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In 2011, when Steins;Gate was uber-cool, and I was just taken away how intricate, search-able terms, and mind-boggling Steins;Gate is. To this date, in 2018, no time-travelling anime can top it. Erased is a different breed, but others like it sounded childish compared to this.

So what happened, then, in 2015, we're given this "alternate version", and this is an appalling, offensive OVA. I'm all for emphasizing story points, arc, plot, and character development, however, 2011 was such a long time that by 2015, we'll have to be convinced that "no, no, there's an alternate version ending and here it is!".

Steins;Gate is a visual novel to ... start with, so it should have multiple endings BUT that is in the realm of visual novel.

In anime, or manga, there has to be one definite ending, because that completes the ethos of storytelling, you can't just make multiple endings or stories and cash yourself in it, otherwise that rightly states that:
1. This is a milking cash-cow episode.
2. The original creators don't know what they're doing.

There are those who said this is how Steins;Gate should end, and I agree---I very much will like this to be the path or "world line" of the plot, IF THIS WAS what it was supposed to be in 2011. Otherwise, this is a fuck-off piece of 23mins episode wasted. You watch this so you can watch and understand the premise of Steins;Gate 0, and thus you make the creators smile.

The visual novel has four writers: Chiyomaru Shikura, Naotaka Hayashi, Shimokura Vio, and Tanizaki Ouka. However, the writer for the anime version, in the 2011, and this OVA, and on the Steins;Gate 0, is a prick named Jukki Hanada.

It seems that Jukki Hanada realized he could cash Steins;Gate for more, and thus created this abomination, and the "alternate sequel" Steins;Gate 0. Somebody should create a time machine and prevent him from becoming the writer of Steins;Gate anime, at all. Since the visual novel was already established, any competent writer who hopefully won't turn to greed, could do the same thing of writing that he did.

And don't get me started with alternate sequels, for example, I've like Fate/Stay Night so much despite its honest cash-cow arc, but that's because it's on fantasy genre, and it's established that Fate/Stay Night has the Saber arc (the original), the Tohsaka or the Unlimited Blade Works arc, and the Heaven's Feel or Sakura arc. So we accept that as it is; it's an honest cash-cow and we know there has to be THREE storylines of the Fate/Stay Night anime.

But Steins;Gate only has "one" arc, given with multiple endings. And that's a load of bull to put two different endings on an acclaimed anime. That makes it cheap, and an obvious cash-cow loot.

Thus,

The original Steins;Gate is the 2011 version with its 25thepisode OVA, and the Deja Vu movie. THAT'S IT. That's all you need to watch and get along with Steins;Gate as one of the greatest anime of all time.

Otherwise, if you want to contribute to the cash-cow, then watch this appalling alternate version, and its abhorrent alternate sequel called Steins;Gate 0.

By episode 25, I have to say I've dropped this show for good. It's just a waste of time. This could be an entertaining show if you're a noob in anime. But for those who've watched anime for like, 10 years and more, this was just a rehashed of the elements of shounen-types with all its stereotypes.

I watched this because I just got myself into the venture of cycling. And I did my research and could tell the hybrids, MTBs, and road bikes apart; and cyclocross, and touring, and brands like Specialized, Giant, Trek, Cannondale, Cube, KTM, Boardman, and more.

What you get here is the ... same vibe when watching Initial-D, Prince of Tennis, then character stereotypes found in Slam Dunk, and add some slight yakitate!Japan-type of humor in the mix, for a theme of cycling, and that's it for Yowamushi Pedal. The story is predictable and mediocre, you'll get a weak but not epic protagonist. Gurren Lagann already smashed the "weak protagonist" with Simoun, and thus no other anime might come as good, not until two decades or so.

Art is okay, I'm not mindful about the art, whether it's as fluid as KyoAni's, or intricate as CLAMP's; or quirky as PingPong; or epic as Kill la Kill or Gurren Lagann; as long as the story is befitting to waste time, art would be the last thing on my mind.

Sound is alright.

Again, for the characterization, you'll have a weak character for a protagonist, a quite arrogant second-placer deuteragonist, then some bishoujos on the sides reminiscent of Initial-D or other shounen anime (Saiki-K maybe? But that anime's epic, and this one isn't) ; some dude that reminded me of another dude in Akame ga Kill, in fact, the cast here kinda reminded me of Akame Ga Kill, and I last watched that show in 2016. It's all a set of varied, BUT predictable characters at best. So what charactrerization you've seen here, I'm sure you've seen them elsewhere.


Enjoyment... right. I was thinking it'd be like Initial-D on bikes, like I get to know what Specialized is and all that, but it is none of that. I should have just watched ESPN, or Long Riders if I was aiming to get the fancy delivery of bicycles and its parts and those.
Still, you still get those flashbacks as the action was about to progress, and some backstories that we've seen on other anime. But well, can't help it. At most, this is a generic, rehashed elements molded into a different story of road-cycling.
Only SAO and its cousins (like Rei-Zero) are the type of anime I'd hate more; and this is me who's a fan of Gen Urobuchi-type of anime (Fate/Zero, Puella Magi, Psycho Pass, those kinda).

OVERALL, well, you watch this and be entertained and love this because you're a noob on the realm of anime.
Maybe you still haven't watched DeathNote and would freak out once you've seen it---like it's the best anime evur; then you'd have a high-blood pressure and atrial fibrillation when you watch Attack on Titan, and get a brain aneurysm when you watched Psycho Pass.

But if you've watched the type of anime where more than half of them are NOT mainstream, then you can waste your life on something else, like go have a real cycling around town.

Get a bicycle of your preference (hybrid, MTB, road, BMX) Specialized, or Giant, or Trek---you'll never be wrong with any of these three brands. :) Cube, Whyte, and Orbea are also great enough. Scott, and Marin are like... on the third-tier.

Get a reliable cycling helmet--- Kask, Giro, or Specialized;

then get a strong, robust bike-lock: Kryptonite, or Abus brands if you still want to find your bicycle where you left it off (and lock it properly and correctly, no bike-lock is infallible to a dimwitted owner).

