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If I was to sum up Boogiepop Phantom's tone in a single word, the first word that instantly comes to mind for me is “haunting”. Seriously, nothing in real life has ever legitimately scared me. Not much in fiction has scared me either. But this… Excuse me while I go hide in a closet. I’ll put it this way: This series terrifies me so much that it nearly made me genuinely vomit in my mouth almost every time I watched a new episode, or at least in the case of about the first half of the show’s run.

Boogiepop Phantom is both intriguing and horrifying at ... the same time to me. After a beam of light shot up into the sky a month prior, several strange, paranormal occurrences began happening all throughout the nameless town this series takes place in. It’s one of those shows that doesn’t explain what the hell’s going on and why until the near-end of it. As a matter of fact, it doesn't even begin to explain what caused the beam of light to begin with until around the second half of the show. It is mostly because of this, at least for me, that the show manages to legitimately creep me out. Not to mention nearly the entire show has a sepia-tone screen filter over nearly every shot that made it feel even creepier for me.

The first half or so is filled with grotesque stories of people slowly but surely losing their sanity, turning to illegal and even life-threatening ways of getting what they want, committing suicide and overall, just humans at their absolute worst. The end result of most of these stories are these same people being killed and/or dying in some horrifying ways.

Despite the fact that this series terrified me to no end a majority of the time, I actually did like it for that same reason. After all, fear is an emotion at the end of the day, and just because it’s a negative emotion doesn't mean the object of the fear is bad. Sure, it made me feel almost completely uneasy as I went through the series, but it was also partially because of that that I think the series accomplishes the task its genre is supposed to.

Another thing I liked about this series was what I saw as an underlying message. Boogiepop claims that the only reason they manifest is when an “enemy of the world” appears. The thing is, these ‘enemies’ aren’t operating on a global scale, as one might suspect from the phrasing; rather, they are simply beings who often aren’t human and are often trying to make the world around them more like what they envision as an ideal world, pretty much. The way I see it, the fact that Boogiepop eliminates these things infers an underlying message that society is not supposed to be perfect, it is supposed to have both good people and bad people. In the words of real-life baseball player Yogi Bera, “If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.”

The Boogiepop series was absolutely horrifying more often than not for me personally, and yet despite that, it managed to tell the story it wanted to tell with what I felt was fantastic execution.

Okay, straight up: I love Sega, and I have done so since I was literally five years old. So, naturally, one day when I was playing "Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax" for PS3 for like the umpteenth billionth time, I realized that during story mode, the "Denshin" had assumed the form of a girl wearing Sega Dreamcast-themed clothing, complete with a controller strapped to her forehead. I was actually very intrigued. Who is this person? However, at the time, I had just shrugged her off as being a completely new character specifically for that game. So, after looking up the words Dengeki Bunko on the Steam ... application for PC one other day, I came across a DLC item called the Dengeki Bracelet, for a game titled, "Superdimension Neptune Vs. Sega Hard Girls". Upon investigating the actual game, one could imagine my shock when I found out that half the playable characters in the roster were physical embodiments of Sega. I was later in that same week compelled to see if there was an anime of these girls, similiar to that of Virtua Fighter's anime or Valkyria Chronicles' anime. And I was actually slightly taken aback when I found out there was. I won't lie, I had slight doubts about it at first, but the fact that the people who did certain art for Hatsune Miku also worked on the art for this series had me convinced the second I heard about it. This show was going to be good, and I hoped it would be fantastic. But I was vastly unprepared for the full truth.
Hi Scool! SeHa girls is an anime following the school adventures (and sometimes misadventures) of three out of four main playable Sega Hard Girls in the previously mentioned video game, being Dreamcast, Saturn, and Mega Drive. I was at first a little disappointed that they had apparently forgotten about the existence of the vast numbers of the other Sega Hard girls, especially in the case of Game Gear, but later on, one of the episodes drops a F***ton of cameos and references to all the other Sega Hard Girls who, as it turns out, are all attending the exact same school as the three main ones, which completely amazed me, all things considered. And the fact that this show had SOOOO many other damn cameos and references galore to the rest of the Sega multiverse helped add to the overall charm of the show. This show, for a comedy anime, was actually as amazing as I was hoping it to be before I started watching it. And don't even get me STARTED on that amazing ending, despite this show only being 13 episodes long.
I think the only major fault of this show, at least for me, was the characters mainly staying in their chibi forms for what felt like most of the show's run. I personally have never really had much love for Chibi forms, but I also have never really hated them either. I think it's just because of how often the tiny versions of characters in anime are associated with comedy and/or comedic jokes. That being said, the chibi versions actually didn't take away from the humor of the show almost at all, at least for me. However, one other issue with the show is pretty minor to me personally, but I still believe it should be said. I am an adequate judge of 2D and 2D/3D blended animation at best, but enter 3D animation exclusively such as with this show, and I am a terrible, terrible judge when it comes to judging it. I couldn't tell you if the animation quality is good or bad for sh**.
In summary, this show is perfect for someone who actually cares deeply about Sega and/or someone who likes the Dengeki Bunko multiverse and likes checking other things out.

