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Suzume is a movie that has hit incredible global success, but I think that a lot of that is just from romanticism and aesthetics rather than actual end-to-end quality filmmaking.

To begin with, I'd like to start with the positives. Of course, the art and animation are stunning and pretty, just like what you've come to expect from Makoto Shinkai. It's bright and dynamic, vibrant and atmospheric, and showcases a surprising number of different environments. The animation on the CG chair looked actually incredibly solid, and blended with the painted environments and drawn characters very well. While a small and simple example, its a good standard ... on what the industry should strive for in the future once the technology allows smaller budgets to achieve similar things.

On the story side, I think that this movie really excels in the intimate and grounded moments. The scenes with the innkeeper's family and the mother with the two children were heartwarming, but something I will touch on more later on. The conflict with the aunt was, interesting to say the least? It's something that I definitely think the story should have covered, but I don't feel it was handled quite correctly.

The story does have a nice sense of humour, and a decent comedic timing. If you were expecting to laugh at loud at the jokes then you're definitely lost, but I did enjoy a few of the gags, particularly everything surrounding Serizawa's character.

Lastly, this movie has a very strong message that I think is represented beautifully. Suzume is a sort of letter of love, grief, and acknowledgement to lives lost and communities destroyed by the common natural disasters in Japan. Its a sign of remembrance, acceptance, and a move towards closure. It's very clearly reflected in how all the conflicts took place where societies were actually destroyed by natural disasters, and they solved them by imagining life when the places were active and acknowledging that the land borrowed from the Earth is relinquished. It's also much more subtly reflected in the central conflict regarding Suzume, the loss of her mother and her eventual conclusion of acceptance and self support.

While the first part is a bit on the nose, Suzume's conflict is very beautiful, and its poetic in a sense that we're given so little screen-time of her mother, but her face was briefly shown in one scene. It reflects on people who have lost loved ones in communities that were brought down by disaster. Memories of these people can be painful, and remembering them means remembering what was taken from you. But they still happened, and these people were still things that one loved, so the memories aren't clouded or broken. But in the moment, it can feel so sudden. Everything was fine one moment, and the next everything is gone. It's unforgiving, and people are often left in denial, like the young Suzume in the flashback and final scenes. While Suzume was searching for someone she thought to be her mother, as closure for losing her, it turned out to be herself. While in a mess of intense feelings of loss and grief, we can lose sight of how to move on, and not realize that it really is ourselves that have to support us through our life. This loved one happened, and they may have given so many cherished gifts and experiences (like a loved handmade chair), but ultimately it is something that you can just love, cherish and take with you thorough out life. Loss does not have to define us, and we have to support ourselves while loving, cherishing, and remembering the gifts that those we lost have given to us.

Okay now that I'm done with all that, I'd love to rip into this film.

This movie is very aptly titled, as Suzume herself is the main driver of everything that happens in the movie. The entire movie hinges on Suzume being this, incredibly outgoing person who's willing to put her life on the line for someone she barely knows to try and save people through this unbelievable ritual. Now, thats fine, but I would've appreciated some more fleshing out on her character in the beginning? A primer on Suzume's character before she jumps into these heroic positions over and over again? From the beginning, we're shown that Suzume is, just a high school girl with some trauma? But that isn't enough to stop me from questioning everything that she does. Going back to the abandoned school(?) to see if Souta found the door, continuing with Souta on his mission to stop Daijin, all I can be left to wonder is, why? It just does not seem reasonable, and the only explanation we're given is that Suzume is just this unreasonable person. Okay, sweet.

In hindsight, there are more things at play that make this more reasonable. Yes, her relationship with her aunt is rocky so maybe she was more inclined to be out of the house. Yes, maybe she felt responsible for removing the keystone. Yes, the chair is a piece of memorabilia from her mother. NONE of this is communicated very well or to a reasonable point while she is making these initial decisions. While she just doesn't acknowledge her aunt, it is not to a point which would make the audience think that there is some strange relationship there, and the she says nothing about the chair until we meet Chika. The audience doesn't even have any reason to believe that the aunt is not actually her mother at the time, as this fact is only communicated later.

As a viewer, it is just a bit hard to get immersed in the plot when I just find the main character and the centre of everything thats happening, unbelievable and unreasonable. Anything from, a conversation with her aunt to give the impression that they aren't exactly seeing eye to eye, Suzume saying that she feels like the aunt is a bit suffocating when shes alone with Souta, or Suzume giving some inkling of an idea that the chair is very important to her. If anything, it seems like the importance of the chair is just reminded to her over the course of the story. It's jarring to try and wrap my head around the fact that this high school girl is just casually sailing across the country with someone she doesn't know to save people in ways she doesn't know how to, and she is completely fine ghosting her family and doesn't feel enough pressure to think twice.

Another problem I have is with the gates and Daijin. While the message that the film is trying to convey is beautiful, the actual details of the plot are communicated so poorly and loses coherence. We are never explained what exactly these worms are, just instead what they do. We are never told why exactly Daijin has taken the form of this cat that can speak and turn people to chairs, just that they are a keystone and what they do. New plot points are explained so briefly while they are happening, which makes it strange how Suzume seems to grasp the concepts to well immediately. Also, its forcing the viewer to try and comprehend exactly what these terms mean IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ACTION, and loses out on any suspense the viewer might have had if they had known about the consequences of these plot points. The film doesn't feel like it is worth to flesh out or explain any of these plot points to give a bit more depth to not only the story but Souta himself as the one explaining them, and instead just tells you, this is this, this is what happens, this is what the characters need to do.

Daijin is, a complex character that is misconstrued and given a very broken "redemption arc". By the end, its clear that Daijin was just simply very affectionate for Suzume and was instead leading Suzume to the worm doors and only does things to Souta because they feel he is "in the way". But this aspect of their character is so poorly communicated thorough out the movie, and they are set up as if they are the main villain of the film. When this eventual "realization" comes to Suzume and she immediately seems Daijin in a different light, its so sudden and the viewer can feel lost and a bit robbed as this stupid cat is suddenly vindicated. Any foreshadowing in the beginning to tip off the viewer that maybe the cat god thing? is more than meets the eye would have eased this transition and tone, and also it is just so confusing what exactly they are and what they do when they are so important to the story that its a whole other problem in itself.

