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To preface this review, I am a (hopefully somewhat) seasoned classical musician, so I have a fair amount of knowledge going into the manga. This is a reverse harem (guys fight over a "girl") AND gender bender manga (girl pretends to be a guy), so if you're not into that stuff, go read something else.

Story: 5. There were definite plot holes that the author put in the plot. Each of the composers is from a completely different era; at least the author could have ordered their age a bit better? For example, Haydn is portrayed as a little kid, but Mozart, who is drawn ... much older than Haydn, definitely looked up to Haydn as a budding composer and musician. Just saying. Mozart is god, but not god to the point where everything revolves around him. Other than that, it's a decent and lighthearted plot but really not anything special.

Art: 7. It was clean and well drawn for the most part. However, the mangaka obviously does not know how to draw certain musical instruments which put me off a bit (if you want to see a good example of musical instruments in anime, watch Hibike Euphonium. Gosh they did an amazing job animating that oboe).

Characters: 6. The author basically went on the classical composer stereotype and ended it there. Also, the MC is a guy IRL but is a girl in the manga for some odd reason which I feel doesn't do the real composer justice. However, I'm somewhat biased towards this whole situation, but the characters aren't too deep or unique so it gets a 6 either way.

Enjoyment: 8. Guys, there's finally a manga about classical music that's not Your Lie in April! I enjoyed reading this manga and relating it to my personal knowledge of classical music.

Overall: 6.5 Mediocre plot and characters, but it's not easy putting together the pieces especially with composers ranging from the late 1600's to the mid 1800's. I'm a classical music buff, so combining two things that I enjoy really just made this series so much more enjoyable. This series is definitely a good stepping stone for those who want to know more about classical music and for those who want something in the same music genre as Your Lie in April.

Having tried to watch the anime and read the manga, I think I've had enough of this series in general. Not only are the characters shallow, the plot is monotonous and there is absolutely no important development. I've seen and read some decent (and good) slice of life manga and anime, and this just doesn't cut it for me.

Story: 5. It was cute and exciting at first, but it gets hard to keep up the antic for the series in general. Although it does teach about cooking, you'd be better off watching a Japanese cooking show (more detail and better commentary as well). Having ... such a monotonous plot even for a slice of life is a bit too much. It's not that hard not having just food be the center of every single chapter.

Art: 8. Undoubtedly the best part of this series. If you can read something just for the art, this series is for you. The artist has truly found a unique style which gives the whole atmosphere of the manga a lighthearted feel to it.

Characters: 4. Honestly, it could be lower because the characters scream one-dimensional which drives me insane. Sure, the author is trying to focus on the food, but the characters need some more love development and attention wise because that's where you really get the engagement from the audience.

Overall: 5. I enjoyed it in the beginning, but too much of a good thing is not a good thing. I'm honestly quite sad to leave such a negative review after such a promising exposition, but I really just could not stand the stale plot and characters by the end of it.

Alright guys, another slice of life/romance/mystery/comedy anime! It's quite hard for me to put this anime into any one hard category since it encompasses so many different aspects, but this is what makes this series so amazing and worth watching.
For a very brief synopsis: The story is about 5 first-year high school students who have all sorts of havoc wreaked on their lives by a mystical figure.

Story: 10. The plot (and characters) is what completely sold me on this series. The plot is lighthearted, suspenseful, tragic, and unique in all the right places.

Art: 6. It's mostly generic. The art doesn't stand out to ... me in any way (unlike kyoani's or shaft's if you want to see my baseline for a high score for art).

Sound: 7. There were times where the voice acting didn't really line up with what was being presented visually at times which bothered me a bit. However, it didn't take away from the series as a whole, and, on the other hand, the voice actors did a good job in distinguishing between each person as they switched people (mild spoiler but it's in the first episode anyways) which really impressed me.

Characters: 8. Some were a bit cliche, some developed in amazing ways. The characters and their development as a whole portrays to the audience firstly the importance of friends and other themes as well (which I won't spoil, but trust me they're good and took me many years to learn myself). Another plus is that the characters aren't too stereotypical and that were not very one-dimensional (unlike many slice of life series). I can't say too much about the characters or else I'd be spoiling the series, so go watch it and see for yourself!

Enjoyment: 10. I loved every single part. There were parts where I wanted to cry and others that wanted to make me laugh. There aren't that many series that could genuinely make me do that within the same episode.

Overall: 9. Guys. This. Series. Is. Amazing. One point docked for problems with the sound that I've outlined and mediocre art because I like to be picky especially with a series that has an amazing story and plot. If you haven't watched it, you really haven't lived life, and I don't mean that lightly. This series will definitely impart some good life lessons the easy way (unlike the hard way in my life unfortunately).

If anyone hasn't watched this series or isn't sure if they should, watch it! I'm personally quite picky when it comes to which series I should watch and don't take BS or fluff quite well, so that says something about this series. I hope this review has convinced some or all of you into watching (or bingeing) Kokoro Connect.

After a rave review from a friend about this anime, I decided to watch this anime. However, I didn't get the same feel for it. The characters and initial plot are interesting, original, cute, and even yummier, and the first few episodes are definitely worth a watch, but after that, it gets monotonous and boring.
I personally couldn't bring myself to finish this series because I got so sick and bored of the roundabout plot and gave up on it knowing that I probably wouldn't miss much anyways. The anime ends up focusing too much on just food and ignores character and outside plot development ... which is really not what I look for in a good anime. I would blame the manga for dragging down this anime because the plot isn't much better there (caught up as of now) though. If you like the manga, the anime is exactly like the manga, so if you're that kind of person, definitely give this anime a go because it doesn't stray for the manga.
TL;DR: just watch the first few episodes and save your time, but if you want to learn how to make a few dishes anime style, give it a go, but don't count on it turning out too well.

