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I'm gonna say it Ninja Scroll is one of the greatest anime movies ever made. I've seen this film 6 times dubbed and subbed. Now Ninja Scroll is a truly classic anime that anime watchers who like MOE, CGDCT, and other high school romcoms should watch and learn from to cleanse their pallet and enjoy something great and culturally rich.

The story of Ninja Scroll deals with our protagonist Juubei Kibagami and basically he’s out to kill the 8 devils of Kimon because an insider from the government poisoned him, and if he doesn’t do it the government spy won’t give him the antidote for the ... poison. The story of Ninja Scroll really has nothing to deal with scrolls and the villains are more like super powered demons rather than traditional ninjas. Basically the main character Juubei was betrayed by is arch rival and sold him out to be murdered by his colleagues over some gold. He plans to buy weapons from Spain to overthrow Japan and rule Japan from the shadows. The story it’s kind of like a video game where Juubei is killing bad guys without them overstaying their welcome and they all have different types of abilities. Also there is a love story between Juubei and the main Heroine Kagero who is just used as rape bait by the bad guys and Juubei has to keep saving her. At least she still does some useful things unlike another famous kunoichi Sakura Haruno. Otaku now at day’s in Japan are dismissive of Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s works because they just want to be filled with moe girls and Isekai trash but don’t want to look into something just raw and brutal.

The characters in Ninja Scroll are really damn cool. I can see how Naruto and Basilisk would be influenced by this show. In Ninja Scroll you have a ninja/demon who can shed her skin and has snake like powers (she also has snakes in her vagina no joke) like orochimaru. You have the blind swordsman; the man who hides in shadows and uses ninjutsu like shadow clones and mind control. Finally you have Genma who is immortal and has complete control over his microscopic cellular structure and can change his form into other humans. Yeah, I said Naruto I mean come on a lot of Naruto characters have the same powers the devils of kimon share. Ninja Scroll is just a much tighter, more concise, and more grisly depiction of Ninja life and less filler lol.

The soundtrack and direction for Ninja Scroll are what truly makes this anime stand out for me though. The ninja Scroll soundtrack was composed by Kaoru Wada and you’ve heard his soundtracks in anime like Inuyasha and Ace Attorney. He has these little motifs thrown in for individual moments such as the clarinet playing a sinister tone before something truly terrible or explosive happens and then it just crescendos to this very loud blaring of horns, strings, and timpani. You also have more subtle moments and when those show on the screen you hear a Japanese flute and a Shamisen come in. Also when something fast paced is happening you hear this soundtrack that has a galloping feel to it with strings and wind instruments, and softer hits from the gong and the timpani going on in the background. The sound direction of this anime is unmatched with the motifs placed in such perfect places as to what is shown on screen. The ending theme “Somewhere, Faraway, Everyone Is Listening to a Ballad” is truly a beautiful way to end the movie. Juubei experienced death, love, and betrayal and it’s all over. He can go onto living a peaceful life and the ending soundtrack symbolizes that with the images of glowing fireflies on the screen.

The animation direction is also some of the greatest I’ve ever seen. For example the first major scene when Tessai kills the entire Ninja Squad is grisly yet awesome. When I first saw that scene with the great soundtrack in the background my mouth fucking hit the floor. One of the higher ups sees his comrades’ dead then he gets a rope attached to his neck and he gets electrocuted to death. Then you see this enormous double edged blade slice these ninja squad guys into little bits and pieces. You literally see raining blood and trees falling down; simply outstanding cinematography. Also the final fight you see Juubei and the main villain duking it out in a ship, which is surrounded by flames and makes it look like the main villain is a demon and Juubei has no choice but to fight for his life or be swallowed by the flames of hell. Another great scene is when Juubei is fighting the shadow clone jutsu dude with a claw and the background is completely red. This movie has some of the best animation direction and stylization I’ve ever seen. There are a lot of other great scenes but there are too many to list.

