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This is the perfect example of a video game adaptation done wrong. Trying to fit in about 25 hours of material into 13 episodes is NOT a good idea, unless you want an extremely rushed show with very flat characters. It is horrible.

The story was actually pretty decently adapted. While it was rushed, nothing very important was omitted. However, I have some issues with the investigations. How do you expect anime watchers to identify the culprit if the most important part in mystery solving is rushed in about 3 minutes? Rushed investigations also made it seem like Kirigiri and Naegi were pulling things out of ... their asses during trials.

That is another thing : class trials. There were 13 people in the first class trial. Everyone had to speak at least once, right? So, once again, the actual mystery solving part was rushed. Though, as the show went on, there were fewer students, so the trials did not feel as rushed (chapter 4 and chapter 5's trials are the best examples.) Still, this just proves 13 episodes only was not enough.

Next is the art. The character design is very odd, but it makes the characters look colorful and very different from one another! You could pretty much tell who had what talent just by looking at their appearance. Komatsuzaki Rui really has not dropped the ball design-wise.

However, the animation quality was quite subpar. Some episodes had okay animation, some terrible. The amount of stills also hurts, but it is acceptable. Generally, class trials had good animation, but the rest (investigation and the pre-investigation segments) took a huge hit.

I like how they kept Monokuma's small quirks in the background, though. Like eating pancakes after a particular execution.

Another good thing is the soundtrack. Composed by Takada Masafumi, the music is very catchy and really sets in the mood in most scenes. A prime example is the song named "DISTRUST" playing during big revelations, absolutely perfect! I don't dislike the OP theme, but the game's is way better. The ED, however, is pretty awesome. Personally, I love the 8-bit part at the beginning.

The voice acting is very well done, as expected of big name seiyuus. Monokuma's especially is perfect for the role.

Now here comes the bad part of the anime, and the main reason why I did not enjoy the show as many as I thought I would : character. In the game, characters are mainly developed by hanging out with them. As you hang out with them, you learn more about them. That is where they get development, and since the anime completely skips hanging out, there is nearly no character development for the whole cast, with the exception of Kirigiri, Togami and, to some degree, Naegi. This is a bad thing because when a character dies, it is hard to feel anything because you could not get attached to them. And that makes some twists feel pretty underwhelming.

In the end, the Danganronpa anime had a few good things about it, but it was severely crippled by a lack of character development and a very limited number of episodes. And that is why I did not enjoy the anime very much.

Who would've thought Studio Pierrot would ever do something correctly?

Tantei Gakuen Q-- or Detective Academy Q, is a show about a boy with a talent for logic and reasoning. Wanting to become a detective after being saved by one during a kidnapping; our main character Kyuu finds out about the existence of the DDS, Dan Detective School, a school formed by the legendary detective Dan Morihiko. After meeting Megumi, a girl with photographic memory, the martial arts master Kinta, the geeky programmer Kazuma and the mysterious Ryuu, Kyuu and his friends join "Class Q" at DDS, and tackles many difficult crimes, always seeking the truth.

The ... story is very simple and not very thought out : a boy and his friends are always involved in some kind of crime they have to solve, and pretty much always find the culprit at the end. Even though the premise is fairly simple and not very original, the cases are actually very well thought-out, rarely obvious, and the show always give enough information for the watchers to actually solve the mystery and find the culprit, which is a good thing, because following a mystery you can't solve yourself is pretty boring. The show is mainly episodic, with some arcs spanning two to four episodes, though later on there's a subplot going on. However, it is never fully explored since the anime ends with an open ending without any kind of continuation. Unfortunately, it seems the author ran out of ideas near the end, as the latter cases seem to be very similar to the first ones; and the culprit's motives are also pretty much the same. In the end, I was still highly satisfied, but the flaws are quite apparent.

