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“I want to die”, a statement that is presented a lot but never seems to amount to much. It’s a harrowing remark that tries to show the disdain for Racheal's own existence, one that ends up being a plight on the shows incoherent mess of a plot.

The narrative starts out rather mysterious, with our two main characters being tied together in circumstances rather than by purpose. The theme of Racheal wanting to die starts here with a promise between the two. If they both get out then Zack promises to kill Racheal in return, plain and simple. There is some good initial exposition of ... the start of the story and I was originally hopeful with what the premise could offer but soon after my excitement was dashed as every episode turned into a reiteration of the last as Racheal keeps repeating her request of dying to each villain only to have Zack recommit with killing her later. This level of repetition is increasing suffocating as nothing is added or changed for the characters to grow. To explain this discrepancy several philosophical purposes are purposed to why Racheal thinks this way. The first is initially that she wants to die for the sake of dying but is then reconciled with the belief that Zack was her god, and that somehow gives him reason to kill her. By having Zack be her god she believes that it will erase all her sins when she is killed and therefore grants her relief. The problem with the ideology is that it completely fails to bring reason to her constant complaint that she wants to die. If anything, this just makes her character even worse as she now has layers of ineffective characterization, bogging down and dialogue that comes up for the rest of the series. Zack is only slightly better than Racheal with is character is extremely simple and easy to understand. Not much in terms of depth but at least he is not held back by the many contradictions that the other characters in the show present. These two make up the bulk of the show's development and as you can see not much to go off of through the entire story. The other characters tend to have the same level of weird shallow contradictions with themselves. The ending was actually satisfying for me but that’s only with my personal preference in sentimental things and not that the ending was anything of quality.

Along with the narrative, the animation was also really on the lower side of quality. For a show in 2018, I expect a certain level in key animation, movement, and background. JC staff did a great job in providing a standard quality for the show and there are hardly any flaws, but in return, the show doesn’t match the level of quality that I would expect from a show in 2018. Mediocre is best to describe the standard it has put out.

The soundtrack was straight was bad and this comes from the complete ineptitude of the composer. There is even a track where the entire piece is him going up at one semitone at a time for no particular reason. Not to mention that even though the show is supposed to be horror, the soundtrack does nothing to create that atmosphere. It’s a rather kind of annoying ambiance that detracts from what is actually happening on screen. In the end, the soundtrack has nothing even remotely good about it and unfortunately ends up hurting the show in so many ways. I would like to add my thoughts on the voice acting as well and how terrible it can sound at times. Zack in the sub was particularly bad to the point where I couldn’t stand his screaming anymore and decided on the dub instead which had a much lower and raspy voice for Zack. Racheal's voice was decently done as her voice was already melancholy, to begin with, and the English version of it was more or less the same.

In conclusion, I was really holding on at the end with my sense of disbelief. The show was wrapping its self-inside out with so many inconsistency's that I lost complete focus of it by the end of it. I haven't played the game but from what I can see the length of the game was not long enough to accommodate the length of the show. Which made the writers and director trying to stretch the show as long as possible to last for the entire season and in the end backfiring heavily against their own favor. Angels of death is available on Crunchyroll for the sub. For the home release and dub, it's currently available through FUNimation.

