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This is going to be a review of the original Clannad as well as Afterstory. That being said, it'll be pretty short.

The art is something you either hate or learn to love/ignore. At first it was really weird seeing all the huge eyes and that some of the girls look way too similar. Eventually, I got used to it. Non-character art was decent.

There are definitely some iconic tracks that are played often during the anime. The best songs have to be the OPs and EDs, and the king of them all is the dango one. What the heck is a dango? You'll find out soon ... enough...

The story is fine as far as slice-of-life goes. I'm usually not a fan, but it was bearable, which is pretty good considering my preferences. The whole alternate reality thing was kind of jarring and I didn't care for some of the story arcs, which made those arcs tedious to watch.

The characters play a huge role in this show. Some of them are admittedly poorly fleshed out until much later, but by then it feels like its too late to hear their stories and the placement seems awkward. Other characters are great, and the drama and interactions between them honestly drive the story. You'll laugh, and you'll cry.

Which brings me to why I enjoyed the show so much. It made me cry. All of the build-up to the sad parts of Afterstory was worth it, in a sense. I had heard legends of how Afterstory was a real tearjerker, and it definitely was for me. What people find sad depends on the person, so I believe that if you don't find the sad part sad, Clannad and Afterstory may seem like a colossal build-up to nothing. It's a long anime. But I think if you think of yourself as even a slightly emotional person, it'll have a great effect on you.

Overall, I think Clannad and Afterstory is a "love it or hate it" kind of anime. If you absolutely cannot stand the art and the characters, I wouldn't bother soldiering through the whole thing. Otherwise, I think you're in for the time of your life. I give Clannad and Afterstory a 5 if you're the heart-of-stone type and a 9 if you're not.

Let's work from the bad to good. I haven't been this excited about a show in a while.

As for the story, it's clearly structured in a manga format. Also, you can pretty much get the gist of how the story is going to go for after a few episodes. Each episode is divided up into sections, which kind of broke up the flow for me (compared to shows like Toradora where it all blends together nicely).

The art is fine. Not much bad to say about it. The expressions on their faces are hilarious sometimes.

The sound nondescript, but the score gets a bump up from that ... wonderful OP song "Love Dramatic." Catchy as hell and Masayuki Suzuki's crooning is wonderful. Listen to the full song if you get the chance. I love it when anime gives me songs worthy enough to add to my library. Also, one of the EDs for the episodes is different, and that ED is definitely something to watch out for. You've been warned.

Our main pair consisting of titular Kaguya Shinomiya and the Student Council President Miyuki Shirogane are full of personality, and their mind-gaming antics drive the course of the entire show. Their backgrounds act as foils for each other, but despite that, they're both playing the same game on equal footing. Both of their schemes are comical in their obsessiveness, and both of them are equally ridiculous when they're caught off-guard.

There are some other major characters, but they also have distinct and wonderful personalities. I'll let you discover them for yourself, and then you can play the game of "who's my favorite?"

Overall, while the show's concept is cute and is lauded as the Death Note of romances, it doesn't particularly stick out to me as anything other than another typical "Will they confess?" anime, and it fails to put a smile on my face. I give it a 6.



(HE'S LYING. THIS ANIME WAS CUTE AF AND HE HAD A SMILE PLASTERED ON HIS FACE THE WHOLE TIME, ONLY PUNCTUATED BY GIGGLING AND THE OCCASIONAL "SO CUTE!" HE EAGERLY WAITED EACH WEEK FOR THE NEW EPISODE TO COME OUT AND IT WAS HIS FAVORITE ANIME OF THE SEASON. HE GAVE IT A 9.)

This movie reminded me so much of Your Lie in April that it almost ruined it for me. But on that note, if you liked Your Lie in April, then you will probably like Pancreas.

The art and the sound were OK, at the level you'd expect from a popular anime movie. I don't think they're going to be taking home any awards, but it's fine.

The characters and the story did most of the heavy lifting here. Everything that happens is relatively realistic and it's easy to empathize with the characters. It's lighthearted, self-aware, and sad when it needs to be. You find out pretty early ... on what happens in the end, so you won't be left wondering what the final outcome is. But you will be curious about the journey there and the relationship between the guy, "Me," and the girl, Sakura. And what a relationship it is!

Anyways, go ahead and unravel the mystery for yourself. It may not be the funniest or most heartfelt or tear-jerking anime of all time (like a main course), but it's good enough to be the free garlic bread that you always ask for more of because you're starving! 7/10

If Chobits was 12 or 13 episodes, it would have been better.

After watching the first episode, I thought I was walking into something special. A catchy OP song, an interesting premise, and cute girl. But the novelty wore off by the 12th or 13th episode, which is why I believe it should have been shorter.

Firstly, the art. It has not aged well. It's clear that it's the anime style of an era gone by.

The sound was alright. I love the OP song, "Let Me Be With You." I'm definitely going to add it to my music library, but everything else didn't stand out at all.

