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I let this show pass me by when it came out, the cover didn't look that appealing and the blurbs made it sound pretty forgettable. But I left it in my to watch pile. A few years pass and I'm recovering from surgery, so I've got nothing better to do so I watch the pilot.
And then episode 2. Then 3. 4. 5. The whole show. Straight through. I can't get enough of it.

The show is about a pianist who's lost his will to play music anymore because of the death of his mother from illness. He's stuck, stagnating. His piano is forgotten. Until...
He meets a ... girl who plays her heart out for every performance she makes, and he's inspired by her. By everything that she is, and that he is not. Life becomes colourful to him again, after years of monotone. And she tells him one lie in order to get him to return to playing music again, a lie that will change him for the rest of his life and hers.
Here's my one lie - this has a happy ending.
I don't know how to define this show, it's a tragedy that somehow manages to fill you with hope while draining you of so many tears.

Artistically speaking, the show looks superb. The visual metaphors used to express emotions during musical performances are haunting when sad and thrilling when joyful. The colour palette is vivacious. There's a nice use of rotoscoping when instruments are being played that makes such a difference to the mood, and some excellent facial expressions that fit the background music so well it's almost like looking at another person.
The only things I can mark down are some of the tongue in cheek faces and long distance shots, they can really change the mood of the whole scene. Hey, that's anime for ya.

The sound in this show... It's a musicians story, half of every element is conveyed through sound. When they don't use words, they use notes. The scenes with duets are powerful enough that I think I forgot to breathe during one. Sure, they're cherry picking some of the best classical music for their purposes, but even their original score is so... Moving. There's one piano theme that ties through the lead characters development, and it sounds like sunlight. Does that make sense? Not one piece of music is out of place throughout, not even one note.
This is how music in any media should work - in perfect harmony with everything else.

The characterisation is what binds this show together. The protagonist's journey through depression and apathy into those first few steps of fragile optimism... The deuteragonist's efforts to help others before herself at great personal cost... The passion put into each performance and the anxiety the musicians face before a crowd... Even the side cast are well rounded and expressive, with their own goals and personalities. Cruelty isn't just left as "this character is evil", it's explained - as being a frightened, vulnerable human being. Just like the music, each character fits so well together within the chemistry of the narrative that if feels like a harmony, but it's within the final moments that you get a true sense of soul. I can't explain it any better than incredible.

I haven't had a show get to me like this in years. When the protagonist's recovery becomes uncertain, I ached. When the antagonist competitors stood tall and played their hearts out, only to crumple from nerves post performance, I got shivers up my spine. When the deuteragonist's lie is revealed, and the entire story reaches emotional crescendo, I cried my fucking eyes out. And when the finale came, I didn't want it to end. It made me care, so subtly I didn't even realise that it had.
What more is a story supposed to do? To pluck at your emotions like that. To hurt you ever so carefully. To make your heart race, your fists clench, your eyes widen, and your mind wonder.

Just like notes resonate in instruments, this show really resonated with me. I'm not a musician, but I think I understand music a bit better now because of it.

Usually a second season of a show puts me off, I mean that's a whole lot of episodes to watch. 26 is my sweet spot, but 52? I watched the first season and could not start this fast enough, and the craziest thing happened: season 2 was even better than season 1.


Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex second Gig is, again, a tightly packed action/thriller. The premise of the show is sort of simple, there is a refugee crisis, a low pay work surplus, and mass immigration into Japan. Think civil unrest, and confusion between whether terrorists are locals, refugees, or even something new. ... Again, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 attempt to stop the crisis that is facing society: Civil War. I sure hope there's no conspiracy to spark unrest going on in the background...
Again, there are stand alone episodes, which expand the world and explore backstories, and complex episodes which are investigative and later battle focused in nature. Both types of episodes up their games even more than the previous series, managing to make you ask the questions rather than asking itself.

The story arc is top notch. Again, the major themes are big government involvement, inter-sectional infighting, cyber warfare, terrorism, some philosophy, but with new additions of civil unrest, war profiteering, failure of democracy, and the threat of nuclear destruction. You're getting a realistic uprising with all the trimmings: why it happens, how its funded, what it wants... All under the charismatic leadership of a freedom fighter, Kuze. Escalation is dealt with wonderfully, and mysteries are never too vague to become boring or repetitive.

