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Going into Dandadan, I honestly had ZERO expectations. Ok that’s not actually true. I may have not watched any trailers, but I did see the poster and read a little bit of the synopsis and before then, people were hyping up the name “Dandadan” but other than that, I was pretty much going into it completely blind. On the day of the series premiere, I randomly saw on my super duper top secret anime “buccaneer” website that the series had started airing, so even though I didn’t plan it at all, I thought it would be neat to start watching it and see what it ... was all about. And I think that was the right choice for me. Because I remember watching that first episode, and being absolutely blown away.

Now I don't think I could really recommend this series to everyone because of this first episode because…some indecent behavior occurs to put it politely. But with that being said, I still couldn’t believe this anime actually existed. I hadn’t felt this way about an anime in awhile and it also helped that at the time, I was having a pretty rough week personally. So watching that series premiere just completely made my day, which again, I was NOT expecting at all. From the animation, to the characters, to the concept, I was just totally hooked and on board. There was so much energy, creativity, talent and definitely weirdness on full display, and I couldn’t help but embrace the madness of it all. I was dying to see what more insane shit would happen next…

…But I had to wait another week for the next episode :(

And as I watched it weekly, I began to realize how much of an emotional connection I had made with this series and how invested I was in this very…”interesting” story to put it lightly. Like there’s a point in the plot that revolves around the male protagonist, Okarun trying to collect his ballsacks that connect to his third leg. Yes, this is a real plot point in this series and the show doesn’t really take it that seriously. When the show does actually get serious though, it feels appropriate and hits hard because of that. It might be the most pitch-perfect balance of tone that I’ve seen in an anime all year: It knows when to pull on your heartstrings a bit and it knows when to be very silly and ridiculous.

That’s one thing I didn’t really expect from this series: the humor is actually really well executed. I mean it’s not like LMAO funny but there were a lot of moments that made me smile and chuckle a bit. Also I don’t think I need to explain how consistently beautiful the animation is. Science SARU did the animation and GODDAMN it looks so fluent and colorful and vibrant like holy shit they did such a fantastic job fr.

I think the main thing that I really loved about Dandadan for me though was the main relationship between Okarun and Momo. Tbh, ever since I watched InuYasha, I didn’t think I’d ever see a good (although not perfect) romance in a shounen anime ever again and that was gonna be the best this genre had to offer. But I’m so happy to say that we finally got another good romance in a shounen anime. And I’m not even a big romance guy but like thank GOD cause I’m so sick of underdeveloped romances in shounen like c’mon!!! It was just so adorable to see these two protagonists slowly start to become more than just friends in a very natural way.

Now yes, there is a bit of a love triangle (then later a love rectangle with Jin) in this series once Aira shows up, and from what I've heard, some people don’t really like her but honestly, I didn’t really mind her that much. Her romance with Okarun is a lot more comedic compared to Okarun's relationship with Momo which I think was the best approach to do this love triangle. There was also that cat or Turbo Granny who honestly wasn’t as annoying as I thought she would be. She was cute! She had that “mascot of the series that you could easily sell merch with” type energy, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the character is likable enough. And Seiko or Momo’s “grandmother” is cool, yeah that’s about it she’s just cool…and kind of a baddie but you didn’t hear that from me hehe.

There’s really just too many amazing moments for me to count that I just did NOT anticipate at all, like when they started playing this remixed version of the William Tell Overture or most famously The Lone Ranger theme in episode 4 and episode 11. Or the surprisingly artsy and tearjerky backstory that’s told in episode 7. I usually don’t talk about this, but the OP also kicks ass. It's got like a Jersey Shore bounce to it which is SOO 2020’s but I still like it anyway. And the end song is great as well.

I would read the manga, but honestly I don’t wanna spoil myself right now. Actually scratch that, maybe I will…or maybe I won’t, who knows I’m not exactly sure yet tbh.

So I have officially become a certified meat rider of this series even if this first season ends on a cliffhanger, I still cannot wait to see what happens next in this absolutely insane series that despite how weird it gets, always feels authentic and endearing. I really thought that Kaiju No. 8 was locked in to be my favorite anime this year, but then out of nowhere, this series comes into my life and it’s like I just got hit with a 360 no scope trickshot in Black Ops 2 online deathmatch while someone’s yelling: “Mom, get the camera!” While I still think Kaiju No. 8’s first season was PEAK, I think Dandadan was just a little bit better to me. Which meant that it was mid af 5/10.

It's hard for me to completly write an in-depth analysis review about this tbh as I feel like I have many things to say about it but none of them are coherent. But I'll do my best to explain a little bit about how this anime made me feel, as this feels like an anime that was made for me. And it appeals to me not based on personal tastes, but based on personal feelings and experiences. It feels so personal to me in fact that I feel like not talking about it and just keeping it private and sharing my thoughts and feelings about ... this series to no one. But again, I digress.

Besides being unironically the funniest anime I've ever seen, it tackles many sensitive topics like depression and suicide in a way that always feels very sincere, authentic and also too surreal for me, as there are some moments in this anime where I have seen myself in or at least relate to in a way where I could potentially see myself in that situation. Short unrelated footnote here: This is also probably the best romance anime I've ever watched.

This series overall is nothing short of an existential journey. I wouldn't at all recommend watching it with peers. I think watching this by yourself on your phone in your bedroom late at night is the most ideal way to watch it, as this anime feels tailor made for the chronically online and lonely 20-something's of today who are still trying to figure out their purpose in life.

This anime is a reason to keep living despite how miserable life can get. Experiencing that message throughout this anime may be painful, bleak and even cringe-inducing, it's still a very moving experience nonetheless, which is what I think all pieces of media should strive to be: entertaining but also educating you or showing you something unique and transformative like this. It is also easily one of the most creative depictions of mental illness that I have ever seen, perfectly balancing both the ridiculousness and the seriousness of having one.

This truly feels ahead of it's time for when it was made and it was also incredibly therapeutic for me and while I might have not changed as a human being after watching it, as I feel like I'll still make many mistakes in the coming years, I can at least learn from it, make the effort to change and remember everything about it for the rest of my days. This is definetly something I'll be revisiting throughout life as well and I'm so glad that I finally got around to watching it.

Please watch this anime. Thank you for reading!

Well, on the day that I am typing this, Attack on Titan has finally ended. It feels kind of weird. This show has been such a staple of anime for 10 long years that it's hard to see a time without it. Social media has been in either an uproar or praising the series finale that aired this midnight. As for me, I watched both the second to last episode and the series finale right when they both came out. For the finale, not only was it the first anime where I got to experience a series finale right at release, I made sure not ... to use social media until I actually watched the episode. I tried not to watch any trailers, clips, or see any pictures beforehand. I made sure I was seeing this final hurrah completely blind.

And after watching it and letting it sink into my memory for the whole day, I feel like I finally have something to say about the ENTIRE show in general. Because I've never really had anything to say about this show before, and the reason why is because it's just kind of too good, and everything I want to say about it has already been said by someone else, so I'd just be reiterating. Because I don’t think I’m gonna offend anyone when I say this is probably one of the most significant anime shows ever made. I’d say it’s one of the best TV shows ever made but that’s just me. And I could really talk about this iconic moment and that great moment and what they all mean but I feel like that would just take too long. Instead I'm gonna try to bring my own perspective into the mix, because I had never been a long time fan of this show. If you’re one of those people that watched this show when it first started airing, I kind of envy you, because I only became a fan pretty recently.

Attack on Titan first aired in 2013 and became a runaway hit, and I was not aware of this at all. But I was like 10 years old at the time, (I don't know I'm not gonna do the math) and I didn't really give a shit about anime to begin with. Over the years I would begin to hear about it, but I had no interest in watching it because I was like an anime atheist as a kid, specifically during my teenage years. I had this surface level viewpoint that anime was for weirdo nerd losers that I was trying to keep away from. And I thought all anime was just too dramatic for me to take seriously. It wasn't until late 2022 when I finally decided to give this show a fair shake. I remember being in my freshman year of college at the time and I now had a newfound appreciation for anime as an artform. At this point I had definitely known of its existence and heard how good it was, so I went in with really high expectations, and even from the beginning I was not at all disappointed.

In fact, the first season kind of blew me away. When I first saw Eren swinging around like Spider-Man in that epic long take, I was thinking: "Yeah, no wonder this show is so popular, because this goes hard.” But even after that, the show just kept getting better and better until I tried to figure out when it would ever miss me. Whenever I would come back to AoT, I couldn't help but finish the season that I started on in one sitting. That's how invested I was in the story and characters. And if you know me well, I really like when movies or shows or any kind of media are just straight up miserable, and this show definitely scratches that itch. But what I love is that it balances a depressing tone with lighthearted, charming moments. And there’s also some pretty sick action.

