scenes where either side-characters or goblins are dumbed down just for an action scene to happen, which was annoying.

So, it really depends on what you're looking for in this show. If you want fun, pointless action - it's probably your cup of tea. If you're like me and liked S1 for some other indescribable reason, this one isn't for you. But maybe it's worth watching just to see which one you are.

TL;DR: Usato is a bit bland from the start, but his character devolves into just being "the protagonist" by the end.

As always, I'm late to the party, so I'll keep it brief cause it seems what I disliked, a lot of other reviewers disliked also. I'll just say stuff that hasn't been said.

For one, other than Rose, most side-characters have their characterization, flaws, etc. summed up in a single scene, in a single episode which is in a complete vacuum from the rest of the show. Kazuki is afraid of the battlefield? One conversation with Usato and it's gone. Inaukami is nervous before a battle? ... During the battle itself, she's the strategic one. Basically, it's just pointless flavour, whenever it matters the characters are flawless. Rose might be the only character with consistent writing.

This is my biggest gripe with Usato. Shallow, boring protagonists are nothing new, but I've rarely seen an anime give so many doubts, fears, and such meekness to their flawless protagonist before. He's one of "those" guys who convert their opponents to pacifism with their pure MC energy. Usually with protagonists like this you give them something that challenges their world-view. Usato, however, is different. Actually, his whole thing is that he's not challenged at all in that department (I can quote Rose on this literally from episode THREE!!!) and all that he misses are the "basics" - aka, he's already perfect mentally, just needs to be stronger. And, you know what, I'd actually be fine with this if they didn't keep trying to make me believe this man has fears or doubts. Like, you DARE talk about "I wonder... if I can really do this...? I'm so scared of the battlefield... I don't want to kill anyone..." after killing a GIANT FUCKING DEMON SNAKE IN COLD BLOOD AS AN ACT OF REVENGE FOR THE GROUP OF PANDAS YOU'VE SEEN FOR THE FIRST TIME, AS YOUR LITERALLY FIRST MISSION??? As such, his whole pacifism schtick feels a bit weird. He was just the standard "fools around throughout the show, locks in when needed" cookie-cutter protag, goes on a revenge mission, but is now a pacifist? Any doubt he might have will be reduced to a single scene and solved immediately. He's actually kind of bad at healing due to how nervous he is at seeing an open wound? Ha, resolved literally in that same scene through a single conversation. Actually scared of going on the battlefield? Ha, steels himself and just decides not to be afraid anymore. As a result, all of his conversations with the other actually well-written characters who actually have a personality, instead of great just feel boggled down by how painfully average Usato's character is. Like, I get optimism, but sometimes you just need to make it make sense. Even then, I can live with this since he does have a personality, just a really bland one. The real problem comes with the war.

Now, first, to understand why I find this whole war thing stupid, I need to go on a rant about the nonsensical future subplot. I honestly have no idea what the point of this even was (other than introducing furry-girl), unless if it was just to piss the viewer off. The fact Usato comes to the "even if that's literally the future, it don't matter, I'll just do what I would've done anyway" (because that's a greeeeat way to change the future) conclusion is the most "my expectations were low but wow" they could have done. He doesn't even MENTION it, once. As someone who LOVES time-travel stories, this was especially disappointing. Like, the best parts of shows like Re;Zero or Steins;Gate is the main characters having to come to terms what's about to happen, and thinking strategically about how to save their loved ones. If you're not interested in making such a puzzle, then don't introduce time-travel to the story. Usato in particular doesn't actively do anything to stop the future from happening, if anything he needs ANOTHER vision until he believes it. Now, okay, I get it, he's a human, so a healthy dose of scepticism is completely normal. But the SECOND he finds out he knew the Black Armor existed without ever seeing him, he should've done at least something to help his friends. Like, lightning magic exists in this universe, but he draws the line at seeing the future? Why did he have to wait until the second vision, why was that even necessary? Well, that's simple. Because the entire war arc isn't even an actual thing that happens naturally in the universe, but something specifically tailored and manufactured to make Usato have his MC moment and rise in rank in the Kingdom. So, why doesn't he do the sensible thing? Because the author wanted him to make a dramatic entrance and save his friends. Because it simply makes Usato look cooler.

So, how does it make any sense for Usato not to feel any fear, or to be able to completely rationally speak with Kazuki about going to war when he literally saw a vision of him dying? He might not believe in it, but that shit looked damn realistic to me, and like it'd have an effect on a person. What if he actually asked Kazuki to run away, and Kazuki was the one who gives Usato courage? No, that cannot happen to Usato. Why? Cause his character in the end boils down to being "the protagonist". He's the one who helps - he doesn't get helped.