And that's it, you go cycling instead than watch this crap.

I only bothered to watch this because Kana Hanazawa is in it.

Basically, Godzilla is a story recycled decades ago when Japan went mad with Tokusatsu-esque shows; this is one of them, alongside those other monster-movies (that space-turtle parodied in Yakitate!Japan actually is one of them), and anti-monster children-shows like Ultraman, for example. Then in the 90s, US of A's take went something so Hollywood-ish about a radioactive lizard, and how the US Army and every American arsenal can defeat it.

This, then, is just the true story of Godzilla rehashed into a modern Netflix-y thing: a monster that cannot be defeated (despite again, one of the ... characters are voiced by KanaHana) and threw the world into dystopia. Decent plot elements like space-time continuum had good decent explanations; but even Ultraman...the one with Mirai in it--Ultraman that I forgot what, also offered a little of that relativity theory.

But wait--this show supposedly was written by Gen Urobuchi; the same creator of Fate/Zero; Psycho Pass; and Puella Magi Madoka Magica... right. Gen Urobuchi's dog, maybe.
The thing is, no matter the premise about humans defeating an overpowerful monster, even if Gen Urobuchi wrote its modern take, I wasn't really interested about how it turned out because the spine and bone of the story was just the repeat of the classic, and I know what happened: Godzilla won't be defeated.
The 2nd movie already said it. In fact, the second movie just dropped a bombshell of what the third movie is like. Seems like Mr. Gen Urobuchi ran out of creative juices.


ART = 5
I really can't be bothered.


SOUND = 5
CHARACTER = 3
Japan bet with a powerhouse cast of seiyuus: Kana Hanazawa, with Takahiro Sakurai; Mamoru Miyano, Tomokazu Sugita, even Yuki Kaji. If Gen Urobuchi himself can't make much of this, then I'm certain none of them can save the ludicrousness of the plot; the characters are flat, and how for hundreds of times, we've seen these character-tropes: like Shingeki no Kyojin (the will or vengeance to strike the monster); stupid-love-syndrome (every romantic anime and show there is); and this show is entirely plot-driven, anyway. It is too obvious when there's too many Deus-ex-Machina at work, and that you just don't get and can't possibly relate with the scale of high-tech-nonsense they placed in there: yes, humanity got a helping hand from aliens or those people from other planets, religion thrown into the mix, but seriously, the premise of putting an overbearing monster with them, just don't work.


ENJOYMENT = 4
Won't be watching this if it weren't for Kana Hanazawa.


OVERALL = 5
Consider watching this IF AND ONLY IF, you're a massive fan of Kana Hanazawa. Gen Urobuchi fans can stay away, or suffer the disillusionment. There's a whole bunch of exciting things to watch, anyway, like Encouragement of Climb, or K-On; or that you can do, like cycling, or laundry.

Right. I really didn't want to write a review, [I've finished season 2 btw] until I saw some 3 rating here in MAL. A thought dawned to me that, they must have too many first-world problems because they've got luxurious comfort zones.

Because it's like this:
Up until Daniel Craig, James Bond(s) have to be suave, and commandeering, caresses women, full of spy-gadgets like laser Omega watches, and that submersible Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Then Daniel Craig's Bond came along, and the idea of Commander Bond being witty, calculating, sly, sexual, a gambler, all that, well, he got his balls whipped.

"No Mr. Bond, I ... expect you to cry," Bond's villain sneered.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans works like that.
Its ball-wrenching, murderous, vengeful, self-destructing intent shatters comfort zones since 2015.

If you're a "Gundam fan" who sees Gundams full of lasers and overpowerful, moves like a mosquito, with armors thicker than French goat cheese, and you expect the enemies to be the numerous usual baddies who got shot or slashed, of course you'll see Iron-Blooded as off.
But, that'd be like you have to be the sort of person who'd be hating Daniel Craig's Bond because he has no explosive pens.


STORY - 8
It isn't particularly impressive for Iron-Blooded Orphans, so I won't discuss that much. But it is devious, and brilliantly executed to deviate from the "normal powerful Gundam" we know.
To understand it even, when you say "Gundam", it actually means the Universal Century timeline kind of Gundams: the RX-78-2, the Z-, the ZZ-, the RX-93, these kinda.
The "other" Gundams, like: the Shining, Wing, Strike, Exia, Barbatos, they're the "spin-offs", made to create "nth-versions" of the franchise. Hence, Iron-Blooded can create its "own version", correct? Right.

The themes have to be the same to make it Gundam-ish, ofc: politics and war, showing the human nature both complex and twisted characters who either participated the war or got involved, as well as these overpowerful "real robots" that could shoot a hundred mobile suits in a strike.

In Iron-Blooded, it's just metal-to-metal, no lasers, no frills thing of relic (according to story) that has difficulty finishing each enemy. No one gets erased by a laser that can fill your TV screens here, or raining plasma shots. They have to be crunched, gutted, and die horribly, no exemptions on any character.


ART = 10
I always score most anime as 10, anyway.


SOUND = 7
Seiyuus are awesome, with Takahiro Sakurai, and Squid Gi--I mean, Hisako Kanemoto around, yeah.


CHARACTER = 8
There are people who'd argue that Mikazuki is a flat character or didn't change throughout. And that's the thing, because "protagonists" need to change, need to be dynamic and such. And that's good, if you're actually making a "hero" type of protagonist, because the "plot" is his/her journey, he/she needs to develop it, one way or the other.
But let's say you're not into making "hero characters", you're a lot more creative than that. Like if you're the writer of Iron-Blooded, why follow some Lit101 lessons, when you have a darker idea in mind, right?
Commander Bond didn't "develop" from being a weaboo-spy nerd to an actual spy, you know. Protagonists, as well as deuteragonists, or any other characters types, that are complex can be, well, complex---that is, if you know what you're doing. Don't try writing something like a sparklepire.

