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March Comes in Like a Lion is definitely one of the best anime I've seen. The show itself feels like a kotatsu; warm and fuzzy. I didn't want to stop watching and finished both seasons in a short amount of time.

The animation style of MCiLaL is particularly brilliant--there are occasions when the style will shift to depict a particular mood, such as when something cute shows up or Rei is remembering something important. This is utilized very well throughout both seasons. I was also a fan of the character designs for the main characters, particularly the style the eyes were drawn in.

This doesn't have ... much to do with the story, but I also loved how often the Kawamoto sisters cooked dinner and were shown with food. It all looked so delicious. Every time I watched the show I'd end up becoming hungry, and even learned how to cook hot spring eggs so I could try one of the dishes for myself.

I hope that when the pandemic settles down we'll get to see a season 3.

This review will be short. This is a good anime and I'm interested in the story--the reason I'm dropping it is because of all the animal violence I've seen in the show so far and a few of the gags they've used have involved the use of bodily fluids/waste and those two things combined I just can't stomach. I'm disappointed that there's so much of it because I'm interested in the story and want to see where it goes but I'm tired of feeling disgusted and angry whenever I watch. So just a warning, if you aren't okay with animal violence/death or are squeamish when ... it comes to bodily matter I really don't think JoJo's is for you.

I honestly don’t know what possessed me to watch this anime. It’s completely out of my wheelhouse, and yet I relied on the hype and decided to watch it anyway. I’m not sure what I was expecting—but it definitely wasn’t this. I honestly found it a struggle to make it through the ten episodes as I didn’t want to drop such a short anime, but my god. Where do I start?

Story: 1

What exactly WAS the story? What was the point? Was there ever any explanation as to how or why any of this started? Relied VERY heavily on sex. Extremely nihilistic. I feel like I ... wasted my time.

Art: 1

I feel like the only thing the art department knows how to draw is gore and titties. Honest to god.

Sound: 6

I don’t remember anything from the sound department standing out. Pretty unremarkable. I did think very highly of Akira’s child voice actor, he did a great job. I did find some of Ryo’s English dialogue questionable, though I guess that’s to be expected if the voice actor isn’t a native speaker.

Characters: 1

Didn’t care about any of them, and it wouldn’t matter if I did or not because in the end their fate was all the same.

Enjoyment: 2

There were moments I enjoyed but overall, I can’t look back on this anime fondly.

Overall: 2

2/10 Would not recommend.

In America, Naruto is without a doubt the most overrated, overhyped anime of my generation. Everyone has heard of Naruto. However, since I didn’t start seriously watching anime until a few years ago, I didn’t grow up on this anime like many others did. The nostalgia factor isn’t there for me, so I feel like I’m able to give a non-biased review. Needless to say, because of the endless praise I’d heard my friends and peers give the anime, my expectations were extremely high. Unfortunately, I found Naruto to be a vast disappointment. I hate to admit the only reason I pushed past episode 20 ... was so my opinion of the show would be more “valid” in the eyes of my youngest brother, who adores Naruto. If you’re a fan of Naruto, I’m sorry—this review won’t be a kind one.

Story: 3

I didn’t care much for the story. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the story itself was bad, only that I couldn’t find myself becoming invested as it progressed. I will say, that the main selling point of the story is supposed to be that Naruto is excluded by his peers because of the fox spirit inside him, and aims to become the strongest to prove them wrong. However, by the Chunin exams, it’s perfectly clear that those who don’t like him dislike him because he’s annoying. I found it hard to blame them.

Art: 7

The art of this show is probably the thing I think the highest of. I appreciated the use of color, especially the pop of Naruto’s orange jumper and the pink of Sakura’s hair. The character designs were one of the main highlights for me, especially the naturally proportioned bodies of the girls; it’s typical in a lot of shōnen anime and manga that the girl characters will have slim waists and large breasts, but here the bodies of characters looked rather realistic. Points for that, Naruto.

Sound: 7

I had no issues with the voice acting (I watched this English subbed). I did find some of the music used in the show to be a little annoying, particularly a piano riff used in the background when people were fighting.

Characters: 3

This is where Naruto suffers the most. The main character is perhaps the worst offender: while they were aiming for the “lovable idiot” character type, they missed the mark. While he is, indeed, an idiot, he is far from loveable—he is arrogant, annoying, obnoxious, and arguably selfish. Whenever I bring this up to fans of the show, they always tell me “He’s so much better in Shippuden” or some variation of telling me to wait for Shippuden. In what world is it feasible to wait 220 episodes from the main character of a TV show to become likeable, let alone bearable? Don’t get me wrong, he has his moments, but for 90% of the time he was an utter nuisance. The rest of the characters aren’t much better—most of them are one-dimensional and paper thin. The biggest flaws came from the female characters, whose sole characteristic the majority of the time was their interest in a male character.

Enjoyment: 3

Naruto does have its moments. However, I feel it’s fair to say my enjoyment was relatively low. Since there didn’t seem to be a category fit for me to mention this, I’ll put it here: I hate toilet humor. Despise it. So, when there were scenes where Naruto was on the toilet suffering from diarrhea or accidentally farted during a fight, or characters were seen vomiting for comedic effect, I didn’t find it funny, but rather eye-rollingly annoying.

I have a hard time believing this is the same show people are praising so much. This is it? I can understand the nostalgia factor that most have, but for others like my brother who watched it within the past year or so, I’m surprised. Knowing that this was the show that made him hate on the likes of My Hero Academia and One Piece irritates me in a way I can’t properly express.

Despite feeling a low-level anger whenever I watch it, I’ll finish this damn series… I’ll watch every last canon episode, for this and Shippuden… for the spiteful fact of strengthening my argument and being able to back up my reasoning of disliking it, so my brother can’t tell me my opinion or argument is invalid.

Overall: 5

5/10 might change as I continue on. It’s over-hyped and over-rated, lower your expectations if you’re wishing to watch it. I recommend watching something else, particularly a better shōnen like One Piece, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, or Jujutsu Kaisen.