Back to utopia-'s Profile utopia-'s Profile

Are you ready to watch a comedy show where things like someone changing sex and others turning into animals are commonplace? If so, you're in the right place!

The remake of Ranma½, the classic Ranma is back, but this time with a more current version of that time. With a renowned studio behind it (MAPPA), This remake, to be honest, for me, was much better than the old version and perhaps equals the manga due to some positive factors that I will mention later. In view of this... My main focus is still to recommend this to you from this review.

Ranma½ is the kind of anime ... that doesn't need to be perfect. There's no need to take most of the things seriously, as it's an anime that can still be considered a classic because it has old material, it's amazing how much the anime formula still works today. The "formula" I mean would be comedy. The comedy here works by taking the viewer to the absurd, while many comedy anime tend to take the humor to the "perverted" side or focus on the characters' expressions, ranma½ does it differently. The comedy here arises from the moment something absurd happens and little by little it snowballs and grows until it becomes complete chaos. A situation arises where Ranma has to use his strength for something, be it a competition or a challenge, apart from this competition/challenge other things come up along the way, other people get involved and start to get in the way of what was previously happening. At other times the comedy arises from absurd speeches like Ranma and Akane's parents wanting to make the two get married, or characters wanting to date Ranma or Akane randomly.
At other times, the comedy comes only from the Ranma/Akane relationship, with the two arguing or fighting because they disagree with each other.

In short, the comedy starts from all these principles. I don't want to have to talk about funny situations in the anime, because that would be a spoiler. But comedy here is the main "weapon" of this anime. And what is most remarkable about him. It is from comedy that character development and relationships are established because of moments comical. The comedy is not tiring, as it varies in almost every episode with new characters appearing, and the fights help make the comedy even more... let's say "special". It's all done in a lighter and more continuous way, with crazy dynamics, some healthy, cute and others more chaotic, It's a diversification that makes you stay hooked on the plot and keep watching.


I honestly don't want to say much about the story, as it is very simple and easy to summarize, just read the synopsis and you will understand. All you need to know is that Ranma and Akane are in an engagement set up by their parents. Without the consent of both, they lead a chaotic life due to several disagreements throughout the narrative...

The characters... Well so far this season the characters are pretty easy to get attached to. But what is so special about the characters? The characters themselves are pretty generic, but what makes them a little better than other common animes is the interactions between them. From cute moments between Akane and Ranma where one learns from the other to endure their tantrums, to other characters like Ryouga who serves as comic relief to the couple Ranma and Akane. The fights between Ranma and Ryouga bring a common adversary to the plot in the dispute for Akane, with random scenes of them facing each other and then having to "understand each other" to stay close to Akane. We have Akane and Ranma's parents who together bring absurd situations to the plot. Akane's sisters complement the anime experience with their sweet ways to oppose Akane's chaotic ways. There's Shampoo, a "rival" of Akane who plays a similar role to Ryouga, as Shampoo likes Ranma.
In addition to these, there are others that complement the cast and normally appear to compete with Ranma or Akane.
The characters themselves bring with them absurd situations and most of their interactions arise from one disagreeing with the other, leading to crazy situations. Ranma and Akane, despite hating each other for being in a forced engagement, gradually try to adapt to it, little by little we see, for example, Akane maturing and letting her emotions flow more freely, making the character more peculiar. Overall the characters and the comedy are what make this anime exist and be what it is. Because it is through comedy that we like the characters and through the characters we can like the comedy. One completes the other.


The direction is good. The pace is not rushed and things flow well. At times, the art surpasses itself during the fights, taking the animation to its peak. However, it is seen that in the last episodes, the fights were not as well done as in the first episodes, it is noticeable that in the first episodes the animation during the fights was incredible. After a few episodes, the fights become more simplistic and without much movement execution. However... I'm not saying it's necessarily bad, it's just that the quality has declined a bit, but the anime itself still stayed until the end with a good pace and great direction, only the animation in the fights had a bit of a "the quality has dropped". The overwhelming art when the fights begin in the first episodes is simply phenomenal, After a few episodes this art disappears. Other than that, I have nothing to complain about the production itself. Ranma ½ also has a great soundtrack, engaging opening, a calm and light ending, with great songs that bring back nostalgia for those who watched the old version.

