Not as good as the hype made it out. Started off good but Hina was a thoroughly uninteresting character to me and she took up most of the screentime. Chinatsu was much more interesting. Also I wanted more actual sport progression!

Stories Ranked:
1. Kokoro - Natsume Souseki (Eps 7-8): 9/10
2. In the Woods Beneath the Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom - Sakaguchi Ando (Eps 5-6): 7-8/10
3. No Longer Human - Osamu Dazai (Eps 1-4): 6-7/10
4. Run, Melos - Osamu Dazai (Eps 9-10): 6/10
5. Hell Screen - Akutagawa Ryuunosuke (Ep 12): 6/10
6. The Spider’s Thread - Akutagawa Ryuunosuke (Ep 11): 5/10

The [Spoilers][Rewatch] Monogatari Rewatch thread on r/anime from 2017 did a PHENOMENAL amount in opening my eyes to all the symbolism I missed from the dialogue, OPs, even the technical language and background shots. The essays every week from u/Sinrus and u/[deleted] (the latter characterised by their ‘FIRST TIMER’ -> ‘REACTION’ -> ‘FINAL THOUGHTS’ comments, and the former characterised by their 'screenshot of the day', 'fun quote of the day' and 'serious quote of the day' in case they delete their account too) were particularly enthralling to read and increased the score from an 8 to a 9.

-------
As per this comment from the aforementioned u/Sinrus (don't actually read it because Spoilers):
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/6kc1pv/comment/djkz15h/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3


The Ideal Watch Order Should Be:
1. Bake
2. Nise
3. Neko: Kuro

4. Monogatari Second Season
5. Hana

6. Tsuki
7. Owari S1
8. Kizu I, II & III
9. Koyomi
10. Owari S2
11. Zoku Owari

Don’t get me wrong, the animation was a JOKE. Annoyingly though, the writing is so damn good it still had me so excited from week to week, despite it literally being moving manga panels. It’s actually such a shame it got left with this studio - would have easily been a very strong 9 otherwise.

Good, but tbh the best parts were just the highlights of Season 1. Very disappointed in the animation though - this was a MOVIE. Better than S1, sure, but the use of 3D, stiff animation and still frames in a movie did not give me any hope for Season 2. The studio is clearly understaffed/under buget or just don’t care. After the Haikyuu movie the contrast here is definitely noticeable. Poor showing with the subtitle organisation from Crunchyroll, too.

The turning point for the romance was weird - needed more setup/development (even just a couple scenes), and the ending was abrupt and made the whole thing seemed like it had been leading nowhere specific, but otherwise I enjoyed it, was engaged the whole time for sure, although I would have liked more focus on the aspect of gliding as a sport in and of itself.

Ep 13 - Wish Overhaul's motivations for erasing quirks would have been for a good, personal reason for normal society (which, in conjunction with Stain, would have set up a really great theme and philosophical battle of 'do superpowers really make society better?') but no he just wants to rule the world like a standard bad guy. Weak. Also lowkey annoyed that with Eri's rewind quirk they essentially now have a plot device so no-one dies but we'll see how well the author can handle that.

The problem with having a large cast is that most of them become irrelevant if not picked by by the fandom, and MHA had the problem of any side character arcs being self-contained and resolved on their own, meaning they had no bearing on the main story. Whether these events happened or not is irrelevant, which is bad writing.

Ep 16 was incredible. The comeback for these characters was so well done and it triggered emotions and tears I haven’t had since early Hero.

Other than that though - this season is good, don’t get me wrong. It’s the climax for what we’ve been buildig to. But I’m so fatigued with Hero that it’s not hitting like it should.

A REAL sleeper hit. Started off pretty standard and even almost dropped it but continued to get better and better with each episode. Ended up being very excited to watch every week. Characters and dialogue felt more grounded than other shows (although it it still anime so keep that in mind), was actually funny, and the main ship felt super organic and grounded in its development and interactions, whilst still being very endearing and fantastical. Constantly caught myself smiling. Highly recommend. OP is great too.

Amazing concept and plot ideas and great intention with its messages and heart, but poor planning and bad pacing/lack of time was defo it’s biggest setback. Get a vibe that maybe it was shafted on the budget or the writer/director didnt really care about it. Would have liked to see the war bit flesh out in a more planned out ‘Money Heist’ esque way with references to history and a general greater build up to the whole situation. Animation quite bad for a film and OST planning and location severely lacking but insert somgs and quality of music on point. General dramatisation and immersion was not done well at all and failed to spike emotions and draw you in was a complete failure (big part due to music placing, it was just silent the whole film!) and definitely held it back as well loads, just generally anticlimactic. Cliche but tried and tested group dynamic and character archetypes, lots of potential for interpersonal drama. Characters and character driven moments and plot points definitely the strongest point even outside the main cast but again needed more fleshing out. That said, the final revelation of relationships and standings was interesting and new but not at all built up and this came across as a cheap ploy for emotion, even if in theory it could’ve been phenomenal. Tamasadure’s final revelation could have been hinted at and used as a base for the war strategy then had the revelation that it was her. Although apparently that’s a callback to a liveaction film based on the same concept so that’s even more interesting lol.

Good as a film but would have made a decent and refreshingly new type of show also imo.

Super underrated. Good animation, smooth choreography and wild camera angles, great OP, humour on point and serious moments hit. Continually got better as the show went on. Ep 11 was great.

**Spoilers**: I like how they switched back and forth between Kei returning to his old self and the current one - was a fresh take on amnesia and left you something to look forward to for when he returns or develops back into it. Keeping it as one way either way would've gotten stale.

The points brought up here were all very valid:

https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/xescb1/anybody_else_dislike_the_ending_of_cyberpunk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

especially from rukioish and ScarletDaemon.


The more I think about it, the less I like it with all the plot holes and pointless conclusion. Nothing from the first half made sense given the ending. In typical Trigger fashion, they’ve gone heavy for style over substance (there’s some, but it’s not thought out enough), with a strong first half that falls off by the end.