In conclusion this movie is amazing. It has a love story, some brutal brutal violence, great cinematography, and an amazing soundtrack to boot. I still think to this day this is one of the greatest anime movies ever made surpassing many films even by Hayao Miyazaki and definitely surpassing the overrated Kimi no Wawa. In my opinion this movie is grossly underrated I mean a 7.6 mean score come on now. Go watch this movie buy it, steal it from your friend, pirate it go watch this movie you won’t regret it.

“Is the destiny of mankind, controlled by some transcendental entity of law? Is it like the hand of god hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control over his own will.” This is the first thing you will see when you watch the first episode of berserk. This show presents itself far different than any anime I’ve ever seen. The one thing I noticed was the drab, murky atmosphere presented in the first episode. Everything is bleak, depressing, and gothic looking. It’s a look at the world in the future of how everything became like this and why Guts (main ... character) is haunted by demonic nightmares and chased by inhuman monsters every day and has to fight for his own survival all the time. Episode 1 is actually the epilogue of everything after the last episode and episode two is actually the real beginning of the golden age arc one of the greatest story arcs ever written. Episode 1 is there just to show off the atmosphere and reveal how badass Guts is.

The golden age arc is bar none one of the greatest fictional stories ever written by anybody. Kentaro Miura’s work of fiction has landed him praise throughout the world for the depth, characterization, and heart put into this story. Episodes 2-25 is where the golden age arc starts and it tells the story of Guts (main character) and Griffith’s (other main character) interaction with the band of the hawk and their rise and eventual downfall. Guts’s dream is to live independently without living under someone’s influence while Griffith’s dream and ideals are different; his dream is to have his own kingdom and he will do literally anything and I mean anything to attain it.

Some of the themes presented in Berserk are the struggle to survive, what is one’s dream, and class division. One of the main prevailing themes is man’s will to survive, the struggle he/she goes through, and defying fate. The main character guts throughout the manga/show is always in a struggle to survive against all odds. Since birth Guts has been doomed to a terrible life. He was born to a mother’s corpse under a tree and he crawled out of the womb to live showing that he was struggling since the beginning. Guts’s life began from death and he has been closer to experiencing death than almost anybody. Since the first episode Guts fights to survive based on grit and his will to prevail. Guts is an example of the Übermensch. He follows his own path and does not want to follow anybody defying fate and causality throughout the anime and manga Berserk is based off of. Another example of the Übermensch is Griffith. Griffith transcends his limitations and pushes on toward his dream (as despicable as it is); this is where we literally see his will-to-power manifest as he pushes beyond human limits for his dream. In the end Griffith, in a way, becomes the Übermensh (or at least closer to it) than anybody in the show. Griffith throughout the series dreams to attain his own kingdom while Gut’s dream is to be independent from being ruled under anybody. I don’t want to spoil key elements in this review but there are critical turning points in the story.

Another theme presented in berserk is class division. In medieval Europe the royal family and clergy lived in great conditions, had proper medical care, education, and far more monetary wealth than the average commoner. You can clearly see this presented when the band of the hawk mercenary group made up of commoners rise through the ranks of the kingdom, the nobles look at them with disgust, hatred, and fear. They fear and hate them simply because they were born of common origins and because of how fast they/Griffith are rising through the ranks of nobility. It was simply unheard of at the time and the nobles look down on common people like they would wild animals. The Church of the Holy See and the Inquisition is a reflection of Nietzsche's criticisms of Christianity in Berserk (Manga reference I just wanted to bring up). Also rising through the kingdom was an extremely difficult task in a medieval feudal society.

The art presented in Berserk is very good. Still frames that use water color bring artistic pieces from the manga to life in the TV show. While there are many still frames during action sequences, they look beautiful and evoke the atmosphere that the manga was displaying into the TV show. Even though the animation is lacking at times (obviously made on a tight budget) the still frames actually work and enhance the show rather than detract from it. The backgrounds are also truly beautiful to look at during the show. Every detail in the backgrounds glimmers and shines through and the art style can be compared to Monet paintings because of the textures and heavy use of water coloring. Character design looks great as well. They all look very human with distinct body and facial features as well as different personalities each character has.

