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It's not terrible.
But, it's not good, either.
It's "Meh.".

That pretty much sums up Hit Wo Nerae. An anime that is clearly dated at this point, with its copious amounts of needless panty shots and juvenile attempts at humor. This is the kind of anime that came out when it was still funny to flip up girls skirts and smack them on their butt. I'm no puritan feminist, but even I see how old and played out that kind of fanservice humor is and this old anime plants its flag right in the center of that kind of comedy.

But, Hit Wo Nerae, I don't think is really trying to be a comedy. I think it's more a slice of life anime, trying to give a shallow glimpse of the inner workings of making a TV show. I think this is more industry guys making a show for industry guys to enjoy, than for fans. And I guess that makes sense, since this is apparently an attachment to an actual anime called Cosplayers, which I have never seen or heard of before, which is showing how that show got made through an anime.

There really wasn't much about this anime that stood out. It's really just about a simple and naive woman who dreams about making a detective film, having to come to grips with the reality that life doesn't allow you to achieve your dreams easily. And that satisfaction can come from the detours in life if you learn the lessons they teach and learn to embrace those around you. It's really trying to be a coming-of-age anime as well, with way too much talk about growing up and being an adult by realizing these things. Which was kind of odd, because the MC is 25 years old. She's not a teenager.

Again, this anime isn't much. You won't fall out your chair laughing, you won't cry or find any kind of deep emotional connection with any of the characters. It's just something you watch to watch. Something you don't even really know why you watched other than you just did because it was short.

It's meh.

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The only reason I didn't drop this anime is because multiple people swore that the next season will be excellent. It is the last chance I'm giving this show. Because it has dropped to complete mediocrity in the last few seasons. It's an incredible disappointment considering how good the early seasons were. But, it's basically become a one trick pony. Constantly putting the students up against each other in tournaments and low-stake threats.

This season only had two highlights in the entire show. 1. Was Tomura Shigaraki's origin story. It was surprisingly gory and intense for what has become a pretty weak children's cartoon. 2. Was Endeavor's family drama. I still don't like Endeavor, but those episodes at least added a little depth to him as a character and his family. But, that's really it.

Why the creators think it's acceptable to make half a season basically a re-run of the Chunin Exams, I do not know. But, it's not. At this stage in the game, there should be a credible ongoing threat and some kind of major stakes on the line. But, even with the League of Villains turning into the Paranormal Liberation Front it's still just a re-do of the earlier seasons when the League had more villains behind them and they raided UA.

I'm basically only giving this anime one last shot to see what direction they go in with this upcoming war. Will they go intense and kill off some of these worthless characters they have the show overloaded with? Or, will they keep being a lame Saturday Morning cartoon with meaningless festivals and enemies as harmless as poodle puppies? Basically, I'm at the point that if I don't start seeing people die, I'm out. Kill the guy with the elbow strings, or the guy who talks to animals, or the dude with the tail that knows Judo. All these trash characters that could raise the stakes if Shigaraki just disintegrated a few of them. Toga is supposed to be a killer and has killed no one. DO something. Let someone snipe the invisible chick and we finally see her, as a corpse. Something surprising. Something that says: "Hey, the events in this anime actually matter and their lives are actually on the line, so you know...care.".

At this point, the anime is borderline trash with a few good moments. It's a dumpster that someone threw a working iPad into. Improve or I'm done.

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This season is a fantastic improvement over the first season. Especially with the pacing. In the first season things were happening and unfolding far too quickly. It left no time for build up or suspense. "Oh, someone has committed a crime.", "Who is it?", "It's this guy.", literally in two episodes. In this season, they draw out the mystery the anime is primarily supposed to be about, and they do it by filling in the spaces between each piece of the mystery being uncovered with fighting. Lots of fighting. And when your animation style looks as good as this anime does, there's nothing wrong with that. I enjoyed the anime tremendously with the slowed down pacing, and the increased focus on mystery and allowing the viewer to guess what is going on with the Evangelist and the White Clad, the world of Adolla and who is and who is not on the side of the heroes.

However, what I enjoyed the most, was the story and lore. I'm not sure how many people are going to truly grasp the deeper layers of this story and what the creators are trying to tell them about religion in our real life world. It has a very gnostic approach to religion and world history in general. This world is supposed to parallel our own, but unless you know a little something about gnostic and esoteric thought, you're not really going to catch it. That's probably why some people hate the story. But, fortunately for me, I am a gnostic, so I get where they are coming from, and probably where they are going from here. Which makes it a lot more entertaining than if I just approached the anime as a fighting anime with churchy elements to it. It's actually a really deep anime if you get the imagery and messaging hidden behind the story.

This season also did a lot to make me like the characters more. Specifically Arthur and Obi. Although, I would say they spent a little too much time on side characters that aren't really central to the story. If you're going to bring in people like Inca, Ogun and Juggernaut, then bring them in and progress their stories. The anime did a fantastic job of really making me hate Inca off the bat, and then she just mostly disappears outside of a few appearances. Ogun was SICK as a fighter, but he only gets one fight, and then he's gone. This habit hurt later episodes especially surrounding Juggernaut. If he's not around much, then what ultimately happens with his fight in the Nether becomes less impactful. (Though still very well animated. I'll give it that.).