Megalo Box can only be described as an underrated show of its time. Swept away by titles both inside and outside its season, the show drifted away without any recognition or talk. But with all around great direction from its narrative to music and to art, I find that it at least deserves some spotlight for its efforts. It’s got everything you can ask for in a contemporary show with hip-hop, a gray color gradient pallet, and a dystopian society. It’s a great show to watch for not only its appeal but its engaging use of animation ... and environment.
The show tends to focus on the world around it far more than you can notice and the way it accomplishes that is its immaculate animation choice. With hardline sketches making up the bulk of its background and foreground it's hard to not appreciate the amount of worn look the scenes have especially when it comes to the wide shots. Being able to not only show but have the world breath its rough look is quite impressive, and it becomes a match made in heaven. Along with this, there is another equally impressive pallet of washouts to accommodate the world. Some might find a lack of color to be offsetting, but I believe it fits the show nicely with its dystopian setting and environment. It also mixes well with the type animation used as it’s not a style that would benefit well with a more expressive color gradient. The show does suffer at some points with its constant quality outside important scenes in far background movement, but this comes with the technical hurdle that is caused by the choice of animation and it this problem that is rarely seen throughout the show. The show isn’t afraid to get serious with its animation in fights and it switches paces fast with-it becoming streamlined and smooth in some frames while retaining the same art style in others, showing how adaptable it can be. Having a solid a grasp on animation is always a nice beginning especially when it comes to showcasing the narrative.
The story prides itself on the underdog trope that is used very often in similar works. While it has been saturated of late, I still find myself attracted to its message and excitement. Rooting for someone as they attempt the impossible is always an uplifting emotion and reminds us that there is nothing truly impossible. The core of Megalo Box is no different with knowing exactly what the audience wants and how to accomplish it. Joe is the epitome of this purity and reflects on deeply with the other side characters as he travels on his heroes’ journey. Every major character he comes across has some major flaw in them that is ultimately impacted by their interaction with Joe. Maybe they see him as what they used to be or maybe they see him for what they could be, but every character is dramatically developed over their prospective arcs. It’s the characterization of the cast that is what gets me so involved in the fights. It’s not just Joe that I’m intrigued about but his opponent as well. It drives those emotional conflicts to a new level and gets me fired up every time a new person comes around. The only weakness in this plan is Joe himself. While the progression of his character isn’t weak per se it’s not greatly accelerated like the other characters he meets. The main character should be the focus of change in the story and while developing the side characters is also important it shouldn’t be the only thing developing. The scenes are also not complete in climax without a pretty killer soundtrack that accompanies them.
The great animation and narrative synergize well with its impactful soundtrack. Composing of mostly character and emotion driven pieces the songs really reflect what’s going on screen. I really like the theme pieces of the score because of how tided they are to the involvement of the characters. The side characters explained previously wouldn’t have been as flushed out if it wasn’t for these pieces. There’s a lot of nuances with these songs like the theme for Yukiko Shirato and the expectations that she needs to meet and where she is at in the story with being the creator of the Megalo boxing tournament. The spaced melody allows for her high air around here and portraying her above the rest. The theme for Yuri is just as interesting with its very simple barebones harmony to try and rely on the superior and slickness about him. All the themes of the score having accompanying variations for the different moments the perspective characters are in. I also enjoyed other engaging songs like the slums and Drive. The composer mabanua was very thoughtful with how he was wanting to add to the characters and it paid off handsomely.
Megalo box is the spiritual successor to Rocky. With an impeccable combination of its animation, sound, and narrative it felt like the action was right in front of you and you could follow it all the way. The show is right up there with some of the best of 2018 with its underrated popularity, it really deserves more praise. Currently available for streaming at Crunchyroll and a licensed dub done by Viz media. I highly recommend checking out the show for being one of the gems of 2018.

SSSS.Gridman has always been a mystery to me. I always find the show when looking for Japanese related media, but given the age of the show, I always thought it was a classic from a previous generation similar to Star Trek. A show to be remembered but not to be taken seriously. Well after hearing trigger was doing an adaption of one of the older shows I decided that now was better than never.

Story: An underwhelming beginning that seems to lead nowhere, but was that the point? The first episodes can only be described as boring, bland and unstructured. It’s episodic in nature with next ... to no development of any kind and the characters couldn’t be weaker. At episode 6 I was willing to drop the show entirely, which is very rare for me especially this far in but by continuing on I was in for a surprise. The next half of the show took an entire 180 approach to the story and really change the perception of where they were going. The story made some really interesting twists and threw the characters into a curveball I did not see coming. I believe the large contrast of the first half to the last half was to subvert the expectations of the viewers and try to appeal to older fans. Trigger knows the “monster of the week” trope doesn’t work in today’s age but at the same time, they can’t abandon the legacy of the show as well. But presenting the show as its original structure then changing the show into a more modern appeal they get best of both worlds(albeit the beginning reception of the show wasn’t the best because of it). The characters also follow this idea very closely and how they develop through the story. Most if not all get flushed out in the second half rather then first because of the above story structuring, except for the main character. Yuta was incredibly shallow and never once showed any significant emotion or progression. While many of the characters were questioning themselves or challenging themselves to do something, Yuta was absolutely hollow. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the main character this poorly written but luckily the rest of the cast picks up the slack and somehow pulls the story along. I would like to state that at times there’s references or mentions of the “predecessor” for Gridman. I have no idea what that means or who that is and it never gets explained at all, because of this I believe I’m missing some critical information towards the plot since it’s apart of the ultra series. Above all else, the story wasn’t drawn out to its full potential but the ending was better than expected.