Iron-Blooded had been as character-driven to begin with, anyway. It wasn't that Gjallarhorn just attacked them because they were planting corn in Mars, scene C happened because the characters chose scene A over scene B. Basically it's just that, and harbor a ton of characters that inherently still has as what Bandai/Sunrise is known for with their Gundam series, the thing called "human nature" that makes legitimacy of Iron-Blooded to bear the "Gundam" recognition on its own.
Forget the lasers, real lasers actually are invisible and US Army are already experimenting them even.


ENJOYMENT = 10
That is, if you're NOT someone who wears their comfort shells.


OVERALL = 9
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is a bizarre masterpiece.
It's like the wicked sheep of the family of Gundam series, the Daniel Craig Bond, the Hennessey Venom GT of supercars, the death metal of music genres, and unless you can get past the thought that Gundams doesn't always have to be ridiculously unbeatable, you'll see its dark-lit side of things.

But if you're still stuck with your comfort zone, then consider trashing this show, because it can damage and implode your comfort zones so bad.


VERDICT: a masterpiece that is not for uber-laser-powerful Gundam fans.

Right. It's been a long time I wrote a review, and I hadn't gotten much urge to write one until I saw Koe no Katachi (A Silent Voice).

A very good friend of mine who calls himself "Tusk", got me into watching it. I had the feedback and opinions of those who have watched, and in my head, I would say that it "sucks", and yes, I stand corrected.

Watching Koe no Katachi, is like watching Thalia (Nishimiya, the comedy mask) and Melpomene (Ishida, the tragic mask) starring in a soap opera, a melodramatic Theatre of the Absurd.

Don't get me wrong, I do love KyoAni, since Air, ... since they made InuYasha's movies, since Clannad, all before boobspiring anime like Amaburi and Phantom World existed to ruin their record, I have always been a Lucky Star! and K-On! fan, as well as Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai, and the underrated Tamako Market.

In my other review, I compared KyoAni to the Lamborghini of anime--- when Lamborghini releases a car (like the latest Aventador SV), the entire world knows about it. KyoAni has just that kind of effect in the anime realm.

However, I scrunched my noses here in Koe no Katachi. It was just...bad.



STORY = 5

I get that most Koe no Katachi fans would say in defense: that it was rushed and the anime didn't do justice with the light novel, and those sorta. However, there was nothing much to go with the premise of putting the suspect and the victim in one love basket, hoping to make it work. Ishida, being the tragic sad-face "Melpomene" character, and Nishiyama as the "Thalia" or comedic mask character---who turns out she also has issues of very low self-esteem, but chooses to keep smiling and apologizing anyway, and a case of a somewhat Stockholm syndrome results.

There were plot holes, in which A goes to B, and B goes to K..which could have been C. Again, fans would erupt, saying it was too rushed. So, it should have become a 12-episode anime then? Like Beyond the Boundary did (which sucks a bit also).

The story, if analyzed, is more of a young-adult, made-for-the-whiny-generation audience, which hopes to put an impact that it's alright to keep wanting to die and be emo.

That's a good plot element, except that the "catalysts" where not in place at the right situation. Even MAL's summary emphasizes "catalysts", because it really needed the emphases of such.

I mean, what better way to explain that after Ishida got ostracized for bullying Nishiyama, he sets out to have a guilt-trip of learning sign language, but proceeded to do no such thing of actually "looking for her". There he was, looking miserable, until the author of the story decided to write that Nishiyama goes into this same place that he goes, so he could meet her. That's a kind of push from the almighty author, right? But it isn't: it's a plot-driven ploy because the characters themselves can't take the plot into their own hands.


CHARACTER = 5

Mediocre is a decent way to put it. Although, I'm sure that Nishiyama is going to go down as one of the renowned KyoAni girls in KyoAni history. The thing is, mainstream audience who likes to ride the bandwagon will always fail to notice or will never notice, that she's just a generic character of wrong proportions. Her "self-pity" was too ideal, too fictional to relate. It's like being Lacus Clyne without the Gundam, or she sounded like Nagisa from Clannad---which Nagisa worked because she made her own decisions of moving forward on the Clannad setting, that enabled Tomoya to reach out to her.

You get what I'm saying?

There are character-driven plots, where the characters work to make the plot work; and there are plot-driven characters, in which the author types what's the next thing to happen, spoon-feeding the events to the characters to get in touch. Nishiyama is a sitting duck after getting transferred to a school, a stasis in her role, as can't move on with her "love" (seriously, how exactly did she harboured feelings to her attacker?) until Ishida found her by chance. You can see that after Ishida bullied Nishiyama, her ears bled, he got confronted, and what Nishiyama did was to love him. Why?

And on another note, when Ishida got ostracized for bullying a deaf girl, he set out to kill himself. Again, why?

Other bits and pieces of characterization go with Ueno, who's just a turd of falling for the main character because he's the main character---and yes, friendship was the lame excuse, but there was nothing much going on. She fell in love because they're friends, and that's it? Then got jelly-rolled when Nishiyama came into the picture.

There's also that dude who kept calling Ishida as "Yasho", who's the catalyst for Ishida so he can try doing something. There's also Nishiyama's imouto voiced by Yuuki Aoi, whose Nikon D3300 has a Canon lens at one point, and was worried sick of her onee-san because she would kill herself---

---both main characters wanted to kill themselves.
And that's totally fine, given the plot element should accelerate for that part.

But then, nothing---the plot was beating around the bush of self-pity, that didn't point to suicide, at all. It was like "I'm so guilty over what I did to her, so what I need to do, was to commit suicide!" and "I've caused trouble for everyone, so I should say goodbye cruel world, and jump!"

Then, there's the bridge-scene, one scene which could have saved this from going under the water. Ishida could have sign-languaged to Nishiyama that he "fell" for her, or something to that matter. Instead, he said something so incomprehensible: "I want you to help me live".


ART = 10
straight 10, of course, KyoAni made it.


