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"Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou Ningyo no Mori Specials" aka "Mermaid Forest" Episodes 12 and 13 are DVD-only OVAs that, unfortunately, did not improve in production values compared to prior episodes. Aware that this is part of an anthology,there's little expectation of an overarching story. What stood out though is the lack of internal consistency with how the rules work regarding interaction with the mermaid biology compared to prior knowledge assuming you have watched episodes 1-11. It gets more absurd as time passes, and here, it's no exception. Uninspired direction, uninspired dialogue, uninspired animation... you're better off reading the manga if I were you.

Enlightened Boys— I mean, Namu Amida Butsu Utena, to sum it up, is one where "they tried, it's an enjoyable watch."

In this show where it's in no way revolutionary, nor about a girl, nor any mention of the term "Utena" present, the main conflict is tacked on and is nothing special, but where it shines is the comedy and the slice of life pacing. Although I consider it overall "just good" and hobbled with budgetary constraints, it's great at portraying cute boys doing cute things among the different facets of Buddha.

I emphasize the (time and money) budgetary constraints, because the staff is competent. The ... voice actors are very skilled and excellently cast, the sound effects are great, and where they upped the ante of visual quality in certain action scene, you can glimpse flashes of Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. Sometimes, I sigh at what it could be.

Let what-ifs be what-ifs. Taken as it is, if you watch Namu Amida Butsu Utena for the Buddhas' antics, you will like it. Just like there can be no enlightenment without vice, you may miss out on hidden gems without accepting imperfections.

Alternatively called Junko no Heya (Junko's Room), the Nana recaps featured minor characters and their commentary on what occurred to the main characters along the way. Best watched some time after watching the original show.

Those who like Gintama's sense of humor will like the humor here as well. I'm a fan of the constant fourth wall breaks the episodes have, gives screentime to some of the less-featured characters, and they are overall nice abridged versions of the main show episodes it covered. Besides that, there's nothing groundbreaking about it. Watch the Nana recaps for the funny and rate this one a nana over juu ... (7/10) afterwards.

"Bokura no Yoake" is about an alien ship that crash-landed to Earth and was discovered by our protagonist. Is this the set up for a save-the-world story from an all-poweful villain? Wrong! Its only desire is to return to space. However, it is bound to a series of limitations that it, the protagonist Sawatari, and the supporting cast have to overcome.

Admittedly, the premise is somewhat absurd and decent amounts of suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy it, but enjoyed I did. It was a fun watch and I'm sure you'll grow fond of Nanako—and Aoi Yuuki's excellent voice acting.

As a coming-of-age story that both ... embraces certain clichés and subverts some others, Bokura no Yoake executes a sendoff story very well and tackles the usual themes someone of Sawatari's age would encounter with a fantastical flavor added.

To watch The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan, it is imperative that expectations be set. Whether a viewer will like it or not depends largely on this. If you expect a Haruhi S3 OR you like how the characters are written in S1 and S2, you will be disappointed. If you want to explore a certain path branch not taken in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie, you will like (or at least appreciate) this one.

Before I proceed, let's tackle the show's weak points first.

One: The KyoAni visual finish is not present, simply because the studio animating it is not KyoAni. To Satelight's credit, they did ... not seek to imitate the KyoAni style and do their own thing. That sort of worked in the show's favor by painting the show as being in alt-Nagato's perspective.

Two: The show's latter episodes feel indecisive and appears to finish in a cliffhanger, which is a shame. Being a spin-off, it was quite unlikely to get a season two to begin with. This is the decisive factor on giving this show a "Mixed Feelings" as far as recommending it to other viewers is concerned. That being said, whether *you'll* like this or not is a "see for yourself" affair. For me, I enjoyed it even with its flaws.

Going to its good points...

Exploring this world shows a completely new side of the cast that we're familiar with, stripped of supernatural occurrences (aside from *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink* references to Haruhi fans, which I like very much). If you're among those who find Haruhi overbearing in the canon show, you'll like that it was toned down a lot here. I prefer this version of Haruhi over the original. The character balance between the cast is much better here (and also was hinted in The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya).

The buildup and fluff involving Nagato and Kyon's relationship in the slice-of-life segments is nicely paced on its own and presents the viewer a very understandable picture of what's going on in Nagato's head and heart, even in the more serious episodes.

To me, the highlight of this show is the soundtrack. It really elevated the show to be a compelling watch along the way with nary a miss. It manages to capture the cutesy and the introspective scenes when it's needed. Its ED is one of those that became an instant "can't skip" for me, and if you liked Violet Evergarden, that might intrigue you. I'll let you find out why.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this show. I only acknowledge that The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is not for everyone, primarily because of what one might expect. But I can at least recommend you to try the first few episodes and make your own judgments on whether to continue or not.