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Have you ever look forward to a new episode that you can’t stop thinking about all throughout the week? Well, that was the exact opposite with me and Rewrite. Trying to make a joke about wanting the show to be “rewritten”, but now I just wished it wasn’t written in the first place. Everything about it was a whole lot of wrong.

I’ll admit, I have not played the original visual novel. However, I won’t use that as an excuse to why I didn’t like it. There were other adaptations of works by Key that were fairly decent. Planetarian was one that was came out the ... same time and was much shorter, but at least that was more entertaining. Again, I know nothing of the original source, so I don’t know what is faithful or not. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t distinguish a good story from a bad one.

That brings me to the story. It’s so difficult to describe that I’m having trouble figuring out what to write in this section. The one thing that bothered me the most, when it comes to the story, is the lack of context. Rarely were things explained, and if so, it was in the vaguest way possible. What’s worse than a bad story is having horrible pacing added to it. I first noticed it in an early episode that focused on a certain character. We get their backstory, and it’s done so quickly that it gives us no time to appreciate (for a lack of better terms) this character’s history. The second half of the show goes so downhill and becomes mind-numbingly ludicrous that I didn’t even react. The overall mood was kind of a mix, as well. It seems serious at times, but isn’t afraid to put in a random fart joke (there’s only one, but it’s really off-putting).

While the story may be out there, I can’t say the same thing for the characters. Zero personalities, zero chemistry, zero everything. There is not a drop of redeeming quality to these people that we’re supposed to follow for twelve episodes. I have the strange suspicion that they were well written in the visual novel because we’ll have more time to know them better. For me, I wouldn’t care if the story was terrible, as long as the characters were interesting enough. That’s definitely not the case with this. I couldn’t care less what happens to anyone, and when things did happen to them, I didn’t bat an eye.

The only thing worse than a bad story and a bad set of characters is bad animation, and it really shows here. From episode one, right off the bat, the visuals were unpleasing, and it actually managed to get worse with each week. Not only do we get terrible-looking character designs and action sequences, we’re even presented with horrendously rendered CG creatures. When both of them are shown together, it is an eyesore. There was never a single moment where I was able to say that something “looked nice”.

For the most part, I can get behind the idea that not everyone has the same opinions on something. Yet, there are shows like Rewrite that makes me wonder why there are people who did enjoy it. Currently, it has close to a rating of 7 on the site, and that puzzles me. How can one look at a single episode of this and say “that was good”? I knew, from the beginning, this show’s fate was already chosen. I knew what I was getting myself into.

There is just one thing now I don’t understand: Why is it getting a second season?

Looking for a series that constantly likes to add characters and ideas, then let it all pile up and do nothing with them? If that’s the case, then “Servamp” is right up your ally.

To make things clear, I do not mind the ideas the show has to offer. I found the concept of Servamps and Eves to be quite interesting. The problem I had with it was how everything was presented. Each episode gave us new subplots after another where eventually we have a bunch of things happening at the same time with almost no conclusion. It then makes me question what the main plot ... is because when something new happens, that suddenly takes priority. By the time the series finished, many things were left discarded and unanswered.

Similar to the plot, the characters never go anywhere in terms of personality. They just appear and decide to be involved in the conflict like it was nothing. The main characters have zero presence and don’t even feel like main characters. I had a hard time figuring out who the actual antagonist was or if there even was one. It’s not an exaggeration when I say that we get two of more characters introduced each episode. We’re overwhelmed with all of these people who have little to no presence. There is one thing I would like to mention. Each of the Servamps represent one of the seven deadly sins, and two of them are disregarded save for a flashback scene way later into the show. It was to my surprise that these two had appeared within five chapters of the manga, which baffles me because I don’t know why that choice was made.

The only positive thing I can say about it is the animation. It’s actually not that bad. The character designs were unique and each episode was often consistent. The action sequences weren’t terrible, but still a bit uninteresting. I did like it when the style changed like when a Servamp was using its powers or we were inside their minds.

