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"Hori is toxic" "Hori is a -phobe" "This anime deserves a 1 because of that ONE THING"
Those are the words you hear often if you live past the year of 2020 mostly thanks to Twitter. This take is typically comes from western 'audiences'. Don't listen to those kind of takes for this anime/manga. Those come from close minded individuals who lack the understanding of context and most importantly, understanding that HUMANS ARE COMPLEX AND IMPERFECT PEOPLE. Especially in high school.
If you are of High School age and STILL don't understand that people have different opinions, then you are going to fail in the real ... world. Name one perfect human that has no flaws. I bet you $1 million you can't find one. Especially in anime.

And that's the beauty of Anime. Subtlety and context are what create a rich and varying story/character. In order for any slice of life anime to sustain itself it has to invest highly in their characters to create a compelling story.

The story revolves around two main characters Hori and Izumi. One is perfect, headstrong, and independent and the other has pretty much given up on the world and just going through the motions. Two extremes personalities of the spectrum "unexpectedly" cross paths and there is your foundation of this High School Slice of Life. The 6 supporting characters all fill in that personality spectrum in a good manner in my opinion. Like any HS Teen, they all have their strengths weaknesses and conflicts. It's so well rounded, you will most likely relate to 1 or 2 of the characters.

For me, I had my Izumi phase during high school (bullied into depression) But I also had my Yuki phase (being SO considerate of others that you're willing to sacrifice your own happiness). I had felt the most connection with these two and actually experienced some of these experiences during High School and college. Being my age, I could write a 1000 page book of the highs and lows of my High School and College life. That's for another time of course.

After being out of the Anime game for about 8 years, I wanted a soft hearted Slice of Life to ease me back in to the game. The website that i go to (not MAL) recommended this as apparently this is the most watched on their site. My all time favorite SoL is Toradora, and it completely has Toradora vibes.

The formula set forth from Toradora is a great template if you are into this kind of anime. I don't know if its the nostalgia factor or my desire to do-over my high school life and not be that depressed guy that never had a true friend-for-life in school, but it kept me up all night wanting to finish the whole series in one sitting.

That being said, the production value of the anime is pretty high and you can tell some serious money was invested in this series. I don't spoil myself by reading the manga first. Feel free to read the manga first if that is your thing, but as usual the anime not as fleshed out as the manga.

If you are open-minded person that is smart enough to understand context, intent, and A JOKE, I highly recommend this anime if you appreciate the Slice of Life RomCom genre. It's very light hearted and invokes that typical "I wish my high school life was like this anime" vibe.

If you are a closed-minded person that looks for reasons to be offended, don't come here. It's not for you. Read the 1 star "this is toxic" review for why. Its obvious they have never been in a relationship or ever had a human friend in real life. Don't be like this, it will make you a bitter and old. Learn forgiveness and find the good in everyone you meet.

Its the first anime I've seen in 8 years and it definitely did not disappoint. If you are looking for a date night anime or an anime to introduce to your normie friend that enjoys RomComs. I HIGHLY SUGGEST HORIMIYA



TL;DR - Not everything is perfect, and success comes through hard work. Relationships are not one sided and require support and compromise from both sides. Before quickly judging someone based on your emotions, understand the context and intent. Humans are complex animals.

New generation anime sitcom has arrived…
A spiritual successor to two of my favorite anime sketch comedies of all time (Azumanga Daioh and Pani Poni Dash), Nichijou delivers the comedy 110% percent. Based on the manga of the same name, this is a perfect example of how a situational/sketch comedy should be made.