Sadaijin is even more confusing? While their role is the story might come a little confusing and sudden at first, since they are similar and appearance to Daijin it's pretty easy to connect that they are the second keystone. My problem with Sadaijin is how they entered the story, by messing with Tamaki's emotions in order to fuel a conflict between her and Suzume. Why? Why was it needed at all? It's confusing, and confuses the viewer so much on the intent of this character in the story. Does Sadaijin support Suzume? Why did they cause Tamaki to emotionally wound Suzume? Why did it enter the story at this point rather than later at the door? Also, it makes the entire conflict between Suzume and Tamaki suffer because we have no idea what intention this cat has by manipulating Tamaki. Did the cat force Tamaki to say things she didn't even feel? We have no idea. We didn't even get any mention of Tamaki and Suzume's relationship being rocky before Suzume left.

Speaking on the conflicts with Suzume and Tamaki, I've spoken before on how Suzume isn't properly fleshed out as a character and I'm going to speak about how other things aren't crucially fleshed out either. But conflicts and scenes like these are shown? But serve no purpose to the story whatsoever? This time could've been used so much more efficiently.

Tamaki and Suzume's conflict is the least of what I think, are wastes of time when the film clearly should've allocated time towards other things, but I still think there is something to be said here. It is a conflict which definitely should've been acknowledged. When dealing with natural disasters and displaced families, yes there is a natural uncomfortability on the people being displaced as well as the people who were forced to take care of them. But this conflict, bears no significance to the characters or story other than, they felt they should show it. Tamaki being with her in the car serves NOTHING. Suzume could've just gotten to the door by herself. While the scene on the bicycle is touching, it just does not influence the story at all. Suzume feeling like she is not truly understood by Tamaki makes no difference. Everything that happened in the plot wouldn't have changed whether or not she had a good relationship with her. It is just brought up out of courtesy, like they felt like this was something they just HAD to acknowledge, yet it doesn't service the plot, which I think is a disappointment.

The other scenes, with Suzume being housed by a innkeeper's family and above the karaoke bar, they're very fun and heartwarming, but they do even less serve to the plot. They don't say anything of relevance to Suzume, and they don't change her actions. She just uses them as a means to get around and stay the night. There is no message here from what I can tell, other than maybe that people are nice if you're willing to trust them? Which I think is incredibly weak. Suzume gained nothing from these people, she did not change her way of thinking or approaching situations after meeting them. She was the same character through the entire story, out of the two revelations in her character arc, these characters are not involved in either of them. This wouldn't be that big of a problem, except that again this time could've been better utilized to flesh out the other parts of the story. Is it fun? cute? definitely scenes that their target demographic would love and think are so funny? yeah. But they do no service to the story, bear no relevance on the protagonist, and actually take time away from other aspects of the plot which need it so much more. Also Minoru was pointless and a waste of time I'm sorry literally why do they just tease us like this? It's not satisfying to be shown a character that likes Tamaki and then to just, never develop them? What's the point of this? What does Minoru represent or add on to the story? Nothing he says or does influences Tamaki in any way? Tamaki could've just found the bus tickets herself? Honestly makes more sense anyways????

Speaking of which, this romance is awful. Like plain awful. Firstly, on the age gap, its gross, disappointing, and completely unnecessary. I can understand why Suzume being a high school girl can make the feats she takes more amazing, but Souta has no reason at all to be a grad student. He could've been in his first year of college and it would've made no difference while being a lot less problematic. Another idea I would've loved is when Souta became the keystone, the story jumped ahead two years to Suzume being older. This gives time to show Suzume maturing, and give more depth for her feelings for Souta. It makes her determination in the final act much less unreasonable, and lets talk about that too.

The final act is purely driven by Suzume's love (eugh) for Souta. But why? They have no chemistry and this romance is just not fleshed out in the slightest. Suzume is given more time and chemistry with the friends she meets along the journey rather than Souta himself, from the first two acts alone you'd think they just have a friendly relationship but that's it. There is no build up or anything, no scenes where it seems like they are realizing or acknowledging things about the other that they like. It is just immediately some random chair kisses, and then the final act where she declares that "A world without Souta terrifies me" or something like that. It's 0-100, and makes all of Suzume's actions in the final act to save Souta feel so, unreasonable and stupid. Souta also has the personality of a plastic cup. The entire romance is driven by Suzume, she's the one who teases, starts conversations, and wants to kiss him out of the blue??? And Souta just never really responds to this. Most of his dialogue has to do with the central plot line, so it seems that Suzume just happened to become obsessed with this older man even though he isn't responsive much to her feelings (ew it feels like some weird fantasy from the writers) and when he dies she just declares that shes going to lay her life on the line in order to save in even though she has no idea how or if its possible. It breaks any immersion I might have had watching, and takes away from the genuinely great finale to the movie.

All in all, while I can appreciate what this movie stands for and what it achieved, I do not think that this story or it's characters were well written in the slightest, and I think most love for this movie comes from it's artistic aesthetics, it's shallow romance which is forgiven by the characters being pretty, and it's side characters which ultimately could be mostly removed from the film with little adjustments necessary.

(spoiler-free!)
To me, 86 is like a game of chess.

At the highest level, chess becomes less about throwing your pieces at the enemy and more about strategies, who has the better one and who can execute theirs faster. One player might be trying to put all of his pieces in the right place to execute the Morgan Freeman-Ronald Reagan maneuver, whereas on the other side of the board someone is trying to stick together the limbs of Exodia. Setup is important, and 86 season 1 takes that concept to the next level.

My view is that this show serves as a prequel, trying to tick as many ... boxes so that the new season can take off without having to slow down anywhere. Introduce the world and the circumstances, check. Introduce the main character and her personality/relationships, check. Introduce key concepts that aren't told on the surface level, check. This is my main problem with this show, it can sometimes feel as though there isn't really much happening, and when you boil it down there isn't.

But that's also connected to the deceptive genius of this show. There are many shows that are carried by a strong main character that seems to hold all the cards and feels experienced, yet still are pushed against the wall to make the danger of whatever conflict feel real. Think Food Wars, Slime, or Cowboy Bebop. However, what some of these animes don't really show is how that character came to be, and in doing so they sometimes struggle with pacing or flashbacks. In 86, you will be able to see that character being built from the ground up. Its almost like a blank canvas, and they are trying to get the main piece of artwork done before they start putting in the minute details.

If you've read this far you might think that 86 might be a bit boring, or that there won't be much to keep you invested in each episode. However, despite all this setup it still manages to deliver a strong story and exciting scenes. It still strives to have an ending that has impact, depth, and closure. It is more like a story about how a certain character came to be, and it doesn't pull any punches, and it will gladly try and subvert expectations. The fight scenes are engaging, the stakes feel real, and I haven't even covered my favourite part.

