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Otonari ni Ginga is a fluffy romance anime with a distinct lack of substance. This statement alone sums up my thoughts pretty well already, but I would like to go into further detail about what we have at hand here.

I think it becomes pretty clear after a few episodes that the entire setting of the anime is just a pretense to show some shallow bits of story. Ichiro Kuga works full time as a manga artist, struggling to provide for himself and his 2 siblings while also being estranged with his mother and having lost his father a while prior to the start of the ... story. I'm gonna be honest here: This setting is not even that bad - you could make a great drama out of this. On the other hand we have Shiori Gosshiki, a princess of some faraway island who lacks basic life skills but is otherwise good at drawing manga. She has a pointy tail on her back which makes anyone who touches it be placed under a contract similar to marriage and makes that person also suffer physical harm if she is not feeling well.

Ichiro and Shiori balance each other out in some ways but their interactions lack dynamics and most of the time the events that unfold are pretty predictable and, most importantly, meaningless. Most of what we get to see are everyday situations - a zoo visit, christmas, shopping, going out eating, you name it. On the way of each undertaking, there might be a small obstacle in the way which is being resolved after a few minutes and the story continues as if nothing ever happened. The result of this is that there is a lack of development in many different ways, most importantly Ichiro's and Shiori's relationship. It doesn't feel like they grow much closer (if at all) and since they are throwing out so many testaments of love over the episodes it just kinda loses its value. Take into account that, even after the last episode, they still haven't managed to call each other by their first name ... yeah. That is a "yeah" moment.

I get that this anime is all about fluff. You know, that little grin which is being chanted onto your face the moment the 2 main characters blush in awareness of each others presence after having told each other that they love each other for the 5th time. But ... is that really it? Is that all we want?

I don't think a romance anime needs to be overly dramatic. On the contrary, a lack of real challenges can cause characters to not connect well with each other. The goal to create the ideal fluff anime is to walk that thin line where a romantic relationship feels rewarding for both characters, yet is free from unnecessary drama that just came out of nowhere. Otonari ni Ginga does not manage to walk that line and instead tries to throw out as many "romantic" interactions between its characters as there is screen time available, thus sacrificing the connection between its characters. If the story would at least build up on previous episodes or the experiences they shared together it would maybe be better but even that doesn't happen and you could watch most episodes in an isolated fashion and nothing would change. How can you build up a wholesome relationship if you can't even do such a basic job?

The fantasy setting is a joke and I don't think that there is much to say about it. Personally I think even for the most distant viewer it is blatantly obvious that the fantasy setting does not play a role in the story at all. The discourse on the internet likes to throw the word "plot device" in here, but how can something be a plot device if it's not part of the plot at all? Don't think about it, this is a rhetoric question and it doesn't really change anything anyways.

Thematically we are diving somewhere into the ocean of childcare, except the ocean is a small puddle and not 10 kilometers deep, but rather 10 millimeters. I guess if you like seeing 2 adult characters spend time with little children you might get some reward out of this show, but there isn't really much to say about it otherwise. There is no deeper aspects of this contained in the show and it's literally as shallow as 2 adults spending some time with 2 little kids.

Otonari ni Ginga has been kind of a "meh" experience for me but as they say: If you don't like an anime you just haven't understood it. Maybe that is the case for me ... maybe.

4/10

*This review contains spoilers.*

Romantic Killer is a somewhat unique reverse harem where the main character isn't overshadowed by the personality, looks and status of her peers but rather she herself is the role model for others to strife towards.

I think Anzu is definitely a major contributing factor to what makes this anime entertaining. She has a radiating personality; her hands-on mentality, maturity and empathy spreads to the people around her and makes them challenge themselves to become a better person. It's definitely nice to see how much Anzu is valued as a person not just by her friends but everyone else around her as well. ... And let's be honest: Her love for chocolate, video games and cats is just adorable. I can relate to all 3 of these!

