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It’s no secret that many slice of life or rom-com's are often pigeonholed and derided in the anime committee for never going anywhere, bereft from subsistence and having an oversaturation of them. As someone who is a fan of this genre and has seen a fair share of romantic comedies (rom-coms), SNAFU is certainly a standout. For a summary of this review, scroll to the last two paragraphs.

[Setting]
While the setting to most slice of life shows typically aren't anything more than just a backdrop for the characters, I feel that there was a bit more nuance and thought that went into SNAFU’s. High School Clubs ... are often just plot points to unite your main characters who wouldn’t normally talk to each other or socially interact in normal circumstances. However, the use of clubs here, while itself a cliche, is used a little different context wise. In SNAFU, it serves to highlight the positive attributes of characters who would normally be considered unlikeable. It also serves to help others help themselves, something far more useful long term than just helping them. That in itself matches with the less idealistic and more practical viewpoints of characters like Yukino and Hachiman, which I thought was clever.

[Writing]
The writing is both strong and falls short in a few areas. Its greatest strength lies in its way to handle very pessimistic social commentary on interactions between high school students that can feel both relatable and true. Many situations that are written seem considerably more realistic to what happens in high schools than other conventional high school rom-coms. This also makes for some good comedy that incorporates Hachiman's unique perspective. Both the social commentary and comedy is told in a straightforward manner and there are plenty of times where the dialogue gets profound.

As good as the comedic and dramatic writing is, it falls flat when it diverts to romance occasionally. While the title of the anime (My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected) itself does admit this, the romance aspect in this first season is honestly lacking. I understand the intention was to create a less typical romance anime, but scenes with romance are too sparse to hold any real weight in the grand scheme of things. Additionally, said romantic scenes are usually interrupted by some typical plot device or event (like a phone call). It feels a little out of place when SNAFU is clearly separating itself from the typical shows in its genre by clumsily using conventional and cheap ways to withhold romantic development.

[Characters]
When it comes to the characters themselves, the leads are handled very well, particularly Hachiman. Not only is his own very twisted, negative view vastly different from the homogenous crop of stereotypical romance protagonists the genre is accustomed to, but he, later on, will show in a unique way that he isn’t as selfish and self-minded as he appears to be. Additionally, when he does display traits in line with your average male lead in a rom-com, like his density regarding obvious signs of females being attracted to him, it makes sense when you learn about his personal life experiences. He is refreshing, well-developed and plays up the anti-hero role quite well.

The other two leads, Yuigahama and Yukinoshita, also help bring some balance to the otherwise pessimistic and facetious tone of the anime. Yui helps achieve this while also being a great character foil for Hachiman. She is more or less the bubbly, kind hearted member of the club and as such, brings some needed (even if misplaced) optimism and charisma. Yui also has her own social issues, being blindingly obedient and submissive to popular classmates whims. Her social shortcomings to the club make for a believable and clever way to bring the three together. Yukino also adds really nicely to the dynamic of the three, by being very similar and dissimilar to our protagonist. She too is rather intelligent, can seem cold hearted and ruthless, and is ostracized by her classmates. Unlike Hachiman though, she is very kind deep down and is being alienated for her beauty and allure; And despite her and Hachiman being loners, they clearly have vastly different viewpoints, which makes for some intriguing situations later on.

While the main three characters are very well written and developed, unfortunately, I feel like the side characters were far too neglected and relegated to comedy roles. Characters like Yoshiteru and Totsuka were likeable enough, but had little development and could have sufficiently added to SNAFU's themes by revealing the underlying negative feelings of both characters that are associated with their stereotypes.

[Soundtrack/Audio]
The music, for the most part, is good, though I wouldn’t say it’s magnificent. It sufficiently matches and even at times adds to the mood of the scene as background music is supposed to do, but it doesn’t necessarily have many tracks that stand out and help breathe life into a scene. The voice acting (at least for the sub) is very well done, as each voice actor gives an excellent performance and creates a strong association from character design to voice.

[Art/Animation]
The art style and animation are good overall, though personally, I thought that the eyes of Yukino and Yui at times felt a little too close together or awkwardly placed. I will give praise to Hachiman's character design, as it perfectly fits him and is drawn in much less detail than his classmates. He has a distinctive feel compared to everyone else and this helps him stand out all the more. There is some nice art direction touches in this season, like having both Yukino and Hachiman at opposite sides of the table, serving as a metaphor for their opposing viewpoints and having Yui in the middle trying to bring some balance to the two.

[Summary/TL;DR]
SNAFU is an overall great rom-com/slice of life/drama anime that is akin to a breath of fresh air compared to many animes in its genre. Easily the biggest draw to the show is the main character Hachiman, who is very different from a typical protagonist in this genre with his loner demeanor and nihilistic attitude. The other two female leads are equally well done, providing extra depth to SNAFU's characterization. The writing is another draw, as it often depicts and makes commentary on social interactions in high school told by Hachiman; Doing so uses his own character bias to full effect. It also develops and changes from a comedy to a character focused drama as the show progresses. It is a little unsatisfying in the romance department, as though they attempted to handle romance in a different way, there were too few romantic scenes and those were dampened by incorporating phone interruptions or other similar tropes to halt romantic development between characters.

The setting, while nothing especially unique, is a considerably more realistic depiction of high schools. The use of the club helps bring out the relatable and kinder elements of the main cast without betraying their characters entirely. The art is decent and the soundtrack, while mostly forgettable, utilizes softer songs rather well and has a solid OP and ED. Those looking for a rom-com that goes against the grain and provides great characters, some profound dialogue, and unique writing would likely enjoy this. Score: 7/10.

“The first card, numbered 0, is The Fool. It represents the beginning and suggests infinite possibilities.”

Adapting source material, especially from a game that can take literally a hundred or more hours to play, will always be an uphill battle. There is plenty of consideration of how much to leave in and how much to take. As I will discuss in my review of Spring of Birth, this can be a tough tightrope to walk, especially for millions of fans who eagerly anticipated it.

Before I begin, I will state my bias first. I am a HUGE fan of this franchise and absolutely adore Persona 3. ... I have beaten the game in its entirety and hold it very close to my heart. However, this is an adaption of a game that has 15+ hours of cutscenes and story. This movie only covers the first couple months of the game and there are three other movies that likely cover the rest of the games content.

One of the major criticisms I have of this adaptation is the first scene or so. Now this seems like a very petty nitpick, but I felt the opening here was a bit wasteful in comparison to the source materials. I know that adaptations have to change some things, however a good chunk of the characters they showed in the opening do not appear anywhere in the movie. Sure, fans of the game will know who they are but newcomers don’t. Very briefly, the opening of the original game had Yukari in a state of high anxiety from attempting suicide, while outside the crowd loudly creates white noise to heighten the turbulence Yukari was seemingly facing to the apathy of the outside world. It instantly grips the viewer and makes her character more easily sympathetic.

As for the movie, it has a random teen we have never seen jump in front of a subway. Sure, it is also a bit creepy and shocking, but there is much less weight since the movie doesn’t really have that character in it anymore. Regarding Yukari's scene, it has that scene as well but only shows it for a few seconds or so, missing the evocative and creepy feeling of the original game, which would be added onto by the rest of the game's themes and symbolism.

The last narrative complaint I have is some of the pacing. Yes, the adaption couldn’t possibly contain all the initial social links (those being characters you can interact with in the game in a self-contained arc from the rest of the story) that were there in the game. However, it only gives brief implications that he visited them or a small tidbit of them interacting with students. The movie rushes by the months, giving you the main plot points the game did (for the most part). I think they could have included a couple of scenes from some of the Social Links (for those who played the game, the old couple would have been a good choice as parental figures) to help enrich the narrative and themes of Persona 3.

