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There are lots of "hidden gem" anime that everyone knows about and are often... unpolished, but Yama no Susume is a real one. It seems nothing short of miraculous how many incredibly talented animators, artists, and directors were pulled from across the industry to make this series and it shows as just about every other frame looks like something you'd hang above your living room fireplace (if you have one of those for some reason). Between this and an entirely loveable cast who you can't help but root for as they interact and grow, Yama no Susume stands among the best in the Iyashikei/CGDCT genre.

Next ... Summit seems likely to be the final entry to the series and starts off with 4 recap episodes. Aside from a scene at the start of each one, they don't contain new content if you have recently seen the previous 3 seasons. If it has been a while, they are very well-done and worth a watch.

As a show about cute girls climbing mountains, you'd be correct to assume you'll see some metaphors relating the mountains to life and slopes to character growth, etc. Presented mostly from the perspective of a reluctant and grounded protagonist, Yukimura Aoi, Yama no Susume strikes a perfect balance for the people who eat that shit up and the people worried its going to get too cheesy. Aoi herself, initially only begrudgingly admits the appeal of mountain climbing and starts making such connections as she is coerced into the activity by her long-time (temporarily forgotten) friend Hinata. However, the handful of moments where Aoi does realize her own growth as a person (often in the form of a mountain climbing metaphor) are surprisingly emotional and even hard-hitting at times.

While the pretty art/animation and nice life metaphors are great, the strongest suit of the series is likely the characters and their dynamics. To put it simply, they are just a ton of fun. As the main characters, Aoi and Hinata in particular show a range of interactions from genuine fights to encouragements and exchanges which feel borderline romantic. Each facet of their relationship presented to the viewer, though, is believable, entertaining, and consistent with their respective characters. Over 4 seasons of new members being carefully added and providing their own unique flavor to the group and creating new dynamics, the end result is a solid cast of well-developed characters with plenty of novel interactions to keep the viewer entertained for the course of the show.

It is impossible not to make a mountain pun here so I'll just say it: Next Summit is the peak of the whole series. With emotional climaxes to our characters' growth, the most stunning cinematography yet, and a real big mountain, it is hard to think of this season as anything else and there isn't much better than seeing a series come together like this in the (probable?) last stretch. Beyond happy that this show exists, and I highly recommend you check it out!

“Waste of time” is not a critique I like to give to a piece of fiction, but “To Your Eternity” really pushes it. My view is generally that if you try, you can usually find some redeeming quality to something you otherwise dislike. An optimistic media enjoyer should be able to find something of value to walk away with; be it an exciting plot point, a character you liked, an interesting/well executed setting or premise, good music, or beautiful art/animation. Though there is a second season announced, as a stand-alone product, To Your Eternity S1 unfortunately delivers a general lack of redeeming qualities while also ... feinting a build-up towards something grand and exciting then instead leading to a spectacular letdown. It is possible the eventual second season turns everything on its head, but given the steady decline in quality that constituted the first season I will not be making that bet any time soon.

Minor spoilers below

If there is a correct way to enjoy TYE it is to stop after episode 1. Though it is not the most subtle attempt at grabbing at viewer’s emotions, it is the most soul the show ever has and at least feels like it could be the start of a meaningful story. From there, if you have a decent imagination, the continuation you can think up is probably better than the actual show so my recommendation is that you stop. If you continue watching, you’ll be met with an overall lack of direction or meaning from both our protagonist as well as their adversaries--resulting in mandatory conflict with no purpose but to kill off side character after side character in cheap attempts to evoke an emotional response from the viewer.

Each of these victims is less interesting/endearing than the last but not for lack of time spent attempting to develop them. In fact, a *large* majority of the show is spent developing side characters only for them to be killed off a few episodes later and for new ones to stumble in and take their place. There are some authors who seem to have an unlimited supply of fantastic characters, each with distinct personalities, designs, and quirks that make them feel real and immediately relatable. To Your Eternity’s author is unfortunately not one of them. Even going from one arc to the next, the decline in the quality of the characters is hard to miss. In the early arcs you at least know what drives characters; what their hopes and dreams are; why one might be saddened if they were to die. By the final arc, characters known only for their use of a folding chair as a weapon are being killed off in dramatic fashion. Yet there seems to be an underlying expectation that the viewer be sad anyways despite the lack of development and despite having seen it all before multiple times. Some might find this formula to be in poor taste while others have no problem with it; however, it is this cycle on repeat from start to finish that makes TYE feel like a waste of your time after some number of these iterations despite the potential its premise initially held.