When it comes to the development of Anzu's relationships with her potential love interests I think I can safely say that Tsukasa is EASILY the one who fits best to her. Not just because their personalities are polar opposites - Tsukasa is a low energy person while Anzu is full of energy - but also just because the development of their friendship is the most natural out of all other characters. And I say that despite the fact that the majority of events in this show is staged. The way Tsukasa is reclusive and distant at first due to circumstances revealed later on and then gradually brings himself to open up to her despite knowing what potential danger this implies ... I think Tsukasa's route is the one that was most well done, despite it needing some help from a certain magician.

A big point of critique for me is especially the latter one though: This show involves magic and uses it to change the fate of Anzu's potential love interests, which means that a lot of coincidences that we see are very much not coincidences - they are staged. This causes Anzu's relationship with Junta and especially Hijiri to feel somewhat unnatural. With Junta you can at least argue that him and Anzu used to be friends in grade school but even then, after not seeing each other for a couple years they should be a little bit more distant - especially when it's obvious that Junta has changed so much.

There is one other thing though that I wanna talk about in a bit more detail. In the last 2 episodes, Romantic Killer takes a bite that is bigger than it's able to chew: Stalking. And it's not the usual kind: We actually have a male being stalked by a female in a quite severe fashion that transitions over into cyberstalking, identity theft and cyberbullying. This is where things get super spoiler-y, so be cautious.

A topic this heavy isn't something that you can take on a light shoulder. I do generally like how it was portrayed in Tsukasa's case. Him having a chance encounter with Yukana leads to her developing an unhealthy obsession with him. Eventually she starts to meet him every day after school, finds out where he lives, sends him unwanted packages with presents and even goes so far as to create fake accounts online to isolate him from the people around him by spreading lies. Seeing how Tsukasa is eventually becoming more and more distant with the people around him, his parents not being supporting and him having kind of surrendered to Yukana was a bit hard to watch. Eventually, Tsukasa moves away but is tracked down once again by her and this time Yukana goes even further in an attempt to physically injure the people around him.

It is a bit after this point that the show realizes that it doesn't know how to effectively deal with stalking and resorts to magic in an attempt to close off the series and give it a happy ending. I don't know but for me this left a really bitter taste in my mouth because the ending didn't feel rewarding at all and it even felt undeserved. Using magic to bring characters closer together is one thing but using it to solve severe problems with no penalty for free is kinda cheap. The show shouldn't have taken the ball if it knew it would just throw it away.

Shoutouts to Arisa for being a great sister.

Romantic Killer is a solid show overall but it falls short of being really good due to some drawbacks. The majority of episodes is quite enjoyable though.

6/10

*This review contains spoilers.*

If you are fellow enjoyer of women with red hair then Quintessential Quintuplets should be the Anime for you. For a lot of people it is ... or I can imagine it used to be until they saw the movie and the conclusion of the series. I have had some hopes for the movie as I was positively surprised by the second season but unfortunately the movie didn't live up to my expectations.

As a heads up: I will be using the term "true heroine" from here on. For those unfamiliar with the term: The "True heroine" is the girl that ends up ... with the main character.

The problem with the movie is not who ended up being the true heroine. A lot of people are understandably frustrated that she won but really that's just character bias and not an inherent fault of the series as a whole. I'm not going deeper into this argument, I just wanted to mention it for clarity.

The problem with the movie is the problem that the series caused itself the moment it started. It's biggest strength is also it's biggest weakness: There are too many girls. As much as the concept of a harem of red-haired quintuplets is very unique, it ends up being a dissatisfaction for literally everyone involved because there is no way you can develop a relationship between the main character and all the girls equally, let alone develop just the girls themselves as characters. Yeah, sure you can go the harem route but those endings are rarely well received. People would rather see the development of one romantic relationship with just one of the girls if it's done well - even if that girl might not be the one they like the most.

A lot of harem series actually manage to break free from their shackles and start developing the relationship between the main character and the true heroine more at some point in the story. Quintessential Quintuplets unfortunately has never managed to do that. It keeps teasing into all directions until the very end and then throws in a spontaneous conclusion of who the true heroine is. The relationship development is basically just skimmed over and then we are also skipping straight to marriage. But I guess it's some sort of novelty. You don't often see marriage proposals in romcoms, let alone before characters are even dating properly. Take the last statement with a grain of sarcasm.