The characters are expanded on, and the entire team get lines! Major characters such as Kusanagi, Goda, and Kuze have wonderful individualism and charm, for better or worse. Side characters not as included in this season as the last, meaning the focus for development stays on Section 9, Government Agencies, and Freedom Fighters. There is a lot more emotional charge behind people's motivations now, especially between the Major and the Freedom Fighter. By the end, no matter who loses, you'll know who they are, what they want, and why they deserve what they get.

The animation remains superb, with the exception of the weird 3D intro scene. The character design expands to include even more cyborgs, robots, machines... There are better scenic locations like the sunken parts of the old city, the ghettos that the refugees live in, and the high security contrast of the rich local Japanese government types. Action sequences become even more of a joy to watch You can almost feel the weight behind every punch, and the facial animations are superb (I'm looking at you here Goda). This is 2004 work at a 2010 level.

The sound is largely repeated, at least variations on a theme, from the first season. You've got guitar and bass, some brass, synth, lounge singing, up as far as choral music - and none of it feels out of place or forced into a scene. All I could have asked for is more strings, but I settled for how well the soundtrack could play my heartstrings. After I finished watching, I downloaded the 3 OSTs and now they're on constant rotation on my phone. That's pretty much the best compliment I can give any music.

The last season spent quite some time world building, meaning this season has a lot more time for strong plot and experimentation. Special mention to the stand alone episode with the "identity crisis" plot, that sums up the cyberpunk feeling of this show in 1 episode. By the time you finish episode 26, you'll won't be screaming Motoko, you'll just be screaming. With satisfaction. Batou's Gambit? Goda's plan? Kuze's freedom? The Tachikomas path? Squee. This is the Ghost in the Shell gold standard.

I started watching this because I liked the original movie so much, and even though it took some adjustment, it's well deserving of the franchise name.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a tightly packed action/thriller. There is a Lot going on here. The premise of the show is simple, an anonymous hacker kidnaps an industrialist, but who this is and what they want are wrapped up under conspiracies from illegal gangs, shady corporate businesses, and even some sections of government. It's up to Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 to find and eliminate the threat to society. There are stand alone episodes, which expand ... the world and explore backstories, and (aptly named) complex episodes which are detective and almost political in nature. Trust me, this is a multiple sittings job, and it goes from good to great.

The story arc is astounding. Think big government involvement, corporate espionage, inter-sectional infighting, cyber warfare, insider trading, industrial complexes, terrorism, as well as some philosophy stuff which is just as mind bending as the movie (Think exploring artificial intelligence, but in a really compelling and entertaining way). The ending makes you want more, if that isn't a great thing about a story for you, go back to colouring books and shoving crayons up your nose. What the film did with philosophy, Stand Alone Complex does with politics. I hate politics, but I love this show.

The characters are really well polished, although the team is a little too big (One guy gets about 7 lines in the whole show). The majority though are well thought out personalities, especially the Laughing Man and Kusanagi. Their motivations are understandable, their goals are ambitious, their means are sometimes questionable but their integrity never is. Even the side characters are incredibly well fleshed out, given the same level of detail. I really enjoyed how even the characters I had met before were brand new again, being different but recognisable.

The animation holds up incredibly well, with the exception of the weird 3D intro scene. The character design is absolutely beautiful, but what would you expect from a cyberpunk heavy weight? Human, cyborg, robot, machine... The lines may blur in the story, but not once in the art department. The Laughing Man face itself is really iconic, you've probably already seen it somewhere before by now. The action sequences are a delight, the fluidity of movement is staggeringly advanced for 2002. Honestly, this show looks like it came out in 2010.

The sound is excellent, from the low stakes investigation samples to the guns blazing, aerial combat screen buster scenes. You've got guitar and bass, some brass, synth, lounge singing, up as far as choral music - and none of it feels out of place or forced into a scene. I'm always impressed when music is used to tell some of the story, and this show uses it to tie everything so well together that you'll be humming the main action tune for days afterwards.

It might start a little slow due to world building, but each layer they add is cyberpunk done right - High tech, Low lives. At 26 episodes, you might think this is a bit of a commitment, but by the end, you'll be screaming Motoko into your screen. But don't believe me, listen to the whispering of your ghost.

I had some serious doubts about this show from the start, it looked like a show for kids. Whatever though, 12 episodes? I'll chance the first.
After binge watching the whole thing in a night, let me tell you, this is Not a show for kids. I'm pretty sure this show gave me grey hairs. It's that good.