I would say the characters of the show are far from original and follow the typical shounen jump archetype. The best example would be the main character himself, Kyuu, who's just a normal boy that aspires to be a detective because the person he looks up to is also a detective. And like every other shounen jump story, the main character has a motto he always follow-- In Gakuen Q, that would be "A detective must never give up, or the case will remain unsolved." It is very cheesy and unoriginal, but let's not forget Gakuen Q is a show for (apparently) children to begin with.

Another problem is Megumi. The character is fine, but her ability, photographic memory, can be way too convenient at times, and the main character usually relies on her memory to solve crimes (although he uses his reasoning to solve the mystery, most would be impossible if she didn't recall certain details or changes in a crime scene, before and after the crime.)

And finally, Ryuu is a badly written character. He is pretty much a Gary Stu. He has no real flaws, he's always smarter than anyone else, he's never wrong either. He is also mysterious but his past is pretty lame and not thought out at all.

The animation type is very cartoony, which is fitting because it's a show for children. The art style reminds me of Kindaichi, but that's simply because both are by the samr artist (and author.) The character design isn't bad either, except for Megumi who has very funky hair and a badly proportioned body most of the time.

Gakuen Q is kinda old, so the animation isn't the best there is. Not only that, but Studio Pierrot is known to mass product long running anime, so the animation quality is even worse than it would usually be. Surprisingly enough, there aren't many repeated frames, which is a good thing. Don't worry though, the animation gets better as the shows goes on. Pierrot probably noticed it was getting a bit more popular and decided to put more effort into animating this.

This anime doesn't really need ultra high quality animatio anyway, as characters are usually not moving that much, contrary to action shows like... I dunno... just think of one yourself.

The voice acting isn't too shabby, but Kyuu's voice was very annoying at the beginning. The voice actor always made him speak on a high pitch, and it didn't really fit the character. The rest of the cast is very well acted, I have no complaints.

I won't comment on the OP and EDs, they are just... generic. Background music was spot on-- it always played at the right time and most of the songs are also pretty good. I was surprised because I expected the BGMs to be forgettable, but a few emotional scenes made some BGMs hard to forget for me. The best song is probably the one that usually plays when a culprit confesses of his crimes.

Unfortunately, I don't think this anime has a high rewatchability. Mystery anime are often like this, the main thrill in watching a mystery is to solve it. Once it's solved, nothing's really thrilling anymore, right? I would probably just rewatch the Ichinose arc, definitely my favourite!

In the end, I think anyone of any age can enjoy this show. While some characters are pretty bland, the mysteries are very interesting, and as I said earlier, there is always enough information to solve the case by yourself, making this show a very enjoyable watch with lots of interactivity. I recommend this to people who like reasoning and logic.

Anime adapted from video games most likely won't live up to the fan's expectations. Sometimes they're way too rushed, sometimes they just don't work as an anime, sometimes they're not even faithful to its source material. The problem with video game adaptations is that, most of the time, it just feels like it's jumping from cutscenes to cutscenes without proper transition and characters weren't really... say... in-character.
Adapted by AIC A.S.T.A, Persona 4 : The Animation is the perfect example of a video game adaptation done the right way. Almost everything is perfect, the story isn't rushed, the characters don't feel like puppets and it's VERY ... faithful to its source material!

The story is about a series of mysterious murders occuring in the tranquil town Inaba. Whenever there's fog after heavy rain, someone dies. Also, rumors about a certain channel on television only airing at midnight named "Mayonaka TV", where one can see his other self on TV. After hearing about the recent murders, the brotagonist (yes-- you heard me. Brotagonist.) and his friends are determined to find the culprit behind the murders... and solve the mystery of the TV Channel. They later realize that the person appearing on TV at midnight is the next to die, and the brotagonist also discovers that TVs are gateway to another world infested of monsters called "shadows". Who is the culprit? What is "Mayonaka TV"?

The premise, albeit a little out of this world, has lived completely to my expectations. The only thing is that sometimes there are "filler" episodes (which are not really fillers and are a VERY important part of the story) where the brotagonist and his friends do random everyday shit. These episodes help developping characters and colorizing them. The mystery itself is executed perfectly and everything is foreshadowed subtly.