Animation: With it being studio Trigger you can already tell what style animation will be used. Rather here it’s how effective the animation was used. Studio Trigger definitely doesn’t like to have a lot of still idle images in there works, their art style fully shines when in scenes of action and quick movement. The problem is that it's not necessarily used for action scenes of the show but rather some really impressive special effects and what I believe is CGI. But in return when it’s only used for a majority that isn’t quick motions it heavily drags the showdown in quality and feels. It almost seems like I’m watching something out of 2011 rather than the current year and that’s not a compliment. I will add that the show was made by all new animators from studio Trigger so while the typical animation is as sharp the future looks really bright for Trigger.

Music: I was ecstatic to hear that Shirou Sagisu was creating the soundtrack for the show and with him being one of my favorite composers of all time I really want to hear it succeed. Unfortunately, it was not what I expected, but wasn’t bad in any regard. The soundtrack mostly composes of EDM and more then half the OST is made up of alternative versions for the soundtrack, meaning there’s not much there to listen to. I did enjoy one song being HumanLove_CH_edm_all which, for the most part, is pretty plain but at least it spices it up with some interesting variations. Overall, it was a soundtrack to fit a type of show rather than be more experiential like Shirou's other soundtracks.

Conclusion: If you find joy in watching old style fights and have nothing better to watch then go for SSSS.Gridman but other than that I wouldn’t recommend the show to really anyone. You can find it legally streaming on Crunchyroll with a home release not yet announced.

The explicit understanding of the seven deadly sins is that as a coherent whole they work like a charm but individually most lack the characterization to stand out. If you’re going to watch something like the seven deadly sins, you need to go in with the mindset of being action-oriented or else you will be disappointed by the shallow substance of the show. The first season had some good things going for it (interesting subplots, mysteries, and coherent story development) and that's why I had high hopes for the series but the current season fails to elaborate on ... any of the strengths of the previous season. Instead, it seemed to be confused about where it wanted to go and ended up floundering with pointless direction. Still, it's fun to see some action once in a while, so you won't be disappointed if that is what you are looking for here.

Animation: Being A-1 pictures producing this you can expect some high-level fluidity, not that A-1 pictures is particularly talented just that they have the manpower and money to make it happen. The show is almost at sakuga level the entire duration of the show and it really blends well with the fight choreography(which is also pretty incredible). There's really not much to be said about the animation other than the sometimes interesting use of CG at times. It also fits well like the darkness so it wasn't that big of a problem.

Story: This is where the show lacked the most of, which is a shame given that the rest of the show had was rock solid. I’m going to chalk up the story direction and pacing problems to be the switch in directors. There seems to be a lack of understand where its concerned with how to make the show more interesting to the viewers. The story speeds past major parts and exposition to get to the fights of the show which seemed to be a mistake as none of the characters got any kind of proper time except a few(meliodas and Ban). The show actually managed to increase the cast size when it already an insane size to begin with. This gave most the characters very little importance and while some did die it felt pointless and not a very effective use of time. The story adds more information and backstory without solving the current list of mysteries and confused the hell out of me where the show was going. There's no clear reason why the seven deadly sins have to fight the ten commandments outside that they are “bad”. It added to the confusion with the messy structuring of events as well, which could have easily been rearranged to fit the premise of the story better rather than jumping around everywhere. All and all I found the story to lose a lot of its initial promise and instead just focus on the season-long fighting tournament.

Music: Sawano, Hiroyuki is back at it again with his grandeur and uplifting music. He really gave a lot of the scenes a big boost in enjoyment and excitement. Without him, I could not see myself enjoying the show anywhere near the same level. The music in total has little diversity, not in the sense of the type of music but rather in the abstract sense. It mostly consists of music that you could come to expect but is nonetheless is very good. Besides that, the OP’s and ED’s are alright and are produced by popular rock and Hip Hop bands. Overall a solid OST.