SOUND = 10
Saori Hayami voicing Nishiyama is just a wonder. If I haven't peaked at the MAL database, and some fB-memes, I'd never guess it was her! Yuuki Aoi also did a great job of voicing Nishiyama's imouto, her voice is so versatile, knowing she did Madoka's voice (Puella Magi).

Miyu Irino voicing Ishida also hits good points, Syaoran-emo to the core.


ENJOYMENT = 3
NatGeo documentaries are more enjoyable.


OVERALL = 5

The thing about fiction is, according to Mark Twain, is that it needs to make sense. Koe no Katachi does not. What it did, if anything, was more of insulting persons with disabilities, in which in this particular fiction sense they got bullied, they dragged themselves for so long and then, try to kill themselves. I mean, there are more twisted ways of creating stories, but Koe no Katachi was offering a melodramatic soap opera, and again, with Theatre of the Absurd elements set in the real world. The viewer will have to constantly remind himself/herself that Nishiyama loves Ishida, and Ishida has high-levels of guilt for Nishiyama, otherwise, we're all left to wonder why are they interacting in the first place. Their chemistry or the ploy of elements didn't pick up, it kept sinking, and a constant reminder has to be in order that, right--- they're the main characters, and we're watching something from KyoAni--- so it should be good, and teary, and on a feels-trip.

But no, it didn't.

Truthfully, all it shows is just how Thalia and Melpomene would act, given this kind of setting. And that's too bad, because KyoAni isn't for Theatre of the Absurd act. In Theatre of the Absurd, a happy clown and a sad clown would be in the mix of nightmare, clocks, poison, cirque, illusionists, contortionists, lions, then would not try to make a sense of all those. Sounds Koe no Katachi, right?



VERDICT:

Kyoto Animation's Theatre of the Absurd. I should have re-watched The Grand Tour, instead.

I've reiterated this in the past and let me say it again: KyoAni is like the Lamborghini of the anime realm. I say this so because whenever KyoAni releases an anime, the entire anime realm and fans know about it, in the same way as car enthusiasts immediately know what these Lambroghinis are: the Miura, Islero, Diablo, Murcielago, Gallardo, Aventador and Huracan. Yes, we know what these cars are—named after famous bulls.

Recently however, KyoAni seemed to have become "Audi", what's with the Amagi Brilliant Park? It falls short on the KyoAni material but it still passes the KyoAni-ness with flying colors, Hibike Euphonium does struggle ... and became underrated but it is better, but this time--it's worse.

I watched 12 out of 13 episodes of this Musaigen no Phantom World. And since the FMP Fumoffu, to InuYasha movies, to Air and Kanon, I've watched and grew with KyoAni. Then comes Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, and Lucky Star; and the renowned awesomeness that defined the studio: K-On, Hyouka, Chuunibyou, KNK and Tamako Market even. Then what happened recently?

Watching 12 out of 13 episodes... I have never dropped a KyoAni anime---until now.


STORY = 2
I'm gonna say it straightaway: Phantom World is REDUNDANT to Kyoukai no Kanata. No, it isn't similar as other anime fans would say. The difference with "redundant" to "similar" is that "redundancy" is just unnecessary, it's not needed; while similar is like...uh, the BMW is similar to Mercedes-Benz, that kinda. Both cars are alike in ways but both are still needed in this world.
So why is KyoAni making this? If KyoAni wanted to stick with youkai stuffs, make a KNK season 2 instead. Or, they can throw the Musaigen script to other anime studios like JC Staff.

The pace of the story is un-KyoAni-ish to be honest. All it has is fanservice, fanservice, filler, fanservice + filler, initial story, fanservice again, boring ep, character+plot emphasized, last ep, then the end. Yes, in this pace. I could honestly label this as JC Staff material, for this is what JC Staff is good at. Or Collaboration Works (excuse me on this one).


ART = 10
This is KyoAni after all.


SOUND = 7
Seiyuus here are Sumire Uesaka, Maaya Uchida, Misaki Kuno, Hiro Shimono, and yes, Saori Hayami. I love these seiyuus as much as they voiced other great anime characters since. There's just one problem: none of them can save Musaigen no Phantom World from the disappointment.


CHARACTER = 5
Characterization is fair, or a bit mediocre. If you've watched something like Date-A Live or Infinite Stratos, characters feel and are in that characterization-level, in which you can utterly say that they're likable enough.
Then again, another problem persists, and that is: none of these shows I've sampled are from KyoAni. If I were to grade this using the KyoAni-checklist, Musaigen is just mediocre at best, and this is me sugarcoating things already.


ENJOYMENT = 1
Fanboys and those who like borderline-ecchi fanservices will thoroughly enjoy this. They can fap to it even.
As for me, long ago I had been loving KyoAni with their memorable shows and lovable characters. I have respected KyoAni for what the reputation it built themselves so far. Moeshit or not, KyoAni's selling point is that, and that's what makes them great. KyoAni is as metaphorically memorable as Lamborghini: it has the quality, the presence, the reputation, the recognition, the awesomeness of the lot.
Not with the Musaigen Phantom World though.


OVERALL = 4
Putting a 4 on this is generous enough.
And let me put it this way, in a Lamborghini-ish analogy: imagine Lamborghini with their V10 Huracans/Gallardos, and V12 Aventadors/Murcielagos/Diablos. Now imagine the brand embarking on making sedans, 4-cylinder engine sedans at that. You're surely gonna exclaim "hold on! Why a sedan all of a sudden?!" And then Lamborghini will tell you simply how good the car is and how luxurious it is and how engineering-gamechanging it is, but won't tell you how unreasonable they turned out to be. On its own it may just be a good car---a good sedan. But a Lamborghini sedan? Thinking of the Lamborghini marque in a taxi or company car---no, just no. This might be cool on a Hyundai or Audi venture--yes, but for Lamborghini---NO.