And there were some elements that we completely unnecessary to the story and were only added to create needless side drama. Such as Maki's situation with her military family. That wasn't necessary at all and made little sense. The anime has always portrayed her as an OG of FF Team 8, but suddenly she's made to seem like a newbie fighting for approval and the right to belong. That role should be for someone like Tamaki or Vulcan or something. Again, it wasn't devastating to the story, but just like Tamaki's lucky lecher gimmick, it doesn't add anything to it and isn't needed. And that gimmick STILL isn't needed even though they tried to increase it this season for comic effect. I didn't laugh once.

But, these are small issues to an otherwise great anime. It's got a great cast of characters, great animation, an intriguing world that it only getting more intriguing, villains you can actually hate like Haumea and Dr. Giovanni, dope fighters like Benimaru, Joker, Maki and Arthur, lots of action and an air of mystery to it. (Slight Spoiler) And at the very end, they showed they aren't going to go the "One Piece" route with everybody being invincible no matter what. It may have only been adjacent to the main cast, but at least you know with all this fire and violence that the "good guys" can actually be permanently maimed or die. There has to be consequences or there's no suspense.

Story: 9
Art: 10
Sound: 7
Character: 8
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 9

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What a stupid anime.

I'm sorry, this was just plain stupid. Which is an incredible disappointment after such an excellent first season. And I don't mean this is stupid, just in the terms of "I didn't like it", I mean it's stupid in terms of logic, common sense, and general storytelling.

In the first season, you have a bunch of children discover that their mom and other caretakers are actually feeding them to demons. They scheme and strive and make their escape out into the mysterious unknown. It was an excellent thriller of an anime. But, in the second (and thankfully last) season, once they make it out into the wild they discover that they are nothing more than meat to the culture they live in. The natural inclination to survive drives them to try and find a safe place or escape the world they were bred into. And that really should've just been the story. Trying to survive until you make your escape to the human world, losing people along the way tragically, with the survivors making it out by the skin of their teeth into the human world. It's really NOT that hard of a story to tell.

But, nope. Can't just tell a simple survivor story, can we? We have to try and force Disney-style morals into the story. Morals that make no actual sense in any kind of realistic framework.

Spoilers ahead...

Because the children can't find a good place to hide and don't know how to get to the human world based upon the aid they are given, they end up conveniently (and keep that word "conveniently" in mind, because that's the magic word for this anime), running into an old friend who has a way to actually "end" the demon threat by causing them to degenerate using a chemical they can release into the air.

Wildly unrealistic, but sure...why not? Release the stuff, let the demons go mad and eat each other and then be left with only the strongest, wildest demons who were able to kill all the other ones and survive. Yes, let's leave those as threats that you'll somehow have to deal with. (Yes, that's the end result of the plan. If they all go nuts only the strongest ones will survive and they will be insane and highly lethal. I don't know why they were acting like releasing that gas would solve their problems, other than this anime is stupid.).

But, fear not, because this is a Disney anime, now. So, the kids won't be causing any genocide. Because, instead, they now want all the demons to live. Yes, they have forgiven the demons who eat them, because they met three kind demons. A demon with special blood named Mujika, a hunter demon on a horse named Sonju, and an old, blind monk demon named Welk or something, I don't remember and I don't care. These nice demons mean they shouldn't release the psycho gas and try to kill their predators. People they literally listen to crave their flesh and walk around with human body parts in jars and chase them just at the smell of them. All because they met three nice demons. And here's the rub, two of those three are predators, too. One ate humans and the other is actively trying to help them just so they can live, and have kids, so he can hunt and kill their kids according to his rituals.

But, yeah, let's not end that kind of threat... We all have to love each other in peace and harmony!

And CONVENIENTLY right at the same time these kids have decided they will commit mass suicide by not trying to end the threat of the culture that sees them as cows and chickens, that same society rises up against the farm system that kept those kids as special meat in the first place! Yay! This allows them to go back and get the other kids from the farm. But, not without first confronting their mom and the human caretaker of the entire farming system, the little brother of the Ratri guy who left the codes trying to help kids escape. But, by "confrontation", I mean "Conversation". A conversation where Emma and the kids forgive them, too. Yes, they forgive Mom. Which, I guess that's fine, since she CONVENIENTLY switches sides along with all the other caretakers at once, to help free the children and join the revolution (that they didn't even know was happening before they decided to switch sides, and again, doesn't make sense since they were reared to be devotional to the demons, spending years and decades grooming kids for them. But, you know, who needs a sensible plot?).

And once they confront the farm head, John Ratri, or Jake or whatever Ratri it was, who really cares, they even try to forgive HIM, even though he was the architect of their torture and he wasn't even trying to be forgiven! Emma has known the guy for all of 50 seconds and during that 50 seconds all he does is say cliche villanious stuff and flashbacks about killing his own brother. And based on that, Emma wants him to come with them to the human world. (Stupid. Anime.) Fortunately, he was smart enough to know that if he went with the kids, this anime would be given a 1 rating by viewers, instead of a 5, so he slit his own throat to save a few points. Good on him.

After we're done with Emma handing out forgiveness like Oprah hands out cars, most of the kids make it out to the human side of the world, while Emma and the others stay behind in the demon world to help with a revolution. And while that might have been an awesome way to redeem this mentally challenged anime, and something very important to see, that all happens with just a few still frames of them walking around in various places. Suddenly Mujika is crowned queen, some other stuff apparently happens, but it didn't matter enough for the animators to even animate it, so it shouldn't really matter to you, either. And then bang, they come back a few years older after changing the demon world, back to the human world, where they all reunite and hopefully die horrible deaths later on for wasting everyone's time. I'd like to think a demon crossed the border and ripped Emma's tongue out so she can't talk anymore and then ate it in front of her. A fitting end for such an irritating character.

