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Kingdom 5th season will get you hyped every time. It's all about fighting, strategy, politics, and ideals. There are so many tense and crazy moments, it will get you onto the edge of your seat if you are invested. This season highlighted a huge fight with the Qin army with the commander being a previous warlord. As you can imagine, almost two thousand years ago, there were a lot of atrocities everyday, let along during a war, and with an army full of former bandits. There will be moments it is over the top. As with any war, it is just a huge chess match ... with the army as its pieces. But the warlord goes beyond combat strategies and has more insight into human nature.

Follow the idealistic MC during a war torn period of Chinese history as a soldier who gradually rises the ranks. The MC is idiotic but has two intelligent partners, one a strategist and another a vice captain who are in love with him. He has a personal friendship with the king who is trying to unite China and the MC's personal goal is to become the greatest general and a sword for the king to achieve his goal. It is a very well done story and this season in particularly good.

Brief Intro-
Not very well known apparently but exceedingly good. Just a cultivator's adventure in a world full of danger. His only goal is to become stronger and survive. If you watched the earlier seasons, you have a gist about how things will go but in case you have not, here is a brief background. MC is cautious and realistic. He is average or below average in terms of cultivation ability, as seen by his poor spirit root, but has this insane treasure that allows him to speed up plant growth which are used to make cultivation pills, medicine, etc.

Difference Compared to Other Seasons-
This season ... is a bit different from past ones because it opens up a whole new cultivation world. In past seasons, everything seemed a little less other worldly, more down to earth and everyone seemed more like mortals instead of cultivation gods. This season, there's a bit more fantasy with cultivation techniques or weapons that seem like magic. The MC is also in a place where he does not know many people unlike previous seasons where he was part of a sect. He's completely on his own trying to make it in the world like an independent small business owner in a different country.

Comparison with Other Shows and Characteristics of Show-
One thing I think this show does well and has done well in all seasons compared to other shows is portraying realistic danger. Most animated shows give too much plot armor to the MC. In this show, you can feel the danger the MC feels he is in, and the constant struggle he has to go through to stay alive, even during catastrophes when everyone is dying left and right. You feel like he made it out alive partly by luck and partly by the constant preparation and training he does. The show also does a great job portraying the difficult choices he has to make, giving up family, romantic relationships, how he lives his life, and how close he lets other people near him all because of the dangers of life and the incompatibility of it with his goals. A dangerous and lonely life led by a decent person pursuing strength. He knows he cannot coexist with mortals and personal connections with cultivators can be exceedingly dangerous.

Overall, this is a great cultivation animated show that is more realistic than the vast majority of work out there with decent action, good art and music, and a lot of enjoyment. It is not a comedy although there are moments of humor. It is suppose to be more realistic and insightful, as much as it can in a cultivation story. It was personally enjoyable and something different, little plot armor, no impractical ideals, realistic social relations, and an otherworldly adventure.

9/10

This is a Chinese animation (donghua) so some people might be hesitant but it's really good. I would recommend it if you are into adventure stories with low-key smart MC's that aren't OP that don't constantly have crazy fight scenes. I got started with Tales of Demons and Gods, and watched a few others, but this is probably one of the best ones out there. This is a typical cultivation story with the MC starting out weak in ancient times and progressively getting stronger, but the story always has a degree of realism. One of my biggest qualms about donghua is usually the unrealistic MC ... who can do everything and overcome any obstacles by growing OP quickly, but as people, we cannot. This MC is always aware of the ever present danger of life and he has to constantly make tough but practical decisions. He's very relatable and the story pulls you into the world.

The MC is average and just in a world trying to survive and get stronger. He devotes himself to his cultivation and lives secretively, knowing that those who stick out get attacked. It's an adventure, exploring the cultivation world where there's danger everywhere and lots of mystery and wonder. In addition to cultivation, there's magic, special weapons, and formations, all of the typical cultivation world stuff. He's initially the son of a poor family whose parents have to sell one of their children to have enough to eat. From a young age, he overheard his parent's talking about it and volunteered himself to protect his sister. He gets sold into a sect where he gets a preview to the cultivation world with a test where it's survival of the fittest to get into it as a cultivator as opposed to just doing odd jobs.

