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warning: spoilers
(The review has a tl;dr section as well.)

Once in a while you come across an anime which actually has a nice premise: a boy called Masamune seeking revenge against his former childhood friend Aki Adagaki. So far so good. Then you take a careful look at the genres shown on the MAL page - harem, comedy, romance and school - the absolute worst combination of genres, which usually indicate a mediocre story. Thus the first doubts appear. In the first minutes you are presented a “narcissistic” personality of the MC and think that he could be interesting despite of expecting a generic harem protagonist. ... Unfortunately, when his mother and Aki appeared for the first time, the death flag for this anime was set and the potential was wasted.

I will try to hold back cursing words and talk about the characters first. As I have already said, up to 2 minutes it actually looked decent with the promising trait. But then the clichés started to be used left and right. First his mother, who looks like a kid, not even able to give birth him and his sister with her physique , is used to draw out laughter with the viewer, which it doesn't. Because of the poor timing and bad execution of the joke, she is reduced to a generic one-dimensional character and has no further use in the story later on. Great!!!

Besides having a sister, who isn't explored and stays an irrelevant character as well, he meets his fated arch enemy (or not), Aki, when he transfers into the new school. We are shown his pretty delicate past with her and why he “hates” her as well. Thus he swears to retaliate by doing the same. But as it couldn't be made even more predictable, the writer decides to throw in the tsundere archetype besides making her a gluttony just to have a moe trait as well, in order to distract from the bigger problems, her personality. It's not enough to make her a tsundere, but an asshole as well (the way she rejects people). And the other students in the school become even more interested in her because of that. It makes no sense, especially because you would have at least a balance of haters and followers, if not only having haters. Just to make her a “greater existence” and live in her nice fantasy bubble even more. I'll come back to her later. Great!!!

Then the next girl, Tae Futaba, who just pops out of nowhere and confesses to him, is another character who makes an appearance for a short time and just serves the purpose of showing, how “popular” Masamune is. Why or how did she fall in love with him? No idea, it just happened. She has a severe case of “falling in love with transfer students” syndrome, which can be found in multiple run-of-the-mill harem stories. Masamune, “determined” to have revenge, rejects her and then she follows him for the whole anime while staying in the background. So what is the point of her character? Probably just to establish a harem and pander to viewers who like girls like her. Great!!

But fear not, for there is a guy, yes, you read correctly, a guy, in this show. How could he possibly fit in? There is only one correct answer, as the trap archetype. He receives no development or exploration whatsoever either because his main objective is to pander to fujoshis and he has no deeper reason to be there. You can blank him out and move on, but he actually appears a few times, so you still remember that there was someone like him in the show. If you were to recall one of his traits (not only superficial ones), congratulations, you seem to have more information than me about him, because he is only presented as a bland character in the series. If you want his name, look it up, I've forgotten it. Great!!

Just when you think it can't become any worse, a “ninja”, Yoshino Koiwai, joins the scene. While serving as fanservice in the first two episodes, she becomes the supporting pillar for Masamune's revenge because he can't manage it on his own. Unfortunately, the motive for her support is insufficient and doesn't dive any deeper like for the other characters. So she ends up resembling the “kuudere” archetype and who would've guessed, she receives no further development of her motivations either. She is just there like the trap, and while she has a few good moment (her schemes), in the end she is another shallow character. No point in introducing her as a character either other than showing another “cute” girl. Great!

Furthermore, the author expands the harem even more by introducing another childhood friend, Neko Fujinomiya. Her convenient introduction looks more of a plot convenience rather than a natural one though. Of course she has to “love” him from the beginning of her introduction. Even she is used to pander again as she is commonly referred to as the “panty-less girl”. Problematic are Masamune's interactions with her. He is distracted by her to the point that he thought about stopping his initial plan against Aki even though this event apparently deeply “scarred” him. Furthermore, he's so dense to the point that he doesn't even notice Neko's issues or her intentions. I'll elaborate later why that is a problem. While her past and issues are a bit explored, they're swept under the rug and forgotten again. In the end she doesn't play a bigger role than just serving as a side lover. Compared to the other characters, she actually seems to be quite decent in terms of writing, although overall (compared to other stories), it's still mediocre. Great.

