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Once in a while a show can really surprise you with how fun it can be. You can start the show wondering 'why am I watching this' but soon enough the same content that made you question yourself grows on you to the point that you start enjoying every single moment. Scissor Seven is that kind of a show. In this review I will review all 3 seasons together.

When you watch season 1 you are given very little information about the characters throughout the season. And whatever you see is unspectecular in terms of the story or characters. But it helps that the episodes ... are short and you go through all that very quickly. That is not to say season 1 was bad. It was a fun watch often tickling your heart with strong moments. But what really won me over was the 3 episode OVAs. You get to know more about the main characters and they grow on you. Once that happens there is no going back. Everything the show offers seems fun and every episode feels worth it. The show itself doesn’t change much throughout 3 seasons with 6-7 light hearted episodes followed by 3-4 episodes closing out a season focusing more on the central plot. The show relies on It's top notch animation, action, characters and music to give you a very pleasant experience filled with comedy and warmth.

Story: The story itself isn’t all that special despite having enough to have you want to know what happens next. The show never pretends to be serious and It's shorter episodes make it an easy watch. The story revolves around Seven an assassin with amnesia living a new life in a different island. The show deals with Seven interacting with various people within the island, be involved in their moments of warmth and eventually protect them when they are endangered. His past will eventually come to haunt him and he has to deal with making sure no one gets hurt. The show is very good at providing just the right amount of information about Seven's past to have you hooked into the show.

Art and Animation: A common problem with the little amount of Chinese animated products I've seen is the characters can often look very similar. That isn’t the case with Scissor Seven. The art is lovely and the animation is superb with some great action sequences as well. The visuals only improve every season with the use of better technology.

Sound: What can I say? I've never seen Chinese animated works fail to produce good music. Scissor Seven is no exception. The music is top notch with memorable opening tunes, catchy endings, good soundtracks and touching insert songs. I often find myself going into youtube and listening to the soundtracks. Not something I find myself doing too often.

Characters: You love the characters the more you see them. The selling point of the show is the heart warming character interactions in my opinion. What is important is to give them time. While the jokes won't outright make you laugh, it'll do enough to keep you feeling good throughout the show. The early episodes of every season focus on character introductions or development in an episodic manner. Everytime a character reappears there is something new to learn about them or a development to be seen.

So overall Scissor Seven is fun with quality animation, music, and character interactions. It paints a good picture of the warmth in between chinese people in the best way possible. Hope this review motivated you to give the show a chance. I know I enjoyed it a lot and I hope you will too. Here's hoping the follow up movie keeps up the momentum.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The New Thesis- Encounter is a remake of the 1988 ova series 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' that spans for 110 episodes and according to people who have read the novel, it is a much more accurate adaption of the original novel series. There are a few things to consider from this information. First of all, the show is a remake and automatically tries to make money of off nostalgia from the old fans as well as gathering new fans for the franchise with use of new technology. Sadly it also suffers from the curse of being a remake. Which ... is being compared to the original all the way and getting heavily criticized for every minor thing they change about the show that the old audience likes which also leads people to not being open enough to appreciate the good things the new series adds to the franchise. The other important detail for the new viewers is that it is adapted from a novel series. Basically, it doesn't have the flamboyance and occasionally over the top storytelling of Light Novels. It doesn't have the immediate punch a manga adaption is supposed to deliver. It takes things slowly and spends a lot of time on world building and character development. Details are heavily appreciated and are supposed to be one of the strong points about the series. The presentation is similar to the closest hypothesis of what a day to day life would be if the world building were to be real. There is not much room for a extravagance or over the top entertainment. This is why an anime adaption of a novel series doesn't easily attract the general audience. Which is why it makes work harder for the remake as it suffers from the same problem. Moreover, the people who appreciated the original series are divided into 2 sections. Ones who like the series and ones who don't. For reasons mentioned above I don't think the new thesis will be a major success and a beloved series among anime fans. With that being said the effort put into this remake did please me. They appointed a very competent group of voice actors for this series. The show seemingly gets a good amount of budget. Most importantly it can introduce a new generation of fans to the original novel and the 1988 ova series. What do I personally think about the show? Well give me Reinhard and Young talking and you don't have to do a whole lot to get me to love the series.

Plot: The series is a space opera with seemingly every day yet thought-provoking political themes. It deals with the ideas and perspectives of autocracy and democracy. What's more is that it can show how insignificant the general people can be when it comes to actual politics. It also shows our perspective on how we are willing to accept anything as long as we can fulfill our basic needs The show asks questions about each and every perspective presented in the series. It asks the audience to pick a side early on and tries to show the consequences and flaws of every one of them. But that's a thing for the sequels. The first part of the remake which I'm reviewing is a 12 episode tv series and obviously, it covers very little of the original source material. Hence it is far from being complete. The plot deals with the monarchic Galactic Empire and the democratic Free Planets Alliance embroiling in a never-ending war. The story focuses on the journey of our 2 lead characters Reinhard Von Lohengramm of the Galactic Empire and Yang Wen-Li of the free planets alliance. The 2 characters who are almost polar opposite of each other are the best strategists of their respective military forces. We see individual episodes focusing on the story and ideas built around either Yang's or Reinhard's characters. The plot doesn't really take off in this particular part of the remake and they focus more on introducing the characters and introducing us to the world building.

While strategy plays an important role in the series, it's purpose is more or less to tell you how smart our lead characters are. It's written in the 80's by a student with very limited resources on military strategy and is strongly influenced by history. This is something I assumed because Yang's strategical knowledge is influenced by his own study of history. Since the show tries to portray the dominance of the Galactic Empire and helplessness of the Free planets alliance very early it can be assumed that it also tries to justify the stupidity of most of the other military personnel. Naturally, since the Galactic Empire didn't have any competition they never really needed to hone their basic strategic game. The free planets alliance is a mess from the inside and hence a lot of the military is driven by the intention of climbing up the ladder somehow and is presented as arrogant since they didn't have a reason to truly care for a system that didn't care about them. A lot of people will try to overhype the strategical influence which leads people often being disappointed about the series. I truly want people to love this series and hence warning everyone beforehand to not pay attention to them.

Sound: The opening of the this series 'Binary Star' is very very nice and I also love the ending theme. But can't say the same for all the soundtracks. With that being said, the content the show offers doesn't need a lot of support from the soundtrack as long as they don't ruin it by overplaying the soundtrack.

Characters: The characters are the strongest point of this show and I love almost every single one of the major plot players. Yang and Reinhard both fall within my fav 5 characters anime has given me. While there is still a lot to come from them I'm very much satisfied with what I've been given in this span of 12 episodes. I absolutely love the political angles of the free planets alliance and their characters are as much of a scum as our leaders in the real world.

Art; The character arts eventually grew on me. It was something I was initially worried about but I took a liking to most of them. Most people in their 20s and 30s look the same but that's not very different from what we have in real life. The space battle CGI has been kind of problematic but it has only improved since a horrible first episode.

Enjoyment: I hated the first episode and it didn't help after a subtitle error of Yang saying "I will not lose". They fix this after the first episode and since then this show has been nothing short of a gem if I talk about the usual anime standards. I absolutely love the series and while there's a lot more work yet to be done I can enjoy what has been given to me for now.

Conclusion; Watch this for sure if slow-paced storytelling and character development doesn't bother you.

I'll be reviewing this in 2 languages. The first section will be in English and will focus on the 2nd season. The 2nd section will have a brief explanation in Bengali about why you should watch the show generalizing both seasons.