Although it had some good ideas and animation, “Servamp” is still pretty boring with nothing to it. If I may be completely honest, the only thing that I truly got out of the show was the opening theme. It’s one of the styles of music that I love, but what got me was how unexpected it was. I had known beforehand that this was based on a shoujo manga, so this opening surprised the hell out of me. Knowing there are major differences in the manga, I may give that a shot someday. Otherwise, I don’t plan on revisiting the anime.

Never before have I watched through a series on a weekly basis and loathed the day when a new episode came out. That all changed when I decided to continue watching “Taboo Tattoo”. What started off as a generic, but passible, story quickly turned into a barrage of nonsense and a jumbled mess.

Like I just said, the story is nothing out of the ordinary. Boy gains these unknown powers and is thrown into this battle against others with the same powers. The first three episodes weren’t all that bad, but things changed drastically when the next few episodes came around. I can’t describe it any ... other way than “things just happen”. I say that from episode four onwards in when the show starts to go off the rails even when it was already a train wreck. By the time all that happens, I lost all hope for the series (of what little hope I had for it, in the first place). The other thing that jarring is the general tone of the series. It will go from serious, in the over-the-top kind of sense, from cringe-worthy ecchi moments that come out of nowhere. Nothing makes any sense at all, and I know why this is, but I will explain that later.

The only thing worse than having a bad story is having bad characters. Boy, were these characters horrendous. There was not a single person from this show that had a single redeeming quality to them. It’s even hard to say that they had any type of personality. As a minor spoiler, there are people who die, but when they do, I get no emotion out of it. The ironically funny thing about these characters are the stupid names chosen for them. Just to name a few we have: Blood, Wiseman, Iltutmish, Aryabhata, and one of our main characters Bluesy Fruesy. There is even a character named Colonel Sanders. Just what the hell is this show trying to be?

There’s also no use in finding anything great animation wise. The overall aesthetics is appalling and ugly with most of its color palate being either black, grey, or brown. The character designs are hideous-looking, but that goes the same with the designs of the original manga, so it’s neither an improvement nor a downgrade. What’s worse is this is an action series, so there’s lots of movement involved. You can only guess that this is done horribly, like everything else. Even if the story turned out to be decent enough, it still wouldn’t save the show from its visual eyesore. That alone was painful to watch each week.

Now, I would like to explain why the series turned out the way it is. It was all in the production choices. The first three episodes covered volume one of the manga, which is the standard way of adapting the material. Episode four, however, covered a majority of volume two with the next two episodes covered close two or more volumes each. This is the first time I’ve noticed something like this (probably because I actually did research). The manga has seven years of content, a rare thing for it to now receive an anime. Normally, a source would only have one to two years of content before getting an adaptation. My only conclusion is the production team wanted to fit in as much story as they could within twelve episodes, which results in this sloppily-paced mess. Had it not been for that, it would have been more than likely an okay show.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about “Taboo Tattoo” other than it’s something that nobody needs to see. It’s one of those shows where I feel has nothing good about it, but still manages to have an audience that genially enjoys it. I don’t mean any disrespect to those who do, but it’s hard to deny how bad it is. The story, the writing, the characters, the animation, and the production as a whole. All of it is just bad. I’m not sure if I’d recommend the manga because it’s not any better. Perhaps no matter what happened in the end, an anime adaptation was doomed from the start.

When “Re:Zero” premiered, I was quite impressed with it, and it continued to impress me even more as the weeks rolled by. Still, originally, I had thought that this was going to be one of those shows that would remain low-key and eventually wind up in obscurity. Never did I imagine how huge of a success it became, but I can definitely understand why that is.

First off, I would like to point out that this is based off a light novel series which deals with a not-so-average teenage boy being taken into a fantasy world. There are countless light novel-based shows being made recently, and ... a majority of them have been, in my opinion, bland and distasteful. In this case, we have the also currently popular “stuck in an alternate world” story. Coincidently, the season prior to “Re:Zero” had “KonoSuba”, which has the same plotline. However, from episode one, “Re:Zero” showed many signs of differences. Sure, it has some comedic elements like “KonoSuba”, but it’s not afraid to approach a darker side to things (and believe me, it gets really dark). What’s more, it comes to a point where the story becomes more than just what’s on the surface. Also, the concept of the main character “resetting” after dying isn’t the only thing to the show. It turns into this grand adventure the progresses slowly but surely after countless trials and errors. And I, for one, think that this had the best writing that I’ve ever seen in quite some time. In addition, I would like to mention how intricate the alternate universe is. Aside from the usual things like fantasy-esque races of people, we learn things like how their language is rather different from “regular human” language. It helps that it ran for two cours, giving us more time to see everything play out at a nice pace.