And yeah, the story is very engaging and thought provoking throughout and I got hooked pretty quickly because of that. And the characters that the show chooses to focus on are all very believable and interesting, they all have their own traits and motivations. And when someone dies in this show, they fucking die, like you never see them in person ever again so there’s always tension and you're always on your toes at every moment. I would feel bad when something horrible happened to a character and then felt rejuvenated when they were able to get through their pain with sheer bravery and determination. Definitely one of my favorite characters in the whole show is Levi. He’s just kind of a badass and that's all I really need to say about him. And I guess the character I personally relate to the most is Jean.

And the world that this show has created is just really fucking cool to me. I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like medieval, but it’s almost steampunk in a way. And the show does such a great job at not only giving you cool shounen-esque action but mixing it with political intrigue and moral ambiguity to make it more than just an entertaining action and adventure show, but a philosophical work of art. I’m sorry I’m so corny right now lol.

I also love how they treat the titans like it’s a zombie apocalypse, or like The Walking Dead but with huge giants and people using grappling hooks. This show also happens to have some of the most satisfying animation I have ever seen, it's only made better by the epic music. And speaking of music, it ranges from tear jerkingly beautiful to some real hype shit, specifically with the song "The Rumbling" by SiM which is a straight up banger. As a person who thinks most OP's are the same unless they really stand out like with Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo, when I first heard this song in the OP for Part 2 of The Final Season, I was like: "Oh shit. This song kind of slaps." And even though this genre of music isn’t really my cup of tea, it was just too hype to the point where I couldn't help but watch that OP from beginning to end.

In fact, this whole show is just hype. There were some episodes where I started treating this show like the goddamn Super Bowl, most notably the two Final Chapters of The Final Season. OK, I have to bring up a personal nitpick real quick, but this show might have some of the worst title schemes I have ever seen for an anime. Like they had Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 1 which then had a lot parts to it, and then they had Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 and Part 3 and then Attack on Titan: The Final Chapters Ultra Edition Extra Soggy Turbo Mode. The way they named these seasons, specifically with the final one gives me a goddamn headache with how overly convoluted it was.

They had shit like Season 4 The Final Season Part 1 and then 2 parts to that part so I'd be Part 1, Part 1 and Part 2 of Part 1, and then recently with Season 4 Part 3 and the first episode is Part 1 of Part 3 of Season Four's Final Season, which means Part 2 of Part 3 is the actual ending. It's so fucking stupid to me is what I'm trying to say. There was no reason to name it this way, it just made things really messy and muddy for no reason. Like they could've just called it Season Four like any normal person would and leave it at that. You would never have to put Final Season there and associate it with a final because it wasn't. It was leading up to the finale which just dropped today. What they should've done was just call the episode that dropped in March earlier this year "Final Part 1" and then the series finale could be "Final Part 2." It would've been much easier for my reptile brain to comprehend. That was just a really silly decision and a big L from the naming department, but everything else was a massive W for me.

Speaking of "Final," I should probably talk about the finale now that I've gotten all that out of my chest because I feel like I have more to say about this topic than any other aspect of this show. As a person who hasn’t read the manga, I wasn't exactly sure what the big hoopla was with it being “divisive.” I actually checked the anime and manga endings and compared the two today, and they're practically the same except the anime had a couple of tweaks and additions and a few other minor adjustments but nothing major. The story beats are basically the same for the most part. At first my theory was that people just wanted a 100% happy conclusion where the world is just perfect by the end. But then I looked into it, and I realized people were mad because they wanted a 100% genocide outside the walls including the deaths of the main characters besides Eren. So basically people wanted an Evangelion type ending. And while that does sound neat, I think the ending we got was probably the only one I would accept for this kind of show.

If Eren had told Armin like; “Oh there’s gonna be no more war, famine and violence for the rest of time,” then this show would be dogshit. A show like this shouldn't end with sunshine and rainbows. If it did it would be a complete tonal disconnect from everything we had seen in the show so far. I really like how this show ends with the world just being in a constant cycle of peace to war and back to peace again. Because honestly, why the fuck would everyone in the whole world just be immediately kumbaya with one another after The Rumbling almost killed everyone? And our hero's victory to defeat Eren was kind of pointless because there's just gonna be more war and suffering for many years to come, you know, just like real life. The world of this show you could interpret as a parallel to our real world.

I just find it really frustrating when some people take things at face value without really analyzing what they're seeing. Because at face value it is frustrating, but then again, THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT, LIFE ITSELF IS FRUSTERATING-you know what you get the idea. This whole series is supposed to be showing the true nature of humanity, that even though we are all flawed and can never attain true peace, we can still hope for it cause you never know what happens in the future. To quote Mikasa: “The world is so cruel, but it’s also very beautiful.” And why do people think that Eren needs to still be alive by the end of the show? At this point Eren is the main villain so he kind of deserves death at this point, especially when he later reveals that he destroyed 80% of humanity.

And going back to Eren, his death at the hands of Mikasa is one of the most moving death scenes I have ever seen in an anime. Anyone who says Eren died like a little bitch is a fucking idiot that probably just wanted him to stay alive and somehow miraculously get his fairy tale ending with all the remaining characters, or just be the last person standing on Earth, which again does sound cool but I loved it just the way it was.

And it’s a small thing, but I like how this show begins and ends with Eren and Mikasa at that tree together. There’s just a lot of really good satisfying moments in this last episode and of this final season in general while still being bittersweet overall. Sorry if I’ve sounded a little ignorant during this explanation, but this ending didn’t really bother me all that much-for the most part, there are some moments that are a little bit shaky if you really think about it but if you’re willing to overlook it you’ll be just as satisfied as I am right now. If you didn't like it being depressing and not positive, well then I don't know what to tell you anymore, and if you didn’t like the ending not being a 100% genocide from Eren, then go read or write some fan fiction or whatever, because this is the real conclusion whether you like it or not.

If I actually had to force myself to find some things to criticize about this show, I'd say that there are some expositional scenes that could be cut down slightly shorter for my liking. And I also think Eren as a character does leave a little bit to be desired, mostly during the beginning of the show. He's a very cut and dry character, and it works in the context of the series at that point, but he never really becomes too complex until the final season. I'm not complaining about how he didn't grow as a character, because that's exactly the point that this show is trying to get across, that Eren never really developed and only stayed a spiteful child who's mad at the world no matter how old he got. I'm just saying that I kind of wish there was a little bit more going for him at first instead of just basic shounen motivations. But all the complaints that I do have are pretty minor and they don't ruin the show as a whole for me.

It also has me thinking about which epic, grand scale series I love more, either this or Code Geass because they do have their similarities. If you haven't seen Code Geass I won't try to give any specifics or spoil anything significant about anything even though that's kind of hard to do with a show like CG but I feel like it's the only way to get my point across so I'll do my best. Basically, CG ends somewhat similar to how Attack on Titan ends, except in CG it's more optimistic. But in AoT, it's more realistic.

I kind of accept it in CG because it's a more colorful and cartoon show, while AoT is going for a more real and human approach. I think both shows execute their ideas and endings very well, but as of now I'm starting to lean a little bit more towards Attack on Titan being my new favorite epic, grand scale anime. I haven't seen Code Geass in a very long time and I haven't rewatched it since then, but maybe I'll come back to it sometime and compare that and AoT together to see which one is the best one to me.

As for Attack on Titan, while I do feel sad and a little empty that’s it’s all over, I am very thankful that I got to experience its end once it released, and I feel like this is an expereince that I am going to cherish for the rest of my life and tell my grandkids about like its Vietnam. And you know, this show really does mark the end of an era for anime, because it might be a very long time until another anime like this becomes more than just a popular anime but a cultural phenomenon that is known across the world, even for people who don’t watch anime. It sure as hell holds a special place for me and I look forward to revisiting it someday. So I'd probably give the whole series of Attack on Titan a 9.5/10. It was good, enough said.

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 11/05/2023

So I remember when this anime was first announced last year, I knew I kind of had to watch it. Mostly because the few posters, clips and trailers I did see a little bit of since I didn’t wanna spoil myself looked so fucking cool and I was thinking in my mind that this would be like the next big shounen anime, and if it did become mainstream, I felt like I needed to be on that timing if you know what I mean. And the more I heard about this show, the more excited I became. I had never been excited to watch an ... anime that I didn’t know shit about or didn’t recognize at all until now. Idk there was something about it that just allured me and I had this feeling that this was gonna be something I would be a huge fan of or at least enjoy. Which is why I watched the series premiere the day it dropped.