Trash anime. Just total trash.

But worse than even the illogical plot was all of the convenient things that happen to help the kids survive. Just again and again and again and again and again and again...This should've been called the "The Promised Dues Ex Machina".

Kids wander out into the woods with no hope? Conveniently, they will be saved Sonju, who is the Chuck Norris of this world. The hunter (mentioned earlier) that can basically kill anything or anyone at will. Forget Gojou vs. Saitama vs. Goku, put Sonju in there and he's going to win it.

Conveniently, Sonju and Mujika, the first two demons you meet, will be only two of three demons in the whole world that won't eat you.

Need shelter? Conveniently, the Ghost of James Ratri set it up for you. Give your location away to the farms? Conveniently, they will send the most inept human troops to get you, rather than send more demons for you. Get cornered by them, anyway? Conveniently, a giant demon will emerge from the forest and only eat your pursuers and not you. They have Assault Rifles and can't stop it, but you and your trusty BOW can! Get cornered in an alleyway by hungry demons? Conveniently, your old friend who should be dead, shows up with basically super solders to save you. And why would people trying to farm meat turn humans into supersoldiers? Do you see Tyson Farms trying to breed bulletproof, 8 foot tall chickens with human intelligence and claws and beaks made of steel razors? Nope. Because you don't breed your food to a point where it can kill you. So, why would these farms do that? Because it's stupid and they need convenient super soldiers to help the kids survive. The plot armor is just not thick enough.

Man, this anime is so stupid. Not one kid died, you know. Not one. All these chicken nuggets in a world full of predators and none of them died. In what is supposed to be a horror/thriller anime. I don't know what's going on with these sequels of initially great animes of late, but this year has been a thorough disappointment in that regard.

TL;DR - This sucks don't watch it.

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In my entire life as a viewer of anime, I have never once watched a single Pokemon episode, movie, OVA, or game. It's not that I have anything against Pokemon, it's just that it seemed aimed more towards young kids, and even as a kid, I never liked childish anime. I was always into Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, Grave of the Fireflies, etc... So, I just never watched. I know plenty of the characters like Pikachu, Ash, Misty, Mew-Two, Renamon, Gardevoir, etc... simply because you can't be an anime fan and not hear of them. But, I've never actually sat and watched anything Pokemon related before today.

I only watched this because I was looking for things highly rated that I haven't already seen. It was just a music video and I like Bump of Chicken, so why not?

I have to say, as someone who knows nothing of the lore, or characters, I could still feel the emotion of this. I felt like, if I was a Pokemon fan, I would be flipping out like Pokemon fans did. It was very well animated, the music was great, and even though I only know the names of certain characters and nothing else, I still felt a tinge of nostalgia myself because I've seen them around for over 20 years. I could only imagine if something like this was made for Hunter X Hunter, how hard I would flip out.

You know you've done good when you can make non-fans appreciate a tribute made specifically for fans. I'll probably never sit down and actually watch Pokemon, but this kind of makes me want to.

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Hey ya'll, did you know that skating is fun?
Skating is REALLY fun.
You can do it with your friends!
You can do it anywhere!
It's really so fun!
Seriously! It's like the MOST FUN THING!
You know what's REALLY FUN about skating?!
When you hop off your board and smack people in the head with it!
Or, you throw firecrackers in people faces!
Or, you join up in groups and attack people with steel batons for no apparent reason at all!
FUN TIMES!

You've really got to understand how important it is to know that SKATING IS FUN! Did you know it can save your life?! If you're free-falling off of a cliff, all you have to do is remember that SKATING IS FUN, and you won't die! You can just skate down a sheer cliff leading to jagged rocks 2,000 feet below! You'll be fine!

And don't forget the power of fun in skating can save any broken relationship! Do you have a friend who's a hater because you're so much better than him at skating? Simply remember SKATING IS FUN and he'll stop being salty! You don't even have to talk about it! Have you lost your ever-loving mind simply because a powerless servant didn't stand up for your skating hobby as a kid? And now you try to literally MURDER people in skating competitions? Never fear! Your mind can be saved with the power of skating! Simply get the underage boy you're pedo-ing over to beat you in a race and remind you that SKATING IS FUN, and you'll be okay!

SKATING. IS. FUN. Got it?!

Seriously...this anime is one of the most cringe animes I've seen in a while. Honestly, it didn't seem like it would turn out this way at the start. It seemed like it was just going to be your typical racing type anime, but with skateboards. You had your common MC duo of the wild-haired, boisterous guy (Reki) paired with the quiet, uber-skilled savant (Langa). You had what looked like would be an interesting cast of supporting characters. And it looked like it was just going to be a straight comedy with solid humor. The animation was quality. The Soundtrack was even good. Everything looked set up for an enjoyable anime. With a little luck, it might be as good of a sports anime as Haikyuu or Kuroko's Basketball.

