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**Contains Some Spoilers**

Part 2 of season 2 of 'That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime' is here and we can finally see Rimuru deal with that pesky Clayman once and for all. However, this showdown (& the season overall) is a bit more lackluster than one would have hoped for.

Part 2 can essentially be divided up into two sub-sections. Wartime meetings & the infamous ‘Walpurgis’. While I know many fans were disappointed with how long the meetings lasted, I cannot fault the show too much for having them. Clayman has been hyped as the big bad for a while now and it is expected ... for Rimuru and company to want to strategize and not waste their opportunity to take Clayman down. However, when the meetings take about 6 of the 12 episodes, it does start to feel a bit tedious and tends to slow down the pace dramatically.

Once that section is over we finally get to the action! Unfortunately, this is where I found part 2 to be the most disappointing. The end battle was essentially one-sided and continued the power fantasy trope that part 1 prominently showcased. Had Clayman not been so hyped up, the end fight may have landed better. However, Clayman has been a threat since season 1 and to have the battle resolved within minutes was quite the buzzkill. I said this with part 1 of season 2 as well, but there is no tension in ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime’. Rimuru continues to be all-powerful and even his threats aren’t actual threats to him. In order for the audience to become more invested, I hope that future installments of the franchise increase the danger level of the enemies to be more on par with our favorite slime.

On a positive note, we got to see more of Veldora and gain a piece or two of valuable information on his past. We also got to see some development with Shuna and Shion, and actually see both of them both make a difference in a major battle for a change. One of my biggest gripes with Slime recently has been the large cast of characters and the minimal impact they have on the plot. Giving Shuna a chance to step up to the plate was greatly appreciated, and something I would like to see the franchise do more of in the future.

Overall, the part 2 of season 2 was alright. The pacing could be better, and the fights could be more meaningful. However, it did improve upon some of its existing issues by fleshing out a few of the side characters. If you liked the previous installments of this series, you will most likely find this part enjoyable enough…just may not be your favorite part of the franchise.

….yikes

Now before I get into the details, I want to address that I do not blame the staff that worked on Wonder Egg Priority for the quality of this special. CloverWorks overworked their staff (some to the point of hospitalization), & thus they are truly at fault. At the time of writing this review they still have yet to event make a statement about the absurd working conditions.

As for the content of the special itself…what a disappointment. Coming into this special, I was hoping to get answers. WEP ended with quite the twist in the last few episodes, and gave the viewer no resolution. This ... special was the chance to tie up those loose ends and provide an actual ending. Instead, what we got was approximately 30 minutes of recap and then an ending that only gave the viewers more questions.

While I am not necessarily opposed to the premise of recaps, the fact that half of this special is a recap for a 13 episode series (that already had a recap episode, mind you) is absurd. Had the recap been it’s own separate entity or had the special not been advertised as something new, I would not have had such an adverse opinion to this.

Approximately 25 minutes after starting this special, we finally get through the recap portion and reach what we have been waiting months for - some actual resolution. Or that’s what we’d get if this special made any sense. Nothing from before is answered, the characters act inconsistently with what you’d expect, and again we are left hanging and somehow more confused than previously.

Overall, the Wonder Egg Priority Special is just plain bad & I cannot in my right mind recommend this to anyone. Half is a recap, we AGAIN are left with more questions than answers, and - to my surprise - the plot fell apart even more. WEP started off with an interesting premise and beautiful art (which, granted, looks just as good in this special), but hopped on the crazy train in the last few episodes and kept going full-steam ahead for this special as well.

With the recent release of the remastered Mass Effect trilogy, I couldn’t help but have Mass Effect on the mind once again. As any fan of the series would know, the biggest appeal to Mass Effect is the lovable cast of characters and the story that unveils with them by your side (minus the ME3 ending, we all know that could have been better). This reputation left 'Mass Effect: Paragon Lost' with some big shoes to fill.

…& unfortunately, this movie is a far cry from what the Mass Effect trilogy has previously accomplished. Granted, not that you could even expect that level of story-telling after ... seeing the choice of main character for this film. Out of all the characters that exist in the Mass Effect universe, they choose the most generic “bro” of them all - James Vega (give me a Garrus movie though & I’m all yours). Just as the MC is the most basic human space marine you could find, the story itself is nothing spectacular. Vega and co fight some Krogans, protect a colony from some Collectors, and reference Shephard a million times to possibly trick the viewer into into liking this movie. That’s about it. It’s a generic space action movie with weak dialogue and lackluster art that’s only standout feature is that it’s wrapped in a Mass Effect skin.