The most impressive part of 86 to me is the characters. I think that the biggest breakthrough here is handling such a large cast of characters and makes the viewer feel invested in them even with such little time. These characters move, talk, and act like actual human beings. They laugh, they fight, they cry, and sometimes they just fall to silence. The dialogue doesn't feel stupid (which I cannot say about a majority of anime), plus each one has distinguishable personalities, designs, and underlying intentions. It feels as though it is a group of people that could really exist, and it makes the twists that much more exciting.

86 is also just a beautiful show. The art style is sort of standard, but the level of detail and sharpness is very pleasing, and its contrast with all the gritty military backgrounds/objects is nice. The lighting was handled incredibly well, and the colours were just the right type of vibrant. The are also a lot of nice angles and well thought storyboards, and the grain filter on some shots were a very nice touch. Sure, the fight scenes were in CG, but they didn't actually use humans, they used mechas (which don't look as stupid as majority of mechas in anime do), so it did not really feel off-putting or out of place. The soundtrack was fine, and the voice actor performances were done well. What surprised me is that there were a lot of big-name voice actors here, yet we probably have not even seen much of the real important characters which will be coming later on.

I'm giving this show a 7/10, its much more closer to a 6 than an 8. But this is one of those shows that get me really, really excited for the second season out of the quality of sound and animation, the incredible writing for the characters, the strong developments on certain ones, and just the high point that the entire season ended off on.

(spoiler-free!)
This is the best-worst anime I've seen in a while.

The story is terrible, the characters are inhuman, and the art style is a bit too sugary-sweet for me. Whenever I think about degen-shows, I will now forever think of this one at the top of the list. This show has no charm, and instead feels like its constantly trying to cram whatever cliché situations it can find down your throat. Despite the concept that originally got me interested, there is no originality to this show, there is no depth to this show, and there nothing worth watching or sticking around for in this show if ... you take anime seriously.

But you don't have to take anime seriously, and in all seriousness, you shouldn't. This is one of most "its so bad its good" shows that I have come across in anime, maybe because it feels like its actually trying to be a decent show, unlike others which clearly want to be made fun of like Trinity Seven. If you are able to shift your perspective on this show and laugh at more the characters and writers as opposed to the jokes themselves, you might have an enjoyable experience on your hands. To be honest, there aren't that many shows that can consistently make me laugh as much as Kanojo mo Kanojo can. Think of this as like the Amazing Spiderman 2 or The Room of anime, I myself like to think that the story is actually a social experiment on Saki to destroy her mind from the inside. Every time some "serious" development occurred I laughed, whenever that stupid soundtrack came on trying to set a gentler tone I laughed, it is just waaay too stupid not to laugh at.

The artstyle looks good on the surface, but several episodes into the show it really does not hold up. The animation was never really that good (the first shot of the entire show with a basketball turned me away from watching it twice), and the artstyle is just way too bright for me. The colour palette feels very boring, and I feel like I could've enjoyed the show a little bit more if the lines were darker and more dominant. Also, there are a lot of weird shots where they would zoom out of a second layer of the frame to fit with the current layer, similar to the quick-time events from Balan Wonderworld, which is NOT the comparison you want to be drawing. The voice acting performances were fine, Junya Enoki really made the most out of his character, I was not a fan of the VA for Rika that much as her performance was kind of just annoying (which I guess is in line with the character herself so...), but what's amazing is that the VA for Saki is the same VA for Mari from Joshiraku, which is great and hilarious at the same time.

So in conclusion, if you can remove yourself from the actual story of this show, the characters and their feelings, and all the cringe, you can turn this absolute garbage fire into a stupid fun night if you're bored, or have some drinks with friends. This is a bit of a shorter review, but this is one of those shows where you really have to see it for yourself. :)

(spoiler-free!)
I am infuriated right now.

When I first started Slime, I was skeptical at first, but to me the first season was a neat idea executed decently well, and the second season kind of surprised me with how far it was willing to push the boundaries of the show. I binged all of it in like a day and arrived at this season 2 part 2 almost excited. But it was a huge let down. I understand that with covid, there are struggles and certain things should be tolerated, but the fact that at the writing of this review, this season sits at an average score ... of 8.40 is not people being nice, its people being blind.

The strength of Slime has always been its concept, its characters, and its tact for switching being serious and laid back themes. To summarize my ideas on the first two seasons, I thought the first season's fight scenes left much to be desired and that the last chunk of it felt very rushed in, but was a unique spin on the genre that showed a lot of promise. Season 2 part 1 did well to add depth to the last part of the previous season, and while the pacing had not improved much the story was a lot more interesting since the crisis the characters were going through actually felt abundantly real. There were good twists and a lot of things that I did not expect out of a show like this, so I was pleasantly surprised.

This latest season retains none of these good points. It should have been easy enough to build upon the high point that season 2 part 1 ends on, keeping the plot advancing and setting up the stakes. Instead, it hits the brakes HARD for almost the first SEVEN episodes to dump a stupid amount of dialogue and set up that could have been and should have been done with half the time. There are moments where characters will establish important points in the story to the viewer, then stall, then establish those same points to the viewer again just with different characters present. However, when all this setup was done the result was great no?

Wrong. What the first part of this cour is trying to setup up is essentially just fight scenes. All of this show boils down to conflict, which would have been fine if this show's fight scenes weren't TERRIBLE. I thought that those jokes and images of animes where the characters will stop fighting to have a nice long conversation in between was gone with the times, but this show brings that back. I get that this is a much more laid back isekai, and that it should not be taken as seriously, but the previous season sure made it feel like it wanted to be taken seriously. Furthermore, it is impossible to deny that the writers were trying to build up the conflicts in this show really badly, so if it was supposed to be a laid back story, they should have just not.

What also makes these fights so draining are the characters, which I actually like. On the surface, all of them look like characters that appeal well, almost like they are engineered in an isekai lab to be as accessible to the masses as possible. However some of them-especially the new ones-aren't that bad, and I would have liked to see them fight and develop. Instead, the show will cut to them before the fight starts, have them talk a bit with their opponent, then right before the fight happens it cuts away. Then it cuts back to the characters AFTER THE FIGHT HAS TRANSPIRED? Are you kidding me? One of them is just sent away to another part of the world. Come on, we just got that guy!

However, the biggest problem with my enjoyment came from the amount of pushovers in this season. Villains that have been built up over the course of the whole franchise are either just obliterated or are not even evil in the first place. There are also also a lot of twists that just do not hold the same weight or impact as the twists in the first cour and just come off as super lame. Come on guys, a character just utterly destroying something that was proclaimed to be incredibly strong in one attack is not impressive, and it doesn't show off or build good character. It shows off and builds fake characters. I WANT to see these characters show off their growth, I WANT to see these characters struggle in evenly matched fights and grow, I WANT to see the intricacies of the fighting styles of other characters. What I don't want to see is a bunch of stupid dialogue, a character just breathing on a big villain and killing them, or people talking about how impressed they are or them saying "Heh, that's just how he is" WHEN IT DOESNT MAKE SENSE TO HAVE A GOOD GRASP ON HIS STRENGTH WHEN HE JUST GOT THAT STRENGTH.