Every anime has flaws, but I believe Ranma½ has more qualities than flaws. The nostalgic struggles, the rustic art style, the new coloring of the anime brings with it a remake that has been adapted perfectly well. The comedy being easy to get involved with and the good characters sustain this anime until the end. Akane and Ranma's cute moments bring comfort to the viewer, and the chaotic fights bring funny and unique moments where everything comes together and nothing is too vague. This remake brought me nostalgia, along with joy and comfort during my weekends (the days I watched the episodes), if you watch this go with an open mind and free just to have fun, the comedy here doesn't require you to think too much. Just feel the sensation of watching an anime with updated animation, from that time, but which has a plot that harks back to ancient times where everything started from a freer continuous comedy and engaging.

Thank you for reading this far.

When we grow up and reach adulthood, it is normal, sometimes, whether by chance or for plausible reasons, to abandon who we were during childhood or during who we were during adolescence, maybe because we must seek maturity or maybe we have made wrong choices along the way, Depending on how your journey to adulthood went, your life can be seen from different perspectives. Tomorrow you may be alone, tomorrow you may find love, tomorrow you may find death, tomorrow you may find the happiness of living... In this we only have one certainty... with absolute certainty we will abandon something, because growth demands it ... this of us. It is cruel to give up the sweet moments in someone's company during childhood, it is sad to drop out of school when we reach adolescence, It's heartbreaking, painful, to leave a friend, or a/one girlfriend/boyfriend after so much time together. But sometimes, it's necessary for us to grow, and it's inevitable for us to try to stop it. Time runs out, and all that's left is a garden of memories, from different times, with different feelings...Growth sometimes exhausts our potential to think or it can also have the opposite effect, taking away or adding our potential, Emotions are easier to control in adulthood but there are still times when they slip from our mind and overflow to say that we need to remember good times of what we were and that from now on we will be someone who will experience new things.

"Ah... How relaxing it was when I just played with my friends and went to school."
"It was so good when I loved and didn't have to think too much"
"Maybe I miss something or someone, but who cares."
"Today I saw a childhood friend that I hadn't seen for a long time, I wanted to greet that person, but I couldn't"
"My routine is the same, and that's just something that even if I try to change now, I feel like it's too late."
"What is happiness? What am I? Is my purpose...?"

With only 17 minutes in length, with no dialogue, and a silent beginning that gradually creates sound, "garden of remembrance" places the viewer in the presence of a girl that at first glance seems to just be repeating a common routine, where the simple sound of an alarm is what makes her find the strength to get up. The girl remembers good times that are gone while she is faced with longing, her feelings overflow and the world begins to become nostalgic, colorful, happy, sad, exciting...there are so many emotions that all she wants when remembering the memories is just to hold on to them so they don't run away, maybe because she's lonely, or maybe because she needs those memories for herself that she was happy. The sound of the guitar along with the serene voice of the song played in the episode exalts the nostalgia of someone who has already passed away, feelings hide in every corner of the room, in the living room, in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, maybe the girl just wants to go back in time or maybe she needs to give up who she is and who she once was, feeling exhausted but perhaps satisfied because for her the process has reached where she is, in its adult phase, it was beautiful but unfortunately it is fleeting and distressing...

Garden of Memories presents the viewer with visuals that always try to represent the movement of everything, as that girl's life is very stagnant at the moment, and only the memories move her. The lack of speech and the excess of emojis represent feelings that we cannot express, but that are still in our minds. The soundtrack is serene and sometimes a little chaotic, depending on the moment, but only one thing is certain, the garden of memories will disappear from the moment we take a step forward and discover that we can make new gardens of memories.

I wonder now: did that girl find what she wanted? Or was the change of leaving that house just a feeling that: "I must abandon this to move forward and evolve"...I don't know... I just know that she was happy and maybe we just need to overcome the feeling of longing, maybe this is the real step towards our evolution...

Thank you for reading this far.