The pacing of this movie is INSANE by the way. I haven't seen a lot of movies with so many tonal shifts in 2 hours. While some scenes were moderately paced, others were incredibly fast to the point that they felt completely disconnected from the overall arching plot. Uesugi's grade school friend visiting is the most prominent example. She came, was on screen for 2 minutes where nothing happened and left and was never seen again. What the hell.

The middle section of the movie felt a bit like the endless eight for me. We get to see the school festival from 5 different points of views but inevitably you end up seeing some scenes multiple times. Despite one or two nice kissing scenes, the middle section of the movie felt like a drag. Itsuki's point of view was particularly bad because someone apparently felt the need to include some drama with the quintuplet's biological father into the movie. This character has never appeared anywhere in the series before, nor was he even mentioned. Much like Uesugi's childhood friend, he came, accomplished nothing and vanished and was never seen again.

Animation felt subpar with a lot of still images but I guess quality-wise it's kinda similar to the second season. I'm used to movies going about this with a bit more budget and making them stand out more (think about Liz to Aoi Tori) but I guess they went for a similar art direction as in the previous season.

All in all I did not really like this movie. At times it feels like a collection of scenes in disarray and there is no little to no real development happening. It concludes the series, but it does so in a highly unsatisfying manner.

4 / 10

*This review contains spoilers.*

Beautiful movie. Admittedly, I am very likely biased and I hold it in higher regards than I should but I think this movie delivers everything I expected from it. This says a lot, considering I have had my gripes with the main series as some story threads didn't develop into the direction I hoped.

I'm not going to talk about the first ~33 minutes here, as they are essentially a short recap of the third season and add nothing of value. The core of the movie, the story Katsuya and Kyouko, starts after that and spans until the end of the movie with ... a short epilogue about Tohru and Kyo flying in towards the end as well.

Kyouko and Katsuya, despite being basically absent in the main series with little to no appearances, still play a somewhat important role as they are the people who shaped the person who Tohru is in the present. Quite often, she shares material and emotional wisdom that she received from her mother, although in turn she struggles with moving on from her early death. This movie finally shines light on the mystery of her parents and what kind of people they were.

The story starts with Kyouko meeting Katsuya at the end of her middle school years and ends with her early death sometime during Tohru's middle school years. In between, the movie goes through all steps of Kyouko and Katsuya's life: Their fateful meeting, the birth of Tohru, Katsuya's early death and finally Kyouko raising Tohru as a single mother. Knowing that their happiness will last only a few years made watching this movie hard for me as you are essentially watching a story of which you already know won't have a happy ending. But at the same time, there is a certain beauty involved. If you know the end, it makes you treasure the happy moments in between even more. All too often we don't focus on the present and the things we have at hand and you never know how long it will last. Losing someone suddenly is an experience I share with Kyouko I was immediately thrown into my own past in some parts of the movie. Watching Fruits Basket: Prelude has made me absolutely adore Kyouko, even though I had already taking a liking of her during the main series from the very few scenes she appeared in.

It's important to note that this movie is very different from the rest of the series. There is no supernatural shenanigans, no zodiac spirits, no curse, it's just a pure love story that tells about Kyouko's and Katsuya's life. The offset to the main series is what makes it stick out so much but it's also what makes it unique and distinguishable. It's very different but it's part of the reason why I liked it so much.

By detailing the life of Tohru's parents the movie manages to convey a whole range of complex emotions. If you are a fan of Fruits Basket, or even if the main series couldn't fully convince you, you should definitely give this movie a watch.

8 / 10

*This review contains spoilers.*

Mamoru Hosoda hasn't been playing his A-game for a good while now. Bakemono no Ko was kind of alright but fell short of being really good and Mirai no Mirai failed conceptually on all levels. Acknowledging this, you can probably imagine that I didn't expect too much from someone whose last good movie came out 10 years ago. But here I am. I gave Belle a watch and the movie pretty much met my expectations.

