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“I came looking for copper and found gold, then I went to get that gold tested and turned out it was a rock painted like gold.” - Basically my opinion of HigeHiro

HigeHiro was a huge disappointment, a painful waste of good potential. The premise is unique, I mean where before have we seen an anime tackle the real life issue of runaway girls in japan? Answer: Never before. The show started strong, and I had high hopes with the story but with each episode, I kept noticing that I get more and more bored and uninterested, and the quality was progressively getting worse and worse.

Considering ... the issue the show is trying to portray, you would think they would go about it in a mature and realistic way? Hahaha nope, instead we get a lot of unnecessary and contrived drama. Thought we would get a heartwarming and emotional story of a high school girl learning to face her inner struggles and problems and decide to go back home? Well, kinda, I’ll give it that. But the execution is decent at times, and downright terrible other times. It felt like the author didn’t know what he was doing and threw a bunch of ideas together into one clusterfuck that has nothing to do with the story he was trying to tell, and it doesn’t help that the author keeps adding forced drama upon forced drama like adding unnecessary toppings to a dessert, it detracts from the experience and overall makes it worse, and on top of that, the stiff animation and mediocre directing definitely didn’t help.

Let’s talk about the characters shall we? Because the characters in this show make me mad.
First there’s the main girl Sayu, I liked her at first, but as the story went on I’ve progressively grown to hate her. Why? One, she’s dumb as a brick. Two, she’s a damsel in distress and doesn’t do anything for herself, I can understand because of what she’s been through, but she never develops and become independent even towards the end and always has to rely on Yoshida to do shit for her, which is unhealthy and bad writing.

Oh speaking of Yoshida he’s next, I don’t know why fans like to label him as a “chad” and such things like that when he is a literal criminal, but I’m not going to talk about that. He’s no chad, he already he said it himself, he’s just a normal person, but people really like to think he’s some god when he is as normal as one can get. Well apart from that, I’m actually impartial towards him, he is a decent character, nothing stands out and not a lot of problems with his.

Now let’s get on to the side characters and we’ll start with the worst one so that I don’t get to think about him for the remainder of this review, that is of course the unnecessary rapist guy. Sorry, forget his name. He came out of nowhere and his entire shit got resolved in a single episode. He’s one of the previous dudes who Sayu stayed with. Well cutting out the boring stuff, he basically attempts to rape Sayu and the next day they’re all friends like literally nothing happened the day before, what the fuck is up with that? What is his purpose? Why does he exist? Why? To add more and more unnecessary and contrived drama of course.

Sigh… with that rapist guy out of the way let’s finish up the rest of the side cast. There is Yoshida’s work buddy who, wait why does he exist again? A hot senpai who is the MC’s love interest, she is the typical ‘ara-ara’ and ‘onee-san’ type of waifu because it can’t be anime without one, and you know what else is a staple in romcoms? You’re right, a love triangle, though in this case it’s a love square! Well anyway we have the yellow haired girl who also seemingly doesn’t have a purpose other than to be in a love square, and simp for Yoshida, oh and that reminds me… why does everyone simp for Yoshida? Because he’s the MC of course! Then we have Sayu’s brother who I’m chill with, best character in the show. Then Sayu’s friend who just there for emotional support, couldn't care less about her tbh, and then her other friend who yeeted herself, honestly don’t want to think about her as that whole episode dedicated to Sayu’s backstory was one huge clusterfuck, and finally there’s Sayu’s mom who screams, and screams, then screams… and wait that’s it? Oh wait I almost forgot, she screams, did I mention she screams yet? Anyway you get my point.

I’ll give the show plus points for it’s OP and ED as it’s really catchy also I really liked some tracks, but unfortunately that’s where the praise ends. The animation is really bad, it’s stiff all the time, even parts when characters talk look off, which is basically the entire show. Directing is meh, nothing good to say about it, but it definitely made me hate the show more, the emotional moments have mediocre delivery.

Overall HigeHiro has a unique plot but was poorly executed however, I wanted to like it and I did for the first 4-5 episodes but since then it has become a progressively worsening experience the more I watch it. But I’ll leave it here because the more I think about this show the more frustrated I get. I wanted to make this review to vent out my negative feelings towards it, so I can forget about it as soon as possible. Thank you for reading.

