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This is a continuation of the first installment of Yojouhan. Yojouhan in of itself is a completed story, but the writer was inspired by his friend's play and wrote a sequal after 10 years adapting the play into the Yojouan universe. So, in this world, the cathartic resolution our main character comes to towards the end of the 1st season never happened, and this is the summer after his 2nd year.

However, it has very similar themes that are being tackled, but from a different angle. Taking action, being proactive, and forging your own future. Also, taking advantage of opportunities, taking responsibility of your actions, ... and most important: you can't change the past, but you can change the present. All of these themes that were tackled in the 1st season are tackled again, but in a new, light-hearted time-traveling gag.

This is just like season 1: funny, thought-provoking, and inspiring. The characters look slightly different and the animation is smooth and crisp, which gives it a fresh vibe.

Also, the ending was really good, just like season 1!

If you liked Yojouhan, you will like Tatami Blues.

Harem, isekai, and time travel. What do all of these have in common? Escapism. That's the current trend in anime. That's what seduces many anime fans. That's the fuel that anime industry is running on, and it's pressing the gas pedal all the way down. Why? Because everyone wants to take a break from the overwhelming stress real life has. The problem, is when that "break" turns into a subconscious addiction called escapism. Yes, it would be cool for you to live in a world where 5 beautiful women like you for no reason. It might not be that direct, but more in the lines ... of theme or moral that the anime is pushing (directly or indirectly). You made terrible decisions and led a very poor & passive life? Go back in time and fix your mistakes! Can't do that? Don't worry, when you die you will be reincarnated with better looks, better powers, and suddenly very good discipline and motivation! As if you aren't going to repeat the same mistakes. It would be nice if you can make so many irl friends that easily, wouldn't it! You get the idea. You might think that these "indirect" themes are so dumb that no one would entertain them. Yet, the irony resides in the fact that the anime itself has become the viewer's isekai. Like a momentarily self-insert fantasy.

So, when an anime finally comes along that isn't a reset-button anime trying to exploit escapism, people get upset, I guess. Yeah, Blue Period is about hard work, determination, discipline, and taking risk. The exact opposite of escapism. Oh no! An anime with actually a good moral? A theme that inspires you to get off your chair and actually do something productive? That's not what we want! It's so disgusting that Blue Period is being called a self insert anime when it's the exact opposite. Maybe it's self insert in a way that it's supposed to inspire or at least motivate many people at one time, but definitely not self insert in the way most isekai anime are. Although last season wasn't stellar by any means, it had one notable anime that used the pre-established concepts of escapism (changing worlds; isekai) as a way to combat that very escapism with realism. That anime was Sonny Boy, and that anime was swept under the rug as a hidden gem with such a sublime story work, almost too good for the people. I see the same exact trend happening to Blue Period, although on a smaller scale, and I refuse to site idly once again.

All of this is just the first problem. The second problem is one that is available in all forms of entertainment, and it's the fact that the average consumer cares neither for the quality of the writing nor for the depth of the characters. A simple turn-your-brain-off-and-tune-in kind of "thriller" with the occasional half assed plot twist and you got an audience! Consumers (anime fans in this case) have become so jaded that they cannot distinguish good from bad writing, and they don't even care either way. Blue Period is a plot-based anime that is character-driven, which doesn't appeal to the aforementioned phenomenon.

Finally, not every anime needs to have 3 main characters and 9 side characters. It's much harder to write one 8/10 character than ten 7/10 characters. It's so refreshing to see a story with a one-character focus. That's how you know an anime is real. It's not trying to copy-paste 10 different characters to have as many "relatable" and self-insert characters as possible. It only focuses on one, because relatability has nothing to do with objectively good writing. Even if you're a subjective viewer, the MC is very relatable anyways, as he's just dealing with his future decisions and the lifelong musing of passion and career, which most people go through. The constant focus on the MC can be seen as a metaphor in of itself. To succeed in life, or to be anything worthwhile, you must focus on yourself. You must be easily able to get rid of anything weighing you down, even if it's life long friends. The only objective of the sidecast, at least in anime like this, is to be realistic and consistent. No need to be anything more. I hope the anime focuses even more on the MC and less on the sidecast. My only problem with the character work is that Ryuuji's situation just came out of left field. Writing-wise, it just felt like unnecessary drivel that took too much screen time. I want more focus on Yatora and less focus on everyone else. I want to see more of his basic and smaller lifestyle. Good and well-written characters aren't those who shine during dramatic life-changing events. They shine in their everyday life and in small, simple decisions.