If you thought that they reached the tip of the iceberg, you're wrong though. By a very convenient chance, another boy, Kanetsugu Gasou, with a same build as Masamune in the past appears and attempts to steal Aki. What a way to accelerate the relationship between them. Besides dragging the story out even more and annoying the hell out of the viewer by including more tropes, he has just as generic motivations to act like he does. The studio/writer probably assumed that it would be enough to just show a short flashback, but that makes it come off as weak motivation and feels like an unnatural twist again. Not to mention Aki's affection to him, being deceived so easily. It starts off a series of events which are rather cliché and ends up conveniently advancing the relationship with Masamune with the play and the kiss at the end. After that he seems to become unimportant again. With his introduction also followed a few annoying girls who messed with Masamune (borderline kidnapping) and got out of the whole mess without even a scolding, pointless characters again for the sake of advancing the plot and creating drama without actual essence. Great...

After talking shortly about the characters, I want to further elaborate on Aki and Masamune and their relationship, as they are making up the main cast of the anime and represent the biggest weakness of the anime. As the story progresses, Masamune seems to lose sight of his initial target to crush Aki's heart as well. That is especially bad because 1. it's the premise that Masamune is out for revenge and 2. he was so much scarred by it that he changed his complete appearance and behavior. That isn't just simple resentment, it's way more realistic that he'd hate her to the point, where they can't go back. And yet, he almost falls in love with her. Another example of the convenient way how the story works. The motivations tend to be weak and they change from one scene to another. Not to forget how dumb he behaves at times even though he is the best student in the grade. Although grades aren't everything, they're a general indicator how smart and diligent someone is and when you see scenes where he acts like he can't even calculate with basic operators, I feel slightly hoaxed by the writer. The same applies for Aki at times. Not great.

As for the story itself, it's very bad because neither does it have a general direction, proven by the amount of generic events (beach scene etc.) and other ones to draw out the plot, nor is it original because of the amount of clichés thrown into the plot. The series doesn't even flesh them out so that the viewer wouldn't mind the initial use of clichés. Thus the story doesn't really feel like it has any worth or wants to leave a lasting impression. Definitely not great.

Another aspect hindering the series is the comedy because it feels out of place. When the anime is actually featuring a serious development, they drop a weak joke (generic joke like it's taken from another anime) and completely destroy the atmosphere. So did it actually make me laugh even once? Maybe once or twice in the whole series, but not more because the transitions were weak and the gestures weren't supporting the joke. Generic empty eyes don't make it funny, if that's what I want, I could watch any other run-of-the-mill comedy. The effort put into the comedy is so low, that it drags the drama and series down. What's left of the drama is, just like I described in the previous paragraphs, pretty bad as well and leaves the anime with a weak balance of drama/comedy. If the series attempted to be more serious about the whole revenge theme, it could have actually been pretty decent. Or if they made fun of the whole revenge affair. But working with the middle ground damaged the quality a lot especially because of its poor execution. Bad.

The other genres (harem, romance, school) are dragging its quality down as well. On one hand, the harem is poorly executed because the girls keep popping up left and right just to disappear completely from the plot or losing all relevance as well. It's unoriginal and generic and doesn't contribute at all to the series. Even if it's meant for pandering, the characters feel so lifeless and unappealing that the pandering itself is actually poor as well. On the other hand, the school genre is just there to make it relatable for students, but even the school aspect is poorly executed, evidenced by Aki's standing (acting like a scumbag → being treated like a goddess) and the lack of real life school themes. Very bad.

