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Disappointing. If I had to pick a single word to sum up this series, it would be this one. On various sites I've seen this show praised to high heaven and, in my humble opinion, it goes right along Samurai Champloo as being one of the most overrated series that I've watched. Okay, I didn't think it was as bad as Champloo, at least I could manage to finish this show but, despite SAC not being a bad show by any stretch of the imagination, I do think if I went in with no expectations at all I might have come out of it feeling ... a bit more positive.

Right out of the gate I'm going to tackle the biggest issue I had with this show and that was the pacing and structure. For those who don't know, this show is split into two kinds of episodes, Stand Alone episodes, which are stories that are contained within a single episode, and Complex episodes, which have an overarching story. The issue here is there is a huge gap between Complex episodes in the middle of the show where there is about 7 or so Stand Alone episodes between the Complex ones meaning that I had actually forgotten a lot of the details of the earlier episodes since it had been so long since I'd seen them and pretty much no attempt was made to refresh the viewers on previous events. Even now I'm not so sure how those earlier episodes are connected to the string of Complex episodes that conclude the series. This series could have benefitted from ditching the Stand Alone episodes all together or having all the Stand Alone episodes bunched together followed by all the Complex episodes. I feel like this could work a lot better as a movie too, which I'm aware exists, so I'd be very interested in checking that out.

Even if structure of the episodes had been different, this show is still a definition of a mixed bag. The Complex episodes, which tell the story of the Laughing Man case, are excellent and tell a really interesting story that has a lot of mystery elements that can really pull the viewer in as well as a good bit of action on top to keep things interesting. I'll admit, I think that the story went a little over my head in places and that it could take another watch for me to totally absorb everything but that could just be a personal thing, I'm never been the best at following complex (no pun intended) stories in shows. On the other hand, the majority of the Stand Alone episodes were exceedingly average. Not really good, not really bad, just kind of there. It almost felt like filler. Honestly, with a couple of exceptions (Both of the Batou based episodes) it felt like a chore getting through some of these episodes as I really just wanted to get back to the Complex episodes. There is one episode in particular centered around the Tachikomas (A bunch of robots that help out Section 9) that must have been one of the dullest episodes of any series I've ever seen. It's not very often I clock watch whilst watching a show but that episode managed to achieve it.

Characters in this series also felt like another major stumbling block. Only two out of the eight characters in Section 9 really see any kind of backstory or depth and that's Batou and Togusa. Every other character, including the main protagonist of the show, The Major, got pretty much nothing. Hell, I couldn't even tell you the names of the characters in Section 9 outside of The Major, Togusa, Batou and Aramaki. Whilst The Major is incredibly badass throughout the show, the lack of any real development really hurt her character, especially seeing as she was the protagonist for the majority of the show. It made it really hard to associate or connect with her in any way.

The art and animation in this show is pretty good for the time it was made in. I probably wouldn't have guessed this show is over ten years old at this point and most of the show holds up in this department, god awful looking opening aside. One area I do have to praise profusely is the CGI. Considering this show was made in 2002, the CGI and the way it blends in with traditional animation is almost seamless. CGI in anime has never looked right to me in any show before this one but this show managed to do it in a way that was so unobtrusive you barely noticed. Honestly, I have no idea how a show from 2002 can pull this off yet a show like Aldnoah Zero manages to make it's CGI mechs look like they're from a completely different show.

In summary, I feel like this show is the very definition of a mixed bag. The Complex episodes are worth the price of admission alone, but the chore of the Stand Alone episodes and the lacking characters really bog down a show that could have easily been a fantastic show into one that is merely good.

Oh boy, where to start with Hunter x Hunter. I guess I'll start off by saying that I'm not entirely experienced in the Shounen genre. At least, not the long running ones. I've seen my fair share of smaller shounen series but the only 'big' shounen shows I've seen are the two Fullmetal Alchemist series and Dragonball Z Kai. I'd say that out of those Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is hands down the best and one of only 3 shows I've awarded 10/10 scores. What I'm saying is, I don't have much of a point of comparison for Hunter x Hunter other than a couple of ... shows I really like and one I consider perfect, so I am probably not the best person to be writing anything of any kind of depth as I've heard from others that a big reason that Hunter x Hunter is seen as being so good is how it subverts genre conventions generally seen in big shounen shows like Naruto and Bleach. That being said, I still really enjoyed Hunter x Hunter. Not as good as Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, in my humble opinion, but still sits happily at number 2 on that pile of Shounen shows.