Beating around the bush would be unnecessary, so I'm just gonna state the obvious: Belle (the movie itself) really lacks some sort of direction. That's it. That's what ... this review is mainly gonna be about. I guess if you are creating a piece of fiction you tend to come up with a lot of ideas about your world, how characters are connected, the story you want to tell and what not, but what good is any of this if you lay out the threads and don't connect them at all? Most of the time during the movie I was like: "ok so, how does THIS now matter to any degree?".

This is where things get spoiler-y, but to name a few examples: You've got the side story of Ruka and Shinjirou, who don't contribute anything at all to the overall arching plot. They just don't, but they are focused on quite a few times. Then you've got Shinobu, the "guidance" of our main character Suzu. It is shown that he has been knowing her since their childhood and has been checking up on her regularly ever since her mother died. The death of Suzu's mother is an entirely different topic altogether ... it is shown twice (with recycled imagery of course) that her mother died when Suzu was still a child, but the loss of her mother is basically not explored at all. Then you've got Suzu's newfound success in U, a massive virtual world, where people apparently can transfer their consciousness into some sort of avatar. In U, Suzu is a really pretty women who can also sing really well (which she can't in the real world because her mother died) and thus rapidly becomes a virtual star. The movie focuses on Suzu's newfound success as Belle quite a bit and then throws it away completely.

And lastly we've got "the Beast". Chased by enemies with no motivation altogether, Belle makes herself on the way to help it in whatever fashion she can. The revelation this leads to (the identity of the beast) is ... an interesting one, but the topic we're dealing with is way too heavy to be shown for just 5 minutes at the end with only a childishly naive solution presented. But I guess the movie doesn't really care about this. It just shoehorned something in for the viewer to cry about.

To name a few good things: Good cinematography (if some recycled scenes) and good music. It's nothing outrageous or monumental but the music is rather entertaining to listen to. I can't say I hated it. The animation overall is also relatively solid and resembles what you've seen in Hosoda's earlier movies. There is one scene somewhere in the middle of the movie that was rather uniquely animated with characters walking on- and offscreen repeatedly right through the camera lens. I found this to be quite nicely done as it's rather memorable. I haven't seen many scenes like this in Anime as a whole.

In conclusion: Instructions unclear, made spaghetti instead. Real Spaghetti would have been a 10/10 from me though. This movie gets a 4 because it's bad. And now I'm gonna wait for another few years until hope Hosoda makes another movie that is as good as Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo or Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki. The wait continues.

*This review contains spoilers.*

Well, this is a difficult one. Josee to Tora to Sakana-tachi's synopsis striked me when I first saw it. A disabled protagonist? That is rare in Anime as a whole. I was expecting this movie to deal with its characters in great depth, especially Josee who is obviously facing unique challenges in life due to her disability, but after watching the movie I realized that I had my hopes a little bit too high.

The synopsis kind of gives away what the entire movie is revolving about. Josee spends most of her life more or less confined to her home with only her ... grandma taking care of her. She is longing for the outside world, especially the world of the sea, but it isn't until she encounters Tsuneo that her dreams would eventually come true. Facing the outside world, Josee eventually develops into a more mature and independent woman.

So far, you might think "okay, so what's the issue?". Here is the first one: Pacing. This movie is fast and it doesn't slow down ever until the very end. If you need an example of how negatively the fast pacing affects the movie, look at this example: Tsuneo meets Josee 5 minutes into the movie. 15 minutes later he already visits the sea with her and carries her around over the sand. In those 15 minutes, we've seen them interact exactly twice at her home. Both times she locked herself into her room and forced Tsuneo to do some silly things like sitting kneeled down for as long as he can. Project this situation on the entire movie: A lot of events that happen are barely touched and often just skimmed over. This makes interactions between characters often feel unnatural because of a lack of real progression. If you were a disabled person sitting in a wheelchair, you wouldn't let someone carry you around that you've only met twice. There is another key event happening at some point in the story where you would think that it affects Josee's future life, but the event is never mentioned again after being shown for about a minute.