The only aspect I want to talk about before coming to my conclusion is the final episode. With the final episode always comes the responsibility of a series to either make a satisfying conclusion in the best case or leave it off at a cliffhanger at an ideal moment. Unfortunately, the final episode provides neither. After the kiss in the play, they only go to the karaoke (yes, another typical cliché) and draws out the conclusion even more. By the time you've finally survived the pointless subplot, it ends without answering important questions and using a pretty bad cliffhanger, not hyping up the viewer for more. As a final episode, that's unforgivable. Furthermore, it also looks like Masamune is even torn between revenge and real love. So what was the point of making his past like that? Not to mention that his thoughts are still way too pure. The ending was basically a slap into the face. Atrocious.

Overall Masamune-kun no Revenge tries to aim for a pretty interesting idea, just to fall down from a cliff with its execution. Its countless clichés and plot conveniences feel out of place and make the story very unnatural, especially the school setting and Aki's behavior. The characters themselves are also consisting more of stereotypes than being fleshed out during the episodes. Even the main characters flip from one moment to another and stay bland until the very end. Thus most characters feel like they were copy-pasted into the anime and just there because of either pandering or because the writer had no idea how to write characters. Either way, the story and characters have a bad synergy and drag down each other. Even the comedy was, just like I mentioned, more of a hindrance than increasing my enjoyment. It didn't succeed with anything in any of the categories and will stay in my memory as a bad anime, which I couldn't even laugh at. If the writer perhaps excluded the harem, put more emphasis on the school setting and using it to his advantage for a battle between Aki and Masamune or just using better comedy or relying solely on drama, I could have enjoyed the series at least a bit. Neither did the art or animation change my thoughts significantly because neither is the art pretty original, nor was the music memorable or improving the atmosphere. Especially the OP and ED were very average.

The final words from each paragraph of this review have more development than the whole cast of the series.

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tl;dr:

- very cliché and bland characters with next to no character development
- main characters flip personalities and their motivations are forgotten at times
- out of place comedy and unfunny jokes + weak transitions with drama
- plot conveniences at times just to advance their relationship (especially into the direction of Masamune actually loving Aki and not into the direction of revenge)
- harem and romance contribute nothing to the story
- weird school with a mentality to worship Aki
- drawn out plot
- no general direction
- weak final episode (especially with the karaoke scenes)
- average to mediocre art
- not memorable soundtrack and weak OP + ED

scores:
story: 1/10
characters: 1/10
setting: 2.5/10
art/animation: 4/10
music: 4/10

overall: 2/10

Have you ever wondered how the world could be like after the third world war? Would it look like a total wasteland? Would the people still live together? How would they ensure their survival? And do they even have hope left? All these questions and more are addressed by Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume, one of the best Key adaptations to the current day.

The story is set in a dystopian future after a nuclear world war, where the towns are lonely places and people have to collect everything in those places, that could further ensure their survival. Many dangers still lurk around after the war, ... that could lead to a quick death instead of more resources. In this setting, the main character "Junker" comes to one of the abandoned cities which are still pestered by post-war issues. After dealing with one of them, he meets a robot, Yumemi Hoshino, in an (again) abandoned planetarium.

This robot is against all expectations not hostile, but one of the last remaining supporters of humanity. While being ticked off by her initial cheerful behavior, the protagonist slowly accepts her as being an individual and not just additional luggage. Not only that, but through her special show, he slowly finds another meaning in life besides simply surviving and wants to give his newly attained hope to other people as well. Talking about Yumemi, she appears to be broken because she stutters the same sentence every time the protagonist doesn't care or know an answer. She also can't comprehend the changes in the environment after the war, thus being completely oblivious to the outer world and just having the planetarium as last. But she also has some background story as to why she is broken or probably not as broken as one could think and a pretty logical reason which could in some cases apply to humans as well.

