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Ok, after reading some of the reviews for this show here on MAL, my conclusion is that what is even more pathetic than Beyblade is the fact that some of you are spending so much of your energy bashing this Anime for not being the next Akira. What did you expect? It's obvious that it's a show designed to give the audience some mindless entertainment and nothing else. Do I think that Beyblade is a fantastic Anime? NO!! Did I enjoy watching Beylade? YES! At least, parts of it. You see, sometimes the point of watching cartoons is to just kick back, relax and have ... some "mindless" fun. In my opinion, Beyblade succeeds in providing us with such an experience. It is not, by any means, the sort of Anime that you will take seriously but if you watch it for the right reasons, you might be surprised at how fun it can be.

Sure, the concept of kids taking "spinning tops" seriously is ludicrous at the very least. But since when is it any less ludicrous for Yagami Light to have the ability to kill people with a notebook, or for Lelouch to have the ability to control peoples actions with his eyes, or for Naruto to act like a Neanderthal whilst managing to beat opponents with twice the brute strength and a hundred times the intelligence as his? Lets face it!! It's all UNREALISTIC and SILLY, but that's not the point is it? Sometimes its fun to just watch something that doesn't require a great deal of thinking, and Beyblade is a good match for that.

So stop whining about how bad this Anime is. When you are having one of those days when you just want to unwind after a busy day of studying or working, just take off your smelly socks and give Beyblade a go. In other words, LET IT RIP!!!!

Whether "Captain Tsubasa" will appeal to you largely depends on the generation you grew up in. For those of you who grew up in the early 90s, it is conceivable that Japanese Anime (JA) such as "Dragon Ball Z" were instrumental in 'setting the bar' for how an Anime should be like. However, if you grew up in Europe during the 80s, it is hard to imagine that Captain Tsubasa wasn't within your weekly radar of TV shows. After all, how could a JA series about football not appeal to kids who probably spent their summer break doing the same (i.e. playing football)? At least ... for me, this was one of those 'trend setting' Anime that made football a lot more fun to play; even if it meant grazing my back against the concrete floor after attempting to perform a bicycle kick. Having watched this show several years later, from start to end, I can't help but agree that Tom Robbins has it right when he says "It's never too late to have a happy childhood".

The story behind Captain Tsubasa is a simple one, but one that keeps you thoroughly entertained. The heart of the story revolves around an 11-year-old kid known as Tsubasa Oozora, who simply can’t live without football (sorry folks, but I refuse to refer to this sport as “soccer”). However, unlike kids of his age who perceive the sport as a recreational one, the strong bond between Tsubasa and the football was forged when as a toddler, Tsubasa was hit by a car but was miraculously left unscathed because he was holding his football (which absorbed the shock of the impact). Since then, Tsubasa became “friends” with the football. The series begins with Tsubasa and his mother moving to Nankatsu city, where Tsubasa aspires to become part of the famous Shuutetsu School football team. Known for their outstanding talent and led by their genius goalkeeper, “Wakabayashi”, Shuutetsu is a dream for any kid wanting to become pro one day. Nevertheless, shortly after moving to Nankatsu city, Tsubasa becomes friends with members of a rival football club from Nankatsu Public School (NPS). Unlike Shuutetsu, NPS is a disaster waiting to happen. Lacking a single player with a single shred of talent, NPS has a reputation for losing against Shuutetsu without scoring a single goal against them. Through a series of unexpected turn of events, Tsubasa decides to join Nankatsu to play against Wakabayashi. The chemistry between these two rivals is so intense that it makes you want to continue watching the show. Perhaps what adds to the charm is the fact that Wakabayashi is arrogant while Tsubasa is as humble as they come, yet both display incredible talent at the sport. At the risk of mentioning any spoilers, I will stop with the story and let you enjoy it for yourselves.
Even if you grew up in the 90s, I can’t think of a reason why you will be put-off by the artwork. Granted, the artwork is not impeccable by any means, but it most definitely suits the theme of the Anime well. The characters have been drawn in such a way that each has its own distinct and recognizable characteristics. Furthermore, with respect to the matches, they are not simply a repeat of previous ones. Each match has its own dynamics, turn of events and level of difficulty, which will keep you from getting bored too quickly.