Overall, 'Mass Effect: Paragon Lost' is a generic space action movie at best and a regrettable installment to the Mass Effect franchise at worst. If you - like me - have been back in the Mass Effect mood due to the recent game releases, then I say you’re better off just playing the games again than expecting this to satisfy your Mass Effect craving.

I love me a good series focused in feudal Japan, so when I saw Yasuke pop up on Netflix I had to give it a go. That and having the knowledge that Yasuke was an actual person from the Sengoku period drew me in even more.

STORY
While the description of the show does mention magic & mechs, I can’t say I still wasn’t caught off guard when seeing those elements used almost immediately in the opening scene. As I stated earlier, Yasuke is based off an actual individual in history, so seeing these obviously fictitious modes of fighting felt very off-putting. Granted, sometimes historical anime have ... magic, but seeing giant mechs in a world that didn’t have any other advanced technology just didn’t feel right to me - especially since part of this show is trying to be at least loosely based off historic events.

Moving past that though, the actual story follows Yasuke as he protects a young girl with special powers who is being hunted down. The show switches between these current events and Yasuke’s past of how he came to be a samurai. The cuts between past and present are a bit abrupt, but the show does display a time-stamp when moving back in time to make sure the viewer knows a switch has occurred.

Lastly, with the limited amount of episodes, the plot felt rather rushed. Naturally there is only so much you can do with so little time, but I do think the short amount of episodes only hurt the quality of the plot.

ART / ANIMATION
Most of art in the show was decent, & the backgrounds were noticeably beautiful. However, besides the more prominent characters, everyone else felt especially bland. Not that every background character needs an elaborate design, but it was something I noticed immediately & thoughts like that can definitely take you out of the show for a second or two.

As for animation, the fights were well done. I have definitely grown sick of watching more action-oriented series that fall back on still-images or flashy lights when there should be actual motion as the characters fight. So, Yasuke has been a breathe of fresh air in that aspect, as it did not seem to take any shortcuts. My only gripe with the animation is that in more dialog focused scenes the talking appeared quite stiff.

SOUND
Not gonna lie, normally I have a hard time having much of an opinion on the soundtrack of a show (besides the OP and ED). This is not the case for Yasuke. The background music was unlike any other anime I’ve seen, and I found myself getting really excited to hear it whenever it came on. Imagine hip-hop combining with traditional Japanese music, that is what we got in Yasuke and it was amazing.

CHARACTERS
Yasuke is a pretty cool character, the strong and silent type. We get to see how he struggles with his past, and how he goes about moving past it in the present. Unfortunately with the limited amount of episodes, we don’t necessarily get a crazy amount of character development.

Besides Yasuke, Saki is basically the only other main character. She starts off a bit bland, but with a power she can’t control. Two episodes go by, and suddenly she can control it all on her own and fight against experienced enemies. I just cannot buy it whenever a character literally wakes up one day and is suddenly a master of something they had no control of the day before. I just ended up rolling my eyes a lot over this.

The enemies also were barely fleshed out at all. Obviously you want the good guy to come through in the end, but the show would have benefited more from an actual enemy to overcome and not some randoms who keep popping up for whatever reason.

ENJOYMENT
I did start off enjoying Yasuke (er, well parts of it more than others), but I didn’t love it. As I mentioned in the beginning, the setting of the series is one of my favorites used in anime. Naturally, I found the flashback portions were more to my liking. Seeing Yasuke’s experiences as he was becoming a samurai were the most interesting parts to me, especially since most of those scenes were more true to the time period.

As for Yasuke’s current ventures, I didn’t care nearly as much for those. The magic & mechs (especially the mechs), were just very off-putting to me and made it harder for me to get more invested into that part of the story. Had it been more true to the time, I definitely would have liked this part more. As the show progresses, we only see more and more of the magic/mechs, so it was basically impossible to ignore.

