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This is indeed the sequel to the original Kaibutsu Oujo manga, but most of the chapters won't make the reader feel it that way and instead may give spin-off vibes. The plot will give a small hint about its nature as a sequel around the second half to make it more obvious to the reader, and will further be supported by the last chapter.

So it was a refreshing and enjoyable read. You'll notice that the author has improved their art style, new characters were introduced, and more pop culture references (Thailand cave rescue, Xenomorph from the Alien franchise, and Pennywise, just to name a few).

It ... still had the same plot formula from the prequel of being episodic, where 1 or 2 chapters it's a mini story with a corresponding enemy and the next chapter is another mini story, with those mini stories being loosely connected. The lore was expanded a little bit regarding the royal family and their androids, but it felt insignificant.

Lastly, for the potential reader out there who noticed the addition of "Nightmare" on the title when compared to the prequel, you'll get the general idea on what the plot will be about.

To summarize, this work is not a required read at all. The plot for Kaibutsu Oujo was already completed in the prequel. There's nothing new here plot-wise. If you would like to read this for the sake of seeing again our beautiful princess wielding her trademark chainsaw and various weapons, half-werewolf tomboy, and bewitching vampire in a new art style from the same author, while also expecting new pop culture references and new monsters for them to fight, then you have come to the right place!

As this manga was made to commemorate the Dark Side of Dimensions movie, this work didn't expanded the lore or gave a good prologue for the movie. Heck, it didn't even presented itself as informative and satisfying, though it was a bit interesting for a potential reader to check it out. Sure, it gave out a sneak peek of the main antagonist and their motive (well, not really their primary motive), but honestly it felt lacking. Yes, this manga is lacking in plot and character development, though the art improved a bit.

After reading the 343-chapter manga (or watching the 224-episode anime), might as well go ... straight to the Dark Side of Dimensions movie. As this manga is only 2 chapters it can be skipped, as the main plot continuation is in the movie. This can also be given a try because why not? It's only 2 chapters and a very short time is only wasted.

As someone who already has an extensive background on the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG/OCG, many of the cards in the manga have effects that have great deviation from their real world counterparts. But honestly, don't let that be a hindrance when trying to enjoy the story about a boy trying to make friends and learning to stand for himself, and an ancient king who learned kindness, through the medium called games.

Let's start with the world-building. It might come across as wacky. The first 50+ chapters are your typical game of the week, with the latter third focusing on the Duel Monsters card game and then a dangerous ... tabletop RPG. Most of the small time antagonists were school bullies, criminals, and other jerks who were punished by the ancient king (the protagonist's alter ego) for messing with the protagonist and his friends. The big time antagonists were more of a threat, as they had a connection with the ancient king. On the other hand, there were also sexy jokes and bits of ecchi here and there. Kinda intrusive but still funny. Well, with all of that set in a similar looking '90s Japan were watching porn on VHS was a thing back in the day. Then came the 60th chapter and onwards were the focus made a very very sharp turn primarily to the Duel Monsters card game, artifacts from ancient Egypt, the ancient king's past, and settling the score with his destined rival (where said rival developed augmented reality-esque technology to make the card game life-like that is also kinda advanced for its time period and out of place from the current setting I mentioned above). Random ecchi and jokes were non-existent here at this point (which was a good choice taken by the author). Duels were far more dangerous as it involves dark magic where lives may be at stake. Card and duel rulings were more structured than before. Truthfully speaking, this direction was a blessing even though it was a sudden shift of plot focus.

Speaking of art, the first few chapters felt a bit off in terms of character design. Give it a chance, it gets better and better. For the monster design (talking about Duel Monsters), it already started off as splendid and it gets progressively better.

I believe the best part in this 343-chapter story was when our protagonist Yugi has gotten to a point that he used certain Duel Monsters cards that symbolized he has grown up and doesn't have to rely on his "alter ego" self anymore; that he can already stand for himself. Those last duels that led to the culmination of this story were the most memorable. Said last duels were scripted in a way that certain cards and card effects mirrored the setting, the character development, and the action/s one must take so that they'll not be constrained on the past and must look on ahead in the future.

With all of that said, please give this a try. Just turn-off your knowledge of the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG/TCG card rulings and focus more on the narrative instead for a more fulfilling reading experience.

After watching from start to finish, I can say with certainty that this anime adaptation and at the same time a sequel was done well, of course not a masterpiece but within reason. Ok then, let's cut to the chase.

The narrative immediately picked up from where cour 1 left. Though before that, there was a mini scene from the start of the 1st episode that shows the viewer what they might expect of the upcoming battles and what the main villain is capable of. Moving onward, the episodes feature one main battle. These main battles may span 2 episodes as you reach the 2nd half ... of this season. With this kind of structure, the pacing was steady. The usage of flashbacks at the start of the episode before the opening theme kicks in was a good choice, and such flashbacks answered some questions that came about from the source material and/or the first cour. The battles' outcomes were a bit predictable because this is a shounen anime, save for the last episode were it was different when compared to the source material. Actually not complaining with this change because it turned out for the better in terms of the plot's climax and also to appeal to fans. With this kind of change, the story for cour 2 ended in a high note despite some sacrifices done by the protagonists.