Speaking of, staying very faithful to the overall story, themes and narrative (most of the time) was a big positive. Thematically, both the game and movie borrow from Evangelion (there being several Shadow bosses as trials, lakes of blood and hits of mental instability from the characters, red sashes that resemble NERV’s colour scheme and font, replacing cross imagery with coffins, etc). It still kept the story fairly mysterious as well as what the incident that happens many years ago. They also didn’t wuss out on the heavy suicidal themes/imagery with the evokers, which is great to see. A lot of the same lines from the game made it into the movie, which was very nice to see.

Since this is just the first couple of months, there won’t be much possible to be done with character development, so I will refrain from critiquing it too harshly. The biggest positive on the character front is from Yuki. This is a change I think that improves on the original, since in game, he was a silent protagonist with a vague backstory. However, we see him grow from largely indifferent at the start to slowly but surely caring about his comrades. The side characters have all the key scenes that they did in the game; Yukari got fairly emotional (though not at the Main Character typically) and gave some insight to her own dead father, Junpei got jealous of Yuki because he is the protagonist, Shinjiro looked after our main characters from getting into serious trouble, etc.

What really stood out to me was Fuuka surprisingly enough. Sure, a good portion of her arc was in the first couple of months, but this is another aspect that I felt was improved from the game’s narrative. We get a bit more character from Fuuka whenever the protagonist continuously keeps helping her out after Natsuki’s gang bullies her. It manages to capture the heart and emotion that the source material had rather well and it builds to an amazing boss battle sequence at the end that furthers both the development of her character (while giving us a tear-jerking scene with Natsuki) along with Makoto, fighting for his own friends survival when he barely cared about his own at the start of the movie (though when the hell did he learn to ride a motorcycle?).

Lastly, I will discuss the best part of this whole movie: the animation and (mostly) sound. This movie looks AMAZING. The animation is fluid, crisp and the characters look great, even though I have preferences to Yukari’s older character design. The bright and murky greens, the overpowering yellow, the ethereal and lush pinks of the cherry blossoms in Gekkoukan High... It is amazing seeing these scenes (which had some animation in FES but was rather dated and low quality) come to life and done so faithfully. Much of the OST is reused tracks from the original game's soundtrack, but the new tracks are great additions, adding ample emotion and weight to the last quarter of the movie. The only disappointment here (and this is pretty nitpicky) is that I kinda wished the Evokers gun had a bit more oomph to it like the game had, where it sounded like a real gun had been fired. Minor point, yes, but it does add to that unsettling feeling of them actually attempting suicide everytime they use their Personas.

Summary: Persona 3 Spring of Birth is a rather well done adaptation of the first couple of months of the game. Some may find it cash-grabby to stretch this out into four movies, but I’m fine with it as Persona 3 was a huge game. It touched on a lot of the same themes, metaphors and symbolism of death that the source material had while giving a faithful recreation of the events that happened in the game. It made some improvements to the protagonist and some side characters, features some impressive animation with very good art direction, memorable songs from the game as well as some good new ones and managed to fit the first two months of the game into an hour and thirty minutes, despite some pacing issues. I would recommend this to fans of the games more than I would for newcomers. To those new to P3, I would start off with the game (Persona 3 FES) and then watch the movie(s).

(Side note: Happy 20th anniversary, Persona!)

"Time never waits. It delivers all equally to the same end. You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be... You will be given one year; go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide..."

“I don’t think it’s all that important. Why should I care about appearances and labels anyway? I mean, all that’s important is what’s on the inside right?”

Anime is an art medium that has no shortage of silly rom-com’s. Unfortunately, it also has no shortage of mediocre ones. This is something I had noticed when I was first getting into anime and slowly but surely converting me into being the otaku I am now. However, one anime I saw some time ago that I really loved was Ouran Highschool Host Club. From the first to last episode, the laugh-until-you’re-crying-from-laughter comedy, surprisingly mature and emotional story-lines, lovably ... eccentric and very well written characters and unapologetic & frequent meta humour absolutely won me over. Of all the good or mediocre romantic comedies I have ever seen in anime, this one is one of my favourites. Why exactly? Well…

*Warning, some minor spoilers ahead. There is a summary at the bottom if you care about spoilers or don’t want to read the entire review..*

When it comes to writing, there are few things harder to nail than comedy. A multitude of elements all have to work synchronously including timing, atmosphere, witty punchlines and pushing a joke far without totally breaking the audience's suspense of disbelief. Ouran somehow manages to pull it off. It is incredibly not subtle in its jokes and pushing character archetypes to their extremities. Despite that, it works because of how they use these stereotypes situationally. It also has some great running jokes.

One of the best recurring jokes is the fact that the Hosts (besides Haruhi) know very little of “commoner” goods or lifestyles. So every time that Haruhi (our heroine) brings one, it gathers a lot more attention than it deserves, making the other hosts both incredibly condescending and yet also genuinely giddish. In terms of both framing and comedy, this works so well because they have shown the characters to be unusually excited by such cheap and uninteresting goods, playing on the audience's expectations.

Ouran also has some of the best comedic timing I have ever seen and the best example of this I can think of is one of the scenes I laughed the hardest in. This scene also shows all of Ouran’s best qualities when it comes to comedy. This was when it looked like Haruhi was leaving the club for a equally hilarious and ridiculous Zuka club, who seemed to be a female parallel of the Host Club. The plan they finally decided on was for themselves to dress up as females, as they thought that appealing to her feminine side would convince her to stay in the Host Club.

Now what I think works so well here and for many of the other jokes is how they unite taking a joke to hyperbolic levels of absurdity and still having it make sense for the characters to do in the first place. We have seen a lot of scenes of the Hosts dressing up in ridiculous and expensive looking costumes, so it isn’t too outlandish or jarring to see them dress up in drag. It also works as situationally, she has been hanging out with a lot of dudes due to her debt. It wouldn’t be totally out of the question for Haruhi to want to hang out with girls either, despite the fact that she doesn’t really care about that. Lastly, there was the pure shock factor too. Since it wasn’t foreshadowed or telegraphed, there is a lot of genuine surprise when you do see them looking very ladylike (at least, more than usual).

Even though Ouran is gut-bustingly funny, what I think gets unfairly overshadowed is how good some of the more emotional scenes are written and the close bonds (sometimes a little too close) they share. As the anime moved into its second half, the narrative got considerably more serious. Ouran delved into the sadder or unfortunate circumstances that some of the Hosts were dealing with. It tackles a wide variety of common problems that adolescents deal with as they grow into adulthood, including acceptance from family, dealing with a strict family that has already decided your future or even loss of close family members.

I honestly thought that Ouran was best when it was taking the goofy characters and having them mature and grow past their problems. It was written in a way to not only make these super rich characters relatable to (mostly) anyone else watching but it also made them more than just the tropes that the comedy often confined them too. They had balanced both the more serious and dramatic moments very well with plenty of great jokes and hilarious situations.

If I really had any complaints about the writing, it would probably be the ending. Now the last few episodes were easily some of the best in the entire show. It for the most part brought some sort of conclusion to the main protagonists arcs and implied a potential romance blossoming… key word there was “implied”. Because the anime was airing while the manga wasn’t really done, there was only so much they could do about the ending. But since it is an adaption, comparisons to both the anime and manga ending are inevitable and the manga's ending was honestly far better. It provided a final resolution to the characters while resolving the romance as well and is by far my favourite part of Ouran (in either the anime or manga).

But no matter how good your writing is, I believe the writing is often only as good as the characters and honestly, I think the characters are Ouran’s biggest strength.

Haruhi Fujioka is easily one of the best female protagonists I’ve seen in a shojo anime. It’d be one thing for her just to be sorta tomboyish and broke as an obvious foil to the frivolous and rich Hosts. However, Haruhi is much more than just your atypical Shojo protagonist; she also is just an excellent character in her own rights. What makes her character work so well isn’t just her non judgmental personality or her keen emotional insight; its how much of a positive influence she is on her peers.