Now, how, exactly, were the war episodes engineered specifically to make Usato shine, and why it just doesn't work. One, The Black Armor's literal ONLY counter is healing magic - already, we're moving into the "well, that was lucky" territory. Two, Usato, for whatever reason, gains the help of that furry girl, so him "saving" the heroes wasn't HIM saving the heroes, and thus also feels unearned. Even something as simple as the technique he used was created by Rose, and he managed to learn it through words alone - three. And four, Usato beating Black Armor as a whole feels unearned too, cause his ideology is what actually beat her. The only way to beat the Black Armor is to have no desire to harm her. This fits Usato a bit too well. The war was supposed to the climax of the season, and the culmination of Usato's preparations. The Black Armour was obviously that climax's climax - the final hurdle. The final hurdle is NOT supposed to fit the main character to a tee - it's supposed to challenge them, at least in one way. Imagine if Pain was beaten by kid Naruto in episode 13 with Naruto talking about friendship and forgiveness, something he can only truly grasp after hundreds of episodes of suffering (the whole reason the Pain arc is so compelling is because it challenges his view of what a shinobi is). You'd expect, therefore, for a character like Black Armor to be end-game shit, something a mature Usato who developed through the story would be able to take on, yet Usato beats her with zero difficulty, no adjustments to his mentality, and his BEGINNER LEVEL MOVE. In. Sane. Now, you might say "but kunnka, you sexy captain, the snake was clearly demonic which is why Usato could see that as putting down a rabid dog that cannot be controlled!". The way I see it, the snake and the demon-kind aren't separate enough entities in Usato's mind for him to make that distinction in his moral code yet. ESPECIALLY for something that looks like the Black Knight (and I didn't even mention that it killed his friends in a time-line).

If they wanted a stepping-stone type of character, they could've picked anything other than the Black Knight, who really challenges Usato's morals. As it stands, there's literally nothing to challenge. And that sentence is Usato in a nutshell. He's boring, exudes an illusion of weakness, yet unchallengeable. He's flawless. Ideological challenges are the most fun type, and Season 2 can no longer play that card because Usato fought against hatred, and won. He saw a demon kill his friends and still decided not to kill it, was even STRONG enough to be able to do so. There was no conflict, no "if I don't kill her she kills me", no. Zero stakes. Simply bad.

But yeah, the show is enjoyable at times. Though I could see some people being put off by this.

Main: Outstanding (9.0) / 10.
This category rates how well the anime accomplished what it set out to do and how well it fits into the genre. I'm rating this as outstanding. While not a perfect anime by a long-shot, what BlueLock attempts is to, unlike other sports media, fully lean into the emotional aspect of playing football. At the same time, it's much like Jujutsu-Kaisen which lives by the rule of cool. So, is it fantastic writing? No. Will it hype you up as you're watching it? Probably. It's a really cool balance of (sometimes) genuinely good character work and interactions, actually interesting social commentary ... on modern Japanese society, and aura moments that will sometimes hype you up, sometimes make you cringe so hard you just want to bite a wall.

Problems arise in the later episodes, though. By now, we have a cast of characters we know. As such, there's a limited amount of stuff the show can do with them (sometimes having them "evolve" though it always felt hap-hazard to me), its only decision being to add new characters to the cast to keep things interesting. However, the last episodes have Isagi and his team confront his "rival" and his team, except we already know everyone from both teams as well as their abilities. As such, it feels almost like watching a Pokemon battle: Barou plays chops and hits for 30! Then we just carry on like nothing happened. While the other games in this season had an actual structure to them, the latter ones devolved into something far, far, far more boring.

Story / Plot: Excellent (8.5) / 10.
I'm not saying this is a Shakespearean drama, but I do find the set-up extremely interesting. The pacing is just slow enough during games to make you feel their length (or the situation on the field), yet quick enough to not bore you. The structure is basic, but effective. Isagi starts off quite weak, yet has insane potential and a power that revolves around thinking (so he can't just "train" it and it always leads to hype moments in clutch situations during games). Can you FEEL he's the protagonist? Yes, unapologetically so (to the point the side-characters will comment on it sometimes). Does he absolutely EARN every improvement he gained? Yes. The improvements are really well timed, too.

Non-Plot: Outstanding (9.0) / 10.
There's lots of fun, small character interactions I liked a lot.

Fan-service Toleration: If I speak, I'm in big trouble / 10.
Lots of men if you're into that. And Chigiri if you're into... that.