In conclusion, regardless of what generation you are from or where you grew up, I recommend you to give this Anime a chance. If you watch it for the right reasons, I’m sure that it will not disappoint you. I give this Anime a 7 out of 10.

"Because ten billion years of time is so fragile, so ephemeral..it arouses such a bittersweet, almost heartbreaking fondness".

Let me preface this review by saying that very rarely have I met paths with an animation that potently sheds light on the very tragic state of our world by charmingly forcing it's viewers to remind themselves that they are a part of that reality. "Now and Then, Here and There" is one of such, and it truly is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Perhaps one of the most praise worthy attribute of this animation is the fact that it draws it's viewers into it's own world and it is ... only after you watch the final episode when you realize how remarkably powerful of an experience it has been. I am quite mesmerized to be honest because I am convinced that this is more than a animation for me. Having just completed the final episode 10 minutes ago, I have come to the conclusion that the experience of watching this anime was more like an inner journey for me (almost spiritual in nature) and although the story has come to an end, I feel that it has become a part of me.

At this point, I should remind the reader that "Now and Then, Here and There" is certainly not for the faint hearted simply because the faint hearted is not inclined to be reminded of the dark and disturbing realities that form the fabric of our societies. When we scrutinize the current state of our world, it is easy to see that all it takes is a single tyrant to upset the harmony of nature. As a consequence, man becomes willing to kill man for personal gains and innocent lives are lost in vain. But then in the midst of this bloodshed, a strong willed and determined individual emerges who bluntly challenges the "system" at all costs, driven by a natural sense of justice making us realize that a "Deus Ex Machina" is perhaps not far fetched at all. Along the line, all participants of war are forced to question their natural inclinations, which ultimately separates a strong sense of morality from tyranny. "Now and Then, Here are There" accurately reflects all of this in 13 episodes.

As far as the story goes, it begins when a highly spirited teenager called Shu meets a mysterious girl (Lala-Ru) as they both sit quietly on a smokestack looking at the beautiful sunset. While Shu is progressing with his attempt to communicate with her, they find themselves under swift attack by an unconventional machine. Immediately, the attackers emerge from the machine and force Lala-Ru to go back with them. Not thinking twice, Shu intervenes unsuccessfully and they are both taken as prisoners and transported into a strange desert world. This is where the story really begins and this is the point when together with Shu and Lala-Ru, we are also transported into that desert world. This is as much as you need to know with regards to the story because words are not capable of expressing how captivating the story becomes once they are in the desert world. You must watch this show to understand.

Be warned that from the outlook this anime may seem like a normal shounen action-packed show. However, do not be deceived, for the gripping essence of this animation is not reliant on the "action" but rather on the intangible factors that lead to violence. In terms of the graphic content, you are safe to assume that there is a fair deal of violence, killing, blood, rape and it is especially not easy to watch considering that the victims are young kids.

With regards to the Art work, it was fantastic. Having read some reviews on this anime coupled with listening to other peoples opinions, I am forced to disagree with people who say that the Art was less than superb. Based on the theme, I could not imagine the art being any different because it perfectly captures the "dark" and the "light" and it combines them into a beautiful spectacle of duality. As far as the enjoyment goes, I enjoyed every single moment of this anime and it has no doubt found it's place in my top 10 list of animations. The music was completely in sync with the rest of the anime, specifically the ending theme to each episode. A beautiful song indeed!

I must also point out that do not be deceived by the ranking and scores given on myanimelist. Just because this anime is not in the top 200, it does not mean that it cannot make it into your list of top anime. I strongly suggest that you watch the first 3 or 4 episodes and if you feel that it is not your cup of tea, then by all means do not continue with it. However if you do, then be prepared for a magnificent roller coaster ride, and I have several reasons to believe that this will be a ride that you will never forget.