Voice acting: Keeping with tradition I would like to present another fabulous English dub to watch. Some returning talent and some new talent as well, the voices had lots of enthusiasm and power behind them. I really enjoyed the performance done by Benjamin Diskin in voicing Ban and Diana by Erica Mendez. Really had a grasp on their characters and I really recommend the dub if you are looking for an interesting experience

Devilman crybaby is amazing as it is abstract. One of the key components of the show and its success is the understanding of the younger generation and the problems that accrue. Drugs, women, money, violence etc. there are many things that ask for the attention of younger minds with most of the time it not being the healthiest chose. Take these topics and wrap it into a smoothly written show, you get devilman crybaby in a nutshell. The best part is it’s not pointing to just 1 idea, rather its like the ... show is speaking its mind about what these topics look like in the bigger picture.
Story: Right off the bat I have to say that there is a massive amount of gore and sex in the show with an almost devilish way of making it a portrayal of growing up and all the experimentation that happens during that time. It's expertly crafted to be entertaining at the same time as being a commentary. It describes the idea of drugs giving superpowers and how sex seems to be on everyone’s mind whether we want to or not. I enjoyed this raunchy element to spice things up and really give a flare to the story at hold. It really grabs people’s attention to some of the underlying problems in society that we like to hide and try to forget about, which seems to be the only way to get attention these days. The use of switching the positions of the devils and the humans constantly also posed the question of who really the devil or human. This is only exaggerated my Akira’s back and forth stance towards humans himself but rather this being a flaw I found it more in line with it being realistic with how someone would think in such a stressful situation. There’s also raps throughout the show that portrays the situation that a lot of the new generation feels like in today's world. These nuanced messages in the show just beg to be noticed and help contrast the over the top nature of the show. Breaking down each individual part and their cultural relevance would take much longer than this review, so I will leave that to lengthy explanation videos on YouTube for better depth.
Animation: I couldn’t pick a better animation for this show. The free-form style really fit it and allowed the show to express itself however it needed to. Whether it needed to have intense action scenes or emotional deliverance it was there. It was both experimental in its design while still being sharp. Studio Science SARU is a brand-new studio and given what they have shown so far, I’m going to watch out for them in the future to see what they produce. I also really like the color pallet for the show with the vivid colors and matching it with the craziness of the anime, it makes it pop which is what I like to see. Of course, there are times where the use of contrasting white grey and black come in as result of the depiction of the scene, I really enjoyed the use of this style as well since it matches with the show's sense of dark vs light theme.
Music: The music was alright had some nice tracks occasionally and was diverse as well. It was soothing, sad, intense and dark all which fit the show at their proper moments making it smooth and likable. It adds to the moments and themes the show tried to present amplifying it, so you can truly feel what the characters were trying to get at. My favorites were Miki, Judgement, and Pathetique all which really had their moments to shine. I really recommend checking out the soundtrack if you do end up watching the show, a lot of these songs can be played on their own because they are so enjoyable.
Conclusion: Being only 10 episodes long while also being packed with a perfect pacing, it’s a must watch. It a very interesting watch to spot all the nuances in the show and having a lot of incredible talent working on it as well with Iwakami, Atsuhiro, and Yuasa, Masaaki being the more notable ones.

