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I was looking for an anime to watch last year so I figured I'd check out the series that people have been saying is the sleeper of the season. After watching the finale, I can safely say it exceeded my expectations. The setting was incredibly interesting. The premise was pretty fresh. Having something set in the past and the main source of conflict is standard knowledge for the modern age scratches a particular itch. I loved the idea of having different main characters, not including the "truth". The moment episode 4 rolled around with the OP changing Rafal with Oczy was mindblowing. Speaking of the ... opening, it's amazing. It's boppy and has a lot of pep in it, with the chorus having grand visuals that it deserved.

Speaking of the MCs, I would say Oczy's part is my favorite, probably because it's the longest and plays around with a lot of struggles relating to the time period. Jolenta's struggle as a scholarly woman was great. The satisfaction of that being referenced and being tied in the next part was immense. Also, Badeni was a pretty interesting character as well. Rafal was great but having only 3 episodes on his belt made him a great opener, if anything. As for Draka's story, there were some things I didn't quite like. I understand her parallel of changing beliefs alongside Schmidt but, unlike the chad that is Schmidt, I found that her eventually believing in faith and God felt a little bit rushed. Nowak is our recurring villain and I loved how they went about him, up to the very end. They gave him his flowers on his deathbed and I could not be any happier seeing this strong presence's conclusion be taken care of.

With regards to the series' flaws, there are a couple. There's a bunch of "manga-isms" here where it shows you the "manga if it was an anime" rather than "adapting" it, if that makes sense. Heck, before the epilogue text, we get the final shot with some manga panel-esque thing and it just looks weird if you didn't know that that was how the manga's "final" page actually looked like. Speaking of final things, the last part of the show concerns a real historical figure by the name of "Albert Brudzewski". Most of the part is set in a "real" version of Poland this time and that was pretty jarring. Seeing an older version of Rafal was trippy in a very neutral way. Overall, Orb is an amazing series. 9/10.

This is a manga series serving as a Spiderverse spinoff, I believe. It follows Doc Ock getting isekai'd into the body of a Japanese schoolgirl, making a split personality type of thing. Sadly, the series was quite underwhelming. Doc Ock's motivation as a villain here felt too righteous than what I expected but I'm sure there's probably a storyline somewhere that did the same thing. The characters are not all that engaging. Otoha, the girl harboring Ock's mind in her body, is probably the only likeable character in the manga, mainly because she's a bundle of sunshine. Although, she's still a pretty "safe" character and ... her arc is not all that compelling because of it.

Taka is our other main character serving as this universe's Vulture. Her arc also felt middling despite it encompassing the entire series. I just didn't really connect with her and her teenage angst which felt forced in some ways. Other characters like Maruko and Deirogi had their own arcs and they were also both very bad, particularly Deirogi's. I did not care for her becoming a less selfish person. She was a bully character who was just an annoying thorn with no screentime and the arc's purpose was to make us care for her, albeit unsuccessfully. Maruko's arc also came out of nowhere and both generally feel like they just had to pad out volumes or something.

The appearance of Superior Spider gave me a bit of hope that we were gonna get something interesting but the presentation of how he was handled after his introduction was not at all noteworthy. He was just there and the same goes for Sakura Spider, whom was even more "just there". The consistent streak of mid never stopped even when we got to the final arc. Otoha's teacher became crazy for literally no reason. Dunno why they did that. Not to sound like i'm thirsting for edge but I think this story would've been better if it was a little darker. Cut out everyone else except for the Ocks and the main thing with Otoha and Taka. A lot of unnecessary fat for characters nobody's gonna care for. Also, Superior and Sakura should've frenched. That is all. Octo-Girl gets a 5/10.

This is the anime adaptation of the famous shounen manga and I was honestly pretty disappointed at how things turned out. I first started the series because I heard of how great and iconic this was but I only ever really fully enjoyed it after like 25 eps or something. First off, the good parts. I thought they did a good job with casting Onizuka's VA. A lot of the casts have great deliveries, with the star clearly being Vice Principal. He has a lot of funny lines and I would say he has my most favorite performance of the show. There were like a ... handful of stand out arcs too like the exam arc.

