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Coming off from the first season's jazz like style mixed with Poker and stakes regarding cards with magical powers one would think that the second season would follow in its footsteps and maybe even improve on what didn't work as well such as the pacing and the emotional struggle. In the end, it did although in a mish mash of ups and downs.

On the one hand, the character we grew attached too found themselves in much higher stakes, leading to them growing closer not only with themselves but within each other, doing sometimes introspections upon the situation. My personal favorite, Chris, fortunately kept up with ... his charismatic personality from the first season and with the addition of a new roster of villains and distant acquaintances, the narrative was set for a huge number of reveals.

And on that note we certainly had our fair share of twists and flips which sometimes changed our perspective on the cards and the story as a whole. As we went along this season the kingdom of Fourland was presented as having more things up its sleeve than met the eye and the card powers being revealed conducted a flush of events which raised the tension to unprecedented states. Unfortunately, this sometimes came in the detriment of the classy vibes that the first season had at play.

Indeed, on the other hand the animation wasn't spectacular by any means more so compared to other big hits from the season. The use of CGI during relevant scenes as well as the lack of depth in some facial expressions or background characters made for a foul first impression upon newcomers. Regarding the music, it did its job fine enough with the opening sequence staying as its flagship and the sound effects of the cards befitting their respective powers.

All in all, if you were looking for the continuation of the last season, this one certainly counts as one. It's nothing spectacular and by the halfway point you may be tempted to fold it under the dropped category. However, by the end you'll most probably come around to it, going all in as the final episode comes around. Heck, you might even start browsing for a sale of the featured deck, not that I haven't tried that yet.

After almost 6 years of mostly weekly new episodes, Boruto has come to a close... to its first part. It started airing very shortly after Naruto's story came to a conclusion and it had a tie in movie that it had to live up to. Did it manage to do it? No, not by a long shot.

See, one of the main problems of having a weekly shonen that never seems to end is that once you run out of material to adapt you either choose to go the filler route or the anime canon route. The original Naruto went with the former and led to ... an infamous proportion of non relevant episodes, some quite badly scheduled might I add, to the point where you could spend an entire year watching and come out of it with nothing to gain from it. In this case, Boruto decided to go with the latter and the result was somehow even worse.

Not only were some of those arcs dreadful to watch, their lack of quality showed in its poor animation and the same 4 tracks playing over and over again: the chill track, the conflict track, the battle track and the resolution track. It might be an exaggerated number that's the way it was perceived, more so considering that almost 90% of the show isn't adapted from the manga. One would say that this isn't necessarily a bad thing if the anime canon episodes tried to develop some of the other supporting characters in a meaningful way, and very few of them do. But alas, Boruto's classmates are mostly not as remarkable as the previous generation.

I'm emphasizing on this aspect since the set of episodes that do adapt the manga well not only feature the best moments in the show with genuine emotion but also well choreographed battle sequences and a more engaging premise. Yes, not everything in this show is terrible, it does have some merits to it. As a result, it is my belief that if they had adapted only those sections in a spread out seasonal manner, the rating would have been much higher, maybe even surpassing the original Naruto. That of course didn't happen and I highly doubt the next part is gonna be any different.

Digimon Ghost Game is the latest anime installment in the franchise and with the disappointment of Digimon Adventure 2020 one would understandably be hesitant to give it a watch. As such, after finishing its final episode I can safely say that... the recommendation is still up in the air depending on what you're looking for.

On the one hand, compared to its predecessors, here the cast are much more charismatic, cheerful, full of fear and all in all emotional. And I'm not only referring to the main three but the partner Digimon and some of the supporting cast as well. Each of them has a way ... of approaching things that resonates with their partner and they each have their set of episodes to shine... though some more than others. Plus, the way they come to solve their conflicts isn't just to beat up the bad guy rather to come to an understanding and for the most part, even in the horrific situations they are put through, that was a welcome change.

Also, there's the digivolutions, of which there are quite a bunch and in order to not spoil them (though they have already been spoiled if you follow the products such as the VB) I'll just say that I'm really into the way the sequence are short enough to not take too much time out of the episode and they 're really well animated as well. I comment this as a frequent criticism the older series have had to do with this time loss. Plus their design is usually on point and it follows Digimon evolution logic with how one “kind of beast” transforms may transform into something completely different.

On the other hand we have to address the elephant in the room: the narrative. At first it seemed that even though the show was advertised to have an episodic format, it would also feature an overarching story with little to big steps throughout it depending on the Digimon in question to be the main focus of the episode. However, after one of the first glimpses we got of that, there were too many episodes in between where barely no progression at all was made, only for it to take many huge steps by the end.