Considering other potential redeeming qualities, you won’t likely find them in the art, animation, or music. The fantasy setting manifests sparsely throughout the 20 episodes. The protagonist, Fushi, as well as his adversary, the knockers, are of course the most obvious fantastical elements but we hardly see anything else. Early on, we have a terrifying, giant bear which is revered as a god and presents itself as an obstacle. It makes for some exciting scenes and raises questions about what other interesting things the viewer will get to see as we explore this setting. Unfortunately, not much else. And, in fact, the bear later becomes comically underwhelming despite how powerful it seems like it should be. The fights between Fushi and the knockers do have a certain weight to them, but the execution is average at best in terms of direction, choreography, and especially animation.

I went into To Your Eternity with high hopes and even remained cautiously optimistic through much of the drag in the middle. Even though I didn’t find anything too impressive or cool, it seemed like there was still hope for the show as long as there was interesting build-up or an apparent plan for an eventual spectacular ending. A couple episodes into the final arc of the first season it became clear we would get no view of such a plan. No vision or spectacular ending. Just a directionless story for the sake of a story. I’d love to hear that they turn it around and the second season is fantastic, but the first season gave me no hope in that regard.

I can’t lie, I made the mistake of writing off Uma Musume as a show to be skipped up until just a week ago when I tried starting the first season. At the surface, there are a lot of reasons it seems likely to fail--the biggest being 1) girls with animal ears and tails and 2) game source-material. Empirically, you are probably okay to skip shows with either one of those qualities so you’d think you can skip one with both. Yet you, like previous me, would be making a mistake skipping Uma Musume. This show is not great *in spite* of these qualities, but ... rather *because of these qualities* and it is made possible by what is clearly a LOT of love and attention from its creators at every level of detail. The thought put into season 2 in particular results in one of those rare gems of a show that has you laughing while you cry and wishing it would never end.

I’ll start with the above points that stood out most to me prior to watching the show. It is really easy (and usually fair) to see a show with a bunch of cute girls with animal ears and tails and call it gimmicky. Uma Musume is not a show about girls who just happen to have horse ears and tails, it is a show about horse girls. Why do they all have such crazy names? Because they’re horse girls. Why do they love carrots so much? Because they’re horse girls. Why do they all run in competitions? Because they’re horse girls. Why do they sometimes struggle to get into the starting gate? Because they’re horse girls. Why do they do idol-style dance performances after each race? Probably because they’re horse girls (not 100% sure on that one I’m not a horse expert). But these things along with many others are *built in* to the show in the dialogue, the plot, and the characters themselves. I don’t necessarily recommend looking up the real horses that the girls were named after (it can be pretty depressing), but many of their behaviors and many of the plot points were derived from a horse that really ran the racetrack. Regardless of whether you think that is neat or not, it does serve to give an element of unpredictability to many of the stories and personality to the characters. If somehow all the horse girls in Uma Musume were suddenly not horse girls but regular girls, it would be a fundamentally different and less interesting show.

As for the game source material, the problem you expect a show to run into when it is based on a gacha game is almost always going to be lack of substance. And it makes sense; if you go off source material only, you might have nothing more than a few Ultra Rare JPEGs and some voice lines to make up a character. In that sort of situation, it is up to the anime creators to fill in a lot of blanks--especially with two full seasons (so far) of content. On the other hand, you can imagine these circumstances may allow for greater creative freedom than is ordinary if the creators will step up to the plate; and I can only imagine that is exactly what happened. The director, Oikawa Kei, clearly deserves the maddest of props and has made his way straight to my favorites (I’m also a huge fan of Hinamatsuri). Just about every scene was so packed full of layers of entertainment--the main story happening in the foreground while jokes and gags constantly fill the background. Running gags that go on for entire seasons USUALLY get old about half way through, but there are actually just SO many that are placed with such precision I found myself laughing throughout. At the same time, moments that seem like they should have been cheesy were insead incredibly hype or emotional. Even the “trainer” character who is clearly a stand-in for the player character in the game adds to the story and has meaningful interactions that keep him from feeling like a completely flat self-insert character. Uma Musume actually makes it feel that if the team is talented enough to get creative and REALLY make the show their own (plus with the budget of a gacha game backing the project), game-based anime may not just be viable; but preferable to some of the other adaptations we’ve been seeing.