If there was one thing from the show that I liked the most, that would be the characters. We see people of all different shapes and races, making it very diverse. You may look at a list of them all and find it overwhelming. However, I think we get enough time with every one of them to understand where they’re coming from. Not every character gets some kind of backstory, tragic or otherwise, but interacting with them often enough gives us a good idea. The one thing this show does, that others just like it fail at, is having an interesting main character. Subaru is definitely the interesting one. From the start, and pretty much to the end, he has this pompous air to him, and comes off as a jerk. Yet, over time, we get to see sides of him that we haven’t seen initially, and it’s a great way to flesh him out. Now, many have argued that this constant behavior of his was annoying. However, I think that was the purpose of the character. He’s still a teenager, and most teens enter a phase in their life when they start acting selfish. It doesn’t help when Subaru is now away from his normal life and thrown into a spiral of madness. I say it’s the best interpretation of that sort of situation.

For the most part, the animation is the only weak point I can find. There are some episodes that were fantastically done, but aside from that, it was decent, but not horrible. Perhaps, if the animation was more consistent throughout, I would have enjoyed that aspect more. I still love the character designs, though, as that, along with the personalities behind them, is what made them so great.

I want to add another section to this review in order to give mention to the people of White Fox who were responsible for the show’s production. This has to be one of the most ambitious productions I have watched. To start off, we have a series premiere that was a double episode. Then, we had two episodes that went past the normal running time in order to fit more story in. Also, for the exact same reason, many times were the opening and ending themes omitted, more times than any other show. The original author of the light novels was involved in the production, and he even allowed the studio to make the finale, where the original material had not been released yet. That’s quite the daring move, and for doing so, I award them many praise.

Had it not been for the great writing, memorable characters, and boundaries pushed by the production team, “Re:Zero” might have just been an average story. It’s because of these aspects is what made the show enjoyable to watch each week, especially for one having a two-cour run. Most episodes ended with me wanting to know more, craving for next week to come around, and that makes it amazing. Granted, there are a few flaws, but it doesn’t outweigh the good to have any major effect. Upon reading what others thought about the show, it seemed to be either a hit or miss for many. At the very least, in my case, it was the former. I had a wonderful time seeing the story and characters unfold, and I don’t regret a single moment.

Having watched through the entire series, I can honestly say that the title is suiting, for this series is monstrous. There is a lot I have to say about “First Love Monster”, and it’s not exactly what many may be thinking of. While this wasn’t a show I was entirely looking forward to for that season, but the synopsis still caught my interest. Unfortunately, what I ended up getting was twelve episodes of absolute garbage.

Let’s get the story portion out of the way. Reading the summary is what made me want to give it a try, and probably made everyone else not touch it with ... a 20-foot pole. Subject matter like this doesn’t faze me that much. However, the thing that bothered me during my time watching it was the execution. It’s supposed to be a “love story” yet it’s everything but that. This doesn’t just pertain to the main plot as pretty much the rest of the show was poorly written. The only praise I can give it is with episode six. This was, without a doubt, the best episode and the reason being is it didn’t deal with the dribble that was the “love story”. Instead, it focused on the grown-bodied characters and how they play out in their school full of regular-sized kids, which I found quite entertaining. Seeing that made me wish the series was played out more like that. It wasn’t even halfway through when I knew there was no chance of redemption. And the only thing I can say about the finale was that it was pure garbage.

What else goes with horrible writing than horrible characters? My guess is, since the main concept is already extreme as it is, all characters must have extreme personalities to balance it out. The problem is there’s no depth to these characters, which, adding their personalities, makes them utterly annoying. Our main heroine has to be one the worst I’ve seen in a while. I can understand it’s her first love and emotions can get mixed up in certain situations, but the reasons behind them are really dumb. Also, the concept of having a grown-looking child isn’t new as it’s been done in the short-form series “Recorder and Randsell” (done way better, in my opinion). There’s not even much to say about the support characters because they’ll just come and go. Everyone is two-dimensional, almost close to being one-dimensional.