Guts is the lone-wolf type, battle ready, masculine protagonist of the story. Griffith is the complete opposite of guts having a delicate feminine beauty to him and fighting with precise strikes and cuts (world class fencer like), rather than brute force, and being able to strategize all the battles him and the band of the hawk fight in. Casca is the woman mercenary in the band of the hawk who is the third best fighter in the mercenary band, yet because she is a woman male fighters on opposing sides view her as being in her position for sleeping with the leader, or desecrating the battlefield simply because she is a woman. Her inner struggle of whether she loves Guts or Griffith more is a key plot device that is critical in the last few episodes. There’s also Judeaux, Rickert, Pippin, Zodd and other minor characters who were awesome.

The soundtrack for Berserk is easily one of the best things about this show or maybe the best. Without the soundtrack for this show it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good. The only soundtracks in this show which I considered bad were the OP and the music that plays during the grand balls thrown by the royals. The OP is this cringe inducing alt-rock song played by an amateur Japanese band where the singer has a thick accent when he sings is English, and is incredibly unfitting to the dark and brooding atmosphere of Berserk with its happy lyrics and cheesy sound. The ball track though is the worst track though; that drum hit attached to synth is just laughably bad for what is supposed to be medieval era Europe it simply doesn’t fit at all. The other tracks though are incredible. Behelit which plays during plot changing moments really add to the dramatic/climactic events which you witness. Monster and Murder are some of the creepiest and eeriest tracks you will ever hear. They just have this build up, and sinister undertones that it’s hard not to be freaked out by those tracks Guts’s theme and forces. Guts theme plays during the more melancholic, emotional moments that describe what Guts is thinking and how he feels. It’s an incredibly powerful track even though it is soft in its approach; it strikes a sense of peace and optimism that manifests itself through its beauty and that makes the emotional scenes have more power to them. “Forces” is heard briefly during episode previews but it has such an energetic and thrilling vibe to it. Earth is another very atmospheric song that just puts you at peace with its bagpipes and very trance like vibe. To me it just sounds like the beauty of nature.

Something I must point out is that the voice acting in this show is very good and well executed. Nobutoshi Canna fits perfectly with guts in his don’t fuck with me attitude and demeanor. Marc Diraison is very good when it comes to the screams Guts does with his deep booming voice. Griffith’s actor Toshiyuki Morikawa is far better than Kevin Collins was. The dub is okay for this show, I would recommend sub though for this show, because in the dub the sound direction isn’t as tight as it is in the sub. Also some of the minor characters in the sub sound straight up bad for example Bazuso, Corkus, and Adon was very annoying in the dub.

In conclusion Berserk is one of the best, most thought provoking, and deepest anime I have ever watched [Spoiler Alert Skip this paragraph and the rest of this review if you don’t want spoilers!]. Watching the band of the hawk rise through the ranks and then fall so far down is one of the most tragic things I’ve ever witnessed in storytelling. Griffith’s descent into madness at the end of the series was tragic, devastating, and too cruel for words. Griffith was once a proud valiant leader, who you rooted for, and sided with. Then after his yearlong torture and rescue he wasn’t the same person anymore he was weak, frail, mangled, and humiliated. He even tried to kill himself but the behelit found him and he summoned the start of the eclipse and become a demonic ruler of the underworld. People that hate Griffith don’t understand him, he did what he had to do because he wanted his own kingdom and he was so close, yet after the torture and being imprisoned he was no longer the same person. In my opinion Femto and Griffith are two different people.

After getting another chance to become a king he took it by force. Yes, what he did was wrong and the rape of Casca as well as his psychological destruction of Guts and Casca was unforgivable, but he acted upon human instinct, and desire to survive and prevail. The reason he did what he did to Guts and Casca is because Griffith wanted to sever his link to his humanity and show nothing mattered except his dream. He also did it to establish how much more dominant he is over Guts and Casca. Think of this, no human can pin Guts but demonic beings can, so he forced Guts to watch the most horrific of acts and because he blames guts for his torture and crumbled dreams he feels he needs to punish him. Guts doesn't really feel physical pain but the emotional pain he experienced ruined him and he would never forget what happened cause of all the evidence that shows afterward. Griffith got his revenge on guts and guts will always be reminded because of the brand on his neck and Casca's childlike state and mindset. Guts became a bloodthirsty beast hell-bent on revenge and destruction after the eclipse and it shows in the Black Swordsman Arc (manga). Most humans put into Griffith’s situation would’ve definitely sacrificed everything for another shot at glory if they went through the same torment and cruelty he was exposed to.