The rushed feeling of the show also hindered my enjoyment. Enemies kept popping up & new supernatural events kept getting thrown at the viewer with limited or no explanation. It’s hard for me to truly get drawn into a show when you don’t get much chance to pause and process what’s happening.

—

Overall, I started off enjoying Yasuke, but as the story progressed I found I enjoyed it far less as it was getting more and more absurd. The show did have a few good qualities, however they were definitely overruled by all the issues I previously mentioned. At the end of the day, I don't think this show knew was it wanted to be. It felt unfocused as it trying to tell the story of a historical figure while simultaneously be some crazy magical mech show.

Now this is a perfect addition to the 'That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime' franchise.

'Slime Diaries' takes place outside of the events shown in the original, and instead gives us a look at the day to day life of Rimuru and his companions. It has all the cuteness of the main series (plus a slightly cuter art style too), but without any of the issues. Is it plot heavy? Not at all. Is it fun to watch? Absolutely.

I would also like to call out that this spin-off FINALLY addresses one of my biggest gripes with the original - the shallow supporting cast. 'Slime ... Diaries' manages to finally give some more life to the large cast of side-characters that typically are no more than yes men to the Great Rimuru. Since there is no big bad that Rimuru has to save all his friends from, the show can give more screen time to the rest of the cast and show-off more of their personality.

Overall, 'Slime Diaries' is definitely going to be a top contender for cutest anime I've ever seen (I'm a sucker for Rimuru). It is a fun, easy to watch series that leaves you with a smile on your face. If you're looking for something cute to pass the time with, I highly recommend this. Granted, you'll get a lot more out of it if you are familiar with the main series as it does not spend much time catching you up. So I would suggest watching the main series first if you haven't.

Whelp, I’m finally caught up on One Punch Man and I’m…disappointed. Unfortunately most of these more “gimmicky” shows just can’t hold your attention forever, at least not when presented like this.

The main baddie this time around - Garou, a human who has made it his mission to hunt heroes - is fairly intriguing. The obligatory martial arts tournament & random monsters showing up to fight heroes? Not so much. While we do get flashbacks of Garou, the random monsters are not explained until the the third to last episode & the tournament is like every other tournament you’ve seen in any other action series. So, ... the plot didn’t exactly draw me in & I found myself just not caring about what was going on.

Now a generic plot is not something new to more action-oriented series, so maybe my complaints about the story could be forgiven slightly if the action itself could really peak my interest. However, as you’ve probably read in other reviews, the animation was sub-par. A lot of time was spent showing still-images or some flashy lights to trick you into thinking you’re seeing actual movement. For a show featuring fights between heroes and their opponents just about every episode, I don’t think it is much to ask for to have proper animation. Not to mention it feels like most fights are over quite fast & most of what you saw was just two opponents staring each other down while some dialog occurred.

& while we are on the topic of art/animation, I would like to have a chat with whoever decided to make all the metal and more "shiny" materials in this show to look so...off. If you haven't watched the show yet, you'll know what I'm talking about the moment it shows up. Armor, guns, monster hearts, etc all look so out of place with the rest of the rather simple color palette of the show. I won't say it's the biggest issue with this season, but I found myself thinking "wow, that looks bad" every time it showed up and definitely took me out of the show for a second.

Now Saitama is still Saitama, and I did still enjoy his character and one or two of the side characters like King. But again, the anime could have presented this aspect better as well. It felt like a lot of the jokes didn’t land quite right, and since there were so many side characters popping up, most of them were barely fleshed out at all.

Overall, OPM S2 is a letdown compared to it’s prequel. With the lackluster animation, poor execution of jokes, shallow characters, & a generic plot that just doesn’t draw you in - this season is definitely one I say you can pass on. If you’ve already watched season 1, feel free to stop there and save yourself the disappointment.

I want to preface this review with the fact that I REALLY liked season 1 of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken. Unfortunately, season 2 was quite the letdown in comparison.

The first season of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken focused on Rimuru getting used to his new world, making friends with various other monsters, and building up his new kingdom. So now that Rimuru is well established in his new world, season 2 shows us what happens to our adorable slime buddy after he has gotten situated. Well, kind of. Rimuru isn't around too much for the beginning of the season, which wouldn't necessarily be a ... negative if the supporting cast could carry the show on their own for a bit. The large cast of characters, while diverse, do not hold a candle to Rimuru himself. They are quite shallow as characters go, and thus give the season a more slow/boring start.

