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While I did admittedly come into this movie a bit more put off than others since I wasn't the biggest fan of season 1 I was interested in what Ufotable could bring to the table-especially comparing it to their other movie works of Fate and Kara no Kyoukai. The result? it was fine...I guess.

I had 3 big issues. The first was the pacing. The first 45 minutes or so felt like I was slogging through mud. I more than understand it takes setup to have a payoff, but spending so much time on irrelevant characters and dialogue that repeats itself really hits the brakes. By ... the time things started picking up I was relieved only to slump back down as another brake hit came.

the second is the dialogue. I'd say its about 50% fine, your standard anime dialogue with things we need to know or dumb little quips. but the other 50% is kinda cringy. I kind of got secondhand embarrassment in the theater nearly anytime Zenitsu opened his mouth, or when we get long emotional monologues from characters we've never seen before and will never see again, or when we see our villain give the same speech for the 4th time, or we see an emotional impressive scene with Tanjiro before it snap cuts to Inosuke for a comedy scene about him yelling on about he's the king of the feral animals or whatever.

and the third is Rengoku. I like Rengoku, I like his vibe, his style, his breathing techniques, and his potential. We did not get Rengoku nearly enough to justify the payoff they want. This near two hour movie and Rengoku is in it for maybe 35 minutes on the whole? I forgot he was even in it in the middle. If you want us to care and cry for a character you CANNOT introduce them, and then more or less have them absent until the final fight. Sure, our boys constantly mentioned how cool and how impressive he was, but we don't see that. He never did anything (up until the final fight) that's much different than we've seen Giyu do, so why are they so starry eyed? I don't know but all I do know is that the last 15 ish minutes wanted me to cry but all I really wanted to do was leave and go home,

Animation wise its fine, not Ufotable's best work-the HF movies are much better looking, but it looks like the tv series and doesn't look too bad overall. Soundtrack is standard for the series so I can't compalin on that front-Lisa's "Homura" song is definitely a bonus.

B: The Beginning is an odd one. On one hand it does feel unique and it's definitely something I want more of, but on the other hand it doesn't fully feel like a final draft and things are seriously jumbled at times because it feels like 2 separate stories strangely meshed together.
I suppose I'll go through the pros first:
*Keith-Keith is probably the most interesting character in the entire show. His storyline is straight forward, he's got little quirks that make him entertaining to watch, and his chemistry with the rest of the cast is great. Not to mention his English Dub voice sounded perfect. ...
*Support characters within Keith's side of the story-None of the side characters get too much development on any front, but within the police force deep development wasn't really needed. We understand who these characters are and what they generally are like outside of just being cops.
*Gilbert-No specifics on what he does throughout the story but I'll say that his person as a whole is just fascinating.
*Pacing- I binged this entire series in one night and while episode 4 and 5 were on the slower sides they were seriously needed for the characters and for us to learn about key story beats. B never felt like an episode lasted longer than it's runtime and there was always something that kept me interested. whether it was a character or a mystery.
*The ending song-holy shit is it lit as fuck. I bought it from ITunes as soon as I realized it was on there.
*Animation-Production I.G. did a pretty damn good job with this one. There were some cringe CGI cars that popped up whenever, but for the most part the characters all moved with a different style (Keith walks differently than Koku does) and the fight scenes were pretty damn cool to watch.

Cons:
*Music-No pieces stand out. Nothing clashes with the tone or the action of a scene but I couldn't tell you a single piece that I remember.
*Koku and Yuna's relationship- This seems really just thrown in. Koku is deadset on finding Yuna and we get a backstory for the both of them but they don't seem connected enough for us to care about the lengths Koku is going for her.
*The fantasy element- This ties in with the seemingly 2nd story within this series. The lore that is tied to this is extremely interesting but by god is it confusing at times. Distinguishing between who is a god and who is a reggie, who has powers and who doesn't, why this character has the same power as this other character, why Koku and Yuna's hair turns white, so many things I had to do a double take on or I had to pay attention to in the rewatch of the show I did. There are things that just seem needlessly complicated.
*Half of the antagonists-There are a few interesting or just noticeable bad guys but a good chunk of them aren't needed. I remember the twins with their different opposing hair colors but they did next to nothing for the story. could have been removed completely and would have changed nothing. Same can be said for a few others.

B: The Beginning is the kind of show that I want to see more of and I hope Netflix decides to continue it if the end credit scene is any indication. Some things can be mended with a continuation that could flesh out the characters and world more, but I'm happy it exists because there is no way this would have been made if it weren't put on Netflix similar to Devilman Crybaby (but less nudity). This was a very easy binge and I did thoroughly enjoy myself all the way through. I'm not big on number scores but I'd give it a 7.5/10 possibly bumped up to an 8/10 simply for how much enjoyment and fun I got out of watching it.

I see things brought up in other reviews that I just needed to clarify so here's my own short review.

first and foremost the art and character designs are gorgeous; all the characters look fine and their outfits for their performances are on point.
the characters themselves are entertaining and each have their 1 or 2 quirks that are fun to watch. HOWEVER,while they each have their quirks they aren't nearly as fleshed out as they could be and while a good majority of the side characters are fun and entertaining, there are a few that could be thrown out without any consequences.

the animation ... throughout is impressive with the skating performances for the most part look great. the animation does dip in quality for SOME performances. characters will look off model, and limbs will be distorted. luckily for me, it wasn't a real big deal especially when you think how beautiful it will look in the blu rays.

another thing that I see constantly are complaints that YOI doesn't have a real relationship, that its just teasing or baiting. you have to understand Yuri On Ice barely passed the network censors as it was. they physically could not show our male leads kissing or anything without it being stopped by the network (though in the blu ray the "kiss" will be uncensored/uncovered)

YOI isn't a 10/10 show that some people say it is, it has its flaws. BUT there is a charm and a passion to this show that I don't see nearly enough in anime and I have to give this show props. it was a very entertaining run and I will definitely be buying the blu ray when it releases in America.