"No matter how many goals you score, celebrate each one as if it were the first"

Honestly, I don't rate anime when it's dropped, because it's even irrational to judge something halfway, but considering that I read a little of the manga, and followed it since the first season, my analysis, even if it is early, is still valid for all the episodes that will come in the future, considering that I followed a little of what the manga will adapt this season. There will be no spoilers, as I will leave my opinion in a somewhat shallow way but that seems critical enough to try ... to show my negative emotions when watching this horror show that it's Blue lock. It's simply abominable. Please read until the end before drawing conclusions. And I say more, this analysis is not only valid for this season, but also for the first season and also for the manga, considering that I will judge the three together in this analysis, I will avoid spoilers, leaving everything between the lines, it's up to you to interpret and decide whether you'll watch this. Thank you in advance.



The second season of Blue Lock tries to continue what developed in the first season, a competition for someone to be chosen as the next player who will represent Japan on the world stage. The way this is presented is more like an elimination reality show, but using football as a pretext, putting players to compete in tiny matches of little time and that there are more "mind games" than football itself, basically the matches are always, ALWAYS, developed from Isagi's perspective (the protagonist), where through a detailed analysis he tries to predict the match while playing, let's be honest, when you play football, are you able to observe the entire field and reflect on various strategies while you play? Obviously not. You would have to be a "super human" for that, This is so fantastical/outside of football reality that only in manga/anime could this happen, Blue lock is not set in a fantasy world, but rather is a representation of the real world, but this contradicts itself taking into account Isagi's "power". And it doesn't just happen to him. The entire cast has unusual powers, some are acceptable like Chigiri's "power" (speed), but others like Isagi's shouldn't work while playing. It's the way each one is presented and their perspectives abilities, it's simply, most of the time, illogical.

And it doesn't stop there. The matches, because they are from Isagi's perspective, where he is calculating everything instead of actually playing football, are simply stopped most of the time. The anime tries to create emotion with the electronic soundtrack and the characters' sadistic speeches, but even so the matches are simply crude. The colors help and the soundtrack too, but the lack of animation and Isagi's excess of "mental calculation", makes the game boring to watch.

Another problem in blue lock is the characters. Most of them just have the same personality, either they are sadists or they are just too much of an idiot. The author really pushes their every action to the extreme, making them seem like they were written by a rebellious high school teenager. Literally everyone wants to be the "selfish one" because that's how they beat others, this is the motivation of everyone, EVERYONE. The selfishness here is a pretext to show that they are unique, but that is not true, it just makes all the characters childish. Even the interaction between them is monotonous or irritating, with disjointed speech or superiority speech and rare moments of a comedy that seems to be created by a 12-year-old, because the jokes are very exaggerated.

The second season tries to capture the best arc of the manga, or rather, the least worst arc among those that exist. However, the animation, which was already bad in the first season, gets worse in the second, the 3D disappears, and the matches only contain still scenes, simply sequences of images instead of animation representing the movement of the characters on the field. The lack of animation gives this season something worse than the first season, the studio involved simply added sound and colors to the manga and pretended to adapt that. Which will lead to the failure of this acclaimed second season arc.

Because of this, the anime also contains terrible animation, it is full of static scenes, without any movement. It is only like if the manga was colored, there is no animation to be honest. The colors are very vivid, but there is absolutely no real animation. The little animation that exists is all poorly done 3D, Berserk level animation, and even 3D is almost non-existent here. The soundtrack manages to be captivating at first, but after a few episodes it becomes saturated, "but why?" It's because they use the same sound as the first season, there is no diversity in the soundtrack.

At the end of it all, blue lock for me is more like a fantasy reality show that puts football as a pastime for these sadistic teenagers. It's all so meaningless and disjointed. This for me is not football, football is action, movement, vibrations...Here there are only characters who think they are the best and others who want to analyze the match mentally instead of actually playing football. There is no movement here, what we have are still scenes with dubbing and characters talking nonsense. Honestly, out of the 20 sports anime I watched this year, this manages to be the worst sports anime I watched in 2024. Honestly, you'll only like this if you're some rebellious teenager who's never played soccer and doesn't care about the soccer match itself. My problem with Blue Lock is not just the non-existent animation that many people here say.