Well, those lofty hopes die pretty quickly, but it still looked like SK8 would settle in as a pretty good comedy... and then ADAM enters the picture. The main villain who looks like he was lifted right out of a Gundam anime from the mid-90s.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

ADAM is a pedophile who becomes obsessed with Langa because of his skill. This grown man is so obsessed with the teen boy that Hisoka actually stopped stalking Gon and Killua for a minute to make a cameo to call Chris Hansen on him. (He did not). ADAM wants Langa to be his "Eve", because he's hard up for a decent opponent and he believes Langa can be that for him. In order to build Langa up to those expectations, the anime basically turns at this point from a comedy to a homoerotic dramedy, that was pretty much focused on gassing up Langa for being good at the expense of his boyfrie--erghm---"buddy", Reki.

Seriously, episode after episode, it's just "Oh, Langa is so great. But, that redheaded guy with him is just the most trashiest of all the trash." (Which didn't even make sense because he could hang with some of the best skaters in the anime. But, whatever, plot's not gonna push itself.) At any rate, Reki can't handle being the Krillin to Langa's Goku, so he turns into a hater, stops talking to him and quits skating. So, now we have to watch the guy who was supposed to carry this anime's comedy aspect, mope and skulk around because he's just a Krillin. And it made him totally unlikable, because nobody likes "friends" who can't celebrate your success. He's just a hater. Fortunately, he remembered SKATING IS FUN after getting jumped in an alley and all of his insecurities just went away and he stopped being a salty hater.

So, now that, that needless drama ended we can get back into the comedy and action--and nope--because now we have to deal with ADAM's psychological problems. What made this guy turn into a flamboyant kiddy-diddling matador? What makes him get off of his board mid-skate and just bash people in the face with his skateboard at 60MPH? Which is attempted murder? (Side Note: Why was this guy even lauded as some kind of a skating legend when his "special moves" consisted of "turning around mid race and standing in your way" and "Hitting you in the face with a skateboard?). What soul-breaking betrayal could've have turned a happy young lad into James Charles?

Well to find that out, we have to be bombarded with flashbacks that this dude lost his marbles because his friend, a mere house servant, said he had "no opinion", when ADAM's father, (the head of the entire family) asked him if he wanted to buck up because he burned his own son's skateboard. What was he supposed to say? "Yeah, guy who can ruin my entire family, let me, a child, step in here and tell you how to raise your kid."? Apparently, this "deep betrayal" and some raps on the wrist with a ruler by his aunts turned him into a guy who consistently keeps trying to throw people off of cliffs. (Don't rap children's wrists with rulers, people. They will start dressing up in grave clothes and wanting teen boys to be the "Eve" to their "Adam".)

At any rate, between the flashbacks of ADAM being destroyed emotionally by the most tame betrayal since my wife ate the last of my ice cream, and ADAM skating with Cherry and Joe, we get a continued story of cringey pedophilia. ADAM begins to literally stalk Langa with drones and is upset that Langa and Reki are reunited. Because ADAM wants to have Langa/Eve all to himself, he targets Reki for a race in the shortest, most predictable, tournament in anime sports history and Reki nearly beats him. (I will give credit where credit is due: the race between Reki and ADAM was pretty good, and was the only race where you didn't know who would win before it began.) ADAM gets all in a huff because he nearly lost to this "terrible" skater, (who, again, nearly beats all the best skaters and only loses because his board breaks or someone throws firecrackers at him) and ADAM then goes from being a matador pedo to being an undertaker/evangelion pilot pedo, and races Langa in the finals. And they race on 2,000 feet tall cliffs and go in the zone, and there's rainbows and white noise and flashbacks of dead dads and Langa falls and should die but SKATING IS FUN, so he doesn't and wins and whatever and I'm wondering why I spent time watching this instead of continuing Wonder Egg Priority.

But even with all of this, I have still not properly conveyed the worst part of the anime. And that is, without a doubt, the dialogue. The dialogue is just so incredibly cringe in the later parts of the anime. I swear Langa should've just stayed quiet. Every other sentence out of his mouth towards Reki would've been proceeded by "How could you say something so embarrassing with a straight face?" in any other anime. If he wasn't spitting the most embarrassing lines to his "friend", it was how he felt empty without Reki around while wistfully grabbing at his heart. (Langa's heart hurts, girls. Buy his merch, ok?)

And it wasn't just confined to Langa and Reki, either. All the characters were just talking nonsense towards the end. "I know what your true nature is now, let's bring this to a finale.", "Adam is skating all alone. That can't be fun.", "SKATING IS SO MUCH FUN!!", "You'll be my dog for the rest of our lives.", "I'll take skateboarding from you...to save you.", "I thought I got rid of these insignificant feelings long ago!". You can't get rid of the feeling that SKATING IS FUN, Adam. "SKATING IS FUN" is a universal law. Man, it was just one bad line after another after another. The dialogue was just atrocious.

This anime doesn't even come close to the 8.05 rating it has as of the writing of this review. Even if it lived up to its potential, at best it would be a 7. But, it hardly does that and I would only give it a 3. 1 point for the funny first couple of episodes. 1 point for the Reki/ADAM race. Other than that, it's a weak anime, with a weak story and awful dialogue. I should also deduct a point for that stupid female cop angle. That served no purpose at all. Why was it even a part of the story? It had no bearing on anything in the end. Down to 2.

I really don't understand why some of these animes are scoring so highly lately...

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"So, you see this dead horse here? It's called "Isekai". Let's just keep kicking it until something falls off the corpse. Hopefully, it's meat we can sell and not infected feces." - Anime 2021.

Fortunately, Mushoku Tensei is meat they can sell.