There’s a great quote from the show that is said during one of the episode previews that goes like this "Is there ever a time where one can live his own dream without inflicting a wound on someone else’s heart?" This means that achieve your dreams you will most likely have to bring somebody else down to achieve it. But that’s what makes berserk so fascinating it makes you question human will to attain anything at any cost, and also how far one would go to protect the things that remain pure. Also the fact that the characters aren’t so black and white there is a moral grey area to them. The apostles who act evil and barbaric were all once humans at some point. It really makes you think that humans can be far crueler and harsher than anything you can imagine, they do not become like this overnight though. It takes some seriously tragic events to push a human over the edge that would make them sacrifice everything and this is what happened to Griffith. The tragedy of Berserk is Shakespearean in nature. It’s kind of like the ending of Macbeth and Wagner’s Ring cycle where lust for power will eventually be the downfall of the main characters. Berserk is also full of Nietzschen principles and philosophies as I described before and integrated into the story flawlessly. It makes you think and question your beliefs about human nature. Berserk is Truly an amazing story and even though there are some minor flaws in the anime but the greatness of Berserk outweighs them and I hope Kentaro Miura finishes it soon (please Miura-san finish it).

Never before have I watched an anime that has made me this physically angry and frustrated. Sure, I’ve watched anime that has bored me to tears (Ergo Proxy) or I just didn’t like (SAO) but never before had I watched an anime that made me physically angry and just frustrated at how low some shows would go for a quick cash grab. I mean I’ve watched fan service anime before for example High School DxD and Prison school. Sure DXD was pretty bad but it had a pretty good story and the characters were fleshed out. Prison school had a great story, great characters, was ... extremely funny, and even though the fan service was ridiculous and repulsive at times (think of a high school anime directed by Sacha Baron Cohen) it wrapped things up nicely in the end and I was pulling for the main characters the entire story. Here there is none of that.

Here the story is absolute trite. Some slut with a ridiculous accent named Nozomi Kaminashi wants to be the best Keijo player in the world. No background is given on said girl or motivation that’s the story. In this terrible anime there are no deep thought provoking questions that one might ask oneself such as “what is the meaning of my existence?” “What is the pursuit of one’s dream?” “Is man formed by nature or nurture?” You have none of that just fan service disguised as comedy. You have moves called ass guillotine and vacuum butt cannon. I mean yeah it was funny the first two times all the butt and tit jokes but after 100 times it just becomes annoying. There is a freaking school that actually teaches this absurd sport (in the show). Why hasn’t anybody in the anime actually questioned why such a dumb sport exists and why people are watching it? Also I wouldn’t hate this anime is the story wasn’t actually taken seriously. Everybody here takes this sport seriously I mean they have an academy for it. If someone would question the ridiculousness of this crap in the show I would actually have somewhat minor enjoyment of the anime possibly.

Art and sound are good I’ll say. Animation is fluid during fight scenes and jiggle physics are good (can’t believe I’m saying that). The girls are pretty to look at; they all have different physiques and powers.
Characters well they are just terrible. They’re good looking but none of them are fleshed out and none of their motivations are explained in anyway. The secondary character Sayaka Miyata was a once great judo fighter who decided to switch to Keijo. Her dad is disappointed by this switch and he’s seen as the bad guy what the fuck? Another character Mio Kusaki who’s really hot has a ridiculous fighting technique called titty hypnosis and no I’m not kidding sadly. I saw a YouTube clip where they’re having a Keijo match and this girl is getting attacked by tentacles what the serious fuck that makes no sense at all? It wasn’t some fan made parody or hentai it was actually in the show. It just came out of nowhere. Also they have the nerve and audacity to make fun of real science like astronomy and call it asstronomy you get it? Also boobology is mentioned as well. The teacher in the academy was giving a lecture about such asinine subjects. How dare they insult a science that has brought us countless revelations and defecate on the work of greats like Aristotle, Einstein, Copernicus, and Galileo.

