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I understand this anime might not be for everyone. Those who have loved the previous adaptation might be a little bewildered by the new animation and the fast developement of the events when compared to the previous version. On the other hand, those who have no previous contact with the franchise and approach this anime expecting what modern shounen shows usually have to offer, may find it disappointing as well, because this anime is anything but common.

Animation and Art:

The battles are not the most epic. The names of the characters are not the easiest to remember. CG animation is used, and that's often ... annoying for those of us accustomed to "regular" animation. But honestly, I'm finding it very hard to find negative aspects to enumerate as possible reasons that would make people draw away from this awesome anime.

I'm not a fan of CGI either, but saying No to this show only because of that would be a terrible mistake, since it's only applied to space battles, and it's rather well done.

Story:

Be sure to not be misled by the promotional images showing the protagonists' pretty faces. The beautiful aesthetics of this show are just the tip of the iceberg. The true value of this anime lies on the script, and what could be expected out of Tanaka Yoshiki's work? Nothing less than historical, anthropological and political genius.

The story narrates the events of a war between a galactic empire and a free planets alliance, from the perspective of two main characters, one from each side of the conflict. As the plot unfolds, we see how these characters and all the ones around them interact according to their own point of view of the situation. While the premise is nothing new, what makes this story so special is its ability to analyse the essence of human behaviour, and prove that beyond belief systems or political tendencies, humans are the same everywhere, have always been and always will be.

Many animes use mythological names and references to actual human civilizations in some sort of random attempt to enhance a mythical atmosphere, but very few know how to do it right. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu knows how. The story is full of contemporary cultural references and none of them is random. Nazi structures and beliefs, bolivarian suits, european institutions, american slogans, communist iconography.... everything has a rightful place in this story and it does for a very good reason, which now and then makes this show look like the ultimate display of the essence of modern politics.

In spite of been a space opera that doesn't take place in the real world, through the plot we can have a glimpse of the lights and shadows of our own recent political history, and by "our" I mean "all humans'", because no political system is left untouched while it digs out what lies beyond all parties; which is done in such a subtle and respectful way, that it feels like an invitation to make peace with our own history. And so it leaves an overall heartwarming aftertaste.

Script and Characters:

Being clearly a lover of history and strategy himself, the author has known how to create a plot that will certainly please other history fans as well. And one of the reasons the plot is so good, is due to the quality of the script. There are no empty discourses in this show. Everything that's said is important and it's said for a reason. And if the script is so neat, so are the characters. Since no time is lost in shallow information, all the dialogues are focused on the construction of the reasoning behind the action. In order to do so, the main characters appear as complex multi-layered individuals. We get to see how they are as members of the military, but also as friends, as family, and as routine creatures. We get to see their struggle to live according to their beliefs while they have to face the actual (and often ridiculous) reality of their world. The anime is full of little gestures and comments that provide its characters with a striking human depth. Besides, the social conventions of an actual society are respected, meaning that there are not sudden outbursts or exagerated personal dramas nor fights, which enhaces its realism all the same.

The anime is not flawless, and many things could have been certainly perfected with a little more runtime. This will be evident since the first episode, which is not specially impressive. However, this anime undoubtedly hides the glimmer of a misunderstood masterpiece, so if something of the above mentioned resonates with you, you will probably find yourself in love with the show by episode 4. For those who may be interested in the story and don't feel like watching the more than 100 episodes the previous adaptation has, this may be an interesting alternative for a first contact with the franchise.

Story - 9/10
Art - 8/10
Sound - 10/10
Characters - 10/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Overall - 9/10

I don't like writing negative reviews, and before I start I have to say that I gave this a positive average score. However, not everybody think that Snk is the best thing out there, and I feel it's necessary to give voice to "other" opinions too. Mine, in this case.

The show is nice. The animation is good and it's very entertaining. I'll give it that. However it has a lot of flaws, and this season, while it's in some aspects more interesting than the previous ones, it's also lacking a bit.

My biggest probleme with this anime is more of an adaptation issue. ... I may criticise some aspects of the story itself, but what I find specially disappointing is the narrative structure of the animation.