Anyone trying to find some objective story to this will ultimately blow their minds in front of their faces, as there is none. Hence Situational comedy, because its basically a group of people in high school and we’re there to watch the hilarity ensue. Typically things like this center themselves around a few ... main characters, but this series lends itself to a few dozen characters. For anime novices, I would recommend not to watch this sort of stuff considering, the sheer amount of Japanese popular culture references will make anyone’s head spin. But if you know what an Arikawe Prize or yakasoba or Japanese word games, this show makes learning about J-culture fun and entertaining.
As many series tend to steer towards fanservice central, this series bumps the moe factor from a 10 to a 11. Even so much as putting little 5-10 second spots having Nano and Hakase dance around or play kids games. Nothing but a white background and them just having fun. This pretty much sums up this whole series in my opinion. The sheer power of how these characters can emit so many emotions and enjoyment out of the viewer is something to behold. I highly suggest watching only a few episodes at a time as you will probably laugh so hard you’ll soon run out of laughter, which CAN happen. Among the normal high school comedy that is Nichijou there are little sketch segments called Small thoughts, Helvetica Standard, and Igo Soccer Club. Each type have their own little charm and feel right at home in this series. It’s hard to really hate this series.
Normally comedy series have very average to poor production value, in which they rely on the characters and the comedy to carry the series to popularity (Gagyu Biyori Manga). In a rare event, this series easily has the highest production value of any Slice of life sitcom. The HD quality really shines; each sketch segment has their own style and just really made my jaw drop at the quality I was looking at. I mean I found myself wondering many times how long it took them to draw a broken melon bread still in its package or how they managed to properly draw a Blue popsicle run over by a bicycle. It’s crazy how many man hours this 26 episode series took. I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent 1-2 million yen per episode as its quality is comparable to Gunsligner Girls (1st season episodes were worth roughly 1million yen each)
I’m glad that I can finally see an anime sitcom of high quality that also has a high quality production value. I can’t bring myself to say this is better than Lucky Star as that series holds something special in my heart (on a personal level) but I can easily say its ranked between #1 and #2 as my favorite comedy of all time. Please please PLEASE, make more like this Kyoto Animation.

The Negima series is what I can safely call the benchmark of Harem anime. If you aren’t sure that you’re into the action harem anime sub-genre. I highly recommend that you would watch this series first. It sets the bar for what a good harem anime would be. Equal parts big cast of females with varying characteristics with a strong voice acting cast, sprinkled with a semi-serious plot, caked with large amounts of comedy and slapstick. Bring this together and you can pretty much name any harem anime around.

Why do I say this is a benchmark series? This is the only series I know of ... that can have one boy socially interact equally with over 30 high-school girls in an amazingly believable way. On top of that, each girl literally has their own unique kind of personality or some silly little ‘hook’ to make them different from each other. The funny thing above that is that all of them are hilarious as well. I could type forever talking about each girl and how each of them is good in their own way. But people who love moe anime, you will find at least 5 you will absolutely love. As a fan of these types of series I found all of them very enjoyable.

As harem anime rely heavily on character chemistry and comedic value, if you don’t like comedy you shouldn’t even bother trying to watch this as most of the Japanese-centric jokes will go well over your head. As a twelve episode series (and one prologe episode) story progression moves surprisingly slow. But to keep the viewer glued to the screen, the series carries a large amount of mini-episodes sprinkled in every series. You will see them make spoofs of Gundam, Power Ranger, and many other spoofs if your knowledge of Japanese pop culture is well versed.

The production value is pretty good considering this was produced by shaft. Their production values are generally done in high value, unfortunately its Shaft so their style of anime always transitions the same way from one anime series to another. Granted its a style that has been working for them for over 30 years so you really should fix what isn’t broken, although its a little old at times.

Overall I completely enjoyed the whole series and is best enjoyed in small bites. Chupacabras UNITE! If watch any anime that's tied with a manga with anything short of a wide open mind, then you will sadly be disappointed for the rest of your life.