Musaigen no Phantom World just gives this effect.
Yes, animation is superior,
yes, action scenes are really fun to look at,
and yes, character design is pretty,
but all these are the things you already expect from KyoAni. It all started in FMP Fumoffu, to K-On, to KNK, so we all know what caliber and potency to expect.
Looking at its inner drama, the characterization and their struggles, and the plot were just bland and it doesn't live up to the KyoAni marque, it fell short from the KyoAni caliber, it just doesn't feel like KyoAni, it lacked the KyoAni moe/moeshit elements, and it just doesn't have that KyoAni flair and passion.

So what's left? Just disappointment. This is why Musaigen no Phantom World is historically my first ever KyoAni anime I DROPPED from my list.


VERDICT: yes all is said and done and it's a good-enough anime, IF AND ONLY IF it was "NOT" made by KyoAni.

I have one question: who wrote this?
I'm very sure that back in 2011 after watching SNS season 2, that it wasn't horrible as what season 3 turned out. Only because I missed some Kugi-chan action did I opt to watch this now, and was nowhere near where season 2 left. Season 3 was all plot-driven, it was all dreadful.


STORY = 2
Yep. Dreadful it is. I took time to read some of the high-rated reviews here and I get their main point: read the light novel, my backside. Read, because that is the original version of the Shakugan no Shana storyline. However, that's just the same ... as telling me I should read the entire graphic novel of TheWalkingDead to enjoy its TV adaptation. But AMC and others concerned with the production didn't require us to do so, and the TWD TV version is as brilliant or acclaimed better than its original graphic novel. I could say JC Staff should have done something like that, too, which they didn't.

This is unexpectedly disappointing, however despite I understand the "original adaptation" thingy that Shanatards emphasize, the writer/JC Staff/whoever has the key role here did have three choices:
a. they could continue s1 and s2's efforts, solidifying the fans' expectations, nevermind those who had known the light novels;
b. They should have done this "true adaptation" back in season 1 so we won't be wasting our time;
c. They can choose to just f*ck this up. Who cares about plot and story? We want the money. They said.

And I guess they chose letter C.
The thing is about the entire SNShana installment, is whoever tried to deviate the animation story from the original should have bet his/her entire money on seeing it through. It's what's proper, it's what should have been done. Thanks to the "reverting to the original" efforts, SNShana ended up 100% plot-driven. Characters Yuji and Shana seemed to have ambivalent feelings towards their choices and decisions and still, they chose something their dialogues and scripts didn't state. That goes for the entire cast of characters as well.
Plus, what's worse than a plot-driven story is the "Deus ex Machina", and this element is as bountiful as their power of existence had been.

Also, what I can point out to the story, and sorry to say this, but I'm totally unimpressed and eye-rolling towards the entire "religious innuendos".
Most of the side of the Flame Hazes' specifically the Crimson Lords have devilish names such as "Behemoth" and "Alastor", whereas on the other side constitutes of the "Trinity" and the "god of creation", and the rapture and the apocalyptic---pah.
If I had known this was the entire plot of Shana all along, I should have watched this when I yet to age 12, because back then I enjoyed Gundam Wing and Angelic Layer, then I'm pretty sure I could have enjoyed SNShana season 3 very well; because by the time I turned 13, I know I would be focusing on better stories like Gurren Lagann for example.
Now that I'm older, I'm infuriating, and cussing, and pulling some of my hair, and calculating about 10hours of time wasted watching this, and 20hours more of watching both s1 and s2.

Shanatards would surely like to see all those explosions and fights, but only a child or a monkey can be fascinated by those, especially if you've spent watching season 1 and 2 with a regard of 7 or 8 rating, the "reverting-to-the-original season3" failed to impress even a tiny bit because it ruined the pace of execution of the story. I can assure you that even if this plot is added with the USS Enterprise, the Millennium Falcon, two Gundams, and alchemy, tyrant's eye---none of those will make me think otherwise, because the plot itself is beyond salvage, it's ruined.


ART = 10
yes, give this a 10. JC Staff's only good side.


SOUND = 7
Surely though, Kotoko and Mami Kawada music transmits that Shana-esque vibe, but that can't atone for the damage caused.
Also, even with Ai Kayano, Yuki Kaji, Marina Inoue and Natsumi Takamori were added on the seiyuu cast, none of them matters. I'm pretty sure that they were overjoyed being casts on SNShana 3, but I can bet you that by the time they finished their voice-recording, they've all realized what a complete waste of time it had been.


CHARACTERIZATION = 2
The plot is dreadful, moreso the characterization. With the "reverting of season 3 to light novel" as claimed by Shanatards went, the characterizations were all derailed and was cut off from the progress of what season 2 left which resulted to uneven pacing and deus ex machina, and the very fact that no matter what dialogues the characters were delivering, the plot just proceeds on itself, leaving the viewer wondering why and what happened.
For example, how did Sakai Yuji ever reached the conclusion that the best way to help Shana is to side with the Denizens and the trinity and a new snake-guy never heard of in season 1 and 2? If this is the s1-s2 Yuji, you know that he won't decide on that. But the s3 version of him is just what the author penned him to without a care of what/who he used to.

Then there's worse. Adding too many characters as extras for the "great war" proved to be useless, unnecessary and out of context. Because here we know that there were thousands of Flame Hazes as "merely mentioned" in season 1, but we caught a glimpse this season 3 that apart from the main and supporting characters, these extra flame hazes are nothing more but salarymen, housewives, and otakus. They couldn't even transform into something else (yes it might be expensive to animate but this is Shana, if they could make a ton of magic circle, they could easily animate anything and anyone else more) and was not even clear if they had their own vessel/crimson lord or they were just wielding swords to look like the part. Then because there were so many extras, everyone should just have to have a screentime of 3mins and needs to die after.
Supporting antagonists also suffered the 3mins-fate, very few died while some others forgot they used to have roles back in season 2 and 1---and whatever happened to Hecate's feelings, all these were a gigantic pile of mess.