I honestly do not know why I am writing a review on King of Fighters because watching it was a very unusual experience. For starters, I felt that the anime was rushed because it was trying to accommodate a full story within a runtime of less than 40 minutes (~8 minutes X 4 episodes). As a result, I found myself scratching my head at the end and it just felt like a pointless and rather detached anime. Anyway, since I already started writing, here is my review:

Story: 3/10
The flaw is quite simple to understand. The story was too complex and it was being explained in ... a very limited amount of time. This gave an extremely "rushed" feeling to the anime overall and during the whole process, I felt no connection whatsoever to the events that were happening in the show. Unless I was supposed to watch a prequel to this in order to understand what was going on, the story was poorly illustrated and it seriously lacked substance.

Art: 8/10
I found the art to be quite impressive actually. The characters looked amazing and the overall art was very good and succeeded in giving a mature feel to the anime overall.The fight scenes were also quite outstanding however brief they were. To be honest, the fights were probably the only reason why I gave this anime a 6 overall. Although I could not connect at all to the plot, the fight scenes were fun to watch.

Sound: 7/10
The music running in the background whenever there was a fight scene was quite appropriate to what was going on. There were some other "cool" sounds in the background as well which gave a little life to the anime.

Character: 4/10
I don't know. To me, the characters seemed very shallow and lacked substance. The dialog was also a bit silly and there was absolutely no chemistry between the characters. The only time when they actually had a presence or "feel" to them was when they were fighting, which showed who they were. otherwise, I thought the characters were silly and immature.

Enjoyment: 6/10
The only reason why I gave this anime a 6/10 is because of the fight scenes. IMO the quality of the fight scenes were very good but they were brief. Everything else was pretty much a joke. But hey, I'm not complaining. Because this anime is VERY short, I only spent ~40 minutes to complete it. My final impression is that it was a strange experience and there were things which I could not understand because the pace of the anime was ridiculously fast. They could have actually turned this into an excellent anime if they had spent more time on it and made it longer in it's runtime. Do I recommend you to watch this? Sure, its only 40 minutes. But, I am supremely confident that you will be equally lost when you complete it.

Final Approach is a romantic comedy with a total runtime of 2.6 hours (13 episodes X 12 minutes each). I can understand why the anime is short because it would make little sense for it to be any longer since the story and events of this show are quite simple. Although this is not the best anime out there, I have to say that it is not bad at all. It really depends on the audience. I am not really into the whole romantic comedy genre but I do not detest it either. I think this is one of the reasons why I liked this ... show. If you hate romantic comedy, then I suggest you run a mile from this anime. Anyway, here goes my review:

Story: 6/10
Read the synopsis.

Art: 7/10
The art was generally good and suitable for this sort of genre. The way I understand art in the context of anime is based on it's suitability for the theme. Because this is a romantic comedy, it would be stupid to have buff looking characters with 28 inch biceps dressed in dbz outfits. The characters were drawn pretty well to reflect normal high schoolers and the general art was a well done job which reflected a normal high school and home environment.

Sound: 6/10
I cannot re-call the music being spectacular for this anime. I must confess that it has been a while since I watched this show so I am not completely sure. Having said that, when I usually find the music to be absolutely splendid for a given anime, it sticks in my mind. I cannot remember the music sticking in my mind so my conclusion is that it was not all that great.

Character: 7/10
The characters were perhaps the strongest element of the show. I found the relationship and chemistry between Ryo and Shizuka quite entertaining and hilarious. There were some really funny moments. Perhaps the weak aspect of the anime was that the characters did not really develop with time but were rather static in how they behaved. Nevertheless, they did a good job with the characters.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I completed this show on the same day because it is not very long and I must say that I found it enjoyable. I was tucked in bed with my laptop and I can remember clicking on the next episode button every time the previous episode finished. Since each episode is only 12 minutes, it was a unique experience for me. As a comedy, I think this anime is good and I am sure it will have you laughing.