This anime is proof that with great production values, solid voice acting, some nice comedic moments, and an approach that highlights legitimate character flaws in people, that you can still manage to kick a steak out of this dead horse of a genre.

I will say that I was very impressed with the first several episodes of the anime. These episodes focused on the MC, Rudeus Greyrat, actually growing from an infant into a young boy, while possessed with the spirit of a bulled 30+-year-old Otaku. It provided a refreshing angle for the Isekai genre, as usually, the Otaku is transported into the fantasy world already fully grown. These were definitely the best episodes of the anime, as it was more than just a typical "fantasy world" anime. It was somewhat touching how they showed this guy, who was traumatized into becoming a hikikomori with brutal bullying, getting a second chance at life in a small town. Showing him growing up with his family and dealing with family drama, breaking out of his shell, making a friend, and starting over, with strong amounts of comedy, was great. It was a very humanizing story and I think it probably would've been even better had he stayed in that town and just continued to grow up there with Sylph.

However, he ends up leaving the village through a certain set of circumstances and the anime then falls into your standard Isekai fare. However, it is a cut above all the generics out there, set apart by two things: 1. Comedy. 2. High Production Values. But, that's about it. Once Eris is introduced it pretty much is indistinguishable from any other Isekai. It's a really good Isekai, but it's just standard. Some political intrigue, mixed in with some magic and math tutoring. These episodes were pretty unremarkable, to such a degree that I just finished this anime a little while ago and already forgot most of these episodes. (Except for Eris's hilarious violent streak and the disturbing pedophilia angle.) I definitely feel the complaints about this in the top comments. Because the creators seemed to forget that they were showing us a 34-year-old man, in the body of a 10-year-old boy, doing sexual things to a 12-year-old girl. That was the definition of "cringe" and "not cool, bro.". It's one thing if he's lusting after a 44-year-old demon that looks like a loli, or a busty beastwoman in her 30's or 40s. But...his 12-year-old cousin? Nah...that's not it, chief.

Fortunately, some things happen that move the story out of the Greyrat castle and into another part of the world. Once they get into third arc of the season, where Ruijerd is introduced, things shake out of that rut and get more interesting. There's a lot more action towards the end of the season with these episodes, and with the high production values, if that trend continues, I think Mushoku Tensei has an opportunity to be one of the better action Isekai's out there. But still, it's not as good as the first arc of the season. It wasn't bad at all, mind you. The tension between Rudeus and Ruijerd and the events that caused it were pretty entertaining. But, still, it didn't have that same refreshing feeling as when the anime first started.

I really did enjoy this anime. It has solid voice acting, good humor throughout, great animation, and an interesting MC. I will watch season 2 to see if it can recapture the vibe from the first several episodes. I think if it can go back to a more humanized vibe from the first arc and mix that in with the action from the 3rd arc, it might actually breathe a little life back into the rotted horse it came from.

I would give this anime a 7.5 out of 10 if it were possible, but I'll be generous and forget about the Eris arc and round up to an 8, instead of down to a 7.

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Jujutsu Kaisen is about...

A spiky-haired orphan with a heart of gold (who is not Naruto Uzumaki),

Who ends up possessed with the world's most dangerous spirit inside of him (Who is not Kurama),

And ends up being brought into a fighting school (that is not the Leaf Academy),

Where the leadership is torn between using his abilities or killing him, because of the threat he poses. (Which is not what the Leaf Elders feared).

He ends up being partnered with a sullen, dark-haired emo guy (Who is not Sasuke Uchiha),

A strong-willed, short haired girl with a bad attitude (Who is not Sakura Haruno),

and mentored by a blindfolded, white-haired, cool mentor, (Who is not Kakashi Hatake).

These four form a team (That is not Team 7),

and go out on missions to exorcise demons and fight sorcerer students from other schools in events that decide their rankings (That are not Chunin Exams).

The Spiky-haired orphan struggles with the demon inside of him (Which is not like the early relationship between Naruto and Kurama.)

And because of this, he can't rely too much on his unstable cursed energy (Which is not Chakra),
but manages to get by with his fighting skills (Which is not Taijutsu.).

Ultimately he learns to harness his chak--I mean, cursed energy and becomes a super dope fighter.
He even has an attack that turns his hands blue, like on the cover...(and no, that's not Rasengan).

He must simultaneously fight, while being protected from villains who want to steal his powerful spirit. (Which is not what Naruto had to endure.)

The primary villain being a psycho skilled in body manipulation that loves to experiment on people. (Who is not Orochimaru.)

I'm giving this clear Naruto rip-off a hard time. But, seriously? It's one of the best animes out right now. It's every bit as good as Demon Slayer. Not quite as good as Vinland Saga, but it's up there. It's right in the mix with some of the promising gems of the next generation of anime.

Yes, Jujutsu Kaisen lifts A LOT of themes and ideas from Naruto, but if you can pull it off and actually make a better anime than the one you're ripping off, then who can really complain? Because this anime is actually better than Naruto. And I really liked Naruto, ridiculous amounts of terrible filler aside. While it is a Naruto clone, it actually improves on the formula in several ways from characters to the atmosphere.