The first thing I'll address are the elements of Hunter x Hunter that, whilst not bad, are certainly what I'd consider the most average things about the show, the visuals and the music. The visuals, whilst not bad by any means, are probably just slightly above average. The general visuals in this show never really rise anything above that. However, I'm willing to let the show slide on this element because out of the 148 episodes, the visual quality never slips and is maintained throughout the rather long run of the show. This itself is actually rather impressive considering there are 2 cour shows with inconsistent animation quality (See episode 4 of Gurren Laggan) so I'm willing to accept above average. The music is catchy and some of the songs are kind of memorable but they use a handful of songs and loops way too much and after 148 episodes it can be a little tired. Again, due to the length of the show, I'm willing to excuse that. It would be crazy to want new songs so often in a show of such length, but still, I noticed it and it bugged me a little.

The characters in this show are plentiful. I'm not sure if this similar in other Shounen but there are probably over 100 characters in total in this show. Granted, most of the characters of contained within certain arcs so it prevents the show from feeling overstuffed. These side characters all vary a lot and in the brief amount of screentime some of them get manage to make themselves memorable. Characters such as Bisky, Kite, Knuckle, Shoot, Palm and a ton of others are all very memorable despite them being in a small amount of episodes in some cases. As for the main characters, this show only really has 2 characters that consistently appear in every arc and, as such, are the main characters of the show. The 2 characters are quite well developed throughout the show, Killua more than Gon. Killua is the only one out of the pair that really goes through an arc, whereas Gon is more or less the same at the end as he is at the beginning in terms of personality. The character development is quite slow and gradual as you might expect with a show bordering on 150 episodes so the development feels very natural. A huge highlight of the show is chemistry between Gon and Killua and watching their relationship grow throughout the show. Gon and Killua don't know each other before the events of the show so you see their relationship start from the beginning on screen and watch it slowly develop throughout the series and by the end you get a genuine sense of how much of a bond the pair have formed during the show. It's probably on the same level, if not a little better than Fullmetal Alchemist in this area, it really is a delight to watch.

Now, onto the story. This show doesn't have a consistent storyline. Well, it kind of does. Gon trying to locate his father is present in most of the arcs and is sometimes the driving motivation however it is mostly a B plot, always something lingering in the background. So, since the story of this show is broken up into arcs, I shall break this particular section of the review into sections based on the various arcs, in chronological order.

Hunter Exam Arc:
I think this arc is the closest this show really comes to being a traditional shounen show. I also think this arc is one of the best in the show. The amount of variety seen in this arc is great as Gon, Killua, Leorio and Kurapika participate in a series of tests in order to get their Hunter's License. All of these different tests are unique and are a lot of fun to watch. Some of the tests run a little long in terms of episodes but never enough to make you bored. This arc also does a good job of introducing the main cast of the show and establishing the world of the show. This is probably also the lightest the show goes in terms of tone. I'll touch more on this in later arcs but this show is a little all over the place with it's tone. This initial arc sets the show up to be this very light hearted show, which it really isn't. It isn't Madoka-esque but it can be a little jarring.

Zoldyck Family:
This arc is the worst arc in the show, not because it's bad but because it isn't long enough to do anything meaningful and is the only arc where, if it was taken out, I don't think it would impact the show much at all. All it really does is serve to establish Killua's family who are very important in a bunch of the later arcs. Other than that, this arc is probably one of the series lowest points. However, it is still entertaining and not bad by any stretch of the imagination.

Heavens Arena Arc:
This arc is more akin to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This arc is essentially the first training arc of the show and a lot of the episodes are dedicated to showing this. During this time, the show introduces the concept of Nen, a vague kind of power that is essentially the lynch pin of the rest of the show, and I'd say is quite comparable to Stands. It essentially serves as a means to give characters a bunch of creative and ludicrous fighting powers and I'm really glad they were introduced. Since the show gets more action heavy from here on in, these powers really stop the show from getting boring. As well as the Nen training, this arc also features a lot of fighting in the arena. This part of this arc is also comparable to JoJo as a lot of the fights don't boil down to who is strongest and is mostly about tactics and using abilities to get the upper hand. This makes the fights very entertaining to watch and are the highlights of this arc.