This show pisses me off man, 3/10.

MAWARU PENGUINDRUM REVIEW by CRISTOU (spoiler-free!)

INTRODUCTION
Hi, I'm cristou and my brain was just hit with a freight train. I will probably be screaming at my friends to watch this soon so that I can talk to somebody about this.
I just finished watching "Mawaru Penguindrum" or just "Penguindrum" and thought, how could I not write a review on that?
So here it is, I hope this helps you.

SUMMARY
Strengths:
-Great art style and fluid animation
... -Strong characters
-A very interesting story
-Subverts your expectations a lot
-Well paced

Weaknesses:
-Inconsistent storytelling
-Story can be incredibly confusing

STORY - 7
From the very start, Penguindrum had a lot of strange things happening in its story. Things that the characters decide not to talk about or explain, however they're so small and not too hard to interpret that it's actually kind of nice. The plotline itself is very interesting, and it is what initially drew me to watch this show in the first place. It seems the writers have a knack for this sort of thing, because it felt as if with each and episode my expectations were continually being subverted with each one. The show is really good at establishing interesting conflicts, and this is backed up by how well paced the entire show is. The first half of the show in it's storytelling. While there are these aforementioned strange things, they are very minimal, and most of the developments in the story-while surprising- are shown very clearly to the viewer. Eventually, the show hits a point where a lot of this gets thrown out of the window. Stranger and stranger things start to incur, the viewer starts to question the characters, the story, and if they missed something earlier in the show. The characters get surrounded by a lot more abstract environments, conflicts and story developments are done in a very confusing manner, as more and more backstory is unveiled and you start to realize how messed up a lot of the things in the show are. Throughout the anime, Penguindrum will continually use the word "unmei" (fate), and looking back it seems the entire story is based around this concept of "fate". Lots of the developments start to seem like cruel coincidences bestowed onto the main characters. Penguindrum does a really good job of establishing a tone of "not everything is as it seems", while lots of the anime is filled with bright colors and warm scenes, there is always an underlying feeling of fear and death. As you get closer and closer to the last episode, it feels like the storytelling and the story itself is just thrown into more and more chaos. You might have noticed that I haven't actually said whether or not I like any of this, or if it is good or bad, and that is because I do not really know myself. I think that the story is one of (if not the) best aspects of this show, however I don't know how to feel about this inconsistency between the first and second halves of the show. This is why I decided to make the story score only a 7, when it could've easily been an 8-10.

ART - 8.5
Penguindrum's art is spectacular. The character designs are beautiful, the artstyle is nice to look at, its filled with vibrant colors and the animation is very fluid. There are a lot of abstract scenes in the show, and the background artists were prepared for such. Sceneries of imagination and flashbacks to the past are clear, and give a lot of room for the viewer to interpret what exactly is happening, who is doing what and what are they feeling. This is the part of the anime that is the most consistent. The director of the show is Kunihiko Ikuhara, someone whom I have not watched much of, but the direction in this show reminds me a lot of how studio Shaft likes to direct their shows. The show also seems to sport several themes or aesthetics, one of which symbols of a penguin face is plastered everywhere, and another where in between commercial breaks there is a transit visual that alludes to later events in the story. There is a lot of symbolism that is subtlety laced into each and every frame.

CHARACTERS - 8
At each character's core is an incredibly complex set of emotions and motives. This is how real humans operate, and it is also how they operate in Mawaru Penguindrum. Each of the characters featured in the openings are amazingly dynamic, able to sway the story into various different situations, conflicts, and developments. Like I stated in the story segment, it seems that all of the characters in the show are tied together by a string of incredibly cruel coincidences, which really enforce the ongoing theme of cruel fate. When you meet each character initially, a lot of them seem two-dimensional, simple, and easy to predict. Later in the show pretty much all of the character's backstories are revealed, backing up their actions in the actual story and adding a lot of complex feelings to each one. Every character depicted in the opening has had a long string of misfortunes, and all of them are so wildly different that it's very interesting to see all these characters clash. The main characters are very, very likeable, and the contrasting leads of Shoma and Kanba are very strong, and provide very interesting points of view on the story at the same time.

CONCLUSION - 7.5
While a lot of people would endlessly praise the story and would give it a 9 or 10, it did not sit all that well with me. I've been meaning on watching this show for a while, and it seems like even after watching it will still just be an incredibly interesting anime. Perhaps in the future I will come to like the story, and better appreciate the anime because of it, but at this time around an hour after finishing episode 24, this is the score I will have to give it.

(edit)
A few months after watching, I have come to like this show much better. The score is now 9/10, and I do not mind the story as much, nor do I think it is such a big problem.

Thank you,
cristou

YOZAKURA QUARTET: HANA NO UTA REVIEW by CRISTOU (spoiler free!)

INTRODUCTION
Yozakura Quartet is a very strange show. I've had my eye on it for a while, having read the synopsis a long time ago and becoming interested. After watching it, I can say that the show is definitely interesting, and in most cases, worth your time. I will probably remember this show as one of the most notable that I've watched this year.

SUMMARY

Strengths
-Good art
-Incredibly fluid animation
... -Interesting characters
-Interesting plot

Weaknesses
-Split between 1 show and 2 OVAs
-Strange pacing
-Odd ending

NOTE:
In case you didn't know, there are two storylines for Yozakura Quartet. There is the original animated Yozakura Quartet by Studio Nomad in 2008, and there is the three part series started by Tatsunoko Production in 2010. This is a review of Tatsunoko's version as most consider it much better and more faithful to the manga. I watched one episode of Studio Nomad's version before learning this. My only comment on Nomad's version is that the artstyle and animation, while maybe being a bit more similar to the manga, was much more stiff and off-putting.