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"How is she doing it? Does she write down her daily activities in a diary and take ideas from different moments in her life to use them in her characters? Is she taking notes from perhaps her favourite works of literature and combining everything she learned into one work? Did she read books on sociology before writing chapters?" All these thoughts constantly popped up into ... my head while I was watching Sangatsu no lion season 2. Because for a work to portray emotions of this much variety and to convey it in some of the easiest and most natural ways possible is truly something amazing. The writer understands what it's like to be a human. In some instances, some of the portrayals might be a little too over the top but I'll come back to that later. What is important is that Sangatsu no lion matters. It can impact people in a positive way. It can remind you of how you used to think in the past, it can deliver comments on how your current way of thinking is wrong and it can be a guideline for what you should do in the future. By all means, Sangatsu no lion, in my opinion, is one of the greatest animes ever made and something that'll stay in the top of my 'favourites list' for now. Since Sangatsu is a show about thought progression and human interaction, I can't talk about this show properly without talking about myself. So I hope you will pardon me for making this a little too much about myself if it is that way by the end of the review.

Changes from Season 1:

When I finished watching Sangatsu no lion season 1, I was quite mesmerized. Sangatsu no lion created one of the most awkward and relatable main characters ever in Rei Kiriyama. Through Rei's journey, we remembered what it was like to grow up to be what we are now and for a lot of people it may have been a guide to what they should do next.By no means is 3 gatsu no lion something most people would love to watch. By the time season 1 ended, there were people who loved the show and there were people who didn't like it at all. A lot of people didn't appreciate the transitions the show made from being depressing to being weirdly cheerful from time to time. Although some of that did bother me, the show overwhelmed me with its good sides. After finishing season 1 Rei's development hit a point where he couldn't be the same person he was in season 1. The theme's of depression surrounding him and his search for an ideal idea inside his heart couldn't be dragged forward too much. This is why I was also worried that season 2 might not be as good as season 1. I was worried that if Sangatsu no lion lost its heartwarming depression (you realizing your themes of depression are understood by another person is often heartwarming) it would be just another show with nothing special going for it. The season takes a few episodes to get going. But ultimately season 2 proves me wrong and goes to a level that far exceeds my expectations. While Rei's development reached a solid point, this season gives time to most of the other characters who required development. Characters like Nikaidou, Hina and Akari get a lot more development as the author explores each of their problems/insecurities. While depression and the feeling of relatable content remained, the show added another dimension to its progress. To explain this I need to go back to a quote from another show. I remember my favourite quote in the Psycho-pass series came from the far inferior season 2. Coming from Nobuchika Ginoza it was something like,
"The shortcut to growing up fast is accepting things the way they are." At that point, the line hit me like a truck. It didn't tell me anything new. But it suddenly expressed something I wanted to word for a long time. I finally understood why some of the adults can't understand when I'm trying to tell them about the various concepts I imagine. They grew up and hence forgot what it's like to dream a false hope of being in a different reality. That didn't mean I was okay with that sort of thinking. I do believe people should keep searching things inside of themselves without easily accepting what everyone else finds normal. In a way Sangatsu no lion season 1 was a reflection of my beliefs. Rei knew what the normal things to do and feel would be. Yet he kept searching for a solution that will finally give him the peace he is looking for. He never forced himself to adapt to things just because that's the normal thing to do. He craved for an imaginary sensation he didn't feel before. In a way, he was yet to understand how everything worked and how everyone felt. So he made mistakes along the way to learn things in what I believe to be 'the proper way'. After his development hits a certain point at the end of season 1 and he can accept himself for who he is, the show evolves along Rei. Most of the conflicts Rei had in season 1 was mostly the fruit of his own nature of overthinking things. It was a kind of psychological stress that came naturally with the circumstances he had to face while growing up. This applies to Kyoko's problems as well who just grew up to be strange because she didn't accept the direction her life took. This time around the problems revolve around the more clear ones we have in our society. By the end of season 1, the show already had us accepting things to be the way they are by highlighting all the bright sides that might make living worth it. This time it added another dimension by exploring common social problems and criticizing common social beliefs. It also presented a story of fighting sickness that almost brought me to tears. In a way Sangatsu no lion season 2 advances on the social side of things and goes on to become more than just a story. It finds itself being much more of an inspirational show this time.
As I pointed out before Rei understands his worth a lot more this season. His transition also adds to the show. Rei's narration is beautifully done. He is slowly developing into a protagonist who would be ideal in anyone's eyes. He still has a long way to go but that's just more reason the show is beautiful. No matter how much progress you go through it never really is enough. There's always room for more improvement. Through Rei's own self-critical self we are reminded of just that. Finding reasons to love doing what you do is important. This is something that gets a lot more light in this season. If you search strongly, you might find yours too.

Story:

If you think I gave away every theme there is about this show, you are largely mistaken. Sangatsu has at least one unique theme every episode. So the more you search for, the more you get out of this show. As for the main story, I will personally divide the story this season into 4 sections. One will deal with Hina's personal life problems that will last for almost the entirety of the season. One will deal with Nikaidou's sickness that was revealed during season 1. The duration of this might be small but the impact is probably the strongest out of everything the season delivers. The 3rd section is everything shogi related. The 4th section is about adapting with change. Something we get to see at the final few episodes of the season. Sangatsu is more about experiencing the story and not simply watching or reading it. So without giving away too many spoilers, I will let you experience everything for yourself.
The shogi in season 2 is as good as season 1 if not better. I'll say it again that the main appeal of Sangatsu no lion is understanding people and understanding yourself. The shogi plays a major role in doing so as well. Unlike most sports/game related shows Sangatsu gives a lot of focus to all the players playing shogi this season. Details of how they had to grow up. their habits, their thought process, their worries-all of these is presented beautifully which helps you understand and be one with the characters by finding similarities with yourself.
Random quote from episode 2 to explain what I mean,
“Everyone who’s gotten their butts kicked in a title match will always lose their composure for a bit. That’s just how it is. ‘At this rate, I’ll just lose.’ That is what they realize in between matches of a series. They have to break themselves apart and reconstruct it again from the shattered pieces. They start over from square one.”
This is a perfect example of the show exploring in-game psychology and being able to connect it with other everyday emotions, Portraying the difficulties of what it means to be a professional and what it takes to stay in the game throughout your life. It's not only the shogi that's getting the focus, but also the human beings playing it.
Like most people, the only thing I didn't like in season 1 was the attempted comedy. I understood why they did it but it wasn't always easy to watch. The comedy in season 2 was a massive improvement. Whenever they made certain scenes a little too melodramatic and cringey, they followed it up with heartwarming comedy. Some of these moments might not make you laugh but they do a great job changing the tempo and resetting things to the way we like it. For me, the only way to do comedy right is to keep the lines hidden and make it unpredictable. Sangatsu uses its awkwardness as a tool for comedy this season which makes it much funnier than its previous season. There's also gimmick comedy that worked well in the form of Noguchi. What also helps is every episode has a perfect balance of comedy and darkness this time. So the series maintains its consistency throughout. This is why I was able to accept the comedy a lot more this time around.

Art and Animation:

I think I praised what the source material offers a lot. The art is just as good as everything else. Characters are drawn beautifully and all of them are well detailed. The environment is used for storytelling and the scenes just take you to another place. But enough of that. Chika Umino did everything well. But portraying a concept such as Sangatsu's in animated form is not an easy thing to do. It can't be like just another show. It has to make the audience experience things the characters are experiencing. The anime wouldn't as good as it is if Studio Shaft didn't do such a remarkable job. The Visual imagery of Sangatsu no lion is just outstanding. The one word to describe it would be 'surreal'. It's like breaking down the real world and creating something that can be molded and painted into whatever you want. Every emotion is highlighted in their own unique ways. During important monologues, the screen shows the face of the character listening/talking/thinking in different angles portraying the shift of emotions as the monologue goes on. That really draws you into whatever they are saying. Shaft also did a great job making a chapter by chapter adaption which is probably the only right way to adapt this show.

Sounds:

Not gonna lie, I'm a guy who is musically open to very few genres. But no matter what Sangatsu no lion does, I seem to like it. It was musical works such as 'Answer' and 'En fermant les yeux' that made me want to watch the show in the first place. I liked all 4 of the openings and endings this season. There's not much to say about the soundtrack. The soundtrack just fits so well with the overall atmosphere. If either one of these attributes were to go wrong it wouldn't be possible to achieve the connection Sangatsu no lion achieves with its audience. The show can make me draw emotions using its music. It can make me feel things with its music and at the end of the day this what music is supposed to do. It is supposed to soothe.It is supposed to connect with the listeners. Full marks to the production team.