The second issue is related to the fast pacing: A lack of character depth and character development. Josee shows an obvious disconnect from the real world due to spending most of her life at home. There is a scene where she laments about everything in life being always out of reach from her wheelchair but that is really as much of her feelings and thoughts that you will ever see. Her personality isn't really explored much and neither is her disability and the challenge that her disability has posed over the course of her life. Tsuneo is even worse in that regard: He is fascinated by marine biology but other than that he has no personality or hobbies or even a life. There is co-worker that likes him but who knows why she does. I guess a movie without a love triangle is impossible in Anime. He is the average student with a dream and that is all that his character is. Josee's grandma acts as her caretaker for a while but it is never explained why she refuses to take her outside, other than her repeating the same phrase that the world is full of monsters over and over.

It's really a shame that the characters in this movie are so lifeless because this movie has a great setting and could have been dealing with some interesting themes. You would think that Tsuneo grows as a person - but no, he doesn't. I have met disabled people in life as well. And I can tell you they often see the world different from a healthy person. And yes, the way they see the world has changed my perspective on some things as well. But I guess Josee's disability was never even supposed to be the focus of this movie. It becomes even more apparent if you consider that never in the movie is Josee ever prevented from doing something because of her disability. She sits in a wheelchair but it is almost just like a plot device that exists to exist and doesn't have any other purpose. While Josee does experience some development into a more mature person, that is all you are really going to get.

The later half of the movie contains some heavy drama that I found to be a nuissance. The first half is pretty light-hearted and shows Josee's journey across the outside world together with Tsuneo but the second half shifts the tone towards a more depressing atmosphere. The story at this point becomes predictable and that is where I lost most of the interest in the movie because it creates drama where there was no need to.

Conclusion? I honestly don't know. I really want to like this movie but I can't help but acknowledge that it has wasted a lot of potential. If you are expecting any sort of depth or development in this movie you're at the wrong address here. This movie is about a disabled girl falling in love with a guy who takes her on everyday activities. That is really all you're gonna get. A high pacing and a lack of character depth and development makes this movie fall short of being really good. You're not going to waste your time watching this movie, but there are better movies out there.

5/10

I'm sure a lot of people stumble over Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi when they read through the overall discourse on various social media platforms. Violence on a new level is what apparently makes this anime stand out so much from others of its kind and yet it is rarely mentioned that it is far from being the first anime to do so - I remember the first episode of Mahou Shoujo Site turning many viewers down due to the extreme violence that Aya was subjected to by her brother.

If we look at how Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi (aka. Redo of Healer) portrays its characters we ... can clearly see that not a single part of this anime was ever thought through. Keyaru goes through a lot of pain in his first life, being tortured, drugged and raped by Flare and her companions. His life is skimmed through in the span of about a minute. Every other character is evil because the plot wants it that way. None of the characters has any sort of human trait but instead they are all designed to be an unlikable piece of trash. Maybe I'd feel something if the characters had any sort of personality to them but apparently they don't because that would require 2 braincells to write an actual good story.

At this point, this anime is just a glorified Hentai. There is no "story", no world to explore, all characters are utter garbage and the only redeeming quality of the entire anime is a nice character design and even that is highly subjective. Watching it bears no relative merit whatsoever past seeing fetishized sex (either consensual or not - mostly not). You might as well turn to your favorite hentai streaming website and looking through the Fantasy genre because torture, mind break, rape and similar things are quite popular in Hentai. It's much better than staring at a wall for 30 seconds before seeing a pitch black screen because 50% of the episode is censored.

It is laughable that this anime gets any sort of positive attention. I like new takes on the Dark Fantasy genre and pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable but if so it should be done within reason. Redo of Healer adds nothing to the genre and portrays itself as a Hentai. It's a genuinely bad anime. I don't see how anyone can watch this and get any sort of entertainment from it because clearly the only reason to watch it is if you want to see Keyaru toy with various girls. And that being the only reason, why would you watch an anime that is airing on TV, meaning that the good stuff is gonna be censored anyways? I don't get it.

Redo of Healer is bad and does not even fulfill basic quality standards. I don't usually rate an Anime with a 1 but after watching 4 episodes I'm sure that this is the worst TV anime I have ever seen, actually beating Mahou Shoujo Site which I never thought was possible.