As the show heavily implies, she and the Hosts live in two different worlds. Haruhi helps both worlds see more eye to eye. She helps humble them and be kinder to others (thus being better Hosts) and they help her normally anti-social personality to open up more, teaching her to also have fun along the way. Which brings me to my personal favourite character in Ouran, Tamaki Suoh.

Tamaki’s character development in some ways is rather subtle. He starts out being overly dramatic and downright obnoxious and in many ways, that doesn’t necessarily change. At first, he just sorta plays the silly king/jester who is often the punchline to many jokes. As the tone in the show changed to focus more on character drama, we started seeing Tamaki for who he really is.

Deep down past his obnoxious and goofy facade, Tamaki is easily the most selfless, compassionate and in many ways the smartest/most insightful Host. He was often able to understand his friends emotions even better than they were able to and hardly ever seriously asks for reward or acknowledgment in return. And when Tamaki and Haruhi were together, you were really able to see each other bring out the best of the other, making for a great romantic connection between the two.

Another notable friendship is the one he has with Kyoya. Tamaki managed to identify Kyoya’s inner turbulence he was dealing with because of his family, resulting in Kyoya being honest with what he really wants and even expressing himself in the way of his choosing. Lastly, another smaller reason why he stands out as the best character was that Tamaki did all this while still dealing with a mother who is missing and a very strict, cruel and selfish grandmother.

Outside the main cast, there are two more characters I’d like to briefly touch on; they are the famous Hitachin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru. Their character arc primarily deals with their own isolation and how to interact with others. Hikaru (my favourite of the two) later on is shown to be rather emotional and immature, reinforcing his lack of consideration for others feelings. The best example of that is when Hikaru goes out on a date with Haruhi. He gets consumed by jealousy and even at one point, abandons the date in Haruhi’s time of need. Yet he still came back and was there to help her when she needed it. That was easily my favourite Hitachin bros scene as well as one of my favourite in the anime.

The music in Ouran wasn’t super noteworthy, as it’s mostly just classical music with original tracks occasionally. Despite that, there are definitely some solid tracks that I found myself returning to. My personal favourite is the piano version of Sakura Kiss (the opening theme). It played during some emotional moments of the anime and it worked very well, enhancing the scene in the anime and bringing back memories of Ouran listening to just the track itself. The opening theme is also catchy as hell and brings a smile to my face everytime I hear it.

From an art and voice acting perspective, Ouran is also very good. The animation and art direction was fantastic as usual by Bones, using lush, vivid colours while keeping true to the original artstyle of the manga. I can still remember the plethora of roses whenever the hosts are charming their guests. The voice acting was also spectacular. Caitlin Glass does a fantastic job as Haruhi, embodying all her snark and subtle compassion and fear buried inside. Vic Mignogna was amazing as Tamaki, embracing all of Tamaki’s silliness and obnoxiousness wholeheartedly in his performance. Other notable performances include Travis Willingham as Mori and Todd Haberkorn as Hikaru.

Summary:

Ouran High School Host Club is a fantastic standalone anime. While it’s last episode pales in comparison to the end of the manga (as it wasn’t finished), it still managed to balance hilarious comedy with great emotional drama. Its characters are incredibly loveable and memorable even years after watching Ouran for the first time. Honestly, I highly recommend watching this before reading the manga, as I think that it's the best way to experience Ouran for the first time. Afterwards, read or purchase the manga and read for the definitive ending, as it’s worth it for that ending alone.

“A person can change, at the moment when the person wants to change”

Shelter Review

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

Shelter is very different from your normal 13-23 episode anime. You only need to invest 6 minutes of your time if that to watch it. So rather than be an anime, it’s like a heavily narrative based music video. Thus, making a review for it means you have to approach it very differently than you’d judge a regular anime. I won’t get into the much heated debate of it being considered an anime or not, also because it’s on MAL, thus reviewable ... material.

I suggest that you have already seen the video before reading this review, as there will be spoilers. There is a summary at the bottom if you want a quick summarization of my thoughts. This will be a lengthy analysis/review of Shelter (in fact, this will likely take a lot longer to read then it would be to watch).

Right from the first frame, Shelter dazzled me with its beautiful imagery, art direction and atmosphere. Within the first 5-10 seconds, all three of these elements help create a narrative and mood.

The imagery used here is extremely effective and a masterclass in conveying narrative, making good use of recognizable video game iconography and other commonly known current day technology (Tablets, Virtual Reality, etc) to relate and communicate with its audience (especially since it’s on YouTube). A great example is when Rin gets some PTSD flashbacks to her past. By touching a swing, bittersweet memories resurface of her on the swing with her father. More importantly, I love the small detail of the swing being one of, if not, the first time we see her reaching out and touching something that isn’t a tablet or piece of tech. It shows a sort of escapism she is participating in, something all the more relatable. Additionally, this relatability helps connect to the audience who may often do the same (like myself).

The art direction is what so eloquently frames the gorgeous animation done by A1 Pictures and scenes to enhance the presentation. There is no wasted frames or scenes, as everything connects together to help quickly build its world. Shelter doesn’t try to be abrupt or overly obvious with the narrative each scene is supposed to convey, elegantly building each scene on top of each other. It’s clear that this is a sci-fi setting and I think this was a brilliant choice. Many of the scenes where Rin is alone is all done in technologically advanced settings (Virtual Reality, Spaceships, etc), even when her father is nearby. It is almost always scenes done away from tech that gives her the simple, but cherished memories (at a shrine, doing dishes, etc.). This helps create emotional attachment and sympathy for the Father’s and Rin’s dilemmas, which I will discuss a little later.

Regarding atmosphere, the way it largely takes place inside her own room helps build this feeling of claustrophobia, isolation and a sense that Rin herself is a loner. Regarding tone, I love its sense of dissonance. There are multiple emotionally charged scenes about Rin dealing with the loss of her father. Meanwhile, the music remains upbeat and happy. It all comes full circle at the end, where Rin, despite missing her Father and feeling utterly alone, is thankful for the technology that his Father made and moves on.

Despite it only being six minutes in length, the characterization is one of its strongest aspects. Because the technical aspects are masterfully executed, it gives us context and reason to invest our sympathy into the very minimal cast. Like the direction, imagery, symbolism, narrative and animation, the characterization is done so well while having minimal dialogue and fully embracing the “show, don’t tell” methodology I am particularly fond of.

First, we have Rin herself. Her character design is fairly normal, but works for what it is. As mentioned previously, she is a shut in who is dealing with the loss of her father. How strongly she clings onto technology despite that being the root of her problems is one of the strongest and best executed character traits she has. She is torn between the technology she enjoys and cherishes and the fact that it is also the same thing that put distance between her and her father. Again, adding some subtle social commentary between the human connection vs. interacting in a digital realm.

Her father plays a very small, yet important role. He is framed and portrayed as a typical workaholic Father who still tries his best to spend precious time with his daughter, despite a looming threat/problem that is hinted at facing the world. He is also torn between his responsibilities to his job and his daughter. From the context we are given, it seems like he is an only Father, so this must only make this stronger more challenging. In just a few scenes of him working on some sort of spaceship and Rin looking curious yet sad, it tells you all of this and more.

Even more so than most anime, the music choice is critical here. And does it work? Yes, it does. Shelter (the song), in a thematic sense, meant to help represent this current information age we occupy and all the ephemerality that it exhibits. From an objective standpoint, the music is well composed, bursting with energy and sounds great. It’s clear there was great thought in its production and the vocals of both the female and male help give an additional voice to Rin and her father.

The actual genre choice, however, isn’t one that I like. I often find EDM soulless and don’t find party music all that enticing or interesting. However, it has grown on me and it helps enhance the message and narrative it’s trying to convey. The title “Shelter” seems like a reference to the virtual world Rin is in.

The lyrics compliment and add to the narrative very nicely, with lines such as “I'll give them shelter like you've done for me and i know i'm not alone” and “I could never find the right way to tell you. Have you noticed i've been gone? Cause i left behind the home that you made me, but i will carry it along”. The last one relates strongly to both the father (in the first two sentences) and Rin (the last sentence). Additionally, these lines help give the song a sense of looking forward with optimism, even when the music becomes somber while Rin is reminiscing and seeing her past.