I will say the execution of the MC's transition from being passionless to passionate about art wasn't the best. The early period should have been more explored, the stagnation more suffocating, and the transition more realistic and smooth. I would have loved more emphasis on that aspect. Finally, I don't know much about art, but I'm not seeing enough explanation or even just raw emphasis on the art pieces. Although that isn't the entire point of the anime, I hope this will get better. Regardless, I'm excited to see how the MC and anime progress.

Every single person complaining about this anime is complaining about the wrong thing. It's not boring, it's not self-insert, it's not bad writing, it doesn't have terrible animation, and finally, it isn't a bad adaptation. I read some chapters from the manga, the adaptation is more than fine.

My Ratings (So far - 5 episodes):
Story - 8/10
Art & Sound - 7/10 - Nothing to write home about but not bad either
Characters - 8/10
Overall - ~8/10

Attack on Titan is one of the most overhyped pieces of anime in recent history. Don't get me wrong, I still think the anime is quite good, with an array of good qualities to its name, but there is no doubt that it is overhyped. If you have any doubt, just take a gander at all the reviews with instant 10/10s after only watching 3 episodes, or the constant praise it gets on MAL and on social media, all of which have led me to write this review.

A little about my experience with AoT: I watched the first season of the anime weekly when ... it first came out, read the manga and watched the new seasons as they came out, and recently just finished rewatching the whole thing (right before season 4 released). Though, I did drop the manga a while ago.

Sound - 8.5/10

I do think AoT series has quite the good soundtrack. No issues here.

Art - 7/10

Edit: In light watching the 6th episode of the anime, I lowered my rating of "art" to 7/10, and subsequently my overall rating also from 8 to 7/10. The CGI was atrocious, especially the 3D maneuver gear. The scouts looked terrible, and for some reason different from the manga.

Story - 6/10

To me, the story is about the worldbuilding, the storytelling, and the execution. Without a doubt, in the beginning AoT had amazing worldbuilding with good execution, but I always questioned its storytelling. Right from the beginning, it heavily relied on plot twists and cliffhangers, almost to the point of dependency. It came to the point where it felt like the author could not progress the story without a twist somewhere in there. Plot twists are generally really good, especially if done well. However, too much of anything is bad, especially if it's not even done well or lazy in the case of some of the plot twists in AoT, particularly the basement reveal. I was not a big fan of the direction the anime suddenly took in that reveal.

Although the execution was good in the beginning, it felt like it slowly degraded throughout the show, particularly around the middle. There came a point where each time a new manga chapter (or anime episode, if you were watching weekly) came out, I would have to look for someone on reddit or in the comments to summarize and explain what the episode was talking about, in addition to providing background information to what those points were about. I don't have a bad memory, I promise you, AoT is just that convoluted and complex for no god damn reason. It is not a problem if you binge it, but that's a fallacy in of itself. Basically, alongside the aforementioned point of bad/excessive plot twists, it creates this feeling of fake hype, where you're only really into it if you're binging it or watching it with friends.

Just compare AoT's storytelling and execution to something that's ACTUALLY good at the storytelling aspect, like Oda's One piece, Masaaki's Yojouhan/Ping Pong, or FMA B

Characters - 4/10

I mean, I know some might disagree, but yeah. The characters are simply not that great. Eren is obnoxious, Historia is trash, Reiner is a deux ex machina, Annie is poorly written, Mikasa is one dimensional. Levi & Armin are decent, Erwin is great. Everyone else is irrelevant or just comic relief. Aside from Erwin, each character is simply a plot tool or one dimensional, generic, has no character development, or poorly written. I particularly hate Erin because his character is heavily inconsistent while his motivation and morality is questionable at best. Not really into an MC who is insane, inconsistent, and also doesn't know right from wrong.