1/10

*This review contains spoilers.*

To me, SaeKano has always stuck out from other romantic comedies of its kind due to its parodistical approach to the genre and how it plays with its own tropes that it makes use of. At the same time it doesn't really stray away too much from what romantic comedies are supposed to be and also pays attention to character development. Something that I've always liked in particular was the narrative approach to Megumi's and Tomoya's relationship development as it's reflected within the series in the writing of their visual novel.

However, the movie left me a bit underwhelmed considering that it was ... supposed to offer a well-rounded conclusion to the series. It felt more like a recap of a 12 episode TV series than anything else. The pacing is rather fast and many events aren't fully developed but rather stacked together loosely which results in many weird tone shifts. A good example is the scene where Tomoya and Megumi agree to go on a date on her birthday. In the next scene, Tomoya rushes to the hospital and cancels the date because Akane has suffered a stroke. Immediately after, the scene switches to Megumi's birthday and Akane never really receives any more focus.

This is consistent throughout the movie. A lot of major events don't receive much focus besides being mentioned to happen which leaves an overall underdeveloped impression. I guess this movie should have rather been a 12 episode TV series as the pacing is clearly too fast and you can easily see that a lot of content from the source material was cut in the adaptation. Storywise the movie brings to the SaeKano series to an end, so I guess in a way it's good to have some sense of conclusion there. Every love triangle is solved and you may be surprised that the girl you were rooting for is not the true heroine.

There is one other thing that I would like to mention but it is something that I don't want to spoiler to someone who has not yet seen the movie. It is something that caught me by surprise because I really did not expect it but it ultimately turned out to be a misleading bait. If you have seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. I liked it.

All in all, if you've seen the previous two seasons of SaeKano you know what to expect from the movie. There's no new characters or anything, just the same of everything with all storylines tied together to a conclusive end. If you liked the TV show you will like the movie as well. The fast pacing left a bitter taste in my mouth and I enjoyed the movie a bit less than I wished to do but it is what it is.

*This review contains spoilers.*

Fragtime is easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I admit I went into this movie assuming it would be some sort of mature and serious romance between two girls (the likes of which is rare in Anime as a whole) but that still doesn't excuse the massive letdown it is. Aside from its poor story and poor characters it also features a disgustingly high amount of fanservice, as if a relationship between two girls was just a concept to please the male eye.

Where do I begin? Misuzu Moritani can stop the time at her own volition for 3 ... minutes a day. Not the most original concept, but you can make something out of it. Sadly, Fragtime doesn't. Misuzu uses this power to escape uncomfortable situations but one day she decides to stop the time and look under her classmate Haruka Murakami's skirt, only to find out that Haruka is not frozen in time but can actually see what Misuzu is doing. I have seen worse introductions to other stories in other movies, but this has to be among the worst.

Misuzu and Haruka eventually start coming closer together because of Misuzu's power but the pacing of their progressing relationship is way too fast. Not even 10 minutes into the movie we find Haruka and Misuzu going on a date already because that is apparently the appropriate reaction to someone who sneak peaked under your skirt just a day before. And of course they go shopping in an underwear store because why would they even think about going anywhere else?

From there on, the movie basically revolves around Misuzu messing around with her power. If this was the basic idea of the story and there was some kind of "lessons learned" at the end where Misuzu grows as a person and learns to not abuse it, it would have been fine. But none of her actions ever have consequences and there is nothing be learned. Misuzu stops the time during a test, Haruka starts stripping her clothes down and they have sex (it's implied at least) in front of everyone. Is this what I came to watch this movie for? Really this?

The characters in Fragtime are painfully bland and stereotypical; none of them has any personality. If you want to be generous, you can attribute some personality to Haruka but that's as far as it goes. Most of the characterization happens in the last 10 - 15 minutes where ever so slight bits of Haruka's personality are brought to light. However, it doesn't make any of her actions any more believable as any person with at least some sort of common sense or dignity would have done things much different from her. This movie does a poor job at creating believable characters that anyone would care about. They are just a blank slate and an excuse to show some underwear on screen.