Overall: 7/10
I recommend Final Approach to people who 1) enjoy watching comedy and 2) do not detest romantic themes. I do not want to compare this to other anime that I like because the genres are completely different. I feel that Final Approach has its own place, where it sits as a funny, light and entertaining anime worth watching.

When I first heard about this anime, I was highly skeptical about it. Although the idea of an anime based on Street Fighter was exciting to me, I had serious doubts as to whether it would be worth watching. Furthermore, when I learned that the anime was in English, it further deterred me from watching it. During my anime watching experience, I have always despised the thought of dubbed shows because IMHO it loses a lot of character originating from the Japanese language (subbed). Anyway, for weeks the title SF2V was persistently sitting at the back of my mind until I finally decided to watch ... the first episode. To my amazement, I was shocked to learn that all my preconceptions of this anime were wrong. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that this is one of the best anime ever because it is not. But, it certainly exceeded my expectations and I must admit that I enjoyed watching this show till the very end.

STORY: 7/10
The premise of this anime revolves around Ryu and Ken's characters, who are 17 year olds btw. While training in Japan, Ryu receives a letter from Ken containing a plane ticket for the US, some money and the words "come to America" written in the letter. After giving it some brief thought, he decides to visit Ken. Upon arriving in the states, he is happy to have met ken after years and he is overwhelmed by Ken's luxurious lifestyle (yes, ken is very rich as expected). From this point onwards, the infamous duo get up to a lot of mischief, leading to major fist fights in a bar where they are confronted with a strong rival (I will not state the name of the character because it will spoil it for you). The conclusion of the fight motivates them to travel the world in pursuit of highly skilled warriors so that they can put their skills to the test in order to find out who the strongest fighter in the world is. The overall story has a nice flow to it and I am sure you will enjoy it.

ART: 8/10
To my amazement, the art was quite good. Please note that Ryu and Ken do not look like they do in the SF games so do not be disappointed when you find that their appearance is completely different. In my opinion, they were drawn very well and the fight scenes were nicely executed. The same applies to the rest of the characters.

SOUND: 7/10
I was expecting the anime to have music themes from the SF game, so I must say that this was quite a big disappointment for me :( Even so, the sound effects were good enough for the show but I think they could have easily included the original themes from the game which IMO would have improved the sound aspects of the anime considerably and would have probably received more of a fan base.

CHARACTER: 7/10
OK, first of all the chemistry between all the characters were quite strong. It is easy to see for instance the brotherly relationship between Ryu and Ken, so this was one of the strong points in terms of their characters. However, some of the dialog was quite corny and out of place at times but this is not a big deal. Also, for all you SF fans out there who are yet to watch this show, these are the characters that star in the show (other than Ryu and ken). Chun-Li, Guile, Balrog, Dhalsim, Cammy, Vega, Furlong, Nash aka Charlie, Sagat, M-Bison. If I have missed out any characters, then accept my apologies. Akuma does appear in the show but only as cameos so be warned that he does NOT have an active role in the show.

ENJOYMENT: 7/10
I found this anime to be fairly enjoyable. The story, character development, chemistry, fight scenes together with the overall presence to the show makes this a worthwhile watch. Overall, I score this anime 7/10. I must confess that I score quite strictly so a 7/10 for me may perhaps be an 8 for you. I am not sure but regardless of my score, I suggest that you watch this one especially if you are a SF fan. It is definitely worth a watch.

I will begin by saying that do not let the length of this anime turn you off. Although watching 75 episodes is not an easy job for any given anime, I cannot once remember the act of watching Hikaru no Go being a pain. In fact, every single episode was a pleasure to watch and the entire experience was nothing less than spectacular. I will not go into the plot since there are countless places on the web where you can find the plot outline (including myanimelist lol). This review is therefore strictly to do with the elements that make Hikaru No Go such an ... awesome anime to watch. For starters, although this anime is about Go, you do not need to have an understanding (or even liking) of this game in order to enjoy it. The driving force of HnG is a combination of excellent character development, brilliant plot, fantastic music, and an overall gripping presence to the show. All you have to do is to watch the first episode of this anime and I will guarantee you that you will crave for the next episode. Yes, it is THIS good. Another noteworthy aspect of this anime is the emotional impact it has towards it's viewers. I found myself laughing, smiling, upset, angry, and almost in tears at specific time points throughout my experience of watching this anime. You will really be putting your emotions through a roller coaster ride, which is quite rare for a lot of other animations. I strongly suggest you all to watch this one. It will not disappoint you.