So this anime features a good deal of the hope-despair theme in a dystopian future, how it could look like and what post-war damages it could contain, and the further meaning of life other than simply survival. Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume is an excellent adaptation of the VN and grasped my attention every second I watched it. Perhaps some aspects could have been better explained, but it left me satisfied and is a story worth to remember whenever someone thinks about a possible world war, which might happen in the far (or not so far) future. It captured the theme well enough to be a realistic possibility.

Despite this anime being very good, it has also some small issues like the pacing which becomes a bit inconsistent during episode 2 and 3. Besides from that, it was consistent and didn't have any particular swings in episode 1, 4 and 5. Furthermore, it's kept pretty simple, which could make it an issue for some people, but that is also the beauty of this short series. It doesn't rely on fancy stuff to support it and trying to sugarcoat the world, it features only this particular small story around two people (well, one robot and one human) and how their interaction ultimately ends up changing each other. The world building is also kept to a bare minimum.

The art and animation looks very beautiful and adds to the sad atmosphere of the anime, while the music makes it downright depressing. Although the ending is not on the same level as the other OST in the anime, the music left a positive impression on me and added to the anime instead of being an issue for me. The voice acting was also good and didn't lower my enjoyment.

Many Light Novels revolving around world transfers and the likes have been adapted into incomplete animes, where the basic mysteries aren't properly resolved, the relationships barely touched and/or the main character is the strongest and wrecks havoc where he can. Comedy is basically non-existent in those, so the desire to watch another episode the further you watch it is really low. KonoSuba however takes the comedic approach as the main aspect. In this series, we have yet another incomplete story, but the enjoyment is way higher as it is for a dramatic one. Furthermore, the protagonist isn't so overpowered that he can single-handedly annihilate a ... whole army, thus the show stands out in the mass of world transfer stories.

First a bit about the story: The series is set in a fantasy world, where our protagonist is transferred together with a goddess after dying in his real life to defeat the demon lord. His first thought is that this world is great and like a MMO, which he likes. But nothing goes right for him. He is neither the next deus ex machina nor is the goddess, who is overpowered, smart. His first problems occur as he struggles to earn his bread to keep himself alive through clearing quests and dealing with his party's stupidity.

Soon after that, two more characters (both female of course) join their party with really weird applications and thus the protagonist is surrounded by weird people. Some people may not agree with me, but his group is one, that you get, if you have trolled people too much in MMORPG's and the system retaliates with giving you trolls. Not a situation you want to be in. But that doesn't mean that the story is bad. The opposite holds true because the stupid moments keep the viewer really entertained.

Nevertheless, the problem with this kind of story is that the comedy moments have to keep you entertained. If you don't enjoy this kind of humor, the only thing you're left with is the kinda weak story. That's because while the main objective is to slay the demon king, the story barely progresses and shows just a bit of everything. On the other hand, the story is basically showing the daily life of the characters, so a great deal of reality is included (if you take out the fantasy elements).

One strong point of the anime is the cast. We have our protagonist, Kazuma Satou, who is an otaku before he is transported to this world, and his comments are outstanding. If a moment occurs, where the heroines do a stupid thing, you get a comment by him that's multiple times funnier than the moment itself. Because he is the smartest one in the party, he knows what to do and leads it, even though coordination problems sometimes happen. He neither holds back, if a situation occurs, where he can attain things he desires. These aspects make him an unique main character/attraction and the core of the anime.

The heroines fit quite well in as well. The goddess, Aqua, is one of them. She plays the role of a stupid and powerful mage and assists or hinders Kazuma throughout the story. Then we have Megumin, considered as the star of the show, who is a mage specialized on explosion magic. She has a few screw looses, as one can see at the first encounters, but takes a lot of screen time and delivers with her ridiculous personality a great portion of comedy too. The last one is the knight Darkness, who is a knight and masochist, but can't quite hit her targets, thus creating even more trouble for our poor protagonist.