Now with this review I wanna do something a little different. Something I haven’t done with any of my other reviews. Since I watched each new episode of this series weekly, I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts and notes with each corresponding episode, since I actually took notes with each new episode I watched about what I liked and didn’t like, the different aspects, story, characters, etc. And then I’ll do a little summary and that’ll be it. Enjoy!


EPISODE 1 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

So far, I will say that first impressions are very positive, like I’m hooked tbh. In fact, I watched this episode TWICE IN A ROW!!! I’m not kidding. I watched the English dub first and then I watched the Japanese sub right after because they both dropped at the same time and I just thought I would compare the two. I honestly don’t mind both sub or dub, they both seem pretty good. Idk I’m not very good at judging voice acting or anything like that but they both seemed to get the job done with their respective languages, I didn’t mind both of them. I’m not sure which one I’ll stick with rn but…did I say that I watched this episode TWICE IN A ROW?!?! This has never happened with any anime that I’ve seen before. I was that impressed, I was like: “Yo, run that back. Run that shit back!!” Ok I’m being over dramatic I’ll move on.

First of all, the animation is fantastic, it’s way better than I expected it to be. The action scenes that we do get in this episode are chef’s kiss, in fact this episode is just so well paced which makes me so giddy. I like the direction of this show a lot. The concept about these soldiers who kill kaijus is just cool af to me. I’m definitely getting some Attack on Titan vibes from it, but I guess in a more futuristic setting. I feel like AoT fans would totally get a kick out of this show in general. I also feel like Kafka has the potential to be on my mental list of fictional characters that are “literally me.” Like bro is forced to cut through Kaiju intestines and shit for his job like c’mon that has to be like racially motivated or some shit like that idek.

We’re shown a little bit of his childhood with Mina and I’m assuming they were childhood friends as we learn how he got into the predicament that he’s in and how Mina has become this badass Defense Corp leader and he hasn’t. He’s shown to be the kind of person who gave up on his youthful dreams immediately after being rejected from them which is something I can totally relate to and honestly something I haven’t seen before in a shounen.

Because most shounen protagonists are always persevering and hungry towards their dream while Kafka was that kind of person at a time, but that time is shown to have come and gone. Now he’s like a depressed and lonely grown ass man and y’know that’s also something I like about this show so far, all the characters that have been introduced are adults for the most part. Also this episode does such a great job at giving us all this information in the way that I love in storytelling: show don’t tell.

His relationship with Ichikawa also seems pretty genuine and endearing rn. I really like their dynamic so far and I hope they become best buddies throughout the course of the narrative. Oh and that ending where Kafka turns into…whatever the fuck he turned into and the end credits scene with Mina was really cool and fun and left me very excited. So uh, yeah I fuck with this heavy and I honestly can’t wait for the next episode!

I do have one question though: why the fuck does Mina have a white tiger as a pet? I mean that’s cool af and all, but why?


EPISODE 2 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

So I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about the last episode all week. I know it’s super early, but I have a really good feeling about this show rn, it definitely has the potential to be one of my favorite shounen anime that’s out rn. Yeah, I said it. Idk, even with one episode I feel like I’m so heavily connected to this universe and to these characters. That’s just crazy to me. It really shows that making an impact from the beginning is very important. Some of my favorite movies and TV shows usually start things off with a bang and this show has done exactly that. So you bet your ass that I’ve been salivating to watch this new episode. And you know what, I’m probably just gonna watch both dub and sub with each new episode since I can’t really decide which one to stick with.

Anyway, I liked this episode. Not as much as the last one but I think that’s because this one is more about building upon the narrative that has just been established. I also feel like I have to mention the visuals in the OP because they kinda remind me of a James Bond movie for some reason, which made me a little giddy since I’ve been a huge James Bond fan ever since I was a kid. The YUNGBLUD song that accompanies them though is ok, I’m not too crazy about it but again I like the visuals. I have the same feelings about the OneRepublic song during the end credits, which is a band I honestly haven’t heard from in about a decade. I guess it just makes me feel old listening to OneRepublic in 2024.

This episode I felt was a little more comedic than the last one as we see Kafka trying to control his new Kaiju body, or what the people in the show are calling Kaiju No. 8, and Ichikawa is trying to help him escape the hospital that he had just wrecked. Like bro is starting to piss out his nipples and he can’t control his insane strength. I mean the comedy isn’t really my thing but I think it’s acceptable here because the tone of this series so far is balanced pretty well. Like Kafka is kinda childish at his age but I see it as him being a kid at heart and him still wanting to retain his youth. So this show knows when to be goofy and it also knows when to take itself a little more seriously.

And later on, Kaiju No. 8 is shown not to be fucked with because he literally kills a Kaiju in a single punch as all that Kaiju’s blood and intestines go flying everywhere. And he did this to save a mother and her daughter, maybe showing that he might become a vigilante of some sort in this series. And Mina finds out about the “good Kaiju” later on as the mother’s daughter tells her about it. I'm gonna predict that Mina is gonna become obsessed with finding Kaiju No. 8 and maybe wanting to kill it or catch it, I’m not entirely sure.

We also find out that Kafka and Ichikawa were able to pass the first round of the Anti-Kaiju Force selection tests, making Kafka one step closer to his goal that he had thought had passed him and of wanting to stand by Mina which he has always wanted to do. We also meet examinee #2016 Kikoru Shinomiya at the end of the episode, who is shown to be kind of a badass (and probably the main Tsundere of the series just by the way she looks) as she lifts Kafka’s van (with her super suit I guess) off the ground because she wanted Kafka’s parking spot at the Defense Force’s Tachikawa Base.

She also refers to him as “old man,” even though in this episode, we learn that Kafka is 32 years old, which isn’t THAT old but whatever. The episode concludes with her smelling Kafka because according to her, he smells like a Kaiju, and to make it even worse, her hobby is killing Kaiju! So I’m assuming Kikoru is gonna become more and more suspicious of Kafka which might be fun to see.


EPISODE 3 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

I don’t have much to say about this episode. Don’t get me wrong, I liked this episode quite a bit, but I’ve personally just had a long week and I think my hype for this show has kind of died down a bit because of that since I’ve been heavily focused on other things. But again, I still enjoyed this episode. First of all, we really see Kafka as the underdog. He struggles during the physical exam while Kikoru is pretty much thriving in it. We see Kafka being “left in the dust” as he says but Kikoru wants to see his full potential after he secretly used his Kaiju power to lift Kikoru’s van in the beginning of the episode, which has only made her more suspicious about him.

We also see Kafka and Ichikawa growing together and deepening their friendship a bit and I like how these two have interacted with one another so far: A washed up “old man” and a young, aspiring rookie who believes in him is a fun combo. Side note: That Izumo Tech gear looks cool af and would make for easy cosplay at Comic-Con.

Mina also happens to be watching Kafka doing the tests, probably because those two have obvious history with one another. And even though Kafka is shown not to have the best physical shape, he is still shown to have good intellect about Kaijus. Speaking of Kaijus, they look more like Curses from Jujutsu Kaisen than actual Kaijus to me. Just some random thing to point out. For me, it seems like a no-brainer to root for Kafka in this episode not just because he’s really trying to persevere through this exam, but also because I kinda see myself in him as well, I mean it’s always nice to see fictional characters that you can easily get behind.


EPISODE 4 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

You know, that YUNGBLUD song during the OP is starting to grow on me a little bit. Maybe it’s because I’ve never skipped the OP yet or I’ve just gotten used to it, but whatever. And damn, they were kind of cooking with this episode. I like how we saw Kikoru’s backstory and why she’s so determined to be perfect. It's because she’s always trying to impress and be accepted by her deadbeat dad. And her dad tells her that she has to be perfect to protect their country and for their mom, who probably died or maybe left the family, I’m not sure yet. Then she finds out about Kafka being Kaiju No. 8 after Kafka saves her, and we get some sick-ass animation. So far, I do like the pacing in this show. Events are happening fast but not too fast to where you get overwhelmed.

Oh yeah, and I told you guys that Kafka and Ichikawa were gonna be bros! They said they were gonna be rivals after they pass the exams, but I kinda don’t want that to happen because they make a good combo. And now there’s an intelligent Kaiju who’s revealed and can also turn into a human! What the actual fuck?!?! Well, that ain’t good.


EPISODE 5 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

This is another episode that I don’t have much to say about but I will say that for some reason, it put me in a really good mood. Maybe it was because it just centered around the boy and girl soldiers hanging out and training with one another and we finally see Kafka fulfilling his dream to be in the Defense Corps. But he has three months to get in shape or else he will be fired since his physical health is pretty shitty, but like what we saw in the last episode, his mental skills are most certainly there, which is why he was able to join. We also see Kafka revealing that not only does he want to be by Mina’s side, but he also wants to take her spot?!


