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I've been reading romantic mysteries since middle school over a decade ago (Jayne Ann Krentz/JD Robb? Anybody? *sigh*), so now when I watch something fluffy like Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes, I feel old and jaded, and nobody likes to feel old and jaded. In addition, compared to the suspense/chemistry in pulp romances, this anime series is serene and too flat to be truly entertaining.

But all that said, Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes is a cute, innocuous show to while away a few hours if you've got that time to spare.

Pros:
Kyoto Teramachi introduces and explains art in a concise, approachable fashion. From tea bowls to ... hanging scrolls, the history/creators of such antiques are, I imagine, largely unknown to the Western audience, but not once did I feel lost. Also, I'm in the camp that believes art is enhanced when you know the context/background of its creation, so I'm glad I have these new snippets rattling around in my memory if I ever run into anything in a museum.

The main characters, Aoi and Holmes, don't devolve into petty drama/disputes between the two of them. Too often in anything that has even a hint of romance, the leads have at least one big argument/misunderstanding between them that's purely conflict for conflict's sake, but Kyoto Teramachi floats on with romance scenes happening mostly in small moments.

Cons:
Holmes-san himself wants to be seen as an appraiser rather than a detective, and I agree with him; the mysteries that have nothing to do with antiques are largely lackluster and some are completely out of left field. The entire series lacks cohesion, with antagonist Enshou's forgeries being the only consistent through-line. I almost wish this show was more slice-of-life with regular moments bracketing the Enshou drama rather than random sideshows of cheating allegations and attempted murder. If I were Holmes, I would be pretty annoyed at getting dragged into people's personal issues just because I had decent observation and question asking skills. And as a viewer, seeing random one-off characters get personal issues investigated and solved in under twenty minutes doesn't make for good viewing either.

Some reoccurring characters, especially actor guy (Kajiwara, Akihito), add nothing to the narrative line or main character development. Any attempts at comic relief were ridiculous in an unfunny, eye-roll sort of way.

The animation is mediocre at best. The color palette is weirdly bright and washed out, there is zero sense of dynamic lighting, but the worst was the few episodes before the last episode, where even character faces lost consistency/expression and took on some derpiness.


In conclusion, Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes is...fine. The main characters are cute/mostly likeable, and there are good bits of art history thrown in, but if you're looking for intrigue, suspense, or even particularly good cleverness, this show is not really going to provide it. I can't see myself ever recommending Kyoto Teramachi, but if you've already stumbled upon it and got time to burn, well, this review is not a *stay away* sign, just a meh, you should keep your expectations at a reasonable/low level.

ACCA shot its way up to the top of my favorites list by giving me everything I didn't know I wanted in an anime, and that's important because Kubikiri Cycle does the opposite--it gave me everything I thought I wanted in an anime...but I still liked it...I think. Perhaps the show itself states it best: there's an "unnaturally empty certainty," where parts of it, the philosophy and imagery especially, are at once solid and hollow at the same time.

Pros:
The depth/faux depth. The show endlessly discusses genius, life, society, relationships, etc. in the abstract while offering no conclusions. It might seem strange to consider this a ... pro, but if you're the sort, like me, who enjoys random fragments of thoughts and ideas being cast out into the ether, Kubikiri Cycle does it often and it does it well.

The aesthetics. Mirroring the show, I will say that I'm not much of an art critic, so all I can offer is that it's pretty. The surrealism of the morphing background scenery/colors matches the mood/theme, as do the OP/ED. (I'm especially impressed that the beginning of the OP can sound wistful/sad by starting on the 7th, very tempted to try scoring the whole song.)

The mystery itself is idiot-proof. Almost too simplistic/over-explained, if you're like me and not a fan of requiring rewatches/external sources to fit all the pieces together, you're in luck. Kubikiri Cycle will hit you over the head with every clue several times and summarize a lot of things twice. Actually, this is sounding more and more like a con, but really, it's a good thing when a mystery can get laid out before you with no plot holes.

Cons:
Characters are more mouth pieces for their ideas and archetypes than anything even close to being realistic, and demonstrate no growth. If you really put the MC under a magnifying glass, maybe there's a little change, but the MC himself would probably reject that notion. There are also all these hints and mentions of backstories, but without any understanding of how they shaped current personalities and interactions, they're, again, more thought-pieces tossed out to provoke, rather than any meaningful character building.