I wanted to take some time to talk about the final minute. The shot Rin finally landing gently on the ground with the tablet containing all the memories and data plus her tearful reaction was jaw dropping. This is the final climatic scene where she finally makes her own judgement call if she really wants to continue her father's pursuit of technology and to use what he built, and she does, showing Rin likely still in a simulation as an adult, tearful but still happy. These last few shots alone are incredibly moving and powerful, delivering a payoff to all the buildup the last 5 minutes or so had.

I very much enjoyed watching this video over and over again, analyzing and looking deeper into its narrative and direction. It was clearly a huge passion project, as every frame, note and second has a purpose. The more and more I watched, the more and more I was impressed and amazed. It even managed to make me tear up and get emotional.

Summary:

Shelter is brilliant and a masterclass anime/short film in nearly every department of sound, animation, narrative and character/world building. My slight bias to EDM does mean I don’t (quite) like the music as much as others will and did slightly inhibit my enjoyment, though it still really does work within the context of the video. The minimal dialogue was very effective as was the characterization. Overall, I am very glad I took some time to see it and made for an incredible experience.

“Because people don’t have wings, they look for ways to fly.”

Summary (TL;DR version):

Haikyuu is a great sports anime with a potent dose of heart intertwined with excellent tension and stakes applied to the matches. Its core strength is how it manages to develop nearly all of the teammates and hardly leaves any behind. It isn’t perfect as it is a tad slow at the beginning and some emotional moments among teammates I feel weren’t earned; these problems were rectified as the episode count got higher. From a technical perspective, the music and animation provide some great mood and atmosphere when needed. Haikyuu also has ... intense matches that can leave many audiences on the edge of their seats. Any fan of sports anime should definitely watch this but even ones who usually aren’t should also give it a try.

Pros:

+ Great character development and manages to juggle many characters well

+ Excellent animation and sound that enhances the themes and situations

+ Enjoyable and can create a good atmosphere for almost any scene

+ Very intense matches that have high stakes and it helps take matches seriously

Cons:

- Pretty slow at the beginning and some scenes feel like unnecessary padding

- Some attempts at emotional moments in the beginning don’t really work well

Overall: 8/10.

Like many others in it’s genre, Haikyuu is much less of a story or plot driven anime and more about the characters progression and growth. A good example of this is our two main leads, Kageyama and Hinata. What was interesting right out of the gate was these two reluctant partnership. Now this sort of dynamic isn’t exactly new to anime as many have done this in the past with varying success. But where this one succeeded was that both Kageyama and Hinata filled a need the other had.

Kageyama is the character that easily got the most development. He slowly matured and become a team player rather than an individual one. I especially loved how he became a better setter not necessarily by becoming more skilled. He did it from learning how to communicate with his teammates and utilize Hinata in a way to make him much more effective and strong. Speaking of, Hinata certainly isn’t a slouch and also grew considerably, learning to work with Kageyama and taking all the sets his old teammates never would.

You could also say this in general about the rest of the cast too. The seniors, while experienced and steady, need younger teammates to help revive the team back to former glory. I thought the two best seniors this season were Sugawara and Asahi. Sugawara had a dilemma of being replaced by younger and stronger talent while Asahi was dealing with unresolved feelings from a match long ago. Both of these problems and how the characters overcame them made Sugawara and Asahi standouts, even amongst our two main leads.

Haikyuu manages to juggle many characters at once and give them development while not feeling too crowded. They are using the sport itself as justification for cramming in characterization for everyone, and did so well.

Now this anime wasn’t perfect and did have some problems from the start.

One problem I did have with this anime was that its pacing is a bit inconsistent, especially in the first few episodes. Aside from introducing Hinata and Kageyama, it didn’t really do much of a service for the anime itself. The events that were happening weren’t really interesting at first because they were predictable and just padding to get them (Kageyama and Hinata) into the actual team itself.

Another issue I had was some of these “feel-good” moments at the start. These were attempts at emotional moments in which teammates bonded or resolved some kind of internal conflict. I am not saying there shouldn’t be ANY bonding or moments between teammates. Quite the contrary actually as that element later on in the show gave the matches and practices more emotional weight and character depth. But I didn’t feel it was necessary at the beginning 5-ish episodes. The anime didn’t give much context or enough scenes to justify them being there so early on.

Despite those issues, Haikyuu’s strengths stand out far more than its weaknesses.

Haikyuu not only succeeds in giving even small characters development, it especially excels by going above and beyond in this department. My personal favourite episode of the series is “Winners and Losers.” This episode is the strongest because it excellently conveys the fist pumping adrenaline of victory as well as the soul crushing sorrow of losing, given frustratingly easy-to-fix circumstances like not practicing enough. And it also shows that even if you do practice, sometimes all the hard work in the world will not assure victory.

So how did it present these harsh realities? By having the characters in a tournament where losing meant possibly never being able to share the same court together in high school. This not only brought ample tension and stakes but also consequences that resonated within every single person on the court. “Winners and Losers” was particularly emotionally charged, showing that for many players (not just our protagonists but side characters and opponents as well), volleyball means so much more to them than just a club to kill time in. Episodes like these really helped me get immersed in Haikyuu and kept me invested in matches.

Speaking of, the thrilling matches are definitely a major strength in this anime thanks to well developed characters and the technical aspects. The technicality shines bright not only visually but also in the music/sound. The animation and art direction does this anime plenty of favours by consistently being excellent and having proper fluidity of movement that emulates actual volleyball players. This helps give a consistent feel to Haikyuu.

As for the music, it perfectly matches and enhances the mood the anime tries to convey at any given time. Whether that is heartbreaking loss on tracks like “Losers”, critical turning points or mounting anticipation/excitement on “Chimu no Jiriki” or pure thrill and electrifying euphoria of inching closer to victory on songs like “Above”. The voice actors also give great and passionate performances overall.

I felt that this anime ended on a very powerful note. No spoilers, but the way the ending was handled emotionally was very impactful and the last match itself had amazing buildup and tension. It definitely lent itself well for a deserved second season.

I think any fan of sports anime or even ones looking to dabble their feet in the water should definitely watch Haikyuu. It has plenty of strengths in its characters, has good drama and high stakes that really makes you get behind this team. I definitely give it a recommendation!

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Summary (TL;DR Version):

Naruto is a manga that showed great promise in the beginning with engaging story, smart and inventive battles that developed characters in the process. However, as the manga got lengthier, the battles became “who has the strongest superpowered attack” rather than skills/tactics, some characters became one note and boring and the same flashback scenes that gave context to fights turned into Naruto’s own downfall by repeating several of them ad nauseum (too many times). It has memorable, yet hit or miss characters that, like everything else, start out interesting and varied but soon become infuriating/one dimensional and quantity soon overpowered quality. The ... art is good, but doesn’t really improve much after time has gone on. Naruto is a good example of a shounen overstaying it’s welcome and a display of all that genre’s best and worst aspects.

Pros:

+ Initial great combination of characters, narrative and fights to make readers emotionally invested

+ Solid fights in the first half that were exciting and thrilling

+ Respected some characters (Choji) who would otherwise be used to laugh at

Cons:

- Fights drag on FOREVER in the second half and become exponentially tedious and boring

- Flashbacks also become boring and downright repetitive

- Too many characters to care about equally, so many end up forgotten or their development entirely skippable

- Protagonists who become deplorable and unredeemable due to their actions (*cough* Sasuke *cough*)

- Skill is no longer a factor in fights and quickly becomes a showcase of who has the most OP jutsu

- Too many chapters and could have easily be edited down severely to increase enjoyment


Overall: 6/10


Naruto started out with a very strong cohesion between narrative, action and characters. What I mean is that its own narrative enriched fight scenes. The Chunin exams are a great example of this. Tournament events are commonplace in shounen manga and many in it’s genre decided to develop the characters first and then put them through extreme circumstances. Naruto took a unique and strong approach by either introducing characters in said fights and laying foundation to develop them or using effective flashbacks as a method to tie the current and previous narratives of characters. Such techniques were used before and especially after Naruto was being made, but this was a real strong point for the series as it made me care more about the narrative and characters.

