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~*Background of Onihei:*~

Onihei (lit. "Demon Hei(zo)") is based on Ikenami Shoutaro's novel by the same name, "Onihei Hankacho", set in the Tokugawa period. The novels have also spawned several movies, TV series and manga as well.

~*Rundown on the show:*~

Set in feudal Japan, the story tells the adventures and misadventures of Hasegawa Heizo, chief of the special police controlling arson and robberies in Edo. The police forces are composed mainly of reformed thieves and spies, many of which still have ties with their pasts, which makes the story all the more interesting. The anime itself is in a criminal-of-the-week format and each episode tells the story ... of a different person (or people), many of which are entangled with Heizo's life one way or another. So as the story progresses, we glimpse more and more of Heizo's past and his character.

~*Important characters*~

Heizo
The protagonist of the series, he is a stern man with a strong sense of equity, enforcing justice without mercy. He is also an excellent swordsman and possesses a detective's intuition, making him able to easily read the intentions of almost anyone. However, Heizo also has a mild side to him and at times overlooks the crimes of people with good resolutions, or of those who are kind in nature.

Hisae
Heizo's wife. A good-willed and attentive woman, she appears in almost every episode as a minor character, but also has an episode dedicated to her and her past. Most of the time she attends to their mischievous adoptive daughter, Ojun, and is sometimes seen talking to Heizo about worrying matters, to which she's always concerned and empathetic.

Hikojyu
One of the most comical characters in the show, Hikojyu is an old man, small of stature, which makes him perfect for a spy, thus he is often sent on recon missions and many times the success of the mission depends on him.

Omasa
A woman with ominous past, she is loyal to Heizo and infatuated with him. Omasa is a strong, fearless woman and tends to take great risks, at times resulting in the police having to save her afterwards.

~*Animation and soundtrack*~

Albeit not with the highest of budgets, Onihei's visuals maintain a certain level of quality and a unique style. The OP and ED theme synchronise quite well with the atmosphere of the show, both in musical composition and in animation. One of the key instruments to bring out the atmosphere in Onihei is the flute, accompanied by fast-paced stings. Those two elements are predominant in the BGM as well.

~*Should I watch it?*~

The main points of this anime are the historical setting, the characters' appearances in a variety of situations and the story-of-the-week format. If you are into historical dramas, spiced with a few detective elements; or you like police shows and would also appreciate a not-so-engaging storyline, you should watch Onihei.

At first Kuzu no Honkai strikes you as not-your-typical-romance. There are no lovey-dovey couples. Everyone uses the other one for some reason or another. It tones down on the sugar-coated romance and brings in more realism to the scene.

You meet two people who want to use each other for comfort and now you're down with the idea that they'll just eventually fall for each other and get together! And then they lived merrily ever after. But that would be very boring and unrealistic, so if you expect that, don't watch Kuzu no Honkai.

However, a story like that is not suitable to keep you hooked for ... long. It focuses plenty on the psychological identity of every character, especially the main "couple" but in order not to reach a stagnation, the author throws in a fistful of more characters, all of which have unrequited feelings for someone. And you're swept in a whirlwind of negative emotions and broken people who never seem to get laid with the right person. Except for a few, but if you want to know who, you have to watch the show.

So what is Kuzu no Honkai in a nutshell?
A show about unrequited love, horny teenagers and... well, that's pretty much it. But it shows a glimpse of how real romance rolls around so it might prove an educational watch for an avid fan of the good ol' Disney princesses movies.

First of all, why is it called "Orange"? Is it because the hair of the main heroine is orange? Does it even refer to the color or the fruit?

Truth is somewhere there. Apart from being able to tell immediately who is the main heroine of our story, the title also refers to... a drink. The taste of the orange juice, sweet, savoury, but bitter as well. The taste of melancholy. The taste of memories. The taste of unrequited love.

It's not like Orange isn't just another shoujo about romantic school drama, another title indistinguishable from many others you've watched so far. But what's good about it ... is that it has a quality the majority of titles lack. And that's its ability to make the viewer feel empathy towards the heroine, to root for her when she's in struggle (not just the obligatory shipping empathy).

That, however doesn't make the show immune to some plot holes, such as:

- Naho receives a letter from herself and, instead of reading the whole letter, like a normal person would do (well, omitting the part where it's normal to receive a letter from your future self), she reads it bits by bits, parallel as the story progresses. It's understandable, since that would prevent unwanted spoilers and keep up the suspense, yet it diminishes the importance of the letter itself and uses it as nothing more than a medium for telling the story.