In addition to the lack-luster supporting cast, the "threat" in the current season is basically a joke as there are absolutely no lasting consequences & the bad guys are portrayed as comically evil. A well written enemy is one that you can somewhat emphasize with or at least understand where they are coming from. The enemies in this season are the most blatantly evil people I ever seen in an anime. There are absolutely no personality traits that these guys possess that isn't something a stereotypical mustache-twirling baddie wouldn't also have. & as I mentioned earlier, there are no lasting consequences to the interactions with this new enemy. Basically all the damage that was done at the beginning of the season was made obsolete at the end. There is nothing wrong with the good guys coming back in the end, but it's hard to get invested in the obstacles Rimuru faces if you know there's really nothing at stake.

Lastly, Rimuru's power scaling is a bit too much for me. I suppose I may not be the target audience for shows like this, but I prefer some good ole fashioned character growth with some time spent training for my anime protagonists to actually grow in strength. Rimuru, however, just seems to wake up and become 100x stronger than he was the day before. Again, it's harder to become invested in the plot and challenges that the characters face if there is seemingly not much effort going on to meet their goals. I will say it was very entertaining to watch Rimuru fight at the end of this season, but I think the quality of the story really suffered from how these fights went down.

Overall, this season was...not that good. The side characters still need more fleshing out, there are no meaningful threats or challenges to Rimuru and company, and Rimuru is just too OP for someone who did absolutely no training this season. Plus, with the seemingly serious tone of this season, I didn't get nearly as many cutesy scenes with my favorite little slime as I did in the first one. Thankfully, the end of the season does introduce a new interesting character and Rimuru does gain some new abilities, both of which did peak my interest. So, hopefully part 2 of season 2 can step it up plot-wise seeing as this one definitely left something to be desired.

‘That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime’ has achieved what just about every other isekai series has been unable to do for me…actually gotten me to enjoy it 😅

Rimuru, the recently deceased 37 year old virgin, has now found himself reincarnated in a new world with quite a few powerful skills & resistances. Rimuru is able to take on most enemies and gain the trust of just about everyone he comes into contact with, however unlike most isekai main protagonists, Rimuru is now an adorable little slime. While the premise of the series is similar to most isekai (ie. a human is brought over ... from our world into a magical world and is naturally over-powered and adored by those around him, especially the women), the silliness of it gives this series quite a bit of charm that no other isekai I have watched have been able to achieve.

The real star of the show is Rimuru himself (or slime-self?). He’s just the cutest little thing, & uses his powers for the good of those around him. He’s not out here fighting some big bad or saving the entire world, but rather helping out the weak monsters and the occasional humans he comes across. There’s something about this cause that makes the extreme powers obtained through his reincarnation less frustrating to watch as the viewer (I’m not typically a fan of the main hero just able to overcome any and every obstacle with minimal effort). As previously mentioned, Rimuru is also basically a hot anime girl magnet. However, since his true form is this blue little blob, for once I am not constantly rolling my eyes at those scenes. The cuteness & silliness of this show caused by Rimuru just being a slime turn the typically annoying parts of isekai into something far more enjoyable.

Another stand-out portion of the show is the variety of character types that Rimuru interacts with in his new life. There’s goblins, ogres, lizard men, dwarves, orcs, humans, you name it. The variety really helps make this new world come to life, as well as providing a more varied color palette. & I personally have enjoyed seeing many of what would typically be considered monsters/enemies in most shows or games, as more of regular people with their own problems that Rimuru helps solve.

In addition to the plethora of characters, the variety of skills and attacks is also very interesting to watch as a viewer. Seeing as Rimuru is basically a super Kirby, watching how he applies his large arsenal of skills to new scenarios is always fun. It also helps make the new enemies more interesting as we can anticipate them to bring something new to the table.

If I had to pick something to critique this show, I would like a little more challenge in Rimuru's attempts to gain more allies. They basically all just jump aboard the Rimuru Tempest train once he asks, & while I understand that he has helped him, I feel it would be a bit more realistic to have a bit more debate on these requests.Most of the supporting cast could also benefit from being a bit more fleshed out. They all have their unique looks and skills, however most of Rimuru's followers' personalities consist of how much they love and adore their new slime overlord. They are all unique enough to not make this super distracting, however I do think a stronger supporting cast could really take ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime’ to the next level.