While they're not further developed, they fit well into the story and are the main attraction of this show. Through the hilarious moments you grow attached to them, as they show their real personality and give off a realistic vibe. If they had been developed, they would have been the best cast in this entire season, but we get a second season anyway, so why do we care?

The presentation is one of the weaker points of the anime because the animation is nothing unique and at some times the quality really drops and then improves in the next moment again. This inconsistency is a bit annoying. The OP, ED and background music are fine, but nothing special.

So the series is either a hit or miss as it relies on its comedy elements heavily. The story is really weak if you take out the comedy and the animation and music can't make up for it. But if you're appealed by its comedy, you will probably like it as the moments are very random and have a strong impact if you're not prepared. Overall I can say that the anime fulfills its role, although I'm not satisfied by the story so far. With a little more development of the characters and an integrated arc this would have the potential for a top-notch anime. Although the series has flaws, it's an enjoyable trip nonetheless and my favorite comedy anime of the season.

[warning: mild spoilers]

History has shown that people are hostile towards each other and try to press their advantages like money to the fullest by using the surrounding people. That holds especially true with people from other races or other mindsets. So what would happen, if anyone was immortal? There are two options. Either they live in peace and are ignored or unknown to the world, or scientists want them as fast as possible as experimental subjects. And this cruel reality behind special traits is shown in Ajin.

In this series, the protagonist Nagai Kei is an Ajin and thus is immortal and holds supernatural abilities. But ... his luck runs out as he's run over by a vehicle and his body is dismembered. Because he's an Ajin, his body regenerates and is at full health seconds after that. Unfortunately, this regeneration is seen by many witnesses, who report him instantly to the police. Ajin's aren't well received in society because several incidents took place in the past, and are frowned upon. And so the protagonist's escape begins.

Several topics, which make the story really deep and interesting, are addressed as he's escaping from the government. First the knowledge about supernatural beings and money. Because Ajin's are immortal, the scientists are able to experiment. Life is endless, thus the torture is endless. There's a point where those “creatures” go crazy as well and kill people as retaliation. Is that right or “good”? That question is addressed several times in the anime as they show the captured ones.

Another topic is the opinion about superhuman beings in society. This is presented with his childhood friend Kaito. Despite being an Ajin, he helps him out and accepts him as he is. Not only does this lead to a more diverse and realistic view of Ajins (not every member of society has the same opinion), but it also leads to an inner conflict in Kei. Especially on the verge of going crazy, he has to think about whether he wants to abandon his “human” side or stays firm in his will. Another person, that shows him the better side of society, is the senior later on. She accepts him as he is too and appreciates his presence because she's lonely and caring. The two views on Ajins and their resulting impact for the inner conflict is one of the outstanding aspects in Ajin.

But what would a show be without an “antagonist”? This role is filled by Satou. His target is to reform the world in order to have a place to live (he's an Ajin as well). This is one of the reasons, why the viewer can understand his actions and portrays the opposite approach to the problem as Kei's. He's offering Kei to support his plan, but is rejected for several reasons and their ways part.

The series supports a small cast. It's another strength of the series. We have our protagonist, who is a cold and logical person, but has inner conflicts with his emotions as well. His family is also shown to support the view of despise for Ajins and shows, how easy relationships can crumble. Kaito is a childhood friend and fills the role of the other possible view and is characterized a bit, but just as his family not further shown later on. On the other hand we have Satou, who is characterized a lot. It makes the viewer question, what really is correct, Kei's or Satou's view. There are some other characters as well, but they either don't progress the story or are underdeveloped.

Even though I can praise the show for a really interesting and deep story, there are some major flaws this show has. One is the plot holes the story has due to an open end. Neither the question, why the Ajin's exist, nor the events of the 13th episode are answered. The story hasn't been fully adapted from the manga, but that doesn't mean that the story can get away with it. They have to either make a second season or answer the questions in the movies. Else this would be just as an open end as your generic ecchi harem anime and just a collection of themes thrown out to the viewer.

