This is an anime I have a tremendous amount of respect for as a piece of art than I actually enjoyed watching it.

The themes about the ever fading line between the virtual world and "real" world are more prevalent today than ever before. The idea of finding that perfect balance that we all seek but seems impossible to find. We cannot ignore the internet because "we are all connected" but we also do not want to be consumed in it.

We often become another version of ourselves on the internet, as we are less intimately connected with the world around us. We can choose how much information to reveal about ourselves, unlike the physical world where in order to interact with others some information is automatically given. We don't need to expose our faces, our names or anything for that matter on the internet. We can claim a new identity or remain anonymous. This disconnect allows us to indulge in our most wanted or shameful desires without anyone knowing. This is what lain experienced for the first time as she became more and more ingrained into the wire, trying to realize her authentic self. is the real lain the one in the wired, or the one in the physical world? who really is the real Lain?

Stories about racial segregation in a dystopian setting are nothing new. Although I very much enjoy dystopian stories, 86 failed to deliver something impactful. This is not to say it was horrible, it just felt lackluster in several aspects. Firstly the story has quite a few flaws and illogical aspects. How come Lena, despite being very obviously against the regime suffers no consequences when openly going against the Republics ideologies? It is mentioned that the government wants to erase the 86's existence by killing them all off, so it is evident that they are concerned about controlling the publics opinion. It's very strange then that no action is taken against Lena to prevent her from spreading the truth to the general public.
The 86's motive's for willingly fighting for the Republic were also not very clear. They briefly mention that they do it for the sake of honour, which is quite a weak and unconvincing argument. I find it hard to believe that not a single person has the desire to rebel, given that they have plenty of resources and the numbers to do so.

The characters are also something I take issue with. Specifically the 86. They are very much all cookie cutter characters, apart from maybe Shin. Non of them have notable personalities and most die extremely quickly before you're able to connect to them, making it hard to feel any emotion when they die. The 86 themselves also don't seem to mourn their fallen comrades for very long. There is usually a very brief moment of grief, that frankly feels disingenuous and then it cuts to them having fun and goofing off.
This also ties into the lack of impact the war is shown to have. The way its portrayed doesn't give the impression that the war is anything severe. The only effect it seems to have is the death of the 86 which as discussed previously was handled poorly and garners little emotion. It feels like the war has little influence on the mental state and wellbeing of the solders that are forced to live a life infused with violence and loss. They act like children playing in the school playgrounds during recess with no care in the world despite the horrific life they are forced to lead.

It's also worth mentioning that the CGI was also very unimpressive, which was a disappointment as the fighting robots were a large part of the story. The animation and art however were quite nice.

Animation was phenomenal especially for the time, but unfortunately the story fell flat for me

skibidi toilet gyatt level 100 fanum tax rizz in ohio ahh anime

An absolute mess riddled with plot holes and poor writing. It is clear that there was no effort made to build characters to make them more than the archetype they fit into. Take Lelouch for example. He is made out to be this genius, when in reality he often uses elaborate yet inconveniently stupid plans to achieve his goals all for the sake of plot progression. When playing chess against Mao to save Nunnally he could have just tipped the scale in his favour using his body weight, yet he decided to instead use his Geass on himself to make himself forget the plan to make Mao's efforts of reading his mind useless.

To make matters worse, the scene where Lelouch accidentally used his Geass on Euphy was such a badly written asspull, it was hard to even take seriously. The scene begins with Lelouch explaining his powers to Euphy, and Euphy obviously being in disbelief which then leads Lelouch to conveniently say something along the lines of "if I were to tell you to kill all Japanese people you would have to follow my order". Conveniently, his Geass malfunctions exactly at that moment, undoing what could have been a resolution to the show. The possibility that his Geass could have even gone out of control was only hinted with Mao, and was otherwise never built upon. It suddenly happened at an extremely convenient time to progress the plot.

Apart from Lelouch, the sheer number of characters the show has to deal with also does not help its case. Most of them feel empty, and used only as a plot device for another character.

While I could go on forever about the poor writing and characters, there are some positives. The OST was amazing and made mediocre scenes seem like a grand ordeal. The older animation and art style, despite not being anything outstanding also found a way to charm me.

Overall a show with potential that was sadly never reached and that was largely carried by its grand presentation.

pretty typical sports anime

Would be higher if not for the Chimera Ant arc

A relatively basic premise executed well. It doesn't take itself too seriously at times, which is a refreshing breather in this genre, with the comedy also being tasteful and well timed. I see this series being able to take this generic, seen before a thousand times plot and have a fresh twist on it.

"Chasing your dreams means there's always someone out there who's beating you at the thing you care most about. But it's also so exciting that you don't really care!"