Overall, this is one of the worst anime I have ever seen. It’s stupid, it’s vapid, it’s ridiculous, not funny at all, and the story goes nowhere. It is filled with stupid shounen clichés that have no originality and so much fan service that it will give you a headache. I would not recommend this to anybody at all maybe horny teenage boys. This was terrible and this show is one of the reasons that people cringe when you tell them you watch anime. Forget great shows like Bebop, Berserk, Monster, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Death Note this is what older people think when you tell them you watch anime. It displays every negative stereotype about it with absolutely no substance or character driven focus at all. I find it abhorrent that such material exists. Shows like this set the standards of anime back decades showing that almost anybody can make an anime. This show also sets back women’s fight for equality by decades displaying women as nothing but brainless sex objects for entertainment. I hope studio Xebec burns to the ground for this. After seeing their catalog it seems to me they have made nothing noteworthy or even good. The only okay show they have made was Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne which was still trashy as fuck in content (lesbianism, torture, meaningless religious symbolism). Everything else they made is terrible and repugnant on every level; worst animation studio in history. This anime was terrible and I hope the creators are ashamed of themselves for making this.

In a world where filth such as Umaru Chan and Eromanga Sensei Exist and are allowed to be shown on tv. It's important that we take a look back on a forgotten anime classic from way back in the day. Of course I'm talking about the classic Mad Bull 34. The main character for this show is of course John "Sleepy" Estevez. He is a true man who teaches you how to enforce the law and how to protect it. Hence Sleepy is the law of the city.

Sleepy’s partner is an immigrant named Daizaburo “Eddie” Ban who is clearly an allegory for the regressive ... left we find in today’s society. For example Mad Bull kills two robbers in the name of justice by blowing them apart with his shotgun for stealing from a convenience store. While Eddie says things like “you can’t just kill criminals like that” and “this is murder.” Sleepy knows that violence and mass destruction is the way to go to stop crime (fight fire with fire). In the beginning Eddie criticizes Sleepy’s methods but then begins to realize police like sleepy are the only reason justice is being served in the city. Sleepy also does heroic acts such as sleeping with prostitutes, robbing them, and putting the money he took from them back into charities and putting it to use in the socio economic system. He does this because prostitution is illegal and cannot be taxed by the government so instead of arresting those heathen hookers, sleepy steals their money, and puts it back into the economy. When I witness such scenes I cry red, white, and blue. Eddie develops though into a true American officer throughout the series and it’s much better for him in the end.

Now the art and sound for this show is complete crap to be honest. The art is very cheap and old looking; they were clearly on a very low budget when making this thing and the music well not much can be said about it. They don’t really use any form of music except the closing credits which utilizes James Brown.

The characters are the best thing about this show. Sleepy is the complete opposite of Eddie Ban but they make a great cop buddy duo. Other great characters include Perrine, the chief, and the slutty news reporter Jackie. Perrine is a great example of a strong woman throughout the series. She knows how to fight, she shows appropriate emotion when dealing with crime, and she takes wild risks (such as staging a pretend marriage for Daizaburo to save his life) even when she was being raped by thugs throughout the series she caused them bodily harm and fought them back. The police chief is possibly the ugliest animated human I’ve ever seen lol. His face literally looks like an asshole turned inside out. Anyway other great characters include Enrico who is a Mafioso presumably murdered by Perrine who barely survived and became a cyborg gangster. Yes, you heard a cyborg gangster. Cindy the main antagonist in the last episode is another great character as she is the only villain with a background story behind her. It is revealed that her brother worked for the 34th precinct before he died and she wants vengeance on them because they wronged her brother Kevin. What fascinates me is that her brother actually used money he got from Mafioso’s to fund her Olympic training in college for track. Also she is one of the earliest examples of a dark skinned woman portrayed as attractive in an Anime medium, and yea she’s really hot with a great figure. I’ll just leave it at that.