This didn’t just give us great fight scenes, it also gave some initial great character development. One concrete example I always use is a fight between a certain mist ninja and the trio of Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura (plus Kakashi). I won’t spoil what happens in the end, but not only did the fight display a good use of tactics, skills and intelligence to fight a stronger enemy, it also made our characters mature and even the enemy in this part became more sympathetic and likeable. It had a big emotional impact on me too, even prompting some tears to be shed. After reading this part, I saw what so many Naruto fans did and started enjoying it a lot more.

The characters are something of a mixed bag, especially as the manga gets longer. I won’t discuss all of them, as there are so many (too many) characters in the manga. I will mainly be discussing the main three and some other notable side characters.

Naruto himself grew on me after an initial bad impression and became a likable and strong point of the manga itself. The main problem I had with his character is that his own message to the reader is slightly contradictory. It’s clear that he is an inspiration to those who feel overwhelmed by their own shortcomings or feelings of incompetence, yet have great potential underneath. The issue here is that his own resource of power/gimmick of a ninetails puts him so far above others that it undercuts the morale his character is trying to convey. He fails tests miserably and rushes head on into fights, yet appears head and shoulders above the rest in pure power so that the exams/battle tactics eventually become meaningless because of how overpowered he is. Which means it might be harder for others to look up to him when Naruto himself has an unrealistic advantage that makes him so powerful.

Sasuke is much less likable. He started out as a good foil and great example of how Naruto could have ended up after his own traumatic past. The problem is that in terms of character, Sasuke became as interesting as beige paint drying on a wall after the first half due to being so one dimensional. Past chapter 400, his character got increasingly onenote, unsympathetic and detestable. More than ever before, Sasuke was being defined by his past and his detestable actions later in the manga don’t help.

Sakura is a character who I liked for her tsundere attitude, but increasingly was shoved to the back multiple times, even when she became useful later on in future arcs. This frustrated me a bit, because I feel like her character could add a lot to the story and events. But she is put on the sidelines and rarely show off her strengths and continue to make her cry in a corner until Naruto or someone else can fix things.

The other side characters are also mixed with some being good (Shikamaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya) and some not so much (Tenten, Killer Bee, Kabuto). I did appreciate and respect how characters like Choji weren’t just comedic foil because of their body size and were given ample respect.

As for antagonists, they were alright but got worse progressively. Orochimaru was a serviceable and interesting villain, having clear motivations and fleshed out characterization. However, future villains like Madara became like those ridiculous final bosses with several health bars and powerful attacks that are downright absurd.

The art is generally good, though nothing groundbreaking. It’s consistent and unlike other mangaka with longer running series, the art never takes serious nosedives and continues to be steady, even when other elements aren’t.

Naruto is a clear example of how more is not always better. The same flashbacks and fights that were so effective early on became tedious and boring, as we get fed the same information multiple times. These 700 chapters could have easily been narrowed down to 500 refined ones without losing that much in the process.

Additionally, some later plot twists and developments seem incredibly forced in order for the current character motivations or plot to make sense, sometimes taking giant leaps of logic that create plotholes.

So how does this all end after 699 chapters of inconsistency? Badly. Again, no spoilers but everything is so hastily rushed that it's clear that they wanted it to end, even at the great expense of more plotholes. It is especially shocking because Naruto took a great length of time developing characters who will and won’t have serious consequences on the plot. This ending felt like a slap in the face to anyone who wanted to see what happened to their favourite characters by dumping a sudden timeskip with little or often no explanation of characters at all. It leaves a really sour taste in my mouth and made me feel dissapointed.

As for recommendations, if you are already a fan of the Shounen genre, you have likely already read this manga. But to those who are newcomers, I would probably just skip it as the hype from fans is mostly undeserved and there are better manga like this nowadays (Boku No Hero Academia is probably the best alternative I can give here).

Toradora Review

For a shorter synopsis of my thoughts, see the summary/pros and cons below. This review is somewhat spoilery, but I made sure the details were vague.

Summary:

Toradora is an magnificent high school rom com with great, well fleshed out characters dealing with love lives, personal baggage, regrets and many more issues adolescents and adults deal with. This anime, unlike many in it’s genre, takes full advantage of the character being in high school. Melodrama can be a double edge sword, but Toradora uses it effectively. The animation is generally good with a couple hiccups here and there. Soundtrack is decent with one track in ... particular that is a massive standout. The story progresses very naturally so that romances end or blossom in such a way that it isn’t forced to make the ending work. Toradoras comedy is really funny, either when pushing familiar character troupes to their extremes and especially the eccentric personalities of just the character interactions themselves. It was emotionally charged and very enjoyable to watch and I’d definitely recommend this to those who are into high school rom coms and can handle melodrama. Overall: 9/10.

Pros:

+ Rich and very deep characterisation that subverts cliches and becomes much more expansive than the tropes they seemed to initially be

+ Witty and solid writing that managed to make character motivations make perfect sense and all paced together naturally

+ Often hilarious character interactions, situations and dialogue

+ Made excellent and creative use of the high school setting

+ Can be very emotionally moving and surprisingly mature at times, sneaking in good life lessons while not being preachy

+ Great voice acting performances

Cons:

- Occasional animation slip ups
- Outside of a few tracks, a mostly forgettable soundtrack


Story:

Initially, the idea of the two main characters trying to set themselves up with the other side characters was something I latched onto, despite being fairly cliche. While it may be fairly easy to predict what will happen next, there is a great sense of nuance hidden underneath the melodrama which works to Toradoras advantage.The writing is excellent, as the comedy is often witty enough to stand on its own and establishes the characters very strongly in the viewer's mind.

What is especially noteworthy here is how the writing handles character drama and development. Despite how immature characters can act at times, there are just as many scenes of surprisingly mature and heartfelt writing that helps build an emotional epicenter for Toradora to shine from. It handles growing up and dealing with heartbreak more effectively than many other romances I have seen. It’s also paced beautifully (for the most part), allowing a natural progression from beginning to end.

Lastly, what I really appreciated in the story was how the seemingly right way to solve a friend’s dilemma can just make things worse and seem cowardly on the part of the one helping. Situations like these do come up in Toradora and help reinforce how mature and insightful the writing can be. Not everything will end up being what the characters wanted, but again, this is more relatable to how things play out in an actual high school. Overall: 8/10.

Characters:

Of all the things I liked about Toradora, what made me fall in love with it is its characters and just how deep they are. I feel like Toradora is one of the few to take full advantage of that awkward, heavily insecure time of high school and it expresses this with big, dramatic character moments as well has more subtle ones.

Taiga Aisaka is the embodiment of tsundere, which could make for an annoying character. However, I argue she is easily the best character of the anime, despite being the most cliche. Of all the characters, she grows and matures the most. Example: In the first few episodes, we see many people cower in fear from her very presence. In later episodes, those people eventually stop being scared of her and want to be her friend. This happens because her classmates, like the viewer, saw her being scared and reminded them that she is still human. After a while, she starts being a little nicer to others and becomes much more approachable/likeable as a result. I also loved how, like many of the other characters, wasn’t overly mature and made her (and others) as realistic as possible.

Another point to consider is her transition between tsun and dere. There is the tsun (violent, temperamental) side, but the dere (affectionate, compassionate) side is what really makes her character so loveable. The second half of Toradora shows this beautifully, as she handles her own problems noticeably different from the rash ways she used to handle it. Deep down, Taiga Aisaka is a very caring, compassionate heroine. Evidence of this is how much she loves holidays and especially how far she is willing to go sometimes to make sure people are happy (even if she dislikes them). Taiga eventually learns a lot about herself by the end and what her heart truly wants.