"I'll take a Potato Chip...and EAT it!" - Light Yagami

...Yes, that's a direct quote from the dub of Death Note.
I'll get right into this and say that when I watched this show for the first time, I thought it was so true, because of my pessimistic nature at the time. In a nutshell, the self-proclaimed smartest student in the world, Light Yagami, finds a notebook used by gods of death (Shinigami, in other words) to end people's lives. So what does he do with it, instead of trashing it? He gets greedy and takes it home with him to test out. Fast forward about 2-3 ... weeks if I recall correctly, and we see Light talking to the original owner of the notebook, Ryuk, about how he would become the "God of the New World".
If I had been in his position, I would've just either looked for the owner, even if it had fallen from the sky, or just put it back where I had found it. So yeah, I knew right off the bat what he was going to do after taking it home with him.
Anyway, the plot from that point thereafter until the ending of the show was so brilliantly complex that it was amazing to see all these plans hatched by a single college honor student. Oh, and Watashi was my favorite character in the entire show. Also, Watashi, in that context, as I'm sure many people know, means "I". So, over the course of the show, you got I, L, M, & N.
Illuminati confirmed. Heh.
In summary, Death Note was a fantastic show with a longer-than-average run, which actually gave the creators of the show plenty of time to focus on the story it wanted to tell. I highly suggest you check it out, but only if you can stomach blood and gore.

If there's a more over-the-top anime out there with even better writing, I've never heard of it. Now, that's not to say it's perfect writing just because it's over the top. Even though I love this anime with a passion, I feel like I should try playing devil's advocate here, and then I'll tell it from my honest point of view.
I have to admit, the first time I heard about this anime was way after it had finished it's run. I'm talking as far back as right after I'd been fed up with Elfin Lied, my first anime ever. My friend introduced me to this ... anime, and because of my prior introduction to anime, I was more than a little sketchy. At first, I watched the first episode with my friend and didn't really find it too appealing. As a matter of fact, I wasn't a big fan of Yoko either when she showed up initially. And yet, about a half-year or so later, I picked it up again on my own. The rest of the show was great...with the exception of Episode 6, I mean. Seriously, Episode 6, looking back on it, can easily be skipped.
However, past that point, the show took a risk and had an amazing plot twist. No spoilers, of course. But the show just became so good so quick that it was my new favorite at the time. But it wasn't long before I stumbled upon other anime such as Sword Art Online, Black Butler, and many more following them. In other words, this show was my first introduction to the good side of anime.
In summary, while this show had maybe 3-5 bad moments, the rest of it was just amazing. I definitely suggest you check it out if you like a good story.