Here comes the main flaw of the execution : the pacing. Every video game adaptation suffers from pacing issues, and Persona 4 : The Animation isn't an exception. The scenes are well transitioned; but jumping from, say, March 12 to March 15 in two scenes is a bit too fast. It can't be helped, though; the skipped days are gameplay-only and don't really bring anything new to the story or characters. In a way, it's good that they've skipped these parts, but it comes with a price, and that is pacing.

Let's speak about characters. Persona 4 has a very wide and colorful cast of characters. Every single of them have issues in their lifes, secrets they wouldn't share with anyone, or simply problems they are unable to face. The brotagonist reaches out to them, and makes them face their "true self", which means, accepting who they are despite their flaws, and moving forward in life. The brotagonist also goes through the same process; at the beginning, he is known to be emotionless and not very sociable, but as the story goes on, he opens up to his friends and isn't afraid to show his true colors. The intermission in every episode also shows his "stats" reflecting his character development, quite an interesting way to show character development! In the end, the cast may seem very corny and stereotypical, but as the story goes on, they break their formulatic personalities and build their own.

Oh, and, I fucking hate the brotagonist's sense of fashion. Popped up collar is for douchebags, not for bros, man.

Now that we're over with the story and characters, we'll go into the cosmetic aspect of the anime. The art and animation.

...Horrible. It is completely horrible. Rumours are that the animators are not even getting paid. Is it because their work is so bad? Persona 4 is poorly animated. Backgrounds characters are drawn very sloppily and their faces don't seem... human. The movements are very stiff and robotic and there are a lot of stillframes... Closeups are not as bad, but the heads are rarely shaped the same way, LOL!
The art, though, is very faithful to the original source. It gives a perfect Atlus-ish feeling, and I love it! The only thing is that sometimes their skin are a little too orange-ish, and that's pretty weird. They look like douchebags wearing too much fake tan. That might just be 'cause of the retarded animators, but whatever.

BGM and sound wise... I don't have much to say. It's the same soundtrack as Persona 4, composed by Shoji Meguro. The songs are pretty catchy but get repetitive really fast-- nothing of value to see here. The openings, both by Shihoko Hirata and are in engrish. They're pretty good, but "I will strip search if I have to" is a pretty damn funny lyric if you tell me. I can't take it seriously.

Overall :

Pros :
+ Story is solid and executed perfectly
+ Characters are colorful and aren't afraid to break out of their stereotypic personalities
+ The brotagonist is fucking awesome
+ Lots of character development

Cons :
- The animation is horrible
- The BGMs are forgettable
- The pacing is a bit messed up
- The brotagonist's sense of fashion... seriously kids, don't look up to him!

In the end, Persona 4 is the best video game adaptation I've seen, and it'll probably stay that way unless another studio decides to stop being retarded and do shit correctly.

Cliches. What anime nowadays doesn't have cliched moments? In my opinion, using cliches isn't that bad. That is, when it's not overdone and poorly used.

Guilty Crown is the perfect example of an interesting premise going wrong. It is a very formulatic show : following every damn cliches in anime history. It seems Production I.G tried really hard to make something revolutionary. It is revolutionary ; this anime completely changed my opinion of what a poorly written plot is. And not only the plot, the characters are mostly one-dimensional, and some of them bipolar.

First of all, the story is just plain uninteresting. It's mostly a mash-up ... of every cliches the team behind the production could find. I mean, couldn't they come up with something more original than the usual "boy meets girl who grants him power. (Actually, she carries the power, but it's pretty much the same thing.)" And then, the main character, Shu, joins some resistance team to go against the government. This sounds fine and all, but we've never got to know the motive of the resistance group. Why did they go against the government? What was the point, exactly? Especially after the first half of the show, it seems like the resistance group thing was dropped because I.G ran out of ideas and tried to take another direction. Now, we're presented with some episode trying to be overly symbolic a la Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it failed epicly. Not only was the whole thing pulled out of nowhere, it transitioned to the worst part of the story. Let me remind you, the beginning of the anime was about a corrupt government abusing their powers; a problem on a national scale. In the second half, it's about a school (with no teachers apparently) in crisis, trying to escape the zone they're isolated in, or they'll die. It's hard to take a show seriously when it takes another direction that is completely different, in a bad way. Overall, the story did not satisfy me, and I really doubt the remaining episodes will do Guilty Crown justice.