First: Nobara Kugisaki. I love her. I really, really love her. I love her as much as I hated Sakura Haruno. So that's a lot of love. She's funny, she's insane, she strong, she's everything I love in a female character. One of my favorite parts of the anime was the very last episode with her fight on the bridge with Itadori. She's so awesome. I want more Nobara screen time in future seasons. She is a true savage. She's like if you mixed Revy from Black Lagoon with a high school girl. She's dope and one of my new favorite characters. A HUGE benefit this anime has over Naruto is her repore with Itadori. The main reason I hated Sakura is that she was such a witch towards Naruto, who was such a likable MC. Nobara, while sometimes mean to Itadori, is more like a partner in crime with him. They act goofy together, fight well together, and care for each other early on. They make a great team. It makes watching them interact more enjoyable than it was watching Naruto and Sakura.

Second: Gojou Satoru. My second favorite character in the anime. He may look like Kakashi, but he's nothing like him. That's probably one of the biggest differences between this anime and Naruto, Gojou is more like Goku than Kakashi as a character. He's just insanely OP. To the point where the villains have to literally gameplan everything around him not being there because it's game over when he is. I see why there's a question of who would win between him and Saitama from OPM. (My money would be on Gojo. Saitama literally couldn't touch him.) In spite of this, he's a complete goofball and funny as hell. But, you can tell he's truly intelligent and crafty. So much so, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a villain down the line. They don't make it any secret that he's hostile towards the current leaf village leadership and he's plotting something.

Third: The Fights. My goodness, the fights in this anime are flawless. I don't know if they set out with the intended goal of being "King of tag-team fighting", but if they did, it's mission accomplished. Every fight, EVERY single fight in this anime is good to great. And they even know to keep the fights between lesser characters shorter so you enjoy them more. (Nothing is worse than a 2 episode fight between characters you don't care about.). But, while every fight is good, the tag team fighting is absolutely amazing. And there's a lot of it. The choreography is some of the best I've seen when they do that. Especially when Itadori is involved. Itadori and Nanami vs. Mahito, Itadori and Toudou vs. Hanami, and Itadori and Nobara vs. the Cursed brothers at the end of the anime, man those fights were top notch. The animation style of this anime is absolutely perfect. I found myself running back fights again and again. I also did that with Naruto, like with Rock Lee vs. Gaara and Sasuke vs. Naruto at the battle of Final Valley (Still an all-time great battle.) But, these fights were even better. I'm pretty sure if this anime goes on as long as Naruto, it will notch a few all-time legendary fights among anime fans.

Fourth: The Severity. This is a shounen anime, but it's also very bloody and it takes no prisoners. The creators have set an early tone that "Heroes can't save everyone", "No one has clean hands" and "Not every story has a happy ending.". I think that's probably going to set the stage for some heartbreaking permanent deaths in the future. (Please don't kill Nobara off...please.). But, this anime is aimed more at young adults than kids, and that just automatically makes any anime better. (Sorry, kids.).

Fifth: The Animation Style. I mentioned it before, but the animation style is fantastic. Fight movements are so fluid and nothing is cheaply animated. No trashy 3D or mailed-in, low-budget animation sequences. Everything was top-notch, from character designs to movements, backgrounds, it was fantastic. The little skits at the end were low-budget, but that was by design.

I literally have zero complaints about this anime. Except there could be more Nobara. Yes, I am shamelessly stanning for Nobara. She's right up there with Kagura from Gintama and Balalaika from Black Lagoon as one of my favorite females of all time. (SLIGHT SPOILER) Any chick that will drive nails through her own wrists and slaughter your brother with a smile on her face is alright in my book. Push that nutcase to the brink of death again in Season 2. It brings out the best in her.

Can't wait for season 2 and more of her and Gojou. (Oh, and Itadori, too. I like him. Not as much as Nobara and Gojou, but he's a good MC.). This is a very popular anime, so I probably don't have to tell you to watch it, you probably already have. But, just in case? Give it a watch.

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AND STILL....HEAVYWEIGHT ANIME CHAMPION OF THE WORRRRLLLLLDDDDDD...

HUNTER X HUNTER (2011)!!!

Imagine that you go to a new pizza joint that is all the rave. You order your favorite style of pizza and they serve it to you. It's piping hot, fresh ingredients, buttery flaky crust, it's one of the best pizzas you've ever had. And then just as you lift the last piece up, a fat roach that was crawling under the crust scurries out from under it and jumps into your lap, into your pants, and crawls around on your legs. You shake it out and step on it. You're appalled, disgusted, the thing has been crawling on you, all on your food. You demand to speak to the manager and the Manager says: "Sorry about that. I tell you what: We'll give you a coupon to get a free pizza. But, you can only redeem it after Winter of 2022.".

That's Attack on Titan.

It was so close, closer than any anime has been in years to beating Hunter X Hunter as my favorite anime of all time. (A Pizza that was never finished...*sigh*), but at the very last minute, they not only totally screwed the pooch, but they also have the nerve to make you wait almost a year to finish watching them screw it. A season that appeared to be a fantastic final arc of revenge for the citizens of Paradis that we have watched suffer relentless torture for years; suddenly spirals into a quagmire of flawed logic, senseless motivations, and just confusing decisions that make little to no sense whatsoever. Instead of the bloody, brutal, and oh, so fulfilling comeuppance for the nation of Marley you expect (and the anime teases after the first few episodes), you're left at the end scratching your head as to "why?". Or, you would be if you weren't so astonished at the balls of them to actually make you wait nearly ANOTHER YEAR for a conclusion.