Madoka Magica is a bit like a magical girl show written for adults. Yeah, I know, that sounds weird. Instead of all that pre-teen angst and "who likes who" class politics, this show starts messing around with heavier subjects like dealing with the death of close friends, fighting against ... fate when there's almost no hope of success, and questioning is changing fate a selfish act.
You've got a naive lead character, Madoka, who has to deal with growing up too quickly when she learns how dangerous and uncaring the real world is. The story follows her becoming a magical girl, and all the good and (mostly) bad things that follow, by signing a contract to "become a magical girl in exchange for a wish" without reading the small print. It gets bleak, but you'll want to follow it there.

The overarching plot is fantastic. Each episode gets a little bit darker until it reaches blackness by the end. There's some very heavy themes of loss, death, and despair here, but they're written so well that they become compelling. Each main character, especially Madoka and Homura, are very well fleshed out. They all have their own personalities, strengths, flaws, and goals. They're remarkably human.
The dialogue is fitting and the delivery is superb in the english dub. The pacing deals well with escalation while keeping the story from becoming overly confusing or stagnant. This is top shelf writing and delivery. This is one of the best tragedies I've ever seen in any media.

The art style is flat out incredible. It's rather experimental, the bad guys (witches) are all separately designed monsters from the art style of the show. It feels a bit like watching a painting move. The fight scenes are choreographed very well, each action scene with this many types of art is a goddamn feast for the senses.

The sound is very fitting, the usual background tones, especially choral singing that managed to feel really pleasing to the ear while remaining somehow off putting at the same time. It's like minor chords or something, I'm not a music buff. The opening theme doesn't fit this theme at all, but by the end, I really enjoyed how jarringly different it was. It felt like dissonance, musically and emotionally.

You know the phrase "appearances can be deceiving"? That's what Madoka Magica is. It looks like a simple kids show, but it's actually a surprisingly adult drama. This is the tightest 12 episode show I've ever seen, it never felt rushed or dragged in any part of it. This honestly made me rethink what genres I want to watch. I strongly recommend this to anyone who likes good writing, strong characters, and being sad because a cartoon hurt your feelings. Homura did nothing wrong. Fight me irl.

I actually stumbled onto this show by accident, I forgot the name of what I wanted but remembered "black" was in the title somewhere. Definitely one of my better mistakes, because this show blew me out of the water.

It's an easy enough story to get your head around. A business man gets mixed up with international pirates, and decides to join them because his life is awful. These are your modern day type pirates, with torpedoes instead of parrots. Some episodes are stand alone, others flow into small arcs, but each time there is a mission that the Lagoon Company have to complete - think ... gun running, smuggling people... That kind of stuff. All the motivation feels quite accessible, who doesn't need to make money to eat? Backstories are explored but not shoved down your throat. Everything feels very balanced and well polished.

The character design in this show is cranked up waaay high, and the animation couldn't possibly fit better. It's very unique, there's no silly "anime stretch arm" or mystery tentacle because the budget craps out. The action scenes have more empty bullet casings than Robocop, and even the slower scenes keep you interested by sheer strength of the characters. Visually, this is a feast.

It's a shame the soundtrack is so small, but luckily what few tracks exist are all fairly good. You've got action scenes, tense music, the usual round up. Some of these tracks pull a heavy rotation, which gets a little tiring, but it's not grating.
The voice acting on the otherhand is phenomenal. The English dialogue adaptation is some of the best I've ever heard, up there with Steins;Gate for believability. You can tell a lot of work went into recording, and it shines through so well.

The characters. Oh man, I could write a small essay on this! Each crew member is so distinguishable from the others, their own personalities are well laid out and their motivations are explained and advanced with the story. You're going to want to know more about the interesting characters because they're well designed, balanced, flawed, and very human. Even the escalation is at a reasonable level, the jobs get bigger and more difficult but the pay goes up. One of my favourite strong female leads ever is in this show, she'll probably be one of yours too by the time you're finished.

Seeing as I stumbled into this show by accident, I expected nothing at the start. Black Lagoon gave me so much back in return. Each mission is different and challenging in it's own way, the conflict between crewmates and enemies alike is gripping and fun to watch, and the way they really grill the new guy is painfully relatable (Thanks work). This is up there as one of my favourite shows, even if they break it into two 12 episode chunks for some reason. If you haven't seen this, stumble into the first episode and give it a chance, you won't regret a second of it.

I honestly threw this into my pilot list without looking at it twice. I mean, I like criminal drama, I like single city settings, and throw in a few "drugged up warrior" types and I'll bite. What I wasn't sure of is if a 12 episode show could fit it all in, because that's one of the hardest things any show can try.