EPISODE 6 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

Just another solid episode for me. And it looks like the rookies get to have their first mission as a Honju is attacking Tokyo! Kafka gets to show off his mental skills as he finds the Yoju's weak spots (which is what the Honju is producing) and even compliments Kikoru a bit which makes her kinda flustered. (Don’t tell me a 16 y/o girl is gonna start catching feelings for a guy in his early 30’s because if so, I will drop this series immediately I swear to GOD).

Ichikawa is also determined to make sure Kafka doesn’t transform into Kaiju No. 8 because Kafka will be in some obvious deep shit if people do find that out (The Defense Corps would either kill him or experiment on him as explained in the last episode). It’s very charming to me that even though Ichikawa wants to be rivals with Kafka, he still can’t help but look out for his bro :)

Mina also goes sicko mode on the Honju, and overpowers it, maybe because she’s trying to impress Kafka who’s watching her and show him how far she’s come or she’s angry because he lied that he’d be by her side, I’m not entirely sure. But there’s no time to think about that now because a few minutes later we see Ichikawa and Iharu (who might be built up to be Ichikawa’s rival btw) stumbling across the Kaiju who can turn human, and he wants to find the person who found Yoju’s weak spots so easily!!! (HE WANTS TO FIND KAFKA OH SHIEEEEET)

Oh and Soushirou has to be a goddamn legend with the way he took out that one Yoju. Kinda
feel bad for that Yoju because Soushirou treated that thing like it was a house fly. I guess Kaiju Hunters are built different.


EPISODE 7 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

OMG that human Kaiju (apparently called Kaiju No. 9) and Kaiju No. 8 just fought and it was so hype!! Oh and before then, Ichikawa and Iharu got badly injured and it’s also revealed that Iharu doesn’t hate Ichikawa because he’s better than him, he just hates HIMSELF for not being better than him. Also Kikoru is worried for Kafka because he ran off to help Ichikawa without telling her where exactly he’s going. And now Soushirou just found Kaiju No. 8 and wants to take it down and now I genuinely have no idea what’s going to happen next. THIS SHOW IS SO FUCKING GOOD GUYS! I’M SERIOUS!! I’m sorry that I’m glazing but idk this episode was just good af to me and after it ended, I was upset, but I was also really excited. Idk if I’m summarizing the episodes too much or not though. But with this show it’s kind of hard not to do that because if I wasn’t doing that, I’d just be reiterating the same aspects that I like again and again and again.

Kaiju No. 9 looks like a mushroom to me though.


EPISODE 8 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

Well, Kafka was able to escape Soushirou thankfully, but Soushirou has goals of taking out Kaiju No. 8 AND Kaiju No. 9, same with Mina. Hey, Kafka is a full fledged Defense Force officer now! That means he’s one step closer to fighting next to Mina’s side! Hooray! Also, the animation popped off, as usual. Ichikawa and Iharu have recovered and everyone celebrates. Oh, and that green-haired dude, Haruichi, happens to be the heir to Izumo Technologies, who creates the suits for the Defense Force, meaning he has Mr. Beast money. But it’s revealed that his Dad might be kind of absent in his life so it’s not all smooth sailing for him.

Oh, and out of nowhere, there’s Pterodactyl Kaiju or Yoju now that’s going to descend on the city and a big red one that’s got like a scorpion tail or something, might be Kaiju No. 10. Either way, he looks scary af.


EPISODE 9 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

Is it me, or did they just play some of the Godzilla theme near the end of this episode? If so, that would make so much sense because that red Kaiju or the Honju (who definitely has +1,0000,000 aura) got REAL BIG, like how tf are they gonna stop that? Anyway, this episode was a real treat. We got a lot of action, a lot of badass moments especially from Kikoru, who’s got what I can only describe as being like a high-tech Dark Souls weapon, and the animation that you can really soak into. I liked how Soushirou could totally hold his own against the Honju (who also sounds like The Cave of Wonders from Aladdin in both dub and sub to me), it really shows that he doesn’t need Kaiju No. 8 to help him out.

Also, who tf was that one girl that Kafka saved? I don’t remember seeing her in this show at all…

…Ok I just looked her up, and her name is Akari Minase and she was in a few episodes before. Noted.


EPISODE 10 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!! Not only did they defeat the Honju in the most epic way possible (Mina came back from whatever she was doing to kill it with her cannon). They also killed this planet-sized nuke filled with Yoju in the most epic way possible (Kafka revealed himself as Kaiju No. 8 to everyone)!!! Unfortunately for him though, Mina has no choice but to arrest him now. We also learn a little bit of Soushirou’s backstory and how he was always told to give up his chance of joining the Defense Force because he only used blades, but then once he actually did join the DF he was told to give up again, this time on blades and switch to guns until Mina showed up to give him the chance he needed. Which I think is very appropriate for him. This show is keeping mostly everyone connected to Mina in some way and I like that.

And oh my god the way Kafka actually revealed himself to be Kaiju No. 8 and then destroyed all those Yoju was cold af. Bro really is HIIIM!!

BREAKING NEWS: They just revealed the first trailer for a Kaiju No. 8 video game for PC and smartphones?!?! Uh, ok. Not really what I was expecting but I’ll take it. So when’s it dropping? Hopefully it isn’t a massive failure like the Jujutsu Kaisen game that came out earlier this year because that was quite ASS. But it’s not made by Bandai Namco like that game was (it's developed by Akatsuki Games and published by Toho Games) so MAYBE this game will be above decent I don’t really know.


EPISODE 11 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

So the simuldub for this episode and the next one has been delayed. This episode’s dub will be available on July 6th at 8am PT and the next one will be available on July 13th at that same time. This doesn’t really matter to me though because like I said before, I’ve been watching both dub and sub so I’ll just easily switch to sub only but this is just some random announcement that I found out this week on Twitter.

Anyway, AFGIUYFGDUTFD*YAPSU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s me implying that I don’t even know what to say, I’m just speechless rn ngl. You guys should’ve seen my reaction in real time. Because right after this episode cut to the end credits, I literally got out of my chair and started pacing my room, thinking about what the fuck just happened. Like, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST GOTDAMNNNN I was on the edge of my seat by the time Kikoru’s dad or Director General Isao Shinomiya started fighting Kafka and Kafka couldn’t take control of his Kaiju-form anymore. And they’re doing this to prove if Kafka is human or not because he got captured in the last episode. Meanwhile, Mina and her division have a plan to prove that Kafka is human because they believe in him as a person and he basically saved the city from a Kaiju-nuke which shouldn’t be ignored btw.

A bunch of other stuff also happened like my boy Ichikawa standing up for his older bro while he was being taken away and he’s also getting transferred to another division temporarily because the training grounds are totally destroyed after the last battle, and the higher-ups are concerned that there’s more Kaiju coming, Kikoru meeting her Dad and trying to ask for Kafka’s release but to no avail, Mina is still giving Kafka a chance to stand by her side.

But fuck man, this might be my favorite episode so far. The season finale is next week and I’m so freaking excited for it I can’t wait any longer JUST DROP IT ALREADY!!!!


EPISODE 12 THOUGHTS/NOTES:

Well, this is it. The season finale. And what did I think about it? Well, I’m glad to say that I think it ended just as strong as it started. So thankfully, Kafka was able to control himself right before he could kill Isao, and now Kafka is gonna be the Defense Corps new weapon thanks to Isao having faith in Kafka and seeing potential in him, even though the brass is very unsure of his decision. All of his comrades, especially Mina, Ichikawa and Kikoru are all happy about it and are now training to get more stronger in hopes of being as strong as Kafka. It’s a pretty fitting end to this season even though it leaves off on a huge cliffhanger where Kaiju No. 9 is planning to attack the city and get his revenge on Kafka. So I’m very excited to see how that plays out.

It’s also revealed in this episode that Kikoru’s mom died from a Kaiju attack many years ago so she didn’t leave the family like I thought. And yeah, other than that, I don't really have much more to say about this specific episode. I found myself just silently enjoying it to the point where I almost forgot to take notes.


CONCLUSION:

So overall, this show pretty much surpassed my expectations and it’s easily one of the best anime that I have seen this year. I can happily say that I’m a newfound fan of it. Kaiju No. 8, you have my heart. :)

Although if I did have to force myself to criticize something, I’d say that I kind of wanted to see more of it as there’s only 12 episodes and some characters that seem to have the potential to be interesting aren’t really developed all that much as of now. But from what I’ve heard, the manga has seemed to have fallen off quality-wise, which as someone who hasn’t read the manga is very worrisome for me. So I’m hoping, PRAYING that the anime doesn’t suffer the same fate. Because this is just such a great and promising start to this series and I would be really bummed out if they decided to throw all their momentum in the garbage like the manga has apparently done.

