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Some spoilers for S1, but not major spoilers. Heavy spoilers for Episode 1 tho.

I think I can say with complete confidence that I have never seen a show quite like Symphogear, and I do mean that every way possible. Despite the tags it has on MAL and Anilist, it is technically not a mahou shoujo in the traditional sense. Its technical term is mecha musume, where mechanical elements are used to enhance the transformations of the girls, which makes sense because we see all these kinds of machines and different weapons be used constantly throughout the series. From sawblades, to a giant scythe, to giant ... swords with boosters on them, and so on. One of the girls even uses guns and rockets as weapons, but you can also give monsters the middle finger by just punching them good. The gears that the girls use is called Symphogears, or relics that can be used by singing to activate them and even increase their powers, even if it could lead to their own death if the situation calls for it.

The reason why I decided to watch this show from beginning to end is because after I finished the wonderfully tranquil and emotional Aria series, I was itching for some action, and after my Discord buddies recommended it and I saw the protagonist Hibiki Tachibana punch an actual mountain on YouTube, I became convinced that I needed to watch this show. Plus, AMQ (Anime Music Quiz) kept screwing me over by using the openings in the show, so I figured that watching it would help me out. But the point is that I wanted some dumb fun action show, and while it can be a bit frustrating, I think I got that and more out of this series overall. Despite some issues that I have with it, I can say that I really enjoyed this series throughout its run, and it’s quite impressive that it spanned throughout the 2010’s from 2012 to as recent as 2019, even though that clearly wasn’t the intention at first.

So, before I begin talking about the first season, I should mention a few background details. First of all, this show was literally just made to promote Tsubasa’s seiyuu's singing career and there wasn’t really a plan for the rest of the seasons. This is obvious when you finish S1 where it ends on a pretty happy and conclusive note. Thing is, the OST did so well that the show continued, even with an entirely different studio. Encourage Films was the studio that made S1, and then the show was continued by Satelight. Satelight also co-produced Fairy Tail, and made Log Horizon as well, and they may have been somewhat involved in the production of S1.

The other thing is that the director for S1, Tatsufumi Itou, also sadly passed away due to brainstem hemorrhage and died on May 23rd. However, his death was not officially announced until July 1st because of the request of his wife Mariko Itou. He was only 55 years old when he passed away. He was a key animator and has storyboarded for many different anime, such as Princess Tutu, The Aria Series, Casshern Sins, and many more. He also directed Shugo Chara! Party. Regardless of my opinions or anyone else’s opinions on S1, the fact of the matter is that he helped create this series, and the result was something that flourished and became popular in Japan and has grown some popularity in the West. My point being is that he deserves respect for his work, and I can only hope that his wife and friends are doing well and that he can rest in peace.

To begin with this series, Miku Kohinata goes through a destroyed city, caused by some kind of disaster. She’s carrying some kind of flowers in the rain, symbolizing that she lost someone important to her. After getting off of a bus, she goes to a grave with the name “Hibiki Tachibana”, which also has a photo right above it. She starts crying over the loss of her best friend, and while all of this was going on, an ominous poem about a little bird continued to sing until it coughed up blood, and she also mentions how her friend continued to sing until her last breath, hinting at what’s to come.

Two years earlier, we met our protagonist, who is a high school girl named Hibiki Tachibana, a fairly normal high school girl who goes to a concert by herself because her best friend Miku Kohinata invited her but couldn’t actually make it to the concert due to her aunt getting in an accident. Hibiki doesn’t really follow the two idols that are about to sing, but she goes anyways because a free concert ticket is a free concert ticket. In the background, one of the idols and a main character, Tsubasa Kazanari, is a bit worried about how the concert will play out. Her best friend Kanade Amou tells her to be more open minded and optimistic, telling her that singing is fun, and they should just enjoy singing. Kanade is the more extroverted and outgoing of the two while Tsubasa is the more introverted girl of the Zwei Wing idol duo. They also seem to work for the government, and Section 2, a government agency who specializes in saving people from disasters led by Genjurou Kazanari, who’s Tsubasa’s uncle and Hibiki’s eventually martial arts teacher as well as action movie bro with her.

So, the concert begins, but the duo can only sing one song before the concert is attacked by Noise, monsters that are capable of reducing a living organism to nothing more than ash. They kill a lot of people in the concert, and of course, this is where the singing magical girl fights come into play. Kanade and Tsubasa transform and use their weapons to stop the Noise, but they’re quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, and Hibiki, who seems to be the only survivor from the audience (this comes into play later), is attacked and is unable to escape. Eventually, one of Kanade’s armor pieces is damaged and is lodged right into Hibiki’s chest (Again, this comes into play, very soon might I add). Kanade chooses to save her by singing her climax song, a song that pushes the wielder to their absolute limits, and past them. To the point where it can cause either severe internal damage, or even death, which is exactly what was mentioned right at the start. All the Noise are destroyed, and Tsubasa loses her best friend. This causes Tsubasa to become a solo idol, causes her to have an internal struggle throughout this season and later on, and Hibiki to eventually become a Symphogear two years later at the end of episode 1 to save a child.

Needless to say, this show starts off pretty dark. Darker than I had expected, and this does work in S1’s favor…. sometimes. Other times, it can be quite frustrating to watch it drag on with drama, especially the drama involving Miku. For what it’s worth, I was interested in seeing how the rest of this season would play out, especially since people often claim this is the worst one.

After Hibiki saves the kid from Noise, the kid is reunited with her mother and Hibiki is now a Symphogear girl working with Tsubasa, with Hibiki’s special ability is punching everything in sight, and Tsubasa can conjure swords, make it rain with smaller laser beam swords, and make giant swords that fall from the sky. Tsubasa butts’ heads with Hibiki because at first, she doesn’t really want to work with someone else, and when it’s revealed that Kanade’s Gungnir is the same as Hibiki’s, which is still stored in her chest unlike Tsubasa who uses a pendant to transform, it causes Tsubasa to further put up walls, calling herself a sword that cannot feel anything. Eventually, Tsubasa fights Hibiki and she refuses because she doesn’t want to fight the person she’s working with and is trying to be friends with. Genjurou stops Tsubasa, and Hibiki says that she’ll work hard to replace Kanade, which is the worst thing you could say to her given her situation. If nothing else, I certainly feel for Tsubasa’s plight and can sympathize with her. At the same time, Hibiki is trying to be friends with Tsubasa, but is continuously denied. I do like their dynamic and Hibiki is at least endearing, if nothing else (aside from GX, that was awful). Tsubasa eventually does admit that she loves singing to a concert that she’s doing in episode 9 and decides to go on a tour around the world, but that happens later on.

What does annoy me about Hibiki in this season is that she keeps saying that she really wants to save people, which is repetitive. Miku even calls it a hobby, which is really dumb, and not in the fun way. Do fire fighters save people because it’s a hobby or is it because it’s their job? This is a reoccurring plot point, which is frankly done better in G, but is done worse in GX. Outside of that, she’s an optimistic and energetic girl, despite all of the harassment and nonsense she had to deal due to the concert attack, which is also a reoccurring plot point I’ll talk about more in later seasons. She also doesn’t want to fight other people, and would rather talk things out with her enemies, which is more focused on in the later seasons as well. This can either cause endless frustration like in GX or can actually be a well defined part of her character like in G, XV, and especially in AXZ. In this season, it’s not a big focus aside from when she fights Yukine Chris, the fourth and final Symphogear girl in this season.

Yukine Chris is a unique girl to say the least. Despite her angry attitude and somewhat violent outbursts against her enemies, she is the kind big sister type of character, especially when it comes to two different girls who are introduced in G. Before she becomes that girl, she is initially hostile towards the other two Symphogear girls, particularly Hibiki, who doesn’t want to fight against her. Eventually, her Symphogear transforms into Ichaival, a gear which is capable of shooting bullets, laser arrows, and giant missiles. After getting defated and later saved by Hibiki, the villain of S1, Finé, decides to leave her behind and steal the Nehushtan armor from Chris. What’s interesting about Chris is that she suffers from self loathing due to the destruction that she blames herself for and claims that she hates singing because of that. She grows as a character in later seasons and resolves her inner demons with the help of the other girls. She eventually helps fighting the Noise and Fine in this season and becomes one of the three main Symphogear girls.

Next character is Miku Kohinata, Hibiki’s best friend and roommate in high school. She’s generally a cheery and helps Hibiki with her homework, but as the season goes on, she worries about Hibiki’s consistent disappearances due to her new double life. She eventually discovers that Hibiki is a Symphogear when Hibiki saved her life during a fight. What annoys me is that Miku is angry with Hibiki about keeping it a secret, when Hibiki was obviously operating under basic superhero rules of a secret identity and had to keep it a secret because the government told her too. This gets resolved in the episode afterwards, and I genuinely think this drama could’ve been cut out from S1 without much change. It just feels pointless and annoying. Beyond that, Miku’s relationship with Hibiki does get the spotlight in other seasons like G and especially in XV, but we’ll talk more about that later.