Another issue is the split of the story in the last half. Two stories are told from different views (Satou and Kei) and barely overlap. Hence, Kei doesn't get enough screen time to properly develop and push his story forward. In fact, his story stalls for quite some time because of Satou and by the end neither of their problems are resolved.

The characters are another reason to complain. While our protagonist develops himself, it's still not enough. His past and personality isn't graspable and remains in the dark. Also, the friend suddenly vanishes from the story as his family does and leaves the question open, what happened to them. If they were to show even one scene, what they do, I would be satisfied. But that doesn't happen.

The last issue is the animation. The CG just looks very ugly and you need time to adapt to this kind of animation. It sometimes fits the scenes and makes them more realistic and impactful, but for most of the time the movement of characters doesn't look smooth. This is one of the reasons the emotions of some characters aren't conveyed properly to the viewer and takes most of the joy to watch the protagonist struggle through the several challenges imposed upon him by being an Ajin. If this is the case, the animation has failed. If they had made the CG just a bit smoother and higher in quality, it would have been a great style fitting to the story. Unfortunately, this didn't happen.

On the other hand, the music is great. The opening gives a really creepy and cruel feeling off and fits the series very well. Besides that the background music supports the mood of Ajin and together with the ED really make up for the animation and arouses the desire for more.

As I pointed out before, the series shows big potential with its underlying themes and makes you yearn for more. It's really unfortunate that the series ends before it even begins to explain the big mysteries it brought up and finishes Kei's problem. One can enjoy or hate the animation, but as for me, it looked rather mediocre and has much potential for rework in order to make it even better. Luckily, the music balances the flaws of the animation out. So I can really recommend giving it a try. Unless you hate the animation, you will find good aspects (whether music or story) as well. If you want to know more behind the mysteries, you have to either read the manga or wait for another season or the movies.

There is a common problem, that old demon series shared: The battle through the countless pawns to get to the final boss, the demon king and defeat this evil monster. This concept is nowhere near interesting because the outcome can be predicted after the first episode. Instead of a 2D approach of this topic, this show decides to rather expand on the aspect, that demons have feelings and are an intelligent life form too.

The series starts with a hero, who is supposed to be the strongest human, striving to defeat the demon king in order to end the war. Instead of finding an overpowered evil ... being, that reeks of power, he finds a female demon king, who wants his help because she wants a peace, in which everybody can live. After she convinced him of her reasons, they join forces and travel to a town, where they settle down.

While they are in this town, they make their first attempts to tackle the problems, that arise from war and peace. Because the demon king is a smart one, she is able to create several inventions and establish a stable trading. The townspeople look up to her and thus she takes some of them as students. Although they have a weak characterization, they contribute to the story later on and aren't tossed away, attributing to one of the strong points of the series. Several wars occur and become fiercer to the end with economy playing a central role. These aspects make up for a rather refreshing story.

As for the characters, the story introduces a very low amount of them. We have our two protagonists, the Yuusha (other names aren't mentioned)[hero], who is the strongest one in history, but seems to be caring and very emotional as well, and Maou (neither another names mentioned) [demon king], who is very smart and strives for peace and a bearable life for both sides. While Maou gets a good deal of characterization because she is featured in most episodes and is the center of the economy aspect, which dominates the screen time, Yuusha seems to be forgotten over time and doesn't have a lot of screen time and characterization. He uses some spells here and there, but his character is mostly in the background and doesn't get a lot of attention.

Another characters, who get a great deal of attention, are the Onna Kishi (no other names mentioned) and the maid, who is picked up in the first episodes. Their thoughts and struggles are shown in the series and are developed throughout the anime.

Despite of all the positive aspects, the series has major problems, that aren't resolved. One is the relationship between Maou and Yuusha, which is really underdeveloped and dodged by Yuusha's travels for missions. Not only that, but their relationship seems to grow out of nowhere (especially from the side of Yuusha), skipping important points of it.

