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It was alright, I would say better than Happiness for sure. Happiness didn’t really have any redeeming feature about it. I don’t really like his art style. Reading his manga is like having a daydream in a hot, sweaty afternoon. I just don’t like them that much, and I wish he would just make them shorter. I wish each of his manga was half it’s actual length, I’m sorry, but that’s just what I think. Trail of Blood started off kind of interesting, with well-thought out psychological elements, and then later when some of the explaining is done as to why, for example, did the ... mother throw her niece off the cliff, it doesn’t really make any sense, unless you’re completely insane like the author. Similarly, why did the son throw his cousin off that place, into the snow? It doesn’t really make any sense. The explanation given is that he actually thought he was throwing himself off a cliff, and hence killing himself. But actually, he did that to his cousin, but he didn’t realize that because why? Was he so stoned that he didn’t realized he just pushed someone to their death? And then he woke up the next morning thinking that he didn’t do what he just did. But then the police came and told him that that’s exactly what happened. Similarly with the mother, she pushed the cousin off because she thought her son told her to do so? Even though he never said it? If that’s not insanity then I don’t know what is. the art is not to my taste, really. Once the MC is placed in custody after questioning they determine that he’s clinically insane, but they never say what kind of insanity. Schizophrenia? Does it run in the family? Because the mother sure had hallucinations as well. also, i hated the part where the son was just oscillating between his mother and girlfriend all the time, he didn't have any guts at all. And his father apologizing for nothing, what wrong did he ever do to them?

The pacing felt like Breaking Bad’s pacing. The start is a little slow, but it builds up from there. Towards the end it just kind of got insane. It was amazing. And I could relate to so many of the characters in the manga. This manga felt to me like it came into being out of my own brain, because a lot of the thought patterns of the characters were my own thought patterns. Every character felt so distinctly different from each other. It was almost effortless the way he portrayed each character so well. I felt like by the end of the manga, I ... knew Punpun inside out. I know what kind of guy he is, know what exactly he would do in any given situation. He’s an average kind of guy, really. And his struggles are an average person’s struggles. That’s why I guess a lot of people, foreigners like me included, could relate to him in many ways. But it’s insane how the manga author puts Punpun in these scenarios, and you don’t know how he’s going to handle them, but when it’s done you’re like, “of course he’d do that.” so that’s my reading of Oyasumi Punpun. It’s a great, absolutely amazing manga, the story is about a very average life but brought to life by extraordinary story telling. The characters feel like real life characters that could exist outside the manga. And that one shocking scene is insane, it blew my fucking mind, and I had a hand on my mouth the whole time reading it. So, my favorite character out of all of them has to be Sachi, she kind of has her shit together, her life is kinda fucked, just like everyone else’s, to be completely honest. Everyone has their struggles. But everyone copes in their own way. and it’s amazing how Punpun’s life goes; it’s basically a series of highs and lows, just how my life feels like. No one is perpetually happy, no one perpetually sad. So yeah, all in all, the best character writing I’ve seen in any anime or manga ever. But it was kind of, just a little depressing to read. People say that the manga is very depressing, well, not to me. As someone who’s left to their thoughts for long periods of time, I confess that a lot of thoughts, even the worst thoughts of the characters, even that little smile scene of Aiko in the car, I must confess that I did have those kinds of thoughts, too. I guess that’s what makes us human, when we’re put in the same situation, we think the same, a lot of the time, just act differently for appearances.