Ryuji deals with a similar problem to Taiga: everyone is terrified of him. While Taiga fights her way through it, Ryuji truly takes a more passive approach. Initially, he is fairly bland but throughout the course of the anime, we see subtle hints about how he too matures and grows; Like how he starts to consider others feelings or becomes more honest (like Taiga) with what his heart truly wants.

What really perpetuated Ryuji into being a great and fleshed out character is a scene in which he pushes his own selfish desires onto someone else, while having good intentions. Many, including myself, are guilty of this and the way Toradora handled this and grew his character from it was exceptional; rather than falling into a self loathing trap and fending the person he hurt away, he immediately fought to gain this person’s trust and loyalty back. As with most anime protagonists in romances, he is rather kind and thoughtful. As a foil to Taiga, he works by showing how different, yet similar Ryuji and Taiga are.

Kitamura and Kushieda both essentially suffer from the exact same dilemma: denial. Kushieda handles this by being as busy/active as possible. She tries to be considerate to her friends as it slowly eats away at her because she put her own aside. By taking on so much responsibility, she throws herself away from her own true desires. Later on in Toradora, her bottled up fears, emotions and frustrations end up hurting and affecting others. Despite her strong facade, Kushieda is rather immature, making it a fascinating contrast between Taiga’s increasing maturity to Kushieda own unraveling.

Kitamura is a little different. He too has his own responsibilities he hides under, but his character explores outside pressures of adolescent school students and how he copes with the usual heartache. Like Taiga to some degree, Kitamura is a people pleaser. He caves into peer pressure but by the end discovers that he needs to do what he wants to do. Even when confronted with heartbreak, he embraces it, yet doesn’t once feel bitter or sour over it. He tries his best to be content with what he has and enjoy the ride. Kitamura learns to embrace his failures and carry on despite any regrets he may have. To sum it up, Kushieda runs away from her desires by being as busy as possible while Kitamura tries to use certain jobs/clubs to help fulfill his own desires.

While most people held contempt for Taiga, I had a bigger problem with Ami. Even though it’s a cliche, she is a true example of not judging based on initial impressions. Ami can be a good example for how nasty and fake some high school girls can act but she is also equally how mature they can be emotionally.

Ami is similar to Hachiman from SNAFU. Both characters often try to help their friends out by doing acts that seem deplorable to her peers. What I love about Ami is how she is able to put her selfish desires aside for the benefit of her friends. She knows what everyone wants and tries her best to give it to them. Deep down, she is also just as scared and insecure as the rest of the main cast, yet will still put up a front.


The characterization here is easily the greatest strength of Toradora. They made the characters likeable enough to get behind yet ground them emotionally perfectly to the age they were supposed to be.Overall: 9/10.

Animation:

I think the art/animation, while dated, still works really well. There are scenes in which it’s clear they cheaped out on (mostly in scenes of high action), but the art style and quality are relatively consistent. In the second half, it improved and started to shine more in scenes with heavier emotion and weight behind them. This is merely a visual aesthetic/personal thing, but I really like the overall art style of the characters. Overall: 7/10.

Sound:

The soundtrack is… decent for the most part. Admittedly, it is fairly standard but there’s a lot of life and energy given to each track, which often flows well with the upbeat comedy/romance genre. There are a couple standout tracks that I will mention. First, the openings and endings are all good. Most people like the first Opening the most and while I can see why, I personally LOVE the second opening. Not only is it an upbeat and enjoyable song on it’s own merit, the animation and song matches the more emotionally intense tone Toradora took in the second half. But more than anything, it pumps me the hell up for another episode. The other track I couldn’t NOT mention is the track Lost My Pieces. It plays during very emotionally heavy scenes and is a perfect accompaniment to characters falling apart at the seams. Every musical instrument and layer makes this song so emotionally powerful. The innocent music box playing a disheartened tune, the sorrowful and aching violins that sound like a heart being ripped apart, the piano trying frantically to keep everything together… everything about this track works. And as a result, it is easily one of my favourite OST’s of all time and can bring a tear to my eye. Overall: 8/10.

Enjoyment:

This is also an incredibly enjoyable anime to watch, given that you can stomach the dramatically heavy moments. The comedy here works wonderfully and I feel that the more melodramatic moments were handled with respect to the characters and flowed fantastically with the story and themes. The performances (regarding the sub) are fantastic. Each performance fits the character on screen so naturally that hearing other voices would likely throw me off (not disrespecting the dub, which seemed fairly competent). Overall: 9/10.

B Gata H Kei Review

This is gonna get ugly… read the summary below if you want a shorter, condensed version of my thoughts.

Summary:

There’s no way of getting around it… this anime is bad and I despise it. Why? Bland story with some potential in the premise squandered by insufferable/bland characters. The music and animation is decent, but hardly anything memorable. Enjoyment was incredibly low, making me hate this anime the more I thought about it. What really made me despise this anime was its characters. B Gata made it’s main heroine too whiny, arrogant, demanding and such with little self awareness or development. Yamada’s shallow ... goals aren’t the problem, but they failed to make her sympathetic enough to care about her. Her love interest is even worse, suffering from incredible blandness and is about as lively as roadkill perched on a rotting plank of wood. This was an ecchi looking to set itself apart from others in its genre and fell flat in many aspects. Overall: 3/10.

Story:

The premise here is unique (I never heard a premise like this, anyway): have a adolescent girl lusting for sex, straying away from many of the norms/cliches of typical romance/ecchi anime. It purposefully portrayed it’s main character as a sex crazed bimbo. Unfortunately, it did this too well. The issue isn’t the end but the way they portrayed the means. The story and pacing backfired in making its characters vulnerable or sympathetic and rather painted them in a negative light far too often. The atmosphere and mood tries to convey melodrama, but it often just heightens the idiocy and hostile behaviors of characters. It desperately needed to show these characters being more vulnerable and honest instead of annoying and irrationally immature. Overall: 3/10.

Characters:

I know this may sound like a broken record, but it seriously can’t be overstated how much I hate Yamada. There is a right way to do obnoxious and bitchy characters who eventually change and become much more likable. Taiga Aisaka is one of the best examples I can think of. What made her an excellent character and is missing here is how her friends, and own personal feelings made her grow strong, kinder and more mature. This is what Yamada needs. Instead, we get 10+ episodes of Yamada being INCREDIBLY obnoxious, Yamada’s friends telling her how fucking awful her behavior is and NOTHING being done about it on her end, forcing her will onto others without any hint of self awareness or empathy… ugh. I can easily write an entire essay on how much contempt I have for Yamada, but if you are going to make a character who has morally wrong or bankrupt goals, that’s fine. The thing is... you can’t expect the audience to give a shit when you want to show her softer/slightly more likable side AT THE END OF THE ANIME!

Sadly, there’s someone even worse from a character standpoint: her boyfriend/slave Takashi. The only thing I can think of that’s worse than making a character insufferable is making them BORING AS HELL. Why is he so boring? Because we know nearly nothing about him, he goes along with every horrible action Yamada does with no rebuttal to anything she says/does, he has less backbone than a jellyfish and just kinda is… there. He is treated as a means to an end because of the premise. However, when they try to actually develop a romance out of this… they forgot to actually develop his character. All I can really remember is that Takashi is a photographer… THAT'S IT. Seriously, I have seen fewer wooden expressions from a ventriloquist dummy. The only other character left talking about is Yamada’s best friend. All she does is point out the obvious and is the only “ok” character in this. There really isn’t anyone else to talk about. The characters are EASILY the worst part of this entire shitshow. Overall: 1/10.

Animation and Sound:

I combined these two in one because neither were particularly memorable. The animation was pretty decent and i’ll be damned if I could remember anything from the soundtrack or openings. I have nothing much to say here because it was fairly forgettable. I will give some props to the animation and the voice acting as neither was particularly bad or wretched. Overall: 5/10.