I find it very ironic that some episodes are rushed, yet I.G still managed to pull off a BEACH episode in a supposedly "serious" plot. Atleast perverts got what they wanted.

Now, let's talk about the so called "void" power Shu has. The power itself is very interesting, I mean, extracting weapons and tools out of a person's body, and the tool/weapon representing their personality, who thought of that? The problem is that the power is FILLED with inconsistencies. Let me begin with how the power is convenient, up until the second half of the anime, every tool/weapon Shu would draw in a difficult situation would be JUST THE RIGHT THING to deal with it. Every time Shu would draw out a void, it could be convenient for the situation and would get him out of that difficult situation easily. That is the perfect example of what a deus ex machina is, used in a bad way. Of course, Gai has the power to see people's void. How did he get that power? No one knows. It just sounds like a convenient excuse used as a plot device because the writers have no idea how to make a progress a plot correctly. The second inconsistency is people fainting from void extraction. Basically, when a void is extracted out of a person's body, they faint out of "shock". Now for the inconsistency, sometimes people faint, sometimes they don't. There is NO explanation as to why they sometimes do and don't. I heard some people claim that when Shu held someone's hand while having their void extracted, it would prevent them from fainting, but I do remember times where he held their hand and they fainted anyway. It seems like the power wasn't explained because what if the writers run out of ideas again? They'd probably add another unforeshadowed element to voids and we, as watchers, will be forced to accept it.

Also, why the fuck can Shu only extract voids from people under 17 years old?

To go back to the one-dimensional characters, I believe Shu and Inori are the WORST PROTAGONISTS to EVER exist. To this day, I still laugh at the interview where I.G claimed that they wanted Shu to be the new Shinji Ikari.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha.... Are you fucking kidding me? Shu is just your average pussy character that doesn't want to hurt people, even though they are killing without remorse and hesitation. I.G tried to make a character full of flaws with no real strength. They succeeded, but no way in hell is that close to be a realistic character. It's not that he doesn't want to hurt people, he's just scared. What a lame protagonist, right? Never once does he really change, his personality is and always be that of the average useless main character. And in the second half of the show, his personality takes a sudden 180. I'm sorry, I.G, but people don't instantly change like that, this character is a complete joke.

Inori, on the other hand, has no personality. Or too many. She behaves in a different way in every episode, it's really strange. At first, she completely depends on Gai, but suddenly decides to switch to Shu. I don't understand exactly why she's so dependent on people, since we've almost never seen her take a decision herself.

I won't continue talking about characters because honestly... I have no clue about them and their motives or whatever. Especially the "villains".

I.G can be praised for two things about Guilty Crown. First the animation and art, done by Redjuice, are excellent. The animation is realistic, with a somewhat dark mood attached to it. In my opinion, it's pretty solid, very fluid, I don't remember seeing many repeated frames, and animation quality was consistent in every episode. Still, the style itself is pretty generic and isn't memorable. Same thing applies to the background animation. The details are amazing, I.G really did put a lot of work into the animation. (I wish they had done the same thing with the story.) Personally, I really liked the metal-like effect when a void is being extracted. It's pretty cool.

Music is quite good. I personaly really like the second opening by EGOIST, which is essentially supercell. The animation of the opening sequences are well done, although the moments in the anime don't really seem to happen in the story. The background music is also very fitting and helps deliver the mood of the show.

In the end, do I enjoy Guilty Crown? Yes. Guilty Crown is a very enjoyable anime, there are a lot of action scenes, animation is amazing and so is the music. Story is still terrible though.

