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I was actually on board with this film for the first half. While it was lacking in many ways, there was still enough to keep my attention engaged. The second half, however, is a slow downward spiral before a major crash landing at the end.

Similar to previous Shinkai films, the scenery is stunning with incredible detail that should set the standard for the anime industry. There is also a moving soundtrack made by Radwimps who produced the soundtrack for Your Name. It is impossible not to be impressed by the level of detail put into the music and animation. This has always been Shinkai's ... draw-card and nothing has changed here.

What else hasn't changed is the lack of depth these characters have. Hodoka has ran away from home for unknown reasons and as soon as he is given the chance to leave, he does so again. Hina's mother has died, her father unknown, leaving her to live with her little brother and for unknown reasons chooses to live without support from others or going through foster care. The reasons behind our protagonists making the biggest decisions of their lives should be the main focus of the film, but instead they attempt to ignore it or superficially explore these issues. During the first half of the film it did seem like they would eventually go deeper into the issues faced by children from broken homes, however nothing comes from it and it will leave you frustrated and disappointed. The second half of the film instead focuses on two things; the power of love and the failures of the police.

Shinkai's films have mostly been about the power of love. This would either be in the form of unrequited love, where characters will spend their whole life pining in despair when their loved on moves on. Or it would be in the form of love that transcends all boundaries, even time and space. Sometimes his films will have both. In Weathering With You, the power of love is taken to new heights to the point of absurdity. This film's final 20 minutes is a time skip where it turns out that saving Hina's life has led to most of Tokyo flooding, which would be one of the worst environmental disasters in history, followed by a justification of these actions because they are in love. This is insane. The film tries to play it off as a happy ending, similar to how Avengers Endgame does after that film also ends with the greatest humanitarian crisis in history. Millions of people losing their homes should never be celebrated. I will never understand why they thought this would be a reasonable ending for the film.

The role of the police in this film becomes the most interesting aspect of the film, most likely for the wrong reasons. Knowing how Shinkai's films usually progress, I'm going to make the assumption that the police behaving the way they do is purely to increase the tension and drama rather than actually providing a commentary on the police. However, if you actually analyse what the police do in this film, it is a major indictment on the whole concept of the police. During the second half of the film, the police realised they lost a gun, harrassed a bunch of kids because they have stupid laws about being outside at night, threatened to jail or separate siblings instead of offering support, and were generally incompetent at everything they did. It seems that all they know is how to use force and intimidation to get their way and never once try to help anyone. These children need support but are instead pushed to escape society because of the incompetence of the police. Intentionally or unintentionally, this film has managed to portray all the flaws of the police and the lack of support children have in Japan.

Overall this film is a mess. I will never understand why they chose to end the film they way they did.

It is no surprise that the director of Cowboy Bebop is able to produce a brilliant bridge between the first and second Blade Runner films. In 15 minutes this short is able to portray all the necessary information to link the two films, while also serving as a great companion to the other shorts created to bridge the Blade Runner series. I am glad I watched this before watching Blade Runner 2049 and whenever anyone asks me about watching the film I always tell them to watch this short first.

It is a shame that when they decided to make Black Lotus they chose the CGI ... route.

It is baffling to me how popular Toradora was during the late 00s/early 10s while being this highly rated. This show is up there in popularity with the KyoAni shows at the time, and right now it is 18th on MAL. Whoever did the marketing for this show deserves a raise.

The premise and the main arc of the two protagonists is one which has happened many times in romance stories, so there isn't anything unpredictable there. However, the path this show takes to get there is frustratingly confusing. Initially it seems like a fairly upbeat comedy and that Taiga's aggressive behaviour is more "cartoon logic" ... than real. However, after a few episodes it becomes clear that Taiga is literally beating up people (and attempts to murder someone later on) with no real consequences for her actions. The upbeat nature of the show also disappears and is replaced with an incredibly slow, drawn out drama. Interactions between these characters becomes increasingly centered around something dramatic rather than just building on their relationships and seeing them interact.

Since the show decides to follow the drama, this leads to many stupid situations in the second half of the show. It gets to the point where I start questioning why these people even hang out with each other since they don't seem to have any fun doing it. This continues all the way to the ending where the show completely ditches reality and we see our protagonists making the strangest decisions when the simplest ones would have sufficed. This is made worse by the fact that we really don't learn much about these characters before they make these decisions. The supporting cast also make confusing decisions such as deciding they like someone when we've barely seen them interact. By the end of the show I'm not even sure if any of these people should be friends, and they're all talking about how they like/liked each other and how sad it made them. All I know is that if this was real life, Ryuji would have moved on to one of the many girls who apparently seem to like him during the show's ending. Also, any of these relationships would have a high chance of failure.

There are plenty of better romance shows out there, especially now with the explosion of anime recently. Don't bother with this one.