Bravo, Re:Zero. Bravo. First of all, I would like to give a huge thanks to the staff at Studio White Fox for giving us such a passionate adaptation of Re:Zero Season 2, to the Author, Tappei Nagatsuki for writing this brilliant series, to the Voice Actors for their incredible performances as the characters, and everyone who worked on this show. As a huge fan of the series, seeing Re:Zero Season 2 receiving such an amazing adaptation like no other, it's honestly like a dream come true, and I couldn't have asked for more.

With that out of the way, let's proceed to the review. Re:Zero Season ... 2 is back after an agonizing 3-month break, honestly was the longest 3 months of my life, while I had a lot of Fall shows to indulge myself in at the time, none were able to fill the empty void inside my heart left behind when Re:Zero S2 Part 1 ended, and now starts another agonizing wait for Season 3, I'm truly going to miss watching this every week.

This season starts, literally immediately where Part 1 left off with the Otto punch of friendship and giving Subaru the confidence he needs to overcome the problems Roswaal meticulously set up this season. With a new profound determination to not die and have the people that care about him suffer because of him, he resolves to save everyone in this final loop and makes a bet with Roswaal, it was a long shot, the stakes are high, it was risky, but Subaru was ready to take that risk.

A common criticism of Re:Zero is that the story focuses too much on Subaru that it leaves no room for other characters to shine, that was true for Season 1 and Season 2 Part 1 that was focused primarily on Subaru's development, Season 2 Part 2 fixes this problem and gives every single character a much-needed character development and each and every one of them gets to have their time to shine this season. Whether it'd be Otto being best bro, Emilia and Garfiel learning to overcome their traumatic past, Ram wanting to save Roswaal from his 400-year obsession, Beatrice finally letting go and breaking off the shackles of her past that bound her soul preventing her from moving forward, and this.

This is what makes Re:Zero special, it's not just a story about Subaru but everyone else around him, it's a story of him starting a new life from zero, how the actions of others affect him and how his own actions affect others. Re:Zero is not a story about suffering, nor is it a story about being the strongest, killing the demon lord, and getting a sweet ass harem. No, Re:Zero is a genuine and emotional story of growth and self-improvement, learning to accept and love yourself, everyone has flaws, no one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, but that's not a bad thing, it's precisely because you are imperfect, that you have flaws that make you human.

I feel like a lot of people have a bias against modern shows, and I get a lot of people will disagree. But Re:Zero IS a DEEP series, deep in the sense of its emotional and psychological themes, there are genuine underlying messages portrayed in the show, and I have mentioned some of them already in my previous paragraph. One of the central themes of Season 2 is the idea of obsession and stagnation. Roswaal is the embodiment of this ideology, and every character in the series shows a part of this in their respective personality, they are stuck at a point in time unable to move forward, unable to change.

A lot of people complain about Season 2 being stuck in the sanctuary for 25 episodes but that is the point, that symbolizes stagnation and directly parallels the stagnation of some of the characters, they are stuck in time, in one place, and after this season are able to move past all of that and change, that is the main theme of this season. These are examples of those characters; Roswaal's 400-year obsession with Echidna, Ryuzu Shima's wish to respect Ryuzu Meyer's sacrifice, Garfiel's trauma that leads to him to hate the outside world, resulting in him resolving to keep the Sanctuary closed off forever. Emilia is bound by her traumatic past, Beatrice's stubbornness to keep her 400-year contract with Echidna, to wait for a person that doesn't exist.

A lot of people have also been complaining about the pacing of this season, I don't understand why. They are completely missing the sheer significance and importance of this arc, before you start complaining about the arc being so long, ask yourself. Why is this arc in particular so long? Firstly, it sets up important plot points and mysteries for the future. Secondly, give some context and revelations of some questions we've been asking back in Season 1, and finally, It serves as a turning point for the Emilia camp as a whole. If Season 1 focused entirely on Subaru and his development, then Season 2 focuses on building up and strengthening the Emilia camp through character growth for the side characters. The Emilia Camp was all over the place during Season 1, and they aren't really united and especially Emilia herself was a problem, she didn't possess the necessary qualities that a Ruler should have, no solid foundation, this Arc not only develops Emilia's character, but it also serves to develop and unite the rest of the Emilia camp that will help and support her in the future.