The art is elegant. Sometimes I forget its an animation but other times the animation looks pretty fake, but better than most donghua and some anime. The music really fits the mood and intro and outro are enjoyable but nothing to go crazy over. Overall, it's a good show with realistic struggles to survive day to day, not really an OP MC. There is a lot of world building but also a lot of mystery. You're learning about the world along with the MC, but it doesn't feel fake like the author tries to add stuff along the way to help the plot. That said, the pacing can be considered moderate or slow, the main plot can get sidetracked sometimes. There's a bit of life philosophy and struggle. I enjoyed it as it wasn't a show I had to turn my brain off nor did I have to think too much. It is an adventure.

A bit of spoilers warning

Animation and Sound - 10/10 and 9/10 respectfully
Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions is a beautiful animation. That was mainly what I was thinking about throughout the show. For some reason, it entranced me and made me at ease. The beautiful animation was coupled with good audio, it fit the setting well. It wasn't outstanding but it was soft and sweet.

Pacing 9/10
One of the complains I see other reviewers have is that they dislike the pacing. The show has a slower pacing in the beginning and takes pauses momentarily. I actually feel this was something I really liked about the show. It ... gave the feeling of a slice of life, as another reviewer mentioned. It felt more real and more natural and fit the setting, something doesn't happen every second. I sometimes like a show where you can stop and take in the visuals and sounds, although the latter half became more action packed. This pacing was made deliberating, matching the way a normal conversation is or showing visuals or creating a certain feeling, and unlike other shows that put pauses to fill time for the episode. Having a slower pacing and doing it right is harder than filling every second with action so I have a lot of respect for this.

Characters 8/10
The development of characters overall were pretty nice, especially the main character. There weren't stories used to help you understand them, but more of scenes used to exemplify their nature. Especially the beginning, you can see a character's person with scenes that use slower pacing to get a sense of them. You could see the main character's development as he learns to be a leader, tries to fill the gap from where he is. You see his development where he learns to start paying attention to others, trying to get a sense of their personality, trying to be diplomatic.

Dislikes
The main dislike is not showing the natural progression of some of the parts of the show. I generally dislike a show that makes leaps without saying anything or one that doesn't provide feedback information on the character's situation as they grow. An example of this is the character progression of Shihoru. Initially, she was really shy and couldn't say anything and hardly fought. In the latter half, she suddenly became confident and had lots of skills and powerful magic. For a show that began with a slower pacing, I think they should have kept the pacing throughout or for most of the show. It becomes much faster in the latter half. The time skips and the sudden jumps should have been done to include more milestones, like earning more money, equipment, and so on.
Also, would have liked to know more of the background of the volunteer soldiers, are many people just summoned into it and do many people lose their memories and get summoned? Seemed a bit strange that they didn't talk about this that much and the party of characters just accepted this. I guess another gripe would be measuring the main character's party compared to others. They were initially behind other parties, others were real volunteer soldiers much sooner than the MC's party, but they killed a Death Spots which no one could do. Did they surpass other groups?

Enjoyment 10/10
I mainly like the show because it felt beautiful and elegant at times. The pacing was slow, the mood was light. A normal person struggles with trying to be a leader. A group struggles to become stronger. Dealing with everyday life and its struggles. It gives a nice feeling.

Overall 9/10

This show is mainly an Isekai but with a 15 year old girl. It's characteristically different from normal ones, it's a lot cuter and feels more down to earth. The main character, Yuna, still has monsterous powers that surpass even the best adventurers of this world, but she's surprisingly satisfied with just living a normal life. It focuses on more human aspects, finding something to do with her time to explore and play around, finding food she likes back from her own world, playing big sister and connecting with her new little sister, and taking care of children. This down to earth approach is different ... from other Isekai's where they're on a mission to save or conquer the world. Yuna still does big things like destroy powerful monsters and save villages, but she does it for very simple reasons like helping a friend or securing a supply of good food. It's very humbling and feels authentic of a show. It genuinely feels like she's just trying to live a good and happy life and isn't concerned with boosting her ego or securing power. In fact, despite doing big things, she adamantly pushes responsibility and the rewards onto ministers.