One thing I did get out of this show even with the bad art and laughable story was entertainment. Sure the story was directionless and not well formed but it’s the episodic nature and the bat shit insanity that makes it entertaining. It’s like a crack addict view about American police officers. It’s not in any way realistic in the slightest. One of my favorite scenes in the entire anime was when sleepy was found to have grenades glued on his pubic hairs and he yanks the grenades with his pubic hair out painfully at the top of a tower to blast criminals into pieces. It makes no sense but where else would I see such lunacy. That is what makes it entertaining. Another thing before I cap off this review is this show is much better experienced dub than sub. The dub is so bad that it’s good with those ridiculous “New Yawk” accents and laughable one liners that the sub cannot evoke the atmosphere for this kind of show properly. Examples of such great lines include “We’re gonna fuck the ass off ya,” “you’re gonna have a sore pussy,” “listen you sad shit fuck,” and my personal favorite “all his friends would know his dad was so low he would parachute out of a snake’s asshole.” While this anime was incredibly stupid and over the top, you’ll definitely laugh when you watch this.

Monster is truly a masterpiece of the highest caliber. One of the great things that this show is able to accomplish is delivering such a complicated and fantastic story through its daunting 74 episodes. Don't be put off by its length Monster is beautiful, frightening, and it makes you think. If your idea of anime is the "flavor of the month" or typical MOE bullshit with cute girls being so perfect and adorable this show is not for you. Monster deals with heavy themes like frightening aspects of humanity, the meaning of life, and nature vs nurture.

In the meaning of life aspect Monster ... heavily discusses throughout the series "Are all lives created equal?" Dr. Tenma (lead character) abides by the Hippocratic Oath (as all good doctors should). He is not interested in personal wealth or financial gain as the hospital director is which brings upon his (director) downfall early on in the series. Dr. Tenma is and always will be focused on operating on the patient in most need first rather than the wealthiest or most influential patient, which the director of the hospital does not like. The director wants to save whoever will bring the best reputation to the hospital and who will bring them the most prestige. Dr. Tenma says all lives are created equal to Johan in their first personal encounter in Episode 4 while Johan thinks humans are weak and pathetic he claims, "Most of this universe is 'death' anyway," and that to the universe, "most lives are just specks in a corner of the earth, gone in a flash." This is where the terms "Are all lives really equal?" "Does life have meaning?" are brought up in the series many times throughout.

In nature vs nurture theme it is believed that Johan's experiences in 511 Kinderheim (Spoiler Alert Skip ahead to next paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled!!!) and seeing the children and staff kill each other while he watched made him evil and empty to the core. He lost his human side and only witnessed evil in the world, never has he witnessed love. He also experienced the one person he loved (his sister Nina) being taken away from him for a long time to the red rose mansion while his mother dressed him up as his sister to hide them from the authorities. The mother’s tricks were eventually found out by the authorities. It is believed the mother did not like Johan and only liked Nina. After Nina was taken away Johan was abandoned as a child by his mother and left to rot all by himself at the three frogs building. All his life he felt unloved and when his sister tried to kill him he lost it. While his sister experienced horrific things in the Red Rose Mansion as well she turned out normal. So the question is was Johan evil by nature or was he nurtured to be evil?

The story is sublime and its premise is amazing. What follows in the story is 74 episodes of Dr. Tenma's search to find the boy he saved, and to fix his mistake. Dr. Tenma meets some of the most interesting characters you could find in any show. These characters feel and act incredibly human, they display human faults, they act on impulse rather than thought, and their subplots with all their faults and emotions truly make this universe of Monster memorable and unforgettable. Dr. Tenma's journey throughout to bring Johan to justice and search for him furthers the question: Who is Johan Liebert, and what are his plans? Johan and Dr. Tenma are some of the most memorable characters in my opinion at least. While every other character has their flaws Johan seems flawless throughout the series. He’s beautiful, he’s smart, meticulous, ingenious, secretive, and does evil deeds without lifting a finger. He’s not Freddy, he’s not Jason, and he’s real. That’s what makes him scarier than many other anime villains. A man in the series describes him as a “Beast with seven heads” and Hans Georg Schuwald envisioned Johan as a demon from hell when he trapped dozens of people in a burning library at Schuwald’s book donation ceremony.