Also it’s a little disappointing that this series isn’t more popular as of now and more people aren’t talking about it. Maybe it’s because some of the marketing for it was a little crappy to put it bluntly. I think the advertising team was focusing on the wrong things like still drawings that aren’t the most appealing and creative to look at instead of the cool animation and action that happens in the show. I mean they did show some of that in the trailers, but not all that often to get more people’s attention. While this personally didn’t really bother me, I can see why other people would have a problem with it.

But with all that being said, I’m still really digging this series as of now. They really did it and I can’t wait to see what they do next even with the online gossip about the manga’s recent quality.

P.S: Just as I posted this review to MAL, they announced the sequel for Kaiju No. 8. When it’s coming out is unknown as of now because it’s still in production but like I said before, I’m praying to GOD that it’s just as good as this!

Now I was not at all planning to make a whole review covering all of Yashahime. As a matter of fact, I was not planning on even watching this show. This show is supposed to be the legacy sequel to the anime InuYasha and here’s the thing: As flawed as I think it is, InuYasha is an anime that holds a very special place in my heart. It was one of the first shounen anime that I had ever really gotten into, and it was also the first anime that I completed over 100 episodes for. Even to this day, whenever I think about or ... see a clip of it or hear some of the soundtrack, this strong wave of nostalgia hits me because it reminds me of a simpler time when I was first becoming an anime fan and scared to come out of my college dorm room all day (for personal reasons I won’t get into) so I would stay in my dorm room and one of the anime that I would totally binge on was InuYasha.

It’s one of those anime that I can still remember most of the lore and character names off the top of my head. So I guess you could say I’m a fan of it, but again, that’s mostly because of nostalgia. And if you’ve read my review of InuYasha, during the end of it I subtly mentioned this show that I have unfortunately finished, saying that I hope that I wouldn’t have to watch it because I had heard that it’s not that good. And oh boy, do I wish that was still the case.

Because I had always kind of known about Yashahime. I had seen its page on Crunchyroll a few times back when I still had a Crunchyroll account and just assumed that it wasn’t very good without even watching it. It just looked like soulless fanfiction that was only made to cash in on an already established IP. (Boruto cough cough). And for a few years, I didn’t give Yashahime a single thought. Until recently when I started seeing a few clips of it on YouTube and unluckily for me, my curiosity peaked and the nostalgia baited me once again as I decided to give it a shot with an open mind even though I was extremely skeptical.

Because the InuYasha story ended like a decade ago. That series had already tied up all the loose ends with no hints of a sequel in sight. I myself was pretty satisfied with how it ended, so I moved on with my life as well as other people. So after a finale that’s that conclusive, you really need a good reason to continue the series. So does Yashahime justify its existence?

Well…uhh…yeah, no not really.

I kinda feel like I’m getting ahead of myself with what makes this series as mediocre as it is, however I don’t really wanna do a play by play of what happens in every single episode. There’s 2 seasons with 24 episodes each, I feel like that would be a waste of everyone’s time.

I will say though that this show wasn’t as much of a massive failure as I was expecting it to be, I can’t totally hate on it. There were a few moments and aspects that I thought were kinda neat, kind of intriguing. Like idk I think some of the action scenes were somewhat fun to watch and even pretty epic sometimes. I think the best moments in this series for me though would be whenever the OG characters would appear and do something or interact with one another even if it’s not that often and was kind of unnecessary to see because again, I thought their stories ended just fine and I wasn’t curious on what they were up to afterwards. But I guess as a fan, it was still nice to see the characters that I already knew and liked again and really reminded me of a better show that I wish I was still watching.

Literally the series premiere is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. It is just full-on InuYasha fan service which I’ll admit, was making me very happy and nostalgic. But at the same time, I realized that this show’s way of hooking me in was not in introducing the new characters and getting to know them because it’s their story now. Rather, this show relies on the characters you already know thinking they’re going to take center stage again, which they obviously don’t.

But that’s the first issue with this sequel, it doesn't really stand on its own two feet. As this sequel is very reliant on its predecessor that it starts to become annoying. It totally expects that you have seen the original because they make SOOO many references to it just so the fanboys and girls can go like: “OMG, I remember that!” Not just from different callbacks to that OG show but even down to the music making reference to the InuYasha theme and other themes from the OG. Which is kinda disappointing because I think the new soundtrack isn’t half bad. Kaoru Wada did the music and he also did the music for the original, and it sounds great. It’s probably the one thing about this series that’s consistently enjoyable and I guess that goes for the animation as well.

As far as the characters go, while I think the three main leads are likable enough I suppose, I just find it very predictable that they're the children of some of the OG characters. Now any normal writer for this story would be like: “Yeah why not make a sequel about InuYasha’s daughter and Sesshoumaru’s daughters?” But I can’t understand the mentality of wanting every character to relate to other characters that we already know. It makes the universe way smaller that Moroha is InuYasha’s daughter. It’s also really dumb, like it would just be bad writing.

It’s like how some Star Wars fans got upset that Rey wasn’t related to like Palpatine or some other popular character in the SW universe in The Last Jedi, but then people got upset again when she WAS revealed to be the daughter of Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker. This sequel falls into that particular trap and it suffers for it. Imagine how much more interesting this show would be if it was about characters who weren’t related to the OG characters, and this sequel would be its own separate thing that just happens to take place in the InuYasha universe. I think that would be pretty cool. But no, we don’t really get that.

Also the main villain who I forgot the name of is just boring and bland. He’s basically just another Naraku but if he didn’t have a personality or cool demon powers. Oh and this goes for every other villain and side character too, they’re all a lesser version of a character from the OG. Like the character Takechiyo is literally just Shippo 2.0. You know, I think the actual Shippo only showed up in that series premiere and then showed up a little bit in season 2. And holy shit, I almost forgot that Koga was in this show…for about a few seconds, I don’t even think he had any lines lol.

Now while I think the story here could’ve been worse than what we got, it still feels uninspired and again, it kinda fails to justify its existence. For one, you know how the main emotional core of InuYasha was romance right? Well, this show doesn’t really have that. Which is fine, except for some reason they do try to shoehorn in a romance of some sorts between Towa and this guy named Riku and it’s just not very convincing. Which is the exact opposite of how InuYasha developed its romance in that story. The reason the romance worked so well there was because it was built up naturally throughout the show’s progression even though I think it could've been kind of drawn out at some points. It was the main aspect that made InuYasha stand out from the other shounen at the time of it’s release. So I find it ironic that Yashahime is literally doing romance the same way every other shounen was doing at the time InuYasha was still airing: appearing out of nowhere and being underdeveloped.

But anyway, the basic plot in a nutshell is that Towa, Setsuna and Moroha are searching for the dream butterfly because Setsuna doesn’t have any memories of Towa being her sister because if she did have her memories, the series would just be over. To put it bluntly, Setsuna has amnesia, and can I just say that amnesia is probably the worst plot device in the history of storytelling. She seriously doesn't have any dreams and forgot her entire life with Towa. That is more than ridiculous to me. But this is only in the first season thankfully. I do think season two improves its story and pacing although not by much. I mean it’s like 10% better, which isn’t really saying a lot.

But for most of the time, Towa, Setsuna and Moroha are just meandering and doing side quests that really don’t move the story forward all that often. I mean InuYasha did have a similar problem at first, but it slowly started to move away from that as the series went on with the exception of filler episodes. But that problem is so much worse here because that flaw persists through almost the whole show. Like in the OG show it was literally the first freaking episode where Kagome goes to the feudal era, this show on the other hand takes FOREVER to get anywhere. It’s not until the 4th episode where we finally go back to the feudal era. But again, it’s really only season one that has these issues the most.

Also one thing about the story that I find kinda odd is that Towa and Setsuna’s father is Sesshoumaru but their mother is Rin. Yeah, that child who followed and admired Sesshomaru in the OG show, grew up to be the mother of Towa and Setsuna. Now idk what their ages are (it’s revealed in season 2 that Rin is 18) but in InuYasha, it looked like Rin was WAY younger than Sesshomaru. So did like Sesshomaru wait until Rin got older so they could have children together? If so, that’s pretty weird and sus and I know there were like some intimate relationships between characters in the OG show who had slightly different ages from one another, but this is like a whole nother level of questionable.

But that’s nothing compared to the one thing that I really hate in the story of Yashahime, which is that I absolutely despise how there’s another Shikon Jewel. That’s right, the mcguffin that took InuYasha and his friends over a hundred episodes to collect all the pieces for and then destroy, there’s now just another one. Which is honestly the biggest insult that this show has to offer to the original. All of InuYasha and his friends' accomplishments don’t really mean shit anymore because there’s just another Shikon Jewel out there. Like, talk about shameless. You wanna know how even more shameless this show is? They literally utilize clips ripped straight from the OG series without even altering them or polishing them, maybe to make the clips look more modern during some of the flashback sequences, it’s just lazy.