STORY (6.5)
Yozakura Quartet has an interesting story, if not a messy one. The show centers around Sakura-shin (New Sakura?) city, a city in which humans and youkai are able to live in harmony, and it is one of a kind in the human realm. The cast of characters all work together in order to preserve the natural order and peace in the city, the most important of these characters being Hime Yarizakura, the 16 year-old mayor and the daughter of the last mayor. This is the general layout of the anime at the start, but around halfway through the show a much more fast paced and action based plotline is established. This leads to my first complaint with the story, and that is the fact that the first few episodes of the show are a bit awkward and slow. In these episodes the tone is constantly shifting and the writers refuse to give much exposition. This makes it hard for a viewer to get a general grasp of how the rest of the show is going to be. These first few episodes were also a bit slow compared to the rest of the show. It almost seems like the writer was able to come up with a nice premise for the show, but not any interesting situations for said premise so he laid a new one down immediately. What I would've liked to see was something along the lines of Mob Psycho 100 or Bungou Stray Dogs, where the first season is effectively used to establish characters and create interesting situations with the premise whilst setting up a more faster and action based second season in the background. Instead, Yozakura Quartet has this jumbled storyline where at some points it feels like its moving too fast and at others it is moving too slow. My second problem with the story is the fact that mid-way through the series you have to switch to the OVA and switch back to the show to understand what is going on. In between episodes 8-9 is Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi, a 3 episode OVA which covers important parts of the plot and holds a lot of character development. This OVA came out 3 years prior to Hana no Uta, and while there is nothing wrong with the OVA itself, people who wouldn't know this would get incredibly confused and will have a hard time continuing the series, and others who don't pirate might have a hard time finding a means to view this OVA in the first place. My last gripe with the story is that the ending to this show felt very lackluster. By no means is it the ending to the series, just the ending to this season (assuming we will get another season in the future). Still, the last few episodes of the show didn't have much impact, and a lot that happened wasn't that crucial to the story in the end, so it just feels unfitting for a finale.

ART (9)
Definitely the strong point of this anime. The character designs are very simple in a way that makes them all very distinguishable, and also works well with the colorful art palette as well. This is comparable to Nomad's 2008 Yozakura Quartet which had lots of sharp edges and a much more watered down palette. While the character designs appear to be more faithful to the source material, stiff animation and thick lines did not do the characters their justice. The design choices in Hana no Uta do a much better job of reflecting the carefree attitude of Yozakura Quartet and the characters in it. Animation in Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta was beautiful. The casual animation was just a bit more fluid than the average show, and the fight scenes were very exciting to watch. Easily Studio bones level, the fight scenes really rounded out the middle of the show, which I would already say is the best part of the show anyway. The only drawback is that some of the fights were kind of short lived, so they weren't able to capitalize on this great animation that much, but that isn't a big problem, and it is also made up for in the rest of the series. The animation in Hoshi no Umi is just as incredible, except with a two episode fight scene to back it up. The character designs look like descendants of the ones in Hana no Uta, with not as big eyes and a few less lines making the characters simpler. I also noticed a change in how lighting worked between the series, but as an OVA these aren't big problems.

CHARACTERS (8)
The other strong point of this show. I would guess there are around 30 characters in this show, maybe 5 being main characters. It turns out this is the sweet spot for this anime, as they are able to shed light on and develop of most of these characters within the span of the 13 (+3) episodes given. The two main characters of Hime and Akina were very strong, and also a bit interesting to see as they sort of trade spotlights throughout the show. There's a large group of characters in between these two and the actual side characters such as Ao, Kotoha, and Kyousuke which are also very strong in their own light. The anime being able to show off so many different characters backstories, perspectives, and feelings without slowing the pacing down is impressive, and sort of flows back into the idea of Sakura-shin city which is supposed to be a city filled with tons of different interesting people.

ENJOYMENT (7)
It's a good show.
Looking past the messiness of the story the writer knows how to create strong, likable characters and the animators know how to make anime look beautiful. Watching this show made me genuinely want to live in Sakura-shin city and interact with the people and view the landscapes. I'm not sure if this show will ever get another season but if it does I see a lot of potential in it.

OVERALL
7-7.5/10

(I consider an 8 to be a solid recommendation of a show, but with all the problems I listed in the story I can't see myself giving this anime anything more than a 7.5)

~cristou

KEEP YOUR HANDS OF EIZOUKEN REVIEW by CRISTOU (very minor spoilers)

INTRODUCTION
I just couldn't resist writing this review. Very few shows hit a chord with me so much that I immediately start writing a review once its finished, but this one has. Eizouken is my pick for anime of the year, and its still the start of spring.

SUMMARY

Strengths
-Incredibly strong characters
-Good animation
... -Beautiful visuals
-Strong world-building and conceptualization

Weaknesses
-Fairly unique artstyle
-Fair characters outside of main cast

STORY (7)
Keep Yours Hands of Eizouken can be summarized in this sentence: High school girls in a not so distant future make anime. However it really is so much more than that. The story is by far not the selling point of the show, so if you're looking for a very plot driven anime then this is not your place. Eizouken has a much more laid-back, relaxing atmosphere. The city they live in is old, overgrown, and worn down. The girls go to some pretty unique places that have to do with the history, architecture, and development of the town over the years. When they actually make anime, the main character, Midori is incredibly in-depth when conceptualizing things in the animation. It takes on a sort of dreamy aesthetic as your enter into the mind of someone fascinated with good anime. Another thing to point out is the show tries to show the journey of creating an anime as much as it can without getting too in depth. The girls adventure out in search of ideas for story, wordling-building, and animation, and other times they have to deal with the incompetency of others involved with the project. There's honestly not much to type when it comes to story since most of the events don't as much alter the course of action that the girls take, but rather give them opportunities to either develop or show their development. Most of what I want to say here would be better covered in a different category, so I'll do so.

ART (10)
As someone who values artstyle and animation almost too much in anime, this show is breathtaking. I am always up for a unique and interesting artstyle, and that's why I'm really into shows like xxxHolic or the monogatari series where they take aesthetics farther. Likewise, Eizouken delivers to this. I actually have a friend that was turned off from the anime because of the artstyle, so I guess it can vary person to person. I, However thoroughly enjoyed the minimal, almost cartoonish artstyle. It was humbling in a sense, as the characters did not look as glamorous as other characters are in most anime. It makes characters easily distinguishable without having to do things like change hair color or style drastically or have them wear a specific article of clothing that normal people wouldn't. Furthermore, it puts more focus on the shows beautiful environments. The city that the Oowara Sumito created is strangely aesthetic, which compliments the sort of washed out coloring. When showcasing ideas that Midori has, the backdrops disappear into a white void as the characters stand tall, creating a feeling as if they are sharing a connected thought. When there are things that they conceptualize, the outlines are messier to draw similarities to Midori's actual notebook which is great. When showcasing the actual anime that they create, the show strips back the outlines of everything and thickens the coloring to create a more humble, amateur look befitting of three girls in a old warehouse.