Dialogue: Kinda Bad (4.5) / 10.
Excerpt from my journal logs: "STOP TALKING ABOUT DEVOURING OTHER MEN!!!"

If I allowed myself to be more biased, I'd probably rate this as a 2/10. This anime has had some of the most painfully cringe lines I have ever had the misfortune of hearing. As I said, in the later episodes games devolve into Pokemon matches where each character does a move then fades into obscurity. Isagi then comments on that move (if you're lucky he just says "wow, Barou did chops!" but if he wants to be extra annoying he'll add something about chemical reactions, villains, devouring and so on, which are all stuff I'm fine with as a one-off analogy but to actually have it be a recurring TERM in this universe is fucking insane), the character has their "I, too, am in this anime" moment, and we carry on. Which, okay, I can tolerate as long as Isagi's protagonist energy far outweighs the filler side-character meat-riding. The problem is this simply doesn't happen as the show goes on. The annoying pseudo-banter between people (like people calling Zantetsu "Baka-Zantetsu" or Chigiri being called "Princess", the nicknames and banter in these moments feels forced as hell) is guaranteed to drive you insane at some point, and no number of cool Isagi scenes can fix that. This leads to both character moments and game moments feeling forced, and thus already a hard watch. Tacked on is then the constant rundowns and flashbacks to said already bad moments, which makes them even tougher to watch cause now we're seeing them twice.

The problem is BlueLock can actually deliver unironically killer lines when it wants to. Ego Jinpachi, Chigiri, Isagi all have their moments of brilliance and it makes me be able to forget the annoying bits. But not fully.

This was supposed to be Average (5.5), but I just remembered Rin exists. Minus 1.

Characters: Great (8.0) / 10.
Y'know what, I was going to bitch about how edgy and annoying some of the characters are, but I don't care. The good characters are genuinely good, the bad characters are so bad they're enjoyable to watch, and there's a very, very, very small number of them I actually disliked. I liked Ego Jinpachi a lot, wasn't crazy for Nagi at first but he grew on me as the episodes progressed, Chigiri was such a goddamn drama queen you just have to love him, Bachira was wonderful, Rin and Barou are such edge-lords you can't not have fun when they're on screen, and that's about it for the characters I have an opinion on. Isagi is my favourite main character in all of anime. I will not elaborate. Watch Episodes 5 and 18.

Visuals: Bad (4.0) / 10.
Actually really good prior to Episode 7, then it all goes to shit. It didn't really diminish my enjoyment for the most part, but some plays you just cannot take seriously due to how ridiculous they look. Switching from reasonably OK hand-drawn to 3D CGI within a single scene was especially jarring. Honestly though, I didn't really mind as long as it was kept to these background moments.

Sound: Perfect (10.0) / 10.
Perfect voice-acting, perfect music, perfect sound.

Enjoyment: 8.25 / 10.

TL;DR:

"So, what does this mean? It means the show decided to put off literally every single group of people who might be interested in watching it. If you like the MC being OP, you'll just be frustrated by Krai's incompetence. If you dislike the MC being OP, you'll be frustrated by how competent the side-characters are. And so on. In addition, whichever group you belong to, humans are naturally put off by undeserving people accomplishing things in the world - and that's Krai in a nutshell. He does NOT have the charisma and he's far too big of an asshole by the end to ... make a watcher forget this instinct. I'm not even talking about the insane luck, but moreso about the relics (which he has to rely on to do anything). He either buys these relics or is gifted them by his OP friends, so they're just not satisfying to watch. It's the complete antithesis to the "struggler" character people are usually drawn to in shows, who deserves everything he's got and obtained it through hard work. Krai is the opposite."

~ Me (just now).

Main: Kinda Good (6.5) / 10

This category rates how well the show executed its premise / fits into its genre. Overall, I'd rate this aspect as just fine. Krai Andrey is an extremely weak dude everyone is convinced is super strong / smart due to his insane luck. Watching a string of misunderstandings continue to evolve into something larger and larger just to loop back to that "Krai was once again right, though completely unintentionally" somehow never got stale. However, it's extremely easy to get frustrated about.

For one, Krai really is just dumb, weak, and has zero shame. People who were expecting him to "train" or try to get stronger - no, Krai's whole character is being lazy, disinterested and uncaring. If you don't like that, don't watch the show.

Two, people who are expecting Krai to use his wits to win battles will also be disappointed, because Krai has no wits to use. While he shows some critical thinking ability in the earlier episodes, as the season continues he'll be relying more and more on luck. No, he's not a "commander" type of character, he doesn't actually lead his party - they just show up and are OP enough on their own not to need a plan.