There are many shows bringing up real life issues, the main one being financial problems. A lot of back stories involve a person disappearing or dying because of money problem such as in [C]. Another issue would be bullying, like in most harem shows, the main character saves the bullied heroine, although I believe it is always done in such a lighthearted way that it is hardly believable. Lastly, the hikikomori issue has been pretty popular in anime lately. Example, the NEET detective in Kamisama no Memouchou and Itazu Yutaka from Higashi no Eden. The real issue is that, even though being a hikikomori shouldn't ... be a good thing, it is still treated lightheartedly and never faced as a real problem by anyone.

Welcome to the NHK, adapted by Gonzo in 2006, approaches the hikikomori subject (and many other problems, such as drugs, money problems, suicide, scams) in a more problematic and realistic way.

The story is about a shut-in named Satou Tasuihiro and his various problems in life, and his ascension from a hikikomori to a normal person. Not only has he been confined inside his house for four years, he still depends on his parents still lend him money instead of giving him a good kick in the back and force him to do something. Then, he is visited by a young girl named Nakahara Mai, who wants to help him get back on track. Not only do we approach Satou's problems, but we also find out that everyone around him aren't so perfect either! And so, the problem solving story begins. Yet, either they don't try to solve their problems and try to escape them with some lame excuse as a backup, or they don't solve their problems the right way, which makes it amazing because it makes the story realistic. If they had faced their problems and immediately solved them without breaking a sweat, I would call this show ''Mary Sue : The Animation.' Overall, the story was very satisfying, comedic scenes were actually funny, ecchi wasn't overdone, nor were panty shots.The ending was concluding, and not the usual bullshit open one, leaving no room for a sequel. (Who needs a sequel about problem solving anyway?)

Another problem in most anime is that characters oustide of the main cast (in some case, inside AND outside) are one dimensional, unrealistic and just plain uninteresting. Instead, in Welcome to the NHK, almost every one of them are colorized by their issues in life, having their up and their downs without playing too much with the extremes, which makes them realistic. So realistic that I can relate to some of their problems, especially Satou's issues. As the story progresses, the main characters undergo a change in their behavior, but the changes are actually believable. In anime like Clannad, the main character would suddenly find life motivating without much development in his character. Yet, Satou progressively got worse and worse, only to go back to his usual hikikomori way in the end. You call it regression, I call it improvement compared to how low he fell down during the events of the series.

Gonzo decided to use a realistic style of animation in this show. The style isn't so unique as realistic art are used in a lot of anime (a major example being Monster). It fits the mood perfectly; who would want crazy drawings that are barely related to reality in a show trying to bring up real life issues? The animation was kinda choppy at times, but at least there wasn't much CG, and that is a good thing when we're talking about Gonzo. Character designs were pretty normal, trying to fit with the realistic mood.

The voice acting was done well. I liked Satou's voice because it fits him perfectly. The background music isn't so special either. Although, there's a song that I liked a lot, which played very often, too. I believe the name was ''Youkoso! Hitori Bocchi''.

In the end, Welcome to the NHK is a show I would rewatch many, many times because it never gets old; As long as I related to their problems, I think I would keep on rewatching it. I enjoyed it so much because of all the things I mentioned, an above all, the realistic aspect. I definitely recommend this anime to people looking for an anime that isn't afraid of bringing up issues a lot of people can relate to.

Baseball, in my province, is infamous for being a very slow and boring sport to watch. I would usually follow a few matches on TV even though my aunt would always fall asleep in middle of the match. Indeed, baseball can be boring to watch, but it is in no way boring to play. This sport is probably one of the most exciting to take part in. While it seems slow when you're watching it, it goes really, really fast if you're actually on the field.

Major S5 makes me feel exactly like that. Being on the field, even though I'm sitting on a couch watching ... an anime about baseball. I could very well go outside and play myself-- but why should I when I get the same thrill without any physical effort?

Life as a professional baseball player isn't easy. There are many obstacles a pro (and any normal person at that) can encounter -- be it injuries, lack of motivation, slumps, family issues. Goro's life has never been a straight road, he might've lost the track many times, and yet, he's never failed to find it again.