So, I’ve also been watching Re:Zero, and it really isn’t my cup of tea. I hate the dialogue, and that’s 90% of the anime, so I think maybe I’ll just read the light novel instead. When it finishes, that is. it’s so boring. There’s just dialogue upon dialogue, and honestly, for a novel or manga, I could read a lot of dialogue, no problem, but not an anime. With anime, I expect animation and a lot action. And I’ll be honest, their dialogue is just plain boring. There doesn’t seem to be any stakes, when they’re doing the dialogue, it just feels like women gossiping. ... Except women gossip is probably a lot more interesting. This is just plain boring. They just talk and talk and I feel no tension, and out of nowhere someone just throws a line out of nowhere and you’re like, where did that come from? It just feels like their dialogues adds nothing to their characters, which are already so shallow. And I mean if it’s anime at least you can show what thoughts would be going on in their minds. But no, every character has to be as dumb and shallow as Emilia. She just wants to save everyone, she’s a Disney princess, and her knight in shiny armor, aka Subaru, will come save him. Except he’s just a sniveling little shit. I can’t believe how incredibly boring this series has become, where the first season was interesting as fuck, and shit was happening and that one music track that makes everyone sweat, now it’s just sunshine and roses and most of the focus is on the bland boring MC who’s basically just a shonen protagonist. So it only makes sense for me to give this up. It feels a lot like I’m watching the anime version of a VN, which I hate. I’d rather read a LN or a manga with a lot of text, but not this shit. I think that anime should remain anime. It shouldn’t become a talking fest, that this anime unfortunately has become. On top of that it has those weird degenerate things like loli, cat-girl that is actually a guy, guy acting like a girl, someone that things kissing = being pregnant (Emilia).

Just read the manga, the art style in the manga is so much better. I almost felt like I wanted to puke watching this. So the main thing that I have to complain about this anime is the art style. They really didn't nail it. That was one of the main attractions for me reading the manga. The characters will look a lot uglier in the adaptation. A lot of the time I just laughed out loud reading the manga and seeing the characters' over-dramatic expressions. But the expressions were done really well, whether it's angry, happy, sad, depressed, cocky, or anything else. You could ... tell just by looking at their faces exactly how they felt. The adaptation doesn't nail those expressions at all. Also, the music is really strange, I don't like, it's kind of annoying. Most of all, I would just straight up get bored watching the anime, which I didn't feel like reading the manga.

It has been a while since I've watched a trash anime. For the longest time I didn't understand why so many people watched trashy shows like this. But now I think I finally understand. After watching so many critically acclaimed anime I didn't feel as much enjoyment out of watching even the best anime like Legend of the Galactic Heroes and such. And I think I understand now. Sometimes all you need is a breath of fresh air. And that breath of fresh air comes in the form of trashy shows. Once you watch such shows it becomes a lot more fun to watch actually ... good shows. Because you get the contrast to the bad shows.

It's the most underrated anime I've watched to date. Also the anime adaptation is MUCH better than the manga.

-- This part is completely spoiler-free --

Madoka magica on the surface looks like a slice-of-life anime with cute anime girls who turn into magical girls to save other people. This perception you have watching the start of the anime is slowly and gradually dismantled until towards the end feel like the anime is more about a curse than magical powers. With each episode the story only gets better and better, every episode adding new depth to the story. Irrelevant backstories or new characters or uninteresting plotlines that ... may bore the viewer are not added. The pacing is perfect for a 12 episode anime.

Each character in the anime is important because there are very few characters shown. Throughout the show we see different characters evolve. Some lose themselves where others regain their old selves. With every action that a character does your opinion of them changes. Mystery looms around certain characters and slowly we're exposed to the dark secret behind the concept of magical girls. As these secrets are revealed and manifest themselves, they have real consequences on the girls' lives. Not only as magical girls, but as human beings.

The music in the show is perfectly used. From the fight scenes to the transformation sequences to the emotional moments and even that mysterious / brooding music played when we're around a certain character. The second ED of this anime is very on point for setting the tone for the later parts of the anime. But the OP is also pretty good. More on that in the spoilers section.

The animation style used in this anime is very clever. The cute broad faces on one hand deceives the viewer into thinking that it's just another clichéd magical girls anime. On the other it makes displaying the characters' emotions much easier. With just a flicker of their eyebrows you can achieve the same effect as full face contortion in another anime. The nihilistic backgrounds and the limited view we're allowed to see as an audience adds to the creepiness. The witches are very uniquely designed with some of them looking overly realistic compared to their backgrounds where others look like they came straight from hell.

-- SPOILERS --

This is the part where I discuss why I thought this anime out of the 100 anime that I've watched, was one of the few masterpieces.