And to be honest, by season 2 I kind of just started watching this show on autopilot as I was really waiting to get it all over with. I was thinking of dropping it but I felt I had come too far to do that. Even though I think the show finished much stronger than it started, it wasn’t really enough to save the whole show for me but it was enough to make it at least a semi-watchable show.

But overall, there’s just a lack of soul, a lack of inspiration, and a lack of identity because just like Towa, Setsuna and Moroha, this show is totally living in the shadow of its more successful series. And while I did say that I liked those characters, I think I would’ve liked them more if they were in a better show. So I’m pretty disappointed but that was to be expected. I mean it’s not an awful show but it’s still deeply flawed with the execution missing way more than hitting. There's really no reason to watch it ever again and I think there would be no harm in me wiping this series from my memory and pretending that it’s not canon or doesn’t exist.

You know what, let’s just leave the InuYasha franchise alone after this for the love of GOD please.

I am beyond speechless right now ngl. I was planning on doing a normal review of me just talking about this anime that I happened to watch yesterday because I was thinking and hearing about how it has a cult following because it’s that bad but as I was coming up with what to write for this review, I realized that there are some things out there that are really beyond description. This is one of those rare occasions where a piece of media is beyond explaining. It's one of those things where you just have to experience it yourself.

All I can really say ... about Mars of Destruction is that it is easily one of the most throughly entertaining pieces of media that I have seen in quite awhile and I'm dead serious. And I made the greatest decision ever to watch the fan made dub for it. I'd actually say it's a disservice to NOT watch the fan made dub for Mars of Destruction. It really elevates this anime to the upper echelons of delusion and lunacy.

This thing is only 20 minutes long and I honestly wouldn't have minded if it went on for an hour. I swear to God, my stomach was hurting the whole time because I was laughing too much, I really thought I was gonna pass out lol. I just...I just have to give this a 10/10. There's really no question about it. Watching the fan made dub of Mars of Destruction made me feel like I was experiencing one of my lucid dreams. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a shitpost disguised as an anime.

If you have seen this, you probably know that this anime is a huge ripoff of Neon Genesis Evangelion. But honestly, I prefer this over Evangelion. Not because this is legitimately better than that but because I found this to be way more enjoyable and fun to watch for me and I also didn’t have to think about how depressing and hopeless life is, because who really wants to think about that all the time, right? RIGHT?!?!

So I’m gonna proudly say that Mars of Destruction is the perfect bad anime. It takes everything that makes an anime good, and shits on it. But it's with the most beautiful, eye-opening shit I have ever experienced. I'll admit it, I'm a fan. Thank you Mars of Destruction for existing.

You know what, fuck this whole review. Just copy the link below and paste it to your web browser. Prepare to have your life changed:

https://youtu.be/7Oa-Pc4O39k?si=y5bNBqK4MEueS9aF

I had been meaning to watch DBZ for YEARS. I remember watching one episode of it on Adult Swim when I was a kid. At the time, I had definitely heard of the show before but I hadn’t seen a single episode. I don't remember exactly what episode I watched (I think it was during the Planet Namek saga where Vegeta and Frieza or maybe it was Piccolo floating in the air and talking to one another about something idek) but I do remember changing the channel after 5 minutes because 13 year old me thought it was boring as shit. I was like: "Where's ... the fighting at?"

I was always curious in watching this show somewhere around that age but I just never got around to doing it. I think watching that small part of whatever episode I happened to stumble across dashed my interest in watching it. I think I just wasn’t really the patient type back then as I ended up watching SpongeBob instead because that was more of my speed. But even though I never got to watch this show as a kid, I somehow knew so much about DB lore.

Like I knew some of the character's names, knew what a Spirit Bomb and Kamehameha Wave was and knew what going Super Saiyan meant. I think that just shows how iconic DB as a franchise actually is. Even my parents know what Dragon Ball is and they don’t even watch anime. I was also very familiar with the "It's over 9000!" line but that's only because I saw a YouTube video of Rocket Jump doing a music video parody on it. Yeah, anyone remember that? So anyway, now that I have finally watched it and completed it, I can safely say that this is the greatest anime ever made…if you’re like 12 years old.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked it and I can definitely see why it’s considered an anime classic, but I didn’t love it. It’s kind of how I feel about Dragon Ball as a series overall. I like it, but it’s not a huge favorite of mine as far as shounen goes. I think ever since I’ve gotten into anime, I feel like I’ve seen better shounen than this. Sorry, there’s just a lot of hits in this genre. Also I think if I had given this show a chance on the day I had randomly stumbled across that one episode, I might’ve enjoyed it way more and maybe had been a fan of it. But watching it as an adult, it didn’t really hit that hard for me tbh.

I think the reasons for this, starting with the first one, has to be easily my biggest problem with this series, and that’s the pacing. Yeah, that whole meme about this show being only like 9 episodes straight of powering up and screaming is very accurate. Because there’s a difference between making a purposeful slow burn and just being slow for the sake of it. Now on one hand, I think this very slow pacing actually works if you watch it in the context of when this show came out. But on the other hand, if you don’t watch it with that framework and just judge as if you were watching it today, this approach is very dated and it’s apparent why most shounen nowadays aren’t made like this anymore.

Because manga artists don’t seem interested in writing long stories anymore and it becomes more obvious when you see manga artists blatantly shut down plot points or aspects about it that could milk their series for longer. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball was made during a time where mangakas didn’t really care about that, which is the reason why this show can be difficult to come back to by today’s standards. Now I have heard that DB Kai fixes the pacing issues and adheres more to the manga’s story so I might check that out someday to see if that’s true, but as of now, the pacing in this show fucking sucks, I’m sorry.

Another problem I have is that this show has that one trope that I absolutely hate in shounen. It’s the trope where during a fight between two characters, they’ll stop it for no reason other than to talk to one another about their powers or to give small character development. And every time I see this it pisses me off because I feel like there should be a more efficient and nuanced way to give this kind of information. I know that anime isn’t the most subtle medium ever and that’s just part of the appeal, but why does it have to be like that? Some of my favorite anime at least have some subtlety to it. I’m very much a show don’t tell guy and this series isn’t really like that.

Anyway those are my dumb nitpicks, so let’s talk about why I actually like this show. First of all, I cannot deny the massive impact of Dragon Ball. Like this series created anime fans period, and if you think about it, it’s no wonder why this series is so influential. One weird thing that I love about Dragon Ball as a series overall is just how cute it is. Idk some of the characters in this show and their designs like Pan and Majin Buu and Goten are just so adorable to me. I also thought this show was surprisingly funny, which is something I didn’t expect. I mean it’s not lol funny but I chuckled a few times. And this all makes sense because the author of the DB manga, Akira Toriyama (RIP) did start as a gag humor mangaka.

And this series' characters and their designs are pretty much iconic at this point. You’d have to travel miles to find someone who doesn’t know who Goku is and it doesn’t matter if they watch anime or not. And I pretty much like every character in this show (except for Yamcha) but if I had to choose one character that I like the most, I think it would be Piccolo. I just love how he goes from this evil villain who wants to destroy Goku to becoming a huge softie once he gets closer to Gohan. And it’s moments like this that remind me why I like this show as much as I do.

Because for me, I could give less of a fuck about powerscalling or Saiyans or whoever is the strongest in this series because that doesn’t really interest me. I’m more interested in character interactions and relationships and figuring out if the story flows in a logical and engaging way. Speaking of story, I’ve heard people complain that Dragon Ball has no story to it, and idk if these people have even watched the show. Because there is actually a story, believe it or not. Yeah it’s pretty simple and not very complex and super overarching compared to other shounen, but in the context of this show, I think it works just fine. Because with this show in particular I really tried to watch it with the mindset of someone who is living in the early to mid 90’s (or the 2000’s if you watched it on Toonami) and just casually watching it weekly. I think that’s the most ideal way to watch it because binge watching it through a modern lens isn’t the most fun compared to other shounen.

Personally, I try to enjoy watching movies or shows with the mindset of when they were originally released whenever I can, but if I try to compare this to other shounen that I’ve seen out there, it’s pretty standard fare for me. So again, putting myself in the mindset of a little kid watching this show while it was first airing or doing reruns definitely saves it for me. But I can’t deny that without that framework, the show is kind of ok, but it does get points for its cultural significance.