As if the mess wasn't bad enough, some characters suddenly had too much of too many powers/abilities that even if a Gundam, Saitama, Ryuuko, the Jedi council will pass in the middle of their so-called war, you'll certainly not notice them because of the barrage of whatnot powers been already displayed. Of course, the premise goes to that they had these powers inside them for a thousand years or more, but that's a flimsy and childish excuse, too lazy to elaborate and was just all too wonky to convince, unless you're a kid or those who are easily impressed.


ENJOYMENT = 1
This is the first time I ever tried to take breaks upon finishing an episode. Usually I could finish 3-5eps straight; even Glasslip got me about 2eps before breathing out. But here in SNShana s3, I longed for the day to get this thing done, finished, and reviewed here in MAL to warn others that you go waste your time in some anime else. I mean, I watched Tamayura just to ease my mind in this SNShana s3, re-played NFSMW (2005), and listened/discovered more David Bowie songs---all these while dreading that I was about to watch the next episode soon. Now, glad that's over.



OVERALL = 3
The power of existence of season 3 proved to be like a Ford Fiesta that was placed with a Mustang engine, in which the Ford engineers patted themselves on the back for a job well done, but Ford fans knew better as to what a Fiesta would look like with a V8. If in reality they did do something like this, Ford fans might chase them out with Camaros and Corvettes.

However, what about a Focus on Mustang V8 engine? Sounds good, eh?

Hence, like the analogy of the Focus bridging the Fiesta to the Mustang, this is what I could have strongly suggested on SNShana 3: this could have been a season 4, or a Shana movie that bridges the gap of season 2 to 3, or some OVAs to do just those---anything that can "bridge" and "provide information" on events that will lead to season 3, not just taking the premise and leaving it out to the viewer's imagiation.
Instead, JC Staff and whoever wrote this proceeded that putting a great war and misaligned characters will be a huge hit, and it will be the greatest epic Shana season ever.
No it isn't.
A monkey can clap hands on the explosions, kids can cheer on the fights, but to Shana fans (not necessarily Shanatards), this is an insult. We could have started watching season 1 as the "default, original intended light-novel version" and I know I'll give this an 8-10 rating; however putting a different s3 from s1 and s2 where Shana and the others' characterizations have been popularized, loved, and respected, this was a disaster in storytelling. Shana and Yuji's and the rest's power of existence were basically disregarded and ripped to be replaced with "plot-driven characters" who kept saying craps and pieces to which the plot just took them to what the author decided-- not from the causes and effects of their decisions. Thus, the characters you know from s1 and s2 left their souls on those previous seasons.

VERDICT: could have been great, if only the storytelling of the season 3 were all made to be parallel and connecting to the previous seasons.

Let me confess one thing: I actually watched and finished Sword Art Online, except that you can't find it anywhere my list. Meanwhile, you can find titles like Date-A Live and Infinite Stratos, and even hackneyed things like Himouto Umaru-chan and Glasslip. Now why is that?

The answer is simple: I expected Date-A and IS to be harem-y and I know what I was gonna get and that's what I got (both exceeded my low-bar expectations anyway as I learned to acknowledge them both). Himouto and Glasslip, I expected them to be, well, hackneyed.
But when I watched SAO, I expected it to be RPG-fantasy-brilliant. It's ... the kind of expectation where let's say, I expect that the Ford Mustang to have a growling V8---but now that they also put an inline-4 engine under its hood as part of their "EcoBoost" lineup, it turned disappointing.

Sorry SAO-fans, but after knowing and playing Final Fantasy and the TRUE RPG games of PS1 such as LegendofMana, L.o.Legaia, Lo.Dragoon, Grandia, Alundra and those kinda, SAO has to live up to that, which it didn't. Instead, SAO was flaunting more of Kirito's moods and his inevitable harem and Asuna's armpits. That's what I mean about disappointment, and that's what SAO went for me, it simply lacked the RPG quality and poked the harem genre in it, thus I don't want it on my list.

However, here's OVERLORD, which I could say according to my metaphor, is the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 with that overpowering 5.2L V8, fit for an overlord alright.


STORY = 8
Straight away, this is quite the problem though. How the storyline was created kinda is, I admit, lacking in complexity...or should we wait for season 2? The RPG essence is there, make no mistake, but as to the messing up the fantasy world with a whole lot of thundagas and blizzagas, chaos and madness, it was all brief. But what I happily regard this is 8 is once you've watched this and you know what RPG stands for, you're entirely familiar with the magic spells and "gameplay", and this wins the hearts of true-RPG fans like me. We know, we simply know how emotions go to venture in a world that feels like Fa'Diel.


ART = 10
Obviously.


SOUND = 10
Both opening and ending songs are simply rockatronic, just like how Japan used to make RPG BGMs with electric guitar riffs and adlibs, and not the keyboard-bound chimes nowadays.
Seiyuu-wise, I only know that Shalltear is voiced by Dekomori--I instantly recognized her voice and Sumire Uesaka's charm resonated, that's it---I didn't bother knowing more seiyuus knowing Dekomori's around.


CHARACTERIZATION = 6
This is perhaps the strong point but it's what I do expect if the main character, Momonga, is mighty. He has his mindset for conquering his newfound world. He has his "press R1" backup of non-playable characters aka. Guardians. He decides his party depending per quest, per episode bluntly stated, and the adventure begins as nonchalantly as racing the Mustang against a Prius. You know it's "too much powerful", you know it won't lose.
This turned out because the story began when Lord Momonga was already on level 99, of course, with the premise stated with concise and short flashbacks that he did start as weak, or was on low-level then way back.
I have my qualms about "too much powerful" characters because they're only a wrong execution away from being a garystu/marystu, but because of the RPG-feels, I can't be bothered by it, subjectively.
Objectively though, is the reason I gave it a 6 because whenever I review here in MAL, I always separate my mental from my emotional takes. But as its plot made overpowerful characters forgivable, then they're nowhere near the realm of garystu/marystu because the plot and elements already evaded just that, and didn't pay the price.


ENJOYMENT = 8
Honestly I did enjoy it, thanks to the RPG feels. :) Some dragging events pulled down a -2, but that can be overlooked.