Johan also can look at a person and exploit their weakness just by looking at them and driving themselves mad or into suicide. Johan possesses many psychopathic traits. There is also Inspector Lunge with his ignorance to Johan’s existence and to just lock up Dr. Tenma for all this because it seems like the easiest answer to solve the crimes going on in Germany and his extreme devotion to crime solving. He also likes to arrive at a crime scene and reenact it like the killer would step by step, that’s what makes him such a great detective his ability to think like a killer, and his devotion to his job. Is he obsessed to the point of unhealthiness? Possibly, but his flaws make him an incredibly realistic detective, smart, cunning, arrogant, but with flaws within and in his personal life. Grimmer and Roberto two childhood friends who survived 511 Kinderheim and both turned out completely different. Hence brings back the theme of Nature vs Nurture. There are many other memorable characters which I did not list because listing all of them would take thousands of words to describe and name. The story is incredibly deep and realistic and the historical background in it (subsequent Nazi Germany and its relations with Czechoslovakia) and even the creation of the Aryan super race as part of Nazi ideology. Those great backgrounds, combined with the story of Johan and Anna make it one of the best stories ever told in animation.

The art is extremely detailed in the show. All the characters have different sized noses, ears, eyes, body shape they all look and feel incredibly human. They portrayed post-communist Germany and Czech Republic very well with all the different local buildings and city sites. It is truly a remarkable piece of art. The soundtrack is executed with use of violins, trumpets, the piano, and guitar being put to full use. Go on YouTube and look up the song “Seeds of Time,” this song usually plays when something dramatic is about to happen and it usually plays when Johan is plotting something terrible or doing something evil. The closing credits song “Angel hand” makes you feel in its two minute run time that you died and ascended into heaven and “Close your eyes” reminds me heavily of 1500s Italian/German renaissance music with the female singer singing in different time and rhythm than the woodwind playing below it. “What do I see” plays when (Spoiler Alert!!) Johan tries to murder everyone in the library. It will send chills down your spine and make you quiver in fear when being used in the show. The soundtrack really adds to the dramatic effect of the scene making it even more intense than it would be with just a generic soundtrack (I’m looking at you Marvel Movies).

Overall, my enjoyment for the series was immensely high. Did monster have some flaws? Yes, it could have been cut down I feel by about 10-15 episodes but was it enjoyable? Absolutely, it made me think differently than any show I have ever seen. It made me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me shook (Mobb Deep reference). It was an emotional roller coaster throughout and it will change how you think about things in a deeper sense. It will also change how you perceive anime as a whole. Monster is one of the pinnacles of human achievement put through an animation medium and I am truly grateful and humbled to have been born in an age where masterpieces such as this show exist. It truly makes me marvel at the fascinating things that humanity has achieved when I watch this show, along with composers such as Beethoven, Wagner, and Chopin. The most interesting aspect of the anime to me was that "human beings can become anything” which Johan proved by masterfully corrupting the best of us to do unspeakable things. But as a light in the darkness, many characters also chose to act against their former agendas to make a difference in the end even if it meant sacrificing themselves. This anime is very good dubbed as well as subbed so that is a bonus to it as well. This is an anime I highly recommend seeing before you die because it is that good. Some things maybe good but not many things are great. This show is greatness with all the themes, immense atmosphere, great artwork, and fantastic story which will suck you in even with its great length. This ranks up there with Wagner’s Ring Cycle as one of the greatest dramas ever told it is that good. Go watch it now!

This is my first anime review ever, well "here we go," as Mario yells. Anyway apparently this is hailed by this website and IMDB as the greatest anime ever based on average numerical scores given by users. It is also the highest grossing anime film of all time raking in about $360 million in box office totals. Well I can say I did not find this film amazing, or even that good to be honest, it was merely above average. There are many significant flaws that prevent this film from being considered great in my opinion and or "magical" that so many people hype it ... up to be.