Characters:

With season 1 mostly focusing on Rei and Shimada, this season does justice to Akari, Hinata, Nikaidou, Mr. Yanagihara and many more characters. We also learn a bit more about mysterious meijin Souya who influences Rei a lot this season.
Akari: After the death of her mother and grandmother, Akari had to play the role of a mother figure for Hina and Momo. Her insecurities and worries are portrayed quite well in this season making people empathize with her. She has room for development and judging by what I was given thus far, she will develop into a much stronger character if we get another season.
Nikaidou: You understand everything Nikaidou stands for as the season progresses. He didn't get a lot of time dedicated to him. But they made the most out of what was.
Mr. Yanagihara: Sangatsu produces another lovable character. The episodes dedicated to this old man are simply amazing. It wasn't just old man thought too. Most of us probably think what he thinks already. But this is where we truly understand his pain as he had to carry those thoughts of burden for a long amount of time and still find a reason to be happy everytime.
Hinata: Before I talk about Hinata's development this season, I want to talk about something Sangatsu no lion made me realize in its previous season. In those episodes where Rei reveals his lonely school life and how people avoided him and vice versa, I really felt bad about myself. It was the feeling of regret. I also knew children like that who were avoided in class during my primary and middle school days. I somewhat knew I should talk to them but I didn't care quite enough. I was also afraid to be judged by others and thus decided to be a nothing for them just like everyone else. I regret not helping them during those times after watching Sangatsu. Sangatsu never directly told me how wrong I was back then. But Ms. Umino immediately picks up on it and has an arc dedicated to school problems. A that story not only shows us an example of how to fix things but it is also an example of how things can go wrong. Throughout this arc we see the development of Hina as she becomes a fine main female lead for the show. She takes on the role Rei played during last season and keeps everything we loved about season 1 alive at the same time. Rei's own development centers a lot around Hina. Her character keeps growing as you keep on watching the season.
Rei: Rei is as lovable as always and it's nice to see him finally enjoy his life. The role he plays is quite different this season. But the guy cannot stop being relatable as always. Rei's voice actor does a phenomenal job once again as Rei's narration inside his head is one of the best things about this show. Rei grows some more this season and gets closer to becoming the person he wants to be in the story and we want to be in real life.
Momo: Momo is the greatest gift anime has given to humanity.
Overall, the characters were really great once again this season. They are what makes Sangatsu no lion so unique in the first place.

Enjoyment:

Sangatsu no lion has this strong descriptive style of writing. It's like even though now you should be able to solve {(12+4)*64-24}/10 in a matter of 10-15 seconds max, it wasn't always the same for you. You probably had to do each operation one at a time when you were a lot younger. Thoughts are a sum of smaller pieces of thoughts. We forget with time that these smaller thoughts will eventually lead to many more larger thoughts. Thus we often bury these insignificant thoughts thinking they won't matter. Sangatsu breaks down those thoughts to a smaller level with its descriptive monologues. You may think most of it is unnecessary but if you think about it, you realize how significant they are when it comes to the characters feeling what they feel.It tells multiple stories that deliver cohesive strong themes. This is not something you write just to entertain the crowd. You can only write something like that when you are writing down a piece of you. So how enjoyable is Sangatsu no lion season 2? "If we go by our usual answer of enjoyable = entertaining that it probably isn't the most enjoyable show. If we look beyond that, it is a very enjoyable show as you experience how thoughts can be conveyed and learn a few things about writing yourself along some very heartwarming in-story content." I said something like that during last season but this season actually had a fair amount of entertaining content. So it is very enjoyable both ways.

Favourite Quote:
“Gaining and losing things are an unavoidable part of life for everybody. You feel joy, you feel disappointment and it repeats. And that’s how you learn how to handle your feelings. Disappointment and loneliness are necessary emotions. Because of loneliness people muster courage and reach out to a new world. Doing that is like reaching out as a baby does, and expands it’s small world.”
-Eisaku Noguchi

Conclusion: Sangatsu was written in 2007 and this is why a lot of the approaches are old. For example, I know people will complain about things like "Why isn't that girl just talking to her friend over the phone." I have read complains like this already. But when you consider the time it was written I'm sure most of these things will make sense. There's not much more I can say about it. It might make you smile, it might make you cry and it will give you cooking lessons. I like everything about the show and I can make everything they did seem like a likable thing because this is exactly how it was to me. Hopefully, this will be exactly the same for a lot more people yet to watch this show. I'd be pretty proud of myself If I could apply everything I've learned/got reminded of by watching Sangatsu in real life. Therefore, I would strongly recommend everyone to give this show a shot and to see if you can get something out of it. Thank you Chika Umino and Shaft for giving us a 'slice of life' in a literal form.

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3 Gatsu no Lion(Sangatsu no Lion) বা March Comes in Like a Lion জাপানি mangaka চিকা উমিনোর ধারাবাহিকভাবে প্রকাশিত দ্বিতীয় কাজ। ২০০৭ সালে প্রথম প্রকাশিত ধারাবাহিকটি ২০১৬ সালে Studio Shaft দ্বারা প্রথমে ২২ পর্বের একটি এনিমে adaption লাভ করে। পরবর্তীতে ২০১৭ সালে shaft এনিমেটির ২২ পর্বের ২য় season সম্প্রচারের জন্য মুক্ত করে । ধারাবাহিকটি দেধা শুরু করার পর প্রথম দৃেশ্যই shaft আমাদেরকে অত্তন্ত পরিষ্কারভাবে anime টির ব্যাপারে ধারণা প্রদান করে। প্রধান চরিত্র রেই কিরিয়ামা এর রুম দেখলেই তার অগোছালো জীবন আমাদের চোখে পরে। এরপর যে দৃশ্যটি দেখা যায় তা অত্যন্ত মনোমুগ্ধকর বটেই। রেই জীবনের প্রয়োজনে তার বিষণ্ণ মুখ নিয়ে কাজের জন্য বেরিয়ে পরে এবং En Fermant Les Yeux নামক জাপানি শৈলীতে গাওয়া ফরাসি গানটি বাজতে থাকে। গানটি চলাকালীন সময়ে Shaft সুন্দরভাবে রেই এর জীবনের তুচ্ছতা তুলে ধরে। ধারাবাহিকটির প্রথম opening গানেই পানিকে প্রতীকরুপে ব্যাবহার করে রেই এর জীবনের প্রতিকূলতা ও তার ভিতরের দ্বন্দ্ব তুলে ধরা হয়। যেন জীবনের স্বাভাবিক টানে সে ডুবে যাচ্ছে। শুধুমাত্র তাদের গানের মাধ্যমেই এনিমেটি আমার ওপর ভারী প্রভাব ফেলে। এনিমেটি দেখা চালিয়ে যেতে আমার ইচ্ছে হয়। ৩ নং পর্বে এসে আমি এনিমেটি নিয়ে আরও বড় আশা দেখতে থাকি। আমার মনে হয় আমি হয়তো আমার প্রিয় ১০টি এনিমে এর তালিকাতে আরেকটি নতুন শো অন্তর্ভুক্ত করার সুযোগ পেলাম। ১ম সিজনের ২২টি পর্ব দেখা শেষে আমি অভিভূত হয়ে যায়ি। Sangatsu এর মত কাজ এর আগে কখনো দেখার সৌভাগ্য আমার হয় নি। অনেক ছোট ছোট মুহূর্ত দিয়ে একটা টিভি শো কিভাবে অনেক গভীর বিষয় নিয়ে কথা বলতে পারে তা আমি আগেও দেখেছি। কিন্তু Sangatsu ছিল আমার দেখা সবচেয়ে বোধগম্য শো এর একটি। মানুষের চিন্তা ভাবনা বিশেষ করে একটি introvert এর চিন্তা ভাবনা ও বাস্তবতার সাথে তার দ্বন্দ্ব যে এখানে শুধু তুলে ধরা হয়েছে তা নয়। আধুনিক প্রজুক্তির কল্যাণে অসাধারণ এনিমেশন এর মাধ্যমে তা মানুষকে তা অনুভব করানো হয়েছে বললেই চলে। সিজন ১ এর বিষয়াবলী হয়তো বা আপনাকে কোনকিছু নতুন করে শিখাবে না। বরং তা আপনাকে আপনার জীবনের ইতিমধ্যে অতিবাহিত সময়ের দিকে ফিরে তাকাতে বলবে। কিভাবে চিন্তা তৈরি হয়, কিভাবে দুঃখের অনুভুতি আসে, অস্তিত্ববাদের সংকট, নিজের সাথে নিজের লড়াই, সহমর্মিতা, নিজ কাজে প্রশান্তি পাওয়া,জীবনের ওপর একাকীত্বের প্রভাব ইত্যাদি বিষয় নিয়ে এনিমেটিতে আলোচনা করা হয়েছে। ঠিক আলোচনা বললেও হয়তো ভুল হবে। এনিমেটি কখনো নিজ গতি ভঙ্গ করে কোন জিনিস নিয়ে বিস্তারিত কথা বলে না। তা নিজ গতিতে চলতে থাকে এবং সূক্ষ্মভাবে বিভিন্ন বিষয়ের ইঙ্গিত দিতে থাকে। বেশিরভাগ আলোচনাই রেই এর মনের মধ্যে তার নিজেকে চিনে উঠার ও নিজের আদর্শ জীবনযাপনের উপায় খুঁজার মধ্য দিয়ে প্রকাশিত হয়। ছোট ছোট মুহূর্তগুলো অত্যন্ত সূক্ষ্মভাবে একটি একটি চরিত্রকে গভীরতা দান করে।