It’s at this point where the story and characters are bad enough that I can’t even care about the animation. Still, it’s not at all impressive. There were several episodes where you look at the character models and they look horrendous. I have to bring up episode six again because I believe that was the best animated episode (I don’t know what it is about it). Studio Deen has done some great shows in 2016, so adding this to their history won’t necessarily affect them.

At the beginning of the show’s run, I personally defended it because I was aware that many were going to hate on it due to its premise. As the weeks went by, my defense for it lowered gradually to the point where I couldn’t care less about what anyone would say because this was simply pure garbage. Even when I knew it was bad, I still continued to watch because I was curious to see how far it can go. Now, I honestly regret watching it, and would never put myself through such torture (unless I watch with someone else). From an uninteresting story to almost non-existent characters and atrocious animation, “First Love Monster” is the last romantic comedy I would want to re-watch.

If you're looking for a heartwarming story about the reuniting of lost friendships, then Anohana: The Flowers We Saw That Day is the perfect choice.

The one thing I like about the story is it manages to make a big impact despite being so simplistic. Every moment from this show is crucial and doesn't stray too far from the main plot. We do get a bit of supernatural elements since one of the main characters is a ghost of sorts. However, there is reason to it, and it blends well with the other portions of the story, making it almost feel natural.

Something like this requires much ... detail in the realms of character and their development, and this is a perfect example. They're all well-written, have unique personalities and goals while having believable chemistry with other characters. Each character, including the supporting ones, share a purpose to the story, be it a major or minor one. I also give props to the voice cast for doing a fantastic job portraying everyone so well.

Overall, the animation is quite good. There's a frequent use of fluid motion, which gives the characters a more lifelike feel to them. The backgrounds are done beautifully and look realistic. However, there are some cases where we get a few small hiccups, mostly pertaining to the facial features, but it wasn't too much of a bother.

Upon writing this review, it would be the first time I've watched Anohana. I've only seen promotional images and brief opinions on it, so I went in mostly blind. I became engrossed in the story that I ended up watching it all within 24 hours (it's only 11 episodes, so it makes sense), and I didn't regret a single minute. It was an amazing experience, I'm glad I finally got to see it, and I highly recommend it.

Are you ready to place your bets? Because you just might "have a lucky day" with Rio: Rainbow Gate!

I'll be straight and say the concept is ridiculous, but that's where its charm comes from. Set in a casino resort where over-the-top duels occur and a dash of fan service for some spice. The main premise is the only iffy thing here, which is your typical "magic item collecting" scenario. My problem with it is there's not a whole lot to it that makes it any interesting. I also had a minor issue with the shift in the story's progression. This happens around halfway through, and ... while it's not that big of a concern, I just wished we had more time for other things before getting to the big picture.

If you're looking for any type of character development, then you're out of luck. The only ones that get such treatment are the main character and her childhood friend, though it's nothing too special. Everyone else mainly just sticks with their set personality traits, staying that way throughout. Even amongst them are those that are only there just to fill the screen. We get some that make reappearances at certain points, which is better than just adding new characters.

I'd say the animation is the one thing that didn't really have that many flaws. If there was, it was probably a few drops in quality, but those were minimal, at the very least. Other than that, the character models were concise. Occasionally, we get some nice fluid movements (especially the "jiggle physics"). In terms of looks, it's pretty generic, but something like this doesn't need any extravagant designs

I may have sounded a bit critical, but overall I did enjoy this series. I love the concept as well as the characters. If there were any changes I would make, that would be to remove the whole item collecting plotline and any other plot devices that didn't necessarily have to be there. I probably would have enjoyed it more had it just been about the casino and the wacky matches that went on between all the characters. Still, for what we got, it's good enough.

Showing that even the coolest characters can be quirky as well, Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto redefines the term "eccentricity".