The narration style tries to make the plot more mysterious by giving small fragments of information here and there instead of going for the big punctual revelations, and that's supposed to be original, but the truth is that once you start to put all the pieces together, it feels like they are doing it so they can hide the weaknesses of the plot. When you put the pieces together, you can see that the story has many incoherences. During the previous seasons I expected those incoherences to be fixed with deep and surprising answers, but as the show progresses, the answers never seem to come, and when they do, they are always partial and disconnected. Basic narrative rule: If your plot is lacking something (as it seems to be the case) at least try to compensate it with a good hype. First mistake: Fragmenting the revelations is the death of hype.

In this season, now that we know more about what is going on, we can see that the story is not that deep, and the reasons behind the action are not that plausible, maybe because, at a psychological level, the characters are not fully developed either. Their personalities are very basic and random, they don't learn or evolve, and so their actions are lacking of meaningful purpose.

When watching this show, I always feel like something huge and awesome is going to happen right around the corner, but it never actually does. All the supposed important information the main characters have gotten and all they have achieved... truth is, I don't care... They drop a plot twist about a random character that has had almost no screen time at all until then. How are we supposed to get effectively empathetic with characters we don't know? Basic narrative rule number two: When you drop a bomb about something, make sure your public actually knows something about that, otherwise the impact will be completely pointless. That happens when the distribution of information is poorly done.

Besides, for a show that relies so strongly on the "emotions of the sacrifices made in war" most of the conversations are pretty empty and lacking deep insight of human emotions. They use so many words to give so little information. The characters almost never say anything that may help to grasp their personality or the basis of their actions any better. Even when they talk about something important, they never let the conversation completely flow towards what the audience actually needs to hear in order to empathize or be effectively amazed by the plot twists, and while that's a narrative resource that can be nice to use now and then to create intrigue, it's almost impossible to build 3 seasons systematically using that resource.

This might not be a problem for people who already read the manga, but it may make it frustrating for someone who hasn't. I guess it might work if you are watching it merely for the action. The story almost never stops, they are always on the move and there's always something going on, so it's overall entertaining, even though at a deeper level it has flaws.

I've watched it because honestly, it's very easy to watch, but I think for a full experience with the story, it might be a better idea to read the manga. Again, this is my personal opinion and it's ok if you watch the show and think otherwise. I respect that. But just know that not everybody thinks that this is the ultimate show and that's to be respected as well.

Here we have an awesome anime about ninjas playing basket.... wait, no.... well yes....
That is, Kuroko no Basket has been widely criticised for the lack of a real depiction of the basketball play. So let's clarify this point from the begining: the truth is that the abilities of all the characters are actually very exagerated and at some points it really feels like you are watching Naruto characters playing a match. So yes, if you are looking for a realistic representation of basketball, this anime might make you laugh hard or even cry at some points, even though the approach that lies behind these ... "unrealistic skills" is kind of well formulated all the same...

Nevertheless, if you just enjoy stories about team game, endeavor, friendship and personal development, this anime is well worth watching.

One of the best aspects of Kuroko no Basket is by far its ability to embody the "Let your actions speak for you" concept. The story revolves around Kuroko, a nice boy with a weird skill. Kuroko and his new high-school basketball team have to play against his former team-mates in a number of matches. Each of these opponents has a different personality, different skills and different background to be developed in various arcs thoughout the 3 seasons (not too deeply though). In each encounter, Kuroko's basket style and philosophy affects the percetion these characters have about themselves and the way they relate with the sport, helping them to grow. In my opinion, this and only this, is what makes Kuroko no Basket such an ejoyable story.

Along the way we meet this fairly charismatic bunch of characters which have pretty well elaborated personalities and it's easy to sympathise with all of them, which becomes a good thing and a bad thing at once. It is a bad thing because during the games it is rather difficult to take sides, since you come to like them all, but it's also a good thing since it makes it the more interesting and it makes you thrill no matter who wins. In addition the seiyuu cast is great and they do all an amazing job performing the particularities of each character.

Besides, this anime has an interesting soundtrack with highly enjoyable openings and endings (special mention to ending 2 of 2nd season) as well as awesome character songs performed by the various voice actors, which is not strictly part of the series, but I highly recommend.