It probably wouldn't have gone down as bad as it did if from the get-go the show didn't have an end goal or the progression would have been spread more seamlessly. In that way, the viewer has time to process each new development and theorize about their meaning. In reality, as the "Digimon of the week" came by with a new horror theme attached to it, the question was whether there was an endgame or not.

Furthermore, aside from the most relevant and prominent battles, and the digivolution sequences as mentioned previously, there's really not anything remarkable about the animation. Most of the time it looks bland and with some of the horror theming it would have probably benefited more by having a bit more production put into it. The soundtrack at least has a few notable tracks, mainly Faction Faction by The Wieners and Monster Disco by Suga Shikao and a few of the digivolutions tracks whose names I'll have to look up later.

With all that was mentioned above, I'd say this is a mixed bag. If you're into horror and don't mind slow to null story progression but seeing what dark themes can come up from the Digimon setting, then you may get a kick out of it. If on the flip side you've either bounced off previous Digimon series or were looking for a narrative focused one, you'll not probably not have a good time with it. At the very least, you should give the digivolution sequences a quick view.

As a sequel to an adaptation from a game that wasn't too advertised outside of Japan, I had my reservations about this being any good. News about delays in their schedule certainly didn't help and so I decided to wait for it to be completed in order to give it my fair judgment. Having just finished it I can certainly say it was the wise choice.

On the one side, the characters from the previous season make a comeback but also new and quite relevant ones make their dayview. Along these 15 episodes we see their story develop in this war with some twists, revelations, feelings ... and a certain someone getting a huge boost in development. But that's not all as the main attraction is the giant robot fights, the ones from the game, and if you were a fan of them before, you're in for a treat. New robot transformation sequences alongside new moves, fluid 3D action scenes and the frantic music in the background made for some of the best mecha fights I've watched so far.

However, it's not all a bed of roses as there were some aspects I was apprehensive about. Firstly, and weirdly enough, the 2D animation still looks average to bad. Outside of a few scenes, many interactions can look a bit bland. In fact, one of the latter characters to be introduced has curved pupils drawn and it was so distracting to watch them that I had to rewind a few scenes. Oh and speaking of said character, here comes my second gripe: the development of his arc.

It might sound contradictory to what I mentioned above but that's not really the case. For the most part the series follows a clear story plot line with enough exposition for new details to be processed nicely. In this case, every episode started and it felt like some explanation was missing or cut short. My guess is that with its production issues the series might have been reduced in length, leading to certain interactions feeling either unnatural or out of place. In other words, even with longer than average episodes, the final arc in particular was rushed in its setup and the result was quite disappointing.

Taking all this into account, this is a perfectly watchable anime if you manage to find it and were curious where the first season was gonna go. I went back and forth with how I felt about it since I'm sure it could have gone better, but oh well, what's done is done.

This is your typical chibi style tie-in mini series to a parent anime, featuring in this case the 3 main characters from Link Click and their daily lives. Each episode is quite short and is comprised of the opening, the trouble at hand, the ending and an animal short with the characters as if they were pets. So if you find animals cute there's something to look forward to there.

If that's not the case, I must say either way that the opening song can not only be quite catchy but as the episodes go on it improves in its animation and budget. Seriously I was ... honestly surprised at how by a certain point it started changing. Not to mention that there's a chibi version of the iconic ending of the parent series.

Nonetheless, the animation itself is not that of the anime, not by a long shot. It is 3D with few frames per second and the most movement coming out of facial expression changes since the bodies move very slightly. Also, there's also an ambient track from the main series throughout the main part of the episode, so apart from the opening and ending songs, there's not much to jam to.

All in all, the most outstanding aspect of this miniseries is the opening, so if you're not gonna watch it, go look it up.

Just when one thought that they didn't have enough Dr. Stone after finishing the main manga, this one-shot comes to tell a bit about what happened next in splendid fashion. Without going into the premise, not only did it bring back those memories from the very early chapters in a different way but it also paved the way to inventions that up to this point had not had the chance to shine, leaving me quite satisfied with the result. Also, in the art department it stays consistent with its parent manga series so no complaints there what-so-ever.

Since it's relatively short, there's not much to say ... about it without going into spoilers for not only this but the main manga series. In short, if you were looking for, maybe craving for or maybe just curious about how the story continued, set aside a half hour and enjoy the ride.

This is one of the first manga titles that I was able to closely follow issue by issue up to the end after being hooked by the first season of the anime, and to be honest, it has surpassed my expectations.

Presenting itself as a shounen focused by science, it takes an approach not many other titles do, much less in such a fashion. By starting the conflict with the main objective of rebuilding civilization from scratch, it paves the road for the most important historical accomplishments in the different branches of science to have a place. Not only does it teach us about their relevance ... and usefulness but it manages to integrate them into the plot the best exciting way it can. Plus, considering the science fiction aspect, new developments arise as well as thought provoking questions regarding their corresponding implementation. In my experience this has lead to a great deal of discussions with my peers which are very rare outside of working hours.