The ... strongest part of the show was the characters. I was afraid that the cast of characters would get too big, but Chobits hit just the right number of members to be able to go in-depth with the important ones (It better! Chobits was 26 episodes, after all). There were some characters that I had pegged as minor characters or one-dimensional, but it was great that we got to learn more about them. This was key to Chobits, because people's relationships with Persocoms is the one of the major themes of the show.

Which brings me to the story... I felt that all of the serious plot points of the story were super contrived. They should have decided whether Chobits should be mainly light-hearted or serious. The mix of the two was jarring for me, and I felt that the show's main strength was the romance, not the non-romance related drama. Also, I could have gone without watching all of the filler episodes. By episode 9, I remember asking myself if I should really continue watching.

I find the future of AI fascinating, and Chobits' philosophical debate about AI and humans interacting was what kept me watching. The premise of the story is good, but the drama that was injected fell flat for me. The characters interacting and their feelings for each other was heart-felt, even if there were a handful of filler episodes that did nothing for me.

A weak story propped up on crutches by interesting points of view from the characters about the idea of AIs leaves Chobits with a 5.

It dragged on too long for my tastes, some big plot points were never explained, and the later arcs and their drama seemed contrived. It never got so bad to the point where I stopped reading, but I distinctly remember saying to myself, "Oh, THIS is how they write it so the manga could keep going forever." Obviously, it does end, which is good because if it was any longer, I don't think I would have been able to take it.

I felt that it suffered from "too many cooks!" syndrome. While most new characters eventually get explored (figuratively and literally), most aren't fleshed out ... too much and are reduced to their own stereotypes for the remainder of the manga. However, Yamada himself is a likable protagonist and definitely fulfills his role in the harem.

While the story-lines drag out later in the manga and are poorly explained, the interactions between characters themselves are decent. There are some real emotions happening within the story, and it's hard not to get invested in some of the characters.

I felt myself reading to see what happens at the end and who ends up with who. The journey to the end was a slog at times, but there were a couple of bright points along the way. If you're looking for a masterpiece mystery and explanations for everything, they're not here.

A story that begins to sink in quality and is rife with plot-holes, but is kept afloat by Yamada and a few great main characters leaves Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo with a rating of 6 from me.

This movie isn't your average movie with some kind of moving plot. It's an exercise in "what if?" with some fantasy splashed in.

If you take a look at the some of the art and like it, then you'll be impressed by all the art in the movie. I liked the style. There are some beautiful shots. You won't get SHAFTed

The sound was good. While not many tracks really stuck out to me as particularly great, I felt that everything fit the feel of the movie. Also, I really liked that one song Nazuna sang. You'll know it once you hear it.

The characters weren't very fleshed ... out. They were more like tools to help explore the story.

The story is very "love it or hate it." If you're expecting a plot with a beginning, middle, and end, then don't watch this movie. Like I've said already, the story is more of a philosophical exercise than anything else. Either you'll leave with the feeling of "Wow, that was interesting!" or "What was the point of anything that happened in that movie?"

Overall, the art and sound are decent, the characters were just there, and the story was take it or leave it. If you're in a thinking mood, you'll like it. If you're looking for something that makes sense and will make you feel good/bad/some sort of specific emotion, stay away. I'll give it a 6.

It's a sports/fight anime with a gimmick.

The story is classic one, with the underdog (kind of literally) fighting his way towards the top. If you're a sucker for that kind of story, then you'll quite enjoy Megalo Box. I don't dislike the cliche, but having seen this storyline play out many times has numbed me to some of the excitement and anticipation.

The characters are all relatively unique and are sufficiently fleshed out. None of the main characters seemed just thrown in or two-dimensional.

The most stand-out part of Megalo Box is the art and the sound. The art style is distinct, and you'll either love ... it or hate it. Actually, I didn't like it at first, but it kept growing on me as I watched. By the end, I liked it. The soundtrack is really good! The emotional tracks are beautiful, and the hype tracks are epic. The titular theme "MEGALOBOX" pops up frequently and is my favorite. Great work-out theme.

A run-of-the-mill story garnished by Gears and marinated in a unique sound and art-style leaves Megalo Box with a 7.

Hello, fellow wandering soul! If you're wondering if Mirai Nikki is worth your time, then you've come to the right place.

You'll like it if you enjoy bloody violence, yandere, drops of random fanservice, and yandere. You won't like it if you enjoy anime with consistent plot, mood, or meaningful characters.

Let's get to the heart of it. Yuno Gasai, the pink-haired girl we all love to yandere. I know you're here because of that 10 hr video... you know... the one where some girl says "Yuki" a lot. I'm sure you know she's a yandere. If you're really a fan of yanderes, then you're going ... to love Mirai Nikki, despite its shortcomings. Watch it right now; you'll hear a million different ways to say "Yuki."

I have no problems with the art or the sound. In fact, the art is pretty crisp. Very excellent depictions of mutilation, gore, explosions, etc. The sound is decent I guess.

MC is really annoying but is necessary to the plot, unfortunately. The other characters that appear are alright, but really just serve as plot devices.