Story: I know that I mentioned that I will not talk about the storyline but since this is part of the review, I will provide a brief outline. HnG is based on the ancient strategy game called Go (similar to chess or checkers) and it journeys into a student's (Hikaru) self discovery when he begins to play Go under the influence of an ancient ghost called Sai upon being possessed by it. At first, Hikaru is compelled to play Go on behalf of Sai but as he begins to play more and more, he begins to develop a personal liking to the game, especially when faced with a genius rival of the same age (Akira). This leads to his aspiration of becoming the best Go player that he possibly can. 9/10

Art: The art was fantastic and colorful. It complemented the theme of the anime very well and the overall art was generally perfect. I cannot imagine the art being any different to what it was. 10/10

Sound: Another amazing addition to the anime. The sound was simply outstanding, which really leaves an impact on the viewers. Bokura No Bouken (ending theme of the first dozen or so episodes) was breath-taking and gave a lot of character to the anime. The other themes were equally fantastic. 10/10

Character: Each character was portrayed in a realistic way and fortunately there was not a single character who was "over-the-top" or irritating. Unlike naruto for instance, where certain characters are too silly or juvenile, the characters in HnG were unique in their own ways without acting overly stupid. This gave an interesting flow to the anime overall. Even the comical aspects of some characters were extremely well developed. 9/10

Enjoyment: For me personally, Hikaru No Go was extremely fun to watch and I was seriously addicted to this show. After watching the first episode, I just knew that I had to complete this anime asap because it substantially increased my confidence that I would not be wasting my time. The only thing is, I was sad when I finished it and felt this strange void instantly after I watched the final episode. I think it is remarkable that some anime can have that effect on you. It is as if they become a part of you. 9/10

I am quite strict when it comes to scoring anime, so I give this a 9/10 overall. If you have not seen this anime yet, I suggest you add it to your "plan to watch" list. It really is a fantastic show.

Captain Tsubasa, Road to 2002 is not among the best anime in my list. Having said that, I still think it is good and worth watching. For starters do not make the assumption that you need to be interested in sports in order to enjoy this anime. The fact is that even if you don't have the least bit of interest in football/soccer, you should find this to be a fairly entertaining watch. However, bear in mind that there is only so many episodes that you will be able to watch consecutively. My personal limit was ~7 episodes after which I needed a break from ... the anime. But then I came back to it. I would recommend Captain Tsubasa road to 2002 to anyone searching for a light and relaxing anime to watch in their free time.

Story: 8/10 - The premise is based on the story of the captain of the Brazilian football team and while playing an important match, he remembers all the people that helped him to become who he was. The anime is basically a flashback into his past when he was a kid and it takes the viewers on a journey of his up's and down's as an aspiring professional football player. The matches are interesting to watch and generally the anime is quite entertaining.

Art: 7/10 - Not magnificent by a long shot, but I would not call it complete crap either. I think the art work was "adequate" but you have to remember that this anime is quite old and I dont think it had an exceptionally high budget either.

Sound: 7/10 - The sound elements did their job fairly well. The music was not particularly stunning but in a majority of the cases, it suited the thematic elements of the anime pretty well.

Character: 7/10 - The characters were generally well developed.

Enjoyment: 7/10 - As I mentioned earlier, I had a limit to how many episodes I could watch consecutively. This is of course true with any other anime unless if you are a robot who never feels sleepy or gets bored. However, I could not handle too many episodes of this at once. Even at the moment, I have not yet completed the whole series and come back to it often when I feel like relaxing. I recommend Captain tsubasa road to 2002 to anime lovers who want something to watch on a relaxing evening when they don't have much to do.