বর্তমানে আমার এনিমে দেখার অন্যতম একটি কারণ হলো জাপানিদের মনস্তাত্ত্বিক ব্যাপারগুলি একটু গম্ভীরভাবে নেয়া। তারা এনিমেতে মানুষের চিন্তাভাবনাকে ভেঙ্গে খুবই সরল একটা পর্যায়ে নিয়ে আসে এবং তাকে অনেক একটু বেশি সিরিয়াসভাবে অথবা একটু বেশিই ওভার দ্যা টপ প্রকৃতিতে প্রকাশ করে। এ কারণে লেখার মানের ওপর ভিত্তি করে একটা কাজ যেমন খুব ভালো ও relatable হতে পারে, তেমনি লেখার দক্ষতার অভাব বা সস্তা মার্কেটিং জন্য কোন কাজ অতিরিক্ত ভন্ড বা অতিরিক্ত খারাপ হতে পারে। Sangatsu যেভাবে প্রতিটি সরল চিন্তাকে একটা অনন্য রূপ দান করে তা আপাত দৃষ্টিতে কারুর কাছে ভন্ড মনে হলেও আমার কাছে তা শিল্পের সবচেয়ে সুন্দর রূপ। কেননা শোটির প্রায় প্রতিটি বিষয়ের সাথেই আমি নিজের পুরানো কোন অভিজ্ঞতার সামঞ্জস্যতা খুজে পেয়েছি সেটা আমি নিজে অনুভব করে হোক বা অন্যের সাথে ঘটতে দেখা থেকেই হোক। শোটির একাধিক বিচ্ছিন্ন গল্প দিয়ে আরও সার্থক এক প্রকার গল্প বলে ফেলা বা এক গল্পের subtle side lesson কে পরের গল্পের মূল বিষয়ে সঠিকভাবে রূপান্তর করার ক্ষমতা সত্যিই আমাকে বিভিন্ন দিক দিয়ে অভিভূত করেছে।

প্রথমেই শোওটির গল্পে আসা যাক। রেই কিরিয়ামা একজন পেশাদার শোগি খেলোয়াড়। শোগি খেলাটি জাপানি দাবা হিসেবে পরিচিত।রেই একজন পেশাদার শোগি খেলোয়াড় হয়ে ওঠে যখন সে মিডল স্কুলে পড়ে এবং তার সাফল্য শীঘ্রই তাকে তার প্রজন্মের সবচেয়ে প্রতিভাবান খেলোয়াড়দের মধ্যে একজনের স্থান দেয়। তার বাবা-মা ও বোন একটি ট্র্যাফিক দুর্ঘটনায় মারা গেলে, তার পিতার বন্ধু কোডা তাকে গ্রহণ করে এবং শোগীতে তার শিক্ষক হিসেবে কাজ করে। পারিবারিক কারণে মিডিল স্কুল সম্পন্ন হওয়ার পর, রেই স্বাধীন হওয়ার সিদ্ধান্ত নেয় এবং এক বছরের বিলম্বের পর হাই স্কুল যোগদান করে। শোগি খেলা রেই এর শখ এর কাজ না হলেও জীবনের প্রয়োজনে তাকে শোগিকেই তার একমাত্র অবলম্বন হিসেবে স্বীকার করতে হয়। প্রতিটি শোগি match এর মাধ্যমে আমরা রেই ও তার প্রতিদ্বন্দ্বীদের ব্যাপারে কিছু জিনিস জানতে পারি। শোগি দিনে দিনে জনপ্রিয়তা হারিয়ে ফেলায় একজন শোগি খেলোয়াড়ের জন্য খ্যাতির ছটা থেকে বেরিয়ে আসা কতটা কষ্টের হতে পারে তা এখানে তুলে ধরা হয়েছে। Sangatsu নিজেদের চরিত্রদের গভীর মানসিক বিপাকে ফেলে তা থেকে বেরিয়ে আসার দৃষ্টান্ত স্থাপন করে। এর মাধ্যমে দর্শকরা তাদের নিজেদের সংগ্রামের সাথে কাহিনীর মিল কিছুটাও যাতে পেতে পারে সে উদ্দেশ্যেই এমন করা হয়েছে। যে বিষয়গুলি নিয়ে কথা বলা হয় তা এমন কোন বিষয় নয় যা আগে কেউ চিন্তা করেনি। কিন্ত এটি যা করে তা হল আপনি যেসব বছরগুলিতে এখানকার চরিত্রগুলির মত চিন্তা করেছিলেন, সে সময়ের চিন্তাগুলোর সাথে বর্তমান চিন্তাভাবনার সম্পর্ক স্থাপন করা। এটি একটি যাত্রা যেখানে আপনি নিজেকে আবিষ্কার করতে পারেন।যারা একই পর্যায়গুলির মাধ্যমে যাচ্ছে তাদের চিন্তে পারবেন ও তাদেরকে আরও ভালো করে বুঝতে পারবেন। Sangatsu এর পরিবেশ পরিবর্তন চোখে পড়ার মত একটি বিষয়। খুবই বিষণ্ণ একটি দৃশ্য হতে Over the top হাসানোর চেষ্টায় পরিচালিত দৃশ্যে শোটি অনেক সহজে নিজেকে পরিবর্তন করতে পারে। তার মূল কারণ দুঃখ ও প্রশান্তির মাঝে ভারসাম্য রাখার প্রয়োজনীয়তা। তাছাড়া সিজন ১ এর কমেডি বেশ দুর্বল হলেও সিজন ২ এ কমেডিতে এর ব্যাপক উন্নতি ঘটে।