OVERALL = 7
Again, I metaphorically compared Overlord to the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 V8, now why a 7?
The thing is, it's got to do with my [car] preference. Take a look at this very Mustang: it's overly Shelby-powerful and you know what that means: a 5.2L V8 526HP spitting monster, it's all about speed and acceleration; and thanks to that, it has no backseats, no air-condition. The luxuries are sacrificed for the sake of saving weight. Sorry Mustang fans, speed is not everything for me as buying those cars means indulging; and that goes to other weight-saving supercars like the Ferrari 458 Speciale and the McLaren P1, I ain't a fan of those, too.
That's particularly how I viewed Overlord for the metaphorical car-anime comparison. In RPG-terms. Overlord is grand, the plot is well-made, the characters are well-thought, but somehow having too-powerful characters made the story a bit dull (only One Punch Man succeeded pulling out of this). It's like playing RPGs with cheats of all-items-unlocked and max-level sorts. You know you're going to win, hence you know it's going to be boring unless you're a child.

I expected Overlord to be RPG and it delivered my expectations just fine, it made me feel the feels back on PS1 RPG days, but the overpowering trait is also an expectation I know I'm not preferring to. And thus, it turned out to be 7 overall.
But that's on me, I, who greatly respects the TRUE RPGs of PS1. My probably biased-perspective emitted out from those.


VERDICT: Rest assured, if you're one who is playing PS2 and PS3 RPG games, or someone who haven't been introduced to RPG, or someone who is looking for a not necessarily 10 but still is a well-made anime, Overlord is your ticket.
If you're on the otherwise, then consider looking at SAO's Asuna's armpits.

I remembered back in 2012 when there was a hype that Mitsubishi was about to release their new "Mirage". Mind you, it's what the Lancer coupe-version is called, and to top it off, it was the car where I first learned how to drive. It has a 2.0L engine so that alone means it's coupe-fast. Knowing Mitsubishi would release their new "Mirage" feels like knowing I'd get to meet an old friend again. Instead and unlikely so, the newly-released Mirage was nothing of what I imagined: it has a 3-cylinder 1.2L engine, it was small, it was not a sports sedan, it was what's known ... to be the successor of the "Colt", and it was bloody terrible. What were those bigwigs from Mitsubishi thinking of badging it as the "Mirage"? They should have called it the Mitsubishi My-god!

That very note then brings me here to Charlotte. As prior to its release, there was indeed the hype that this was going to be a great anime with Sakura Ayane and Maaya Uchida in it. Instead, the bigwigs of PA Works decided that Charlotte should not be an awe and PA_Works-worthy, but was going to be awful and will meet a lot of shortcomings from the expectations and anticipations an analyzing anime fan could face.


STORY = 5

Mediocre as what you'd expect from a "should-be Lancer Mirage" mighty 2.0L engine, then turned into a 3-mil 1.2L conk. Them Mitsubishi bigwigs then stated nutty reasons why a 3-cylinder engine is efficient and powerful and well, facepalming no doubt, and how come a silly-looking car that is unlike anything Lancer-ish could be better. Charlotte works very much like that. We get a story that tries to convince us that something nasty and terrible and tragic is/was/has/will happen, and then you're met with high school kids who either have Chuunibyous that actually does work, or have been Japanese members of the X-Men. It's all primed and ready to explode, but it was not what was hoped for. Like I said, pretty much like the "new" Mitsubishi Mirage's 3-cylinder engine: leave it to Mitsubishi to convince us their "new" Mirage is awesome, because it isn't.


CHARACTER = 2

Don't get me wrong, here shows a promise of characters and their concept, except that what Charlotte failed big-time was the implementation of "characters-over-plot". Writers know too well the difference between characterization and plot. Plot-driven story means the plot takes the pacing, whilst character-driven stories mean the characters decide their course of action and affects the pace of the story to its should-be effect. Again, there were tragic and nasty stuffs but these are not shown much of the keypoint and aspect as to why these elements come in duress, except that for an episode worth of it, you should be convinced that Otosaka had these set of powers, that Nao has decided stuffs, that Yusa can be bad-ass, and so on they all finished the task. The complexity is there, but for what exactly? Since the dynamism isn't. How the characters react to the given situation is not there (I won't spoil the episodes) as the entire story just feels too much scripted.

Too scripted, I mean, that you'll know by the end of each episode, Otosaka, Nao, Yusa, even Takajou will take things under control not entirely because they've done something appropriate to the development, but because the script says so. By the end of the last episode, you'd probably going to be frothing in the mouth because all your expectations were thrown out the window by the contriving deus ex machina, thus the inconsistencies. That said, I can surmise myself that even Sakura Ayane and Maaya Uchida must have realized this, and that they were completely wasting their time.


ART = 10

Art is outstanding, I give you that. Still, if art is what you're entirely all concerned for, there's DeviantART full of Charlotte fanarts. Storywise, you'd rather look anywhere else.


SOUND = 8

Only because Sakura Ayane and Maaya Uchida are here, great seiyuus they really are. Not that the music has anything to do with the storyline, then again, it sounds anime-ish, so guess that's righteous.


ENJOYMENT = 2

Most of the anime I've seen this 2015 had this "can't wait for the last ep to end" factor (Glasslip, Rolling Girls, Umaru-chan for example). I just want it to end, I can't be bothered, I want to put this title in my MAL "completed watch list" as consolation for the wasted time I've invested.


OVERALL = 5

You see, the "old" Mirage like I've said is brilliant. It may not be as fierce as the Evos, but it was good and as a coupe, it was fast enough for fun driving and learning how to generally drive and better than the regular Lancer. Enter the "new" Mirage and none whatsoever is good on it.

However, you can't deny the fact that this "new" Mirage is popular. Almost no one can remember the old Mirage nowadays; as the new Mirage made its limelight and its place to stay being a recognizable city car that is affordable and efficient despite wonky, all these qualities that are never related to the "old". Yet people like it pretty much. I don't, and I don't get why they do, but that sort of notion is the same as what's happening to Charlotte. It currently has a MAL score of 7.92 for these remaining days of 2015, none of that makes sense, but most anime fans and otakus like/love this for reasons that they can comprehend, which I don't.