More so, it has a wide range of characters at its disposal, each with their own ideals, charm and design. Their contribution to the story is also notable, even if it may seem minute, and in their growth we witness their change in perspective making us more emotionally attached to them. Even if the art style exaggerates some of their physical attributes, the way they interact and chime in to each conflict makes them much more appealing than simple bait for the depraved. Plus, their humor has laughs and giggles to be had, mostly around Senku and his overall personality which I personally found quite amusing.

Speaking of the art style, Boichi has done such a fantastic job with it. Some may criticize their take on body proportions considering them not that aesthetically pleasing and that's understable. However, what made it stand out for me was mainly the technological portrays and the background art. So many detailed and gorgeous scenarios to count, some of which made me stop reading for a couple of minutes just to appreciate them. And the different artifacts shown have their detailed panel as well, so as not to come off as black boxes. One can only hope the anime adaptation does them justice.

Lastly, you may wonder now if it’s worth reading until the end taking into account pacing, its number of chapters and whether by the end it felt either rushed or overly prolonged. In some aspects I can agree with those in the former side who felt that the time that it took them to make some of the inventions in the story wasn't properly reflected mainly towards the final arc. This may result in an artificially fast pacing coming across to the reader. Nonetheless, the mysteries presented throughout it are not only dealt with but their corresponding justification is believable enough to keep you satisfied and intrigued enough for you to keep your eyes on the next page. Not gonna lie, some of the weeks between chapter releases felt dreadfully long coming off a cliffhanger.

Overall, I can safely recommend this title not only to science enthusiasts but in general as I believe it to be very balanced in its different strengths. The material isn't as dull as the premise of it being scientifically focused may make it sound. On the contrary, it might even spark curiosity in avid readers. Time will tell.

The following review starts off with my personal take on the series, following with a more non-personal view on it. Feel free to skip the first part.

You know when you find a series that just hits at the right time for you? That every episode makes you smile, lifts you up from a pretty bad situation even if it has nothing to do with it and motivates you to keep going? And that it has wholesomeness in just the perfect level to not feel saturated and annoying nor lacking and bland?

That is what this show was for my experience and I can't discredit the impact ... it had on me since I can relate to some of the topics it handles. Inferiority complex, self value, reliability, loneliness, among other matters I can mention go way back in my personal life and some do come into surface from time to time. In this sense even though they weren’t the focus of the show at all, the way each of them was tackled and reflected upon on each episode was something noteworthy. I have to say that I didn't really expect to be this touched by the end of it nor while writing this but here we are.

Now, for a more non-personal take which others may find more useful, for many this is not the best show of the season, maybe not even very good overall. It does have some problems like the main couple not being as engaging as the secondary one mainly due to neither coming as forward. The latter did have a fair share of lovely moments as well which served as the highest points it had. Also, some members of the cast were kinda there from time to time, but didn’t really serve that much of a purpose in the grand scheme of things, which may lead to them feeling more forgettable. Nonetheless, the main ones did have their proper moments and personalities displayed, some of which you may recognise from different clips going around the net.

Animation-wise it was very consistent in its delivery. The gags came off as very cute and hilarious when they needed to be, mainly whenever Igarashi or Sakurai were on frame, and the scenery itself didn’t look half bad. Furthermore, have you watched the opening sequence? It matches up really well with its corresponding song and serves as a way to glance over the cast whose interactions can be quite the selling point. Regarding the ending sequence and the rest of the soundtrack, not much to say about them other than none of them were particularly below average.

To sum it up I can safely recommend this as a well produced romcom in an office setting for those into the genre and maybe even to those who are feeling down and looking for something wholesome to pass up the time. Hopefully we'll see more of it in the future.