YorkNew City Arc:
YorkNew City, along with a later arc, is, for me, tied for the best arc in the show. This arc is when the show very abruptly becomes quite dark. Not the darkest it gets, but the show definitely feels very different in tone. This arc introduces the Phantom Troupe, a group briefly mentioned in previous arcs, a group of villains that are some of the best characters in the show. Each of them are very memorable and, despite them doing bad things, are still mostly quite likable. This show is quite good with giving it's villains shades of grey and this really enhances how entertaining the show is and how interesting the characters are. This arc also serves to give major and well needed character development to Kurapika who serves as this arc's main protagonist, and actually has quite little of Gon and Killua and this is the only time this really happens. Nen is used to great effect and, for me, was the visual peak of the show too. I did say earlier that the animation is consistent but I think this arc just looks a tiny bit better than the rest for me. Not exactly sure why.

Greed Island Arc:
Greed Island serves as kind of a calm before the storm in terms of it's placement in the arcs. I takes place right in between the two darkest points in the show and this kind of gives you tonal whiplash both ways going both in and out of the arc. I also find this arc to be the second weakest. It is another training arc but it is kind of dull to watch. This is redeemed slightly by the character of Bisky, who is the first female protagonist in the show and is a delight to watch and very cute. Aside from that, the villain is very 2 dimensional and since it takes place in a video game, it kind of takes the stakes out of it a little big, especially when there is a power in this game that can heal any wound. Again, not terrible or even bad but in comparison to the rest of the show, it is another low point.

Chimera Ant Arc:
This arc is probably the best of the bunch, along with YorkNew City. This is the peak of the show. It is also the longest arc of the show by far, so it has the most time to build up the story and characters of the arc and it really shows. Chimera Ant takes up two thirds of the show and uses it's time well. The story is a slow build and it introduces a lot of characters and almost all of them are well developed. This is by far the darkest the show gets and, without spoilers, can very very shocking and violent. It's not Hellsing Ultimate or anything but it can be quite shocking in contrast to the rest of series. The assault on the palace towards the end is very peak of the show and is just overall fantastic.

13th Hunter Chairman Election Arc:
The last arc of the show is quite disappointing. Well, half of it anyway. The election itself is boring and I didn't feel any interest in seeing who gets elected. That being said, the story with Killua is very good and entertaining, it's just bogged down by the other half of the arc that I really think wasn't needed. This arc also brings the anime to a close. Due to the manga being on going, there are a lot of loose threads by the end of the show but I think that it wraps up at a good spot and it feels like a natural end to the show. That being said, I do hope the rest of the Manga is adapted when it wraps up in however many years.

To sum up, I think Hunter x Hunter is a fantastic show, in some places it's downright superb. However, it is quite inconsistent in both tone and the quality of the arcs. None of the arcs are straight up bad, but some of them feel like they could have been better. I'd still recommend this show to just about anyone who isn't put off by the hefty episode count. I think it is a little bit overhyped but is still well worth a watch, just for the Yorknew City and Chimera Ant arcs alone.

9/10

Story
The story in this show is the main reason to watch it, in my opinion. It's very well written and thought out, and the mystery is slowly revealed at the perfect pace. The end of every episode always makes you want to come back for the next episodes and the resolution is especially satisfying. The only real problem with the story is that it doesn't really grab you from the first episode, it took me a few before I was infested, but once you are, you're hooked. There is also a beach episode in the latter half of the show that feels completely unnecessary and ... doesn't really advance the plot at all, which ruins the pace a little bit.

Art/Animation
This show is a really good looking show for the most part. It is animated very nicely, and the action sequences look especially good. The only thing I didn't like was the occasional use of CGI really stood out in a bad way and I felt it clashed with the 2D art of the show, and doesn't work very well. However, it is used pretty sparingly throughout, so it isn't a huge complaint.

Sound
The sound is pretty good and does it's job. I didn't think any of it was really memorable outside of the Opening but the music always fits the scenes well and gives the show a good atmosphere. The voice acting (dub) feels a little bit shaky outside of the Mains, but nothing too distracting.