I don’t have too much to say about Genjurou Kazanari, but he is Tsubasa’s uncle and commander of Section 2, a government agency responsible for dealing with disasters for the Japanese government, including issues that have to be dealt with by the gears, like the Noise and other supernatural threats. He’s portrayed as the caring and levelheaded commander of the group, and often guides the gears to defeat their enemies. Despite being a human unable to fight Noise, he’s also capable of training the gears and he’s even action movie buddies with Hibiki, which is something I find charming. There’s also Ryoko Sakurai, the head scientist of Section 2 and is responsible for a lot of research of the gears, which she calls the Sakurai theory. She also speaks some hilariously awful Engrish to American soldiers, and it’s so unintentionally funny to hear it. She’s portrayed as a mysterious, but also very cunning scientist that knows more than she lets on.

Finally, there’s the main villain, Finé. She’s a character that gets referenced in every season following this one (except for GX), and beyond some interesting lore that gets explored in AXZ and XV, I found her character to be uninteresting and shallow. She wants to destroy the moon to remove the Curse of Balal, a curse that apparently makes it difficult for humans to understand one another, although the true purpose of the curse wouldn’t be revealed until the final season, XV. Eventually, Fine is defeated in a pretty cool final fight for the season. It’s also nice that there’s a little song with all three of the girls right at the end of the season to reflect on what has happened and what they learned.

Next, we’ll talk about the art and animation for this season. The character designs are very different in the next four seasons in comparison to this one, and honestly, I prefer the character designs in the next couple of seasons, because the character designs in S1 look a little too…simple. Characters go off model at times, and the fights are generally uninteresting aside from the final fight. There’s a good amount of still frames too, so maybe the success of the OST for this season allowed the team to improve upon the other four seasons visually, especially in regard to XV, which looks amazing.

Last but certainly not least, we have the voice acting and OST. I love Hibiki’s voice actress in particular, Aoi Yukki, who is a prolific voice actress and seiyuu. She brings so much energy and optimism to her role, and when she sings and screams, it feels really natural. I feel the same way for all of the characters, and I feel like they did great on the songs as well. Speaking of the songs, the entire show is filled with really good rock and pop songs throughout the series. They’re jams to listen too, and I enjoy all of them for one reason or another.

All in all, S1 is a bit of a mixed bag. While I found Tsubasa and Chris’s arcs to be compelling enough to follow, I found the villain to be bland, and I was annoyed by the drama surrounding Hibiki and Miku. There’s not too much to this season that hasn’t been done before by other magical girl shows, but the foundation is there. It took itself too seriously, but I thought S1 was an ok start to a series that I ended up loving. We’ll talk about that more in the next review for G and possibly GX as well.

I would recommend reading the two previous reviews before checking out this one, but at last, we made it to Aria the Origination. The conclusion of the Aria series and a large part of why I decided to watch Aria in general. Granted, a Discord server I'm on has the majority of the users there raving about it, which is a part of the reason, but I was really excited to see how this series would come to a close and why it was so beloved. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Animation and I loved Natural, but Origination is such an emotionally charged conclusion ... that it transcends most anime for me. I haven't connected with an anime quite like this since Sangatsu no Lion. It really is a thing of beauty. Now with that said, let's get started!

The improved animation quality from Arietta remains the same here, with Origination doing away with the 4:3 aspect ratio and makes it fullscreen. Also, Origination does make the real to life impression of Venice even more impressive with beautiful scenery and backgrounds. Episode 2 of Origination is probably the best example of this, with beautiful flowers and a Wisteria tree as well that was hidden away from the rest of the city. While exploring Neo-Venenzia isn't the main focus of the season like it was in Natural, it still gives the impression that Origination is a beautiful way to conclude the series.

One thing worth mentioning is that Cait Sith and the other supernatural elements of the last season are not present in this season at all, opting instead to focus on ending the character arcs of the Aria series. While I do adore the conclusions of the characters, I do kind of wish that we at least mentioned Cait Sith one more time. He is brought up in Avvenire, but it would have been nice to mention him. Regardless, this season is more about the main trio ending their character arcs and becoming Prima Undines once and for all.

At first glance, Origination seems like it's business as usual, starting off by focusing on Akari herself. We are reintroduced to the cast, like Akari is with Aika and Alice for practice, Akatsuki studying with AL for his promotion exam, Woody doing his usual job of delivering packages, and all the mentors and the students meeting up in the Aria company to eat together. The students talk about good moments with their mentors during the festival while they were giving tours to customers, like Alicia with her soothing words to the customers, Akira saving an idiot customer from falling into the water, and Athena making goofy faces to make a crying baby laugh. The episode concludes with the mentors telling them that they still have a long way to go and tell them not to be complacent with your skills and continue to improve. It's a nice way to bring focus on the fact that the end is soon enough.

There are some interesting episodes to start off with, like the second episode where a lady requests a ride with Akari as the tour guide, or one where Akari inspires a chocolate salesman. Episode 4 was a particularly good episode where at the request of Alicia, Akari decides to work for the traghetto. It's where two singles use a single gondola as a ferry to transports a bunch of luggage and people across the city. Akari meets some other singles like Ayumi from Himeya and Atora and Anzu from Orange Planet. Anzu is a little depressed because she failed her promotion exam once again, and we hear from Atora that becoming a Prima Undine via a promotion exam is significantly harder than becoming a single. Atora and Anzu both have the same instructor, and she's apparently a very strict woman. Ayumi on the other hand is uninterested in becoming a Prima Undine and wants to continue working in the traghetto to get to know the people there better. By the end of the episode, the others admire Akari's skills as she was able to work on the traghetto immediately, and Atora and Anzu both reflect on what they can do as far as becoming a Prima Undine.

Where this season really begins to shine is episode 5, which primarily focuses on Aika and Akira. It starts off normally with the three singles all practicing when summer returns to Aqua. They all go get lunch after once again witnessing Athena's incredible singing and Alicia's graceful sulling. During lunch, they all reflect on how talented they are, or as to how Alice puts it: "Those two were bestowed with natural talent. They're natural geniuses, don't you think?". This unintentionally forces Aika to reflect on how Akira potentially felt when compared to her friends, and makes her afraid of her own inadequacies. Akira explains that she was also somewhat depressed over how inadequate she felt compared to her amazingly talented friends, but by the end was inspired to make herself become a prodigy. It explores the idea that while natural talent and skills can certainly get you far in life, hard work can also achieve talent in and of itself. That even without some incredible skill unique to you, you can still prevail through hard work and patience.

Episode 6 is more about how Alicia goes about teaching. It does show how Alicia goes for a more gentle approach when it comes to teaching and how she is that guiding hand to lead rather than someone who would just tell you got it wrong. It's nice to get an episode focusing on Alicia's perspective. Episode 7 is simply a beautiful episode through and through. When Alicia and Akari meet up with an old friend of Alicia, who also used to be apart of the Aria company but retired due to getting married, and Grandma who also happens to be in the area. When Grandma was younger and was a Prima Undine, she stumbles upon a cat. This next part is difficult to explain without spoilers, so I'll just put a spoiler tag here for this part only:

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SPOILER:
So by the time Grandma (Her actual name is Akino Ametsuchi) meets Aria, she's already an accomplished Prima Undine working for Himeya. She has worked there for about 14 years, and while she does love her job, it can also be tiring since she gets constant bookings for tours every single day. When she sees Aria just staring off to the ocean in the middle of the city, she wonders what he’s there for. He’s also a stray cat by this point, so he honestly looks a lot more slim in this flashback. As he’s even willing to wait outside while it’s raining. We never truly find out why he was staring off into the distance, but staying the night outside with him made her realize her want to appreciate the beauty of the world, and so she founded the Aria company with President Aria. This last bit of the flashback is also accompanied by a beautiful song in the background. The song beautifully reflects on these events, describing Neo-Venenzia as a “town I have yet to discover”, representing Akino’s want for exploring and appreciating her surroundings. It’s such a beautiful way to see how the Aria company began.

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The strongest part of the season and the entire show would have to be the second half. These last 6 episodes in particular is such an emotionally satisfying end for all of the characters in the show. Remember in the Natural review where I mentioned how Alice doesn’t get quite as much focus as Akari and Aika as far as character arcs are concerned? This time, Alice is the focus of at least three episodes of the season, and I’d argue episode 9 is the best in the entire show because of this. Originally, Alice was more shy and less willing to talk than her two friends, but these episodes are where she fully understands and talks about her feelings regarding her clumsy mentor Athena, or how when Athena and Alice are together, she explains how you’re able to convey your emotions into song and how others would be able to understand those feelings as well. Or how Alice would have a hard time hanging out with her friends due to story related reasons. Alice truly becomes her own in these three episodes and grows from that shy and timid girl we met in the beginning.

Sadly, Aika doesn’t get as much focus as Akari or Alice does in this season. One could argue that thanks to Natural and the two episodes in this season focusing on Aika, as well as her conclusion at the beginning of episode 11 of this season that she already had a complete arc, but it would have been nice to have just one last episode focusing solely on her, but the last two episodes focus on Akari and Alicia’s relationship and rapping up their relationship on a neat little bow. Bringing Akari’s efforts to become a Prima to an end and also looking towards the future regarding the Aria company. Alicia and Akari’s reconciliation towards the end of the show really pulls at one’s heartstrings. It reinforces the main theme of this season, and that would be change. How change can be great, or sad, but regardless, one must move forward, even if they’re afraid of change.