To speak about this OVA it's important to acknowledge first of all the huge difference between the manga of Kamisama Hajimemashita and it's anime adaptation. The adaptation has never been completely faithful to the manga, and the same happens with this OVA. If you haven't read the manga, this OVA is just a great addition to the anime. However, if you already read the manga, you won't be able to help feeling a little disappointed.

The OVA is very well done, just like the regular anime; good art, good cast, good rythm, good everything. The love between the main characters is reinforced and some ... secrets are revealed. BUT! (And this is a huge "But") The feels one gets in the manga are 300% more intense than in the OVA, so as an adaptation, it's just mediocre.

I'll try to explain briefly what we are missing in the OVA without giving any explicit spoiler:

First of all, the time-travel logic is far better depicted in the manga, and Nanami goes through way more hardship to accomplish her mission. Besides, with regard to the whole story, it is in this Past Arc where we are supposed to discover most of the important information about the nature of Tomoe and Nanami's relationship, as well as Tomoe and Yukiji's, which is not explaind in the OVA at all, when it really shoud have been because it is by far the most interesting part of the story and it really changes everything. (It is there where you finally say "Hey! This is clearly not Inuyasha!" ) But not trace of it in the OVA.
Last but not least, within this arc of the manga, Nanami gets to know quite well Akura-ou, who becomes a major character in the following arcs, and the absence of the Akura-ou part in the OVA, added to the fact of condensing everyone's favorite part of the manga (4 volumes of it actually) in barely 4 episodes, only makes me fear that there might not be next anime season in the future.

The past arc of Kamisama Hajimemashita has been one of the most pasionate stories I've read in a manga, and one of the most coherent time-travel stories I've ever come across. So it saddens me considerably to see it cheapened like this.

However, as I said at the begining of the review, if you haven't read the manga, go ahead, the story is undoubtably enjoyable and sweet.

(it's Ok, no spoilers here)

It is really difficult to say if this is a good anime or a very bad one.

Let's start with the good aspects.
This anime is very easy to watch. it's short, the plot develops very smoothly and the main premise is very good. A boy who's parents are killed and he is sent to a wild planet without a clue of what's going on around him. When he thinks he has figured out how he should work his way out of the planet in order to find out the answers he's looking for, he starts to discover that things ... are way more complex than he could have imagined, and nothing is what it seems. At the end we discover a skillfully imagined sci-fy scenario with a nice setting and a nice ethical dilemma. And it is not only that the plot is good but that it also manages to create enough intrigue to keep you interested all along. It's far from a mystery or psychological show, but you definetely keep wondering about the real intentions of most of the characters until the last chapters.

Those are in my opinion the most positive aspects of this show, and they are so good that it's a shame it has been so poorly developed. Which takes me to the weak aspects:

It has only 11 chapters, which is clearly not enough to develope the whole story as it should have been developed in order to exploit all of its potential. Everything happens too fast and it sometimes gets difficult to understand why the characters behave the way they do. Sometimes things seem to make no sense at all, and it's not because they don't actually make sense but because they are really zipped so you don't get to see the full background of what is going on. It's really a pity because it could have been a very good anime if they had given more time to develope all the aspects of the plot. In addition, while the male characters are very well designed (they have a purpose, good strategies, beauty and charisma) the female characters are just risible. The women in this show have actually good reasons to behave the way they do, and you can get to understand them after all, but in most cases they are presented as merely irrational and sentimental fools. In any case, nor the males or the females are ever given the chance to show their full potential.

Anyway I cannot say I didn't like it.

I've watched the four seasons more than once and read most of the manga, and I can fairly say that Natsume Yuujinchou is by far one of the nicest anime I've come across. It's one of my alltimes favorites and I would recomend it to everybody.

Actually the story is quite simple: boy can see yokai and that prevents him from having a normal life. However it's not the plot what makes Natsume such an special manga/anime, but the way the story is told.