The story is fairly simple, two contractors work in the grey areas between crime families, doing jobs that would cause a turf war if anyone else did them. They're hard as nails but smooth as silk - they're designed to be cool and ... it works pretty nicely. One is a ladies man, the other is a drugged up sword slinger. They rescue a working girl from the streets, and the show follows these 3 characters as they go about their daily "business". Fair enough, I'd call that a decent start for setting up characters. What got me to watch All of Gangsta is this: the sword slinger is deaf, and that's represented incredibly well throughout. He can't answer the phone, he can barely speak, there's a lot of sign language... It's one of the most memorable and well done mechanics in the entire show. The actual dialogue between talking characters is great too.

The art goes from great initial character design, some wonderful backdrops, and fantastic detail shots that any show would be proud of, to reusing the same shots again and again while the characters get further and further into "full anime" mode. C'mon, what's a lollipop sucking scythe wielding super woman doing in a seedy crime town? I found this a little disappointing, because the show starts off so strongly with it's own identity, but loses it as it progresses. I get why though, I mean Manglobe went bankrupt making this (Goodbye season 2).

The sound is a mix of good and bad, there's a few wonderful pacing tracks and the action sequences feel more tense and thrilling because of this. It's not overly memorable though, even if the opening and closing themes are both pretty good on their own. The voice acting is absolutely gorgeous, especially the deaf character's lines. Heh, wow, never thought I'd say something like that, that sounds pretty dumb.

Half way through this show, the pacing was quick but not break neck, their was mystery and intrigue about who the villain was, as well as explaining how these "drugged up warrior people" function. You've got an opening world and enough to fill it with. The biggest problem this show had was biting off too much at once. It's only 12 episodes and it falls right into my biggest peeve - failing to deal with escalation. This is where all those points start to fall off. By the end of the series, there's enough characters to fill a stadium, all of which don't get enough dialogue or screen time to become actual characters rather than plot devices. Come episode 8ish I think, you can tell that they can't close the loops they've opened, and the finale really lacks any sense of conclusion. I had such high hopes for this show at the beginning, and I'd definitely give season 2 a shot, but right now Gangsta feels a bit like it didn't defrost right before they cooked it. If I'm honest, I'd probably say give this one a skip.

I don't know how this fell into my pilots watchlist, but I'm so happy it did. I can't believe there haven't been more animes dubbed quite like this one. This is one of those shows you need to watch the English dub of, I'll explain in a sec why.

Gakkou no Kaidan (Ghost Stories) is a pretty tame, predictable show about kids in school that accidentally release a bunch of ghosts and have to put them all back to sleep. Yeah, I know, it doesn't sound that memorable, but it's actually one of the best comedies I've seen in years and by far the most memorable.
I ... checked out the first episode, on the English dub because I'm lazy, and the voice acting completely threw me. The voice actors that worked on the dub had nearly complete creative freedom for their lines, to the point where the actual plot dialogue is stripped to the absolute bones to make room for improvised comedy. It's hard to describe, but it feels like the voice actors saw their scenes once, pretended to be snotty little kids, then insulted each other and made dick jokes on mike. There are brick jokes, observational jokes, 4th wall breaking commentary... See? Hard to describe. It feels sort of like an abridged series, except played straight for an entire length episode.

Getting down to details, the animation itself is a little bit weak because of it's budget, it looks like it was made early in 2000s because it was. The zoom in detail shots hold up nicely, and the dynamic movements are still pretty enjoyable to watch. There is a bit of abstract horror which surprisingly stands up very well on character design even now.
The music is largely underscoring, so it isn't overly memorable but it fits the feeling well, no overall theme here. I did quite like the intro music though.
I'm not sure why the show is split into 19 episodes and 1 special, it's pretty much just a 20 episode long sketch show with Japanese cartoon actors.
The characters Should be fairly routine, nothing special to any of them, but thanks to the comedy lines each one of them is completely memorable and distinguishable. From the first episode, their personalities are made clear through the jokes and insults they sling at each other. By the end, there are so many in jokes that you've been included in that it feels like your own friends making fun of each other in front of you. Some of the best characters are the side ones that you'll only see once, but you'll still be smirking at the thought of them a good few episodes later.

I want to give away some of the jokes, but I can't. I started this not even knowing it was a comedy, and the pilot episode damn nearly made me cough up a lung laughing. There wasn't a single episode that didn't have me in pain from excessive laughter. I loved this so much I bought it. You can show this to people who hate anime and even they'll have a great time. I can't recommend this enough, as an intro show or to those of us who've wasted an excessive amount of time on cartoons. This is a goddamn treasure.