Well before otaku-queen Konata Izumi's (LuckyStar) sitcom ever aired, there existed a little green alien named Keroro that came down to command and conquer this planet. How he will manage to pull this off even Keroro doesn't even know himself. This is where the viewer comes in. We're all there for the wild ride that is the Keroro Universe. This whole series is told in a sitcom format where almost every episode will end with little to no change to the story. If you don't know if this is a series for you just read the lyrics of the first opening credits:

"March on forward! Let's ... invade Earth! Whenever I take out an umbrella, it always stays sunny. Mind your step! Grit your eyes! I forgot to cook the rice for the curry! I caught my finger in the door as it closed, and when I got on the plane, it was going the wrong way! My soldiers took a vacation at Planet Kero. Ah, it's cheaper to just buy dinner!" There are 2 more verses but you get the idea.

It sounds completely random and off the wall with light intentions to invade the earth... ergo, its a PERFECT theme song for this anime. Sunrise (dev team) are masters of pure randomness. Best known for titles such as Gintama, Yakitate!!Japan, and Inuyasha (among many others), Keroro is one of the company's flagship titles and for a good reason. It's completely filled with win. From the character types to the stories they're involved in. This is first and foremost a children's anime, and it reminds of that at the end of every episode via morals you're supposed to learn. Although, most of them are just off the wall but make for a fun episode every time. How does it manage to do this? It makes fun of EVERYTHING. From Otaku culture, to athletics, to spending habits, even obscure anime titles aren't safe (Dunbine, LoGH, Tenku Sharato, and even MIDORI no HIBI!!). They don't stop there, politics, movies, and celebrities make a common occurrence. Anything and everything will happen to Keroro and his motley crew of subordinates and his Pekopon prisoners.

Like other sitcom titles like this (LuckyStar, Gintama, Family Guy) They are only entertaining as the characters that are in it. Man are these characters fun! There (Sgt) Keroro, the squad's commanding officer who's a little stupid and Gunpla Otaku, Tamama, very obedient and borderline psychopath, and Giroro, who is... well.. a male tsundere. There are over a dozen more characters each are equally entertaining as everyone else. But of course you can't help but choose a favorite out the bunch but that is the nature of Keroro.

The art production is nothing to write home about but if i had to compare it to something, it would have to be similar to Pokemon (Cute animals and leggy humanoids) which completely works for this anime.

You can tell after watching a few episodes if this is your cup of tea or not. As for me, I absolutely love it, its content is catered towards kids but its humor is very adult and refers to many things in popculture. If Lucky Star and Gintama would have a baby, Keroro would be the result. 8/10 (Very Good anime)

In this 3 episode OVA (it still says its ongoing but there is no release date for the next dvd), the world's prominent figureheads battle it out in a furious high stakes battle of...

...MAHJONG!

Yes in this universe, every figure head is a master Mahjong player and all the worlds politics are dealt by playing a game of mahjong. The first episode is entirely based on the manga while the other 2 episodes are original stories written by creator, Hideki Ohwada. Forget Hetalia Axis Powers, this is how political satire should be.

There are no cute looking bishounen characters running around here. In this anime every figurehead ... is drawn in a fairly accurate anime depiction of themselves. Because we all know satire is funnier when it's more 'realistic'. Anyone can make a sports anime (go, cards, koi koi, basketball, etc) but it takes a genius to make take such a silly idea and just run with it. If you can't laugh at how Kim Jong, GW Bush, etc then its apparent that you have no soul. This type of comedy made me reminiscent of shows like Monty Python's Flying Circus. The characters are what makes this show 24 minutes of nonstop political laughs.

I say 24 minutes since it is a 3 episode OVA and yes each episode is about 8 minutes long. The short time gives it a perfect amount of time to keep the hilarity at high octane. One of my favorite moments is that they gave Kim Jong's oldest son, Jong-nam, donned Mickey Mouse ears because he's famously known for sneaking into Japan just so he can go to Disneyland. There are many other jokes such as these that are very subtle yet insanely funny if you are fairly up to date with current events. Now if you're not up to date on things like this, I highly recommend reading up on this titles Wiki page first that will make sense out of what you are watching since translator notes are minimal.

The Legend of Koizumi is definitely worth your time. Even if you care about current events or not, its only 24 minutes long. Everyone should watch as many Short OVA's as possible.