Unfortunately, that's the most consistent thing I could praise the show for, because its premise failed to deliver a story that was entertaining for most of the time. I find that a lot of its lessons halfway through the series range from lackluster to just downright confusing. There's an arc (Urumi's debut) in which the lesson was about how the girl being focused on had to admit that she wanted to live, despite the fact that her having a lack of care to her being is secondary to her actual struggle, which was a distrust towards teachers. There was also another arc (Fuyutsuki goes to the countryside cuz her female students are picking on her) where you'd expect a teacher to learn something about setting boundaries for her students or at least showcase that she loves her students equally. However, the narrative handwaves it in favor of showing that "teachers make mistakes" when that was completely far from what was set up.

It's a shame because it's very romantic to the idea of being a good teacher and whatnot or being true to your feelings and stuff, when it does execute the lessons of its stories properly. A lot of these lessons are perpetrated by Onizuka himself. But since a bulk of these morals fall flat in execution, it just makes the character less charming. While, at the latter half of the series, we do get moments of the students having Onizuka's back and it's endearing, it also gets ultimately undercut by Onizuka himself doing some dumb shit or whatever. Anyways, 5/10.

The animation quality was really good for the first few eps but that was about it. When it comes to the story, it never really does anything new. The best description I could give the series is that it's "baby's first shounen". Any new anime fan would love this series but as someone who has watched his fair share of shounen, it just doesn't hit for me. Not to mention the villains which admittedly don't have a lot of sauce due to some of their actions unfortunately not being as graphic as they could've been. Will himself is a pretty heroic person and he doesn't ... really have a lot of flaws. He has some intrusive thoughts leak out here and there but it's not big enough to make a dent in his character.

As a fan of the original one-shot, I was interested to see the story animated which is why I went out of my way to watch it on premiere day. It was a pretty darn good adaptation. The animation was incredibly fluid and it really captured Fujimoto's style 1-to-1. There were some movements that looked like they used tweening or something and it wasn't awkward in the slightest. It looked natural and fit the scenes they were on.

Speaking of natural, that's one way to describe the VAs as well. I especially love Kyomoto's voice, as it perfectly fits the character. Since I've already read the ... source material, I knew the story was going to be good but I believe the movie elevates it beautifully using the medium's quirks. There's this key piano music that plays and, while I don't necessarily think it's a cut above other piano performances used for emotional moments, it definitely does its job.There were a couple of moments where you're left without any background music and I also think the movie chose those shots well. Fujino blaming herself for Kyomoto's death was one such scene where the silence worked.

Art is also a big part of this story and I'm glad there were things that mirrored the fake Chainsaw Man stuff. Pochita's door looked very cool. Pages and volume covers of the fake manga looking like those of CSM's were great in a silly kind of way. I really liked the scene where Fujino flipped through Kyomoto's JUMP cover and she saw her old 4koma. The page it landed on I think was a page with fake Denji and Reze. Fujino and Kyomoto's comics were partially-animated as well and that was a treat to look at.

This story is one that lays Fujimoto's doubts and feelings as an artist bare in his own wacky way, and the film tries its damndest to do that justice. The montage after Fujino sees Kyomoto's autographed jacket once again was extended and I personally believe that it could've been trimmed down to how it was originally. But aside from that, you can't get an adaptation as perfect as this.

This is Doga Kobo's 50th anniversary anime, which is also an original. I was itching for a series that had just aired but also something that had a conclusion so I picked this one. I think it's alright. The first episode was really strong. The camerawork was pretty atmospheric when it needs to be. I thought the setup was unorthodox, yet interesting, as it focused on the formation of an anonymous artist group rather than what animes usually see as "a bunch of girls that play instruments form a band". The anime had this really cool format of the girls working on the song and ... the final product would sometimes be used as the ED of the episode. It helped that the songs themselves weren't half bad.

After all the main girls were introduced I began to notice a pattern which I didn't wanna say was a problem yet because there were too little episodes. However, after finishing the show, I can now say for certain that the anime had a problem with solving its conflict. I thought that characters would resolve their issues pretty easily, or at the very least, have quite simplistic presentations as to how they're capped off. The episodes where Kano and Mahiru, the two main members, recruit the last two members have this problem. The execution of how they were convinced to get onboard with the JELEE group wasn't all that satisfying.

Speaking of the characters, I have some thoughts, though I'd like to start with the last two JELEE members. I thought Mei was the least developed of the group. Other than her "recruitment" episode, she really ran out of meat and it seemed like the story knew that and only managed to implement her when it's in support of other characters' development, particularly Kano. As for Kiui, I was surprised at how much stuff she got in comparison to Mei.
Because of this, I would call her my favorite character but, again, the nature of the show's quick resolution of problems dampened the experience.