Aria the Origination: Picture Drama
Picture Drama is a 7 episode mini series with different individual stories. I believe the reason why it’s called Picture Drama is because it literally has no animation, and it just has the characters talking. I don’t have too much to say aside from it being a decently enjoyable time waster. Each episode is only seven minutes long, and my favorite one of the bunch would probably be the last one focusing on Akari and Grandma. It explores on Akari’s worries after the end of Origination and how Grandma tells her that it’s ok to express your anxieties and worries to the people you care about, including Alicia. Most of Picture Drama is either a nice relaxing little episode like the pajama episode, or can be surprisingly funny like episode 4, which plays out like some kind of weird ass war thing between the three companies, with Akatsuki as the narrator. It’s just a nice, quick watch.

Aria the Avvenire

Last but not least, we have Aria the Avvenire! Taking place a few years after Origination, it presents the three main girls now being successful Undine's and teaching their own students. One thing that you'll notice immediately is the animation has gotten even better than before. It's genuinely movie quality stuffed into 3 24 minute episodes. Everything I said about Origination animation wise is improved tenfold and everything looks so crisp and beautiful. Especially the backgrounds, which are honestly wallpaper worthy.

Aside from that, it primarily focuses on Akari's student, who is a single and I won't say who because it's a neat surprise. Beyond that, it also focuses on some past elements, like Cait Sith making one last appearance, and how the students of our original trio are very much alike their mentors, which could be said about our original cast. The final episode is a touching conclusion to the series, with the new trio setting up a party with all of the other girls. Akari even points out that saying goodbye is sad, but that sadness reflects on how much you love that person, almost reflecting on the fact that this is the end of Aria (Well, the movie will come out next year, but the point still stands.)

If there’s one way I would describe Aria the Origination, I would call it an emotionally cathartic end to such a lovely series. Everything about it is so soothing but is still filled with so many legitimate life lessons that anyone can take from it. It’s the pinnacle of a slice of life, and one that I would recommend to anyone.

Aria the Natural is at least twice the length of both the prequel and sequel that followed it. Production wise, it's about the same, but what makes it an improvement in comparison to the original is a stronger sense of focus. As I stated in the previous review, Animation was the foundation as it introduced the characters and setting while Natural builds upon those ideas and creates a stronger narrative. While it's also mostly episodic, it does have compelling character arcs and explores the supernatural elements of the series. The wonderful city of miracles Neo-Venenzia gets explored more as opposed to the original work, and ... there are some very strong character arcs to accompany those adventures, mainly focusing on Akari and Aika as far as character arcs are concerned. Now, I would recommend reading the Animation review first, as I talked about the characters for the most part in the review. This one is more focused on the episodes and the character arcs that emerge from them. Now, with that said, let's begin!

The world of Aqua is given a greater focus in this season, and it becomes clear that there's more to the city of Neo-Venenzia than meets the eye. The first episode makes this clear, as the Carnevale festival begins and Ai makes a return to the city to visit during this time. Before it happens, President Aria disappears, and Akari explains that he leaves every time this festival occurs. Everyone, aside from the main characters, wears masks for the festivals (not the kind we have to wear, lmao), and the Cat King is mentioned and houses secret meetings for cats. When Akari and Ai both follow a small creature with a robe and a mask, and they meet the Cat King or Cassanova as a result. A massive black cat that can stand on his two legs. He gives them both flowers, and the Cat King, or Cait Sith, and his followers disappear. This is what shows us and Akari and Ai that there are wondrous secrets in Neo-Venenzia. Honestly, I believed that Cait Sith would be a one off appearance, but he makes a lot of appearances in the show than you would expect. He's a crucial character to the show and helps Akari grow to love the city even more than before. This season is far more focused on building the world of Aqua than the other two seasons.

Before we get into that, I must talk about two characters. First, there's a new character named Albery Pitt, who was actually introduced in the last episode of Animation, but he's more present here. He's usually just called AL and he's a childhood friend for Akatsuki. He's an apprentice gnome and he works to help maintain Aqua's gravity levels. Aika is also shown to have a major crush on him, although this is mostly a background element until one particular episode towards the end of the season. There are a few episodes focusing on this crush. Another thing worth noting about him is that he likes to make "old man jokes", much to Aika's annoyance and the other's confusion. He appears to be much younger than everyone else, but he's actually 19, so about as old as Alicia and Akatsuki. This is due to his growth being slowed by the gravitational forces underneath Aqua, but he's still capable of growing despite his age. He's intelligent and knowledgeable about space.

The second character I'll mention is the guy I should've talked more about last time, President Aria. He's Akari's goofy cat companion who is often present in many of Akari's misadventures around the city. What's interesting about Aria and other Aqua cats like President Hime from the HImeya company and President Maa of Orange Planet is that they seem to understand what humans are saying to them, and Aria is a very intelligent cat in particular. He not only can fully comprehend what everyone else is saying, but he also can stand on two legs, and move his other two like arms. He makes strange noises to respond to his friends. Another thing worth noting is that he seems to be very old for a cat. Grandma was the one who founded the Aria company and named it after him, and he looked just like he did in the show, but that's a detail I'll get to in Origination. And he was around back when Alicia was Grandma's apprentice, until the present. It looks like he hasn't aged a day. He's like Will Smith. Aside from that, he also gets some interactions with the other cats, like President Hime, who he tries to flirt with, but she doesn't seem to care, and President Maa only seems interested in biting his chubby belly as a running gag. Finally, as a cat, he seems to be a part of this cat group alongside Cait Sith and other cats.

Back to the more supernatural bits, what's interesting is like the sci-fi elements, it's never really explained because that's not the point of the show, it's the sense of wonder that they bring Akari and the viewers. Unlike the sci-fi elements, however, we do get glimpses of this fantastical world. The frequent appearances of Cait Sith and his group of cats are the main supernatural element. The main thing about the supernatural elements is that Akari is the one who experiences them, and she usually experiences them alone. Such as the headless ghost lady, and the fox. While episodes like those have ominous connotations to them, they end with a nice resolution and some reflection of the episode. The cat group shows up in different locations and Akari sees them in at different points in the story. There was this one episode where Aika and Akari try to follow Aria to find out where he's going, but after getting lost in a Legend of Zelda lost woods kind of scenario (Not literally in a forest, mind you), Aria leads them out of the abandoned building area and Akari catches a glimpse of the group of cats before they leave. There are other times where they show up and that reaches a head in episode 19, where they leave and never show up in Neo-Venenzia. Cait Sith only reveals himself to people like Akari, who has this constant sense of wonder and admiration for the city, and their encounters only reinforce that core idea.

The supernatural elements are more of a background element, however. The main thing about Natural is the stronger sense of community that the city presents. We are shown far more locations, and we meet all kinds of different people throughout the season. We see all the different activities and festivals that these people participate in, like the Carnevale festival or the Night Shine Chime festival, where they make sounds and emit light in the darkness. People take boats to the water and gather around to show off the lights before they burn and fall into the ocean. They say "Tante Grazie" or "Many Thanks" after it falls into the endless abyss that is the ocean. Akari's light falls into the ocean but leaves behind a night shine crystal, symbolizing Akari's sentimentality and attachment to the city and friends.

At the center of all of these events is Akari, who allows the audience to see the setting unfold alongside her. She's still an Undine in training, so she believes that she has a lot to learn, but it feels like all of these supernatural or otherwise normal events are often happening around her. It might be because of her kind and caring demeanor, or it might be because of her sense of wonder like I pointed out before, but regardless, she's a charming lense to the audience. Take episode 10 for example. Aika and Alice are following Akari around because she draws people in due to her friendly and sociable nature. There was this one guy she meets that Aika and Alice both find suspicious, so they decide to follow them. It was later revealed that he is a street performer, and he has Akari help him in his show to entertain kids. Or take episode 4 for example, where she travels with the mailman around the city because his gondola was broken, and Akari would share one with him to travel around. They meet up with a boy named Sora (who's also voiced by Mokoto Kumai, who also voiced Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. Seriously, they sound the same, lmao), who wrote a letter to apologize to his teacher for saying that he was glad that she was gone. She was leaving because she was getting married, and they took him there to give the letter to her directly. Akari, using her backward paddling skills (It makes her go faster), was able to get there on time. There are also the two gondola episodes, where she must get a new one because of how old her gondola is, and Alicia and Akari reminisce about all of the good memories they had with it. Things like this show that Akari is willing to help others without anything in return, and it's a joy seeing her interact with other characters, or learning more about Neo-Venenzia.

Alice's arc isn't as focused on as Akari's or Aika's, but it does show her slowly try to get out of her bubble that she puts herself in. The episode where she invites Akari and AIka to Orange Planet would be the first example. She's invited by the other pairs to a party, but she looks like she's going to decline via the letter they gave her. This is because she believes they don't like her and that she's afraid they wouldn't have anything to talk about together. Athena starts combing her hair after their hot bath, and she says that people are like mirrors. If you smile, they smile. If you're nervous, they're nervous. President Maa climbing her bed to bite President Aria's stomach also ironically inspired her to become more socially active and also more expressive. Another example is when Alice is trying to give herself bizarre rules, like when she wants it to make it all the way to Orange Planet from her school by jumping on shadows. What sounds like a really weird and childish episode ends on a really sweet note to teach Alice to realize that it's ok to lean on others and ask for help. This arc culminates into a grand finale in Origination, but more on that in that review.