Chalk this movie up as another anime title with an anime-style story. So what the hell is an anime style story? I'm glad you asked
- Everything happens to be conveniently placed around a small group of people.
- The story starts to take one direction, and then ends up being a completely different genre from how it started.
- It turns a semi serious idea and pretty much takes a dump on the whole idea. (much like how Kure-nai did)

Now I don't mind a Pokemon Anime but if its disguised as a slice of life drama where a boy is unexpectedly thrust in the ... middle of his love interest's family, this is bound to make someone other than myself rage. To be quite honest this story is literally one of the worst stories I've seen executed with such a high budget. First off, there is way to many things going on to actually care about any of them. There is a main story, and then about 4 different side stories running across the length of the movie. Now i don't want to spoil what they are but, there is absolutely no room for at least 3 of them or at the very least gone about it a completely different way. In the long run, you will realize that this anime was a shounen movie disguising itself as a sports/drama/school/comedy/supernatural/slice of life/military/sci-fi/family/action anime. This is a good example why many anime and movie titles stick to only a handful of genres.

Like I said before, the idea had great potential to become a serious movie. Take something like Second Life and incorporate it to every day life. Traffic, Weather Forecasts, Public Works, Political, Business, Real Estate, everything can be handled under one unit. It sounds like a good idea at first, until the whole system gets hacked. Serious busine.. no, hilarity ensues.

I have said many times, no matter how stupid a story is, if the characters build a good chemistry amongst each other, then the story can be forgiven because the viewers can build a good connection to the people on screen. Sadly, for me anyway, it was hard for me to enjoy the characters as well. since there is literally over a dozen characters vying for screen time. Even the family scenes where they are supposed to build a bond with the 'main' character felt half assed. I mean seriously, how many times do they need to talk about dumplings or baseball? I did however, like the grandma and the shiba inu over the rest of the crew.

Okay so the story and characters failed to impress me. But the one thing that did, would have to be the artwork. Its typical MADhouse movie quality. Relatively simple character designs over extravagant backgrounds. Its comparable to some of their other works like Tokyo Godfathers and Paprika. The set pieces are just gorgeous, although its mostly filmed around the Shinohara compound, you will see they spared no expense on the details of the house.

This is definitely comparable to a Disney or Dreamworks flick. It has action and adventure. Some suspense even though the whole movie was predictable from the start. I could see grade schoolers enjoying something of this magnitude. But as for those that are expecting something special from a "summer blockbuster" will be sorely disappointed just like most movies with that moniker.

Expect something entertaining but nothing new. I found this movie to be of fair quality (6/10), above average but not that high above average.

Seriously, is it that bad to find this show entertaining? One can argue this is a typical slice of life, school, harem anime with typical character types and predictable story and you would not be far off. But, if you don't LIKE watching things like this, why are you watching it in the first place? Akane-iro is geared to the 'veteran' otaku who love specific voice actors or character types, or enjoy when different flags get triggered (like hot springs, school festivals, or costume changes) aka: fanservice. You can only watch so many different slice of life harem comedy titles to realize if you ... like this particular genre or not. This genre lends itself to a lot of off the wall stories and anyone expecting something "realistic" will realize a true "anime" (aka normal anime) is not realistic at all. Which is why certain things feel obvious after you watch title after title. Why do you think there are 1000's of anime titles, but only about a few dozen genres. As for me I am a fan (not a raging fan mind you) of these types of anime. I am pretty sure I am not the only one in the world that found this entertaining for what its worth.

Just like in life, if you expect one thing and get something else, you're bound to be disappointed. Watching this with an open mind, you will realize that Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka is actually a very entertaining and funny anime. Like most slice of life school comedy harems, a premise is presented at the beginning of the show, which is usually far fetched but bound for some form of entertainment. If you read the anime summary you'll get the gist, but it does generate enough laughs and surprises to keep you entertained for 12 episodes. An amazing feat that many fail to miss is that 8 of the 10 characters get relatively large amounts of airtime for every episode. With that, the story seems to progress relatively quick and seamless. Sometimes you won't realize the episode is over before you know it.