If you are looking for an actual romance Anime, this is not the movie you should consider watching. It's a light-hearted scifi ... drama, I guess? But even if so, then barely. The movie focuses less on the actual relationship between Misuzu and Haruka but more so the way she handles her power to stop time. If the concept of time manipulation is something you are interested in, then you are better off watching Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and if you are looking for a serious yuri relationship drama, then you are better off watching Aoi Hana. Fragtime is just a disgrace for the entire yuri genre. I can not recommend watching this.

3/10

*This review contains spoilers.*

Love Live is part of a bigger multimedia franchise. This is important to consider because the Anime serves more or less as an advertisment for the games and to create a basic level of attachment to its characters. I don't think it's justified to call the Anime adaptations a cashgrab, but all of them so far have been pretty mediocre and anyone who has seen Love Live Sunshine (LLS) knows what the expect from the movie.

If you happened to like LLS, that's great. You will probably like "Over the Rainbow" (OTR) too, as it does essentially nothing different from the TV series. ... If you didn't like the TV series, well that's too bad. You probably won't like OTR either. The movie managed to leave behind the forced drama about Aquors' beloved school closing but at the same time it introduced new unnecessary drama.

Like the TV series, the movie lives off mostly of the cute interactions between the members of Aquors. Everyone has retained their quirks and they are used for comedy throughout the movie. We get to see a lot of new musical performances which makes you feel like you're watching disney movie because the characters happen to sing and dance in the most unlikely of situations. Sometime during the movie it became clear to me that the story of the movie is just an excuse to show the characters' new performances. This is also where the movie differs a bit from the TV series: There is no longer any driving force behind Aquors trying to perform as school idols. Heck, there is no longer any driving force behind the story at all. The TV series concluded it perfectly with Uranohoshi closing and merging with another school. And here we are in OTR, with Aquors thinking about how to continue their lives, now that Dia, Kanan and Mari have graduated.

The trip to Italy could have been a great adventure if it hadn't been botchered by the reason of why Dia, Kanan and Mari disappeared. As it turns out, Mari's mother tries to force her into an arranged marriage to restrict her freedom. An interesting turn of events, but the way it's resolved is in typical LLS fashion: Mari convinces her mother to cancel the marriage if Mari can show her that she can make people happy while performing as a school idol. Of course, her mother agrees and Mari manages to persuade her later on. I know that drama has never been a strength of Love Live, but come on ... that whole arc was really laughable.

Dragging through the movie is generic ganbatte talk. The characters are motivating each other a lot, but that's really only on a superficial level. It has been like that in the TV series as well and it's continuing in the movie. Combine this with the fact that there is no competition anymore and you may start wondering what kind of goal our characters have in mind. At the beginning of the movie, it is clear that due to Dia, Kanan and Mari having graduated, the remaining members of Aquors have trouble performing at their full potential due to lacking 3 members. Fast forward to the end of the movie, they suddenly are able to perform with only 6 members, despite having learned exactly nothing.

Aside from Mari's arranged marriage, other subplots have been introduced during the movie as well. One example would be Leah from Saint Snow having trouble to assemble a new school idol unit, now that she can't perform with Sarah anymore. This subplot, like all others, was left severely underdeveloped and it's resolve was basically pulled out of thin air. A new character was introduced as well, You's cousin Tsuki, but she didn't really serve any purpose besides just exisiting.

Music should be one of the greater strengths of Love Live, yet I find most of the songs to be pretty generic J-pop. I have no deeper attachment to any of Aquors' members (neither to the Anime characters nor the real singers) and with the exception of "Mirai Ticket" I have not found myself to really enjoy any other of their songs. Maybe I'm not the target audience of Love Live, but I don't see what makes the music any different from other idol groups.

My rating of 4 may seem harsh, but you should put it into your own perspective. It's the same rating I gave the TV series because I think the movie is just "as good" or "as bad", depending on your perspective. As I said in the beginning, if you liked LLS you will probably like the movie too. But looking at LLS as a standalone Anime, I think it's just bad. It's bland characters, bad story, forced melodrama, repetitive comedy and average music all makes it a bad Anime for me. Sadly, the movie offers no real development and makes the same mistakes. That's why I think only fans of LLS will love it. It's certainly not made for a general audience.