চিত্রকর্ম চমৎকার। পরিবেশগত বর্ণনার ব্যবহার এবং তাদের চিত্রিত করে সুন্দরভাবে দর্শকদের কাছে উষ্ণতার এবং বদ্ধতার অনুভুতি পৌঁছে দেওয়ার কৌশল বেশ অসাধারণ ছিল। এটি চরিত্রের কল্পনার সাথে দর্শকের কল্পনা একীভূত করে। উন্নত এনিমেশন এর মাধ্যমে বাস্তব অনুভূতি এর অনন্য পরিবেশন দিতে সক্ষম হয়েছে Sangatsu no lion. মিউজিক এর কথা ইতিমধ্যে বলা হয়েছে। মিউজিক এর মাধমে বিষণ্ণতা ও আনন্দ কে সঠিকভাবে উপস্থাপন করতে শোটি সফল হয়েছে। গানগুলি শুধু শুনতে ভালো শোনায় যে তা নয়। এগুলোর মূল গুন হলো গল্প বলার সামর্থ্য। সমস্যা থাকা স্বাভাবিক এবং একই সমস্যায় ভুগতে থাকা অন্য চরিত্রকে দেখলে আমরা চরিত্রটির উন্নয়নের মাধ্যমে নিজেদের মধ্যে সে উন্নয়ন আনার সুযোগ লাভ করি। কেননা কোন চরিত্র কাল্পনিক হলেও তার লেখক ঠিকই এমন পরিস্থিতির মুখোমুখি হয়েছেন বলে চরিত্রটি লিখতে পেরেছেন। এতোটুকু জানলেই আমাদের মাঝে কোন সমস্যা মোকাবেলা করার শক্তি জন্মে। কেননা আমরা বুঝতে পারি আমরা একা নই। এমন মানসিক অবস্থা তৈরি করার জন্য sangatsu এর সাউন্ডট্র্যাক অনেক গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অবদান পালন করে।

এখন আমি এই অনুষ্ঠানের আমার প্রিয় দিক সম্পর্কে কথা বলি। চরিত্র! অল্প সময়ের মধ্যে Sangatsu এর চরিত্রগুলি অনেক গভীরতা লাভ করে। রেই কিরিয়ামা সফল অথচ অসুখী কারণ জীবনে আনন্দের ছোঁওয়া সে হারিয়ে ফেলেছে। বেঁচে থাকার অনুভূতি এমন জিনিস যা তাকে টিকিয়ে রাখে। সে নিজেকে আরও বেশি খুঁজে পেতে চায়। শো এর সেরা অংশ সম্পর্কে রেই এর অভ্যন্তরীণ দ্বন্দ্ব । কাওয়ামটো বোনেরা রেই এর জীবনে পরিবর্তন নিয়ে আসে এবং সে পরিবারের সাথে তার এক মানবিক সম্পর্ক গড়ে উঠে। ৩ বোনের অধিকাংশ চরিত্র প্রদানের কাজ ২য় সিজনে হয়ে থাকে। তারা এই ধারাবাহিকের অত্যন্ত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ চরিত্র।

তার শ্রেণি শিক্ষক হায়াশিদার সঙ্গে রেই এর সম্পর্ক শো এর হাইলাইটগুলোর একটি, রেই এর চরিত্র কোন মতেই আদর্শরুপে শুরু করে না। তার চরিত্র খুব দুর্বলরুপে প্রকাশ পায় এবং তার শিক্ষক হায়শিদার অবদানে আস্তে আস্তে সে আরও শক্ত হতে শুরু করে । তার শিক্ষকের সঙ্গে তার কথোপকথনগুলি ধারাবাহিকটির অন্যতম শিক্ষনীয় বস্তু। শিমাদা এবং নিকাইডো রেই এর চরিত্র সংগঠনে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অবদান পালন করে। এই এনিমটির শ্রেষ্ঠ বৈশিষ্ট্য হলো এখানে প্রায় প্রতিটি চরিত্রকেই গভীরতা প্রদান করা হয়।

আমাদের বাংলাদেশি দর্শকদের জন্য Sangatsu সময় কাটানোর অনেক ভালো একটি সুযোগ। দক্ষিণ এশিয় দেশগুলো তাদের গল্পে যে ধরনের ছোঁওয়া চায় তা এই এনিমেটিতে আছে। সুতরাং, আমি সবাইকে এনিমেটিকে ধৈর্য সহকারে দেখার উপদেশ দিবো। বিশেষ করে introverted দের জন্য relatable content দেখার ও বয়স্কদের জন্য এটি তাদের কৈশোরের দিনগুলো নতুন করে উপভগ করার ভালো সুযোগ।

Reviewing Boku dage ga Inai Machi (Erased) is a rather difficult thing to do for me. I want to praise the show more but rationally speaking it doesn't offer me too many opportunities to write down things I love about the show. When I usually like a show I would list down things that can potentially help in the long run or make me feel better. Erased is different. It was hard for me to identify what it was trying to do. Which is probably the exact reason I ended up enjoying the show in the first place.

Plot: The show deals with our main character ... Satoru trying to reshape both past and present by saving people with the help of a supernatural occurrence he calls 'revival'. After a series of events, Satoru goes back 18 years to 1988. He decides to save one of his classmates Kayo who was the first victim of a serial abduction case. By changing that event in the past he believes he can create a future where people close to him won't be dead. Satoru's struggle to reach his goal seeks empathy and it does a good job to get it. They showed multiple courses of the narrative to make it work and have us a feel a little more attached to Satoru. But the draw for me remained to be the purpose of the show. It was never too dull or annoying. So watching it until the end was never a problem. Whether the show was predictable or unpredictable wasn't the point. They occasionally tried to mislead the viewers into thinking something might happen. Regardless of what the outcome was the show always managed to draw my attention thanks to that process. Maybe things won't go the way I am hoping for? Maybe they will? It had me asking questions and drew my focus which itself makes the show worth watching because it is drawing out emotions such as excitement and anticipation. Now I'll try to break down why I felt this way.

For starters, the show never tries to be logical. The supernatural phenomenon that Satoru goes through is never explained. One of Satoru's friends Kenya is exceptionally bright and understanding for his age. I guess they decided to do that to promote friendship like every other show tries to do. Some of the scripts end up being not so well thought out but those are mostly too insignificant. Satoru acts way too childish in his 11-year-old body which isn't weird since he has a younger body and thus different amount of hormones. But not every childish emotion of his can be explained by that logic. Basically, it's like the show tries its best to tell the audience to not give too much attention to those details because they don't matter. I am ok with that. But if all these are supposed to be insignificant, what is the big deal? It keeps you asking that question without boring you all the way through. Actually, that isn't necessarily true. If you are a weekly viewer you probably will get bored eventually. So this is one of those shows that is best when binge-watching. To sum it up the strength of Erased is the thriller aspect of the show. Although predictability is directly related to how a thriller works Erased doesn't totally rely on it. You always know who the main culprit is because they hardly focus on another possible suspect. But it didn't matter to me. Because questions kept arising one after another.Of course, all those would result in zero if you didn't get any answers to those questions. Which brings me to the pacing. The pacing is often uneven but nice. It has a strong start and an inconsistent middle half. The show tried to finish the story in 12 episodes which kinda resulted in a much more fast-paced final few episodes. Which brings me back to answering questions. The show does do that but doesn't really explain anything in details. However, the show is filled with strong quotes which come in handy when it comes to breaking down the characters and eventually answering the questions I was referring to. Then again whether your questions were answered entirely depends on the questions you had in mind, to begin with. The most important question I pointed out was "What is the point of this show?" . Basically, if you like the show you already know what the point is and if you don't the point failed to get to you. (funny how that is the case for pretty much every show).One of the more debatable topics of this show is how much everyone detests the ending. I personally loved the ending. It had nothing but a positive impact on my view of the show. It wasn't detailed but effective nonetheless.

Animation and Sound: the superficial aspects of this show are top notch. The animation is beautiful with a nice cinematic presentation. The melancholic piano tracks work well with the theme of this show. Both the opening and the ending are nice. However, they don't really tell any particular story. Overall, they do a pretty good job in both of those aspects.

Characters: The show doesn't build too many characters.Satoru's character is well explained and built. Kayo's character is understandable and they gave her a good amount of screentime. Satoru's mother doesn't have a great deal of screentime but her character is also well rather well built and plays a good part. The villains are messed up but well portrayed nonetheless. Kayo's mother is one of the antagonists who lacks depth but doesn't need it. Because some people are just broken and messed up. That is all there is to it. The main villain doesn't get a whole lot of exposure but they explained him rather beautifully in a short duration of time which leads me to say the final result that made me like this show is the main villain and the breaking down of the main villain's character. Although the interpretation I made after watching the anime is different from the detailed explanation in the manga, I found myself preferring my own interpretation. Maybe that was intentionally altered and maybe it was just poorly thought out. Either way that doesn't change my first impression of the show. It doesn't end up making the thrill I found a lie either. So it works depending on the person.