Story:
Things really take off after the third episode when, if you didn't know before, you know for sure now that this isn't some innocent slice-of-life anime. The anime doesn't bother with adding irrelevant backstories. When Mami dies in the third episode, we're not given any flashbacks to create some cheap backstory after the fact. Yet the impact of her death is felt much later because of how she was the ideal magical girl that Madoka and Sayaka looked up to. After the third episode we get a completely different ED which is very haunting and compliments the atmosphere of the anime after episode 3 really well. The only time where we get the old ED back probably is the episode where Sayaka dies. The new ED signifies the despair felt when magical girls turn into witches, where the OP is the hope when they're still just magical girls. This has sort of a balancing effect which is something that we see a lot in this anime.

Entropy is a concept that is discussed in the anime where basically all energy that ever is created is lost in the form of heat. Every magical girl starts off with a wish and then slowly gives in to despair until she ends with a curse and turns into a witch and will kill as many people as she's helped. "Miracles don't come for free, if you wish for hope, an equal amount of despair will rain upon you as well". The cat like creature called Kyuubey that we come across is from some tier V civilisation where they're so advanced that they can store energy created from the emotions of magical girls when they turn into witches, thus creating 'new' energy which helps them survive on the long run. However, Madoka is a special case where her friend Hamura goes back in time to save her over and over again until there is so much karmatic energy stored in her that she can use her wish even to change the laws of the universe. That is because she never had that much energy in her to begin with and Hamura's time travel made it so if Madoka ever turns into a magical girl, she would bend the laws of the universe.

The time travel in this anime is the one that makes the most sense and is most plausible. When Hamura time travels, she goes back into her old body and does not create any other timeline. No paradoxes, no timelines, just good old fashioned time travel that doesn't need any wild theories or assumptions to work.

As a viewer, you may not care about entropy or time travel or balancing-out effects, but when they're handled this well you can't help but praise it.

The character development in this anime was very good. We see Sayaka, who saved a certain boy with her wish, but couldn't love him because her body had turned into an empty shell with her soul left in the 'Soul Gem'. She slowly fell into the depths of despair until she turned into a witch. On the other hand, Kyouko saw her past self in Sayaka, and how she used to believe in stories of justice. Just as grief and despair engulfed Sayaka, hope and virtue lifted Kyouko.

The story doesn't forget about it's characters, with Sayaka being given full closure towards the end, instead of Hamura and Madoka completely taking over the show.

When I watch an anime and call it a "masterpiece", it's usually an anime that had many different areas perfectly done. This anime had it all. It combined action, romance, slice-of-life, horror, mystery, magic, adventure and friendship all into one perfect blend. This anime was like the perfect meal. It had all my favourite textures and flavours in it. It was succulent, it was crunchy, it was spicy, it was sour and sweet and salty and it was perfectly presented.

This is one of the first gory horror anime that I've ever watched. It's been an amazing experience though. Let's talk about it catagorically.

Story:
It's pretty good. The anime does have sort of a slow start with the first 15 or so episodes being quite slow, but later on it catches place and gets very interesting. Also, the start of the anime can be very confusing, but don't let that stop you, because a lot is explained later on and probably even more in season 2. A lot of things clear up and you're left with a feeling of satisfaction.
8 / 10

Characters:
There are some interesting ... characters in the show having their own set of problems and insecurities that if left unchecked may lead them to become murderous psychopaths. Perfect for a show about horror. Even the MC, who we believe to be the most normal of them all is also later revealed to have a dark past.
8 / 10

Music:
One word: opening. Once you've completed the first season, you may find yourself waking up from a forgotten nightmare in the middle of the night with a cold sweat and the opening music playing in your head. It isn't that scary the first or second time you watch it, but by the time you finish the anime I guarantee that it's gonna send shiners down your back. Other then that, there aren't many notable OSTs, and the ending theme is forgettable. However, the music is used effectively throughout the series.
8 / 10

Art:
For a 2000s anime, it's not bad. Some of the facial expressions are quite scary looking. Some scenes are also quite terrifying (especially if you pause for a sec and look closer).
8 / 10

Voice acting:
It's not that good. Sometimes the characters' expressions and body language is completely different from how the voice actors voice it. Some of the dialogue is repetitive enough to make you want to roll your eyes. A lot of the time the MC doesn't seem to be able to get his point across, which can be very frustrating at times.
5 / 10