SOUND (6)
Not much to say about the sound, as it is never really a key point in the anime (as it is in most). The opening was fair, and the music and sound design of the animes they create are of good standard (they acquire a character who specializes in sound design which makes the good sound design make sense). One thing that I may note is that I kind of started getting tired of the same track over and over again every time Midori gets an idea or the production really starts rolling.

CHARACTERS (10)
Alongside art, the characters are the strongest point of the show. This only includes the main cast, however as other characters are barely given enough screen time to justify a character picture on MAL. Each of the three have clear motivations, struggles, and strengths, in a way that makes them feel incredibly likable and just human. This makes them all incredibly easily to sympathize with. Since there are only three, I can tackle them briefly one-by-one.
-Midori Asakusa is the main character and my favourite character of the show. She is the main source of story for their animations and also is a specialist on the environments which Mizusaki animates upon. Her imagination seems to know no bounds, as whenever they seem to go out she is constantly forming new ideas in her head from the things around her. She is also incredibly dedicated to realism in that she is unable to proceed further with a story if there are things in the story that seem unreasonable. For example, in the first short which is a fight between a girl and a tank, she decides that the tank is a special model which is so small and light, that while is has great mobility, it is forced to knock itself onto its back whenever it fires a shell, and that the girl is on a planet with weaker gravity which allows her to fight better, but is also forced to wear a mask due to the thinner atmosphere.
-Tsubame Mizusaki is the lead animator of the three, more focused on animating characters. Her character is defined by her dedication to her craft. Whereas Midori is obsessed with the world-building in anime and the implications of certain things in anime, Mizusaki is more concerned with portraying realistic movements of a human and putting more effort into scenes to show that. For example, in the same short with the Tank-Girl fight, there is a scene with the get tumbling down a rocky hill. Mizusaki becomes determined to show the girl tumbling down, slowly getting on her feet, and begin running again as humanly as possible to the point where she records herself falling down a hill the same way. Shes the only character we see working so much at night, and the work even goes against her parents wishes which shows all of her dedication.
-Kanamori Sayaka is the third and final member of the Eizouken, as she seems to be the most popular one online. Shes tall and has a thuggish appearance, which isn't too far off what she actually is. She is a genius businesswoman, being the manager of the Eizouken securing deals and managing relations. She is the one who realized the potential in joining Midori and Mizusaki and she is also the one who gets then the rights to the Eizouken in the end. She is seen throughout the anime as very strict, constantly coming down on Mizusaki and/or Midori for being off-schedule or creating more work. For example, when Mizusaki put more work into the one scene of the girl tumbling, Kanamori was constantly yelling at her and arguing about how it would be a wasted endeavor and endangers the project as a whole. Despite all this, she is still a vital and beloved member of the Eizouken, as Midori states in a later episode "She's not my friend. She's a comrade!" to which Mizusaki smiles to.

ENJOYMENT (10)
I mean, how could you not love this show?

Its a relaxing show about girls creating anime, which fantastic visuals and strong characters to boot. It never gets too boring, but it also never gets too intense. With how in-depth they look into the first few projects, it starts to feel as though you yourself are a part of the Eizouken.

OVERALL
8.5-9/10

~cristou

"That was amazing. Am I right?"

SUMMARY

Strengths
-Amazing animation
-Good comedic timing
-Decent world-building
-Fun and interesting characters

... Weaknesses
-Lacks a little bit of exposition
-Not too present story
-Kind of abrupt beginning
-(Not really a weakness but) Lol what do I watch it in sub or dub?

What do I need to say to get you to watch this show? It is grossly underrated and unknown, released two years ago, yet it became one of my favorite comedy shows.

STORY [6]
This isn't really a plot-driven show. I suspect that the second season is a bit more story-based, but currently there's no eng sub or dub for it. The show is centered around Seven, a broke kid in "Chicken Island" who can control scissors with his Qi. His only friend is a blue chicken named Dai Bo, and together they decide to reach the top of the "killer rankings". The first seven episodes seem to be loosely connected to each other, and you might be able to somewhat watch it out of order and most still should make sense. The last three episodes are all connected however, and reveal a lot about the characters and the world around them, which alludes to how the second season is probably more plot-driven, with the first season serving to set up a lot of the show. There's is a lot of things that are not exactly explained clearly, which is fine for an anime like this, but some other things I'd wish I was not wondering throughout ten episodes. Things like Seven's backstory or Dai Bo's inventions. These things are briefly alluded to in the beginning which makes the first episode feel a bit too rushed, and most are explained by the end of the show. However, the show is sort of gag-ish, so most of these complaints are minimal. Episodes are fifteen minutes long, which turns out to be perfect, as I found no problem with the pacing of any episode. As I was binging it, I seemed to be burning right through the episodes. Comedic timing is great, its one of the few shows to make me laugh out loud. I'm currently watching it with one of my friends, as its just that fun. If your kind of humor is "That's stupid, and I like it!" then you'll like this show.

ART [9]
I haven't ever heard of ShareFun Studio before (mostly cause I don't tend to watch a lot of Chinese anime), but they do an amazing job with this show. Killer Seven is best compared to the animation style of Mob Psycho 100. The action scenes in the show as intensive, fast, and beautifully animated. It looks like studio Bones only without the crazy viewing angles or bombastic attacks. Still, it is a lot stronger than most action/adventure anime you'll find. However, the animation of a show is not defined by its fight scenes, and this is entirely the case with Killer Seven as the lighting is beautiful. The simple artstyle is perfectly enhanced by the realistic lighting, which gives off the feel of a homey and comfortable chicken island. There is also quite a lot of visual gags and artstyle switches that the show likes to perform, which usually end up being successful.

SOUND [7]
The OST does it's job well, pumping you up for intense or mellowing the mood for sadder scenes while not being too noticeable.
There are like five songs played throughout the show, and they're all in Mandarin which I don't speak but I still enjoyed them.

CHARACTERS [9]
The characters in Killer Seven are all unique, interesting, and just super fun. Seven's dense, disconnected attitude bounces very nicely off other characters. Thirteen is my new discord profile picture, Dai Bo is sort of like an Arataka Reigen except not as funny and more a tool for exposition, and all the townies on Chicken Island have something special about them that make them all unique, and the show does not try to dump them on your face like with other shows. Killer Seven knows that its about Seven, so it focuses mainly on Seven's actions and relationships.

ENJOYMENT [10]
Uh, I enjoyed it a lot. You can probably tell this already, but yeah.

CONCLUSION
Killer Seven is a super fun, incredibly enjoyable show with a great cast of characters, a story that shows a little bit of promise, and breathtaking animation.

Final score of 8.5/10


~cristou

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Oh boy, its that time of year again.