Having caught up on this series in less than 12 hours, I can tell you this is probably one of those empty shell types that people have just hyped up somehow.
What bothers me the most is how "mysterious" the creators try to make the plot and the characters but fails to emphasize the dystopian nature of the whole anime (which I really didn't get a solid feel of until past the halfway mark). The whole plot was just really disorienting and confusing, and it often took several episodes to finally realize what had happened in a certain scene and its significance when it should ... have been more explicit. Although there is some character development, it isn't necessarily relevant to the whole plot in general and was usually cast aside when the anime shifted focus (way too often and failed to establish a main focus until the end of the series).
TL;DR: Not worth your time unless you like to have so BK anime going on while doing homework or something. You could probably get away with watching the first few episodes and then skipping to the end and finish it off because the middle is just fluff.

Hibike Euphonium is probably one of the few anime series that actually somewhat portrays well the life of a band student in a nutshell. Having been a musician in that scenario before, I can somewhat relate to it. However, I would say that this anime is in no way the reality of band life.
Story: 4. This story is an over-romanticized version of band. The main problem I had with this is that the improvement of all the students was just unreal. How can a bunch of clarinets and bass clarinets somehow tongue at 144 with just two years of experience? I can't at least, ... and I've been playing a wind instrument three times as long as them. To give some background, I am a bassoonist who has been in the concert band and symphony orchestra life, but now basically only in the symphony orchestra.
Art. 10. Who gets the keys on an oboe exactly? Kyo-ani. Amazing job; I'm honestly very impressed that they nailed it because oboe keywork is pretty complicated.
Sound: 5. Honestly the soundtracks were just okay. They weren't very expressive in any way, and oh man did that bassoon solo in the last episode make me cringe.
Characters: 6. The characters are you standard shoujo manga girls who get into petty drama etc. etc. etc. They don't really show any major character development nor any musical development. Case and point being the perpetual mindset music music and more music and I need to practice and get better so that I can get the solo etc. Being a musician, I can attest to the practicing part, but these people need to get a life.
Overall: 7. It was okay. I wouldn't watch this again. It's just okay, but if you're into the whole band thing I guess you'd like it.

I'm not a huge fan of slice-of-life-esque animes or mangas (I barely made it through K-ON! alive), but this anime in particular I highly enjoyed.
I'm Taiwanese-American, which means that I can read some of the kanji in the anime. I think one of the reasons that I enjoyed it so much was that kyo-ani effectively used the written Japanese language in a visual sense to guide the audience through its interpretation of the original light novel.
Also, I haven't read the actual light novel, and to be fair it's not really right to compare the manga too heavily with the anime because at the ... end of the day we're all going to be hating the anime a ton if we do.
Art: Oh. My. Goodness. Kyo-ani does it again. It is absolutely stunning. Although overwhelming at times, it truly does show off the studio's artistic capabilities through it's lavish and otherworldly scenes. 10000/10 it's so good.
Sound: I don't remember much, so I'll say a 7. The sound isn't a big part of this anime anyways and nothing stood out to me as horrendous.
Story: Slice of life. What can we say. There is a hint of romance at the end, but one has to take into account that it was never meant to be a romance anime in any way. I would say the mysteries are somewhat trivial compared to some other ones, but the way that Kyoto Animation portrays them makes them so intriguing. The mysteries are in a more literary sense rather than a physical mystery, which heavily relies on the way that the studio chooses to interpret and portray it.
Characters: Meh. I've seen more genuine characters before, but the play between polar opposite personalities of Chitanda and Houtarou is quite interesting to follow. The characters aren't very developed in any way, but I think it's due to the whole slice-of-life plot nature as well.
Enjoyment: I loved this anime. It was so captivating to see the subtle and obvious visual elements put into place by the studio.


Overall: 9. This whole anime could have been mediocre or even absolutely boring. But it wasn't. It was so interesting. I absolutely loved this anime and it seriously deserves the score that it has on MAL. This thing is truly a work of art and everyone should really watch this.

YOI. One of the most overhyped anime series of all time. Seriously, even American news media caught on to this mediocre series. What a shame honestly.
First problem I have with this series is the art. This art. Is. Absolutely. Horrendous. The low frame rate for the parts where we need it and over intricate shots of things that we don't need to see (namely onsen scenes- just please).
Second: Sound. This is arguably the part where everyone goes "OMG the soundtracks are so good!" Let's face it- when is an anime soundtrack absolutely flawless? Never. I'm honestly way too picky about this, but it's so ... obvious that they just used MIDI crap for most of the instrumentals. The violin used? Meh. The music composed for this whole thing was just mediocre for the context that it was used in. In all honestly I would have preferred Bolero over the weird gigue that they used.
Story: This was okay? I guess? This is comparable to some trashy shoujo mangas that I've read. The problem I have with this one is that it's just not realistic although people say this is. Who lands quadruples like it's nothing? Nobody. After watching more than one winter olympics, I can tell you that even the people who go on to medal have trouble landing quadruples. Their skating routines are so all over the place, and combined with the crappy frame rate and the mediocre soundtracks makes the whole skating part of this anime just not enjoyable. Go watch reruns of the winter olympics rather than this if you want to see hot guys actually doing good skating routines. I understand that the characters are pretty relatable, but I've seen character development like this in many other series. It's nothing new.
We should all accept that the skating world and the world of the arts in general is flat out brutal. If someone can't put up with a loss after working so hard- suck it up; it happens all the time in the sports and artistic world. Speaking from an artist's POV.

To sum this review up, don't waste your time on this unless you're here for the hot guys in this series.