A big reason you get sucked into this anime are the character-types and voice actors lined up for this show. Alot of A-list seiyuu like Rie Kugimiya, Aya Hirano, and Wataru Hatano, headline the cast of characters. Big fan's of seiyuu like these, will be surprised at how well they lend their voices to these characters. Its inevitable that one will grow attached to one or some (all?) of these characters. Yeah yeah, you've seen these character types everywhere else, who the hell cares? The whole point of having these character types is to have a great chemistry between all the characters and this exceeded my expectations with flying colors (whatever that means). Fang-tan, ahoge-san, and company are all there, the comedy is pretty good and and the drama is just as good as well. The drama doesn't show itself too much to get in the way of the comedy aspect of this series but it is a warm welcome from the 'incomplete' dramas like the ones that never come to fruition (Honey and Clover, 5cm/s, etc). Characters progress perfectly fine in this story. You'll feel happy for some and sad for others, that is the nature of drama. In other titles that may get annoying but its perfectly fine in this series. One other thing that I highly enjoyed about this series is that the main character in the center of the harem, Junichi Nagase, was actually not a bad guy. Sure he might have his moments, but overall he was very outgoing and more "realistic" compared to most other male harem leads. Even the scenes when he's battling his conscience were especially funny.

The production value is actually very high compared to your typical anime. The art design hardly ever faltered and never felt like a rushed product. Some people might be put off by the floating hairstyle of some of the girls, but I didn't mind it one bit. The details they put in to all the characters including the background characters is something to be commended. Every scene is filled with either characters or static objects. What does that even mean? That means when there isn't a close up of characters talking to each other, theres usually a large amount of detail to panning or zoomed out shots. Passed out cooks in a kitchen, well placed furniture in Minato's room, or Nagomi''s computer setup are good examples that show enough detail to keep every scene busy and with some depth. The art is far form being perfect but for what its worth, it more than does the job. On top of the great voice acting and art direction, they even have character music cd's available for each character and even give previews of their songs in the form of a new ending song for each episode. Sure it may be a gimmick, but you can't deny how great they can sing and how they managed to conjure up a few dozen songs just for this show. There are also a few drama cd's to supplement your fix of akane-iro after you're done with the series. It seems like the producers thought of everything short of a video game for this show.

I never felt this was a waste of my time or got annoyed by the characters. Actually this is one of the more complete cast of characters that I have seen (out of 400 titles). I don't think I need to mention Code Geass, Hayate, TTGL, and Death Note but I will anyway since most of those characters made me rage at how many of them left many cliffhangers or a feeling of "needing something". Despite being a typical harem comedy anime, it's the small things that kept me wanting to watch more. The segments of Junichi's conscience and the analogy between Junichi's parents and the gang's current situation were pretty funny imo.

As far as slice of life/harem/comedies go this is easily one of the better ones. Its compete in almost every way. Great character chemistry and seiyuu Amazing amount of detail (down to the nipple, har). All crammed in a 12 episode package. What is not to like? If you don't like harem comedy this will obviously become fodder for low scoring. Especially for the fools who try to find seriousness in comedy... THEY WILL LOSE THE GAME.

Hell, hearing Rie Kugimiya say "Stop licking already and eat me" is well worth the price of admission.

One of the best lines is uttered in this anime too: "If you want to dream, go dream while you're sleeping" Priceless.

Story:
What do you get when you add four cute girlfriends with the desire to form a music band, situational comedy, and every style of moe an otaku can think of? You get K-On! (or kei-on-bu). Just of a group of girls trying to follow their dreams... sounds very cliche' doesn't it? Well it is and this show oozes cliche'. The setting to the sitcom all the way down to the catch phrase onomatopoeia's like kyuun and hyaan. It's very obvious from the start of episode 1, that the story isn't trying to mess with the success of current trends and tries its very best to ... run with whats popular with the anime crowd.

