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A rare gripping story disguised as just another moe blob slice of life that won't push you to the edge of the seat, but will have you leaning forward wondering what will happen next. The cast consists of only morally and mentally fucked characters; leaving you wondering who you should actually be rooting for; if anyone at all.

It doesn't have the pleasant surprise of School Live's or Doki Doki's 180 tone change, but nonetheless it's still enjoyable, or at the very least interesting, to watch the darker atmosphere envelope and combine with everybody's favourite genre: cutesy moe blobs.

The sound direction catches you off guard, even ... though it repeats a lot of the same effects throughout the show, but still proves to be something that ultimately contributes to the intention of establishing how insignificant certain background characters are, or how brutal certain major events in the story actually play out, or what percentage of deranged certain characters are.

Happy Sugar Life's story as a whole takes one sharp turn to redesign its adorable surface into a darker thriller that will keep hold of your attention while challenging your perception of its unpredictable major cast of characters.

The first thing I'd like to get out of the way is the fact that this is the first of the Blood franchise/series that I've actually experienced, so I have no actual knowledge of what's been done in Blood+ or Blood: The Last Vampire.

The story of Blood-C was, from my perspective, well written. Very intricate and intriguing; by the end of the show itself mind you. I notice that most people who watch this show tend to complain about how obscurely the show conveys the story. This isn't untrue, for the first good chunk of the show (five to six episodes or so). Each ... episode for this 'chunk' maintains a fairly rinse-and-repeat formula: The main character sings her way to her high school life for the first 16 minutes, and then proceeds to have a well-animated battle with a single demon for the remainder of the episode. However, after that certain point in the show, the show begins to reveal important facts relative to the ultimate story. Eventually, the I was able to piece together the plot given to them into something that actually makes some sort of sense. Finally, when the show was over, I didn't find myself confused too much.

TL;DR The story isn't confusing by the time you finish the show, but it takes a while to take off in terms of actual plot. The few twists the show threw at me managed to surprise me legitimately and ultimately revealed an entirely new perspective on the show itself which is further touched upon in the movie Blood-C: The Last Dark.

The art is very aesthetically pleasing, and the battle animation is smooth or crisp when it needs to be. The animation has that signature I.G. effect that I'm quite fond of myself. The animation isn't anything outstanding, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

The sound is one of the weaker points this show is equipped with. Aside from the memorable opening and ending themes, the show doesn't exactly have any other boast-worthy soundtracks. It's highly probable that I could recall one or two songs that were repeated every episode: One for when Saya walks to school and another for when she has her "battle of the episode."

Most of the cast started off as characters who lacked that unique touch that I generally look for in anime, however, there are a few characters whom I found much depth towards the ending portion of the show. Aside from the main antagonist, only a select few other characters managed to capture my interest during the run of the show. Each character in the show has their fair share of layers that are gradually revealed and developed over the course of the show. However, the most interesting developments happen to be for the main character and antagonist. For spoiler reasons, I'll refrain from going into too much detail.

Overall, I enjoyed the show very much; and the experience was made even more of an impact with the addition of the movie. While watching the ending of the show as a whole, I had thought that the show had just left me on a major cliffhanger, but that opinion quickly changed after I had finished the movie sequel. The battle animation was pleasant and felt exciting to watch, the action was intriguing and had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the battles. The characters aren't necessarily boring, instead, they gradually evolve over the course of the show from one stereotype into a completely unique and new person altogether. The story was very fascinating by the time I had finished the show in its entirety, the movie in all. When I had finished the initial show at first, I had a set conclusion that I had come to regarding the plot. However, when I had finished the movie, that conclusion had completely been negated and a new perspective on the story was revealed to me.

I'd recommend this show to someone who's interested in a show mainly focused around the fanservice of great battle animation, because realistically the strong and powerful battles are the show's strongest points. If you're looking for a story that impacts you heavily, this show will be a gamble for you. The story isn't weak, but I can definitely see how someone's expectations would fall short. The characters may appear annoying or generic at first, however they evolve over time. If you're someone looking for loveable characters, I wouldn't look to this anime.