I'd never even heard of this show before someone brought it over to my house for an anime night. I hadn't watched any kind of "romance" shows before and didn't even know what a harem anime was, let alone all the types of characters you have in them, so this show was actually pretty educational. I learned a lot between belly laughs, and I laughed enough to add years to my life.

The premise is pretty simple, the lead female Haruhi gets into a debt with an all boy club, which is based on pleasing the other girls at school. Romantically, sheesh. Haruhi then has to ... dress as a boy in order to work off her debt, leading to countless situations where she's mistaken as a he. Simple enough, right? Not exactly...

Seeing as this is a "reverse harem" it means everything is sort of a parody, I think. It would explained why everything is jacked up to 11 when played for laughs, such as the extremes of the other boys in the club. You have your strong and silent type, your identical twins with a cheeky side, your prince charming, the intellectual, and the younger cuter one. Everything they do becomes so outlandish and extravagant that you won't be able to stop laughing. They're the kind of people who'd have a desert themed party and fly in sand from the Sahara, just for the day. Each character has a downright charming personality, and the trouble they get into is so much fun to watch. Better still, the most successful "host" for the girls is another girl. I gotta say, my favourite part of the show is how the boys try incredibly hard to keep Haruhi's secret that she really is a girl. Try getting through a physical exam at the nurse's office!

The art style feels a bit like Revolutionary Girl Utena (read: there's a strong flower motif) which I actually really enjoyed to my surprise, while the limbs looked a little spindly for my tastes, but the show really did make it work quite well. The animation is very nice, I don't remember a single scene where something was obviously out of place or rushed. I can't say the same for the music however. Music is one of the big things I try to pay attention to, you can always tell when a lot of effort gets put into it because you get this feeling of completeness. I liked the cheesy intro theme but the ending one was like rubbing alcohol on a fresh cut, but I will admit they fit in quite well to the theme. The actual soundtrack to the show was enjoyable, but not entirely memorable. I can remember it fit nicely with the visuals, but I can't remember any specific themes or pieces.

The show itself is largely episodic, which really helps to change the setting. New episode? New party. The comedy is done so well, it's even surprisingly high brow. It never reverts to crude sex jokes, as easy as it would be, but relies instead on witty dialogue, financial separation, mistaken identity, and playing around with gender rolls. I'll admit, I was pretty weirded out when the twins pretended to be romantically involved, but then the penny dropped and I couldn't stop laughing at their acting. If you're familiar with harem personality types, you'll enjoy how committed each character stays to them. If you're like me, this is a great title to try to see if they're for you. The final few episodes I really enjoyed, they added just a splash of extra emotional depth to the main lead characters and the closing scene did tug a bit on my heart strings. By the end of this show, I ended up enjoying it so much that I bought the DVD so I could share it with others. This is a show best enjoyed with friends.

Oh jeez, where do you even begin with Eva? I remember hearing people screaming about how much they love this show, while others say it's utter nonsense and shouldn't be famous at all. What can you take from that, I mean honestly? I didn't know what to think, so I picked up a cheap pirate DVD copy of it (because real ones don't exist) and gave it a spin. My head is still spinning to this day.

What is Evangelion? That's a tough question to answer, because it's pretty much a story about a boy recruited to pilot a giant robot to fight monsters who want ... to exterminate humanity, except it's not, well not really. This show has more layers than a french onion wrapped in 3 rolls of clingfilm. I don't think it's possible to summarise, so I'll just skip to the main parts.

The overall story of Eva is so wonderfully unique and engaging, if somewhat batshit crazy by the end of it, but I don't think I've seen a better fleshed out set of characters anywhere (Maybe Steins;Gate at a stretch). Each character is damaged in their own way, which becomes more obvious as the show progresses. There's overconfidence and inability, lack of self belief, cowardice and frustration... Every person in this show is such a unique individual, and watching them interact, bicker, and develop is still an example of perfect storytelling. You get to see people pushed to their absolute limits, then pushed just a little further. It's like a trainwreck, part of you just can't look away. The animation is superb for 1995, which may feel a little dated today (think monster design), but the motion and dynamics all hold up extremely well. It's good to feel unnerved by some of the art, it's actively trying to be.