Don't get me wrong, the set of stories set through each episode are not terrible by any stretch. Its just very "same old same old." If you watch this you'll quickly recognize if you love it hate it after about two episodes. As for me, I love it but can't really feel attached to the storyline considering the amount of parts that are skipped. It almost feels like the show has a bad case of A.D.D. when it skips the important stuff. Trust me, they do it ALOT.

It skips the important stuff but as they say, the Devil is in the Details. Small things like putting a tongue sideways on a mascot pig azu-nyan, or little piggy sounds from yui, and even the graceful and light footed walking posture of Mugi in that cat costume as she walks in the club room. The icing on the cake is how Azu's buddy gives her a sip of her juice box without even thinking twice. That's what makes this show K-On.


Art:
The art direction has its high points and its low points, but overall the art can't go a little higher than mediocre. Just observe the op/ed theme songs for the show. Typically, the theme songs have higher production values than the actual show itself. They are indeed better artistically, but it still looks very low quality. Another areas that i could not help but notice in the artwork would be the disproportionate loli scenes and the spaces between their hands. Just look at their feed and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I can't turn down the entire art direction down though, as the style does reflect the manga quite accurately most of the time. But I believe most of the time and effort (and probably money) went in to replicating the girls instruments with their real life counterparts. Mio's vintage lefty Fender-Japan JB62/3TS, Ritsu's Yamaha Hipgig JK6F46MK, Tsumugi's Korg TR76 (which is ~$1300), and Yui's VINTAGE Gibson Les Paul Standard Guitar, are all represented with great painstaking detail. The honey burst colors of the bass and standard guitars, the indentations on the Zildjan cymbals, even the correct amount of knobs and switches on the various Marshall amps (usually the JCM900 is shown the most). They even go far as to showcase even more instrument types throughout various locations like the Sonor Delite Stage 1 drum set in one of the girls summer home. Sadly, the instruments are just mere props that aren't shown in action very often as one would hope in a music-themed anime. But when they are in display, everything else, including the girls, pale in comparison to their details.


Sound:
As usual, sound is the toughest to score, since its either really good or really bad. But typically its really good, so my standards are set much higher than what most would probably do. The voice acting is above average considering today's standards. Any female seiyuu these days can pull off moe moe voices very easily. As like all the other music anime before it, its main selling point is the music and how its integrated into the series. Now if you cant stand J-Pop/Rock then I'm sure you will probably drop this series. Unless you're a moe otaku and in that case, you'll watch this show religiously. But for a 13 episode series, they play just the right amount of songs, and they manage not to keep playing the same song over and over to the point of insanity like Kirarin Revolution did with Bararaika, although they ALMOST do.


Characters:
The characters are, of course, cute and lovable. Their actions and reactions are all spot on scenes of cute humor. And all the jokes about each other are always sure to bring out a chuckle or two. The chemistry is also a very good mix which proves that the standard 4 B's of personalities (brash, bashful, boorish, and benevolent) can never falter for great story telling.

Everything they see, say, and do is just insanely cute. It might not be of that loli persuasion but its all moe that gradually increases its moe powers even more with every episode. Be that as it may, they are great characters, but they are by no means very original in the character designs. Sadly, I too (as millions of other people have fallen under Mio Akiyama's spell and forced me to give it an 8 out of 10...

Sure the characters are cookie cutter moe blobs but beauty is definitely in the details. People who hate this show usually dont sweat the small stuff like that. They just see a group of girls chatting about BS and having fun. Thats fine, that is what a slice of life comedy is all about, having fun. Azunyan pretty much sums up the epic power of the moeblob in episode one when she poses in front of that "rising sun".