Pros
-Great animation, specifically for the battle scenes
-An intricate story and plot in the grand scheme of the show
-The twists plot are generally unpredictable for the most part
-A great conclusion with the addition of the movie

Cons
-The story does take a fair amount of time (Around five or six episodes) to pick up
-Each episode is rather empty for the beginning chunk of the show, mainly consisting of a slice of life sequence and a battle sequence
-For impatient viewers, the show can seem slow at some times

First of all, this show is a short-form anime. This means that I'm reviewing a show with 2-minute episodes. That being said, for a show that only lasts for 120 seconds per episode, I found myself actually really loving the characters in the show. What's more, the interactions between the characters definitely got a chuckle and even an audible laugh out of me while watching. Although the show is mainly slice of life and comedy, some samples of light romance are seen budding in the show at some point. The opening, or maybe it's the ending, is catchy; which is about the only type of ... "sound" I can think to rate.

In short, the show is a great time-killer if you want a couple chuckles; and you find yourself rooting for the main character as the show "progresses".

It's pretty risky biznu trying to go against what people are calling an amazing anime, but boy did I not enjoy this show.

I'd like to get the soundtrack and music out of the way first, because that's the easiest aspect of this show to dislike. The opening song straight out did not click with me; perhaps it's just not my type of music, but the singer gave me the impression of a cringe-inducing japanese comedy show host. The ending didn't fit the show's theme at all in my opinion, giving off a vibe for a horror or mystery anime, rather than that of a ... magic-academy battle royale-esque show.

The show boasts a lot of great animation.. When you actually get to see it. During the dedicated "Battle of the episode", the tournament rounds usually follow a pretty obnoxious cut-and-paste formula.

Our main character Ikki enters the arena. Stella, Shizuku and Alice are all sitting in the crowd, discussing what Ikki's opponent will do. Ikki confronts his opponent, and either has his own inner monologue for quieter opponents, or will have a conversation with them that goes on a little too long. After they're done talking, the round starts; "Let's Go Ahead". Either Ikki or the Opponent rushes at him, usually in an irritatingly slow motion clip. Ikki begins his second inner monologue, "What is the gimmick of this opponent?" Cut to the crowd where Stella, Shizuku and Alice are sitting. Either Stella or Shizuku will ask Alice what the gimmick of the battle is, to which Alice will usually answer for them. Cut back to Ikki, who has already essentially figured out the battle gimmick, takes advantage of the knowledge he has; and then uses his OP Main Character ability to win the match.

Congratulations, you've just experienced half, if not three quarters, of the show already by reading that one paragraph.

The animation of each battle progressively gets worse as the show goes on; boasting amazing, crisp and smooth movements that I was very impressed by in the first couple of episodes. After the first couple of episodes, however, the battles are filled up with annoying inner-monologues and side-commentary by the characters, as mentioned in the paragraph above. However, when the characters actually shut up for once in the episode, the animation can go either of two ways. Either the animation returns to the smooth and crisp style movement that I fell in love with originally, or it takes a turn for the worst and just settles for stationary characters running in front of speedlines, or extremely abundant slow-motion scenes that make the battle seem slower and more boring rather than dramatic or tense.

The characters are very empty, despite what I had heard about prior to actually watching the show. You have your classic overpowered main character with a relatively dark past, a red-haired princess tsundere archetype, a loli/little sister with a older brother complex, and the creepy, quite possibly homosexual, individual who acts as an 'all-knowing' plot convenience. The main "antagonist" of the show doesn't become apparent until the last small chunk of the show, leaving little room for development there. Speaking of development, there almost isn't any in the show. The characters are flat, as much as I hate to say it, even though the show breaks the harem stereotype by integrating an actual romance into the story.

I won't go into detail regarding the previously mentioned romance, in fear that it might constitute as a spoiler, however I can safely say that it doesn't affect the character development or the story as much as I would have liked. Sure, having a romance in these types of shows is a pretty uncommon feat, however the relationship itself, disappointingly, managed to bore me.

The story is very basic for the usual 'Magical Sword Academy' genre. The main character and his redheaded sidekick manage to enter the school's suspiciously dangerous 'Battle Royale to the Death'. For personal reasons, Mr. MC cannot lose a single match, otherwise something detrimental will happen to his character development, whatever little he has of it. He encounters opponent after opponent, each with their own somewhat unique special ability. Most episodes, and I mean 9 out of 12, usually follow the battle formula mentioned above, and those take up most of the show's airtime. By the end of the show we see something that attempts to be an antagonist; and succeeds, to a degree. Really, the antagonist only appears so that the tragedy tag can be taped to the main character in a last stand attempt to give the story some depth, which it ultimately doesn't.

TL;DR Section

Story - 6 | The story is generic beyond belief, and doesn't really go anywhere due to the fact that almost every episode features a poorly executed battle segment with a little too much talking about the battle, and not the story progression.