- The show is full of some very irrelevant conversations that are supposed to bring the slice-of-life vibe, yet they just make them look forced and awkward and like everyone is acting out of character.

On the flip side of things, the story is good and it's progressing good. Or maybe I'm just saying that because I'm a sucker for time-twisting stories (=.=`)

It gives the viewer hope that things can be changed for good, yet at the same time some things remain unchanged - be it because they must happen, or because Naho didn't do the right thing at the right moment. At the same time we're seeing character development: from the timid, indecisive Naho of the past, the heroine gradually builds up courage, although faltering here or there, half-driven by the weight of the letter, half-driven by the desires of her 16-year old self.

One downside of this show is the soundtrack. The music is somewhat off with the scenes and overall unmemorable. OP and ED are generic at best albeit they might prove entertainment for some watchers but personally not something I'd listen to twice.

If you are one to appreciate a romantic drama with a spice of time-travel and would be able to ignore flaws such as the above-mentioned, I recommend to give Orange a chance.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi is a classical example of how a potentially good show is running the downward spiral with every episode. Also, an exemplar situation of a massacre on the source material. Of course, that's not a reason NOT to watch Boku dake ga Inai Machi. On the contrary, it's nice to watch it if you have spare time, just don't get your expectations too high. Especially if you're watching the show for the "mystery" tag.

Story: 6/10
Some of us who watched the show while it was still on-going noticed a drastic drop at the overall score from 9.15 or so to less than ... 8.90 after the 11th episode. This is mostly due to the fact that the anime doesn't quite follow the manga:
- not only it skips various scenes in favour of the more dramatic and pseudo-romantic moments, the finale is also "original"
- there's a power up on the supposedly romantic scenes (thus probably some viewers were mistakenly shipping Satoru x Hinazuki), while the purpose of Satoru's kindness is to help save Hinazuki from her dreadful fate.
- there's also power up on the drama and domestic violence, i.e. the anime aims to achieve dramatic effect in the cheapest way: by scraping the most superficial emotions of the viewer

There is also one thing in the whole scenario that is completely irrelevant: the protagonist is a wanna-be manga artist. Why did they mention that and how it contributed to the story is the only mystery in the show. And it also remains concealed.

Art: 8/10
Very well drawn, both backgrounds and characters, towns, buildings, interiors, etc. There is a quality drop somewhere along the middle of the show, but not significant. The grim winter atmosphere is very well portrayed with slightly bleached colors and makes a very nice contrast with Hinazuki's bright red clothing.

Soundtrack: 9/10
Very well made OP and ED, with the OP sequences strongly synchronised with the overall anime atmosphere and hinting the anime plot. Bonus points: OP was made by renowned artist Asian Kung-Fu Generation (known for badass openings of mainstream anime). Aaaaaaaaaand last but not least OST was made by beloved Kajiura Yuki who never fails to provide us with awesome themes.

Characters: 6/10
Standard, hackneyed one might even say.
The protagonist Satoru who has to become a hero and save absolutely everyone. And he has a cool mom.
The victim, Hinazuki. She likes to call Satoru "baka" and is a bit of an annoying brat at first and you can cut your wrists on her edgy attitude. But she's cute once you know her.
The super knowledgeable straight-man Kenya who is too mature for his age.
The obvious perpetrator who is seemingly trying to help the protagonist.
And many other, not so significant characters.

Overall score: 8/10
Despite the numerous plot holes in the time travelling element and the almost complete lack of mystery, one could give this show a chance.

Thank you for your time!

At first I was very skeptical towards the idea of watching this anime. For you see, to watch Gintama one must have a profound knowledge on Japanese pop-culture and language (as the show doesn't lack puns and references), none of which I have. Nevertheless, if you are one to appreciate a good laugh and a chaotic story line, Gintama is the anime for you.

My opinion on this show:

Story: 9/10

I can't help it but admire the author's ingenious approach towards not only fiction, history and adventures the characters come by, as well as the daily life of Ooedo inhabitants and all their small problems (e.g. the ... ups and downs of having to buy a new fan or when a young girl wants her undergarments washed separately from her father's). In the Gintama world, there are hardly any linearities. Even an everyday story will make a twist or turn somewhere until the end of the 20-minute episode. And it is most likely that the aforementioned twist will make you shed tears from laughter.
The show is also overflowing with d*ck jokes, b*tt jokes and the likes... Not to mention famous shounen manga, famous actors, etc. Nevertheless, toilet humor is an inseparable part of Gintama.