If you ask me, One Piece is one (no pun intended) of the most fun anime I have ever seen. Those are the best words I can use to describe it: it’s just…so fun. But unfortunately, I don’t think I would recommend it to first-time anime viewers. Mostly because it’s obviously a pretty daunting show clocking in with over 1000 episodes, in fact the longest story arc as of now (that being Wano Kuni) is approximately 208 episodes! Like, damn. But despite its intimidating reputation, I think once you have a little more experience with anime and if you are a more patient viewer who’s ... willing to give it a try, I think you’ll find something very approachable and rewarding. But on the other hand, I also think that this is the one shounen that’s just not gonna be for everyone. Because I remember back when I first took the plunge with this series, I thought to myself: “Man, this show is slow and boring!”

Yeah, I just wasn’t feeling it at first, it wasn’t my jam. I wouldn’t say it was bad or anything, I just thought it was ok at best. But I was kind of turned off by a lot of things in this show, from the artstyle and humor which is all very cartoony and childish to the kind of annoying characters, I’m looking at you Luffy. And I wasn’t really watching it as much as other shows, movies, etc at the time and I was thinking of dropping it multiple times. But I was still willing to give the show a chance because it’s so popular and beloved and I wanted to know why that is.

And I think it was at the point where once I started the Alabasta arc (episode 62), I began to realize: “Wait a minute, this show is actually kinda good.” And the more I watched it from that point, the more this show began to grow on me and win me over. To the point where after Robin had her iconic moment during the Water 7 arc, I was like: “Goddamit, I love this show now.” And I have been riding with it without turning back ever since. It was like my third eye was opening just a little bit more with each arc and I was gradually beginning to see Oda's vision for how insane but also creative this series can be. And the aspects that I didn’t fuck with at first started to grow on me in a big way, like the art style and humor. Which yes, the humor is your typical over-the-top anime humor which isn’t really my thing, but I began to realize that this type of humor fits like a glove with this art style that’s so colorful and distinct and also weirdly nostalgic, because it kind of reminds me of cartoons that I used to watch as a kid.

Another thing that began to grow on me were the characters, specifically the titular Straw Hat captain himself: Monkey D. Luffy. Who at first I thought was the most annoying character in the whole show, and while I do think he kind of stays the same headstrong and food-obsessed boy that we have seen at the beginning of the show, he does actually become more of a badass throughout the narrative. There is this one moment that really stood out to me during Fishman Island where Jimbei tells him that he needs to be more responsible as a captain instead of just dicking around all the time and getting his crew in danger since at that point in the show, that's what he's been doing as a captain. But then Luffy reveals that he is aware of that responsibility but he'd just rather take his chances and see what happens since for him it's more fun that way. Uh, alright, I'll accept that answer I guess. I wouldn’t exactly say it’s character development as much as it is character progression. And this goes for every Straw Hat crew member. Now I have heard the complaint that this show has no tension because all the Straw Hats survive every predicament they are in. And yeah, you’re right, but there’s still plenty of tension in this show. It just chooses to use the environment for tension instead of what will happen to our main protagonists. Like in Alabasta or Wano where the Straw Hats have to save a country from a cold-blooded ruler, or anything that happens in Marineford. If you don’t think this show has tension or stakes, well then I don’t know what to tell you.

As far as my favorite characters in this series, the one character that I easily liked from first impressions alone is Chopper. Who is just so goddamn cute and adorable that I’m tempted to buy a stuffed animal of him off of Amazon. He kind of reminds me of Shippo from InuYasha but if he was less annoying, more interesting and contributed more to the Straw Hats success, since he is the doctor of the crew. So yeah, he might be my spirit animal and I also strangely really like Robin. Not because she’s hot…ok maybe because she’s kind of hot but y’know she’s a cool character, she’s got enjoyable qualities if you know what I mean lol. But seriously, I feel like she has one of the more interesting backstories out of the Straw Hats, and I also love how she acts kind of motherly towards Chopper, like it always warms my heart when those two are together. Oh, and she’s an archeologist, which reminds me of Indiana Jones, which is a major plus for me because I get really nostalgic and giddy when something reminds me of Indiana Jones.

One thing I respect about One Piece is how despite this show looking very cartoonish and colorful, it’s never afraid to get depressing and even kinda violent. Another thing I respect is the animation, or at least how it evolves. I even once thought: “You know maybe the animation will stagnate because there’s so many episodes.” But that is absolutely not the case here. In fact, the animation actually improves with each passing arc. To the point where once I got to Wano Kuni, I started thinking: “Where did this animation come from?” Yeah I’ll just say that Wano is easily without question the best animated story arc that we’ve gotten so far and I’ll just leave it there.

I did mention that Wano is the longest arc in this show and I’ve said this before but I'll say it again, I’m not the biggest fan of long arcs. I’ve said why in some other reviews but when it comes to this show, long story arcs are its specialty and kind of something you have to accept. This series is very much trying to be a slow burn compared to other shounen and I respect that. From the continuity to the subtle foreshadowing to of course the world building that’s always on point. Oda really has the nerve to make each arc better than the last one. How he even comes up with some of this shit is beyond me because like I said before, this show is just insane. Even during the beginning of some arcs, I would be thinking: “Yeah, this isn’t really that interesting to me, maybe this arc will be one of the weaker ones.” The story will get flipped on its head out of nowhere to make me engaged again. A prime example of what I’m talking about is at the beginning of Summit War, if you know you know.

Now as I am typing this review, I consider myself a very casual One Piece enjoyer. Like I only watch the mainline series, I don’t watch any of the movies, or read the manga. And for some reason, manga readers seem to hate the anime and I wasn’t really sure why so I decided to look into it and it mostly just has to do with the business model of the anime. People just complain that the pacing is worse compared to the manga. I don’t know, I feel like this personally doesn’t concern me because I’ve never read the manga. I’m sure the manga is great but I don’t really read much manga. That’s why a lot of manga is adapted to anime because most people just don’t like to read, me included. I mean you always hear the “manga is better” excuse whenever a new anime comes out. To the point where I just have to ask: Why even watch anime at all when people are just gonna say that the manga is better?

Anyway, I would talk more about this show, but then I would be getting into spoilers. But even though this show has grown on me a lot since I first started watching it, I still do have a few critiques. For one, this show does have its filler episodes but compared to other shounen that’s over a 100 episodes, there’s surprisingly very little of them despite this show being super long so it’s not the biggest deal breaker in the world. Also some of the fan service can be a little distracting at times even if my intrusive thoughts say otherwise. Another thing is that as much as I like Zoro and Sanji as characters, their pissing contest has started to become a little played out, especially since I have seen more than 1000 episodes of this show and those two still have beef with one another.

I assume they are going to squash their differences in the end but who knows. Oh another thing that’s become played out is Sanji being a simp for women. Now I get that’s like his main joke and flaw as a character but when I think of down bad anime characters, Sanji is usually in the top five, and that’s not a good thing. Although I will say at some points I can definitely sympathize with why he violently nosebleeds over the sight of some of these women because…y’know…who wouldn’t do backflips for some of the women in this show? Yeah, this show can get kind of horny at a lot of points. I feel like Oda purposely drew some of their knockers almost bigger than their head just to fuck with us straight men. Am I being weird? I’ll move on.

And the last nitpick that I have is that the story arcs are kind of the same to me. Not that they feel the same, but they are more so structured the same. They usually follow this pattern:

The Straw Hats arrive on an island, shenanigans ensue on the island, and the arc usually ends with Luffy fighting the main bad guy. There are obviously exceptions to this, but that’s kind of how most of the story arcs play out and I kinda wish there could be a little more variety although this series does do a good job at masking the similarities of other arcs to help you not notice.

So even if this series does have some flaws and it isn’t exactly my favorite shounen ever, I cannot deny that it still absolutely rocks and I think the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for me. I’ll probably continue to watch it for years to come and I’m glad that I have stuck with this show for as long as I have because if I dropped it, I feel like I might have regretted it. I have no idea when this show is gonna end but god dammit I’ll say that it can go on for as long as it wants, just if it continues to keep a consistent level of quality and I hope to be there when it does end. I know the Big Three (One Piece, Naruto and Bleach) isn’t really a thing anymore, but I definitely see why most people call this the best one out of the three because it kind of is. It’s the most creative, the most colorful, and the most planned out. Again, I don’t think it’s a masterpiece for me but I can still see why people call it “peak fiction."

I don’t even know where to begin with this review. This is easily one of the goofiest anime I have ever seen. And I love this show but not in the way that you expect. I'm tempted to say that it’s so bad it’s good. In a way, this show does kind of teeter on that line of being very enjoyably bad but it does have some unironically good aspects believe it or not. So as campy and dated as this show is, I’m gonna talk about the stuff I like first. The main thing I like about this show is that it’s just so ... fucking funny. They do sneak in some actual funny jokes once in a while but for the most part this show is just a masterpiece in being an unintentional comedy. Just watch this show with a group of friends or watch it while under the influence and you’ll probably have the best time of your life. Every time I did watch this show I felt like my IQ was lowering and I was turning into a caveman with how dumb the whole thing was.