That said, this show is very black and white. It can get childish as there seems to be no gray areas and everything is simple. You know exactly who the good and bad guys are. The only pursues everyone has in this world are simple and everyone is nice. In fact, everyone just gets along with each other and everyone is overly generous, although that can be understandable given that the main character improves their lives effortlessly and almost instantly after meeting them for no cost or strings attached. There isn't any behind the scenes plotting or any malicious intentions, except simple ones from people who are caught almost immediately after being introduced. It is the bubble of childhood, where everything is protected and everything gets filtered to be acceptable. That said, it was still fun to watch and reminded me of simpler times, minus all the bad stuff.

Overlord is one of the best animes that I have been so far. If Isekai or anti-heros are not appealing to you, this might not be a good fit. That being said, if you like shows that deal with politics and strategies, it incorporates quite a bit of that in the protagonist's forced quest of world domination. Some of the characters are also not developed extensively, especially characters classified as NPC's, but many are, especially the characters in the this world and even some side characters. It is probably one of the few animes where I have seen anti-heros stories done in such a enjoyable ... way.

The story is mainly about an ordinary Japanese worker getting transported into a game he's spent all his time and money on. The game is a place where he's made his only friends in his life but they have all quit the game before him. In this new world, he searches for his friends while ruling over incredibly strong but somewhat sadistic NPC who are absolutely loyal to him. He and his strongest 7 or so NPC's are level 100 when the average adventurer is probably level 20, average human like 10, so he is essentially unstoppable. He also has armies of level 40+ monsters.

The show is full of adventure for the most parts. Even characters that the protagonist or story ultimately kills can get detailed storytelling. It is a story of an average person becoming the ruler of an organization with a lot of serious people, NPCs, and doing his best to pretend to be a ruler that knows what he's doing. Despite being overpowered, in the new world, he tries to carefully plan his actions and gather intelligence. There is a lot of world building and you deeply get to know about the world and how the people are. The protagonist unapologetically prioritizes his organization's and people's over the people of this new world. It's quite enjoyable.

Lot of people dislike it because it's not entirely realistic, they don't like the art, they don't like the sound/theme song, they think it has generic characters, they want to know more about the characters.
It's not realistic but it's not the point, it's suppose to introduce the world of professional rock climbing while being relatable and enjoyable, the first of its kind. Going through the arduous process or showing episodes of intense training without any relatable motivation would turn off viewers. Just overlook this fact for the story.
I actually liked the art, it seemed better than a lot of shows I watched so I'm not ... sure where that complain is coming from.
The character sounds and voices are very pleasant to hear. The theme song doesn't seem too bad, not fantastic but I usually skip it anyway.
The story of an overpowered character starting from the bottom is the same with most sports shows. I mean, a mediocre character would never make it to pro, which is again the point of the show.
Character development is important, but I think the main point is the rock climbing. I actually would like to know more about the main character 5 episodes in, but I know enough and am learning more in other areas, like the climbing and their training/process which is just as important.

Overall, I really enjoy this anime. Someone is struggling to achieve their dreams and you get a macro view of their process doing it. I learned a lot just by watching this fun anime. I enjoyed the motivation and thought process of the main character. I actually went rock climbing a 2 times over several years $5+ per try, never did well, and this explains a lot about how it's suppose to be done. This anime did a good job targetting the audience, pretty anime girls, a MC who is a gamer who is also a bit overpowered, struggling to achieve a goal. If this show was watched by more people, I bet it wouldn't be rated 6.2 like it is now, but then again sometimes my opinion differs.
So far, watched Baby Steps, Fastest Finger, March Comes like a Lion, Kuroko no Basket, and a few others. I would say this is different but good and very enjoyable.