The best anime adaptation of Berserk to date, but still doesn't even hold a candle to the manga. Still, being able to see some of my most beloved characters animated with the gorgeous soundtrack is a welcome experience. It is a good introduction into the series and has led countless people including myself to continue experiencing the story through the manga.

this was probably my first ever anime

Pretty colours and animation but not so pretty writing. It felt like everything that occurred was due to plot convenience. Why did Mary's great grandmother used to be a witch? How did Mary's powers not get depleted at the end without the use of the flower? How did the Madame identify and find Peter who was in the forest by only knowing his home address? Why was Mr. Flanagan helping Mary and against the Madame and Dr. D? I could go on forever. There was no single character that saw any development and no purpose to the story. The only thing going for it was the amazing English dub and great Ghibili like animation which by itself cannot make up for the story.

Has the best art direction, style, ambiance and music of any anime I have ever seen. It's genuinely beautiful

A welcome insight into Oda's work before One Piece.

"Don't think."

Distractions have become so integrated into our lives, it is hard to distinguish what is there to steal our time and what is not. We engage in it without realizing, drifting through our days like aimless beings, unaware of how much time slips away without purpose. But it allows us to push our problems aside instead of looking introspectively and facing them head on. Paranoia Agent is an excellent social commentary that aims to convey how escapism and mass consumption bring about more problems than they deceivingly elevate, and the cyclical nature of both in modern society. Its use of the visual medium is excellent as it portrays the horrors of the collective unconscious. The episodic nature of the show allows for different perspectives on issues, enabling the whole to become greater than the sum of its parts.

"You're just trying to escape. Don't run away from reality. A makeshift salvation is nothing but deception."

A reused formula seen time and time again that is sure to go viral. I caved into the hype and watched it only to find myself rewatching the most basic Isekai premises and tropes but with characters that had Korean names. The animation was nice but otherwise had nothing to bring to the table.

[SPOILERS] An interesting concept of the world being government by the collective minds of societal anomalies, that believe they have an outside perspective to judge good and evil called the Sibyl system. In this universe no one has to have any individual thought, everything is thought up for you. What job you're best suited for, your purpose in life and even whether or not you'll commit a crime. Those who's crime coefficient increases above a certain nominal value are deemed as latent criminals who lose all their rights and are sentenced to live in isolation. Therefore, citizens live in fear that their Psycho-pass will become clouded and cause an increase in their crime coefficient. The result? Everyone lives in a zombified state, having to abide by the ethical laws of the Sibyl system in fear that one opposing thought will take everything from them. This brings forth the question of whether there is any value in living a life in which one has no autonomy?

"The chain of justice - the system - never ends." This is perhaps the shows ultimate message. There will always be an endless cycle of crime and retribution as long as the Sibyl System is in place. This system of control and justice is never-ending and self perpetuating. The pursuit of justice is an ongoing process with no definitive end, constantly evolving and adapting but never reaching a state of true perfection.

Although I did enjoy this show, it is not without its flaws. It often times treats the audience as if they are stupid, needing to spoon feed any philosphical points to them directly. All moral messages are done so through dialogue even quoting entire passages of certain works of literature. It simply feels like a low cut effort to make the show more "deep". It also introduces many concepts and plot points such as the virtual world, only to discard and not build on them later. The character development of Akane and some others also left something to be desired. The CGI elements were also not great and took away from the production value. In terms of music, it had one of my favourite OSTs of all time, especially the first opening, which is always great to see.

Despite its many flaws this is an anime that has a piece of my heart forever.

if only i could watch it for the first time again

A surprisingly nice balance between funny and wholesome. The characters are likeable and the plot remained consistently interesting throughout the short 12 episodes. However I do wonder how long they can milk the premise before it gets old.

Steins;Gate's greatest strength lies in its meticulously crafted time-travel mechanics and tightly woven plot. Each jump through time is presented with thoughtful precision, where every action carries meaningful consequences. The stakes are always clear, and despite the complexity of time travel, the plot remains coherent and focused, avoiding unnecessary chaos.

To reinforce the consequences of time travel, a dystopian element is introduced through SERN's world domination. This aligns well with the show's strengths, as it does not gloss over the repercussions of altering past events. Instead, it creates high stakes by introducing a global threat, emphasizing the severe and menacing consequences of time travel. Unfortunately, as the series progresses, SERN is sidelined in favor of Okabe's personal struggles, leaving this large-scale conspiracy feeling underdeveloped and diminishing the weight of the global stakes.

Where Steins;Gate really struggles however, is in character development. Characters lack depth as the show has a heavy reliance on character archetypes rather than taking the time to properly develop them. Without their gags and constant bickering, they are hollow and unmemorable which lessens the impact of emotional moments they are involved in.
Most character growth is done reactively, meaning instead of looking inside and making decisions based on their own volition, most if not all their choices stem from responses based on given circumstances. Okabe is one such example where his lack of exploration into his identity and inner motivations make him feel one-dimensional. His emotional moments such as grief, guilt, and desperation from repeatedly witnessing death, are always reactionary and moments where he could have had personal reflection or growth, are overshadowed by the fast paced nature of the plot, which prioritizes time leaps and worldline changes over meaningful character introspection. Even his romance with Kurisu, which could have been a major turning point of emotional maturity for him felt forced with little to no build up to make it seem organic.