Finally, there's Aika. Her arc is more pronounced than the other two, as, after an accident, she goes through a bit of an identity crisis, and she wanted to be just like Alicia, and while Akari and Alice try to cheer her up, but it doesn't really work. Akira shows up and tries to cheer up Akira in her way. After what she said, Aika goes through a transformation, regaining her sense of pride and competitive spirit. She still has more episodes focused on her, like when she gets sick and worries that Alice and Akari don't need her, or when Aika goes for a different style but is worried about how AL will react. Stuff like that helps flesh her character out and makes her more relatable to the viewer. She's a really solid character that you do want to see succeed because she's trying her best to and helps Akari and Alice as well. Like Alice, Aika's arc gets resolved later on in Origination.

To wrap up, all of the characters meet up for a party on a large boat and the three main leads organize it themselves. Ai goes silent in the emails for a while due to personal reasons, so Akari is worried that she wouldn't make it for Redentore. A festival based on a festival in Venice where they would go on boats and party till the sun came up to celebrate the beginning of Fall. Akira and the other Water Fairies make the girls organize it as a test. They have to have food and entertainment. As the party is set up and is about to leave, they decide to start leaving, but Ai just barely makes it on time. So they meet up, and they all go on this boat. The last episode focuses on just Akari and Alicia, where they make this giant snowball, and other townspeople help them push it around. Akari asks Alicia why she chose her for her student. Alicia doesn't give her a direct answer, but she does tell her that the same thing happened to her when she was a kid in regards to the snowball when she was younger, I won't go into the exact ending after that, but it is a fitting end to a heartfelt sequel that improves upon Animation. But before we close off, let's talk about the OVA about Alicia.

Arietta

One thing that becomes obvious right away is the sheer spike in quality as far as animation is concerned. Hal Film Maker received a lot more money for the series after Natural, so they had the resources to improve on the animation. For one, the 4:3 aspect ratio that was used for Animation and Natural is gone, going for a fullscreen that would be present for the rest of the show. The other thing is that the character designs are more lively and are crisper as opposed to the previous seasons, while still maintaining the charm of the designs. Backgrounds look even more stunning than before, and so many screenshots can be taken. Origination would stick to this look and Avvenire would make it even better.

Then there's the story, which starts off with Akari dreaming about being a Prima Undine and Alicia not being there. It even has Ai over there in the dream, as a bit of foreshadowing. As Akari tells Alicia this, she tells her that she felt sad when Grandma left and tells Akari about a backstory regarding Campanile. I won't go into more detail to avoid spoilers, but it's a nice transition to Origination. It foreshadows the end of Origination quite well.

All and all, Natural is a vast improvement to Animation. It does a much better job of exploring the characters and setting while also setting up Origination as well. It's just a pleasant ride through and through, and Origination is an even better experience, but we'll save that for the next one.

Due to the nature of the show and my opinions on it, this will be split into different reviews. This is also the required order to watch Aria:

Aria the Animation
Aria the Natural
Aria the Arietta
Aria the Origination (and episode 5.5 and Picture Drama)
Aria the Avvenire

With that said, let's begin!

One kind of anime that I love is the calming and soothing kind, as you would no doubt be able to tell if you looked at my anime list. Shows like Mushishi and Girls Last Tour would fall ... into this category. They focus on worldbuilding and the characters themselves, while also having mesmerizing audiovisuals. This is why I wanted to try this series out, as the general reception of the show sung high praises of it for it's cast and the unique setting that takes place in a terraformed Mars called Aqua. A world full of water and has many sci-fi elements in the background and houses Neo-Venezia, a city based off of Vence. The show focuses on three girls trying to become Prima Undines, which are tour guides that use gondolas to move around the city for customers. Our protagonist of this tale is Akari Mizunashi, who immigrated from Manhome (Also known as Earth), who moves to Neo-Venezia because she wants to become a Prima Undine herself. A cheerful and laid back girl who loves bringing joy to everyone she meets. Her mentor is Alicia, one of the three Great Water Fairies of the Prima Undines and is known for her calm and soothing personality. The show follows Akari and her adventures trying to become a Prima Undine while also exploring both the setting and the cast. So, let's go through the seasons one by one!

So, one thing that's worth noting right away is that each season has a different feel and purpose to them. Aria the Animation introduces the world and the characters, Aria the Natural is expanding on the world and cast, and Aria the Origination is more so about giving the characters emotional closure to their arcs in a very satisfying way. Another general thing worth mentioning is that in order to become a Prima Undine, one would have to go through the three different stages. A pair, which is a beginner who wears two pairs of gloves. A single would wear one glove and a Prima Undine would wear no gloves. A pair and a single are not allowed to take customers on their own and have to be watched by their mentors. One thing I really like about the show is how the openings are used in the show. In any other anime, I can think of, the OPs and EDs are also accompanied by animation exclusive to that song. While this is true for Aria's EDs, this isn't true for the OPs, where the song is playing in the background while the characters are doing their daily activities. This is an amazing way to try and establish the general relaxed vibe that the show is going for, with the soft and composed singing also followed up with a sense of familiarity as the characters are established that this is how they go about their daily lives. The last general thing worth mentioning is that due to this season is more of an introduction, the first season is pretty aimless all things considered. It's still a good season mind you, but it's just not as strong as the latter two seasons. So, this section is more about explaining the general cast and setting as well as the other bits of the show, like animation and music.

First up, let's talk more about Akari Mizunashi and her role as the main lead. Akari is a very optimistic girl who enjoys being with other people and loves the world of Aqua, calling it a place of miracles and loves to interact with other people in town. From her friends to Alicia, to total strangers, Akari will always help out others. Moving to Neo-Venenzia with the goal of becoming a Prima Undine, she certainly gives that sort of friendly tour guide vibe that would be needed for this kind of job. Under the tutorage of Alicia, she works in the Aria company (named after their cat, President Aria!). The Aria company is a small company, working with just those two and the mentor would eventually leave if the student becomes a Prima. Akari is a solid protagonist because I believe that she is a true embodiment of the main theme of the series: Appreciate the little things in life and enjoy your companions. Time doesn't last forever, so you would be happier to enjoy the little stuff too. One thing that embodies this idea would be her emails to a friend that she meets in the first season and primarily lives in Manhome: Ai Aino

Ai is an interesting kid. She came to visit Neo-Venenzia with a rather sour attitude due to the fact that her older sister went there with her husband and she kept raving about her time there. Ai ended up finding the place boring and tried to get Alicia to give her a tour. However, Alicia was busy as usual, so she ended up going around with Akari. Akari tries to deny her because she's not allowed to take customers, but Ai gets her to do it by telling her she would yell things like kidnapper, and they would travel on the pretense of Ai being a friend, so Akari agrees. Traveling alongside Aika and Akari, Akari optimism changes Ai's view on Aqua, and she warms up to the city of Neo-Venenzia. When she returns home, Akari and Ai would write emails to one another about how Akari is living in the city, and we would get a letter from Akari at the beginning of the episode and another from Akari at the end of an episode, which Ai's letter ending the episode. It serves as a reflection piece of what the episode is about, and it really drives home the ideas and themes of the series. By the end of the show, what Ai does makes everything come full circle for both herself and Akari.

Next up would be Alicia Florence, the current head of the Aria company and one of the Great Water Fairies of the Prima Undines: Snow White. Being the youngest girl to become a Prima Undine at the age of 15. Succeeding the previous owner and founder of the company referred to as Grandma (Her name isn't revealed until Origination), Alicia is popular due to her soothing voice and calming personality. She's a very patient and peaceful woman, often praised for her grace and knowledge of Neo-Venenzia. Characters such as Aika and Akari look up to her and see her as a pillar of the Undines, but like anyone else, she's a human being. She explains to Akari that she's made mistakes and she tries to guide Akari to the point where she's able to stand on her own. As a crutch, she's able to be the gentle guiding hand of Akari and leads her to appreciate and discovering more of Neo-Venenzia. What also helps expand on her character would be flashbacks in both Animation and Natural where we explore her life with the other Water Fairies and how she became this respectable person she is today. Everything about her is serene and graceful, while still feeling human underneath that kind exterior.

Aika S. Granzchesta is the daughter of the CEO of the Himeya company, and like Akari, she's a single. The difference is that while they both have the same goal of becoming Prima Undine's, Aika is also going to run a part of her own father's company and eventually the entire company itself. The Aria company is much smaller by comparison, with only 2 people and a goofy cat to run it. Aika also idolizes Alicia and aspires to become like her. She believes that her mentor, Akira, is too strict on her and starts to feel annoyed with her. The show makes it clear that Aika does look up and cares for Akira as a mentor, but she wouldn't openly admit that until later on in the show. Aside from a running gag about Akari saying a really charming or inspirational line and Aika saying "No cheesy lines allowed!" and Akari going "Huh?", one interesting thing about her is that she has trouble seeing what she's good at compared to her friends. In many ways, she's like Akira: Strict (Although perhaps not as much) and caring to the people so they can succeed. She's a very outgoing and competitive individual, with her saying that she would become a Prima Undine faster than her two friends. She's just a really fun and endearing character.