Emilia back in Season 1 as we know is a very immature person, she was very naive and had very idealistic goals for the Royal Selection, as she was then, she was unfit of becoming the Ruler, and that's a big problem. She doesn't have the best leadership and has problems with self-confidence because of discrimination she has faced due to her Half-Elf lineage and looking exactly like the Witch of Envy. Even the determination she lacks, unlike the rest of the Royal Candidates. However this season she has learned to become more mature and start to become better as a person, slowly becoming someone who can lead the country in the future. Through the 1st Trial she found the resolve and determination to make her wishes come true, through the 2nd Trial she learned to fully accept herself and to not be afraid of what others think of her, and finally, through the 3rd Trial, she gained the confidence to overcome the disaster that may come.

The characters are the best part of Re:Zero. They feel genuine and real, not in the sense that their personalities are realistic, but instead in their character flaws, and psychology. The author gives a lot of thought into them, even the characters that may seem very insignificant at first glance.

Apart from the characters, the story is solid as well. Season 2's plot is complex and tightly written, unlike the first 3 arcs in Season 1 which were more simplistic and straightforward. Part 1 served as the build-up phase by introducing the central mysteries and problems like Elsa, Meili, Mansion Problems, Rabbits, Witches, and Roswaal's true intentions. While Part 2 is the emotional climax and development, and it was well worth all the build-up.

The songs and OST this season is amazing, the opening and ending are both really good too bad they're not played much often, we also got some really nice Insert Songs by Emilia and Ram's VAs, and some new tracks courtesy of Kenichiro Suehiro and are honestly some of the best of the series. Animation is a step up over Part 1, might not be the same quality as Season 1 but there is one fight, in particular, this season that I believe is the best-animated fight of the series thus far, Kazuhiro Ota is a god, and is carrying all the fight scenes on his back.

All in all, this season of Re:Zero has been spectacular and I feel it far surpasses Season 1 in almost every aspect that's not animation. It has everything that made Season 1 so good and improved upon it and also fixes a lot of problems people had with Season 1. This deserves a 10/10 rating. If you've lasted until the end, thank you very much for reading, and I hope you liked my review. Have a good day!

If you are given a chance to restart your whole life in another world, what would you do? Would you try to become the strongest mage? Strongest knight? Or perhaps you would use your vast knowledge of the modern world and bring it over to this new world? Regardless, the possibilities are infinite.

Mushoku Tensei or Jobless Reincarnation is an adaptation of the popular and beloved Light Novel title of the same name, it is centered around a 34 year old man who dies and is reincarnated in a new world where he gets a second shot at life. We've already seen these types of stories ... before, so is Mushoku Tensei any different? Does it offer something new to the table? If that's what you were expecting, then Mushoku Tensei is not that. It hardly brings anything new, it has all the isekai tropes we've already seen time and time again, but is that really a bad thing? For me, it's a mixed bag, sometimes it works, sometimes it just doesn't. The story doesn't present anything unique, instead it embraces these tropes we've seen again and again, but maybe that's what makes it special. This story is about Rudeus, and his quest for redemption.

Mushoku Tensei is one of the most popular and controversial shows of this stacked Winter 2021 season. It shows a lot of potential, it has aspects of a good story, while also aspects of a bad one. Lets start with the positive things, it has fantastic worldbuilding, I would say it's worldbuilding is one of the best in recent times, along with stellar animation quality, with background art and sound design that feels very natural and organic, it gives you the feeling that you are also present in that fantasy world, it's attention to detail is impressive, if you pay close attention you can notice some real life historical references, it's clear that this show has a very dedicated staff working on it to make the show as immersive as possible. Studio Bind is a completely new Studio made for the sole purpose of animating Mushoku Tensei. However, while it has it's ups, it naturally has it's downs too. For instance, the show suffers from too much unnecessary fanservice, Rudeus, the main protagonist can be very uncomfortable to watch most of the time and makes some very questionable actions throughout the show, while it can be a breath of fresh air to have a flawed protagonist as opposed to the perfect and Gary Stu MCs we get nowadays, it needs to be executed well, and Mushoku Tensei lacks that, a lot of these disturbing scenes could be cut out and nothing of importance would be lost, and Rudeus' perverted personality can be toned down a bit. I'm well aware that this is supposed to be a story of redemption but his perversion is exaggerated too much that it makes it unrealistic. It also doesn't help that he keeps getting away with these acts with little to no punishment whatsoever. It feels like Rudeus was reincarnated into this new fantasy world just to give him freedom to do all these things that would otherwise land him in prison here on Earth, and I don't like it, I don't like how the world was purposefully written to adhere to Rudeus' degeneracy. It makes it feel like this show is just some cheap self-insert, you have cute girls everywhere, you're a cute guy, no one would care if you suddenly grope this little girl because she will just forget about it in the same episode, and frankly, nobody cares, actually you can go have sex with her if you want... Isn't the idea of the series about redemption? Change? That anyone can change, even someone who is the lowest of the low, isn't that what the story is about? That's what was established in Episode 1 but right now, the show is doing the exact opposite of that. Rudeus so far isn't trying to change. When will he learn that his actions have consequences? that the world is not a game? and that the people around him are living beings like him too? He needs to face an event that changes his entire character, so the gears of change inside him start moving, he needs to face the reality of the world, it's not all fun and games, it's a world where his actions matter and have consequences.