Art - 6 | The art looks great, when the characters aren't really doing anything. When they jump into battle however, it fluctuates pretty heavily, for better or for worse. Battle animation either follows the path of lazy speedlines or obnoxous slowmotion for the most part.

Sound - 4 | The soundtrack essentially consists of one song played in different styles. I can't take the opening seriously, and I'm not sure what it is that irks me so. It might be that I burst out into laughter or cringe at the sound of the singer, or maybe it's the non-sensical Engrish. Either way, the opening song makes its way into the show for multiple scenes. For scenes trying to be romantic, dramatic or tragic, the opening song is slowed down and played on a piano. For particularly exciting battles the opening plays in its original form. Realistically, the lack of variety in music really makes it difficult for me to enjoy the soundtrack itself.

Character - 4 | The characters are generic: OPMC, Tsundere Redhead Princess, BigBroComplex Loli/Little Sister, All-Knowing Mysterious Roommate (Who also fills the category of potentially gay character)

Enjoyment - 5 | I would realistically only recommend this show to another person if they had already watched the good Action-Based Magical Academy shows I had already recommended to them (There are surprisingly a lot more than you would expect.) Did I enjoy it? No. Is it a bad show? Not exactly. I didn't enjoy the show because of my own personal opinions (Battles include too much talking, the story doesn't go anywhere, characters are bland, overhype of the show in general, etc.) However I can definitely see this show being enjoyed by someone who just wants to watch some ecchi fanservice with a little action on the side (Similar to the effect of Highschool DxD). As an action show, this anime isn't the best, but it's not unbearable. As a romance/comedy, it succeeds a little more than it does when it tries to fit into the action genre.

Overall - 6 | It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as everybody had hyped it up to be.

This review was written upon finishing the entire series of 22 episodes.

Yet another hidden gem to come out of Bandai Namco Pictures, Brave Beats is the spiritual successor to BN Pictures' previous work 'Tribe Cool Crew.'

For me personally, I think this show is highly underrated; mainly because of how it looks at first. Some may initially see the show as some generic Saturday morning cartoon, which is understandable, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should automatically ignore the show itself.

The story gets a 7,

I'll start by saying that this show does not the most complex story in the world. Brave Beats is about ... a small group group of kids (very small), who combine powers with dancing aliens to form a sentai-type group of dancing superheroes whose goals are to collect a bunch of
plot-important stones that give them additional dance moves and powers. I won't fault anybody for saying that this type of story is very generic in other shows of its genre, because frankly that's pretty much what the show is for the most part. After a good chunk of episodes (Around a third of the show,) the story does take a relatively more complex turn to degree, enough so that would convince most viewers that the show could potentially have been directed to a wider demographic than just kids.

Each episode plays out as an "Adventure-of-the-day-" type format, where the characters encounter an issue within the first half of the episode, to which they usually resolve said issue by the end. If you're expecting romance or drama from this show you'll be disappointed to know that the show does not revolve around those two concepts, but rather the show has three or four episodes, excluding the ending episodes, dedicated to those types of situations.

Art gets a 9 from me,

This is essentially what makes or breaks the anime for most people. If you're expecting a detailed and intricate art-style to accompany this show, then this may or may not be the one for you, depending on your interpretation of the art. The show features a relatively simple art-style, however it isn't so simple that every character looks generally the same. Each character in the show is designed uniquely, down to the least apparent background character.

Although the majority of the episodes' feature average effort into art, the show shines its brightest when the characters in the show are dancing. During the dedicated dancing segments of the show, the show's artstyle switches from traditional 2D to 3D CG models dancing. Although some would consider the CG animation to be sub-par, I personally enjoyed the dance sequences shown through this artstyle.

Sound gets a 7,

Now this section is unfair, mainly due to the fact that I am comparing the soundtrack of this show to that of Bandai Namco's Previous "Dancing Show" 'Tribe Cool Crew.' The soundtrack for Brave Beats is very limited, making use of a handful of original tracks; none of which I found to be quite memorable. That being said, the soundtrack that was present during the show did accompany the dancing themes well and, making the experience of watching a unique dancing 3D CG segment that much more enjoyable.

The characters and character development in this show gets a 8 from me,

The cast of the show isn't exactly generic, however it's not as though these characters haven't been the centre of another show's cast before. There isn't much to say about character development because the show doesn't focus on character development too much. The most character develop we see out of one character is a flashback to their past revealing few hidden details about them; however other than there isn't much to say about the depth of cast.