Akira E. Ferrari is the Crimson Rose and one of the three Water Fairies. She's also Alicia's childhood friend, and Alicia became a Prima Undine before she did. Just like her student, she is very competitive and also strict. Dishing out harsh criticism of the girls' performances regarding their skills. Compared to Alicia, she has a very different tutoring style. They will both guide you to the correct answer, but Alicia will gentle tell you what you did wrong while Akira will scold you if you messed up. She kind of reminds me of my own mom in some ways. A firm handed woman, but still a kind mother figure like Alicia. The other two seasons make this even more obvious.

Alice Carroll is the third and final Undine in training and is also the youngest of the main three. She's a middle school student who also happens to be a pair. She gained a lot of attention from other people and has even appeared on the front cover of a magazine. She appears in episode 3 of the show and comes off as far more introverted and shy than the other two main characters. Like when she has to warn other gondola's that she's coming, but she says it too quietly. What made her popular is her skills as an Undine despite her introverted nature, and what's interesting about her is her growth throughout the series to become more independent and less shy throughout the show. Another interesting aspect is her general demeanor with her new friends and practice buddies Akari and Aika. She often gets into small arguments with Aika and buts heads with her, and Aika likes calling her Juinor as well. She admires Akari's optimism and carefree attitude and also learns from her clumsy mentor, Athena, to try and open up to others. As she grows more and more out of her shell, her confidence slowly grows throughout the narrative.

Last but not least in the Prima Undines list is Athena Glory, the final Water Fairy, and is referred to as the Siren due to her incredible singing voice. Like Alice, Athena doesn't meet Akira and Alica until they are all still in training. And like Alice, Akira realizes it's her because of a magazine/newspaper like Aika did with Alice. As mentioned before, Athena is extremely clumsy, to the point where it's a running gag, and Alice's total indifference due to just getting used to it is also a running gag. Despite her clumsy nature, she's also more reserved than her friends, and she still gives Alice some helpful advice about opening up and accepting help from others. While she's not as present as the other two mentors, she still gets enough screen time to really drive home this relationship with Alice. And just like Aika and Akira, there's more alike with Alice and Athena than one would expect, but more on that in a later review.

There are a few minor characters that I would like to mention. First, there's Akatsuki Izumo, an appetence Salamander who helps maintain Aqua's climate and also loves to call Akari Sideburns and pulls on her hair to mess with her, like how his older brother likes to mess with him (As an older brother to at least one of my sisters, I can relate to that). He's the first customer that Akari has, and while he likes to ask for her help when it comes to confessing to Alicia, he does genuinely like having Akari around, even if he won't admit it. He's also friends with Woody, a delivery man who can fly around with a scooter and he really doesn't do anything significant in the show aside from one episode in this season. There's also the mailman who travels with a gondola of his own who also loves doing his job, to the point where he considers it his hobby. Lastly, there's Grandma, who also has the best episode in the entire season. What I love about her is she's very similar to Alicia in that she's a kind and gentle woman, but she's retired from the Undine scene and just wants to relax at home. When the group tries to learn how she was so legendary, they instead just enjoy their time with her. She even tells them the same philosophy I mentioned with Akari: To take anything in the world and enjoy it. And your dreams would come true. The setting gets more focus as the series goes on, but it gives us a taste of what we would enjoy.

Let's wrap things up with the audiovisual section. The show does employ the 4:3 aspect ratio, so it can get some getting used too, but generally, the show is still nice to look at. The best thing about the visuals is the set design. It told us that Neo-Venenzia was based on Venice, and it feels like it from the backgrounds to the landmarks, to the architecture. It's a thing of beauty. The running gag of chibi faces when making comedic scenes is also humorous because of the expressive character animation. The entire show feels distinct and lively. Listening to the music during writing this review, it has certainly become one of my personal favorite tracks in any medium. Everything feels so soothing and calming to the nerves that it immediately just lets you sink into the world without needless exposition. It's a real thing of beauty. The voice acting is also great, as it compliments and gives a lot of character to the cast. This becomes even more apparent in Origination, but we'll get to that. Athena's songs are also a real treat. Certainly worth listening to.

While the first season can be a little aimless, it still does a good job introducing the cast and setting. The entire show is endearing and just full of life. It makes you want to continue seeing these characters go on different misadventures no matter what the circumstances. This was gonna be a review of the entire show, but this went on for far too long, so next, we'll get into the nitty gritty with Natural!

It's no secret that Ghibli films often invoke that wondrous sense of childhood nostalgia that can't be replaced by anyone. From the gorgeous backgrounds to the expressive animation, to the incredible fantasy worlds or the down to earth slice of life stories they tell, it's hardly a surprise that they are still a beloved animation studio after all these years. However, this film takes a different approach. This film explores that kind of childhood wonder that so many of these other Ghibli films give by focusing on the perspective of a young girl who feels like she isn't doing enough. A girl who has a ... deeply relatable inferiority complex wants to be an author and desires to feel like she's good enough to both herself and for the boy she likes. This is the tale of Shizuku Tsukishima, a girl who's struggling to grow up.

Shizuku Tsukishima is a middle school student who loves reading fantasy books and getting lost in the stories that she reads. She often doesn't focus on what she's supposed to do because she's so wrapped up in her fantasies. She's known to often frequent the library and her older sister worries that she isn't focusing on her schoolwork because of her antics. What's interesting about Shizuku is that she starts as this cheerful but hot headed kid who butts heads with a boy her age who also reads fantasy novels named Seiji Amasawa and gets herself into awkward situations with other people, to a young girl who's revealed to has self-esteem issues and after seeing how incredibly talented Seiji as a violin carpenter. She feels like she is aimless with her life and she isn't doing enough with her life. As a middle schooler and still going through adolescence, she's not sure what she wants to do with her life and decides that she wastes too much of her time slacking off via reading books. It's hard not to see myself in Shizuku, as I feel somewhat lost as to what I should do going forward and end up comparing myself to those who are far more accomplished. Without going into detail, I love how the romance between these two has made her try to become more accomplished and write her fantasy novel. The ending, in particular, is tearjerk inducing because it's like she finally proved to herself that she is good enough. It's such an inspiring moment that it instantly got me teary eyed. Shizuku is such a well realized protagonist who grows and learns from her experiences that she feels like a genuine kid struggling to figure out what to do with herself.

Seiji Amasawa is the love interest and deuteragonist of the film. The very same man who checked out all the different fantasy novels she would end up reading. At first, he comes off as somewhat rude as he loves messing with Shizuku, but the film reveals he is a passionate young man who will stop at nothing to achieve his ambitions. As mentioned, he's a violin carpenter and plans to move abroad in order to improve his skills. I love the romance between Seiji and Shizuku because Seiji inspires her to work harder and try to improve herself. He helps her realize that writing is her talent and she should prioritize polishing her talent until it's able to shine brightly. I also just love the dialogue between the two, with their banter coming off as both charming and snarky. Shizuku can't stand him at first, but she realizes they're on the same boat. They're both struggling artists who want to be better at their craft, and while she may believe that he's just way ahead of her since he has an end goal in mind and she doesn't, he was the one to help her discover her own path in life and present her a motivation to write to prove herself and to the boy that she grew to love.

Then there's Nishi Shiro, Seiji's grandfather who owns an antique shop in Shizuku's town. A kind and talented elder figure who loves collecting unique items, such as a grandfather clock with a fairy tale story. One of the antiques that he owns is Baron, the anthropomorphic cat gentleman doll who got separated from his beloved Louise, another anthropomorphic cat doll. Nishi named the female doll Louise after his beloved since he left Germany before WW2. When he returned, he never saw her or her cat doll again. When Shizuku decides to use the Baron for her story and she's scared the story isn't going to be any good, he tells her that she can't expect perfection, especially when she's a novice writer. He has the best quote in the film: "When you become an artist, you are like that rock. You are in a raw, natural state with hidden gems inside. You have to dig down deep and find the emerald studs way inside you." He helps her see her true potential as a writer and inspires her to take action. When growing up, you need a parental figure like Nishi to guide you and make you see the potential that's deep inside you. Something you might not realize yourself because you might be drowning in self pity like Shizuku.

There are other characters like Shiho, Shizuku's older sister who's worried about her little sister and is wondering if she's actually doing the work she's supposed to. There's Asako, Shizuku's mother who is going to college and her father Seiya who works as a librarian. These three don't get too much focus, but they do try to make sure Shizuku is focusing on her work, especially her older sister Shiho. Last but not least, there's Shizuku's best friend Yuko, and she mainly has a crush on one of the boys at the beginning of the movie and grows concerns for Shizuku once she starts to focus on writing her book rather than her studies. They're more in the background, but they do bring a grounded sense of reality to Shizuku's delusions.

Finally, there's the audiovisual department, which is about as outstanding as you'd expect from Studio Ghibli. The vibrant and detailed setting, the expressive character animation, and the whole movie is beautifully hand drawn. Directed by the late Yoshifumi Kondou who sadly passed away at age 47 due to an aneurysm in 1998 caused by overwork. Hayao Miyazaki wanted him to be his replacement and his death is why he took a temporary retirement in the same year Kondou died. The movie's stellar presentation certainly helps explain why he was favored by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, as everything about it screams classic Ghibli. The opening song is probably my favorite opening song in the entire Ghibli line up. It invokes this countryside feeling while also being incredibly catchy. I also love how it's used in the actual plot to help Shizuku gain confidence through her writing as she's making her own versions of the song and even sings it a few times throughout the film. The voice acting for the dub is also great, as they fully bring out the emotions for the cast and bring their struggles to life.