While this is going to be a mostly negative review, I have to disagree a little with the other negative reviews here. The premise for this film has enough to carry the film and the characters have enough depth to fill out the 1.5 hours. Josee is struggling with having confidence, control, and autonomy, while Tsuneo is pushing himself to reach dreams that would make most people burn out if they tried to do anything similar. Tsuneo is balancing his high workload with social life and keeping his dream alive, Josee is dealing with an overbearing grandmother who is against Josee having any autonomy or ... freedom. It is clear that this film has set up plenty of themes and conflicts to explore. The issue I have with the film is that it chooses to ignore its characters to follow unnecessary plot twists and tragedies.

The first interaction between Josee and Tsuneo is very cliche for anime (Josee falls onto Tsuneo then proceeds to do a ridiculous tsundere move). It continues being a little ridiculous with their interactions, but it gives the feel that it is building up to a good exploration of their characters; their dreams, fears, and how their relationship grows. However, instead of going further into this, we have a tragedy. Following this tragedy, we have characters being assholes for no reason. Then this is followed up by another tragedy. The film follows this pattern until it finishes with a cliche that should be seen as an incredibly awful thing to do; not picking up someone who is being discharged from hospital and running away.

It seems to be common for highly rated anime to follow the same line of story telling. It reminds me of how I would write when I was 10 years old and didn't have any understanding of themes, character exploration, and how the conditions one grows up in shapes one's life. Therefore, I wouldn't know how to finish my stories because it would require a deeper understanding of how people behave and committing to the themes that are set up in the first half of the story. This is seen in many other anime and its the same here. Josee and the Tiger and the Fish leaves you incredibly unsatisfied and bored during its second half, making it a very disappointing film.

I can't go without mentioning how beautiful the art is. I hope the artists got a payrise for this.

The cliche of "city slicker goes to a rural town, struggles as a fish out of water, before finally maturing to deal with their inner troubles" has been done many times. In Barakamon we have a calligrapher who goes to a rural town in Japan to seek redemption and gain a new insight into his life and career. While the main plot goes the same way as you'd expect the cliche would, it is still a heartwarming gem that exceeds expectations.

The most interesting part of Barakamon is its cast. While many may focus on Naru, the loud and energetic child who is the main driver ... for getting Handa out of his shell, the rest of the cast play their part. They are all interesting in their own way without falling into the hyper-exaggerated character tropes usually seen in anime. Hence, Barakamon creates a town full of fun personalities that you wish you could be a part of.

Speaking of tropes, the other main trope Barakamon avoids is having each episode focus on a specific character's problem, where Handa gets involved and solves the problem which helps him learn more about himself. Instead this show follows regular life in a country town. The largest obstacles the characters face are things like fixing a bath boiler. There is minimal drama here until the climax where Handa needs to face his demons.

Barakamon is an anime with plenty of comedic moments, great characters and an entertaining, yet simple story. If you like a fun slice of life, watch this.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes has developed a strong cult following over the years. Even on this site it is one of the highest rated shows and does not look like it will be losing its ranking anytime soon. While watching LotGH it was clear to see how this reputation grew, however it also left me somewhat puzzled how a lot of the negatives seem to be forgotten.

Perhaps what I found most interesting about LotGH is the style of storytelling it employs. The narrator is used heavily in between the action to make the show feel like a documentary. This is especially noticeable during the ... battles where the narrator will explain the tactics being employed more often than the characters themselves, similar to what you would see in a war documentary. Nevertheless, the battles can be jarring for some people since the tactics used would be better applied to the middle ages than outer space in the distant future. Personally this gave the show something unique when compared to other space operas, but for others this can break their suspension of disbelief.

The main appeal of LotGH is the conflict between the two main characters; Yang Wenli and Reinhardt. This is meant to be a philosophical conflict of ideas between democracy and aristocracy, but this is really only explored on one side, where Yang Wenli defends his reasoning for fighting as "defending democracy", while Reinhardt really has nothing to say about aristocracy other than the rare comment on one of its flaws. What this ends up feeling like is more of a lecture from the writers to the audience than actual dialogue. Nevertheless, the story of their rise in power and conflict on the battlefield is intense and captivating. Both characters are likable and relatable and it is the scenes with these characters that are the most memorable.

There is a large cast of characters in LotGH, but that is to be expected in a space opera of this length. Initially it may be difficult to remember each character, however over time they are likely to grow on you. It helps that the character designs are unique and that they each have one clear defining trait or characteristic. There is the downside though that for almost all of these characters there is no depth past that one characteristic and some characters will merely serve as a means to progress the plot.