Rudeus isn't the only character with a perverted personality, every single other character as well. Some people might argue it's "realistic" and mirrors the Medieval era but I heavily disagree on that, I feel like the perversion is oversaturated and doesn't have a deeper meaning or hold any significance and is just there just purely for fanservice, and it ruins the atmosphere and the otherwise well-built setting, literally everyone is horny, you even have some random guy selling Aphrodisiac to a kid... I can understand that it's used to show that the characters are flawed, but there are plenty of other ways to make a flawed character, I don't know why they all have to be extremely horny. It can turn off potential viewers, if you can handle all this perversion then good for you, I wish I was the same.

Wel that's enough, let's finally leave the topic of perversion since I don't want to be labeled by the fans as "SJW" or "Snowflake". Disregarding the perversion, the characters themselves are interesting, there's nothing unique or special, and right now, most of them are lacking in depth and character development, but I'm expecting this to change in the future as we get to know them more, their backstory/history and their motivations.

Overall Mushoku Tensei is good show, even though I didn't enjoy it as much as some people, I still recommend giving a shot, it's just a very divisive show, there are some controversial themes and scenes that may not be for you. It might not be the most unique or innovative but it does the tropes right. The dedication by the staff is commendable, I hope Studio Bind is able to keep up this level of quality in the next seasons too, the animation is just simply breathtaking, the world building is perhaps the best part of the show for me and is my primary reason for watching it. The show offers a wide array of fun and quirky characters, but otherwise lack anything special. Despite my problems with the perversion and fanservice, I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, as I am heavily interested in exploring more of the world, and the good outweighs the bad for me. I just hope the characters, especially Rudeus develops more in the future.

*Moderate spoiler warning*

"If it's to save you, I don't care how many times I die"

Note: This is my first ever review, and also English is not my first language so I apologize in advance if there are some grammatical errors or if my vocabulary is a little lacking, I'll try my best to make this review as clear as possible.

Re:Zero, a show that exploded in popularity back in 2016, and now after a 4-year break it makes it's long-awaited re:turn in the form of its second season; fortunately for me, I did not have to wait for 4 years for the 2nd season as I've ... only started watching it early this year due to lockdown. Re:Zero holds a very special place in my heart, as it's one of the few shows that always keeps me on edge with every single episode, and I loved this show to bits, and after watching the second season, I've grown to love and appreciate this series more.

Season 2 picks up where Season 1 had ended. However compared to the first season, this plot for this season seems to be more focused and with a clearer goal, Subaru and the gang trapped in Sanctuary, clear trials, and get out. But since it's Re:Zero we're talking about, it can't be that simple and easy. Slowly Subaru starts getting many more problems than he has ever gotten before, cornering him to the brink of throwing away his very humanity. With just the first part of the 2nd season, this is already feeling as intense as the first season, we get a lot more deaths than and of course more suffering.

We also get introduced to plenty of new characters, but balancing it out to not have too much, and giving each new character a proper role to fulfill, and I've always thought about this in Re:Zero in general, it does a really good job of managing it's characters without them just being filler and utterly useless, and with plenty of depth for each character, this season we get to experience more interactions and development with the relationships of the cast. Not only that we also got a lot more information about the lore of not only Sanctuary, the Witches, and Return by Death. But in typical Re:Zero fashion, for every answer we get, two more questions pop out. I am very thankful we already are getting many answers to questions we've been asking 4 years ago, and I'm hopeful that we get more answers in the 2nd half.