There is definitely plenty to say in terms of praise for the show and I think that most everything I’ve mentioned applies to both season 1 and season 2… just not to the same extent. I liked season 1. It was enjoyable for many of the reasons I have written above, but if it were just season 1, I would not have gone to the effort to write a review. But season 2? Season 2 took what was already a pretty good show and upgraded nearly every part of it like I’ve never seen upgraded before. You get upgraded main characters, upgraded side characters, upgraded main stories, upgraded side stories, upgraded rival club, upgraded comedy, upgraded drama, you name it. All somehow while maintaining the show’s identity and feeling. It is clear that an incredible amount of thought and planning was had on what could be improved or fixed up going into the new season. That, along with the *density* of content, really made me feel like the people making this were putting as much effort into it as their characters were putting into winning their races.

I absolutely loved Uma Musume and would be ecstatic to hear a third season announcement. I have no doubt they could take even any of the side characters (c’mon Twin Turbo) from either season and, if the same amount of love and attention is given, make something awesome again. My recommendation is that everyone check out the first season. If you for some reason HATE the first season, okay it isn’t for you probably. But if you like it at all, get ready for a treat in season 2 and hopefully season 3 someday.

The Re:Zero anime inspires an incredible amount of zealousness in its fans, but otherwise lacks remarkable qualities. It has its entertaining moments, decent shots for art, and a reasonably solid sound track. The plot is convoluted and can drag quite a bit, but if you manage to follow it, has substance. The characters, however, are a weak point for me. The show's protagonist seems to have an inescapable gravitational pull which ultimately pulls every character and plot point in until he is the focus of everyone's world. I imagine this isn't a problem for those who are big fans of Subaru or are self-inserting as ... they watch the show; but Subaru is not always likable. He is... not the brightest guy. Additionally, he often says and does thing which put him quite far on the socially inept end of that spectrum (using "-tan" honorific with the girl he likes and who may be a future ruler for example). In any case, you may struggle to enjoy the show if you don't find yourself liking Subaru as a character--particularly because any characters you DO like from the show will almost certainly give him an unnatural amount of attention one way or another.

Season 2 part 2 seems to be making strides in some regards while regressing in others. We've seen the least amount of focus on Subaru ever in recent episodes with Emilia receiving her bit of backstory (though he does always come up in her conversations with Echidna). Subaru hasn't done anything nearly as cringe-worthy as some of the low-points in season one. The plot still seems to consist of holes and gaps for those who watching the anime without reading LNs. I think I have been paying attention, but honestly don't understand what the "trials" are even about. It seems like you pass if you can look at your past without getting too sad? It feels like a convenient device for shoving in backstories for whichever characters.

The biggest issue continues to be the characters. Even if you like Subaru, the focus put on him leaves all the other characters feeling like they were constructed around him. Erase him from existence and many of the remaining characters would be left void of meaningful development or characteristic. The argument of REM vs EMILIA would be like WATCHING GRASS GROW vs WATCHING PAINT DRY. Even in recent episodes, the "growth" Emilia experiences is almost entirely attributed to Subaru's "supporting" of her and seems to manifest as her emulating Subaru. Which seems weak. We also see in her flashback episode, which should have been a prime chance for additional development, a large chunk of the episode dedicated to just "smol Emilia" being cute. Because that seems to be all she is as a character without Subaru: cute.

Re:Zero is far from the worst anime I've ever seen. It has some hype moments and it can be fun to sit and work through each episode to piece together the rather complicated plot. I think the characters are weak, but there are plenty of shows I think are carried by plot and that I enjoy. It is really wild, though, the fanaticism with which people seem to slap 10s on this show and slam critics. I'm not sure I've seen anything quite like it in anime and it made me want to write my first review and maybe my last.

In summary: it's mid.