All and all, this is one of Ghibli's best films by a country mile. It's such a heartfelt tale of self discovery, love, and hard work. Everything about it is so sincere and awe inspiring that I wish more people would talk about this film when talking about Ghibli's body of work. It's a charming and beautifully animated film that I would recommend to anyone.

Before I get to the review proper, please visit the link here to see what you can do for the Black Lives Matter cause:
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/#victims

Do you ever get the feeling of being pleasantly surprised by something? The kind of show you would expect to hate, but found to be enjoyable for the most part? That's what this anime has given me. Despite the hate that this show gets, I found it to be a solid enough zombie action romp with a distinct style to it that only Tetsuo Araki could give it. While the ecchi elements can be overbearing and excessive, I thought the show was ... a passable way to spend my time during the quarantine.

Now with that in mind, the story for this show is yet another zombie action plot with some romance and ecchi thrown in. A sudden zombie apocalypse starts and destroys the world as we know it and a group of strangers decides to work together to survive. They go to one place to another to protect themselves from the zombies. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I do like how this group is actually pretty competent as far as fighting and working together is concerned. Take Hirano Kouta for example. From the outset, he seems like your standard basic perverted nerd, and he is that to an extent, but he's extremely useful thanks to his knowledge on how to use guns. That is a skill that no one else in the show has. It ends up saving the cast multiple times in the show, and the guy does pull his weight (no pun intended). He's what I would describe as a gun otaku, and the guy is handier than I thought he would be at first. I was afraid that he would be an annoying comedic relief character, but he turned out to be pretty decent.

The other thing about Hirano is his dynamic with Saya Takagi, the cute glasses girl with pigtails. She's a bit of a smartass who initially looks down on him and calls him a fatass nerd. She works with him to survive and escape the school, and she does decide to slowly warm up to him (Though not in a romantic way, FYI). She also has an issue with her parents after the zombie outbreak, but that gets resolved fairly quickly. Her parents are rich folk who are total badasses and try to save as many people as possible. Saya meanwhile is a snob with a capital S though, since she is usually the one trying to take charge and telling the group what to do. She's also a childhood friend of the protagonist Takashi, but that doesn't go anywhere.

Speaking of Takashi, he had a crush on one of the girls Rei, but she dated his friend Hisashi who died in the first episode. After that, they do seem to try and kindle a relationship between one another. It honestly feels like she clings to him because she lost Hisashi so early into this disaster. While that may be unfair to her, she does take interest in him after that guy's death. More on that later. As for Takashi himself, he's a decent protagonist. He does come up with some legitimately smart ideas to deal with the zombies, and he does have some nice moments with other characters, namely with Saeko. He does come off as a brooding loner kind of character at first, but he gradually becomes the sort of leader that a schlocky zombie apocalypse would call for. He's an alright lead all things considered.

I don't have anything to say about Shizuka Marikawa. She's just the usual blonde bimbo type of character with big boobs. She is the school nurse, but it's not like her medical capabilities get utilized at all. She's just there for ecchi scenes and for driving around the characters. That's it. Arisu is the little girl they decide to save from the zombie horde, but she's mostly just a normal happy girl aside from the fact her father was killed and she was crying about it. She's largely insignificant to the plot.

Then there's Rei, and I don't think her romance subplot is all that necessary considering the circumstances they're in. Especially since that plot isn't resolved at all anyways. Aside from fighting alongside the other characters, there's not much worth noting about her. She's also a childhood friend of Takashi, and it seemed like their long history together eventually made Takashi interested in her. When the catastrophe breaks out, she was in denial at first because she didn't want to believe that Hisashi is dead and she doesn't want to believe that everything has gone to shit. She begins to deal with this shift and help the others fight the zombies, but aside from that, she isn't too interesting on her own.

Finally, there's Saeko. She's the wise and stoic kendo school student. Her skills do make her a legitimate asset to the team since she can kill zombies very efficiently with her kendo stick. A plot twist that's revealed with her is something that feels pointless considering the situation that they're in. The bonding moment seems rather unnecessary given what the issue actually is given the context of the series. Still, she gets shit done and she's easily the most attractive girl in the show, so I can't complain too much.

One thing that I find annoying about this show is just how excessive the ecchi elements are. Now don't get me wrong, ecchi by itself is fine, but when you see panty shots and boob shots in action parts of the show, they get distracting. There was the legendary matrix boob shot, which whether or not you watched the show, you've probably seen it. That one is an exception because of how ridiculous and amazing it is in and out of context. Aside from that, I'm really not bothered by the ecchi parts of the series. As long as the series primarily separates those scenes with the action set pieces, then I'm fine with getting a little bit of fanservice here and there.

Another issue is how annoying and blatantly evil or dumb some of the adults are in this series. Take the teacher for example. He smiles menacingly, and he gives off a creepy vibe to him. Rei says they should've just let him die, and judging by the way he acts, you are given the impression that she's right. The old lady arguing with our characters is an example of the adults acting stupid. She and a bunch of other adults believe that the zombies aren't zombies and that this is just a disease spread about, only for her to get eaten anyway. It just feels cheap to have characters that exist to prove the characters right.

One last issue that I'll mention is the lack of any sort of conclusion for the story. Granted, the manga author of the series has passed away, so the chances of this getting a sequel are slim to none, but regardless, everything feels like they haven't been properly wrapped up. It feels like this could be a two cour show, but as is, many plot points are left up in the air. For that reason, and for the aforementioned boob shots, I do think this show shouldn't have taken itself so seriously. People would've been kinder to it if that were the case.

One thing you may recognize from zombie stories is that they like to call their zombies some kind of special name, whether it be clickers from the Last of Us or walkers from the Walking Dead series. In this series, they just call the zombies them. Just them. Not really anything distinct or memorable. They also function as a mixture between the two zombies I mentioned, where they're blind, slow, and rise from the dead. This makes it easy to deal with individuals but also hard to deal with in large waves.

Then there's the visual presentation, which is fantastic. One thing you would expect from Tetsuo Araki is dynamic camera angles and panning shots. It's like a blockbuster action flick, and it really makes the action fun to watch. Lots of well animated facial expressions and boobs too, as everything feels so fluid and smooth (Pun totally intended that time!). Araki does give this show much more flare than it might disserve.

Not much to say about the soundtrack. Aside from the opening, the tracks feel like they just faded into the background. I can't remember anything from the OST during action or more quiet moments. Voices are also fine, so there isn't much for me to say there.

Ultimately, whether or not you watch this show depends on your tolerance on ecchi. If you hate ecchi, you'll hate this show, but if you can tolerate the ecchi or even enjoy it, then maybe you'll like this series. As for me, I thought it a decent time waster. Nothing more, nothing less.

If there was one way to describe this series, it would be charming. Everything from the comedy, to the characters, to the setting and character interactions, the show is filled to the brim with wit and charm that it’s hard not to get instantly attached to the show. While the setup is inherently formulaic and repetitive, it makes up for it by constantly building up the characters in each scenario. By the end of the show, it’s hard not to just smile through the whole thing. But what is this show about?

Well, Cardcaptor Sakura is about the titular character Sakura, a plucky and cheerful fourth ... grade lass who accidentally unleashes the Guardian Beast of the Seal named Keroberos, a weird looking plush toy, from a book she found in her father’s study, as well as the 52 clow cards that were sealed inside it that have various magical powers. Together with Keroberos and her best friend Tomoyo, a rich girl whose entire purpose in life is to dress up her friend and film her daily life, Sakura must rectify her mistake by hunting down and sealing away the clow cards.

What makes the show special is the characters and their general dynamics with one another. The narrative itself is very simple, with most episodes before episode 46 were about finding and catching the clow cards, almost like Pokémon in that regard, but what makes itself memorable are the characters. Sakura for example is presented as this sort of cheerful and happy go lucky girl who would help anyone at any point, and while this is true, it’s not the full picture. Sakura does have her moments of sadness and self-doubt at various points in the series. She grows throughout the series both magically and matures throughout the series. At first she doesn't want to collect the clow cards, but she begins to believe that it's her responsibility to capture all the clow cards that she released by accident. She also has a crush on Yukito, a friend of her older brother Toya who's in his high school. As the series progresses however, she ends up getting over her initial feelings of Yukito and falls in love with a certain character that would eventually be resolved by the end of the second movie. She has many comical interactions with her older brother and Keroberos, and she works off quite well with those two characters. Her mother passed away soon after she was born, and it somewhat works into her dynamic with her family, such as Sakura unwittingly meeting her great grandfather without even realizing it was him, or the time when Tomoyo's mother meets her and her father, and it was revealed that her mother and Sonomi are cousins. This creates an interesting dynamic with her father and Sonomi in one particular episode where it was revealed that her mother married her father when she was just 16 years old and he was a high school rookie teacher, which understandably causes a lot of distress from her aunt and gets into an argument with her father. At the end of the episode, Sakura uses her newly found clow card to make it rain flowers to calm her down. She just has a lot of energy and adorable charm to her that it's hard not to root for her search for the cards.