The Witches are especially intriguing, I never expected them to act the way they do, I expected them to be more sinister, but it seems like most of them were just misunderstood. Echidona in particular is a very interesting character, she's someone who wants to satisfy her everlasting greed, and want to see every possible outcome. She's someone who doesn't comprehend human emotions and will do anything to satisfy her greed. The other witches' mentality is really fascinating, Minerva wants to heal everything and prioritizes healing anyone that's hurt before herself even if it costs her life, Daphne wants to sate the world, but in doing so brought about ruin and despair, Typhon, at first just seems like a small and innocent child but her authority is something more dangerous than the other witches, Sekhmet is sloth itself by definition, even breathing is too tiresome for her. Carmilla has a shy and timid personality, however, she isn't someone to underestimate, her authority is something not to be taken lightly, and finally Satella and the Witch of Envy, this season gave us a LOT of information about them as they are apparently two different personalities. her "love" for Subaru remains a mystery, hopefully, we get more information in the second half.

This season gave us more information to characters like Roswaal, and Beatrice, we got to know their goals and motivations as well as some backstory particularly with Beatrice. Garfiel on the surface seems like your typical Bakugo type character, but there seems to be more to him than meets the eye, and I expect Part 2 to give us more information about him and his past. His interactions with Ram are really cute as well. Otto became best boy in just one episode, my view of him from his introduction to now has changed significantly for the better, I first thought of him as a dick for pushing Subaru but now his actions are justified due to his Divine Protection, and him proclaiming to Subaru that he is his friend was just so wholesome, it made me tear up a bit.

We also got more development for Subaru, giving us a whole episode dedicated to his backstory back in the real world, something no other isekai has done or executed properly, it gives us much more explanation to Subaru's character and why he acts certain ways in certain situations and it helps us understand and appreciate his character much more. He's a really great main character and by far my favorite character in the series, and one of my favorite of all time. It's honestly rare to get protagonists with as depth as him these days, and I appreciate the author for not making him another bland and generic isekai MC.

The soundtrack for this show is amazing, however the lack of Myth&Roid and also the lack of insert songs are disappointing, instead, we got awesome tracks. Voice acting is incredible as always. The opening although is cut most of the time, is still really good, the foreshadowing and symbolism are great. the ending song is best for me this season.

I also appreciate the amount of passion and effort White Fox is giving to Re:Zero. Not only do they cut the openings and endings, but they also extend the episode runtime to add in more content, that's not something any show can just do, and it just shows the love White Fox gives for Re:Zero. I hope they continue to give what Re:Zero truly deserves, and I hope they continue to give Re:Zero the love and care it truly deserves.

However there are also some problems I had, particularly with the adaptation, the art was simplified and some character designs do feel off sometimes, this is especially true for Episode 10 in particular, and not only that, animation took some hit as well, that is to be expected because the staff was forced to work in-home, due to the pandemic, although even before the lockdown, and the outbreak, the art of episode 1 - 5(Starting episode 6 onwards, the staff had to work in-home) was still lackluster compared to the first season, other than that I didn't have many problems with this season.

It pains me to see when people call this show out as just suffering porn and just has good waifus, when it's more than that, and most people can't see it. Re:Zero is not a story about a guy getting dying in many gruesome ways just to get a harem in the end, instead, it is a story about a guy just trying his best to live his life, in a world where he doesn't fit it, where he has no purpose or goal, who despite knowing of his weaknesses and shortcomings desperately try to save those who are important to him, struggling and facing the consequences of his actions at the same time.

With how the plot is shaping up this season, I'm very excited how it would all turn out in the second half, considering the amount of buildup this first half gave us, I'm hoping the emotional payoff in the second half will be worth it. I really don't know how Subaru is going to get out of this situation, this seems impossible, then again that's also what I thought of the second half of season 1. Overall, this season has been absolutely amazing. With each episode it just gets better and better, I'm always at the edge of my seat every single week, anxiously waiting for the next, very few shows can pull this off for me, and Re:Zero is definitely one of those few shows. I absolutely cannot wait for Part 2, my excitement cannot be contained, this is going to be the longest 3 months of my life.