In conclusion, Kubikiri Cycle is a good experience if you want very staccato bursts of discussion points such as art vs science, why/why not murder, abuse vs ostracism, and a ton of other topics besides. After enjoying UN-GO and Ranpo Kitan, I thought this was what I wanted. In the end though, I guess a show has to exceed your own imagination, not just play up to your own conceits, if it's to get a perfect score.

Back when Youjo Senki first aired, I watched the first episode, thought "what the heck is this mess?," and went on with my life. After several people convincing me otherwise, I finally got back to this show as part of my backlog, and it was surprisingly enjoyable.

Pros:
1. It's great for the casual war/history fan. Like most things that are anime-fied, there's a sweet spot between "not interested in the subject IRL" and "obsessed with the subject IRL" that becomes the target audience for Youjo Senki. If you've seriously studied WWI, you're probably setting yourself up for disappointment, but if you're like me, and vaguely remember ... liking middle school/high school world history class, congratulations, you're in luck. Many battle tactics in Youjo Senki play out logically, and there's plenty of magic, violence, and action flashing across the screen as those tactics unfold.

2. The show moves along at a good clip, without an excess of foreshadowing/dramatic irony. Nothing is worse than when you know what the plan is, and it still takes forever to get there. Youjo Senki explains what it's going to do and then immediately does it, drawing you along for more and more decisive points of the war.

3. The dry, deadpan humor of some of the scenes after the ED. Don't miss out on those.

Cons:
1. The first episode starting in the middle of the action. I don't get it, and I personally feel like it didn't work. War battles need more context than what was given to be interesting/impactful, and I'm not really the sort of person who will watch a show just for the OP loli. The second episode is the "real" first episode that actually then takes you through the story chronologically.

2. God/Being X. Their actions are wildly inconsistent, and the whole theme of faith/religion is underdeveloped. Instead of being interwoven as a consistent underlying dread, they just up at random critical moments as a plus or a minus, and they seem to take way more offense at the MC not being properly in awe than with the MC's selfishness, which makes God/Being X seem super petty. I mean, it's a great way to get the audience on the MC's side, because God/Being X acts like an overpowered toddler instead of something more all-knowing, but it could have been a much more interesting dynamic/relationship if God was more, well, godly.


Art: 8/10, the background scenery looked very good and the action scenes were effective. The character designs also worked given what the show was trying to do but weren't my cup of tea. Serebryakova looked like a moe blob and what was up with the glasses guy's hair?
Sound: 7/10, the OP/ED were fine but not particularly memorable. There was no attempt to show people in different countries speaking in different languages or using magic as a translator, although maybe language diversity is just not a thing in this world? (Haven't read the source material.) Tanya's voice takes a little getting used to.

I love sports animes. With a complex web of character relationships across a large cast, anime-fied take on tactics (actually more enjoyable when you don't know the sport, and in this case, I didn't know rugby), and ability to vicariously live the simple up and down emotions of winning and losing, the basic hallmarks of a sports anime is an easy well-worn track for All Out!! to follow. Beyond the blueprint, however, All Out!! does a few things very well and one thing not so well.

Starting with the pros:
1. All Out is very self-aware. When the main character Gion first joins the team, the show ... realizes an alphabet soup of names is not going to be helpful for the audience, and realistically not helpful to someone meeting a gigantic group for the first time. So they tell Gion and by extension, the viewer, oh well, you'll pick it up as we go. And it follows through with mostly organic introductions and interactions, rather than strictly regimenting meeting one or two new side characters per episode.
(Also, rather than having a character seem suspiciously too similar to Hiruma from Eyeshield-21, the show instead goes full homage complete with the "ya-ha")

2. Characters do not remain boxed in cliques. Everyone interacts with everyone else. The dynamics within the third years and between the second years and third years, and between people in the same grade across different schools flourish independently of their relation to the main character.

3. The adults interact with each other and offer viewpoints beyond the X's and O's of the game. It's difficult to elaborate without spoilers, but the adult characters in All Out are more fully realized than other shows that have mouthpieces for training techniques and game tactics.

And now the con:
All Out does not sustain drama. Main character Gion's issue is that he's short, but it's quickly evident that the people who recruited him weren't lying, plenty of rugby players in this show are of similar height. His bigger issue to being new to rugby, which also isn't really an issue unique to him at all. Also, while some themes are carried through the show (club was not competitive when the current third-years were first-years), the heaviest drama is reserved for sudden punches of serious issues with little foreshadowing and little follow-up.

So in conclusion, if you like sports anime, realistic feeling group dynamics, or just a total blank slate looking for the basic flow of a rugby game, you should watch All Out!!

