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Easily one of the most convoluted, pretentious, and trope filled shows that I've ever watched and one that I could not recommend highly enough.

It was the worst show that I had watched this year and also the one I had the most fun watching. This is the picture perfect definition of a so-bad-that-it's-good piece of media.

Everything about it is pretentiously extra. You know how shows usually only have one main character? Well this one has 12.

You know how the main character sometimes has weird hair or unique eyes? Well almost every character in this show has two tone ombre hair, usually in some ... pastel candy colored shade. Along with multicolored eyes, which are different from the THREE characters who have actual heterochromia, and pupils shaped like an hourglass. In fact, you can easily tell who will eventually become a relevant character solely on how many colors are in their eyes.

Every character has the most extra backstory imaginable (which usually is somehow intertwined with everyone else's extra backstory). Any trope or profession that you could possibly want is probably in here somewhere. Everything from yukaza leader to host club worker, expert hacker to professional writer.

Every time that they have a rap sequence the animation goes absolutely wild. Depending on who's singing the entire environment changes like they've just unlocked some strange combination of a domain expansion and a bankai.

The best part about this ridiculous world and the bizarre premise that the show is built around is that the story plays it almost completely strait.

All this combined with the almost stroke-inducing, neon colored, and (surprisingly) well animated rap sequences makes for a delightful time.

If you are looking to spend your time watching a good show then you'll likely be let down but if you go into it looking for a good time then you won't be disappointed.

This is a case where reading the manga before watching the anime ruined the show for me. While they are very similar, in that they hit most of the same plot points. The art style and pacing changes that the anime made caused me to not enjoy it.

The manga artwork was clean and very pretty, with a lot of details that gave it a unique feel. The anime's art style on the other hand oversimplifies a lot of the designs and lacks the unique charm the original had.

I also felt that the manga did a better job of creating an atmospheric mood. ... The tone shifts between happy moments and action/horror was a highlight of the manga but was lost for me in the anime.

In summary, if you have not read the manga you might enjoy this anime quite a bit since the story is still good and the characters are more or less depicted accurately. The unique combination of drama, romance, sci-fi, and dystopian horror is a lot of fun to experience.
I would struggle to really recommend the anime to anyone who's already read the manga and loved it. But I can easily recommend the anime to anyone who hasn't yet read the story or even to someone who read the manga and only thought it was okay, since some of the changes that the anime makes may actually appeal to you more.

I was very impressed with the art work in Replica. it reminded me a bit of the early art work in D. Gray-man. The story seemed fairly typical at first but by the 5th chapter i was completely drawn in by the twists in the story. The characters are refreshing and the story does a good job of making them endearing despite the short length of the manga.

The story is intricate and unique despite the short length of the manga. It has a strange sort of whimsical vibe to it.

The only downside is that the last volume (4) was never given an official English ... release and online translations can be difficult to come across.

Hakujaden exceeded my (admittedly somewhat low due to the age of the movie) expectations.

This film feels less like an anime and more like a 1940-1960s Western animation.
With a family-film sort of vibe, it is a movie that I would recommend to anyone who's a fan of very old Disney movies such as Snow White and Pinocchio.

Though this is one of the two main things that I could see someone disliking about this movie. The child friendly tone means that you get things like 2-3 minute sequences of the animal companions getting up to hijinks, drawn out visual moments such as a parade going ... by during a festival that are meant to be visually entertaining but don't really relate to the ongoing story and pacing that can at times jump rapidly from one plot moment to another. Not to mention the somewhat hilarious 'fight' scenes that are meant to appear dramatic without being violent.
So depending on your personal affinity for this sort of classic 'disney-esque' tone, as well as the mood and expectations that you have when going into this movie it can either come off as remarkably charming and strangely nostalgic or annoyingly nonsensical and boring.

The other major drawback that I had was that the movie felt like it was a little slow. I ended up watching most of movie at 1.5x speed, other than the songs, and enjoyed it much more then I otherwise would have. If I had only been able to watch it at the regular speed then I probably would have rated the film a 6 instead of a 7.

The animation was the biggest draw for me. There is a beautiful fluidity to all of the moving elements that can only be found in older hand drawn works. The stylization of the art feels classic and dream-like. The backgrounds are usually still, but are highly detailed and the watercolor landscapes are gorgeous. I particularly liked how they depicted the occasional twinkling element, such as light glinting off of water or stars.

There were two categories of music that were predominantly used in the film. The first are the sung songs which are done in a older eastern Asian folk style. Though there are not very many of these used in the film, only two or three come to mind.
The other type was the orchestral soundtrack which was used much more frequently in the background. Lots of brassy trumpets and strings instruments. This was another element of the movie that is very reminiscent of the background music in classic Disney movies.
I personally enjoyed the music as I like both of these distinctive styles but this is another area that will likely be divisive to some viewers depend on your personal preference.

The characters are not particularly unique but the story does a good job of establishing their personalities and goals early and their characterization remain consistent throughout. It makes sense why each character makes the choices that they do.
While not particularly memorable they feel like a good fit for the type of story that they're in. Which is more of a fairy tale retelling than a character study. Because of this the film's straightforward depictions of the characters felt unpretentious and I found myself being more charmed than bored by them. It also helped that none of them, not even the animal sidekicks, are particularly annoying.

Overall I liked this movie and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys older animation. This would also be an incredibly good film to watch with young children or as a family film.