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There’s a lot to talk about in regards to Dr. Stone, but I’ll keep this review short and simple. Here’s a few things that I want to note:

- Story/Characters: Basically, the this show revolves around Senku starting mankind from scratch. He’s a pretty lovable character with his limitless confidence and pride. He’s not some overleveled isekai protagonist that has everything go his way. The direction of the show can vary from his proud accomplishments or his critical mistakes. I’ll admit that Senku can feel too smart for the convenience of the story, but I mean hey he’s the protag. The side characters who get involved ... with Senku’s journey are solid. They have unique motives and sense of humor. Your perception for a few changes as new information is shown to you. Though I’ll say every new antagonist introduced got weaker in a complicated manner regarding their motivations. This is mostly due to the story feeling like a sandbox game. There isn’t a need for villains in a setting like Dr. Stone. I never got the feeling that anyone in the main cast would be in real danger.

- Art: It’s solid. Boichi’s art is pretty distinctive if you’re familiar with his works (his most famous being Sun-Ken Rock). But the men look more unique than the women. I’m not sure if I had a hard time recognizing the minor female characters because of their wide eyes or whatever. It’s not something I’d consider a flaw.

- The pacing: The step-by-step process of building new inventions was great. The science is pretty accurate, sometimes blown out of proportion for the sake of comedy. But this got progressively worst. I understand that they can’t dedicate a few chapters for every single project they make. But the process got to the point where they can build whatever, all within in a few panels without a cohesive explanation. No more of the good ol days of seeing the grit and grind pay off. Now the characters usually say something similar to "wow science is amazing" almost every chapter like Senku is a magician. You could tell Inagaki started to fast forward civilization after Stone Wars which made the admirable side of science look more meaningless.

- Continuing the narrative is a tricky situation (following my previous point): This story would go on for a long time if they continued to be analytical from the start, which has a good chance boring most of us readers. It’s hard to say how the manga could improve in this manner, but it’s evident that this lead to the ending feeling rushed.

- No one ages: The story goes on for many many years yet everyone looks the same. This could slide if the whole cast were adults, but they’re not. The majority of characters look young. I get how convenient it is to make everyone’s character design the same. But cmon, you’d expect them to age a bit, especially from the characters who do the hard labor they’re not used to. They should look more sturdy than the average person right? Welp, Suika has the Ash Ketchum treatment.

Conclusion: It’s pretty simple for anyone to get a grasp of the story of Dr. Stone. This was never meant to a a psychological/thought provoking. Just pure entertainment. Even with the few complaints I had, it should be clear that you don’t need to use your brain to enjoy this. Just be aware that the quality of pacing and logic will fall off a bit around the last few arcs.

First off, let me just say I am not a huge fan of art. I currently live in a city full of great art exhibits and have visited one in my entire life. Honestly, why should I go out of my way to get out of my house and stare at paintings? I thought people knew NFTs were the new wave. With that said, Blue Period is one of the more down-to-earth shows I have seen in a while. This show is about following what you want to be and how you will make your dreams come true. Yes, I know it sounds like a ... generic shounen trope but hear me out. This show is more serious and dramatic than other shows you’ll find nowadays. You might not cry but you will see how everyone tries to overcome obstacles in the real world.

Pros:

The story and characters are by far the greatest strength of Blue Period. We are introduced to Yatori as the main character. He is a bookworm that has been following whatever the norm is in society and hangs out with some rockhead friends. He sounds kind of boring, doesn't he? But trust me, things start to get more interesting when he starts to question what he wants to be. As the story progresses more, we see Yatori face his dreams head-on through constant thoughts of failure, self-doubt, and passion.

For the supporting cast, they are not copy and paste characters that are easily forgettable. Most of the time there isn't one problem targeted towards one character. Take Ayukawa for example, a non-binary friend of Yatori. We don’t feel terrible for Ayukawa just for their gender. His concerns for the future and the family situation were executed masterfully. I'd argue that his story was presented better than Yatori, but that's just the author being brilliant having an in-depth story. The other secondary characters also affect the overall tone of the story as we also get to see how they confront their goals. Even Yatori’s unmotivated friends keep the story interesting as well as if we should root for every single one of them to succeed.

Cons:

Some anime studios manage to confuse me, not because of what they do, but because of what they don’t do. Who would have thought a show about art would be the lowest point of the show? Well, I will present to you Seven Arcs. Their studio gives a poor impression considering other notable works they have is Tonikaku Kawaii which isn’t too spectacular animation-wise. If you are familiar with art in general, you might recognize some pieces throughout the story which do not look too bad in anime form. There are moments where the animation is supposed to stand out. But most of the time the characters like to make stiff and uncomfortable movements to the point where it kills the whole vibe of enjoying this story. The directing just follow the source material from panel to panel which is why most of the characters make herky-jerky movements.

Overall:

Is Blue Period worth watching? Well, it depends on what you’re looking for. If you couldn’t tell from my disgust for the visuals, this is a flawed adaptation. However, it manages to pull through adversity by keeping the story and characters interesting from start to finish. A great manga does not always translate to a great anime. I'd recommend the manga instead if its premise gave you any interest.

*This review contains spoilers, because I wasn’t able to explain why I didn’t like this without talking about specific events and character roles*

Hige wo Soru is another one of those parent-child like anime except this story revolves around darker topics like rape, suicide, and pedophilia. This show took interesting ideas and just threw them into a dumpster truck.

The story presents itself pretty decently in how Yoshida takes care of Sayu, a homeless highschool girl. Yoshida is a pretty normal and innocent guy so he tries to make Sayu go in the right direction of life rather than choose prostitution as a way to live.

My biggest ... problem is the characters, like man I know this is fiction but the way the characters act is just way too unrealistic. I’ll start with the main girl Sayu. She has probably one of the most disappointing backstories I’ve ever seen. Her backstory starts off as someone who is bullied due to her success and attractiveness. Then we get the stereotypical unpopular/nerdy friend who is being bullied instead of her. Sayu’s friend commits suicide so Sayu could go back to being the cool kid and “shine.” This whole scenario just played out horribly that I did not feel any bit of emotion due to her situation being absurd.

My goodness, the way this show handled Sayu and Yaguchi (the rapist) was just….. a slap in the face. Basically, Yaguchi shows his messed up side and attempts to rape her which already makes him a hatable antogonist. Then the story does a 180 and has Sayu forgive him for what he did. Then they laugh off their situation like things never happened. But come on, who would want to hang out with a rapist even worse knowing it was the person that tried to do it to you?

So what did Gotou accomplish by keeping her feelings from Yoshida? Nothing, other than wasting everyone’s time. She continues to waste time after she confesses because she never makes a move.

The art is one of the more redeeming qualities of the show. Not too fantastic, but passable for today’s standards. For a studio that most people are not aware of, Studio No.9 got their job done here as being a “yep it’s pretty average but still good to look at” style.

I really did not enjoy this show and I wanted to make my point short and clear. The writing was a complete mess, the characters carried nothing special that would make me feel a strong amount of emotional appeal, and the art and sound was average at best. It tried to be deep and tackle on disturbing topics but ended up looking idiotic and immature for every panty shot they showed. I can conclude that everything kept getting worse.

Story - 2
Art - 5
Sound - 5
Characters - 2
Enjoyment - 2

If you're this far thanks for reading my first review, any feedback is appreciated