With a combination of surprisingly exciting dancing animation, as well as fun and unique characters to accommodate the 'adventure-of-the-day' storyline, I'd give my enjoyment of the show a 9 overall.

Most definitely one of the most misjudged shows I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Often times people ignore this show due to the title implying an incestuous story, which does have a slight hovering presence over the show itself, but isn't actually a major point the show tries to push.

Story-wise, the show dictates the relationship that develops between a brother and his little sister; albeit by the end of the first season it does not appear romantic. In fact, most of the show's first season doesn't delve into the romance genre with much depth at all; instead it introduces and orientates the male lead ... character into the story's setting: The world of the otaku.

The art style and animation are very appealing and smooth, maintaining the feeling of 'dainty' and 'cute' without dropping into the 'cringe levels' of Moé; and also making the show pleasant to watch.

The show boasts a unique cast of characters who make the show enjoyable. Some would view these characters as 'Moé Clichés' (Gothic Loli/Chuuni, Imouto, etc.), which would be expected as those 'clichés' essentially lay the foundation for the show's theme: Otaku culture. A good half of the cast appear to be 'Anime/Game/Manga/Light Novel fans', or 'Otakus' each different in their own fashion. It's an interesting concept to see the contrast between the different types of fans.

To exemplify the comparison between characters, the main female character Kirino is financially wealthy, having the ability to express her passion for her hobby through purchasing goods and material to feed her Anime and Eroge pastimes. To contrast this type of 'Rich Otaku', we are then introduced to another character 'Kuroneko' who appears less financially ample. Rather than using her money to express her passion, most of Kuroneko's 'Otaku Material' is hand-made with inexpensive methods.

Personally, the interaction between characters makes the show enjoyable; not the actual story itself. Although a linear story does exist, and that plot in itself is interesting enough; the characters' developed relationships, and the scenarios they find themselves in, are what made this show an experience to enjoy.

Don't be misled by the art style, thinking that the show is more directed towards a younger audience. The show starts off seeming like a kids show about street dancing, but as you get further and further into each episode you start to see the show itself steering into a slightly more mature tone. Granted, the show itself does not reach levels of maturity that are too violent or sexual for children, but rather it makes it more enjoyable for viewers who are older in age.

The dancing segments are extremely unique. As in, I myself have certainly never seen a show animate dancing quite ... like Sunrise or BN studios does in this show. The scenes involving dance appear quite slow at first, but as the story progresses we see each dancer character learn new techniques and trains more; choreographing more complex and appealing dances as a result. This gradual development of each characters adds to the enjoyment of the show overall.

The art style, like the rest of the show, is very unique. The different body types that are given to each character make it more interesting to see how they change their dances in accordance to their physique. The show make use of very vibrant colours, which are appealing to look at during the more lighthearted segments of the show. The art style also gives off a powerful and heavy feeling with darker colours during the more ominous and grave parts of the show. The studio also puts the effort into background and stock characters, which most shows do not. While you might see copy and pasted character models to fill an audience or a crowd in other shows, Tribe Cool Crew intricately designs a diverse cast of background characters as well. From ethnic diversity to individual fashion styles, the Tribe Cool Crew studio made sure that no two audience members were drawn or designed the same.

Each character is likeable in their own way, and each one gets their fair share of detail as well development. The cast is also very unique. I don't mean that as in each character is unique within the show, but rather there are very few characters in the show that fit into a traditional anime 'trope' or 'stereotype'. Truly, you never really know what to expect from these characters because of their uniqueness.

Personally, the soundtrack for Tribe Cool Crew is by far one of the best tracks I've ever heard in my life, this is no exaggeration. I absolutely loved each song that played in the show, and the dances fit each track almost perfectly each time. I never found myself feeling sick or tired of what might be one of the catchiest soundtracks I've ever heard.

Initially, I didn't expect much to come from the story of Tribe Cool Crew. As I proceeded further into the story, I saw it gradually becoming more dramatic and entering a slightly darker tone.

The show was amazing, from beginning to end; the strongest points in this show are its soundtrack and animation. I wouldn't say that this show has many weaker points, but if I had to I would say that story progression early into the first half of the show was rather slow. I absolutely loved the unique diversity of the characters and their growth throughout the show. The dance segments definitely had me tapping my foot and bobbing my head to each beat. The dances are extremely complex, but not impossible; making it a more interesting and interactive experience to a degree. The show has everything from comedy to drama and action. The lighthearted show is definitely a hidden gem amongst anime, and certainly one of the most underrated as well.