Three, people who are watching the show because they were tired of OP protagonists and actually just want to watch someone weak with zero motivation, interest, etc. triumph over other more capable than him through sheer luck - yes, he does triumph over others, but in the most unsatisfying way possible. This is because, while not traditionally OP, Krai has this ability called "have my OP friends show up through sheer luck to save my ass". This means that if you're tired of ONE OP protagonist, well, too bad, we now have like 3.

Which means that Group 4 who's here just for a good parody to laugh at - too bad, cause this is at times just a honest-to-God crappy isekai except the protagonist is sometimes relegated to a side-character, and the side-characters unironically do the stuff you'd want to see parodied.

People who like comedies to have meaningful character work done will be disappointed because the show oftentimes baits you to expect it, but then make a joke out of it (there's a scene where a teacher berates her student to the point of tears, and you'd expect that to be a character moment for either of them but it's just played off as a joke. You might say "Ok, but this is a comedy anime!" and yeah, I'd agree, if just an episode earlier they didn't give us flashbacks and backstories for several characters we're meant to sympathise with). And people who want their comedies to have carricature characters will also be disappointed cause there's just enough charaacterisation for it to feel bloated. People who like plots in comedies will be disappointed cause the plot mostly SUCKS, and the people who don't care about story and just want to laugh will be disappointed cause there's 3 full episodes unironically completely devoted to the story.

So, what does this mean? It means the show decided to put off literally every single group of people who might be interested in watching it. If you like the MC being OP, you'll just be frustrated by Krai's incompetence. If you dislike the MC being OP, you'll be frustrated by how competent the side-characters are. And so on. In addition, whichever group you belong to, humans are naturally put off by undeserving people accomplishing things in the world - and that's Krai in a nutshell. He does NOT have the charisma and he's far too big of an asshole by the end to make a watcher forget this instinct. I'm not even talking about the insane luck, but moreso about the relics (which he has to rely on to do anything). He either buys these relics or is gifted them by his OP friends, so they're just not satisfying to watch. It's the complete antithesis to the "struggler" character people are usually drawn to in shows, who deserves everything he's got and obtained it through hard work. Krai is the opposite - that's a dealbreaker for some.

The show works best in the earlier episodes, with medium stakes and Krai being active in the story (involuntarily). However, this can happen only a certain number of times, because, if Krai is actually in danger semi-often, it begs the question for the characters around him "wait, is this guy even strong?" This means the show basically locked itself into ALWAYS having to use other OP Grieving Souls in order to keep the illusion of strength. As such, I won't be watching Season 2, cause I think the cracks are beginning to form and things just go downwards from here.

The worst parts of the show are when the premise (even if weak, still by far the most entertaining part of the show) is just ignored for some bizarre reason and the side-characters just play things out between each other, ocasionally attributing some random thing to some other random thing Krai said at some random point in time (where "That damn Thousand-Tricks...!" more often felt like a buzzword than an actual joke). A real chore to get through. But even so, the show somehow manages to be entertaining, and, since this is a comedy anime, that's what the "Main" thing for me is.


Characters: Good (7.0) / 10
As I said, the anime sometimes will blur the line between genuine characterisation and making a joke. As such, it's difficult to judge its characters for real. Either way, I'd say most of the characters fall into the "just likable enough" territory, and I have something to say on just a couple.

1. Krai.

Krai in episodes 1-4 and in episodes 10-13 is a completely different character. In episodes 1-4, while dumb and inconsiderate, he always means well. Now, he's a bit of an asshole. The best way I can illustrate this is his relationship with Tino.

Tino pretty much idolizes Krai, and is convinced that everything he does is for a reason, as well as correct. The show often-times infantilizes her (which is common for anime so maybe I'm looking into it too much), so this makes the viewer see her as a hothead they can empathise with (as in, "aww, she's just a kid"). The reason I'm giving this intro is that when you see that trust betrayed, it puts you off an extra bit (especially when it's by the protagonist with no repercussions), especially when that person isn't even deserving of it in the first place. In Episodes 1-2, Krai sends Tino to a really dangerous dungeon because he's too lazy to go there himself. However, he doesn't know the dungeon is dangerous because he didn't read the quest carefully before accepting it. This is incompetence, not malice - great. It makes for an engaging plot with a touch of humour to it since Tino believes everything Krai does is with a reason (which couldn't be further from the truth). When he realizes his mistake, Krai both rushes to save her, throwing his own well-being to the wind, as well as says he'd be fine with Tino using the rest of her party as meat-shields if it meant she survived, which is a really cool way to both make him an asshole and someone who gives some of Tino's love back. Later on in the episode. he's ready to be the meat-shield himself in order to save her, which, again, is sweet.