Conclusion: Erased isn't hard to love but how much of its content will bother you is a different question.Depending on the person it can go both ways. It's definitely not one of the greatest of all time but it's a good show nonetheless. Erased is a show better of binge-watching as the seemingly forgettable quotes throughout the show end up making you accept the ending the way it was executed. With last years hype gone, I'm sure no one will really passionately hate this show anymore because it really doesn't do anything super annoying. So yeah would definitely recommend everyone who doesn't a have a tough schedule to watch this show.

The first word that comes to my mind when I try to describe this show is 'beautiful'. It is that simple and yet not simple at all. I start the show and the beautiful french song wins me over. When I finished 3 episodes I saw all the potential for this to eventually become one of my favourites. Although the route the show took was not what I was expecting, I am glad the feelings I was expecting were met.

For starters, the show deals with our protagonist Rei and his journey to find the happiness he has been looking for. Like everybody who has been ... through their teens, Rei asks himself a lot of questions we all can relate to. It's not something that no one has thought of before but what it does is help you go through all those years you probably spent thinking about the things our protagonist thinks about. It's a journey where you can reinvent yourself. You can identify and understand people who are going through similar phases and be more pleasant to them at the same time. The show is easy to understand and yet the best parts of the show are pretty subtle. You are a human, you've been through things, you have felt things and you have to ask yourself the questions. The more human you are the better you can appreciate this show. After reading this much, the show probably seems like an edgy show about teen problems with sad and gloomy atmosphere all the time. In fact, it is pretty different. Although the things brought up in 3 gatsu no lion is pretty deep at times but it never tries to sell it too much to the audience. It tries to keep the atmosphere as easy and every day like as possible, just what you would expect from a slice of life. It can be an everyday smile and spread smile show one moment and then manages to cover it with beautiful relatable sadness the very next. It makes sure not to overdo the depressing themes and tries some very not funny comedy. The purpose of the comedy never seems to be about making people laugh. Rather it's about making them feel warmer and more vulnerable to digest the more serious concepts.

The show focuses on shogi and people who build their life around shogi. But no one has to understand Shogi to truly appreciate the show. Rather its the story of people choosing a not so lovely life, the struggles they face because of it and their reasoning to continue. The answers to the questions are pretty simple and it is presented that way but they still manage to hit hard because of the sheer presence of realistic natural emotions that can easily win people over. The pacing is slow because of those things of course. But that shouldn't affect people because the show never really loses the magic it attracts its audience with. The show is better of being slow because that is what allows it to excel as well as it does.

The artwork is fantastic. The use of environmental description and portraying them beautifully adds a lot to the strategy of making things warm to the viewer. It adds to character development through the imagination of the characters.Not only does the artwork look good but with great animation, it also serves a strong purpose to why it is what it is. It just feels very real. It is a very special show.

The sound in 3 gatsu no lion is also wonderfully done. Good storytelling through opening and ending, meaningful lyrics and nice songs as well. The soundtrack is mostly chill as if there's a touch of sadness and recovery to it, like the nature of the show itself. No matter how many emotions the show portrays it rarely goes out of its soothing way of music. No matter what the problem is it's natural. People go through them. Hence they can feel better with a few drops of tears. The music portrays everything as soothing and calm. Time for a mandatory Steven Wilson quote-

"Those are the things that make me want to express or exercise something through my songwriting.

"There's a lot of beauty to be found in sadness and melancholia.

"One of the things that you find time and time again - not just with music, but with literature - is that things that appear to be quite depressing on the surface can ironically be very uplifting and touching to other people.

"When you hear something that really reminds you that you're not alone in feeling sad, depressed, melancholic, angry - I think that can actually be a very cathartic experience.

The soundtrack works in a similar fashion for 3 gatsu no lion.


Now I talk about my favourite aspect of this show of course. The characters! The characters in 3 gatsu no lion have a lot of development in a short period of time. Rei Kiriyama is a pretty successful yet unhappy teen. He doesn't enjoy shogi but still plays on because it is the only thing that gives meaning to his life. His sense of survival is the thing that keeps him ticking. He isn't proud of his reasons and wants to find more to himself. The show's best parts are about Rei's inner conflict and self-discovery. The 3 kawamoto sisters are people that can make Rei feel different. Their purpose in the show is strong. They are pretty detailed characters who are supposed to contribute to building a warm environment for the entire show. They have their own emotions and they easily feel sympathy and care for other people.

2 other characters I would like to talk about is Rei's adoptive father and his adoptive sister. Rei's adoptive father is the kind of person who would give more importance to his passion of shogi than to his own children. That would result in a messed up psychology for Rei's adoptive sister Kyoko who is another important character in the series. Her presence creates doubt and problems for Rei which plays a vital role in his development

Rei's relationship with his homeroom teacher is one of the highlights of the show and certainly one of my favourite things. Basically, some of Rei's traits is also some of our most pathetic sides that we often can't let go. His conversations with his teacher address those and is a life lesson for the audience in general. One other character of importance shows up as Rei's mentor later in the series. His development is also something to admire and reminds us just why we love this series in case we ever forget in the middle of all those attempted comedy that we might not appreciate all the time.

How much did I enjoy the show? It is not something people would watch for entertainment.The journey itself is rather the draw here.It is not a show where you leave easter eggs to have the people talk about and discover vague meanings and how technically superior it is to other works.It's better than that. It's just very relatable, has a strong purpose and feels very warm and soothing.

Conclusion: Of course season one leaves things to be desired but that is why we got a season 2. Hopefully, season 2 will be just as good if not better. I hope they don't go downwards from here. As for season 1 as a stand-alone, well I am very happy no doubt. Would recommend everybody to watch it the right way for sure.

Once I finished the first season of Boku no hero academia, I did not feel that I had enough things from the show to call it a very good show. However, it was a potentially long-running shounen. Hence judging it from watching just 13 episodes was always going to be a problem. Although Season 1 built up a generic premise and introduced an uninteresting group of characters, it was never really hard to watch. In fact, all the arcs had a good pacing and did provide minor development for the sure. So Season 2 is pretty easy to watch as well as you know the ... show should get better after season 1.

Plot: We have like 3 arcs to watch in this season of 25 episodes. Since shounens like these never provide enough in one episode, having more episodes in a season definitely helps. The show also does enough for the audience to not get bored. We have a sports festival arc consisting of 12 episodes that provide a lot of development for the uninteresting group of characters that were introduced in season 1 and makes them more acceptable for the upcoming episode. The focus on the 2nd arc is basically dragging simple concepts and exaggerating them. We have our typical psychotic antagonist who feels he kills people for just cause and the show will try to pretend that his ideology is actually something to at least think about. This arc has some fine action of course with some very good script writing that we get to see once in a while. The third arc is a less serious final exam arc that sets things up for the next season while doing what the show has managed to do throughout the season and tries to polish some of the concepts we've already introduced too.

Art and Animation: Animation for Boku no hero academia is pretty good. The fight sequences are done well too. This aspect of the show shouldn't be a problem to anyone.

Sound: Soundtrack of this show also does its job. Creating a nice warm tone and also telling the audience the events that are happening is important. They don't overuse it like a lot of shows do and that's one of the reasons it works.

Characters: Finally the biggest improvement of this season is the character development we get. The biggest example is Todoroki who gets plenty of psychological exposure in a nice amount of time. Midoriya keeps discovering certain aspects of his character as well as his fighting style. Iida gets much more development as well proving his character is not one dimensional. We also get to know more about Ochako who is likely to be one of the major plot players in upcoming seasons. The other side characters get a decent amount of time too. Bakugo is still a guy based on one characteristic of course. And I don't even know if they want him to be a better character or not. Perhaps that serves the purpose of the show later on. Therefore, the characters get a major boost this season which certainly plays a key role in the improvement we do see in season 2.