Note to Attack on Titan creators: When you say "Final Season", FINISH THE DAMN SEASON. Then you can do your cash grab "After the Final Season Movie." This was nothing but a calculated decision to keep the AoT on the minds of fans for another year, so they can sell stuff before wrapping up the show and seeing their fanbase move on to other things. It's a trash tactic.

But this show will NOT be on my mind, because the ending is so dumb, so bereft of any logic, I have no desire to wait a year to see it play out. And that's really sad to say seeing how much I loved this anime over the years. But, I'm not going to reward stupidity and greed.

HERE COME THE SPOILERS:

So, what makes Attack on Titan: Final Season so stupid? AoT has spent years building up great characters forged by the pure hell that Marley unleashed on them, without them ever knowing why it was happening to them. When Season 3 revealed what the reason was, and what was truly going on, it was one of the most stunning swerves in Anime History. So, when the Final Season comes around, you figure that everything is going to come to a satisfying conclusion from the moment Eren reveals himself to Reiner in the Liberio Internment Zone.

And man, what an enthralling, captivating, and amazing battle that was. Almost as good as Perfect Game in season 3. When the Scout Regime busts in to back up Eren, and you watch them just wreck Marley, it was fantastic to watch. You didn't know how they planned to bring Marley down exactly, seeing how they were a superpower, and Paradis is just a small island, but you figured they'd have some kind of masterplan. After all, it appeared as though Eren and the Scouts had been infiltrating and setting up this attack for years.

But, when a much more sullen and "broken" Eren finally returns to the airship, you could already tell something was amiss. The tearful Mikasa, Armin hesitant to reach out to take Eren's hand, something was wrong. And then when Levi kicked him in the face, you realize this wasn't a part of some masterplan from the Paradis brass to eliminate the enemy that nearly drove them to extinction. It's revealed that Eren has actually gone rouge, joined up with his brother Zeke of all people, and purposely drew Paradis into attacking Marley by making them come and rescue him because he's the Founding Titan and they can't let him die or fall into the hands of Marley.

Okay, okay...I can get with this. My thought was "Clearly, Eren and Zeke have hatched a plan where Eren will eat all of the Titans that Marley has, get taken back to Paradis, then when the world attacks Paradis because Eren killed all their dignitaries, Zeke and Armin (Who is secretly in on the plan, so I thought), would feed Annie to Eren, then sacrifice themselves, allow themselves to be eaten by Eren, and then Eren would become the reincarnation of Ymir or something, and destroy the militaries of the world with his power, ending the threat to all Eldians. Then in some noble sacrifice, do something with his power to eliminate all Titans everywhere (keeping his mission to destroy all Titans from the first season) and then sacrifice himself. Thus destroying the nation that tortured them, saving Eldians from becoming Titans, and dying with a noble sacrifice as a tearful Mikasa cries over his and Armin's grave. The End. Sure, things didn't go according to plan in Marley and they only got one, but during the war, Eren will get the Cart and the Jaw, with the help of the Beast and Colossal titan, and then they'll finish their noble plan."

WRONG.

Instead, Erin sits in his cell for most of the season back in Paradis while everyone tries to figure out why he sided with Zeke, pretty much their greatest enemy. Eren just broods there while the anime focuses more on the Marleyans inside of Paradis. The mysterious and fanatical Yelena, the super irritating Gabi (A brainwashed warrior candidate, who I want to die so badly because of who she killed.) her sidekick Falco, Niccolo (A captured chef), and Zeke. What should have been the war to end all ages, was instead replaced with political intrigue, flashbacks and stories of morality, and choosing peace over bloodshed.

Because Eren stayed locked up by the military so long, a revolution forms around him as a savior type figure, with Eldians seeing him as the savior that dealt a huge blow to their oppressors. Only thing is, this was all a part of the plan. Eren was plotting the revolution with Floch, Zeke, and Yelena. Eren helped to mastermind an assassination and coup plot that not only killed Zachary but nearly killed Mikasa and Armin in the process and killed several scout recruits. Not ONLY this, but the man was actually plotting with Zeke, Floch, and Yelena to poison the military and police with wine tainted with Zeke's spinal fluid. The poison makes it so that if he yells, it turns them into titans that Zeke can control. Something Zeke used to kill ALL of Levi's men. All of them. Eren was actually down with Zeke poisoning the entire leadership of his country that he fought at all costs to protect for years and turning them into the very titans he despised. Historia could've drunk the wine. Pixis DID drink it. Hange, Levi, anyone. Hell, Jean and Connie almost drank it. Eren was suddenly down with the transformation and death of anyone he knew, even close allies.

So, surely, there has to be some kind of heroic motivation that Eren has for all of this. And it has to be a pretty good one, because not only is he killing Eldians, threating to turn people into titans and throwing the whole country into turmoil after making them a target for extermination by all nations of the world, he also beats the living hell out of Armin, and tells Mikasa he's hated her since she was a child, because she's a slave to Ackerman blood and only protects him because of the memories of previous generations of Ackermanns.

Clearly, he's being so villainous because he knows that the will and memories of the founder and previous titans are controlling their fates, so he wants to free them from it. Or, he has to separate himself from his friends so they don't get caught up in his coup to destroy the nations of the world using Paradis as a staging ground. They have to live on free after he's dead and not be punished, right? It has to be something REALLY noble. Like, Lelouch Lamperouge's "Zero Requiem" noble.