Overall, ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime’ is definitely a series I recommend. If you like isekai in general, I am sure you will love it. If you aren't necessarily a big isekai fan but love some cute things in your life, then I also recommend you give it a chance as well. The plot is nothing incredibly deep or moving, but the series is fun and the main character is easy to root for. & the fact that it got me to even like an isekai speaks volumes of its own (not to mention that I've already dropped like $60 to get a talking Rimuru replica 😅).

While it has been a while since I watched the first two seasons of Food Wars, it's sad how much less I enjoyed this season (particularly S3 part 2) compared to the previous ones & there are several obvious reasons why my enjoyment decreased so dramatically.

For starter's I can only suspend my belief so much. The challenge of having Central trying to expel some rebellious students from the school & ONLY wanting gourmet restaurants just seems so far-fetched to me. I can't imagine it would actually be that hard to kick some kids out if they really wanted to, especially since Central has no issues ... playing unfairly. I also cannot comprehend how they think they can just eliminate all non-gourmet restaurants. Like where do people go to eat who can't afford that? They're out of luck? Just seems a ridiculous notion to me, even for this show.

In addition to that, it almost felt like every other line in this season was about how losing meant you'd get expelled. I get it, I really do. It made the conversations less engaging because they were just getting so redundant. You can demonstrate that the season is high stakes without straight up telling the audience non-stop.

& don't get me started on the animation this season. Every episode just consists of approximately 20 minutes of various faces with only their mouths moving while the focus slowly shifts to a side. Another reviewer said this season was like watching a Powerpoint presentation, and I couldn't agree more. It's basically a still image show with voices. For such a popular series I am surprised that so little effort went into the animation, and it was INCREDIBLY distracting to me. If this is the level of animation I wanted, I would just read the manga.

To end things on a more positive note, it was nice to have some character development with Erina and having her becoming closer with the Polar Star students & stand up against her dad. However, this obviously wasn't enough to save this season. The other issues were highly distracting and ultimately left me unable to enjoy this season. I honestly don't recommend this one, even if you've seen previous seasons.

For years I have wanted to watch Steins;Gate, and for whatever reason I just never got around to it. It was a hyped up series that I genuinely thought I would enjoy quite a bit, and so I went into it expecting to be blown away. Unfortunately, I think those high expectations ended up detracting from my enjoyment of Steins; Gate.

The show starts off a bit slow, or at least less serious than the way it ends. The first 8 or 9 episodes I kept asking myself when it was going to pick up since it was seeming like more of a slice-of-life/comedy than the ... incredible series I kept hearing about. Granted, the beginning was not bad, but not what I was expecting and left me wanting more.

Eventually it does start to pick up and go down more of the route I was anticipating when I picked this show up. Most of this portion of the show consisted of undoing the changes the group had made earlier in the show when they discovered they could time travel. This led to seeing Okabe interact with his friends on a somewhat more serious tone and see why they wanted to change the past the way that they did. Most of these ventures ended up being quite sweet, yet sad and I felt they were handled well. While the show starts with showing Okabe as a very eccentric mad-scientist who is a bit caught up his experiments & obviously not the average guy, by the end you also get to see how much he cares for his friends and the lengths he will go to save them.

Overall, I enjoyed Steins; Gate. Most of the characters were quite interesting and it was very satisfying to slowly get to see all of their stories. I did find Mayuri a bit annoying as she sort of filled the generic ditzy, yet sweet friend role. Despite that though, seeing the lengths Okabe would go for her made for some very touching episodes. Other than that and the slow start, I guess I can't necessarily pick out more specific issues I had with the show other than that I just expected...more? I read so much hype for this series that I think my expectations were too unrealistic by the time I actually watched it. I know that's not the most objective way to look at it, but I unfortunately don't have a time machine of my own to correct my expectations.

Regardless, I definitely recommend the series. Just make sure to not put the show on some pedestal like I did, despite all the glowing reviews/ratings as it will only hinder your enjoyment.