Enjoyment:

The real question is where IS the enjoyment in this?! I’m fully aware that art is subjective but I could not for the life of me see WHY people rate this so highly and like this so much. I won’t beat a dead horse with my criticisms but I will say that I love romance, drama and even high school anime in general. As much as it can be cliche, same-y and boring, there are many romantic dramas set in high schools that show how great this genre is (SNAFU, Toradora, Shigatsu, first season of Clannad, Dengeki Daisy… the list goes on). Even if I am not someone who usually seeks out ecchi anime or manga, there’s a better way to do anime/manga in that genre. How? This is how: developing characters properly by showing the bad AND the good, having erotic and the not erotic scenes that helps flesh out character’s development, and most importantly getting your audience to feel empathetic by showing character imperfections with a sense of self awareness or having other characters help them become kinder. That is what B Gata needed and it failed miserably. Overall: 2/10.

Pros:

+ Uh… the animation and sound didn’t send me into a fit of rage and was serviceable…?

Cons:

- Yamada (EVERYTHING)
- Takashi, the living mannequin and vacuum of character development
- Abysmal character development that had to rush to the end to try and redeem its characters. Needless to say, it fell on it’s face
- ALMOST NOTHING WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE TIME IT ENDED
- When it wasn’t being infuriating, it was just boring to sit through and was painfully unfunny

Food Wars (Season 1) Review

For a brief and small overview, read the summary below.

Summary:

Food Wars is a good food-porn anime. It tends to be overly heavy on fanservice/ecchi and at times this is distracting/not funny. However, it shines in other areas like animation and overall enjoyment. The writing promotes cheap and budget ways of making good food that will likely inspire others to try some of the recipes/ideas that Soma (Main Character) creates. While the characterization is rather shallow, it still can provide an ample amount of tension and suspense in matches between other chefs. The food itself is told to the ... audience in great detail, further enhancing enjoyment/hunger. If you enjoy cooking or even just want to see some goofy cooking shenanigans from time to time, Food Wars might be something you’ll enjoy. Overall: 7/10.

Story:

At first, many of the matches or competitions fall prey to predictability. Our main character is, from the start, shown to be confident, bold, daring and particularly knowledgeable in humble/budget culinary. This baffles many other chefs at the academy who have considerably higher budgets, which was funny and entertaining in its own right. One thing I really did enjoy was that it didn’t necessarily matter who had the most expensive or high quality materials; it is more about what you can do with them. Soma has to work his way to the top in an academy in which he can be sent packing rather quickly. This is the main source for tension, and it maintains it mostly by having side characters who clearly aren’t as OP as our main protagonist. The story here to sum it up is good, but nothing spectacular. Overall: 7/10.

Character:

The characters presented here are… underwhelming and mediocre. As previously mentioned, Soma has a very cocky, confident and brash personality. He even challenges an instructor for an unfair evaluation of a friend, which was easily one of the best scenes in the entire season. Overall, he still manages to be humble... unlike Erina… who's easily the most annoying character here. It’s stupidly obvious that she is supposed to be some Tsundere love interest, but her character is WAY too abrasive towards others for me to care for her. Her pompous and “bow to me, you peasant because God Tongue” shtick REALLY got old.

The italian chefs, Isami and Takumi, have fleshed out backstories and are admirable rivals to Soma himself. My personal favourite character BY FAR is Megumi. She is so likeable not just because of how humble, sweet, caring and nurturing she is but because of how much she wants to be there. It’s clear that she gets nervous easily and might be prone to rookie mistakes but her pure determination, potential and kindness is her best traits. As for the rest, well… they are mostly forgettable. They get occasional moments to shine, but feel inconsequential to the story. Overall, aside from Megumi, Soma, Isami and Itaki, many characters are a little underwhelming and shortening the cast list could have avoided this problem. Overall: 5/10.

Animation/Art:

Oh boy… this one is tricky. The animation itself is very well done and of high quality. The duels or Shokugeki’s are very well drawn in particular. However … Food Wars does have Ecchi characteristics (nothing inherently wrong with Ecchi, either). And at first, this was fine. Overused, but still funny and entertaining to an extent. After the first 10 episodes though, the joke is starting to get a bit old. Yes, the food might be euphoric and amazing enough to prompt having our characters shown nearly nude, but the joke starts overstaying it’s welcome. Why? Repetition and lack of relevance to the plot (unless this is renamed Waifu Wars or something). Fanservice is like icing: some is good, too much can make you wanna throw up. And I felt that after the first half, the icing was being laid on too thick/heavy. Overall: 6/10.


Music/Sound:

The soundtrack is… mostly forgettable. I can remember a few of the more epic tracks like The Texture of Decisive Battle or Study Both Sweet and Sour but other than that… there was little else that warranted me to hunt the OST down and listen. I can definitely tell work was put into it but the visuals sorta dominated the presentation. Which isn’t necessarily bad, but means the music is shoved so far into the background that it hardly becomes noticeable. The second opening was good though. Overall: 6/10.

Enjoyment

Where this anime stumbles a bit with it’s animation and sound, the enjoyment factor makes up for it. The Shokugeki’s/duels are intense and exciting, sometimes even nail biting like the Autumn Election’s arc. While the overabundance of fanservice was grating, there is still good humour and excitement that was more than enough to keep me watching. The anime was addicting, especially in the beginning. The descriptions of food (Food Porn) and even Soma's wild antics got me really excited at times. Out of all the categories, I think this one is the strongest that Shokugeki No Souma offers. Overall: 8/10.

Pros:

+ Exciting matches that have significant steaks (pun intended) attached to them
+ Megumi in general
+ Excellent descriptions of food
+ The animation (in terms of pure objective terms and quality of the animation itself)

Cons:

- Underdeveloped and mostly bland side characters who get pushed to the side or treated as jokes.
- Erina in general
- Rather forgettable soundtrack with some exceptions
- The animation (Too. Much. Ecchi.)

Hope you liked the review!

Your Lie in April Review

Note: Short sum up of my thoughts is in the summary below and there is a spoiler section at the bottom. This review is rather large and because I had a lot to say, I recommend you go to the summary if you don’t want to read all of it.

Summary:

Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso) is an emotional rollercoaster that makes a large impact on the viewer after watching. Its art and animation is incredibly detailed and gorgeous. The music is brilliantly played, tricking the viewer into thinking they are actually watching a live performance in a concert ... hall. Its original soundtrack (not including the classical tracks) is just as good if not better than the classical performances. The story is very well written (despite being fairly predictable) and its characters are fantastic. If you get invested, you’ll surely laugh, cry (A LOT) and be sucked into the whirlwind of emotions of Shigatsu’s characters and their stories. It’s surely a ride that is unforgettable. Overall: 9/10.

Story:

The story presented here is one I related to more than I like to admit. While of course it wasn’t the same, I certainly had similar experiences that our MC (Main Character) Kousei experienced. So much of his personal story was very relatable. The premise is simple, yet poignant. One slight negative criticism I’ll give here is that the story can be rather predictable and it’s not too hard to figure out what will happen to certain characters. Does this make it a bad story? Of course not. But I would have appreciated more nuance or subtly in foreshadowing future plot events.

The themes and overall message of the story are fairly obvious; finding new inspiration, dealing with setbacks and emotional baggage… the one that really stood out to me personally was having haunting memories of what you used to love due to some bad experiences. I felt that out of all of the one’s I mentioned, that particular theme was executed the best. Despite the basic premise and predictable story, it can surprise you and much of the story hinges on its characters. In terms of the story itself, it nicely balances all these characters and introduces new ones without feeling overly bloated. Overall: 8/10.

Character:

Here is an area which this anime excels IMMENSELY at: Character Development.