In episode 11, though, Krai is confronted by an entire party of people who are convinced he has it out for them (again, a humorous streak of misunderstandings that's quite fun to watch unfold). However, while Krai does attempt to negotiate and resolve this conflict peacefully at the start, he allows hot-headed Tino to fight 1v5. Now, as I said, Tino is a bit of a child who idolizes Krai - and he knows it (evidence to this later). As such, allowing her to fight is already extremely weird. However, he doesn't intervene in the fight until Tino is legit KNOCKED OUT by getting slammed into the ground with such force that the cement floor CRACKS. He doesn't seem to care much, has his MC moment (showing he could have dealt with the situation from the start and stopped the fight whenever he wanted, just didn't), then leaves. To me, these two have a father-daughter type relationship, so, seeing this unfold just made me uncomfortable rather than making me laugh. Even the opposing party is disgusted by what Krai did, BUT THIS DOESN'T MAKE IT OK. Even if the anime is self-aware, it doesn't mean anything if the protagonist is a piece of shit who lets his pseudo-daughter get slammed into the ground and not feel anything about it.

A similar thing can be said for his relationship with Sitri. While she's a reasonably fun character at first, she quickly becomes just someone obsessed with Krai, who you quickly realise is, again, a piece of shit and that this relationship exists simply because it's beneficial to him. For one, he owes a 10-digit debt to Sitri - which, okay, again, incompetence and carelessness, so still funny. However, Sitri then proceeds to be so painfully nice towards him (she spends even MORE money on recharging his relics, is ready to give up on an experiment she's been doing for years which cost her a lot of money and effort just because it'd make Krai unable to fulfill his stupid whim, and takes the time to help Krai again and again) which is then made fun of. Krai knows she's deeply in love with him, and realises that even if he got her billions of coins in debt, "she'd just forgive him without saying a word". This is sociopath behaviour, he knows exactly what people think of him and just uses it to his advantage. So, right now, the watchers are thinking "Okay, Krai is bad, Sitri good, feel bad for Sitri wait for character development for Krai" until the showrunners say "'kay, enough of that!" and I'm supposed to laugh at Sitri saying that Krai can absolve his debts with his body, showing she's always being doing this stuff out of horniness??

2. Sitri.

The same old tale of characters only being as smart as the writer, and Sitri is too smart for such a dumb show. Why they kept giving this girl badass scenes is beyond me. If you love cute girls talking in a baby voice but saying deeply disturbing things with a smile, then you'll love her. As for me, I'm tired of this trope. Her two names are literally Sitri Smart and Deep Black - you can gauge the insane depths of her characterization from that alone. She constantly mutters to herself, making basic logic sound like nuclear physics, has a plan for everything, but has to do all of it in an edgy way. Not crazy for it. The harem thing she ends up in, being obsessed with Krai is such a waste.

3. Tino

I don't actually have much to say on Tino unfortunately, which is a shame cause she's the best character in this show and probably the only one with any depth to her. I wish she was more focused on, since she has a really fun dynamic with Krai.

4. Other characters

The villains sucked, some of the side protagonists were great (Arc's really lovable, Krai's secretary, Liz is fun sometimes, and so on).


Visuals: Below Average (5.0) / 10
They should've just given up on animating the fights. Facial expressions are mostly great, except when we go into the edgy part of the episode. Whether it's Krai, Liz, Sitri - they all have a separate MC face which just looks goofy. There was a 3D mecha which the characters fought against and that was just awkward.

Music and Sound: Almost Perfect (9.5) / 10
A couple of awkward lines and an OST I really didn't like but which kept playing all the time. Otherwise, great OP, awesome ED, great voice acting, and the music is super well-timed.

Enjoyment: Very Enjoyable (7.5) / 10
Even with all its faults, I'd say most of this show is a 8.0/10. It really is entertaining. However, there's just so much bad in it. I'm the type of person who really doesn't mind and can watch almost anything. But if I see someone say "this is the worst show ever!!" like, I get it. It IS funny though, and I really recommend watching at least the first 4-or-so episodes. If you're really hooked, do yourself a favour and skip episodes 7-9 if you don't care about the story (and you shouldn't).