There is nothing too grand in scale when it comes to the story. Each episode contains at least two parts that entail different stories. Most of them are set in the school, while the others are outside of that setting. If it weren't for the fact that the series is a full adaptation of the manga (which only lasted a little over 20 chapters), I kind of wished there was more. everything that happens comes into play later in the finale, which I still liked. However, ... I feel like a series such as this doesn't really need to have a definite ending and be more like several one-shot stories regarding the antics of Sakamoto. Other than that, it was still enjoyable.

This show would not be what it is had it not been for the characters. In this, we have the main character, who is either the prime focus or a driving point for other characters. While I do love Sakamoto as a character, I also find myself loving the others that interact with him. We only focus on one class, which has most of our cast, and we get to see how well everyone acts as a class. It would have been boring if Sakamoto was the only person that had any real personality, so with the others in the mix makes it a good blend.

I can't really say anything much about the animation. While, for the most part, being pretty well done, there's not a whole lot you can do with a school setting. There aren't any dazzling spectacles or any fantasy-like elements that sticks out. It's simple animation that fits with its type of setting.

When this was announced, I decided to read the manga beforehand to see what it was like (I managed to finish with a couple episodes left), which got me excited for its premiere. As I said, a premise like Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto probably could have work better if there was more focus on little incidents involving the main character kind of like the ones that occurred outside of school. However, what I was given (characters, story, etc.) still made he glad that I watched the show all the way through.

As much as these types of shows inevitably gain popularity for obvious reasons, for me, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is one of those cases where I can't side with those that have enjoyed it.

The premise, in simpler terms, is basically "zombies with steampunk", but there definitely is more to it. For the most part, I like the world that has been set up. I should point out that I'm not big on the zombie genre. Despite that, I gave Kabaneri a chance, and unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed. It's not necessarily the plot, but I felt like there could have been more. We ... could have gotten more development with the world that's been created, however we get familiar plot elements and action sequences in favor of that.

With this type of story, characters are important. Survivors band together and get to know each other. We see that in Kabaneri, but not to the effect where I really care about them. They seem to be lacking something that makes me lose interest. There's hardly any chemistry that can be considered passable. The most story we get from a character is from the main heroine, and even then it feels like she's only there to be the cute girl that appears in most of the promotional stuff for the series.

The animation is the only great thing Kabaneri has to offer. Wit Studio always does a good job with their productions. The visuals alone made me want to know more about the universe. Despite what I said before, I still found the action sequences to be entertaining. The character designs are really interesting, and it turns out the original designer is also the original character designs for Gunbuster, which I thought was awesome.

In the end, the story Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress was a bit lackluster, but the animation and concept were just fine. Ever since the series premiered, many have been comparing this to Attack on Titan, another Wit Studio production. While showing similarities, I couldn't care either way. From the start, I knew there was going to be comparing, which is why I strayed from saying so. Kabaneri is an original concept, but there just might be some Attack on Titan influences in there. At any rate, I judged it as it's own thing, and even then, it's not that great.

One of the more recent and popular Shounen JUMP titles, My Hero Academia comes to life in its well-deserved anime adaptation.

As said within the show itself, the story feels like something out of a comic book. While that's true, that mainly pertains to the very beginning, or in this case the first few episodes. Though, I can't say it's similar to other stories, because the show has a unique twist with how superpowers, or "Quirks" as they're called, work and put into practice. I should point out that the anime doesn't cover a whole lot from the original manga. Even if a second season has ... been confirmed, I will admit how this season played out felt like there should have been more, like it could have had a second cour to it.

In this universe, 80% of the world's population have these different abilities. No doubt, we're going to see some "quirky" characters (I had to...) somewhere along the way. From the elite heroes to the students in training, we get an abundance of fantastic individuals that give the series its charm.

This season, I've seen wonderful cases of clean and consistent animation. My Hero Academia is no exception. Done by the ever popular studio Bones, they truly give the characters color and show great detail in the action sequences. It's almost as if it were an actual comic book come to life.

I began reading the manga not long before the anime's premiere, and eventually caught up by the last few episodes. Despite what I said about how much was adapted, I still feel that it was well done. It makes me look forward to the next season, which I wasn't expecting to be announced so soon. If you've got what it takes to be a hero, then check out My Hero Academia!