The next character would be Tomoyo, who is an interesting character to say the least. While on the surface, it appears that Tomoyo only really cares about filming and dressing up Saukra to the point where it's a running gag throughout the series, I'd say there's more than meets the eye with her. She truly cares about Sakura and her wellbeing. There is a point in the series where she decides to help Syaoran try to get with Sakura and also help Meiling get over her feelings for that character to the point where she even teases that Syaoran about it as a gag. She wants the best for Sakura and wants to help her in anyway shape or form. She consistently shows concern for her friend and tries to cheer her up whenever she can. She does really love and care for her friend, but it usually shows as a sort of gag where she sometimes is unable to film or dress up her friend and she gets disappointed. She does have an obsession with Sakura, but not to the point of general unhealthy behaviors like Yuno from Future Diary for example. I do think she's more than you'd expect, especially with episode 60 which is one of my favorites in the show.

After that would be Keroberos, or Kero-chan for short. I adore this little guy everytime he's on screen. His ego, general demeanor, his obsession with food, his little accent, and genuine care for Sakura makes him so fun to watch. Aside from giving general information about the clow cards, and eating a lot of food, he really cares about Sakura and worries about her from beginning to end, even after she accidentally releases the cards. There is a legitimate relationship between the two and he grows to care for his new master. The buildup feels sincere and genuine as the show moves on. There was this episode where Sakura and Keroberos have petty fights and he runs off after eating chocolate with alcohol in it(No really, that happened, lmao), and he meets this little girl. After yet another encounter with a clow card, Sakura and Keroberos realized that they shouldn't fight, and Sakura even made a little room and bed for him in one of her cabinets. It was a nice end to the episode that solidified their relationship even further.

There would also be Syaoran, who was introduced a little later in the show. He is from Hong Kong and wants to collect the clow cards, and starts off as a sort of rival character to Sakura. Right off the bat, he comes off as jaded, closed off, and also very skilled. Hailing from a magical family and as a descendant of Clow Reed himself, the sorcerer responsible for creating the clow cards, he has far more knowledge about the cards than Sakura does and knows about as much as Kero-chan. He even manages to capture a few of the cards himself, which makes him come off as a legitimate threat to Sakura's goal, but as the series progresses, he softens up and becomes friends with Sakura and her friends in her class. He slowly changes his attitude throughout the series in a very subtle way. He begins working together with Sakura and helps her capture many of the cards that they go after in the series. He even cares about Sakura and her wellbeing, and slowly puts down the barrier that he usually puts up. His initial standoff ish personality is slowly but surely replaced by a kinder demeanor for others.

Finally, there is Meiling, Syaoran's cousin. She starts off similarly to her cousin, where she sees Sakura as a rival, but not for the cards, but for Syaoran. After initially meeting up with him again at the end of episode 19, she misreads the situation and sees that Syaoran had given Sakura the shirt that she gave him as a gift. Afterwards, she starts pinning for her cousin and sees herself as a rival for Sakura. As the show progresses however, she slowly changes. Hailing from a family of magic like Syaoran, yet having no magical abilities of her own, she wanted Syaoran to marry her with the condition that she would call it off if he found someone that he loved more than her. However, she would also slowly change through the show, as she would slowly see Sakura not as a rival to compete with, but a genuine friend that she wanted to help out when necessary. The final episode she appears in was in episode 60 where she writes a letter to Sakura saying: "My dear friend". Plus, it's not like her antics truly harmed anyone, as it was entirely framed with comedy and not malicious intent.

Speaking of comedy, lets talk about that! There are a few running gags in the series, such as Yamazaki telling random lies about random things, the aforementioned Tomoyo gags, Meling's general behavior, Toya's teasing of Sakura, and Kero-chans general gluttonous behavior. There isn't much I would say about the comedy, as it can be funny, but Yamazaki's lies can get annoying after a while, and the rest of the gags can range from alright to pretty funny. That one gag I mentioned with Tomoyo is my favorite one in particular. Some may find Meilings behavior with Syaoran to be annoying, but after a little bit, I got used to it. She also changes for the better so that certainly helps.

There are some issues that may or may not annoy you. For example this show is a 70 episode series with two movies as well, but the manga is only 50 chapters long. That means that some episodes are not as good as others, and your suspension of disbelief may get tested at times. For example, there are many episodes where Sakura has to fly and the question becomes how don't any of these blind people don't see her, and there is one egregious example where Sakura becomes a giant and has to fight a giant dragon, and yet nobody sees them! It becomes a little hard to excuse that, but it doesn't bother me too much overall. There's also the issue of the fact that both arcs have so much buildup to them, and their handled really well, until the climax, which isn't bad, but it does make it feel anticlimactic.

There's also the romance. The build up for Sakura and Syaoran feels genuine as they both had the same admiration for Yukito, but slowly move away from those feelings and build a romance with each other. There actually isn't a full blown confession at the end of the series like you would expect, but instead you would still believe this romance between the two build throughout the series. Their interactions and body language is all you need to understand their budding romance, which doesn't get concluded until the end of the second movie.

There's a few general things I want to mention before I move on. First of all, there isn't a usual magical transformation sequence. Instead, Tomoyo would dress her up in one of her various costumes she made herself, and this does add a lot of flare to the series overall. Second of all there are two movies that I would recommend. The first one takes place around the half way mark of the show where Sakura and co win a trip to Hong Kong and we meet Syaoran and his family there. While the movie isn't necessary for the series narrative, it does bring a decent sense of adventure, and it is nice to see Syaoran's family and mother. The second one takes place directly after the series, and this is where the conclusion of Syaoran and Sakura's relationship at the end. I would recommend both since they're pretty enjoyable, and the second movie is important to the romance by itself.

Finally, there's the audiovisuals. I would say it certainly holds up for a 22 year old series. Some of the clow cards have really appealing designs like POWER, FIREY, and WATERY, and it's a treat to see them. Some pretty standout moments like Syaoran and Meiling fighting against the twin cards, or like Sakura fighting against a certain character in episode 46. The usual CLAMP designs looks rather appealing and nice to look at. The OST is also nice to listen to, with some standout calming pieces or rock tracks during fight scenes. The first opening is also rather nice, which is song by the voice for Sakura, interestingly enough!

Overall, I really loved this series. Not only would I recommend it as a piece of Mahou Shoujo history, it's also just a really fun and enjoyable show to watch from beginning to end. It has so much charm it warms my jaded and cynical heart right up! While I wouldn't call it flawless, it's a classic series that is highly recommended for anybody of any age to watch. It's entertaining, and even somewhat thought provoking, and it certainly earned a place in my favorites!

You ever watch a series that feels like it tries to juggle too many plot points at once? When attempting to have a full story in the short time span of 12 episodes, you generally want to focus on only a few elements at a time, but this series tried to have its cake and eat it too, with concepts such as discrimination, segregation, poverty, super powers, corruption, a friends middling relationship, and it all ends with a subpar Trigger final battle that resolves all the issues in the city that it really shouldn't.

The protagonist is Michiru, a young teenage girl who mysteriously turned into ... a beastman, a half human animal hybrid, and decides to run away to this city called Anima city where beastmen live separated from humans to avoid getting harassed by humans. As for why humans despise and discriminate against beastmen, that is never really given a proper explanation. Furthermore, beastmen have the capability to transform into normal humans and the question becomes why does anybody care about these beastmen to begin with. In any case, we follow Michiru and try to figure out why she was turned into a beastman and how she can transform back to normal so she can go back to her normal life with her parents. The first half of the series focuses on Michiru learning about Anima City and the conflicts surrounding the beastmen on a daily basis. Together with loner wolf man Shirou, they occasionally fight crime together.

The first 5 episodes had a more episodic feel to them, such as Michiru joining a poor baseball team and inspiring them to not give up just to earn money, or this one episode where Michiru was trying to teach a group of children how to read and write for this mafia lady to get her wallet back. These episodes aren’t necessarily bad, but given how the show ends up, they do feel pointless in the grand scheme of things(Aside from ep 1). The baseball episode felt particularly egregious since aside from one adorable bear from the team, we really don’t see the team much ever again, and what could have been an interesting commentary on how a capitalistic system can force poor folk to stay poor, it just kind of ends on not giving up, which is nice, but it doesn’t really do much to explore this city.

The other thing is that the show never focuses on how Anima City really operates. The city is generally unable to access the internet and the only way to do so would be through illegal means. How does this society function without the internet? What means do they have to get through their day to day lives? What do they do to get things done around the city? We do get parody brand names like Dog Way, and there seems to be a mafia gang running things behind the scenes, but generally speaking, we really don’t get much of anything out of this city. It has an Us vs Them mentality regarding humans and beastmen, but it's not like that's explored much beyond violence. There is a conflict involving the cult and what happens in the last two episodes is so stupid that I don't understand how this society even got off the ground. It's that bad.

One interesting thing regarding Michiru at first would be her desire to return to being a human and go back to her town. There's this interesting scene where her parents wish her happy birthday over on Instagram and she hesitates to respond. Sadly, this conflict is never brought up again, and she decides to stay as a beastman anyways so her whole story felt useless. She even gains the ability to transform into a human out of nowhere in one of the earlier episodes and its never used again. She constantly gains all these abilities such as Cheetah legs to run fast, bird wings, stretchy arms, and so on, but it's never explained how she's able to do all these things. Then her friend Nezuna and her cult is introduced in ep 6 and this is where the show really starts to take a nosedive. To her credit, Nezuna does call out Michiru for continuously jumping to conclusions and acting before thinking, but this argument that they end up having doesn't really help her change for the better. If anything she continues to act the same while being a little sad as well. In the end, Michiru feels so detached from the main conflict of the series, and her end goal of becoming a human again is thrown to the wayside. Her character arc is the usual "I've come to accept myself as a beast" trite that I've only seen Shrek pull off. It would honestly make more sense if Shirou was the protagonist, though its not like he's a good character either. At least she's got a cute character design. I wish I would've liked the cute tanuki girl more.