Yuusha is another problem I have. I know that Maou is the center of the plot. But that isn't a reason to disregard Yuusha's character development and dismiss the strength he has. He seems to be capable to do everything and shows no kind of weakness in terms of strength. The series desperately tries to show certain thoughts of him, but fails nonetheless in the end and is like a machine in the end. Even the maid has more development.

Another weakness is the pacing of the story and the end. It's fine to go into detail with several topics like economy, war, human traits, but if you don't conclude the story and its topic, you have failed. And this is what happened with this series. The major focus on many topics leads to an unsatisfying conclusion. The war between the demons and humans isn't over, the female mage isn't properly characterized even though she plays a role as well (we know next to nothing about her) and the conflict in the country is left open too. Dodging the central topic of the anime is a way to leave the story open and to not think about a proper way to deal with it. This problem contributes to a major degree as to why my score for story is really low even though it seems to be appealing.

The presentation of the series is okay. The animation is not really noticeable and average, but the music made up some of my joy. It manipulates some scenes to be really good to watch and matches the topics of the anime. While it was not great, it contributed to a proper exposure of the story.

Considering the points I made, I can give a recommendation with a warning. This anime has a very slow pace and can be pretty hard to swallow at times. The presentation, while being okay, is no big deal either. If you're fine with a mix of topics revolving about war and economy and don't want an end, where all questions and topics presented in the anime are resolved, then you should give it a try. Otherwise, it will probably be disappointing and boring because there is next to no action.

This anime is by far one of the best of the year 2015. Convincing through story, characters, animation, music and comedy, Madhouse delivers with their adaptation of the manga once again.
What can you expect of this anime? Great comedy, a parody of clichés and a fitting animation style, that's similar to GTO and Prison School. What can you not expect going into this show? Balanced battles. But without further blabbering, I'm going to say some words about the story.

Saitama, also known as the OPM, is our way too strong and bored main protagonist, who is looking for strong enemies. Unfortunately he doesn't find any in ... his normal life. Soon after that he joins the Hero Association and is faced with additional problems and meets enemies worthy (or not) of his presence. While that sounds like an outright 0815 story, that anybody could think of, it isn't. The Hero Association has its own internal complexity. And society is also a pain in the ass like in real life. Most importantly, Saitama's strength also switches the focus from battle to story and comedy.
Even though the story is good, it's still not the best out there. But it has a lot of potential with more seasons, because there are a lot of topics, that could be covered, like the #1 hero or the origin of Saitama's strength.

Along the story a great set of characters is introduced, that have as much a potential as the story. Our main protagonist is not our "work hard to win" or "you can do it, just train a bit more" 0815 hero, but a lazy, unemployed one who doesn't even seem like he could defeat a B-class hero. He is more normal than you would think. Despite of that he has clear goals and a defined personality, that's shown in the 12 episodes. Genos, our good-for-nothing, is Saitama's self-proclaimed disciple. He seems more like a 0815 hero, but his personality luckily develops and isn't as 2D as in the beginning. The other characters, that are introduced, are either over-the-top or as 0815 as they could be. But nobody cares, because they're exploited for the comedic aspect of the show.

Now a few words about the splendid animation and sound/music, for what Madhouse is known for. They keep a constant level of animation throughout the story and attract the eyes with almost flawless animated scenes and well used special effects. And don't forget the comedy art style. It's so funny to watch Saitama's ridiculous faces and reminds you of other great comedy anime such as Prison School or GTO. It fits too well to the comedy aspect and thus it earned my respect.

As well as the animation the music also shines in this anime. The opening and ending is really catchy. While the opening prepares you for the magnificence of the anime, the ending sums up your feelings at the end of the episode: "I want more!!!". The music used in the episodes is also good, but not too noticeable. And don't forget the vocal actors. Without them the characters wouldn't have the voices, that totally hit the topic of the anime.