Sometimes, a series with lots of sequels will usually have its plot fall short after a few seasons due to lack of material and unecessary filler episodes. After the trainwreck season that was Major S4, I didn't know what to expect from the fifth one. It was probably going to be as boring and unevenful as S4.

I was wrong.

I personally believe that the fifth part of Major is the most meaningful as it brings a lot of character development along with a fine conclusion to an epic saga.

Being a direct continuation from season four, Goro returns to Japan after his latest baseball season in the USA. Back home, he learns from his friend and rival, that there will be a baseball World Cup organized in America a year from now.

S5 went back to its old 'match, heavy training, match, heavy training and fighting out with a rival' formula used in season 1 to 3. As much as it sounds like your typical shonen anime, what really made it special was that I could see the plot going somewhere-- it wasn't just random matches in a random tournament. It was the BASEBALL WORLD CUP for god's sake. The training was actually meaningful; winning the World Cup is a pretty big deal. What made the plot believable was that Team Japan itself didn't feel invincible (unlike other sports anime out there where the protagonist's team is made of mary sues with pratically no apparent flaws.) The only drawback is that a few matches could drag on longer-- they were hyped so much just to last an episode and a half. What a killjoy. There were also a few slice of life episodes that were actually revelant to the plot as they brought in a lot of room for character development, especially on Goro and Shimizu's side. I'll explain it later.

Having switches studios (Hibari to SynergySP) since S4, SynergySP probably had troubles adjusting to the pace of the last three seasons, as it was not their creations. In S5, though, they've managed to fix many of the glaring flaws they've made in S4 : character development, pacing and art.

Goro underwent a personality change, as he had to face his past once again with Joe Gibson and his new rival, Joe Gibson Junior, but still remained the same old cocky guy. I found very surprising that there was some romance development between Shimizu and Goro seeing how it was always hinted yet never fully confirmed. I chuckled many times because their relationship is so awkward, Goro being 18 with no real love experience, aside from baseball that is. Haha.

Not only does the story follow the manga perfectly : the artwork stays true to its original work, though the art iself is pretty normal and has nothing to be praised about. Animation is excellent-- I could see that SynergySP actually tried animating, and the matches were much easier to follow in comparison to S4 where I had to rewind a few times to actually understand what happened exactly. That was one of S4's biggest and most annoying flaw : inconsistent animation. Atleast there weren't too many ugly faces.

As for the music, I don't remember any BGMs from S5. That was probably because I was too concentrated in watching the match than listening to background music. In each episode, there is a small 2 - 3 minutes reminder of what happened in the last episode to refresh your memory. Right after that, the opening sequence 'Hey! Hey! Alright!' by SCHA DARA PARR feat plays. In my opinion, this song doesn't quite fit because it's a bit too out there for a simple baseball show. The first ending, 'Stay with me' by Hitomi Shimatani portrays pefectly the relationship between Goro and Shimizu starting from season five. The second ending, 'Jibun Color' by Yuu Nakamura gives you a breath of fresh air as you're standing on the mound as the umpire is yelling 'PLAY BALL!' The third and last ending, 'Kokoro E' by Road of Major, plays while a series of every important events from season 1 to 5 are shown in black and white as to illustrate a nostalgic past. That was a pretty clever thing to do.

Major is a simple tale about a boy with only one thing in mind : playing baseball. Some people would probably find it unexciting because there are no over the top super powers like in Prince of Tennis or Eyeshield 21.

Having no super powers is a good thing, in my opinion. Since Major's baseball is the closest to being realistic (aside from Goro being a PITCHING MONSTER), I have come to find baseball more enjoyable as I learned many things about it in this anime. Not only that, but characters actually had to train very hard to even be able to compete with lower level teams : I like the harsh reality.

In conclusion, Major S5 (and every seasons, actually) is for anyone who is interested in learning about what baseball trully is, without having to learning all these complicated rules and over the top mechanics.

Remember-- what sets Major apart from other sports anime is how much more realistic it is.