As for the art, designs are still standard-fare for Bleach TYBW. Designs for the Quincy Voll Stern Dich of the Stern Ritter and the Bankai of some Soul Reapers were on point to convey their respective weilder's powers/abilities. Animation didn't feel jittery and was fluid enough. The use of 3DCG animation was done well for the showcasing of the powers for some of the characters and was smooth all thoughout. Speaking of 3d animation, you might notice that the majority of the background characters got the 3dcg treatment. If I have to make an educated guess, it might be to save costs/resources on the production team. But fret not, it's not that easily noticeable and may only last a few seconds to label it as insignificant so the focus won't deviate that much from the main events. For the visuals of the opening theme, it was a nice change of pace when compared to cour 1; with the characters wearing casual clothing. The events that unfolded throughout the opening theme heavily mirror the fights/events that took place in this season without spoiling too much. Not much to say for the visuals of the ending theme, but it conveyed some fact about the Quincy "being there with the Soul Reapers since long ago".

For the sound, the OSTs were still the same as cour 1; specifically the majority of them were remixes of the past OSTs that were present in the previous Bleach tv series. Actually some were really notable though. The background sound whenever a Stern Ritter enters their Quincy Voll Stern Dich form or when Yhwach used one of his big abilities; yes you guess it right, a bell sound (church bell I think), made it on point that they exude some "holiness" to some degree. The music used for the opening theme was such a good fit for its corresponding visuals (again, not much to say for the ending theme but not bad I guess).

The characters might be of dynamic personalities, but there is still that recurring trope in Bleach that they share and that is they get smug when showcasing their powers/abilities. It's still my only main gripe for this series because when these characters do so and they got defeated or something, it's like they're making a fool of themselves. Some were redeemable enough and tried to adapt to the situation they're in and stand their ground.

To sum it all up, overall enjoyment was worth it. The many anime-original content was such a treat, from fight extenders to flashbacks that answered questions and eventually to the last two episodes were the order of battles were changed compared to the manga source material in order to build up hype for the resolution of this season. Also, if you made it at the end of the last episode, you'll see a very familiar segment that was present from the previous Bleach tv series. It might make you disappointed because it may be unnecessary or it may hit you with a wave of nostalgia in a funny way. By the way, if you were disappointed about cour 1 having a recap of sorts at the 3rd episode, no need to worry about that because cour 2 didn't have any and wasted no time to progress the narrative.

This manga is that type of narrative where the overall plot is episodic (kinda reminded me of Ah My Goddess and Hayate no Gotoku) and it's full of romcom (more on the comedy side) and slice of life. It's the story of a couple with their everyday lives just having a variety of fun, with the girlfriend initiating most of the funny moments and sometimes finishing it with her occasional adorable domestic violence (it's just her punching her boyfriend to the gut) or being clingy to him in a funny way.

For the characters, you may find the girlfriend doing crazy antics and spouting some ... weird logic that may be true to some extent and sometimes just funny nonsense, but that's what makes her a very special character in this manga and as a balance to her more serious and logical boyfriend.

Art is simple and okay, nothing complicated. Perfectly blends with the comedy and slice of life atmosphere of the plot.

If you want a quick read and/or doses of romcom, please give this a try.

It's good to see that the Bleach anime is back to adapt the Thousand Year Blood War arc.

After I finish every episode, I re-read the manga to know which chapters it adapted, to find out what details from the manga got omitted in the anime, and to see what new scenes the anime adaptation got over the manga. Manga content that weren't adapted into the anime were either brief dialogue, some comedy scenes, and some tidbits of info that could have supplemented a fact or explanation.

Speaking of the new scenes in the anime adaptation, remember Ichigo using Bankai to dispatch some normal Hollows in ... the first episode? Yes, it's one of those new scenes and a good example of a fanservice that I think were primarily meant for long time fans who finally get to watch a brand new episode of Bleach after the more or less 10 year long wait. The fanservice that really stayed on me was the usage of Rapport by Kitani Tatsuya which was featured in Bleach EX last year in the first episode's ED with the visuals showing important scenes from the previous Bleach anime, mosty Ichigo's journey from meeting Rukia up to the Fullbring arc, basically a recap of the 366 episodes of Bleach minus the fillers. Another fanservice that took me by surprise was the showcasing of the original Gotei 13 captains. In the manga we only got silhouettes, with Yamamoto and Unohana the obvious ones but in the anime adaptation we finally get to see what they all look like.

On the music/sound side, there were some new OSTs but majority of them were remixes of OSTs from the previous Bleach anime, and I expect it to be the case for the other soundtracks that we will hear from the future episodes yet to come. The OP and ED were good, most notably the ED (because of Hiroyuki Sawano). Looking forward for the next batch of OPs and EDs.

On the art and animation side most were done well, especially during the big fights, most notably Ichigo vs the main villain. It was nice to see that the anime prolonged the fight between Ichigo and the antagonist and had a good amount of sakuga. The 3d animation on the Hollows in the first episode looked ok, in contrast to the 3d animation applied on one part of Yamamoto's Bankai which looked weird. There was also that pink aesthetic in the OP and flashback scenes from the previous Bleach anime on every episode which I think was unnecessary but I guess it's still ok.