I feel like this movie was a long time coming. I enjoyed the first season as it was an intriguing take on romance with the main love interest still stuck in the childish “fantasy” stage of coming of age. It made for some good humor, as well as the story with the progress of the love relationship. Combine this with superb animation for the time and I was glued with the show to the end. The second season was a roller-coaster in the fact that nothing happens for the entire show with the ending being a huge disappointment for the romance. Sure, there was comedy ... of sort and character introduction with drama, but at the end, it's about the romance and it seemed to fall flat in that department.
Take on me defied my expectations, and not for good or bad. The story was something I didn’t think of when I initially watched the show. There’s an introduction to the idea of change. This is brought up with Rikka trying to understand her position in the relationship. To change herself so that she will finally connect with Yuuta or stay the same and keep the personality that she loves so much. A philosophical dilemma with no clear answer and something I can only dream of from a kind romance show like Chuunibyou. Of course, the show decides to throw that out for some half-baked conclusion with Rikka staying the same and no character development happening what so ever. The only difference is they may have gotten deeper in their relationship to some degree. Maybe this is saying I misunderstood what the original author intended from this movie, but I really think its slap to face with how nothing happens what’s so ever except reconfirmation of their relationship. They don’t even spend any time at all with the rest of the cast outside maybe the big sister. They showed Rikka’s mom at one point, but her exposition was wasteful with again just reconfirming that Rikka cares about Yuuta. Take on me was dud when it came to the story, but it doesn’t get much better from here.
The animation is relatively the same as the first season and really good only in areas where there is action or special effects being used. You could clearly see the areas where sloppy animation is done and there is a lot. For a 12 episode show this is subpar but for a movie it's horrendous. Movies already have larger budgets by default and usually, have more time since its going to be shown in public theaters. To see a 2018 movie with 2012 level quality I really don’t know what to say other than disappointing, which is what this movie seems to be going for so far. The music was alright, the opening isn’t going to be very memorable and there are midpoints where they do a music scene which is kinda cute but besides that, it's not great and a bit bland in nature.
In conclusion, it’s a rushed project done by Kyoto Animation. I hold them in high esteem for their works, but this makes me want to “almost” loss some respect for them. It probably came down to time or production problems but what came out was not cinematic quality or even today's show level quality.

B: the beginning, a show of two stories on the same coin. A great mixture of a mystery thriller and bloody action. Funny enough I happened to do my last review on robotic notes which was an older adaption that they did back in 2012 and I loved it. B: The beginning was no different and I was really enjoying myself up until the end with anticipation and excitement.
Story: The story is a more classical dramatic structure rather than the typical contemporary drama that shows today ... have. It has the initial exposition that comes with the setup of Koku and Keith, but the separation of the two will be an important part of the writing as it makes them seem more connected then they are, which will become true later in the story. This separation was important for the climactic part of the story when everything is revealed, and the story melds together finally becoming one cohesive whole. It allows all the foreshadowing and builds up to give its full effect on the audience after giving many mixed signals beforehand. Its something I really look for in mystery and thriller shows as it’s their proper execution that makes them so successful. Production IG has had an excellent past with such shows like psycho pass, ghost in the shell and robotic notes, so I’m not surprised that they were on spot with B; the beginning as well. When we got to the dénouement(ending) of the story I found a disappointment with how it ended. The show sells itself as a tragedy with its motifs and fantasy-like elements. Unfortunately, that is not what happened in the end and it felt very off to have the happy ending that it came to. The only reason I can see them creating this sort of ending is to set up for the second season that was announced but they needed to finish on a dark note to keep with the dramatic structure that was present for almost the entire show. The set up was also really bad, I honestly can’t see where it will go from the ending other than something to do with the small clip towards the end with the childhood friend of Koku. With everything else finished it doesn’t look promising at all. The character development was lacking with a few exceptions like Minazuki, this is to be expected as the show wasn’t focused or meant for development but rather the course that was already planned out for it from the very beginning. There would have been some really interesting character development if the change that Gilbert had laid out for Keith will come to pass. Hopefully, this comes to fruition in the second season. I love the dichotomy of Gilbert Ross and Keith Flick. They are the perfect opposites to each other and are good characters to center the show around for the mystery/thriller. My biggest problem is with Yuna and that’s with her character making zero progress in both exposition and development. All she did was die three times and acted like a hollow reason for Koku to have the conviction he had. Again, I hate to push things off, but she needs to improve in the second season if she is to become an even decent character.
Music: The fact there is no op worries me greatly as I hope this isn’t a trend for all future shows. OP’s have been a cornerstone in the anime community for a very long time and its one the biggest enjoyments for when you sit down and begin the episode. This is the first time I’ve seen a show without one and even though it added more run time it was still jarring without it. The ED was a banger though. Made by a previous megadeath guitarist, I found myself sticking to the very end of the show every time just listen to it. The background and fight scene music was decent and gave the anticipation that was necessary but felt generic at times. I enjoyed the track Craziness, got my brain thinking and ready for what happened next. Yoshihiro is a seasoned veteran in music production so it’s not surprising that he did at least a decent job.
Animation: For a 2018 show I expected better. The fights had nice choreography, but production IG has been lacking when it comes to keeping with the standards of other current big studios. The animation isn’t everything that’s a fact but it’s still nice to have and makes the cool scenes look cooler.
Voice acting: I decided to stick with the dub this time around and I was not disappointed. The dub comes from way over in left with some niche and unexpected talent. The cast meshed really well together and had great matches for the characters they were picked. Faye Mata and Ray Chase did great jobs with there perspective characters. John DeMita did a fantastic job as Gilbert Ross and I love his ability to change on a dime when needed.
In conclusion, I found the show to be another interesting development in the cycle of shows that Netflix is looking to develop and with Netflix and other streaming sites going to be a cornerstone of anime in the future it's going to be important to follow where they head from here. A second season has been announced which will either help the show or hurt it. Nonetheless, there is way more merit in this show then seems and I would recommend anyone interested in its perspective genres to watch it.