The majority of the low points of LotGH come during the stories focused on the Earth cult and the last ~20 episodes. A lot of time is spent focused on the Earth cult with no payoff. From very early on they are described as being a powerful influence on both sides of the war, but nothing eventuates from them outside of showing that religious cults can lead to terrorism. As for the last 20 episodes, this is where things start to fall off the rails. Characters will act in moronic ways to create new conflicts to lengthen the narrative. For the finale it seems the writers decided that killing characters was the only way to conclude their story arc.

Outside of those flaws, LotGH will make you wanting to binge through it. The universe that they have created is believable and immersive. I am giving the show a 7/10 overall, but it should be worth noting that during the majority of the show I find it to be a 8-9/10, but during the last 20 episodes it dips to a 5-6/10. I would recommend LotGH to anyone who is into sci-fi and space operas. Don't expect anything incredible from the philosophical side, but you will find entertainment through the characters and the drama.

As a side note; if anyone has read the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov they'll notice a lot of ideas from this show were taken from those books.

Makoto Shinkai is a director that clearly loves the idea of "star-crossed lovers", "love at first sight" and the idea that once you fall in love, even as children, that you will be dedicated to that person forever even if circumstances change or the people in love change. In most of his previous films the characters fall in love instantly and we spend the rest of the film watching them pine over the other wishing that they could be together, even if decades have gone by without being in contact with each other. The clearest example of this is in 5cm Per Second where the ... protagonist simply cannot move on from a crush he had as a child on a close friend. Nevertheless, in The Garden of Words, there was a sense of growth in Shinkai as we get to actually see the main characters develop their relationship on screen. But, it still ends in the same way as the other Shinkai films with the protagonist pining for his lost love. I had hope that Shinkai would build on this growth with Your Name, to give even more depth and understanding of romance and love, however all this film gave me was disappointment.

Before delving into this disappointment, I want to mention the outstanding animation, backgrounds and sound design in Your Name. This is perhaps the cleanest looking film I've seen thus far. It is easy to be absorbed into the world of Your Name due to how well the film is presented. I would argue that Your Name is even better than 5cm Per Second in terms of visuals.

Now, while I could go on about the visuals, at the end of the day the purpose of these visuals is to tell a story, and here the story fails. On the surface, the initial plot to Your Name seems like it could work. The trailers covered the first half of the story, where the characters have to overcome their predicament of switching bodies every so often. Then comes the plot twist and from there, everything falls apart.

SPOILERS FROM HERE

Somehow, these characters are not only switching bodies, but they are also traveling through time. Yet, somehow they never realise they are traveling through time. This makes no sense at all. The characters would have picked up on this almost immediately through simply looking at their phones. But no, we're meant to believe that these characters are that stupid that they didn't realise what the date was every time they switched bodies. Both characters are then surprised when they try to find the other and notice the time difference. Mitsuha doesn't even question the idea that Taki is a few years younger in her timeline. This leads to the crisis where they need to change the past to save Mitsuha's town.

The rest of the film dealing with the evacuation of the town is ridiculous. At the very least they could have had a scene where Mitsuha opens up to her friends about the whole time travel thing to make things feel a bit more grounded, but instead they jump straight in to blowing up the power plant. The main conversation that is meant to convince the mayor to evacuate the town is done off screen, so we don't even get to see how Mitsuha has grown as a character in standing up to her father. Nevertheless, this is not as poorly handled as the main story of the film; the romance between our protagonists.

The biggest question I have for this film is this; at what point do these characters fall in love? During the first half of Your Name they are casually dealing with the body switching problem, then during the second half of the film they're in love. At no point do we get to see them doing anything that would lead to any romantic feelings developing. The only explanation we have is the usual for Shinkai; that they were destined to be in love even if they barely know each other. The worst part of this portrayal of romance is that when they finally get to have a discussion with each other, Taki just writes "I love you" on Mitsuha's hand instead of his god damn name so she can't even remember who he is. Then we're meant to assume that many years later, even after forgetting all the events that happened, that these two characters were waiting for each other to fall in love again. These people barely know each other, have almost no chemistry, and what they did learn about each other they forgot due to amnesia. It seems like Shinkai read Romeo and Juliet and assumed that's how a successful romantic relationship works and completely missed the point that its a tragedy about stupid teenagers making terrible decisions because they decided they are in love after barely knowing each other.

It seems that Shinkai still has no idea how relationships work. Your Name falls in to the same category as the rest of his films where the main characters are in love forever and we're meant to feel sad when they long for each other for years/decades. This view is simply too naive to be taken seriously. I can't recommend this to anyone unless you view love like Shinkai does.