Impact: Other than those technical aspects Boku no Hero Academia keeps things simple. Its problems and solutions are unrealistic and yet people of all age groups can relate to the characteristics required to solve some of those problems. People can see a shell of themselves in the diverse group of characters. Considering the main target audience of the show, this is very important as it can also be helpful towards their growth during early teen days. The concept of what it means to be a hero which is pretty much the main concept of this show can play a big role in creating an anti-bullying mentality for the young generation. So basically this show maintains strong purpose while moving on with its plot elements.

Conclusion: Boku no Hero Academia isn't perfect yet. But the 2nd season did a remarkable job with visible improvements in most of the fundamental areas. It gives off a warm feeling, has a good pacing, often relatable basic character psychology everything makes this show worth watching.

Psycho-Pass is a show with its fair share of dislikable content . But that doesn't stop it from being a very good show . Its a well written show with intruiging philosophy and good creative story telling . The first thing I will address about the show is what to expect . Psycho-Pass has a setting where you can scan peoples brain waves which they express with the term 'Psycho-Pass' and judge if they are fit for society or a certain type of work . It is set in the future and explores the content of its own setting throughout the show . Basically ... the people who have high crime co-efficiency are treated like monsters and they are deprived of their social rights . Living in a society full of flaws and that being something strong enough to shape the behaviour of people in general , psycho-pass deals with the conflict sorrounding the question "What would be an ideal society ?" . It uses several literary references to pay tribute to the writers that most likely inspired the writer of this show . Other than being a good psychological , psycho-pass has its fair share of action to keep the fanbase of that genre intrigued with a few good hand to hand combats.

Art and Sound : There's not much to complain about the psycho-pass production . They did a pretty good job with the animation and sound . Which is one of the reasons people can enjoy the show in the first place .

Characters :I really enjoyed this aspect of the show despite it not being able to do justice to most of its characters .But 3 characters standout pretty well which is in most cases enough to make up for everyone else . Psycho-pass had a unique cast of characters based on the setting of the show . Kogami is a fan favourite for obvious reasons as he is the badass dude carrying the thriller aspects of the show . The action , the conflicted conversations , solving mysteries - Kogami takes central stage in all of this . His presentation is pretty simply and has a strong delivery .
The main protagonist of the franchise Akane is one of those over idealistic characters people can hate . But if you take a better look at the show you will find how important , she is . Akane takes central stage in coming up with answers sorrounding the social conflict that is seen on the show . Although she doesn't come with an absolute solution , it is shown through her that taking things for the way they are and improving on it is the only way to solve your problems . She is the final piece in the psychological aspects of this show when her development is at its prime . Through Akane's own conflicts people can truly view the beauty of psycho-pass and it feels like a complete show staying true to some realistic political and social variables .
And finally the third character I am going to praise is the main antagonist of season 1 'Shougo Makishima' . What would you call a great villain ? Is it someone the people can enjoy watching ? Well did you ever consider it may hurt the true purpose of the show if you end up cheering for the villain ? It is important for most shows that the villain draws hate . Makishima is a character who is very easy to hate . At the same time , he has the 'it factor' and charisma to draw the audience to enjoy the show as well . Basically Makishima is perhaps the real reason psycho-pass is as good as it is in the first place. Not only does he contribute to the psychological aspects of the show bringing out the reasons of conflict itself but he also contributes to the more casual ways to draw audience .

Dislikable content :

Convenient writing : since psycho-pass explores its own settings , it has plenty of convenient storytelling to tell the audience whatever it wants because they can justify that by modifying the setting itself . If you loved Code Geass I believe this won't bother you at all .But one more area it does affect is the mystery sorrounding the show . People like to use their own head to solve mysteries but because of the appraoch of this show that isn't possible .

Pacing : The earlier episodes are pretty boring as they take a long time explaining the setting . Its very hard to watch the show until the psychological conflicts begin to show up . Thankfully episode 4 onwards the show is a bit more interesting. But in the end the show decides to not evolve and do a season 2 with weaker elements of season 1 . The ending remains weak and you wonder if the promise the show sets really delivers in the end.

Nudity : what does this offer other than making the show annoying .

Overused Soundtrack : As I said before the soundtrack is a valuable part of the show . But its a little bit too valuable as the show tries to make ordinary scenes mean much more by playing a music . The pretentious can bother a few people although it personally didn't bother me all that much .

Conclusion : Psycho-pass is very strong with its genres and hence if you don't mind the drawbacks I mentioned above I would recommend giving this time .

When I wrote a review on the first season I was very glad to be able to write so many good things about it . All the expectations I had heading into the show were met . The 2nd season however didn't live up to my expectations at all .The show took away most of the things I loved about the first animated season . Let's take a look at the story first .While the first season had an amazing structure with builds and progress , this had little of that . I will deal with the progress issue in characters section but however lets ... talk about the pacing . The pacing was pretty inconsistent this season . The first few episodes hardly meant anything . Note that the series resumed after quite a few years and so they felt the need of putting way too many flashbacks . Hence the pacing wasn't good and the earlier episodes come of as pretty boring . The Date vs Martinez fight had little to offer as it was supposed to sell the spirit of Date and the skill of Martinez . It was supposed to be storytelling which we all knew was coming and did not draw out any excitement . The matches in season 1 had the unpredictability factor sold and demonstrated how gaps in boxers aren't that big . This season had to tell a different story and due to the inconsistent pacing the show felt bland .The good thing about the plot is this is a Hajime no Ippo series and when a long running shounen earns our love , its not easy to lose that love .

Art and Animation : Art is pretty good most of time . I did not like designs for a few characters such as kumi . But that is subjective . As expected modern animation gives this season a pretty good boost which it obviously needed .

Sound : I honestly felt like the soundtrack in season 1 played a huge role in selling multiple emotions , most notably the comedy . While the show had its strong moments the lack of diversity in soundtrack is somewhat a lacking in this season . With that being said the opening and ending are good regardless .

Characters : The show focused pretty little on Ippo this season . His character appeared cringy in the beginning of the season where he was being presented as a fanboy of other boxers he fought . Thankfully they don't present him in a similar way in the latter episodes . Other characters were supposed to get more time to shine in this season with Takamura playing a big role . However the characters have very little progression in this season . We only get more details on character backgrounds rather than getting more character depth . We did not learn any new fighting styles , we did not get new emotions out of the sport of boxing , we did not get much change in characteristics for the majority of the characters .
With that being said , the show introduced a good villain in Bryan Hawk who was pretty easy to hate . Itagaki adds to warm feeling providing kamogawa squad . Gero-Michi gets decent development although I personally wasn't a big fan of it .

Fights : This season doesn't do the best of jobs with the fights either . While the new animation helped , the intensity wasn't there . The storytelling was the focus which wasn't very interesting at any point other than maybe the Date-Martinez fight . Takamura vs Bryan Hawk was the attraction of the show which did pick up late in the season . However the tactical , realistic boxing from season 1 wasn't there for Takamura matches as they had to present him as superman and turn boxing into street fight .
With that being said the story behind Hawk vs Takamura was very good . The hardships of weight management gets good exposure . So the show carries on with the good job it does with showing viewers how difficult the sport is .

Conclusion : While the season isn't as good as the first one , it brings back our favourite characters and moves their stories a step forward . The show had its vulgar comical moments and at times the cringy ones too . Which were tolerable because this is simply Hajime no Ippo . The show ends with promise as the story finally shifts focus to Ippo . The improved animation will be a huge boost for the casual audience . The show is still Hajime no Ippo and it is still enjoyable to those who loved season 1 .