"Hello? Oh hi... yeah yeah, it's me. Hold on, don't hang up! I know that when I told you to watch Tri I didn't deliver but this time will be different, promise. I have just finished and I think you'll like it. What do you say?"
"..."
"Great. Now imagine something that has never been done before in the franchise, something unheard of, something like... a reboot of Adventure. Big time classic, huh?"
"..."
"No no, not a movie but a full fledged anime with 50 episodes. Actually more even. It has a story, characters, digievolutions. Sounds great, right?"
"..."
"Don't worry, it won't take time for it to get exciting. ... Let's just say that some digievolutions may come earlier than expected hurr hurr."
"..."
"Yes, they added more than in the original since they actually care about the franchise, not because of marketing and whatnot. It's nice to pay some respect to the rest of the products as well. Say, how many digievolutions do you think Greymon should have? I think there weren't enough in the original series."
"..."
"Ah, that's easy. To fit the digievolutions in time they did something genius: have some episodes with barely any character development. Random acts of heroism and lines of dialogue from here and there do that instead and the best part is that you can't develop them yourself in your headcanon. Fun, right?"
"..."
"Now now, there's no need to worry about Taichi, Mimi and Joe. They do have their proper time in the spotlight."
"..."
"Who are those? Sora? Ah, that one. Yeah, she's also there sometimes. But you know, I feel like not enough time was devoted to Taichi in the original run so this time he at least makes up for it. I don't remember the other 2 you mentioned though."
"..."
"The animation? Ohhh yes, you just have to see the new digievolution sequences. You're gonna love the ones for Taichi and Yamato, they are gorgeous."
"..."
"Hmmm they probably needed to make some cuts on those, but at least there are not rough drawing or copis frames... not that I've noticed at least."
"..."
"Hmmm, actually no, Bolero or Butterfly are not there. Buuuut there are still pretty memorable songs like Break the Chain and uhhh... and... Anyway, we were talking about the pacing, right?"
"..."
"Hmmm, I don't know much about climaxes, but get this: every episode feels like the end of the world. Hence people are bound to stick around. Sounds reasonable, right?"
"..."
"Crests? What do you mean? Those weird symbols that appear sometimes around the Digimon? No clue what those symbolise. Maybe it's a code for some behind the scenes content. That sounds exciting."
"..."
"The digivices? Ah yes, I don't think in the original run they gave them enough capabilities so now they can do all sorts of stuff. What exactly you may ask? You'll have to watch the series to find out hehehe"
"..."
"Nah, it will be fine. If you're not yet convinced let me ask you the following: what's your take on Shogungekomon hitting on Gomamo-"
"Uhh hello? Helloooooo? Hmmm, maybe I should have used the Ponchomon card."

As I finish reading the last chapter and take a couple of minutes off to stretch my legs, I'm left wondering how to properly convey in words how I feel about this as a whole. On the one hand my childhood wasn't deprived of the Mega Man series. There were the games (difficult as they came from the different series), the TV show (which I later caught up on) and the fan projects (pictures, merchandising, AMVs, you name it). On the other hand, as I grew older I started looking back at those pieces of media in a different way. My enthusiasm no longer blinded ... me from their flaws and I started noticing some details and design decisions that I had passed on before. As a result of not being the target audience anymore many conflicting thoughts have come as I try to wrap my head around how to approach this, but I'll try my hardest to remain unbiased.

Firstly, by taking a look at the artwork one can see that effort was clearly put into designing each of the characters. From net navis to their operators, there's a clear visual connection between them being portrayed in their costumes and mannerisms, further solidified with the emblems in a few cases. Plus, the art style adaptation from the source material is charming and makes for quite a number of gags, some of which can come as absurd but in a good way if taken out of context. That is not say that the battle scenes stay far behind in this department. One can imagine their motion along the panels with the effects of the different weapons and transformations coming to light.

Speaking of characters, there doesn't seem to be a shortage on them for every story arc. While not every one from the series makes an appearance, those that do are usually introduced in a dedicated scene that shows us a glimpse of their personality (often in an exaggerated way) and their relevance to the story. A couple even have their own special chapter to show us more about their background. However, there is not much development beyond that. This causes many to be easily forgotten by the end until they suddenly reappear, or not given proper motivation behind their actions. The latter mostly concerned the villains, which results in my immersion being broken as I couldn't empathize with what I was reading.

Lastly, the story is probably the weakest link in this scenario due to two main factors. The first is the power of friendship, otherwise known as "nakama power". It is no secret that many (if not all) shonen products usually rely on this technique in dire straits which seem to have no noticeable solution, which afterwards serves as a way to convey an emotional message. Nevertheless, in this case it felt overly implemented considering how many times it is relied upon by the main characters in a whim. It happens so much that an entire volume was even dedicated to it, making it so that in latter chapters its presence felt somewhat taxing or disingenuous.

The second one is the power level scale. In each arc Mega Man and his crew are driven to defeat the new evil mostly in a new setting with new upgrades and characters who will aid them. As the fight scenes need to build up tension to be believable for the use of the previous technique, the magnitude of power involved has to amplify more and more with each chapter. Hence, what in an earlier chapter may look like the end of the world on a latter one can come as child's play, so looking back at the former takes away their tension. It also leaves you questioning the consistency of such a range of characters, threats and settings coexisting at the same time as the plot unfolds.

In any case, there is certainly a lot of material taken and built from its sources that fans of the series will most probably find engaging. That being stated, there isn't much in terms of a story that takes advantage of it to welcome newcomers. It's certainly an entertaining read, though not for everyone.