Black Bullet is the Dengeki Bunko equivalent of Attack on Titan, complete with giant walls built to keep colossal regenerating enemies out, gratuitous violence, and internal power struggles. However, there are some differences. For one, the story is set in the near future, and revolves around more modernized weaponry such as guns with bullets made out of a rare black metal (Hence the title, "Black Bullet"), private companies commonly referred to as CivSecs (Civilian Security Agencies) that more resemble if the Men in Black were all private mercenaries, and the fact that certain characters are essentially overpowered cyborgs.
That being said, the story is actually really ... good, despite the show's thirteen episode run. It was pretty decent. Not fantastic, but it was certainly better than a bland show such as The Irregular at Magic High School. The ending however, well...it was kind of weak in my opinion. I honestly preferred the ending of the fourth episode more than i did the thirteenth, but I guess that's why 13 is considered an unlucky number.
In summary, Black Bullet was a halfway good show with great ideas right up until it's somewhat weak ending, in my opinion.

Angel Beats. Not going to lie, the first time I had heard about it, I thought the name was implying it was an anime about high-schooler musicians. And after some years passed of hearing about it repeatedly, I began to get annoyed with an anime I'd never even seen. However, one day, I was talking with a good friend of mine about Gurren Lagann (Which I'll write a review for soon, I swear), and he suddenly switched the topic to Angel Beats. He told me it was amazing and many other things, and since he was a good friend, I trusted his judgement and finally ... decided to give it a go. And what I saw blew my expectations out of the water.
Angel Beats is, in a nutshell, a story about a bunch of high-schoolers who are dead, but cannot actually die. I think it was in the first or second episode that the main character, Otonashi, was actually chopped up by noda for refusing to help Yuri to defeat Tenshi/Angel initially, but then he just came right back to life. And even though it actually did have musicians in it, they were mostly side characters, so it didn't affect the plot too heavily like i had first imagined.
Out of all of the characters, I'd have to say my favorite is Naoi Ayato, mainly because of his character development. At first, he's really a guy you get to hate in his first two or so episodes, but after his talk with Otonashi, he actually makes an effort to change, and that's why I like him. And by the way, good luck preparing yourself for the ending. I knew what was going to happen cause of my friend, and I had braced myself throughout the whole of the show, but seeing it actually happen? Yeah, good luck being prepared indeed.
In summary, Angel Beats is a great anime with awesome character development, and is also, at least to me, a good example of not judging a book by it's cover.

"Now repeat after me: this world is made of Love and Peace! Love and Peace!"

Ahh, Trigun. A fantastic anime about an absolutely silly man named Vash the Stampede with a 300,000,000 double dollar bounty on his head traveling endlessly through the desert planet that I can't remember the name of. Along the way, Vash gets into plenty of fights, but he makes his best effort to end said fights without killing anyone. I have to say, however, that while Vash the Stampede was pretty cool when he needed to be, and silly when he didnt, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a character introduced in one of the ... later episodes, was absolutely fantastic. I seriously loved the final episodes with him in it. Milly and Meryl were pretty good female characters for a anime straight from 1998 as well, but the fact of Milly running around while carrying a gigantic minigun while Meryl got 2 tiny pistols was simply hilarious for me personally. And not to give anything away, but the final battle between the enigmatic villain and Vash was absolutely awesome. It felt kind of akin to the final fight between Big Boss and The Boss in the video game Metal Gear Solid 3, what with the lack of music, the two engaging in a discussion over their past before the battle, and the simple fact that they both had their own goals. Seriously, though, the main difference between that game and Trigun's final battle is that they hated each other to no end in Trigun, for what reasons, I won't explain because spoilers.
In summary, Trigun is a fantastic older anime that anyone who likes wild west battles but also likes an epic overarching plot to tie all of said battles together so that they all have meaning should watch.

