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The one word that comes to mind when describing The World In Color is simply "beautiful". It has this very gentle and warm vibe that keeps the anime compelling and makes you overlook more flaws than you normally would.

Indeed the main force of this show is its simplicity. No matter where the story goes or what the characters do, it never tries too hard to provoke a reaction from the viewer. That makes its flaws much more forgivable cause they're not being forced down your throat. The World In Color's universe contains so many concepts that are usually milked to the last drop by other ... productions but keeps a reasonable tone about all of them. There is magic but you'll never see a magic fight, time travel but you'll never hear about time paradox or changing the future and even though the story is originally set in 2077, you'll never see any fancy sci-fi thing.

If there is nothing "epic" in it then you might wonder what kind of content The World In Color has to offer. It has to be said, the story is mostly driven toward characters development and that's definitely gonna be a turn-off for those craving for those plot twists and cliff hangers but there is a plot and even though it has its own pace it always feels like it's progressing.

Character development is where the story succeeded the most. What's interesting is that the characters' different personalities were well conveyed and are pretty easy to figure out except for the MC who has a more complex one. It's a good way to put her in relief to the others as it gives a meaning to her journey. Yuito is the disappointment of the cast, he's referenced as main character and definitely has a bigger place in the story than the other supports but doesn't have the quality or development to back it up. Shou and Kohaku are the highest quality people in the group and don't develop that much. Chigusa is the funny guy and also the youngest of the group, his personnality is pretty good even at his age but he's underused and doesn't develop much. Asagi and Kurumi have self-confidence issues and are working on it even though Kurumi is further down the road as she is older.

A lot of things could be better but overall The World in Colors' characters are great. The quality of their interactions is not always as good though, especially for the romance parts. They can feel cringey even though there's a lot of maturity and life lessons in one of them. That's actually where Yuito's lack of quality and development drags the show down since there's nothing to justify his romance other than plot convenience. Fortunately, the show never takes it too far and that's what saves it again. Their moments of friendship are great though and make for very beautiful memories to be shared between the group.

But what really makes the show beautiful is the art and music. The opening is simply wonderful and the beauty of the panoramas, landscapes and magic really lives up to the title of the anime.

Overall, The World in Color is a beautiful anime whose biggest strength is not trying too hard. Not devoid of flaws but so simple and genuine, the show makes for a good ride and definitely has things to bring to the anime culture.

With more than 8/10 on MAL, needless to say I got into Kono Suba with high expectations and while I understand why it's rated so high, I can't deny that it was kind of a let down.

One thing I'll have to concede to the show is that it doesn't waste time with any stretched out premises, it gets right to the point really fast and immediately sets the tone. Indeed, you won't need much time to figure that this show doesn't take itself seriously and has little to no restraint with the comedy it offers. And that's the main force of this anime, the comedy ... is always extremely exagerrated but never feels stretched or forced. Fast premise, cut to the chase and jump right into the action, good comedy, Kono Suba sets off with an extremely good start !

But that's it... You start the show with a very good impression but after a few episodes you realise that it's never taking off. The comedy stays good, the interactions between characters keep sailing at a steady pace, but...that's it. The story barely progresses, the characters don't gain any depth, what was supposed to be a fast premise turns out to be a rushed one since we never get to know more about the MC or the other characters but...he's a dude. In the last episodes, there's somewhat of a background that's taking shape with Darkness but it stays very surface level and sadly very generic.

Ultimately, I can't help but feel that the show fails at clearly introducing itself as a show that's mostly focused on comedy. I think it would have gained from clearly setting itself as an episodic show, that would have prevented the viewer from expecting any major progress in the story or the character development.
I'll finish on a good note by saying that the art, animation and music are all top notch even though i'll regret the forced booby fanservice.

At the end of the day, Kono Suba stays a pretty enjoyable experience as long as you clearly understand what you're getting into : a show that doesn't take itself seriously no less, but no more.

This review is spoiler-free even though it contains spoilers from the original Steins;Gate anime. You should not read this spin-off unless you have completed the original Anime or VN anyway.

The one very sad thing about Steins;Gate is that no matter how Okabe manages to change worldlines to reach a happy ending, the events and feelings of the people in other worldlines were very real at one point in time. That's why I've always been curious about the stories of other worldlines while watching the anime, especially the one of Suzuha's life after she time traveled to 1975.

The fact that they decided to show this story ... through Mr. Braun's perspective is a very interesting choice as it manages to give a fresh look on this while answering the fans' curiosity. All in all, this spin off does a great job in that regard : the pacing is good, the elements of the story give depth to many aspects of the original storyline and the slightly altered ending feels more satisfactory for Mr. Braun's point of view. We'll deplore losing some depth compared to the anime though. If you liked the reading between lines and the scrutinizing of every word to understand the original story, you won't really find it here. While the plot stays very solid, the storytelling is pretty simple and straightforward but manages to convey emotions very well.

While all of this is pretty good, what really sets Brownian's Motion apart from the rest, and I didn't expect that from a Steins;Gate story, is the maturity of its characters interactions. While keeping a lot of comedy, the relations between the protagonists are more serious, which in relief to the emotions of the events creates an absolute masterpiece of balance.

At the end of the day, this spin-off brings fresh air to the Steins;Gate series and makes for a very solid read especially if you didn't enjoy the foolishy vibe of the anime.