Overall:
I enjoyed the time I spent watching this show. I never felt like this was a waste of time or anything of the sort. Maybe its because I love school comedies or Mio's ability to bring the whole country of Japan (and the world) to its knees. Regardless, its still fun to watch these girls try to get by and reach their goals together. Its obvious as to why such a simple show is appealing to the masses. It has all the right components and the constant bombardment of moe scenes will defintiely make any moe fan's heart flutter. It defintely has its flaws (in some important places) but since it is so short, you get just enough story progression to enjoy it

Those that are done raging between anime/manga adaptions feel free to read. Those who still don't understand why books and movies will ever be the same feel free to go away. With that being said, Fairy Tail is easily the best Shounen anime to date! Take this from a non-hardcore shounen fan. Granted, i do enjoy shounen as a casual viewer (despite me seeing over 3000 shounen eps) but I stand by my statement 100%

Sounds a little bit shallow but please let me elaborate. There have been countless shounen anime throughout the decades. Some lasting a few dozen episodes, others spanning 100's of episodes. Ever ... since Astro Boy, children all over the world have been enjoying cartoons such as these, but they all had one thing in common, countless flaws. If you are watching any of the big three, you know what they are. Long fights, long story arcs, long recaps, long explanations, annoying characters... basically tricks to extend the length of an anime series.

Fairy Tail takes all those ideas and throws them in the trash. You want short, awesome fights that does not last for weeks? Check! You want story arcs that are full of action, comedy, and a little seriousness? You got it! Most importantly, aren't you tired of characters explaining/chanting their fighting moves every time they use it?!?! I'm looking at you Bleach and One Piece~! Fairy Tail takes all the things that makes watching shounen anime great and throws out all the junk that that makes shounen ...well, junk.

In the beginning, it looks like it is an atypical shounen story of a boy/girl trying their best to improve their skills. Although it has that element, it is all about being part of a team. This team is the mages guild called Fairy Tail. A motley crew of mages with their own unique fighting styles, personalities and looks. There are so many characters in this show, one would find it hard not to like 3-5 characters out of the lot. Watching only 22 episodes, and you will be introduced to over 2 dozen members of fairy tail. Even the way they introduce all of their characters and their powers is awesome. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, such is the case here. It's a shoot first, ask questions later style, which how it SHOULD be.

Since that is the case, less time is taken to explain things you already know and actually put toward story and character development. Another amazing feat done by this anime series... episode recaps last LESS THAN 30 seconds! Talk about innovative! I know purists complain that it "doesn't follow the manga to the word!" but really, what manga does? I may sound like a broken record but if you keep an open mind, you can see this series is a cut above the rest. All arcs are told in typical anime fashion, problem arises and the team must stop them. But I'll be damned if you cant get excited seeing all the action and/or comedy that is packed in to a half hour. It will even manage to surprise you in more ways than one! "Kya!" Comes to mind.

With the sheer number of characters, you would think there would not be enough time or story for all of them. But they all get more than enough airtime considering they're not the main four characters. Natsu, Grey, Lucy, and Happy will of course, be the ones being followed the most, but you will see how much everyone else will be in the shot. My personal favorites are Mirajane and Ezra. On the topic of favorites, you will notice there are a large number of A-list seiyuu participating in this anime series as well. You might notice the voices of Ranka Lee, Taiga Aisaka, Izumi Konata, or even Saya Otonashi, are in here. Main or support, the voice cast can not be ignored.

Another thing that can not be ignored is wide screen format and overall high production value of the animation. Usually quality drops after a few episodes, but for an anime style such as this, it lends itself on opportune times to use low quality animation over high quality and for the most part works amazingly well. It sure might look like One Piece at a glance but if you compare the two, the difference is like night and day. It is actually a little more comparable to Soul Eater if i had to put a comparison to it.