I feel like words really can’t do this show justice but I’m gonna still try my best to write this review and explain how fun this show is. I mean this show was already campy in Part 1 but they really amped the campiness up to 11 for Part 2. Like the people who made this knew exactly what kind of show they were making and it leads to some of the most hilariously insane plotlines that you’ll ever see Lupin and the gang be a part of.

This series overall is very episodic with each episode being a different story and almost all of them have no connective tissue between one another. Firstly, I have to emphasize that making each episode different from the next is a lot harder than you’d think. You have to get really creative and you don’t want episodes to feel similar to one another, even though this show does have a bad habit of sometimes doing that. Secondly, that’s kind of what I love about Lupin the Third, it’s a very easy series to get into and enjoy. You can start wherever you want, you don’t even have to watch every episode like I did. You could start at the last episode if you really wanted to. As a matter of fact, you don’t even have to watch any episode of this show, you could watch one of the movies and you won’t be lost at all, that’s how episodic this series is. Now this isn’t the case for series’ like Parts 4-6 and the Fujiko Mine spinoff but that’s kind of how this show mostly goes down.

Now that approach might not be for everyone. Some people have criticized this series for being very repetitive and barely doing anything new. And I kind of agree. I think by the 95th episode I was starting to feel pretty tired. I think after you’ve watched at least 20 episodes you’ve seen the entire show. There are a few episodes with two parts to them but for the most part it just kind of feels the same from beginning to end. I really think there should’ve been way less episodes. But weirdly enough, I really wish there were more Miyazaki-directed episodes. There’s only like two of them that I can think of, those being episode 145 and episode 155 and those episodes are easily without a doubt the best ones in the series. If you were to compare the Miyazaki-directed episodes to the normal episodes, it is like a day and night difference. I’m under the firm belief that Hayao Miyazaki and Lupin the Third really go together like peanut butter and jelly and I think Part 2 should’ve emphasized that way more. Yeah, Miyazaki was probably a pretty busy guy back in the day to make more episodes of this series but it still would’ve been cool to see, for me at least.

But on the other hand, I do think Lupin the Third is a very comforting anime to watch. I still think my favorite comfort anime overall is Kino’s Journey (2003), but this is very much a close second. It’s an anime where you don't have to pay that much attention to. Which is fine because when you do pay attention it's still fun and when you don't, you can just chill, relax, and enjoy yourself or whatever. I like to watch one of the movies or the episodes of the show in the background while I'm doing work or chores around the house.

I don’t need all art to challenge me. Some things I just wanna watch just to be entertained by and the Lupin the Third series overall is a perfect example of that. If I was to compare this series to food, I’d probably compare it to eating pepperoni pizza. You know exactly what you’re gonna get for the most part, but it still tastes good nonetheless. It also helps that I like all the 5 main characters and I could watch a whole show of them just hanging out and doing nothing important. They’re just so likable and have such distinct personalities from one another.

Lupin for example is probably one of my favorite anime characters ever. I’m dead serious. He’s basically anime James Bond and since I’ve been a big James Bond fan ever since I was a kid, it was like I was destined to love this character. Even though he’s not the most complex character ever, in fact he isn’t really much of a real character in this particular series, I think it works just fine here. In other series’ and some movies they do try to give him more dimensions and explain that he’s someone who embodies freedom and escapism, something that I’ll admit, I personally strive for a lot in life. Then there’s his partner Jigen who’s just kind of a badass whenever he shows up. He definitely feels like the straight man of the group and always has great banter with Lupin.

Goemon also joins up with them frequently and he’s a samurai who always speaks words of wisdom and cuts shit in one slice with his katana named Zantetsuken, which really should belong to me but whatever. He takes himself very seriously which gives him some good comedic moments. And Fujiko, uh, I actually don’t wanna talk about Fujiko. I get kind of distracted when I think about her. She just has some really enjoyable qualities if you know what I mean. I’m not being a simp, I’m just being very-observative. If you don’t like her, I recommend you watch her spinoff show which does make her more of a “real” character instead of just Catwoman without the costume.

And finally Zenigata, a police inspector who would probably give up sex in order to capture Lupin. He’s so obsessed with catching him that he gets so upset when he thinks Lupin dies, and basically shows that he secretly enjoys trying to catch Lupin. That’s basically his whole character in a nutshell. And this works mostly because Zenigata in this particular show is fucking hilarious. Maybe it’s just me but every scene he’s in makes me laugh. He could be doing something completely normal, and it would still be hilarious. It’s like his character is an alien pretending to be a human.

Another thing that helps make this series feel cozy for me is the music. It’s so fucking jazzy and vibey and I love it. The Lupin the Third theme is another iconic theme from a popular IP that I have stuck in my head and recognize whenever it starts playing. It’s very Cowboy Bebop-esque although it doesn’t explore more genres like that show does but the music is still great nonetheless, it’s easily one of my favorite aspects of this whole series.

I really can’t reiterate it enough. There are so many scenes that perfectly exemplify why I love this show and why I also think it’s kind of a huge joke. I could compile a bunch of random 5 second clips throughout the show, edit it into a 30 minute YouTube video and you would have instant comedy gold. Also the names of these episodes are just-amazing. Like “Gettin’ Jigen With It,” or “Zenigata Getcha Outta My Life.” Like, c’mon! Whoever named these episode titles is truly the Socrates of our time.

Now let me clarify things real quick because I feel like some readers might be a bit confused after reading this review. I want to emphasize that when I mention the campiness of this show it's not meant as a criticism at all. I’ve said multiple times in this review that I like how campy this show is. I genuinely believe that the campiness was deliberately incorporated by the creators. What I'm trying to convey is that the campiness is kind of a product of its time and this level of absurdity stands out by today's standards. But overall, I embrace the campiness as it makes the show 100% more enjoyable. Even at its worst, this show still remains fun to watch, like you can't help but have a good time watching them. While I still prefer more current Lupin the Third content I can still enjoy this older series for what it is.

Anyway this show is dumb as hell, I love it.

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 02/17/2024

Dear Skelter+Heaven,

Before I watched you, I was a miserable wreck. My wife left me and took the kids after I was fired from my job as a telemarketer. I began suffering from chronic depression and suicidal thoughts started to bubble up in my mind. I had begun to lose all hope and meaning in life. But on the day I am typing this letter of gratitude, everything changed.

I was viciously drinking at the bar at 3 am when suddenly the TV mysteriously changed to an unknown channel. It was playing you, all 15 minutes of you. And from the moment you started, I ... was immediately out of my drunken state. It was like I instantly became sober while watching you. My third eye had opened and my penis was enlarged. Everything I saw was so inspiring to the point where tears started to rain down my cheeks. From the incredible characters like Down Bad Girl, and Soldier Boy, and Other Girl, to the engaging story and beautiful animation with some realistic backgrounds looking like they came straight off of Google Earth, to the OST and OP that sounded like something out of a Dreamcast-era Sonic game. I began to reflect on my past and present life and after you ended, I sat there, a new man. I was no longer the sad, guilt driven loser but now a handsome, motivated and disciplined individual.

You know the story of Chris Gardner and how he went from a homeless salesman to forming his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm in 1987? Yeah you know how it took him like 7 years to finally make it out of poverty? Well I did it in a single day. I immediately got my life together by becoming a multi-billionaire after winning the lottery multiple times at a local gas station. I got my wife and kids back and now me and my family are happily living in a private estate worth millions. I was able to buy your company: "Idea Factory" for a whopping 2 dollars and turned it into a new multi-billion dollar company simply called: "Apple 2," where we develop cutting-edge technology and create the new best-selling smartphones appropriately titled: "mePhones." I am obviously the CEO of the company, obviously. Sorry if I might sound egotistical right now, but I MADE IT AND I'M SO HAPPY!! I am currently swimming in my pool of money like I'm Scrooge McDuck and playing with my kids who (don't worry my wife approved of this) I have legally changed my 12 y/o daughter and son names to "Rin" and "Otsuya," named after the two main characters of your beautiful masterpiece that I totally didn't look up on the internet :)

I have now seen you fifty times in a row, and will continue to watch you for many years to come. I even have a room in my house dedicated to you. Unfortunately there is nothing in the room since I can't seem to find any merch of you no matter where I look for some reason, but don't worry I'll probably create my own merch by tomorrow. Thank you for helping me fix my inner and outer flaws and shaping me into the man I am today. You are the biggest inspiration of my whole life and the greatest thing I have ever seen. Thank you!

Love,
Me

P.S: Where's the sequel though?

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 12/19/2023