Thus, giving it an overall rate of 5 is a bit of the same rate I'd be giving to the "new" Mitsubishi Mirage, especially when someone will ask me about it. Make no mistake, the "new" Mirage is good on its own, and you'd love it--if you don't know much about cars, and you don't have any cars to serve as comparisons. For Charlotte, you can probably watch this if you like inconsistencies and bizarre scripts that deus ex machina can fix; but if you know other anime out there, like Fate/Stay Night...or RomCom SNAFU, or The Devil is a Part-timer, then go for them instead.


VERDICT: Waste your time on something else, but if "popular" is your cup of tea, then look no further.

Now, I shall begin my review that probably has nothing metaphorical to do with cars. No car brands and car models whatsoever.

Yama no Susume (Encouragement of Climb) began its season 1 as a 3-minute-per-episode moeblob, the “anime shorts” as some calls it. After watching the whole season 1 in an hour less, I thought that that was the end. And no farther stretching of stories will be made, unless the producers and staff will be making fillers. Perhaps another slice-of-life on high school grounds rather than mountains?

Instead, the writer(s) of season 2 went around (or researched) their Land of the Rising Sun to find mountains ... to showcase: the episodes progress to more trekking and mountain-climbing as high as Mt. Fuji even. That itself is proper, impressive, and cultural-friendly. Animators were able to impressively showcase some of Japan’s highpoints where kawaii-moes ought to climb without parenteral guidance. I mean, just imagine: three high-schoolers and one middle-schooler are climbing Mt. Fuji on their own. How parent-wracking is that? But this is CGDCT goodness.

On the surface, that’s as plain as you get: kawaii-moes climbing mountains. Anime fans and otakus moved on with their lives to pursue bishies, panty-shot fanservices and the particular mainstream anime; they all did but I didn’t. Instead, I imagined myself on top a mountain, and went ‘hmmm…this is one remarkable, inspiring story’.


STORY = 10

To put it simply in CGDCT terms, Aoi and Hinata, who were the MCs of the short season 1, wanted to reach on top of mountains they were planning to climb all for the sake of watching the sunrise. Now, you may have heard of phrases like “move the mountain or die trying”, “the going gets tough, the tough gets going”, “it gets harder by each step”, among other variations of mountain-related cliché quotes of whatnot, and even the great Stratovarius does have their solemn metal ballad “Move the Mountain”. All in all, the message means the same: ‘encouragement’. Yes, the title itself says it.

On the surface, it’s a CGDCT moerrific anime and all things cute, but the story metaphorically tells you of encouragement in life. Life itself is putting mountains on proverbs to symbolize the arduous trek. There are failures, disappointments, and hurdles big and small. They pretty much are metaphors from the mountain’s trails, flat grounds, steep angles, rocks, grasses, and all of us have climbed throughout our lives of our own symbolic mountain until we breathe our last.

Then, as you reach the peak of the mountain, which metaphorically-means your closing path to success, you only grasp a moment of it, all for the take of watching the sunrise. You then realized that every path you took was all hard work for a glimpse of that morning sun. Sounds familiarly comprehensible? Good. This anime showed just that, like telling you all those encouragement things the moe-way.
It’s tricky but if you’re able to get past the moe-surface barrier, you’d realize what I’m talking about. Aoi and Hinata’s experiences are sugarcoated with cutesy, but you do relate to this when you find yourself in a situation where you “give up” and are sulking, or when a “friend helped you”, or when you want to overcome your fears. And yes, I’m not spoiling you on anything. It’s all just there, and again in a moe-way no doubt.


ART = 10

It’s all fluid-ish and pleasing to the eyes. What’s more, it’s not the character design that the art has nailed, but the accuracy of the Japan’s showcase of mountainous sceneries themselves. Like I said, the animators made a culture-friendly take of showcasing some of Japan’s magnificent mountains. The details were made for inviting mountain-climbing.

There’s just one thing though: it seems that most audiences generally are anime-fans and otakus who pursue bishies and panties, not tourism. And that’s a bad thing because all efforts are pretty much undermined here, next to being wasted. Yes, there are CGDCT-lovers, but that’s just a percent, a fraction of the most anime fans. Still, art-wise, the level of details is just staggering.


CHARACTER = 9

Needless to pry on this as this is CGDCT, and that’s entirely good to put characters that are easy on the heart and mind. All moe, all cutesy, all Hinata, Aoi, Kokona and Kaede.


SOUND = 10

Aoi, Hinata, Kokona and Kaede are voiced by Yuka Iguchi, Kana Asumi, Yui Ogura and Yoko Hikasa respectively. The chemistry is already there, maybe not as bonding as K-On! but these seiyuus know CGDCT and slice-of-life as if they lived it themselves. I’m impressed just by the simple and natural flow of voices and that’s very good.


ENJOYMENT = 8

There are a few niggles, particularly that climbing mountains one after the other is going to make things predictable. Though, this is CGDCT at best, and the criteria fits as much as it is seen. One thing that comes to mind was maybe because the “CGDCT formula” needs to be in the special places of houses and classrooms for it to truly work. Going around Japan with this formula may not be its strongpoint, but like I said, these are just some few niggles, and enjoying Yama no Susume was still impressive as the number 8 itself.

OVERALL = 8

You may be surprised why I rated it as eight (8), but here’s the thing: it’s absolutely moe, absolutely CGDCT, absolutely all elements come into play, and that’s why it’s an 8. Somehow, there's still something amiss...I could not put it into words but if we take a look at Non Non Biyori, the characterization seems top-notch compared to Yama no Susume. However, as these are just few niggles presented, the remark went to a fine 8. Don’t get me wrong, I like the sound of the number itself, that’s CGDCT-territory for me in fluffy clouds and beautiful mountains.