This careful balance between intricate science fiction concepts and clear storytelling is what makes Steins;Gate stand out over other shows in the genre, however the lack of emotional depth makes it hard for me to become fully invested.

Everything that made Steins;Gate brilliant, namely its intricate mechanics and brilliant pacing was discarded for a movie that feels like a cheap cash grab. The complex narrative and tension of the original were replaced by a less engaging and emotionally manipulative plot, ultimately doing a disservice to the franchise.

An episode of Steins;Gate, created without plot or purpose, stripped of all sci-fi elements, wherein only its weakest aspect remains: its characters.

Sword Art Online was one of my first anime's, and at the time I really enjoyed the plot of these characters being trapped in a video game as it felt very fresh to my younger self that had barely watched any anime before. But even when I first watched it, the fan service and weird sexual connotations that were forced into the plot were extremely unenjoyable leading me to drop the series after watching a couple episodes of the Alicization.

SAO lacks in basically every aspect that would make a good story from characters to plot, not to mention being riddled with fan service, incest and sexual assault which are absolutely unnecessary and add nothing to the story. The characters are very surface level, the villains are poorly written and are just "bad to be bad" with no compelling motives. One villains whole schtick is just wanting to rape Asuna. It is honestly astonishing how Kirito and this story overall is what people in the target demographic (shounen) may look to as role models.

real ones love farmland saga

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Scared to watch season 2

Very solid first five episodes, almost had a deathnote feel to it but suffered a lot in terms of the plot afterwards. Five was suddenly introduced, with a very vaguely explained motive behind why she was after Nine. In fact the whole show suffers from "vagueness". While vagueness in itself is not something negative, when not done properly it can lead to the demise of a story. Nine and Twelves backstory was vague, their reasoning for the terrorism was vague, (as mentioned previously) Five's rationale for going after Nine was also vague. It just felt like there was no real reason for any of it to happen, and most things were done for plot convience. In this day and age of technology, the amount of time and struggle it took to figure out the riddles was unbelievable, and so was the incompetence of the police to find the Sphinx even though they had a profile of everything about them in terms of physical appearance except the face. The "science" was also just plain wrong a lot of the time.

The characters were also very generic, but didnt bother me as they fit well to the show. What did bother me was Lisa. She was another poorly written female character who was overly idiotic with not an ounce of common sense, only there to serve as Twelves love interest and had zero character development. She served no purpose and the show could have (and should have) done without her.

This is not to say it was all bad, the animation was decent and it had a very good soundtrack. Despite me picking it apart quite a bit, it was a fun watch, just not as deep and well written as it may lead you to believe.

Wasnt a huge fan, I'll probably give it another chance in the future

sus

Already read the manga, might watch at a later date

Couldn't get used to the CGI, I'll probably just read the manga instead

On-Hold for now as the premise didn't really peak my interest. However first episode is great, the animation even in simple sequences is very fluid, the CGI is amazing and is integrated extremely well into the 2d animation, the choice of music works great to enhance scenes and the comedy bits are well timed. Unfortunately after the first episode it just failed to keep me invested and the production quality dropped as well.

Had lots of potential to be one of the greatest shounen anime of all time given the amount of time to build and refine the characters, world and story. However I cannot recommend the anime to anyone with its current pacing issues as it is genuinely unwatchable. Recent episodes cover 3/4th of a chapter from the manga at most, and are riddled with filler to increase runtime.
If you want to experience this unique world and its lore I'd recommend either watching via onepace or just reading the manga.

Poses as a seinen hosting the same old shounen characters, troupes and plot. Not willing willing to give it anymore of my time.

Very underwhelming especially considering the hype it got at release. It's basically a slew of pretty colours and fight scenes hosting surface level characters and very standard tropes.
Its biggest appeal comes from its flashy animation and choice of colour palette. The plot is extremely generic with shoddy writing at best. The characters are also quite forgettable, which may be due to the short run time of only 10 episodes. However its hard to empathize with characters when they haven't been given enough time to develop. The use of cringe "cyberpunk" lingo and cliche tropes also don't help its case. We've seen this formula unfold countless times over the years and it really does nothing for its intrigue. I could already predict the plot after finishing the first episode. Overall very mediocre experience.

The only interesting thing I found was that it has the most western story telling of any anime I've ever seen. I can see how this can be a good starting point for people unfamiliar with anime to delve into the world of Japanese animation.

Ah yes your average stale harem-esk plot that tricks you into thinking its unique. The heroines, as per the title, are setup to fail without any meaningful reason. All emotional moments therefore feel contrived, often present purely for comedic purposes, making it hard to take the show seriously. This paired with bland, uninteresting characters offers... well nothing, other than the decent animation which is used as a crutch to make up for its many shortcomings.

So, what is the point of watching a show where the conclusion is predetermined and offers no depth in regards to the journey there? Beats me, that's why I dropped it.

lol no thanks

Piss poor excuse for fan service and panty shots of underaged girls