Yes, I think the characters are the worst aspect of the show. To be honest, it shouldn't be a surprise. Think about it for a little, compare it to other anime that ACTUALLY have good characters. Just look at Tengen Toppa, Steins;Gate, Ping Pong, or Psycho Pass. ACTUAL bad ass characters that Levi could never compare to, ACTUAL character development, ACTUAL depth, TOP TIER execution. I mean AoT could never compare

Enjoyment - 5.5/10

The show was enjoyable at one point, particularly in the earlier seasons where the direction was resolute and the plot was world-driven. Now, it's driven by the aforementioned mediocare and below average characters, which makes the enjoyment and story significantly less enjoyable.

Overall - 6/10

In short, the show is decent, just overhyped. Definitely doesn't deserve a 10/10, or a spot in the top 30 on MAL, at least in my opinion. At the end of the day, just take a break from all the hype and actually compare it to other good anime. You think the action aspect is good? The characters? The style? just compare it to Gurren Lagann, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, Mob Psycho or FMA B. They're all action, and AoT just pales by comparison. I'm not trying to be an elitist, just stop being a sheep and use your brain. I can write an essay about how good Gurren Lagann's characters are, but I don't think I could write a small paragraph about AoT's characters without keeping a straight face. From cringing. Erwin is goated tho. GGs

SPOILER FREE

Most people are looking at the reviews to see if No Game No Life novel is worth picking up, especially after watching the anime. Because of that, I'm going to direct my review towards "I liked the anime, should I read the novel series, or should I hope for a season 2?" instead of something like "Is NGNL light novel good?".

Well to start off, there are currently 8 volumes released, 6 which are translated. The anime only covered the first 3 volumes, so you can assume that you are expecting at least double the content.

- "Should I read from the beginning, or ... should I just start reading volume 4?"
Personally, I don't know. Since I watched the anime, I skipped the first 3 volumes and started reading volume 4. The anime follows the novel very well so I didn't feel like I missed anything.

- "How good is the story after the end of the anime?"
Really good. Sometimes stories tend to start strong, stay long, and then get weaker and weaker throughout; examples would be Bleach, Naruto, SAO, and really many other anime. However, NGNL only gets better as the story unravels. The crew is bigger, more games (sophisticated ones too), more races to interact with, and a lot of insight on the background of this world and the races in general.

- "Light Novel vs. Anime?"
Well there are two aspects in this; Quantity and Quality. I'd say that the quality of the anime was better than the LN, even though I haven't read the first 3 volumes. The reason is because the anime did a very well job in explaining really confusing concepts and sophisticated games, plus it had good art and amazing sountracks. As for Quantity, obviously speaking the LN is better, it has a lot more content that is definitely worth reading if you liked the anime.

- "Quick summary with no spoilers?"
Usually sometimes when I want to read an LN I'm familiar with, I like to see how the LN does and what it covers, so here's a quick, as much spoiler-free as possible, summary:
- Volume 4: Follows the end of the anime, the crew continues to obtain more races to their side, and tries to do exactly that.
- Volume 5: Continues off the "problem/game" in Volume 4 to finish it, but also includes a lot of mini-games and a big insight on Jibril, the Flugels, and a little bit more about what happened during the Great War.
- Volume 6: This whole volume is Tet covering the Great War; how it was from the humans' perspective, how it ended, how Tet became the One true god, and a lot more about its secrets.

- "How much did you enjoy the LN?"
No Game No Life LN was the first light novel I read, combine that with the fact that NGNL has pretty sophisticated and potentially confusing games and you can pretty much guess that I had a little trouble reading some parts, but just reading those small parts again or waiting for a better explanation often helped me a lot. Overall, I did enjoy this LN as it was pretty good and the plot was well-written. I do give this LN about 8.9/10 - A very high 8 or a flat 9.