There are shows that mesmerize people through amazing creativity and genius presentation , there are shows that simply connect with people through use of relatable emotions and there are shows that connect to people just for their natural ability to make the viewer smile . Hajime no Ippo is a show that can do most of it . I've seen a few anime comedy shows up to this point but not many managed to make me laugh as much as this one has . Like any shounen , the strength simply lies in how much it can entertain the viewer and I haven't been bored ... by Hajime no Ippo at all . Keep in mind that the manga started in 1989 and so most of the material has an old school approach . Which is one of the refreshing things about it actually . Because it doesn't feel like a modern generic shounen . As a sports anime , this demonstrates the sport of boxing in a pretty good way . From the harshness of the sport to the hidden joys and the appeal to it as well(by basically asking the ques time and time again and not delivering an objective answer because the matter is that subtle ) . I haven't seen a sports anime stand out for the sport itself as much as Hajime no Ippo does because the sport itself is the main attraction . Its not character complexity , its not supernatural elements in sports , it was simply the sport of boxing that stood out . The plot is very simple and has a good pace moving forward . We don't get too many episodes at once focusing on the characters improving as a sportsman . They keep a good pace and maintain good timing between character development and the matches . Not like the matches themselves don't have a lot of character development but most of it is generic shounen hero development and main stories are told during preparation where time passes at a good pace . The crowd interaction was a solid part of the show . Selling good things about the sport and emotions carried by it .

The character development the show gets is amazing . Most of the characters have their own story and something to make them matter . Each of them are pretty realistic in their own way and have something that can make them connect to a variety of audiences . The everyday struggle they have to go through has a nice presentation . The show has multiple characters that go through considerable change through their own backstories and subplots . Their interaction with one another makes the show very enjoyable as none of the characters by themselves are spectecular but cohesively they form a good and enjoyable combination .

The action itself is something to behold . The animation is pretty good considering its time and they do a particularly good job with the action sequences . You don't need supernatural stuff to make a sports anime stand out when you put on such mesmerizing sequences of quality animation . They take ideas out of real boxing techniques and sell them as something special ( a normal tv viewer wouldn't probably consider it that way unless he is pretty knowledgable about the sport ) This show can make an audience admire boxing if he didn't do it before . Usually what I said may sound repititive for a 75 episodes show but you won't be bored as they do an amazing job selling the intensity and minor changes you do get .

The soundtrack is something special . The correct sound draws out the correct emotion when played and I found most of the opening and ending to be suitable for the theme of this show and you really can't say more .

While most comedies try to gain attention through perverted stunts and cringy jokes , Hajime no Ippo does most of it the right way. Most comedy scenes create a nice solid moment of tension before delivering the joke. No matter how simply the joke is , if it has a strong delivery it will make people laugh(even the cringy and perverted ones seem different ) . That is exactly what the show manages to do throughout making this such a fine comedy as well .

The flaws that the anime has come naturally with the shounen genre . If anything it does a fine job with its storytelling to defend the generic character growth making this perhaps the greatest shounen I've seen till date and the best sports anime as well thanks to its sheer consistency despite repititiveness .

Conclusion : You love sports ? You hate sports ? doesn't matter . You will love this show if the classic shounen approach doesn't bother you . This franchise is one of the most beloved anime / manga franchise there is and after watching the show I can say that is completely justified . It doesn't require a whole lot of understanding . You can watch this in any mood , any time without having to focus a lot . Most importantly it does its job at being really enjoyable so what more do you want ?

What does it mean to live ? Do you have a proper image in your mind that drives you to live in a certain way ? What's the certainty that you will be able to live that way ? Will you actually be pleased if you manage everything you ever wanted ? Are you sure you won't feel emptiness ?Do you ever consider how much worse your life could've been ? Do you blame others for things not going your way ? Do you take responsibilty for your own action ? Are you sure there is nothing left for you if things don't go the ... way you want ? Tatami Galaxy is probably a masterpiece that can deal with all that in just 11 episodes and make you question yourself like never before . Its plot is intended to be very unique and educational at the same time . It has a strong narrative that allows it to be one of the strongest psychological anime to be ever made .

Tatami Galaxy deals with an unnamed protagonist people refer to as 'Watashi'(I in japanese ) because since the show is built around him narrating his feelings we never get to know his name . The strength of the show also lies here . Watashi narrating his own thoughts allows us to reach deep into his psychology . In just 11 episodes the show delivers a strong message to the viewers without really heading into an edgy approach . The show is simple and yet unique . The protagonist goes through the results of the different choices in different episodes in loops in his attempt to find his desired way of life . However each time he finds that things did not the go the way he wanted . Leading him to question what the correct choice might be and trying them out in the following episodes. The self conflict of morality Watashi goes through has an enjoyable representation that will ease your head and make you relate without having you stress for it . Him questioning his decisions is basically all of us questioning ourself in our everyday life. Its true that choices can make a big difference in our life . The anime shows that pretty beautifully as well but what truly stands out is the self realization Watashi goes through in the final 2 and a half episodes that makes you conscious of how you should view life moving forward . The show is artistic , simplistic and delivers the strongest of punches in the some of the most hilarious yet moving manner .

Characters : As I mentioned before the show focuses on the psychology of the main character in a unique style which wouldn't require the proper development of other characters . Not saying other characters aren't important. They play a vital role in establishing the show and cohesively make the show as good as it is . They have strong purposes and fit in the narrative as a role to build the main character . With that being said the main character ends up being the one of the most developed characters you will find in television so you know the cast did their job right .

Sound : For the people who find this important , you won't be disappointment . The show has pretty good opening and ending with strong symblism . What more could you want .

Art ; The art is unique and whether someone likes it will be very subjective . I had a few problems in the start but once I got used to it , it seemed beautiful . The art in the final few episodes is surreal to say the least . One more important aspect of the art is it never really takes away the focus from the narrative . Its not too flashy and allows you to focus on the on going content in front of you which I also considered to be an important concept of the show . Now for some more questions to clarify what I am trying to say -

How do you want your message to be delivered ? Do you create a moving story and touches the audience to do it ? That can work but there's a chance the audience will be distracted by the happenings of the show . They would be too focused on the plot and might miss the teachings of the story . The same thing can be said for a really enjoyable thriller . More importantly how do you make the viewer vulnerable to the messages. We often do not appreciated being corrected . A parent telling a child to fix a certain characteristic will often make it hard for the child to fix it simply because of the natural human behaviour of standing up for his own way of thinking and wanting to view things differently . South park is another show I really like because of their attempt to make the audience vulnerable before delivering their message . South park turns everything into a joke and delivers their message through satire . Although I may not agree with all the messages , it can not be denied how satire is a strong medium to deliver messages because it has the strength to open the mind of a viewer very easily .

Now going back to what I was saying because of art style in The Tatami Galaxy everything crazy in the show feels easier to accept . We don't get hard feelings while watching the show ( unless its not your type in which case you will drop it anyway ) which makes us vulnurable to the teachings that come along with the show .

Other than the main lesson of the show each episodes contains various different relatable self realizations we go through in real life . So many in fact that it is hard to keep account of them . This is pretty much the only thing in the show that is hard to grasp . So if you think this is another mindfuck you are very wrong . What further boosts the delivery is the psychology used to deliver the content . In early show you will think this show is trying to tell us 'x' . Midway in the show you will realize it is questioning 'x' and finally when the show ends you will find a strong conclusion in 'y' . So by any chance the viewer is a believer in x , the show makes him/her realize that the writer is aware of his thought process and he has been through that stage so whatever the writer says in the end becomes easier to accept . The symbolism used throughout the show will make you appreciate the genius behing creating this show in the first place .

Conclusion : To share my own personal experience I thought a few episodes were weak compared to the others . But to create a cohesive show those weak and lesser enjoyable episodes were very necessary to show us more possible directions . Episode 4 was perhaps the weakest episode in the show in my opinion where I wanted to drop the show ( I continued because I loved Ping pong the animation , so I believed in Masaaki Yuasa ) So if you feel bored early on do not drop it. Trust me it will be worth it once you finish the show . This is a show everyone can watch and enjoy . This can potentially change you as a person and will have you appreciate the creative genius for sure .