From here, the actual plot is already standing on the shoulders of giants, which is where things really get fun. The monsters aren't actually monsters, they're "angels". There is a shadow organisation pulling all the strings in the background who may want to save humanity, or destroy it. The giant robots are a lot more than what they seem. Pretty much everything established within the first few episodes is inverted, leaving you a little confused but at the same time quite interested to see where it goes. People actually break down from the stress they experience, like the pilots of the giant robots, and when I say break down I mean fully. They suffer so much at parts that you can't help but empathise, and by then you're already emotionally invested.

Hold on to your brain, because by the ending, it might just melt and drip out of your ears. No spoilers, but the ending is very avant garde (read: they ran out of money) so there's a lot of interpretation and metaphor going on, but I thought it worked pretty well. What I got from it left me speechless and dying to talk about it with anyone who'd listen at the same time.
Eva has so much going on that it really does need a second viewing and some downtime for thinkin' about it, because it took me about 3 times to finally get (most of) the story. Saying that, there's such a feeling of satisfaction when you do see behind all the doors. I'd say it's like shakespeare in so much that it makes no sense when you read it and there's an insane amount of stuff going on nearly all the time, but it is actually very solid and entertaining. You can tell the creator really put a lot of himself into this, and jeez, that poor guy was really suffering. You know what they say, you can't make a painting without pain.

I've got to talk about the sound, it's some of the most memorable I've ever heard. There are so many themes that you'll find yourself humming after you watch this, each one very different from the others but all equally superb. These pretty much became my ringtones. Evangelion giant robot fights owe so much to their soundtrack, without it there wouldn't be half the depth to their drama. I really enjoyed the musical dissonance employed towards the latter half, when things go from bad to the worst. Someone has a complete nervous breakdown to the most inspirational and hopeful music you can think of. It's jarring in the extreme, but that's what Eva is meant to be.

As far as plot goes, there is nothing close to where this show went, and it's range of characters is still impeccable to this day. I'm pretty sure Evangelion probably fried some part of my young brain, but I totally fell for this show and think it really is one of the greats. Watch it if you too want to get your mind opened to the point where everything starts falling out.

Man, I was really late to the party on this one. Every time I saw polls on the best anime shows released, this would be usually top 5, maybe top 3. I remember hearing people talking about this when I was still in school, the type of people who didn't like anime telling me "yeah, it's pretty good". After about 6 years of hearing about it, and doubting it, I finally gave it a shot. Holy crap, why didn't I listen to everybody before?

I went into this knowing nothing about the premise, so the show itself had to tell me how everything worked and keep ... me interested enough to last something like 64 episodes. 64?! My sweet spot is 26, anything beyond that are a commitment I'm not willing to make.
The first episode was one of the best pilots I think I've ever seen, it established so many world rules and characters and really showed off the budget and animation levels I was in store for. I remember thinking "Woah, this really feels like Avatar: The Last Airbender" and I grew up with that. As soon as I felt that, I knew I could last 64 episodes easy.

The show is relatively simple, there's a form of magic called alchemy that few possess, and there are large territories that are on very poor terms with one another. You're looking at great warriors and really detailed fight scenes. The real heart of this show is the strength of the characters, main and supporting, and the overall arcing story. It deals so well with escalation, never skipping too far ahead too fast as to lose you, but it keeps a quick pace with a lot of well explained mystery that you want to know more. Each section of the story adds foundations to the parts to come, previous pieces of intrigue combine to solve a larger piece of the puzzle. This feels so satisfying to watch, be it discovering the rules of alchemy to who the villain is and what his evil plan becomes.

This show can become beautifully dark, from familial deaths of main cast members, to examining how far someone will go for perfection, justice, or even life itself. The villains are wonderfully metaphorical, each being charismatic and deadly, while the heroes are very complex and quite human. Fullmetal really dissects human nature and shows you both the best and the worse of it. What pins this down is a really great soundtrack, the whole thing creates this sort of feeling that just flows into you. You name it, this show probably has it: political instability and invasions, insightful character development across the board, a good sense of humour to lighten the mood just enough that the shocking moments hurt so much worse, amazing fight choreography, a well written love story, mysterious secret societies, redemption arcs for desperate thugs... It really has so much to offer, each piece well rounded and ready to be enjoyed. I don't know how they fit in so much without it feeling overly complicated or too stuffed, but they did!

I was an idiot for not checking out this show when people told me about it, because it really is a near perfect piece of entertainment across the board. By the end, I wanted more than 64 episodes, something I never imagined happening. I can't recommend this show more, it's unmissable.