I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOOOOVE IT, are the words I would begin to describe this show. There is something compelling about a self-aware Gundam show that takes its self seriously with its characters, plot, action, and comedy. Before I get into the explanation part I’ll have to recommend the dub if you plan to watch this. This has by far one of the best dubs I’ve seen, it’s got great localization for North America and the actors fit perfectly. It’s a see to believe it kind of deal. It really helped improve the show for me and if given a chance might ... be a great experience for you as well.

Spoilers as usual

Story: Initially I had some doubts about the story, it starts out by talking about saving the world and then jumps into a comedy style club group? This may already seem to be the perfect setup for a generic “high school kids get superpowers and save the world” kinda scenario but in reality its far from it. The story doesn’t have either of those but rather both at the same time. At first it does stick with the main focus of the club and the comedy routine until some events aspire and adds a whole new parallel plot alongside the current one. Of course, the one moving back and forth between these two is the main character Yoshino, but I’ll get into the effect of this on him later. These dual concurrent plots are something that’s really rare in media of any form, the only other media I can think of with this is assassins creed. Having two main characters developing(Desmond and eizo) was not an easy thing to pull off and it worked wonderfully for the game. Robotic notes takes this with stride as the show has two casts one being Subaru, Koujiro, Daitoku, and Akiho, while Airi, Ko Kimijima, and Matija being there own cast. Dual plots if done right can be extremely strong, in this case, was a big pay off. If it was just about a club building a big robot then it would be boring, if it was about discovering the mysteries of some scientist it would be boring. But when working in tangent with each other, it goes from humor to mystery, thriller to romance, drama, and action. Juxtaposing constantly with each other to make some interesting elements of developments and character growth.



Characters: The beauty of subtlety and how it fits into these characters so well. Yashio was by far the most well written and changes so quiet it was astounding when you finally notice it. When the show first started you see a shallow and rather unexciting main character. By the end of it you see an entirely different person, one with conviction, purpose, and maturity. The biggest reason for this change was his involvement in both concurrent plots and trying to piece together who exactly Ko Kimijima really is. I really enjoy this sort of tone shift that happens periodically. The lighting, shots and music change dramatically here and completely gave the show a new perspective. It made Yoshio’s character experience all kinds of dramatic events and scenes which made his character at the end of the show truly fell like it had changed rather than written that way. I also found the changes to be very effective in keeping me engaged and sensitive to these shifts since they were not used a lot in the show. The first main supporting cast Subaru, Koujiro, Daitoku, were all nice characters with each having their own individual character episodes. Akiho as a character was much better in the latter half than first. This makes sense from the story standpoint since her major conflicts don’t show up until then. But for someone as important as her, she lacked screentime for a big chunk. I found the romance to be sweet but lacked proper development. The other half of the cast was a mixed bag, Airi I had major problems with. The virtual character part of her was fine but since she forgot everything that happened to her when she woke up it made the character progression nullified. This effectively destroyed her character and ruins so much time that was spent on her throughout the story. She was also pretty damn cute. Ko Kimijima was an alright villain, he lacked a creative character but the twist from good to evil was the only benefit of his character. Him becoming digital and losing his emotion was a step in the wrong direction and they should have made him keep his emotions instead for a better villain and character. Mashija was cool I don’t have much to say about her.