Character
Personally speaking, the characters are the weakest point of the show, and what prevents it from being great. Outside of Mei, the other characters are extremely underwhelming. Mei is the only one who gets any real development and backstory, with the rest getting pretty much nothing. They aren't annoying and they do their jobs, but they are incredibly forgettable for the most part, with the only other mildly interesting characters being Koichi and Izumi, but that's about it. With there being a good 10+ characters, only a few of them being interesting is a problem.

Enjoyment
The show is very enjoyable on the whole and I'd very much recommended just for the story, however the forgettable cast is really holding the show back from being something really great.

I found this show to be incredibly hard to rate, with the story being great but the characters being pretty forgettable so I decided to give the show I very good 8/10.

Story
The story of Accel World is pretty good. The story is pretty simple, and easy to follow, but remains engaging throughout, putting in quite a few twists and turns that makes you want to keep watching. However, in my opinion, has a major flaw. There are pretty much no stakes in the story at all. It takes the weight out of a lot of the fights when you realise that there isn't really anything to loose. However, in the last episode, after the last battle, they reveal something that would have made people a lot more invested in the story, and I think that it ... should have been revealed earlier.

Art
I really like the art style in this anime. It is full of an array of different colours due to it's varied environments throughout the show. This gives the show a lot of visual variety, and makes it stand out. The designs of the Battle Avatars are also pretty good for the most part, but a lot of the female battle avatars start to look a little too similar to each other. The general character designs for the show are also good, looking quite a lot different from other shows I have seen.

Sound
The sound is pretty good. The background music always fits the scene, but none of it is very memorable, outside of the second OP, which I thought was pretty good. The voice acting (English dub) was also just pretty good. Nothing really outstanding, but above average.

Character
The characters in this show are the main reason to keep watching, in my opinion. As I mentioned previously, the story in just pretty good, so it needed great characters, and that was the main draw for me. Sure, the characters are mostly different traditional archetypes, the nerd, the bully, etc, but they are really likeable, and I felt myself really rooting for them throughout the show. One early episode in particular really got me on an emotional level, because I was really starting to love the characters in this show. My only issue with this part of the anime is that around the second half of the anime, one of the characters does a massive 180 and it really hurts your view of the character. They do justify it at the end, but it's a really weak, but plausible, excuse, and I feel the character had already been kind of ruined at that point.

Enjoyment
I really enjoyed this anime, despite it having some faults, and only a slightly above average story, mostly due to it's characters. The action scenes are really well done, and thoroughly entertaining due to the various abilities that are seen throughout the show, and you can really get into the characters' and their relationships.

Overall: 8

As a pretty recent Anime fan, I felt it was necessary to check out all the series that many would consider Must See shows, and of course Evangelion is one of them. From what I have seen from others, the show seems very polarizing, some loving the show, some hating it. I seem to fall more toward the loving it, but the show is not without fault.

Story
The story of Evangelion is what makes it stand out among other Mech anime, turning what could have been a generic, plain, monster of the week show into something different. I find the story of Evangelion to be very ... interesting, and is what kept me going through the show most of the time. It has many twists and turns, especially in the latter half and it does a good job of keeping you hooked in. That said, I personally found the story quite hard to follow in the latter half of the show and found it quite confusing. What hurts the story the most is ending. While I won't go into spoiler territory, it is incredibly unsatisfying and leaves the viewer with many unanswered questions about the ultimate fates of the characters, and I feel it seriously hurts the story. This problem was rectified by the movie End of Evangelion, which I feel gave good closure to the show, but this is a review of the show, not the film, so the score is based on only the show.

Characters
As well as the story being what hooks the viewer in, the small but varied cast of Characters are also very interesting. Each one is given a back story and is fleshed out and there is a lot of psychological evaluation of all the characters, giving people an insight into their minds. That being said, while the characters are well written and developed, most of the main cast is quite unlikable. Shinji is constantly whining, Asuka is always an annoying bitch, especially concerning Shinji and Rei is almost robotic. While there are good, in depth reasons for why each character acts the way they do, they still aren't very likable and it makes it harder to relate the the characters and care about them.

Overall
Overall, it's not hard to see why Neon Genesis Evangelion got so popular and why it is so polarizing, even almost 20 years after its début. The story and characters are very deep and complex, if not somewhat hard to follow, making it a very engrossing show to watch, even if it is let down by it's initial ending.