Main - 5.0/10
For one, this anime has zero nostalgic value for me. I don't watch old anime, and it came out from before I was born. As such, I can say with a clear mind that it's far from an extraordinary mecha series. The fights are alright, mostly because of the music. Nothing interesting is done with the mechas themselves: their designs are basic, and all of it is quite unimaginative. The sci-fi elements are lackluster, though I guess that is to be expected for an anime from 1997.

Story / Plot - 7.0/10
The plot is straightforward but manages to hold your attention. Earth has successfully ... colonized space, but its colonies, known as Next, have gained independence and are now in a war with their home planet. On Earth, a faction called Terra is unhappy with the status quo, and that's about it. Unfortunately, the political tension never really takes priority and we're not shown much reason for as to why these factions are in conflict. We were given a single conversation about the relationship between Earth and Terra (which felt more like a collection of throwaway lines than something important), and pretty much nothing about the tension between Next and Earth. Instead, the narrative focuses on this rogue mecha, SAC (or S for short), causing chaos as everyone scrambles to capture it. What makes the story passable are the characters.

Non-Plot - 7.0/10
The show managed to make me connect with the gang, and there's a lot of pay-off once it sort of connects to the main-plot (like, for example, how we know some information about a character that others don't, which makes a subsequent development even sadder).

Humour - 7.0/10
Humor is sparse, and what little exists is moreso endearing than laugh-out-loud funny.

Fan-Service Toleration - 9.0/10
Luckily no fan-service, except for a really weird borderline pedo-bait scene which felt insanely out of place.

Dialogue - 9.0/10
Lots of really good, memorable lines. Character interactions were always really fun to watch, which is why I can only lament there not being any focus on the politics of the world.

World-Building - 5.0/10
The miniscule amount of focus the world-building gets is almost immersion-breaking. There was apparently some big war at some point in the story which all the side-characters took part in and which seems to kick-start the whole tension between factions thing, but it's just never expanded upon. Super weird, super lazy.

Characters - 9.0/10
As I said before, the characters are what make the show worth watching for me. While Jay isn't the best of main characters for the majority of the show, once he's actually given an opportunity to shine, he has some really cool lines. A common theme in this show is that it'll just decide to leave you in the dark on some characters' backstory, which is simultaneously a shame and something I enjoyed. For example, I really didn't care to know what EACH of the members of the gang was up to through the course of their lives, but for some (like Jay) it feels as though you're literally being limited. Like, I WANT to know what sort of experiences Jay had during the war, it's one of those defining experiences in a character. Especially with the show occasionally egging me on, making me expect backstory, just to not deliver any in the end.

Similarly, Balzak is a drunk, borderline depressed war veteran. His whole thing is making himself famous during the war, having PTSD due to the war, being depressed due to the war, so on. And yet, the war ITSELF is never expanded upon, so it feels super weird, literally like a handicap.

Camel is one of those edgy characters whose job is to smoke, drink, look cool and be horny. However, he surprisingly ended up being my favourite character, not only because there actually is some depth to him, but also cause the way he interacts with other characters is by far the most fun out of all of them.

The rest of the gang is likable, Rodney is mostly left out and completely forgettable though (save for his fucking GROTESQUE design). Terra’s leader and his advisor went through the most character development, and were quite fun to watch. Captain Aoi adds a fun dynamic to the mix. I liked it.

Visuals - 7.25/10
All over the place. There's a scene where 3 mechas descend into a shaft, so they have the animation of one mecha jumping down play three times. However, at other times there's scenes I genuinely LIKED, as in I found them pretty and well animated. Either way, even with stiff animation, the direction stays imaginative throughout. You'd expect dull angles or lifeless compositions in anime like this, but it's actually really well "directed".

Sound - 9.5/10
The soundtrack is nothing short of phenomenal. I'd give both my kidneys to be able to find it somewhere and just listen to it every day. It's honestly what makes the show work for me. The voice acting, while not extraordinary, gets the job done.

Enjoyment - 7.8/10
Despite its flaws, there’s something undeniably enjoyable about this anime. It may not be a masterpiece, but it has its moments, and the characters, dialogue, and soundtrack make it worth the watch.

"If I didn't like X, should I drop it?" Here's my guide on this.

If you disliked the goofy, campy tone of the ending to episode 1, you won't like the ending, but you'll probably like the middle portion. If you just cannot feel yourself connecting to the gang, then you should drop. Episode 3 is really good (save for the awkward portions with the kid) and if you didn't enjoy the soundtrack in this episode or didn't care for the characters, you should maybe consider dropping. Either way, I'd say Episode 6 is when the show becomes truly good, so at least try to watch until then.