It is hard to gauge a rating for such a short series. Aiura is a set of 12 episodes spanning 3 minutes each. It is set in high school and focuses on three female students as they become friends through a fairly regular set of events. The show is great for some quick, light-hearted fun/comedy and can scratch that itch when you're keen on watching some slice of life. However, there isn't much depth to the show, as one would expect having a 36 minute run time. Hence, it is unlikely that Aiura will leave a lasting impression on you. Nevertheless, this does not mean ... that the show is bad either. The production quality is just as good as any other 12-26 episode series, which can especially be seen in the voices for the three main leads.

For anyone who has watched shows like this before, this may not be interesting to you as it is nothing new. However, I do recommend it to anyone who has half an hour of free time and wishes to watch something relaxing and funny.

I’m making this clear from the start - I have not read the manga and I don't believe any of the characters in this film are damsels in distress or purely a stereotype.

The first 30 minutes of this film had me completely emotionally invested in these characters. It hit close to home seeing students bullied, similar to how people were bullied while I was growing up. This was particularly the case when watching a student like Nishimiya, who did nothing but be nice to others, get bullied just for being different. I have also seen a bully end up being the victim or an outcast, ... like Ishida. This set up a great premise for the rest of the film to explore. However, things rapidly go downhill from here.

As the story progresses, the three main themes of the film; bullying, suicide and friendship, end up being tossed aside for teenage drama. When things are starting to go well, Ueno turns up and does some incredibly mean things to Nishimiya. This is followed by Ishida deciding to randomly insult people. No one communicates properly for 10 minutes straight and the anime becomes melodramatic. Instead, an accident occurs and everything is forgotten. Granted, there is some reflection done by Ishida, but nowhere near enough to earn that "happy" ending.

While I understand that currently many people are impressed by this film, I feel that after some reflection on the main themes of the film, the flaws become noticeable. Outside of a short apology and a few thoughts during a dream sequence, the bullying is never addressed properly. Pretending that bullying and abuse can simply be swept under the rug and forgotten is a terrible message to send. Suicide is treated as something that will only be attempted once in a person's life instead of a recurring issue that needs to be addressed properly and respectfully due to the lasting effects it can have on the person and those who are close to them. Friendship is portrayed as something that allows for people to lie and abuse one another. As long as someone has a life-threatening problem, all the negatives of a relationship are forgotten. It is amazing that a film about understanding one another and improving communication does not understand the issues it brings up and has characters who fail to communicate about any of the issues they face. The reality is that after the film has concluded, it is likely that our characters are going to regress as soon as the festival finishes because they have not shown that they understood each other. They are still harbouring their problems, and do not know how to deal with them. Maybe Ueno will be allowed to beat up more people.

Since this is a KyoAni film, you are at least guaranteed great animation and voice acting. All the characters have great designs and the cast do a great job making each character believable. Extra praise needs to be given to Saori Hayanami though for her portrayal of Nishimiya. She does a fantastic job making Nishimiya into a believable deaf person.

After being completely hooked by this film and then completely taken out of it, I have to sadly say that I do not believe this is worth watching. Hence, I cannot recommend this. Hopefully there will be a good film in the future (or maybe there is one that I have not seen yet) that is willing to tackle these issues properly to recommend instead.

For a show that had so much potential, Kekkai Sensen is fairly forgettable. Its conclusion is riddled with issues, made worse by the fact that it was delayed several weeks. However, that's not to say that the series isn't somewhat enjoyable.

The first seven episodes of Kekkai Sensen are standalone stories, introducing different aspects of the show's universe. I say "introducing" because nothing is properly developed. After watching these seven episodes I can't say that I know anything about how Hellsalem's Lot works, what Libra's place in the city is, nor the extent of the powers of each character. Nevertheless, these episodes are entertaining enough, with ... plenty of action and comedy to carry the show. The characters aren't developed either, but they are still enjoyable to watch.

The problems really come to light after episode seven. For the rest of the series, there is a double episode on Zapp followed by the multi-episode finale. The Zapp episodes provide some insight into his life, but most of it is shallow and used for comedy. After that, we're at the finale without knowing much about the world of Kekkai Sensen or its characters. This makes it very difficult to understand or even care about what's at stake. The finale drags on with the tone changing constantly, making everything feel jarring.

There are many ways that Kekkai Sensen could have addressed these problems. The simplest would be expanding to a 26 episode series allowing time to develop characters. Another idea would be to use those early episodes to focus more on character development, taking away some of the time spent on comedy. Or, they could have begun the ongoing story leading up to the finale earlier. Either way, what the series ended up doing was falling short of all of these ideas.

Nevertheless, I still would recommend that fans of action comedies should give this anime a go, at least for the first nine episodes. The action is entertaining and there are plenty of jokes throughout. Visually it is nice to see the unique designs of monsters and the animations for the characters' fighting moves. The OP and ED is also pretty fantastic. However, I wouldn't recommend that anyone bother with the final three episodes as they are a waste of time.

I'd give the first nine episodes a 7/10, while the last three would be a 3/10.