INTRODUCTION
At this point, I feel like I'll have to preface all my SAO reviews with this: No, I do not hate SAO, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and a little bit of the second. I get that the fan base is almost oppressed to the point of bullying. If you look at my anime list you'll see that I've watched all of SAO, and Sword Art Offline, and the OVA, and the Sword Art Offline for the OVA. I haven't seem Ordinal Scale because I haven't felt like it. I see lots of potential within ... SAO and would love to see that be brought to life, but it just isn't. This is not my first review on SAO, if you'd like to check out my review on Alicization 1 then feel free too, although a few of my opinions have differed. A few months after I finished SAO II, I heard about Alicization, and it sounded good. Light novel readers were preaching it to be the be-all end-all to fix all of Sword Art Online. Now it could've, but it didn't.

STORY: 3.5 (Poor-Decent)
A good story should be paced well, full of impact, and be a catalyst for much character development. A story playing on the strengths of Sword Art Online would be very fast paced, and jam-packed with fights. Now this is not to mean to shoulder the story to make way for action, but instead to use the action to further the story. I cannot stress enough how much fight scenes are just thrown away in lots of stories. I don't mean that they don't write them in, but they aren't used to their fullest potential. A good example of fight scenes being used correctly is in My Hero Academia. Now if you know me, you know that I am really not a big fan of My Hero Academia, I can point out it faults for hours, but I still have to admit that they are able to consistently convey characters emotions, motivations, and feelings through the fight scenes, maybe a little bit too much. Now take this in comparison to Sword Art Online. Sword Art Online is able to do this somewhat well in the first half of the first season, but falls off completely in Alicization 2. The story is introducing tons of new characters, and its fights are a great way to explore those character's past and feelings. Instead, they only use this opportunity for a few characters in the show, making both the action and development shallow. Now don't get me wrong, too much development in a fight scene can be terrible, as flashbacks can disrupt the flow of the fight scene itself, and not all fights need development. However, no development at all leaves a fight scene empty and this goes for almost all the conflicts in Alicization 2. One argument that can be thrown against what I've just said is that lots of characters don't get development because they received plenty in Alicization 1. If so, then this should had freed up the pacing of the show. My second complaint against the shows story apart from its shallow development/bad use of fight scenes is the horrendous pacing. An action/adventure series like Sword Art Online should always be paced fast to deliver for action and development as soon as possible and to not bog the story down in too many irrelevancies. The Aincrad arc does this beautifully by shortening and varying arcs, which keeps the viewer on their toes. Alicization 2 is a mess. Battles take too long, important developments take too long to have an impact on the story which creates a disconnect, and sometimes we don't even see the main protagonist- who is supposed to be the shining light of the show- for whole episodes. Aincrad went through two years in twelve episodes feeling maybe a little bit too short, Alicization went through not much more than a week in the same amount of episodes. Its ridiculous, its slow, it bores the viewer, and it destroys the pacing. My final complaint about the story is that the atmosphere and tone is very strange. You can tell Reki Kawahara desperately wanted to darken the series, but fails a lot of the event's impact, which takes out a lot of suspense for further conflicts as you know the good guy will win, and throws in scenes which brighten the tone a bit too much. The story of Alicization 2 is all over the place, yet at the same time a painful, boring drag.

ART: 7 (Good)
Now to switch gears, I'd really love to take this segment to slightly praise Sword Art Online for a second.
The animation and art is probably the strongest takeaway of the show. While its nothing too special, lots of the flashy, ridiculous things performed in the shown are well supported by the animation and sound design. The show boasts lots of scenes where lots of people are moving, but I didn't really notice much CGI at all. As I mentioned in my Alicization 1 review, the color palette is much more vibrant and healthy compared to SAO and SAO II. Lots of the slip-ups in animation I found in Alicization 1 seemed to disappear in this new season. Character designs were also very decent. Shadows and light from weapons and such were on point. Fight scenes are handled very well as animation is fluent and smooth. A lot of this can be attested to the A-1 Pictures animation team and not Reki Kawahara, and this relatively high score can be attributed to the fact that its an improvement from previous SAOs.
Still, its nice to step back and appreciate a strong aspect of the show.

SOUND: 6 (Fair)
The soundtrack of Alicization 2 is not anything to go out of your way to check out. I feel that a lot of the "intense" moments in the show could've been a lot more pumped up if the backing track had been stronger*, however this is sadly the case with most animes. Sucks, since I actually did notice the OST in the first season of the show, and it complimented a lot of the fight scenes.
*STRONGER and not LOUDER.
I've basically become desensitized to SAO openings at this point, all I can say is that it is very average and not something I would regularly listen to.

CHARACTERS: 3 (Poor)
My least favorite part about this show. Often a show can be redeemed of its story's fault by having incredibly strong characters (ex. Bungou Stray Dogs season 1 and Danmachi), but the characters in this show all feel like pieces of wet cardboard. Everywhere I turn people seem to be praising the main protagonist of the story, which I cannot sympathize with at all. The main protagonist is essentially a copy of several other characters with minimal differences, which makes sense given context but does not make for an interesting main character. She does not shown much flair in the decisions she makes, which is ironic since in context of the story this season would've been the perfect opportunity to give her a more prominent personality. One of the show's most powerful characters takes a backseat for this season, which originally I found as a good thing but eventually started begging for the show to reverse. Lots of the other characters are very boring and share a relatively same past. While we do get small glimpses of each's story, it is not nearly enough to make the character likable in any sense of the word. Returning characters are only there to take up screentime, make the viewer go "omg shes baaaaaaack", only to keep the shows pacing as slow as possible when you'd expect it to speed up at that point.

ENJOYMENT: 4 (Decent)
If you've read my other reviews, you'll know that I consider enjoyment to be the greatest factor in watching an anime. Maybe not from a critical point of view, but it could alter your experience in a way which ups the score of the show. That is not what I experienced with Alicization 2. At this point I see watching SAO as a chore as I've already watched so much that I may as well see how it ends, so please end it already. I think the main two things that kept me from enjoying the show were the slow pacing and boring characters, which is weird since fast pacing and decent characters are what kept me glued to the Aincrad arc.

OVERALL: 5 (Mediocre)
I think that Sword Art Online's greatest strengths are:
-Strong developments made through fight scenes
-Fast pacing to distract from flaws in the story
-Strong characters that carry the show

None of which is displayed in Alicization 2. I can only hope that Alicization 3 fixes all the things I talked about, as I would really and truly love to see Sword Art Online in its prime again.