All in all, it was a nostalgia trip and a momentous occasion to finally watch the TYBW arc, albeit the first part for now, in anime format. If you watched the previous Bleach tv series, read the manga, and/or still care for Bleach's narrative, you may give this anime adaptation a try.

What hooked me into this series was the fact that Keima, the main character, was using galge logic to make girls fall in love with him. It might work in the real world but honestly it will take lots of experiments to prove its efficacy, no matter how absurd it sounds.

For the story, I really liked the pacing of the first hundred chapters up until the Mai High Festival arc. Pacing was neither fast nor slow, just the right speed (at least for me). I also enjoyed those bits of episodic chapters featuring slice-of-life moments with some of the characters, especially Elsie. There were also ... some references on other japanese media (anime, manga, games, etc) like Evangelion and The Girl who Leapt Through Time which I found really hilarious and entertaining. When I read through the Heart of Jupiter arc, I felt that it was kinda unnecessary, like, the plot should have ended with the Mai High Festival arc and extended it a little bit to tie some loose ends. Even so, there were some things I liked in that arc: Nikaido-sensei and Elsie's true identity, and Keima's adventures in the past.

For the art, you as the reader can actually see that Tamiki Wakaki-sensei improved over the course of this manga's duration of 6 yrs.

For the characters, it was nice to see that Keima was not all about playing games, as he was ready to tackle problems that the real world pesters on him. He was also seen crying when he regretted rejecting "her" in order for events to progress to the next stage, which made me appreciate him more. Honestly, I really can relate to him in a sense that I view reality as a shitty game and engaging in fictional media to give myself solace. On the other hand, I wish some characters like the goddesses were given more characterization. The rest of the characters, specifically Keima's conquest targets have good character introspection, like; the revelation of the reason/s of them opening up a gap in their hearts and their internal emotional struggles.

I know that the last few chapters felt rushed, but I still enjoyed this series. Of course, since this is a harem story, be prepared early on to get disappointed if your ship didn't sailed.

I read this after reading Negima because they said it was a sequel (albeit a loose one) and I'm writing this review as I have just finished reading the last chapter.

As I read through, the first half of the entire story had fair pacing but direction was kinda not clear. Then during the second half it became a mess of timeskips, power level BS, deus ex machina, more plot holes which added to the already existing lots of them, asspulls, whatever. I swear, reading those chapters from the second half were not an entirely enjoyable experience because I need to imagine explanations on "Why and/or ... how this thing happened?" It really ruined the reading experience. It's saving grace were the art and those overpowered abilities those certain immortals have.

Speaking of art, I give credit where it's due. Akamatsu sensei really improved his art style. Those background art were simply stunning to look at.

For the characters, it's a shame that the likes of Baal were just thrown to the side like nothing happened after they served their purpose of showing their objectives and just how OP they were. For the main character, Touta, it's kinda nice to see him optimistic all the time and can still feel despair when things go wrong, which goes to show he's still human at heart. For his "harem" (Kuromaru, Kirie, Karin, and Eva), it's good to see them develop romantic feelings for Touta throughout the course of the plot.

Enjoyment on my part was so-so. Even though the story was lacking and full of plot holes, I can't deny I enjoyed the art, overpowered abilities, technological advancements in the story, and bits of trivia (mostly astronomy trivia).

If you came here after reading Negima for adding some information to the Negima lore, I'll just warn you that it'll be a double edged sword.

I'm writing this review because I just finished rewatching this anime series (the first time I watch it, the english subtitles were god awful, and so I have to make do with my own interpretations back then).

This was a good enjoyment overall, with the impressive duels here and there coupled with outstanding OSTs. Art and animation was also good, especially within the first few episodes, some of the major duels/battles throughout the series, and the last few episodes in every story arc, but for the rest of the episodes the art and animation had a noticable degrade. For the story, the connection between the past ... elements and the present world were truly interesting. Lastly for the characters, it was nice to see that Yami Yugi can lose in a duel, which shows that he isn't a gary stu. For the most interesting character/s, I guess I would hand it over to Yami Bakura and Pegasus; Pegasus because of his 'engrish' and Yami Bakura because of being a recurring villain coupled with his overly-confident and narcissistic attitude.

If you're wanting to watch some good old shounen anime, then this anime would be a nice pick.

So this movie was so-so. Art and animation were good and fitting for a theatrical movie from 2004. For the plot, it's the revived-ancient-enemy-wanting-to-destroy-the-main-character type, and it's advised to watch this after watching the anime tv series Yu-gi-oh! Duel Monsters up until Battle City arc. As always, Kaiba's still obsessed of defeating Yugi, power of friendship, and of course, the hilarity of Pegasus' engrish. I also felt that the duel between Yami Yugi and Anubis was kinda underwhelming.
One thing to note of, the card layout in this movie mirrors that of the present day, real world yu-gi-oh cards, so I guess it's a plus.