Since this anime is mainly slice of life and drama, I thought it probably wasn't the type of anime that I would personally find enjoyable. When I watched the first few episodes of this anime, the first thing that came to mind was how it basically was a soap opera. I was not immediately captured and entranced by the story at all. Because of that it took me an excruciatingly long time to complete. But damn, towards the end things really took off and I binged watched the last few episodes. As the story was reaching it's end, I finally noticed how beautiful the animation ... was, how well they made each and every frame of this anime. The landscapes, the characters and their expressions and the buildings are all made with such effort. I feel like I haven't done this anime justice by
watching it over such a long period of time, because during this time I did forget some of the plot elements. So if I ever get the time, I'll definitely rewatch it.

Story: 8 / 10
Really good story from start to finish. It's plot is much different from your usual slice of life anime.

Characters: 6 / 10
Probably the weakest pine of this anime, the characters weren't all that interesting, they didn't have enough traits to make them interesting I guess.

Art: 10 / 10
Easily the best part of this anime. Absolutely beautiful animation, some of the action scenes looked so real that you'd wonder if you're watching a motion
picture and not an anime.

Voice acting: 8 / 10

OSTs: ? / 10
Can't really recall the OSTs from this anime.

Enjoyability: 8 / 10

I'm just gonna be straight to the point in this review about what I enjoyed about Overlord and why you should give it a try. First of all, the voice acting. This anime has the best voice acting I've ever heard from a wide range of voice actors. The tone is almost always perfect. Even to the point of how close the voice actors' mouth should be to the mic, you can tell. Characters that are ironically NPCs can feel more realistic than many characters in other anime. The fights in this anime are well executed even though it involves a lot of incantations and ... stuff like that. The CGI in this season was absolutely amazing. For example, that one CGI dragon looked absolutely terrifying. The plot itself is not bad either, and gets more and more interesting with exciting new ideas proposed by Momonga and his followers. Plus, I love the dinamic of Momonga being an absolute God in his followers eyes and his own naiveness of this world.

What I hope for in the future is maybe one last season dedicated to exploring the actual Momonga the person and how he lives and struggles through his life after the game has ended. That would be very cool.

In my opinion, no, actually as a matter of fact, the biggest strength of Gintama has always been the comedy. However, this season explores serious themes and seeks to finally end the anime and tie all loose ends. And it's the absolute worst. Though somehow Gintama the semi-final and final manage to be even worse.

First of all, since this is primarily a comedy anime let's talk about it. Well, it has been subpar at the very best. Most of the comedy is just a rip-off of previous seasons (Jet Armstrong Cannon, etc). The fights were boring as fuck because there wasn't any real emotion ... or interesting backstory behind it. The only one with any interesting backstory is Utsuro, but his story is dragged on for so long that I could barely care. Or maybe it's just me who watched the anime between long periods of breaks because of how boring it was. And Takasugi just felt like a chore at this point. Since this is the last season, why not just resolve all the issues he had as well?

Also, all the characters felt very one-dimentional like as if they were zombies saying the same things over and over again. Saying the same catchphrases that we know best in anime when there's literally nothing else to say, for example, "Let's do our best!" or "I'm going to kick his / her ass" etc. Or just repeating what everyone else says over and over again. Since the author really had to include every single character in every single part of the battle, this left Gintama himself with nothing noticeable to do. They literally had a bunch of characters say that they showed up because they were not given enough screen time since they were introduced towards the end of the anime. And they proceeded to do just that! Similarly, Shinpachi and Kagura were equally useless. My main point is that the important characters felt muted with literally everyone piling up and giving their backstories. As a result no one really felt significant, it was like this whole anime was a blur.

Honestly, I'm a fan of serious arcs in Gintama, for example the red light district arc or the white police arc (whatever it's called). But, this arc really was a disappointment for all the above reasons. Ironically, all the above-mentioned mistakes were not made in the previous arcs. Maybe it was because the author had in mind that this was primarily a comedy anime and so the anime did not take itself too seriously, always keeping a little bit of humour on the side. However, that is what made the serious moments more fresh and unexpected and impactful.

This will always be my favourite comedy anime no matter what the author has done to the final season. However, I feel like this season has cursed me so that I cannot re-watch Gintama for a while now.