This show simply wasn't made for me. I dislike the jokes (it's the screaming and funny faces thing anime does), I dislike the characters, I hate the music and the voice acting, the MC gets way too much hype, and the anime as a whole is extremely on-the-nose.

I'll start with the things I liked. For one, the Main Character (Lloyd) can be quite fun to watch at times. He's unapologetically OP and completely insane. He has such an obsession with magic that he pays no mind to the women after him, to his own safety, to anything. He can still have some pretty cool relationships ... with other characters (like with his older brother, his maid, or Grim), which is great. But, overall, yeah, if you're expecting some sort of nuanced, complex character, then I don't know what to tell you. These sort of stories always have an OP character, it's part of the genre. If you don't like it, watch something else. At least this guy's less bland than your average protagonist.

I'm fine with Lloyd, but God do I HATE the relationship he has with other characters. I get that this is pretty much a staple of these sort of stories, but absolutely everyone this guy meets is completely blown away by him. His (middle-aged, by the way) maid is obsessed with this 10 year old boy, and deeply in love with him. We have a scene of her undressing in his tent and burying his face in her chest, which is just weird. The enemies always underestimate Lloyd, and we have to have a 'pay-off' of them screaming for like 1 minute while being embarrassed by him. No, it's not fun to watch. No, it doesn't make Lloyd look cool. The more you try to make him cool, the less cool he becomes.

This is a common problem with the show: an overwhelming lack of subtlety. Yes, I can tell Lloyd is OP, I have eyes. I don't need someone to explain that to me. Grimoire, for example, is capable of being surprised by Lloyd's mana levels at least 10 times in an episode, and it gets old super fast. Lloyd is never allowed to even SEEM as though he lost a confrontation. Example: he encounters this difficult boss while trying to learn a new move. He erects an invulnerable barrier, but, once he realises that it hinders his new move, he literally says "Barrier, shatter!", and the barrier gets destroyed. The boss is like "ha-ha, stupid human, your barrier is weak after all". Okay, cool, the boss thinks that HE destroyed the barrier, when we, the viewers, know it was actually just Lloyd being an insane bastard. But no, the show is convinced we're all both blind and deaf, and feels the need to have the kung-fu girl say out loud that Lloyd actually shattered it. The same happens with Grim and the maid ALL THE TIME. It's as though they landed on a "show don't tell approach", just to tell after showing. What's the point?

The rest of the show has a similar problem. Trying wayyy too hard to make someone look badass or in control. Episode 4 is the perfect example. We need to have this sick guitar solo, numerous scenes of the maid having this super scary face on her, a lot of screaming on the boss's part, and more, just to establish the maid as cool. None of that was necessary. The kung-fu girl badass scene had the same problem: lots of screaming, some smart one-liners thrown in, lots of scary faces, dramatic music. Simply too much.

The dialogue is the same. Oh, kung-fu girl used a powerful move and literally cannot stand? Well, we have to be told that she ran out of qi! Thanks, I would have never guessed!

I heavily disliked the music. I will give the anime points for trying something different, and choosing more modern, ~rock / chill pop (? no idea about music genres) music instead of the classic medieval one, but it simply doesn't work. Fight-scenes feel underwhelming, slice-of-life scenes end up being annoying, everything is ruined. The voice acting wasn't really all that good, either. The jokes were terrible in my opinion, just screaming screaming and more screaming with occasional funny/cute faces thrown in for the hell of it. However, the VA didn't make up for that whatsoever. I don't think there was a single moment that got a chuckle out of me, because not only the material of the jokes was lame and lazy, but the joke's delivery left a lot to be desired, too. The bonus sections are completely dependent on you finding chibi characters funny. I don't, so I disliked them.

Finally, the animation. Yes, it's... pretty and colourful when it wants to be. But it has its ups and downs. An entire scene will be a single panel being zoomed in on different parts of it. In action scenes, they'll replay a single frame three times to buy some time and extend the moment. It looks so very cheap. No idea why, with qi breathing, they had the air look like smoke. It was so very distracting. But, I'll admit, some fight scenes were really cool.

Overall, it's an extremely safe, by-the-by anime. Cool fight-scenes with cool music which should by all rights make the average viewer think what's happening on screen is cool. Very basic, inoffensive humour. If you find funny faces and screaming funny, go for it.

I'm not trying to be condescending, just saying, not my cup of tea. The anime is actually really good if you enjoy this sort of thing.

If you disliked S4, you'll dislike S5, and vice versa.

Date A Live has long since stopped being aware of how silly their show is. The things people are talking about haven't been the case since 2014. I'm surprised it's been getting this much praise.