First, the story. It's pretty simple a boy and a girl are able to switch bodies with each other and the way they handle some situations is rather comical. This was displayed in the beginning and these were the best parts of the movie how the boy and girl adapt to changes in their body switches and environmental changes. Then apparently, the boy and girl want to meet together but the boy finds out through the book of records after he visits the town (itomori) that the town was blown apart by a comet. The big issue I have with the story is there is no sense of conflict or tension at all. SPOILERS AHEAD!! The boy confesses his love to the girl by writing on her hand only the problem is the boy is 3 years behind the girl in the timeline hence he cannot communicate with her (via phone or in person). The part I don't understand is how he is able to actually meet her though at some point if they are "supposed" to be three years apart. I bet this made people all teary eyed but all I felt was my butt itching because the movie's story was that forgettable and plain. Honestly I didn't feel any emotional attachment to the story or characters which is another big issue.

The characters were extremely flat and lifeless. Apparently I'm supposed to feel for them. But they have no interesting qualities; the boy is your regular city high schooler and the girl is just some country side girl. They don't do anything particularly exciting, heroic, dangerous, or even what I would consider funny (accept adapting to some changes in body switching). The side characters aren’t much better either. Oderu was the only somewhat interesting characters but she didn’t have that much screen time. Were there even antagonists in the story? What, is the comet supposed to be the antagonist? The two main characters are the most plain and average people you could ever find on any given day nothing movie worthy about them at all really. I don't want to see a movie about that. I go watch movies and anime to see danger, excitement, fear of the unknown, drama, comedy. But here the characters display none of that. The only good character in this movie was the comet which didn't even have a single line of dialogue. I wished the comet just killed everybody so the movie would end quicker. This movie also had the most anticlimactic and dry ending on the planet like really? Come on now.

An area where this movie truly shines is the art and animation of the movie. Makoto Shinkai paid great attention to detail and the backgrounds are truly beautiful to look at with almost every detail drawn to sublime perfection. Trees and leaves have little droplets of water glistening on them, mountain ranges with proper bumps and curvatures, and characters that actually look like humans instead of freakish caricatures. Also the animation was good as well. Characters show facial changes when speaking and smooth transitions in their movement, and fluid transitions of moving objects. It was very well drawn for the most part of it and high quality art was implemented in the movie.

The music was ok nothing really that great just some basic J-pop by the band Radwimps which sounds like any typical anime OP. The music didn't convey any emotional impact on the viewer either just like the story and bland characters. Anime in which the music conveys an emotional impact on the viewers and builds upon the greatness of the anime is Perfect Blue. Perfect Blue has a very cheery opening with rather deep lyrics reminiscent of 90s J-pop but it sets a somewhat melancholic tone to the movie plus the background music during most of the movies scary parts sends chills down my spine with its ominous ambience. Ninja Scroll directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri would not be as good or great if not for the epic background music attached to the very violent and brutal fight scenes. The music in those films elevates those films to levels of greatness rather than just good or above average. Music in movies can really change the entire mood of how a scene is presented, but here it doesn’t really do anything. The music here just doesn't leave any impact on the viewer and it's as cookie cutter as it comes not bad just plain and boring. The music here cannot hold a finger to any Disney movies in terms of music but that’s a completely different rant for now.

Overall, I didn't outright hate this movie but I didn't like it that much either. The story and pacing weren't good and even though this movie was only an hour and forty six minutes long it felt much longer due to the unconvincing story and dry characters. This movie is like vanilla ice cream it's edible but is it the be-all and end-all of food? Not a chance. What I enjoyed about this movie were the great visuals. Everything looked stunning and was pretty to look at. The issue is though none of it had much substance. Makoto Shinkai basically created a visual movie (maybe drawing tutorial). The visuals are beautiful and nice to look at but is there really any substance behind it? Makoto Shinkai is definitely no Miyazaki, Kawajiri, or Satoshi Kon (RIP). Good artwork but he needs to focus on making interesting characters for a story like this to work which he didn't. Maybe I came in with too high expectations? That is possible but for such a highly rated and acclaimed film I just didn’t think it was all that special or exciting.