The main character is definitely the best developed character here and my personal favourite. Making him start out depressed and filled with regrets makes us immediately care for his own struggles and turmoil. On the outside, he seems very calculated and almost distant. He’ll still be kind and sympathetic, yet you know he’s still unusually calm or distant when characters are practically having emotional breakdowns in front of him. Once he starts getting more attached to Kaori, the violinist who he encounters and restores colour in his life, Kousei slowly starts becoming more emotive/expressive through the progression of the story. There is one episode in particular where his character shines, but I will leave that for the spoiler section.

The next two characters I’ll talk about is Kaori and Tsubaki. Kaori is an emotional wreck a lot of the times. She barges into Kousei’s life and immediately makes him “Friend A” to someone else whom she actually likes. There is so much about her I love. Firstly, she is undyingly loyal. She never gives up on Kousei for a second and will always encourage him to keep going. Kaori may be overly emotional at times, but that also means she’s that much kinder. Watching her play with children was very heartwarming and spoke numbers about how compassionate and childlike her character is. Tsubaki is another character I love. Many will probably hate her for being selfish, possessive and even downright bitchy at Kousei. But that’s how love (especially teenage love) usually is: incredibly selfish. She slowly tries to get closer to our main protagonist, despite her own insecurities and personal dilemmas. She does everything she can to ignore it, but like many of us, her heart yearns for someone in particular. I loved how human Tsubaki is and how honest and open she was about herself, often reflecting on her own selfish desires. Both of these characters are fantastic and are both easy to feel sympathy for. They go pretty heavily into both character’s backstories and give us more than enough reason to care.

Lastly, I will discuss some other side characters. There are two rivals (Emi and Takeshi) that are prevalent throughout the anime. I like their inclusion so that we get different perspectives of our main character and some variation on how others perform. Yes, them being rivals is a bit stereotypical but they both get fleshed out more than I thought they would. The teacher, Seto, is one of my favourite characters in Shigatsu. She acts like a mother figure that Kousei didn’t have and helps restore his love for Piano and is a great mentor. I quite cared for her and liked how she helped Kousei whenever he needed it. The last character and the only one I think got kinda shafted for character development is Watari. They gave him some development early on in the series but since this is a romance, he kinda got left out, which is a little sad. Overall: 9/10

Animation:

A-1 Pictures yet again delivers with incredibly beautiful artwork and animation. The harsh and cold greys and blacks in Kousei’s backstories convey the grim and depressing mood skillfully. The colours pop out of the screen and the detailed artwork is a sight to behold. Scenes where the piano playing occurs are also technically proficient. Clearly, no expense or corners were cut in the production of Your Lie in April and it clearly shows. When the art perfectly conveys and compliments the mood of the anime, you know the art is clearly doing something right. Overall: 10/10.

Sound:

In some ways, this was the most important aspect to have down. If the concert performances weren’t good, it’ll immediately be noticeable to the viewer. If that was good but the original soundtrack was lacking, it could also pull the viewer out of the experience. Thankfully, this is another area where the anime excels masterfully in. The concert performances are masterful, making the audience feel as if they were really there. Big props to the voice acting (to the sub) as well and to just the mixing. It creates an atmosphere and soundstage that makes it conceivable and almost unmistakable that you are in the audiences eyes watching the performance. But what I think is even better than the concert performances is the original soundtrack. That may be an incredibly bold claim given that these performances were compositions written by classical artists, renowned for their complex and masterful compositions. However, the classical tracks (with two major exceptions I will mention in the spoiler section) often tend to just be sheet music to play and to compete against others with. The actual soundtrack though is simply amazing.

The opening (and ending) tracks are fantastic all around. The first opening and ending are very catchy and enjoyable songs on their own. The second opening (Nanario Symphony and Orange), however, are more emotionally impactful. Overall, I prefer the second opening and last ending theme. Regarding the actual soundtrack, there are many standout tracks. Songs like Watashitachi wa Sou Yatte Ikite Iku Jinshu na no (Sorry, don’t have the translation so romaji will have to suffice), Watashi no Uso, Yuujin A (Friend A I believe… maybe?) and Yuujin A-kun wo Watashi no Bansousha ni Ninmeishimasu are emotional powerhouses. All eyed or evoke an of those tracks showcase swelling, beautiful melodies that resonate with the listener forever. Many of them still get me teary- emotional response even without watching the source material it came from. In general, the entire soundtrack is awe-inspiring and a wonder to behold. Along with the art and characters, these three work together as one to create an emotionally charged experience full of wonder, colour, sounds and atmosphere. Overall: 10/10.


Enjoyment:
As you can tell, I love this anime. My overall enjoyment was sky high. The little moments in this anime in terms of story, atmosphere and mood are superb. There are often times when dialog is not necessarily said and you just see the characters react to something or stare into the skies. These small little scenes make all the difference in the end, as it perfectly tells you everything without even saying a word. Shigatsu can also just play the music itself and you can hear the emotions, desires and will of the artists bleed through their performances. Overall: 10/10.

Pros:

+ Deep and meaningful character development and progression that hardly falters or drags
+ Masterful art direction that creates a rich and beautiful palette full of luscious colours and detail, enhancing the enjoyment considerably
+ Jaw-droppingly beautiful original soundtrack songs that are emotionally captivating along with expertly executed concert performances that actually feel real
+ An emotionally captivating narrative that has seamless pacing
+ Consistently entertaining and intriguing to watch

Cons:
- Story can get a little too predictable and might be cliché for some
- While the characters are overall amazing, a couple get kinda shafted (Watari)




*************SPOILERS*****************************************


There are two episodes I couldn’t NOT bring up, since they are honestly the best episodes of the season and some of the most emotionally potent I have seen in an anime.

Episode 13: Loves Sorrow.

This is the episode in which Kousei plays Love’s Sorrow, a piece that he has history with regarding his mother. His story arc with her comes to a definite and complete close here. And it is one of the most breathtaking, emotional and astounding episodes in the anime. As I mentioned before, I related more than I like to admit to Kousei’s relationship towards his mother. Through the piece, he goes through his past again and with different eyes, sees that maybe she was just trying to care for him and love her son all along. She just became bitter, cold and harsh due to her illness. His playing conveys the mood and tone perfectly, reflecting the regret and compassion he now has towards his mother. Kousei coming to the conclusion that she did love him despite the hell she put him through is beyond beautiful and courageous. I honestly couldn’t stop crying, as that episode’s execution and conclusion to his strife and emotional baggage given to us as early as episode 1. It’s also the rare time when the composition itself has actual ties to previous events in the story. Many of the concert performances reflected how someone was feeling, but not having personal ties to the piece itself. I feel that this conclusion to his mom’s arc couldn’t have been done any better than it was here, even showing her in the audience as if she was there all along.

Episode 22: Spring Breeze.

This episode is easily the best of the entire show, without any doubt. Kousei has to perform and he is an absolute wreck. The one that he loves, Kaori, is in critical condition and undergoing surgery that may take her life. He is going up on a stage and performing for a LOT of people, all with expectations. When he commences playing, he creates vivid images and scenery in the audiences mind. At the same time, Kaori is having her surgery. She imagines herself in the performance, almost as if she still lived within Kousei’s heart. He sees her perform and wow… already this scene is loaded with all kinds of emotions. Despair, regret, sadness, joy to some degree… all of it comes colliding in this scene. The animation here is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen in any anime. The music is breathtaking and sets the mood exquisitely. It all comes in as a rush. However, the song must end. And by then, Kaori dies, disappearing from Kousei, even after he begs her to stay. At this point for many, tears are overflowing. The mood, the sound, the animation, the characters… all of it makes you feel such powerful emotion. And that’s not all. The saddest part (for me) was Kaori’s letter. The revelations said in the letter, especially about her loving Kousei strongly ever since they were children left me bawling my eyes out.

I wanted to talk about these because I feel it would do an injustice if I hadn’t, like I missed a large part about this anime. These two episodes are proof of just how good this anime really is. I feel like as a character, Kaori definitely was able to live inside many audiences heart's with how loveable, sweet, patient and caring she was towards Kousei Arima. She and this anime are two thing’s I’ll never forget and fondly remember.