Visuals: l wasn’t impressed, to say the least. It’s a bit aged now but still has a fluid movement which was rare for back then. Production IG has always been a silent studio in popularity compared to its counterparts like madhouse, bones and A1. There were some really interesting uses of cinematography and lighting, which I would love to see more of in anime cause these subtle difference can have a huge impact.



Soundtrack: Lots of hype and slice of life music. The OP and ED were decent and didn’t stand out that much. The first OP Junjou Spectra by Zwei was kickass and made me hyped for the show but the second didn’t deliver that well compared to the first. All and all a basic tracklist for comedy, action, and mystery. Nothing bad but nothing fantastic either.



Dub: ok now for the dub. The saving grace for this show, and what I believe made me like this show so much. Ironically after researching, I was scratching my head confused about why it was so good. None of the voice actors (with exception Leah Clark and Clifford Chapin) were that popular or important. They still did a banged up job with the acting though, and I’m probably going to contribute this to those who did the auditions. Funimation doesn’t just have good actors but also great actor selecting as well. For me, I found the actors perfectly aligned with their character's personality and it made the experience so much more enjoyable with how authentic they felt.



Overall: I can’t contest for the VN source material and what it’s like but I enjoyed this anime a lot. I still feel like I’m overreacting as what I’ve seen and read online, it isn’t as good as I make it out to be. None the less I hope you give it a try and find the same level of enjoyment I that felt with this show.

They weave stories so that they don’t forget. A story about motherhood that needs no explanation to those that have experienced it. While this might seem to be a niche audience, the other characters of the story can easily be attached to and feel compassionate about. Their own situations can allow anyone to have a perspective in the movie, my it be as the child or the adult. Maquia is the story of this show, and her character is shaped in a way that seems to not be the A typical character you would normally think of. Neither hot headed or cold cool, mysterious or ... all powerful, she starts as and ends as a normal kinda bland character. At first I thought it would be liele that was the main character but the view point switched early to establish Maquia as the main character. This kinda character really cemented her as the typical mom you would see from any family, not that being a mom is bland but the characteristics she has really defines what mothers would seem like, bringing more emotional attachment since you understand why she experiences the things that happen. Ariel fit the perfect role of the child. Growing up first with feelings of carelessness and love. Then becoming defiant and confused. Before reaching appreciation and remorse. These two characters serve as the backbone of the story and the other narrative elements that are spread throughout the movie. I found the ending to be amazing and perplexing in different ways. It’s rare for mothers to experience the old age of their child and seeing it happen in the movie was powerful because it brought her whole character and her son full circle in the movie, a great way of doing character development by any means. But at the same time seeing her not age was a bit of a pull back because of the fact she hadn’t aged herself, making a slight disconnect happen. I also am convinced now that the only way to do time progression is either forwards or backwards, you must have a general direction of where time flows. Without that you always have a convoluted story that has no grounds for the audience to grasp there understanding. The Maquia did it fantastically by having appropriate time skips without cuts and doing general scene changes instead. It felt fluid. You could understand generally how much time had passed and never was jarring or confusing of what happened. Without the time skips we wouldn’t be able to see the growth of Maquia and see how she as a mother changes since motherhood isn’t a fast process but something that takes decades to come full circle and the movie captures this perfectly. It shows the irrational behavior of kids toward the parent and feeling remorse and regretful they feel later cause of it. This movie defines the behavior of mother relationship and I couldn’t ask more with how it was presented. The animation was good but I feel it was a bit rough, typical of PA works but I’m starting to feel spoiled by all the latest shows to come out and how gorgeous they look. None the less it was up to standard and nice to look at. The music was also decent, some good tracks to invoke the emotion of scenes and great timing for maximum effect. Though unfortunately not something I would listen to outside the film itself as it’s very specialized for the certain scenes. Overall I enjoyed the movie from beginning to end and never broke immersion while watching, something to be taken for granted today. This movie touched me deeply and I have really come to change my perspective on my mother because of it. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve reflected on this movie and have thought about the little time I have spent or appreciated the experience of my mother. I mainly do these reviews as a means to develop my writing and try to bring objectivity to art. But its very rare for me to be this moved by something and I’m very glad I watched this cause now I have something for myself that I can improve upon.