Art: 8 (some very...unique character designs can be hit or miss, animation-wise, there were a few places were stills were noticeable, but overall the rugby movements and character expressions are well done)
Sound: 6 (I rarely notice voice acting unless it's particularly amazing or atrocious. All Out's VAs were fine, and the first OP/ED were decent. The second OP/ED were not my cup of tea, but All Out mostly loses points due to its lackluster background music.)

At the time I'm starting this review (who knows when I'll finish it), there were no other Canon reviews, so I'm going to try my hardest to do it justice.

Edit note: I have now finished the manga and will try to edit parts accordingly.

Story (7/10):
I'm not particularly biased about this because I'm no longer one of those crazy fan girls who squeal over all things vampire. In fact, I was getting over my vampire craze just as Twilight was starting to get popular. However, that being said, the story definitely adds a few elements I haven't seen before. It starts with Canon, the female lead, ... already as a vampire, looking to get revenge against the one who turned her into a vampire. But it's not quite as simple as that...and by the third volume, this manga shows a lot of heart and proves that love can triumph over hate. The story's not all cute, but it's not all dark and depressing either and blends multiple tones together quite well. That being said, the story is far from perfect. New plot elements are thrown at readers with hardly any foreshadowing, and the fight scenes happen way too quickly and characters get seriously injured in the blink of an eye.

Art (9/10):
Were there a few panels that I thought should be fixed up a bit? Yes, there were, but overall, this manga was well drawn and looked like what you would typically expect from any other manga.

Characters (10/10):
Don't you just hate how weak all the girls in Vampire Knight are? Well, Canon doesn't completely blow that formula out of the water, but the main character, Canon, shows a lot more spunk and independence than typical female characters in vampire novels. Of course, there are still quite a few times where she needs to be rescued. The two main guy characters are both vampires, thank god. I absolutely hate it when vampire stories throw in a werewolf or sometimes even a human for a large part of the story. Both of them, Sakaki and Rod, have good traits that make you root for them, and bad traits that make you wonder why you ever rooted for them in the first place. Overall, I loved all three of them, and the side characters, while not as well developed, served a purpose and were quite interesting to read about as well.

Enjoyment (10/10):
Since most of this review has been positive feedback, of course I enjoyed it. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the whole romantic vampire plot line with just a touch of violence, which (come on, admit it) is just about every fan girl out there.

Overall (9/10):
Despite a weaker storyline, all the other elements of the story came together and this manga deserves the the score I'm giving it. I thought that the ending was underdeveloped and brought the score down by a point.

Let me start off by saying this is my first review. Also .hack//Legend of the Twilight, was the first and only .hack series I have seen.

Story (4/10):
As a stand alone, much of the story didn't make much sense, and it wasn't the beginning that was so confusing. The beginning was rather interesting. Two siblings using a virtual game to stay in touch. It's what happens in the game that makes it so difficult to understand the plot. Throughout the entire anime, they hint at previous disasters and important events that have since past. For an avid .hack fan, it probably wouldn't have been a problem. ... As a first time viewer, so many aspects of the game weren't properly explained, so it was nearly impossible for me to connect to the plot and root for the survival of the characters.

Art (7/10):
The art by itself wasn't too shabby. The colors were bright, the characters were cute. Typical online games have pretty looking avatars. Overall though, it didn't quite match the story. When offline, I found it annoying how they would never show the eyes of the real people.

Sound (8/10):
I actually quite liked the sound. The opening was very catchy, if not a little too upbeat, and most of the music in game is what you would expect from an MMORPG. The ending, however, just sounds so soft and sad, and I can't make up my mind as to if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Characters (6/10):
The characters weren't cliche or stereotypical, but I didn't fall in love with any of them. Shugo just wasn't all that likable although he had plenty of good qualities. Rena was fun character to watch, while Mireille was extremely annoying. Enough so that one character almost made me drop this series. The AIs were mostly underdeveloped and confusing. For people who've only seen this series, like me, we fail to see how the AIs are developed and just how/why they are so important to the game.

Enjoyment (4/10):
It was a pretty confusing and un-enjoyable show, although it did have some funny and cool sequences. I, however, think they should have either made this into more of a sequel or more of a stand alone, because as it stands, it doesn't seem to satisfy anyone.

Overall (6/10):
It was not the worst anime I've ever seen, but with a confusing story, unique, but not altogether likable characters, and art that doesn't match the tone of the story, this is a fair anime at best. For avid .hack fans though, they might enjoy another excursion into the world of .hack. For people who've never seen a .hack series before, I definitely wouldn't recommend this show.