What could be this noble plan for which the heroic Eren, who has been willing to sacrifice everything to free his people from the threat of the Titans and now the threat from Marley and the nations of the world, has thrown away all his friends and the respect they had for him? What magnificent plan has he fomented that is worth him being willing to watch any ally die and laugh at their deaths?

GENOCIDE.

But, not genocide targeting the Marleyans. No.

He intends to commit genocide via mass-sterilization against the ELDIANS. His own people.

Because somehow, Eren Yeager, the dude you've watched for years fight to save his people from the brink of extinction time and again, has come to the conclusion that the only way to save his people is to prevent them from having children. If there are no Eldians born, then no Eldians have to suffer. The man who fought for years to prevent the extinction of his people has suddenly decided the best way to save them is...extinction. Logic +100.

That's the masterplan that Zeke and Eren have cooked up. Zeke, who they led you to believe was a loyal Marleyan puppet from a child, actually found out that if the Founding Titan touches a Titan with Royal Blood, then the Founding Titan (Eren) can alter the DNA of all Eldians. He decides that the best way to save Eldians is to prevent them from having babies. But, he can't make that decision, that decision has to fall to the Founder. And so, with amazing ease, Zeke convinces Eren this is the best way to go about saving Eldians and the people of Paradis.

And so that's why Eren has gone full-on villain. Because killing off your own people is the best way to save them from their oppressors. And that's just science, man. 9 out of 10 doctors agree.

If you've been watching AoT for any amount of time, I don't even have to point out to you the reasons why this is senseless. If you've followed the Eren Yeager character this long, you already know this is dumb beyond belief. This whole premise is just stupid. Why do you even have to make it so complicated? Just have them kill Marleyans until they die, have a great ending, and go down as the best anime ever made. Why did you have to screw it all up with this stupid "We have to end the cycle of violence" theme that makes NO SENSE?

And that theme is all throughout the anime. The Eldians repeat over and over how sick they are of all the mindless deaths. They act as though they've been killing Marleyans as often as Marleyans have been killing them. Marley was orchestrating their deaths for generations and Paradis only just found out they even existed four years ago. They've never done anything to them. Even if they wholeheartedly accepted the myth that Eldians suppressed the world centuries ago, it's illogical that people who have nothing to do with that would want to seek peace with their oppressors. As though they've been slaughtering them in warfare the past four years or something. Their only encounters with Marley since they knew they existed was to take the sailors they sent hostage. They didn't even kill them. It makes no sense. Why wouldn't Jean tell his men to throw an enemy out of the air balloon after what Gabi did? What does he mean by "Will the cycle ever end?" What cycle? You never attacked Marley before that moment. What does a certain father mean by "My little girl invaded another country and got shot?", she went to rescue one of her own and died in the process. She was fighting the people who filled your orphanage with orphaned kids whose parents died brutal deaths. What the hell are you talking about?

This illogical mindset is amplified in Eren and Zeke to the point of sheer ludicrousness. End the suffering of your people by ending your people? It's so dumb and half-baked they couldn't even bother to name the plot correctly. They kept calling it "Euthanasia Plan". Euthanasia is the assisted suicide of a person seeking to die. What you are doing is genocide via mass-sterilization. At least name the end-game plot of your anime correctly. Geez... To draw a comparison, they kept using imagery that compared the Eldians to the Ashkenazi Jews and Marley to Nazi Germany. Imagine if the Ashkenazi's said: "Hey, the best way to stop the suffering of this holocaust is to make ourselves go extinct.". How dumb is that?

There's a second half to all of this coming all the way in winter of 2022. (I thought it was only going to be a final episode.) But, unless they do some equally ridiculous turnaround of everything they've built up in this half, I can't see how they can salvage this nonsense. I can't even wrap my mind around how such a fantastic anime, an anime that has been one of the best ever for a long time, could end in such a ridiculous and infuriating fashion.

Literally, all you had to do was have one war. All you had to do was the same thing you've been doing since 2013: Have a series of mind-blowing fights. That's it. Have the Eldians rise up and kill the Marleyans and free themselves. Or, even a dark ending where they fail and die, opening up the possibility for a sequel down the road where Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Levi, etc...are martyrs and a new generation must rise up to follow in their footsteps. You didn't have to complicate things with needless coups, senseless character changes (seriously, what the hell was up with Floch?), ridiculous lessons in morality and peace, or convoluted alliances that switched at a moment's notice. All you had to do was keep it simple. As simple as putting down roach traps in your pizzeria.

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Man, each season of Golden Kamuy just keeps getting better and better. This was easily the best season so far. It really makes me look forward to what happens in season 4. Unlike previous seasons, that focused on all the different groups looking for the gold, this season focused on one issue: Sugimoto getting to Asirpa to tell her he's still alive and warn her of who the real enemy is. Along the way, the story does a good job of blending in action, comedy and suspense. But, it also really focuses on filling out some more of the characters besides Sugimoto and Asirpa. You learn a lot more about Wilk, Kiroranke, Ogata (Who is turning into one of anime's finest villains), and even some of the more tertiary characters.

At the end of the chase, you're treated to one hell of a suspenseful finale, that doesn't fail to entertain in any way, and manages to swerve you pretty well, to boot. Golden Kamuy is a hidden gem in the anime world. A completely unique world, quirky humor that borders on the insane, unforgettable characters and moments, and tight, realistic action. If you loved the previous two seasons, you'll love this one, too.

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