The Irregular at Magic High School. As the title is relatively long, it can mislead people into thinking it's one of those garbage anime *cough-ICouldn'tBecomeaHeroSoIReluctantlyDecidedtoGetaJob-cough*, but that sure as hell didn't stop me from giving it a shot. And honestly, when I started watching it the first time around on Netflix (which, by the way, is scheduled to remove it from netflix entirely in about...less than an hour at the time of writing this, give or take), I didn't exactly hate it, but I wasn't too fond of it either. If I could remember why, I'd talk about it...but I can't, so...sorry.
Anyway, at the ... time, I left off at the dead-beginning of episode 10, and didn't get back around to finishing the series until literally 3 days ago, at the time of writing this. The only real reason I finished the show this time around was because of the removal that is about to happen on January 1st from Netflix. In other words, I felt pressured to watch it. And when I DID finally finish it, I came out of it speaking this quote, "Not too bad."
The first episode began by being rather blunt. And this was a consistent pattern I noticed throughout the large majority of the show. More often than not, people like Tatsuya Shiba will be like (and I'm paraphrasing here), "Get to the point, spare me the details." And while, yes, I get that it's the whole point of his character, it just made him and many other characters so very bland for the main protagonists of the show.
The plot revolves around Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba, a brother and sister who both got through their entrance exams for Magic High, but Miyuki, the self-proclaimed "weaker" of the pair, ended up getting a far higher score than her older brother. As such, Tatsuya is put into a category of students called weeds, whereas Miyuki gets to be a bloom, and student rep. Beyond that, however, the ending was subpar, at best. The most emotion I got out of it was the final discussion between Masaki Ichijo and his closest partner, Shinkurou Kichijouji, and even then, I was barely fazed.
Tiny spoiler: Even if Tatsuya was very by-the-books, his inevitable bromance with Masaki Ichijo was actually really interesting to see, especially considering the fact that Masaki had a major crush on Tatsuya's sister. It was also pretty cool seeing Tatsuya being so accepting of the relationship between the three of them. I was initially expecting the two young men to have a blatant hero-villain sort of setup to them, not much unlike that of Vash & Knives in Trigun. I was happy to see I was wrong. Not that it's a bad plot twist, but it would've felt like they stole the plot somewhat from Trigun.
In summary, I felt like this anime was enjoyable, but sooooo bland.

I love this anime. In my opinion, the whole show just felt so...wondrously executed!
Perfection Incarnate Checklist:
Based off a video game made by the same people who made Sonic the Hedgehog?
Check.
Expands upon characters who were just kind of there in the video game so much to the point of making me cry?
Check.
Beautiful ending?
Check.
Amazing villains who were even more compelling than the heroes?
Check.
... Hatred for this anime being practically non-existent?
Check.
In summary, is this anime perfect, at least in my opinion?
Check.
In order to extend this review, let me discuss the spoiler-free comparison between the original video game of 2008, and the anime of 2009.
Valkyria Chronicles was absolutely amazing for a game coming from Sega. Seriously, the game had easy-to-grasp controls, an amazing story, and a cool correlation between the story's plot having to be executed in the actual gameplay. Not to mention that first scene with Welkin sketching the shining trout felt exactly the same as watching it happen in the actual anime.
In summary, the Valkyria Chronicles video game was just amazing and the anime was simply perfect.

Some call this anime garbage. Some call it a broken mess. Some call it flawed. And some call it a straight-up harem. In my opinion, I call those people, in the wise wording of Lex Luthor:
"WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!"
In my opinion, this anime is just a beautiful masterpiece on almost all of it's fronts...aside from the somewhat normal art style. Character development. Fight scenes. Battle cries. All of it was just so perfect, at least to me. The Aincrad arc was epic on so many levels. Seriously, the Tron-type plot was amazingly executed.
Spoilers: The Alfheim arc was incredibly well done as well. The only real issue with ... the 2nd arc was, at least for me, trying to initially discern Sugu from Suguo. My first time watching, I thought they were the exact same people.
Anyway, I loved this entire story, from start until finish. This anime is sacred to me, and I get so riled up whenever anyone discredits it in any way whatsoever.
In summary, Sword art online is definitely something whoever reads this should check out.