(I had been planning for a while to start putting a "Focus Feature" paragraph in my reviews which take a look at a particularly strong thing about an anime which I cannot truly do justice for using the regular paragraph prompts, but I was unable to find one for Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld).


Until next time,
~cristou

ᴡʜᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇʟʟ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ɪ ᴀᴍ?

[MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

[INTRODUCTION]
Writing a review twelve years after the initial release of the show, I know to expect not too much attention. Even so, if I have a chance to rain praise on this show, I'll take it. This is probably going to be my highest-rated review ever.
I watched Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann four years ago, at the recommendation of a friend. The Netflix synopsis didn't say much, only about "breaking through the roof of your world to find another one", or something like that which doesn't really describe the plot of the show at all. In those ... four years, even after finishing it once I regularly come back to it to appreciate this show more and more, making it my second favourite show of all time. It's really impossible to dislike or not enjoy Gurren Lagann unless you're a soulless monster with no heart.

[STORY *9]
One of the best parts about Gurren Lagann's story is that it leaves you satisfied, showing you every aspect of every character, but we'll move onto it later. Gurren Lagann is split up into two parts, and I'll depict which is which to keep this spoiler-light. The first half deals with a lot of topics that don't really come to mind when viewing before thinking back to it. It's easy to project yourself onto Simon when he deals with lots of problems that many of us deal with as well, like losing the will to fight, dealing with bullying, and coping with loss, yet you don't really realize it due to how bizarre his point of view actually is compared to ours. As the introduction to each episode states, Gurren Lagann is about Simon's journey to grow into the greatest man he can be, and you can't help but feel proud when he shows it. The plot structure for the first half is centered around a large empire that reigns over humans, and how humans overcome them. Most of this is set up for the second half when the true intentions are explained and clear. The plot utilizes a drill to symbolize the burning spirit of the human soul, ready to go through any hardships to achieve victory, which stays apparent throughout the show and acts as gospel to Simon and Kamina

*SPOILER ZONE FOR SECOND HALF*
Gurren Lagann fills the hunger of wanting to see what happens after a show's main story by continuing the story until the end of the character's lives. It's very thrilling to see Simon as the man he is after becoming the saviour of mankind. You are able to see the development in the world and its inhabitants in small details the animators slid in, something which the first half was lacking a little bit. After Nia is captured by the Anti-Spirals, the show drags it's viewers to the end of their seats. The show does a good job of making you care about the characters, making you long for Nia as Simon would, almost hate Rossiu as Simon would, and feel defeated when subjected to court as Simon would. Not many animes can make the average viewing interested in politics, but this show grabs you and doesn't allow you to tear your eyes away. After launching into outer space, less focus is put on the story as it is put on the characters and animation, so I can't say much more. However, in Kamina's character bio on MAL, it states that he came back to awaken the fallen team of Dai-Gurren, which I disagree with. It is my take that it was Kamina's memories and ideas that were drilled into them when Kamina was alive and maybe even more so when he was dead that rose from their subconscious to rejoin the fight. This shows just how much Kamina meant to everyone and just how much his ideals and perspectives were so impactful upon everyone, which I think is brilliant.

[ART *10]
This is GAINAX at it's finest. It is my opinion that GAINAX/Trigger is the greatest anime studios that exists, but none of their works can stand up to Gurren Lagann. This show can display elements shown in many other shows. The vibrancy and multiple art styles in Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, the defined yet lively animation in Kiznaiver and Darling in the FRANXX, and the explosive action in Kill La Kill, Little Witch Academia and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The colour palette is bright when it wants to show off it's breathtaking world and can also tune down when the plot gets heavier and reveals more serious undertones. The animation is fluid like a river stream and switches art styles
from laid back and relaxed to time-to-fist-fight-for-the-sake-of-humanity-and-all-beings-residing-in-this-universe. Character designs are eye-catching, memorable, and show a lot about the characters themselves. The small, reserved Simon who always keeps goggles nearby in case he wants or needs to dig, the loud and spoken Kamina who fears nothing, the royal yet humble Nia, and Yoko who is 16.

[SOUND *7]
While not too impressive, the soundtrack of Gurren Lagann isn't too subtle, ready to pump you up before, during, or after a fight, and even during commercial breaks. I do thoroughly enjoy the opening "Sorairo Days", though.

[CHARACATERS *10]
If I could give this category an 11, I would. Gurren Lagann's characters are definitely the greatest part of this show, and I'll be happy to tackle the big ones one at a time.

Simon: As I said before, Simon is easy to project ourselves onto as he faces problems similar to what we face. However, what makes him a hero is how he copes and eventually overcomes those problems. The slowest part of the show is when Simon gets depressed, refusing to eat or even talk to people. And when he does talk to people, its not really what people want to hear. It doesn't even seem like Lagann likes him anymore either. However, through Nia, he learns how to deal with his mental blockade, a voice telling him he'll be unable to measure up to Kamina. He instead learns that he never needed to be comparable to Kamina, and instead sets out his own path in life while keeping Kamina's ideals. In the second half of the show, everything is taken away from him. Nia, Rossiu, Lagann, and even his reputation. After seven years of comfort, he had become lax and let himself easily be defeated when at an impasse. It is at this point that he remembers and rekindles the ideals of Kamina inside him to realize what he has to do and how to do it. Finally, at the end of the show, he is shown as an old wanderer, favoring not the fame and fortune he once had, but instead the joy of traveling the world he had saved.

Kamina: Kamina acts as a beacon of hope for the resistance. It was through his actions that they were able to gain a fighting chance. He displays himself with an unyielding spirit that is only satisfied when victory s=is achieved. It is through him and his ideals that any conflict is won by the human side. His passion ignited the flames of many of the characters' hearts. He leaves an impression so large his memories are enough to spark a reawakening. He teaches Simon how to have the strongest will of them all, in a world where firepower is determined by sheer will.

Nia: Nia served as a ray of sunlight for Simon when she came along. When Simon was hurting, and fearing his inferiority to Kamina, Nia, who never knew Kamina, let him believe otherwise. Her character isn't too diverse, but her struggles and eventual victory against her Anti-Spiral programming can make you punch the air as I did.

[ENJOYMENT *10]
I consider enjoyment the greatest factor in grading an anime. If you found all aspects of a show appalling yet still laughed at the jokes and had a good time, that should contribute to the show's score. Likewise, if you consider a story strong yet almost fell asleep while watching, that should also contribute to the score. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann nails all of these points. It has a rich, fulfilling story that covers many aspects of its world, yet leaves you jumping up in the air and punching with the Gurren Lagann. This show is a rollercoaster of emotions and ends so nicely you don't even long for more.

Thank you,
Casa Cristo