My problem with Blue Lock is the lack of action/movement in the football matches and also the poor writing of the characters, Now add that to static scenes and you'll have a colored manga instead of a real anime. That's the real problem.


I'll leave you with some notes to try to understand how bad this is statistically.
History: 4/10
Characters: 1/10
Football matches: 0/10
Animation: 0/10
Sounds: 2/10
Fun: 1/10

Final grade: approximately ~1/10(note from both seasons.) Manga: 2/10, because the art is good.


Thank you for reading this far.

Admiration... At some point in life we feel alone and distressed by the feeling of loneliness, after the end of a relationship, or the lack of a relationship, be it romantic, family or friendship. Human beings need interactions at all times to maintain "the will to live" and follow their dreams, it is in these moments, when we feel fragile as glass, that we look for a source of strength in the one we most admire, be it our family, girlfriend/boyfriend, friend or simply an idol from the world of entertainment (music, sports, books...). Look back builds a story permeated by this, in an ... admiration that grows, and little by little becomes a friendship between two girls, where one manages to save the other through the admiration which gradually becomes more than a simple "admiration", and becomes the most beautiful thing in any type of relationship, and that is friendship.

The story follows two girls, Fujino a manga prodigy, and Kyoumoto a girl who admires Fujino's manga and his relaxed way of living life. The story begins with small interactions between the two until they become friends, with conversations, gestures and looks that gradually indicate an emotional bond being created, slowly and logically, Kyoumoto's admiration gradually saves her from herself and her emotional distress. Kyoumoto sees herself being saved with Fujino's company, and Fujino sees herself being recognized and honored for all her efforts as a mangaka. The plot develops mainly at school during Fujino's manga publications, and when the two girls become friends they both help each other in creating a manga, little by little this "help" becomes a bond that keeps both of them alive to pursue their goals.

The development of the story is to show how much admiration and courage can make a person be saved, saved from themselves and the world, sometimes we become our greatest enemy for fear of moving on our dreams and be who we really are. The relationship between these girls grows not because there is any logic to it, but because they both just needed someone to be their "helper" in the great discovery that is: "who am I?", "what is my purpose?", "why am I like this?", "why do I like this?", "why do I hate this?"... There are so many questions that sometimes narrow us down to the point of not knowing who we really are and this consumes us inside, These two girls tried through their friendship to discover what is most beautiful in life, and most importantly, they tried to "find themselves" in a distorted and hypocritical world, where a true friendship is worth more than anything.

Through a melodramatic atmosphere and sounds, the anime extends to the point of showing the cruelest side of human beings: hatred. Even though about 80% of the film is about Fujino and Kyoumoto's friendship, at some point the film will show the human being's hatred towards his anguish, where even a simple affliction can end up turning someone into a murderer, and will show how hatred leads us to take out what we feel on someone who has nothing, absolutely nothing related to us. Look back develops a beautiful and melancholic plot at the same time, where the trigger is in the perspective of "what if I had done differently?" that arises after a wrong and mistaken decision and little by little it can become in guilt.

With clean and smooth animation, highlighting the nature and facial expressions of the characters, the studio behind this anime tries to make a composition that refers to the emotions of the characters. Everything that is done seems to be so expressive and intense that even in the simplest scene, you will be impressed by its fantastic visuals. With perfect storyboards and great sequencing of scenes and camera angles, giving a realistic and fantasy impression depending on the scene, but always seeming like something deep and touching. The soundtrack is a farewell, it will tell you that everything was worth it and that there is no need, no need to look back because what lies ahead of you is a long road ahead, clearly at this point I'm not just referring to the soundtrack but the entire composition. Don't look back, because behind you there is only anguish, things that are gone, look forward and embrace your dream, "the future" or else it may slip from your hand and you will be left alone...In a world where admiration tries to sustain the depression of being afraid of who we really are, believing that we could do things differently will change nothing, absolutely nothing...

Thank you for reading this far.