It's a slice of life show following the developement of the main character, who needs to learn how to deal ... with humans and ayakashi in his everyday life. During this process he learns to forgive the wrong doings he has suffered from both sides and gets to appreciate his gift thanks to his interaction with the many supporting characters, which are all very cleverly developed. They all have good reasons to be what they are like, and they evolve, and forgive, and learn and grow... But the most important is that they are all incredibly lovable and sweet. Not in a cheesy way, but in a deep-human way. Many of them appear just in one chapter, but they are so skilfully introduced that you feel you can really understand them and want them to be happy forever.

Besides, the animation is great. The artwork is beautiful in it's simplicity. It's amazing to be able to create such a soothing dreamlike atmosphere with so little. Plus the soundtrack fits so well with the whole.

The only... let's say "negative" side, is that many of the most intriguing aspects concerning the story of some of the main characters remain unclear in the anime, and you will need to read the manga for further details.

However as I said, it's not what we are told but the way it is told. So while we may not get all the answers we'd like to have, the anime still provides a full experience, because at the end the purpose of this anime is not to be intriguing but to be simply beautiful. Every aspect of the story is so nice and heartwarming, even the sad things are so beautifully elaborated that at the end of each chapter you feel like life is really worth it even when things do not exactly have a happy ending.

So, why someone should watch this anime? Easy answer: Because it will make you feel so good.

This is the first time I actually feel like writing a review, and I’m very much aware that I won’t be saying anything that it hasn’t been said before. But I just had to. Why? well, I have been avoiding to watch this anime for years, mainly because I don't really like the design of the characters and when it comes to manga/anime, I tend to chose stories with Japanese settings. But recently I decided to give it a chance, since it’s usually a very well positioned show in all the rankings. I guess I wanted to know why…
So now that I’ve finally ... watched Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, I can openly say that it is one of the most overrated shows of all times. Please don’t get me wrong, I liked it, I really did. It’s not a bad show, it’s actually pretty good one, but I just can’t understand how it is so high on the list. The story is good, the plot develops very skillfully. It’s a very epic show if “epicness” is what you’re looking for. However, for people like me, who may be more attracted by getting emotionally involved with the story and characters…. It just doesn’t feel enough. This show could have been much more awesome if it had been given the time to deepen into the background of the characters. I just felt that most of the characters were plain and barely half developed. There are very nice characters with a lot of potential, but their personality just seems incomplete. This is very frustrating especially in the case of the “villains”. There you have a bunch of characters that could have been really badass but they are just purposeless. Their background, their psychological basis, their ulterior motives were almost inexistent. I really don’t know if it was a failure of the plot or if it was a failure of the adaptation that failed to embody their means and motivations.… Which, by the way, was way better constructed in the previous anime adaptation of Full Metal Alchemist. In the previous adaptation, the homunculi had a more complex origin and a very contradicting nature, which made them way more interesting than they are in Botherhood. For instance, characters as Lust or Izumi, which were very charismatic in FMA due to their background story, are just empty shells in Brotherhood. That’s pretty sad, because at the end you see the characters suffering and you get like “who are you again?”. At the end of the show I just felt I had not really been given the chance to truly get to know any of these characters, so I didn’t really care that much of what would happen to them. In FMA I was really moved by most of the characters’ circumstances, but in Brotherhood it was like… yep, ok, this fight is sooo epic, but who was fighting again? What for?...
In addition FMA had those twisted scenes… kind of dark situations that came out of nowhere (let’s call them “small and subtle creepy Nina-like scenes” if you know what I mean) that would leave us all wondering what the heck did just happened and how such a nice show can become so creepy in just a second and immediately turn back to normal as if nothing had happened. That was pretty awesome in FMA, and there was no trace of that awesomeness in Brotherhood.
Maybe I’m comparing the two animes a little too much, but I actually watched FMA after watching FMAB, and I just can’t help to think that there should be a third adaptation mixing the two previous shows. THAT could be the best show ever if they do it right.
So yep, leaving FMA aside for now, about Brotherhood I can say: yes, it’s a good story. Yes, it’s worth watching. Yes, after watching it you will look back and think “it was a good anime” . Plus it has a cool soundtrack, with very cool openings and endings, which is always appreciated. But, if you watch it, do not expect it to be the best anime ever, because it is not.