As for Mahiru and Kano. I really didn't like how their struggles formed. I thought the seeds the story planted for them being "weird" was forced and unrealistic. Mahiru quit art because her peers thought her drawings' colors are weird, as if the mural didn't look amazing. Kano, expressing that she wanted to be like her mom, who was a big shot producer, was met with laughter from her classmates, which is probably the most baffling thing to me. It all just feels very artificial as the starting point of the drama but I also had problems as these things progressed. Kano's mom was a weird case, because there's definitely signs of neglect which would make you root for Kano but the overall portrayal of her character was not really that malicious. This is because the show lacks any acknowledgement of said neglect between the mother and daughter.

Truth be told, the series as a whole would be best enjoyed in a surface-level way. There were a lot of ideas that were introduced later on that never really got the screentime they deserved, like with Mero's own scummy problems, and Kano's dad. If this had gotten double the episode order it had, I could see it being a very good show. The artist group foundation and that "in-universe ED" format brought it up for me.

The other title I saw this as was "While Cross-Dressing, I Was Hit on by a Handsome Guy!" and I decided to pick it up, not knowing that it would become a full series lmao. Regardless, I stuck with it and I found myself having fun. The story follows a crossdressing couple doing cutesy couple things with a crossdressing touch. It's a very simple, no-drama series with a slightly unorthodox premise. The "obstacles" the characters face are primarily general dating stuff as well. Like, I remember one of the later topics is with how one should be alright with being vulnerable with their partner and ... stuff. It's very nonchalant with the whole crossdressing thing for both sides of the couple and I think that adds to the lighthearted feeling while also simultaneously being pretty solid "rep", I would say. Overall, it's not the most impactful series in terms of comedy, and depth but it's definitely a cute little thing one should read on the side.

This is a romcom I somehow picked up and I don't remember why. The story follows Kurokiya as she tries to get a reaction from Tadao, her childhood friend and crush, by trying to be lewd. The main joke of the manga is how Tadao is straightface gang despite everything that Kurokiya tries to do.

When it comes to a comedy manga with this premise, it has to really lift itself up with something in order to be entertaining. I think this manga does that well as the mangaka knows how to make really exaggerated and humorous expressions despite the generally serviceable artstyle. It also helps ... that the series is only worth <50 chapters long, which makes for a light read that doesn't overstay its welcome. Also because of this length, the romantic development flowed in a pretty comfortable pace, in my opinion.

At the same time though, I can't say it filled my heart as much as other series when the main characters finally got together. There are a few side characters and they were fine too, especially Kurokiya's friend which made for a couple of comedic scenes here and there.

I picked this one up because I was intrigued with the artstyle and was left with a pretty decent romance. I thought the way the artist draws the characters is pretty but there's a clear winner in the form of the love interest, Senpai. The two main characters don't really have "names" per se so that makes describing them pretty easy. When it comes to the romance, I can't say there were moments where it stood out but they were fine nonetheless. My only problem in terms of character relates to the main character, Kouhai, where he has this weird little ghost thing and I ... thought that the manga was a little inconsistent with what it is. There are times where it feels like a conscience but then there are times where it acts more like Kouhai's insecurities and stuff.

The TL for this wasn't the fastest and there was a little note at one point saying that the tail end of the series was going to have an annoying drama thing. I was prepared for that but I never really see it came to be, although I could assume it's talking about a new character, Mocchan, and her feelings for Kouhai and how she would come to terms with that. I personally didn't see it as unnecessarily angsty and I thought it was done in a pretty alright way. So yeah, alright manga.

This feels very reminiscent of the author's previous work, Fujiyama-san wa Shishunki, in a sense that it provides a really strong slice of life feeling but with the added bonus of buddhist culture. The characters are fun to see but I'd say that they work better as a group, particularly the characters who aren't the two leads. This is also something I noticed with Fujiyama-san, as well as the balancing of risque shots in manga as it went on. With Chion-san though, the art feels more fleshed out- granted, this doesn't mean that the work before this was bad in terms of artstyle.

With regards to ... the ending, it's very lowkey and as someone I've heard talk about the manga, you could feel that it definitely needed more "meat". Regardless, this manga provided an enjoyable experience as it caters greatly to my taste. I'm sure that the author's work after this, which is Insomniacs After School, would follow the same type of beats and provide the same type of comforting feeling. Also, there's an abundance of panels and pages here that just screams that vibe that I really enjoy.