I'm not saying this anime is perfect in any way. Theres a little flaws that nit pickers might see like the "reuse" of certain animated scenes namely the incantations. Or how the "quality" drops in a few scenes. But isn't that the case with ALL anime? Those problems I mentioned are so subtle and minuscule you will only notice them if you're looking for things to hate about watching this show. To be honest, from the first two dozen episodes, there is nothing overly bad from watching this shounen anime. I would normally say its bad simply because it is a shounen anime, but this has everything I wanted fixed in watching a shounen anime. I especially love how they can pull "random" (i.e. filler) episodes off of the guild message board and go with it. It almost resembles an RPG in that sense. Happenstance encounters or weird pauses in story arcs to start a different one are rare in this sense. The players are all in their place and we are there to watch everything flow nice and easy. Here's to hoping this will last a few hundred episodes.

I'll admit, I was sort of excited when I found this when I was randomly searching for some good Original Anime Music Videos. Russian rap and Studio 4°C (S4C) animating the video was perfect mix. But as an avid music video watcher in my hey day (when MTV actually showed music videos), one should know that you don't ever take a music video literally or you will lose the game.

Enter, First Squad: The Moment of Truth. I have seen many of S4C's animated shorts recently and have been a fan of most of their work. So to find a full length movie by ... them got me excited. And to realize its all in its 'native' language got me even more hyped up because, how often do you get to watch anime (or even movies) in native languages? It also adds to the level of detail this story tries to tell.

If you have ever watched any type of war documentary, the stories the people being interviewed tell are usually somber tales of death or explanations of why things happen. Some people, don't mind telling their war stories but for most people, their experiences are kept so secret that revealing their story for the first time may be hard to tell. Such is the case for some of the war vets (and scientists) in the 'inserts' of this movie. Most of the inserts felt like they contributed to the story well, sometimes explaining what the next scene is. If you think too hard during these segments your head will explode considering it is all fantastical. If you have experienced any S4C anime shorts you already know that most of the time the story is just plain confusing. This is completely an anime story at heart.

Which is why the viewer needs to watch this with an open mind. The story is more of an alternate universe WWII where magic is real. Many anime and movies have taken this approach and met great success (Valkyria Chronicles and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?). Taking this anime serious should be thrown out the window from the moment you realize who is a clairvoyant or during the meeting with 'Gandalf'. The story is a very typical David and Goliath type with the frail looking Nadya Ruslanova taking on insurmountable odds. Almost kind of sounds like a shounen anime right? Well it is :)

Don't let the MAL database fool you, the only main character of this movie is Nadya and you follow her from her early beginnings all the way to the end credits. The other characters are mainly support characters and are not shown enough to matter. As for Nadya, you'll either love or hate her. I grew attached to her because she just looks so frail that you just want to protect her. With all the war and bloodshed and overall grittiness, seeing a little girl barely weighing 100lbs (45kg) walk across the Russian tundra will definitely create some sort of empathy for the protagonist.

I'll say this about S4C, they are definitely not the best when it comes to animating but they are better than most. What they truly do shine in is the amount of detail they put in every scene. Backgrounds and any other inanimate objects gets the largest amount of detail. Varying ink blots from the pressures of a typewriter, all the trails routes and tracks on the battle map, Moscow's skyline and even Moscow's unique Subway/bomb shelter, is all great eye candy. Lets not forget that this is a war anime. There will be blood and lots of it. I did find it weird that there was more blood than action but that didn't hinder the experience.

This movie isn't all that bad at all. It's no different than any other anime in terms of plot holes and inconsistency. It's major selling point for me was the whole visual and audio package. If a movie/anime setting is in Russia, LET THEM SPEAK RUSSIAN ^_^ It adds so much in terms of immersing yourself in the movie. And the overall art quality of this show is just amazing. I'd place S4C just below Studio Ghibli and Makoto Shinkai. I think that's a pretty elite list.

Anyone who is a fan of WWII fiction, Studio 4C fan, or even wants to see something truly unique. should at least give this anime a shot or two. If you truly hate the mockumentary inserts nothings stopping you from fast forwarding them. The whole concept of this anime makes me want another movie of this type. Not a sequel per se but something with this idea.