Shirou is like that loner anime man that came out of the early 2000's. He's rude, hates humans, clearly has a dark past or some nonsense, and works alone. As a wolfman, he has the ability to sniff out certain people and objects such as bombs and so forth. He's a part time detective who works for the police. I don't get how something as arbitrary as smell is accepted as evidence to the police. Phoenix Wright would be all over their asses, but it's generally used for plot conveniences. What I don't like about Shirou is how he doesn't have any sort of character chemistry with Michiru and his character can be very easily summed up as "Humans bad, Beastmen good". The bastard also allows a fucking bomb to explode to catch the criminals in the act when finding and stopping the bomb would be more than enough. When his "backstory" is revealed and they bring up WW2 I was laughing. Everything about him is such a hot mess.

I don't have much to say about the rest of the cast. Nezuna is mostly just a prop and a means to an end for the main villain as well as a source of conflict for Michiru, the main villain will not be named due to spoilers, but it's pretty obvious, and everybody else is fodder.

Now on to the general look of the series. The director of the anime is Yoh Yoshinari, and you may recognize that name from LWA since he was the director of that series. It really shows since this series looks rather similar to his previous work, though not quite as visually appealing in my eyes. Like that series, this show has a lot of character put into it with expressive facial expressions, pull and stretch animation, and a lot of energy when it counts. The final battle, as contrived as that was, did have a lot of visual flare to it, which I always appreciate. Having said all this, I was hoping that this show was going for a cyberpunk esque world given the previous poster that this series had when it was announced, and I quite like that aesthetic. I do wish Yoshinari and Trigger experimented a little more regarding this show, but it still looks appealing overall.


Finally, there's the soundtrack. I do really like opening and ending songs, but the ending song is used way too much throughout the show. I get that anime likes to use their opening and ending songs sometimes as a nod, but in this case it feels super forced and annoying. By themselves however, they're nice to listen to. With the ending song has this sort of chilled vibe with a super stylish art style that I love. The rest of the soundtrack is fairly solid, with Mabuna who also did the OST for Megalo Box and he did a good job here. Easily my favorite part of the show.

Sadly, I can't really recommend this series unless you lower your expectations to rock bottom. It lacks any kind of focus and generally feels directionless until the disaster that is the second half. It's not really worth your time. Just watch Beastars if you haven't already.

We’ve all heard this before since it’s a tale as old as time: A sequel of a popular property isn’t nearly as good as the original. This is a phenomenon known as sequelitis. Sure, there is the possibility that the sequel made just doesn’t quite live up to the original work, but is still an ok experience overall, like Incredibles 2. However, OPM2 not only fails to build upon the source material, but it’s also a complete disaster as a standalone product. Hideous visuals, an underutilized cast, and unfunny jokes make watching this season about as fun as diarrhea, although there were some decent scenes ... and fights here and there.

This entire season is littered with still frames, gross background colors, inconsistencies, poor editing, lack of weight in any of its fights, and a weird metallic shine on a few of its characters. The phrase “Look at how they massacred my poor boy” doesn’t even begin to describe the kind of hell that Genos went through in this season. There was this scene in Saitama’s apartment where Genos’s arms look like they’ve rusted almost as bad as my sister’s bike. Whenever they have him in a fight, he looks like a cheap bootleg toy from China. They also gave him this metallic shine to really drive home that he’s this super cool fighting robot, but he just looks gross when he’s fighting. Back in the first season, whenever a fight happens, you can really feel the impact of the punches that are thrown. Characters are launched several feet away, and whenever Saitama throws a punch, it causes the monster’s body to be torn to shreds. In this season, whenever someone is getting hit, they turn the entire background into a single solitary color like red, orange, or purple. This might’ve been done to emphasize the hits, but it just looks ugly and distracting. It’s typically used over stills after the punch has been thrown, and it gives the characters this horrible looking outline after the hit. It doesn’t emphasize on the hits, but it instead just cuts after the fact, so the action can’t stick with the audience at all. Also, when a character like Bang or Garou hits an enemy several times, they have these impact effects, but they’re so stilted that they don’t feel like it's moving at all. There are several general inconsistencies, like Saitama’s head looking like it got swollen from a brain tumor in episode 1, and Metal Bat’s dried up looking blood covering his face in one scene but then having only a little bit of blood coming out of his forehead in the next. There’s a lot more than I could go over here, but I think you get the point. Aside from not living up to the standards that the first season set, it fails to live up to any basic standards in the industry. There’s an animator named Kenichiro Aoki, who is responsible for some of the shots, and the animation he’s done are the best parts of the show. You might as well call it One Animator Man since he’s the one responsible for all of the few decent parts of the anime, such as the cockroach fight in episode 6, but all of the other shots look so rushed and poorly put together. This is what happens when you rush animation and try to get something out ASAP, as a studio such as JC Staff doesn’t care about quality, but quantity. In an industry that shits out as many anime as possible, this season is just another example of horribly produced manure.

The comedy in this season is also unfunny except for a few scenes. A lot of this is because of the animation and horrible direction, but most of what the show tries to pass off as “jokes” are just not funny. As a friend of mine, SunlitSonata pointed out to me that something the first season was good at was contrast. It would go back and forth between crisp art, to a drawing ripped out of a manga, like the OK face. There was also the fight with Saitama and Genos, where it made it look like Saitama was about to punch Genos, but he just runs up to him and taps his shoulder. OPM2 tries to go for the same thing, like when Garou attacks Saitama. Saitama goes for the manga expression and knocks out Garou, but the presentation is too bland for it to stand out. When King is revealed to be a total coward, they do make a joke with Saitama’s deadpan reaction to seeing King play a visual novel, but it goes by too quickly to be funny. Another example would be when Fubuki tries to recruit Saitama into her group. When one of her lackeys tell Saitama that she’s Class B Rank 1, Saitama doesn’t care, and we get the groups reactions. The problem is that when we see their reactions, we get the gross looking solitary colored background I mentioned before and ugly shadows. I only found two jokes funny from this season, such as when Metal Bat’s younger sister knocks him out since that’s so unexpected. The best joke is when Saitama knocks out the blonde guy from the martial arts tournament. To add insult to injury, the announcer ends up embarrassing the blonde guy by revealing that his girlfriend didn’t even show up for the tournament despite the fact he planned on proposing to her. It’s such an overly cruel joke that I couldn’t stop laughing for a little while. Though that joke was saved for the post-credits scene, so I ended up missing it the first time I watched the episode. Sadly, for the most part, the presentation ruins almost all of the jokes, so it’s hard for me to care a lot of the time.

Saitama and Genos practically act the same, as Saitama is still the super strong dense hero, and Genos is the extremely serious straight man. There’s no problem with that, but they aren’t utilized very well here. They’re both are completely glossed over to the point of no return, aside from a few notable scenes. Saitama’s lack of satisfaction with fighting opponents because of how ridiculously strong he is gets completely shafted until we get an admittingly good scene with Saitama and King talking about it, but that’s all you get with him. The show revolves around a monster invasion, as the number of monsters and their intensity gradually increases throughout its run, and one human claim to be one of the monsters. That person is Garou, and he’s the best part of the show. We all have villains we find to be more entertaining than the heroes, and Garou is the embodiment of that sentiment. He’s on an ongoing quest to defeat all the heroes from the hero association to prove that monsters are superior to humans. He’s an extremely arrogant and strong material arts master. Every time he’s on screen, it’s fun to watch with his entertaining lines, and enjoyable personality. He’s not all bad, as he seems to have a soft spot for children since he was even willing to kill a monster to defend Metal Bat’s younger sister. The presentation does ruin his appearances in the show somewhat, as his muscles look like trash bags mashed together, and one of his facial expressions had a Grinch looking simile. He’s still enjoyable overall regardless, but he’s probably a lot more fun to follow in the manga.

The opening is done by JAM Project, who was also responsible for the opening of the first season. The animation for the opening might be terrible, but the song itself is pretty good. It has this real banger heavy rock part at the beginning, and the rest of the song is just fun to listen to. The ED for this season that was sung by Saitama’s voice actor, Makoto Furukawa, is just ok. Like the first season, it goes for a more melancholic song for ED, with a piano and slow singing. However, the song itself isn’t anything noteworthy and it’s nothing you haven’t heard from before. As for the OST, it’s quite good, as Makoto Miyazaki returns, and it does help liven up the most boring show with some nice rock tunes like Garou’s theme. It goes for this sort of intensity that helps liven up the otherwise stilted action scenes.

I’m sure some might be asking why I even bothered to finish a show I hated so much and write a review about it. I didn’t find OPM2 to be so bad it’s good, like Inuyashiki, and I found it boring at least 90% of the time, so what made me finish it? This review aside, the main reason would be because I was curious to see how far this titan would fall. I wanted to see how bad the animation could get as the show could progress. Most episodes were horrible looking, with episode 7 being the worst one, but there were a few decent episodes like episode 3. You’re probably better off just reading the manga.