Of course Gintama also has its seriousness, as you will notice when you stumble across the small "arcs", sometimes revealing dark secrets from the characters' pasts and adding for a more thrilling experiences. At those times, Gintama may turn its back on humor for a while, to unsheathe its blade, but that doesn't mean it's utterly forgotten.

The reason why I gave it 9 (although my overall score is 10) is that a really small part of the characters' pasts is revealed. Imo, that's a turf many things could be explored on.

Art: 10/10

The anime is very well drawn, with nicely balanced colors and fitting for the pseudo-historical Japan landscapes. The characters are also well drawn, each with unique features, more than enough to distinguish them. The motions are especially well made, though not too frantic or annoying for the viewer's eye. The camera angle is also great, at times even stunning as it adds for more laughter or sharpens the breath-taking moment, depends on the case. There's more to add about the character design, but I'll do that later, when I share my impression on the characters.

The reason why I gave it 10? I am particularly an appreciator of good art, especially the characters, and this is one of the few shounen titles from what I've seen that has such a good style; they are not deformed, annoying (most of them) or made with the same template.

Soundtrack: 10/10

Gintama hooked me on the first opening, if it hadn't already with its synopsis (more like, the lack of it) ...and I was shocked when I realized it's made by Tommyheavenly6. Then, I thought to myself, this anime means serious business. Before I used to weigh anime on their openings and endings and more or less that hasn't changed much (although now there are many more things I judge in an anime). After all, OPs and EDs made 1/10 of the screen time of an episode and the OP creates your first impression of that anime. So far for 252 episodes Gintama hasn't got a weak opening. And as a matter of fact a weak ending. And those openings usually catch perfectly the overall idea of the show. If you are keen on watching this series and want to know what it's about, one glimpse at the opening would be worth a thousand reviews read. The opening can tell you straight away who are the main characters, what other characters you are to expect, what are their occupation or preferences (oft times the right word is obsession), their affections, friends, bonds, where they live... and what the story is about, but that could be described with one word: mayhem.

Gintama has OPs and EDs in J-Rock style, usually with upbeat sound, funky at times, with lots of guitars. The rhythm is quite catchy, so listening to them at least twice is a must. The soundtrack of both seasons is composed by Audio Highs, also with lots of guitars for the pressure moments, piano for the sad moments and drums for the punch lines. Audio Highs' themes are styled in almost perfect synchronization with the emotion charges a scene in Gintama could carry.

Characters 11/10

Gintama's character design is unique and I'm not talking solely for the silver-haired "tennen-paama" protagonist, although he is surely unmistakable with his bokutou and the manner he wears his kimono. All the characters are drawn as befits their roles in the anime, more or less, with lots of imagination poured into each of them and a feature (usually more than one) to distinguish them from the others. Also all the characters' seyuu fit more than perfect, as they have a diapason large enough to make any situation even more comical or sh*t serious. There are no banal characters, for each has it's own story to tell and contributes on their own way for the story; and last but not least - there's no character that's out of place in Gintama. Although most of them complain they aren't given enough screen time and the show is as random as it gets, with more people appearing every episode, the secondary characters pop up just when you though they were forgotten.

The characters are probably the thing I enjoyed most at the anime. As ridiculous as it sounds, they are all unique, as each of them has it's own backstory, a manner of speaking, dressing, preferable meals and many more, but most importantly: bonds. All these small features make the character stand out, not like some shallow figures, that stand there to fill the plot; and make it truly a "person" to sympathize to.

Overall score: 10/10
I truly enjoyed every bit of this anime and this review is pretty much valid for both seasons. I only want to add that, as an anime based on manga, it boldly adds its own brush strokes, such as complaining about sponsors and producers, or making top 50 most popular characters show. Where some people would consider this fillers, it merges with the story so swiftly that not even once it annoyed me; on the contrary, it makes it more vivid and diverse than you would expect from an anime based on manga.
There are many other things I wanted to say, but I either forgot as I typed or just decided it was long enough the way it is.
Thank you for reading my review and hope it was convincing enough to make you watch Gintama!~