One Punch Man does an outstanding job at using the clichés, that are used in recent anime and manga, to create a great parody. Not only does the art style assort well with the comedy, but the story and the characters are used properly to complete this anime. I enjoyed every episode and would be happy about a second season.

However, there are also flaws. The story is not very complex and original as it relies heavily on the entertainment. If you analyse it at deep levels, you could say, that it's pretty average. Fans of deep and thrilling stories aren't satisfied by this level.
The battles are another downside. As tense as they may seem, you're able to predict the outcome right away. So battles with an unexpected outcome can't be found here. But they're flashy, so if you don't mind predictable fights and just want to enjoy the comedy, then you can ignore it.

One Punch Man may not be for everyone, especially not for those, who are bored after episode 2, but it's something new in the comedy genre (anime) and everyone, who wants to lighten up their day after a hard workday, won't be disappointed.

Story: 7/10 (has potential)
Art: 9/10 (great)
Sound: 9/10 (great)
Character: 9/10 (great)
Enjoyment: 9/10 (great, but something was missing for the 10)
Overall: 8.6

What do you think of first, when you hear “Prison School”? 0815 romance anime? Yet again a show about how friendship saves the world? No way in hell! This is one of the most hardcore ecchi comedy animes out there (proven by the amount of censorship) and a gem of the summer 2015 season.

Story: 7/10
The story is pretty good, considering, that it's an ecchi anime. The boys enroll into an all-girls boarding school, and the first thing, you do, if you're surrounded by girls? Of course peeking! Not with those girls. As a result of their heroic deed they're put into prison, where a girl ... with abnormal big breasts has to oversee them (typical fight fire with fire). Little do they know, how twisted the three girls of the Underground Student Council are.
You see plot twists (or troll twists, however you want to see it), a better romance than in your everyday ecchi anime and most importantly no cliffhanger as ending. While it gives hints of a 2nd season, it concludes the story with a fine ending.
One question however hasn't been resolved: Why is there a prison on a school campus and who approved of it?! Whatever...

Characters: 9/10
Fitting to the screwed up story the characters are pretty “original”. A pervert worshiping ants? Check! An overweight pervert, who seems like somebody drew him wrong? Check! And it goes on. The story concentrates mainly on Kiyoshi, who seems to be the most normal character. But that doesn't mean that the other ones are underdeveloped nor that he is innocent. All in all an interesting and refreshing set of crazy, nice and pervert teenagers. And don't forget the cool chairman. He's the MVP of the show.

Sound: 8/10
The voices are perfect for the characters. Gakuto sounding like a mad scientist, the chairman like a boss. If you were in the anime, you couldn't differ, if their voices were real or not, because they fit. The opening and ending was nice, but nothing special. The soundtracks were on the same page. You hear them sometimes and it's nice to hear, but nothing outstanding.

Art: 8/10
The art was on-spot. It makes every scene ridiculous and you're reminded of Great Teacher Onizuka or One Punch Man (they use a similar style). The sweat isn't that sweet though.

Enjoyment: 9/10
As you could point out by the other aspects, I thoroughly enjoyed Prison School. The scenes are ridiculous. The ecchi is used for trolling reasons, especially as for the vice-president. They include deep sayings and famous battles in history to make fun of some situations. Besides, it's not a generic anime (finally). It's like they tried out everything and it worked out. I'm glad that there are still manga authors out there who stray from the most common concept of ecchi [+ harem] and try to create memorable mangas.
Furthermore, their plans to break out are quite funny and interesting. That goes so far that you're excited about knowing whether they will succeed or not.
But I'm just able to give a 9 because I'm still an opponent of too much and too extreme ecchi, even, if it's used for comedy reasons.

Overall: 8.2/10
Even, if I rate it with such a good score, consider watching it twice! Its ecchi is pretty extreme, thus it's not for everyone. If you survive the first episode, then grab your popcorn and enjoy the anime to the fullest extent!