1 - Melodramatic as HELL. Nothing about this season is self-aware or not taking itself seriously. Feels like I'm watching a spanish soap opera with the amount of cheap twists or drama. For example, the main villain is completely capable of acting as though he's defeated 5 times in a single episode, just to whip something out of his sleeve (or something ... happens that feels like pure luck), and he'll be like "I'm playing 5D chess maaaan". Mindless character-killing on par with Akame ga Kill, to the point where I was completely devoid of emotion to watching these characters die. Two fake-out deaths that I can think of.

2 - Focus on fight scenes with 'big' stakes (when we know nothing will happen). Fights being a scream-fest (the last episode, every girl just screams the name of their angel and there's that).

3 - Lazy comedy scenes with jokes being oversimplified and with zero charm.

4 - Shido being such a weird character you can't even tell if he's supposed to be a playboy or a virgin. The confident Shido scenes gave me a headache, I audibly groaned.

5 - Laziness. Intriguing elements like the AST's involvement in the war oversimplified to safe on effort. Huge world-building details that change the way I view this world omitted until the last second. Shido whipping out powers we've never seen before to end a threat, because we've made the villain too smart.

6 - Ugly animation. Distractingly bad in fight scenes, and the studio completely gave up on animating facial expressions. Heavy hitting emotional scenes come off as odd because Shido will have the most mind-bending revelation thrown at him and not change his expression. It feels like I'm watching a child role-play with plastic, stiff figurines.

7 - Shido! Shido! Master! Shido! Darling! Shido! Shido! Boy! Shido-sama! Shin! Onii-chan! This is the extent of the dialogue whenever the group of spirits shows up. It literally gives me a headache, and I cannot understand why they felt the need to include the SAME scene so many times. That's pretty much all the girls do, too. In the one scene where they're not fighting, they're reminiscing on the things Shido did for them (and swooning over those memories).

In its defense though, I loved the flashback episodes. But the rest is simply bad. The show is DESPERATE to get you to feel something, and I simply felt nothing. I never sympathized with Mio, or Shido, or Ike, or Karen, or anyone. S1 was never desperate to grab you in, it did so effortlessly. S5 feels like they're simply trying too hard.

This anime is absolutely phenomenal, and the hate is unfounded. It's so very rare for an anime to both ask extremely intriguing questions, AND deliver with equally interesting answers. The OST is actually Godly (what did this anime do to deserve this? This is some of the best stuff that has ever graced my ears), the Voice Acting is mostly great (some of the children, understandably, are a bit hard to listen to in the midst of so many stellar performances), the ending is great and fits the show well, and it's simply a blast to watch. Not much else to say.

Yes, maybe I have ... a higher tolerance for bad production. However, the high-points of S2 animation are so good in fact, that you'll probably forget this criticism existed. The thing I disliked most was that, while S1 animation maybe wasn't pretty, it was just messy. It showcased a lack of knowledge in animating movement, which I found quite charming and not at all a bother to watch. While S2 (at its worst) will be extremely distracting still-frames. For an anime that hinges on conversation, the facial expressions being completely off in some scenes is detrimental. And so on. However, as I said, when it wants to be, it gets pretty darn beautiful. And the REALLY bad animation episodes are maybe 2 or 3.

The world-building is wonderful: they more than make up for the bad animation with masterful talking scenes. It's been a while since simple dialogue kept me at the edge of my seat (probably hasn't happened since AoT): they build up mystery superbly well. The music definitively helps: they time it crazy well. I don't really agree that the anime is overly convoluted, either. Things are pretty much spelled out sooner or later, and, while you can probably connect something a bit earlier if you're super smart, you will still be able to understand the story in full as long as you watch the show. If anything, I wish they didn't repeat the information we've already learned as much as they have.

And yet, I think some story elements are wasted. Won't go into spoilers, but I was expecting a little bit more from Touko and Hinako, and there were some characters I found kind of useless and just didn't understand why they were in the story in the first place. My only real complaint is that I found all the big reveals being prior to the Finale a bit weird. It kind of left the Finale in a weird spot where everything has already been explained, so they're not sure what to do.

With all that, this season improved so much on the last. If you found the last one a bit slow and gave up on it, trust me, things pick up. A bonus is that it's highly rewatchable, as well!

Overall, I can't recommend this anime enough. It's well thought-out, has awesome dialogue scenes which give you just enough information to keep you invested, the voice acting is marvelous, the fight-scenes might not have the best animation but the hype is still there, and the music is going into my playlist. Absurdly good anime, and hated for so little reason.