The story starts out decently enough. You immediately get a sense that it's gonna be some epic Hunger Games (or Battle Royale for you elitists) type stuff, combined with some Death Note style outwitting. It tries to live up to the hype, but it basically just comes down who is better at killing rather than the mind games. The story really drags during the middle of the 26-episode anime. It's only the last few episodes that get really good. Besides that, the story's tone was inconsistent and confused me. It felt episodic rather than like one whole connected story.

Despite these criticisms from the logical part of my brain, my primal brain enjoyed the ride. Yanderes are cool, boobs are sugoi ne (yes there's actually nudity), and Yuki Yuki Yuki.

Due to my personal enjoyment, I give Mirai Nikki a 6. Someone who likes gore and yanderes might give it an 8, and someone who's a professional critic might give it a 4. I hope this is helpful!

The art is... interesting. I'm not exactly a fan of it, but I'll give it a few points for being different, at least. I didn't really notice the sound, which means that it did its job. If I remember the music, it's either because it was outstanding or horrid.

The story is the relationship between a boy and a girl. There's nothing really special about the story, which is to be expected of a slice-of-life-ish middle school romance anime. It takes a long time for the pace to pick up as well. The plot is fairly predictable, but what happens is pretty heartfelt and sweet, so ... I feel that it was pulled off well. If you're going to go cliche, then do it well at least.

The characters are decent, at best. They have their own quirks, but there weren't really any stand-out personalities. Note to authors: giving each character one or two funny or unique quirks or traits doesn't make them good characters. Like... "Oh, she squeezes her dolly thingy when she's nervous! What a unique character!" Haha. No. Other characters, who seem like they might play a pivotal role in the story, are just inserted to cause a bit of trivial drama and then fade into the background again. If you're expecting some big drama or plot twists or whatever... let's just say that it's as likely to happen as it does in real life (which could be seen as a good thing if you like realism).

Yeah, although the anime is fairly average, I'm a sucker for romance and PogChamp whenever I see something cute or lovey-dovey. That's where my enjoyment scoring of 9 comes in. For every predictable eye-roll moment that happens, there's a sweet romantic eye-roll inducing moment that put a stupid smile on my face. I felt embarrassed for the characters, I felt sad for them, and I felt happy for them. I'm not sure if Tsuki ga Kirei leaves us viewers with a particularly wise message, but I guess it could happen.

A run-of-the-mill romantic anime that caters to my love of adorableness and the raw adolescent "love will find a way" mentality leaves Tsuki ga Kirei with a score of 8.

After watching a bunch of cliche rom-com animes, Kuzu no Honkai was like a breath of fresh air to me. Strangely enough, this air wasn't fresh one, but rather full of scum. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily!

Let's start with the story. Just as an aside, when I first heard the plot and watched the first episode, my friends and I called it "emo Toradora." This anime is not very plot-driven. Essentially, a bunch of people trying to work out their feelings for each other. Sounds pretty much like any other romance anime, right? Well, scummy things happen and those of you who like ... drama will get some sort of kick out of the happenings of Kuzu no Honkai. If you don't like angst, the story is kind of meandering.

Next, the art. The art was unique, I'll give it that. The art was kind of like a blend of pastels, with gentle, flowery colors. Oh man, the amount of flowers and petals and stuff in this show. Then you got the fade to ink black cuts that provided a nice contrast. Overall, it was unique and portrayed the lighter and darker moments pretty well. I prefer a cleaner sort of style, but I could see what they were going for. It stuck out from the other animes I've been watching recently, so bonus points for that.

Moving on to the characters, which were the driving force for the whole anime. There's the main cast of four, with Hanabi being the main character. That's how it starts out, at least. We get a good idea of each person's story, personality, and world-view through their own eyes, one at a time. Things happen between them, and things change. It's interesting to watch unfold. Certain characters are extremely interesting and fleshed out, and others are briefly and awkwardly introduced. They all react poorly in the face of the drama that takes place, which was a hoot for me. The characters, their actions, and their views are realistic, which is great. Once again, if you don't like angst, you won't like any of these characters.

Finally, the sound. The music throughout the anime is fitting, though nothing really stood out as great. What got a 9 out of me was the OP and the ED. Well, the OP was good. But the ED. That song is gosh-darned amazing. The way that they gently start to play it near the end of the episode was always well-timed and the message of the song is quite fitting for the show. The first few times I heard it, I wrote it off, but the guitar leading into the ED and the ED itself finally hit me. Needless to say, I bought the CD/DVD of the ED. Great song.

I enjoyed the heck out of Kuzu no Honkai. The story can be dumbed down to something like "Scum interact with other Scum," but I rather enjoyed the drama. I also have no shame when I say I enjoyed the amount of sexual content in this anime. It was done in a tasteful way, anyways, and it never got lewd enough for me to go "OK, this is just fanservice." If seeing a bra gives you a nosebleed, go watch something more wholesome like Toradora.

Since I was getting bored of cliche romance animes, like to watch people suffer as a result of their own actions (this is real life, bich), and love great music, I give Kuzu no Honkai a solid 8.