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Maquia is a magically wonderful movie. The relationship between a mother who could live for 100s of years and a normal mortal living child makes for an engaging story. There was definitely some worries that the story might go in "that" direction. Thankfully the movie sticks to the mother and son theme and it is all the better for it. Even though you know how this film is going to end from the get go, it still manages to tug on your emotional strings.

The art style is gorgeous with beautiful backgrounds and stylish character designs. There are some CGI incorporated which is especially noticeable for ... the dragons but it's never that off-putting. The music score is phenomenal as well, having been composed by the legendary Kenji Kawai or IP Man and Ghost in the Shell fame. The main characters, Maquia and Ariel, are great with a strong supporting cast as well.

The only issues I had is with some slow pacing and the fact that some subplots don't have as strong of a resolution as the main characters. This results in some lingering questions by the end concerning Leilia subplot and the whole Red eye disease having no explanation.

Nevertheless, Maquia is one of the most memorable original anime movies in a long time. The story will stick with me for a long time.

Made in Abyss is one of the best animes to come out in recent years. It's stunning world building with gorgeous animation. I found the series oddly mesmerizing with it's cutesy style yet grim and dark tone. With season 2 recently announced I decided to finally watch the movie which is set after season 1 but before season 2.

The biggest standout in this film is Bondrewd who is just an amazing antagonist. He is loving and compassionate with no genuine ill will to the protagonists but will commit horrible things with no remorse. He wants to discover all the mysteries of the abyss and believes ... everything he does is completely justified. Even when people don't agree with him, he is genuinely fine with it and doesn't harper any negative feelings towards them. This makes him such an interesting character! His relationship with Nanachi is the main focus of the story and it's definitely very engaging.

Kevin Penkin returns to compose the music for the film and it is still as beautiful as ever. Every song is stunning and elevates every scene. The animation is still great with some pretty thrilling animation in the 3rd act. It also continues to have some really dark moments which is what made the series stand out in the first place.

I have some issues with the film though. Firstly, is the lack of worldbuilding as the movie is completely in one place which is one great aspect from the show that is not in the movie. A new character called Prushka is introduced and ends up being an underwhelming character. She is not very interesting and has limited interactions with the main characters but for some reason the story acts like she was great friends with them. I felt her character didn't amount to much. I'm also annoyed that Riko, the main character, never really does anything worthy of a main character and ends up just being carried by Reg and Nanachi. She doesn't really undergo any proper character development and just ends up feeling like a person who just happens to be there.

Despite all that, this is a great sequel to the first season and I definitely can't wait for season 2!

The premise of Midoriya being frame for something he never did and being hunted down is an interesting premise. This could've made for an interesting conflict where he is getting hunted down by heroes or his classmates. Maybe there could be an interesting detective story to it with Midoriya having to investigate who the real culprit is.

It is a shame this movie does absolutely nothing with it and waste the idea of it. It's also ridiculous that there is a villainous group that is threatening on a world scale. They are somehow more threatening than the actual main villain of the manga. There isn't ... a fight scene that is as cool as the previous movie which is a shame.

What this movie does do better is having an actual interesting support character in Rody. He is more interesting than most of Class 1-A. His relationship with Deku is the most enjoyable aspect of the film and is the one thing that makes this movie fun to watch.

Overall, watch it for Rody!

One of my issue with the first My Hero Academia movie was the animation quality not being any better than the show. Well the 3rd act of this movie has an insanely good animation with one of the best fights seen in the series. It also explores a bit more of the relationship between Midoriya and Bakugo.

It's a shame that the ending ends up being dumb because they had to conform to the sake of canon. Additionally, the relationship between Midoriya and the new movie supporting character, Katsuma, is not interesting whatsoever. The first half of this movie is also quite slow and boring.

Just ... watch it for the action and not the plot.

I appreciate that this movie actually expands on the world of My Hero Academia and also explores more of All Might's backstory. Apart from that the movie is very predictable and forgettable.

It doesn't help that the villain is unmemorable and the supporting character Melissa who is quirkless, could've been very interesting but just ends up being a very bland supporting character.

The animation quality is just more or less the same as the show which is disappointing as you would expect they would give this a movie budget quality but it never really amounts to anything more.

It's not terrible movie and if you ... already liked the show then this is just basically more of that. It's a shame they didn't use the movie to do more though.

Saekano was one of the few harem shows that was actually interesting and well executed. I really loved the first two seasons and was hoping for a 3rd season but instead they decided to just wrap it up in a movie format.

I think the movie definitely delivers on providing a satisfying finale while wrapping up the romance aspect. The animation and art were fantastic, the music was great and the story was simple yet engaging. The post credit scene is also incredibly wild!

The limited runtime of a movie does result in some issues such as some characters, Michiru and Izumi, having minimal screen time and ... relevance to the plot. Due to the plot having more focus on the romanctic development, the game development process is brushed over quickly which might not be to everyone's liking. My one personal issue is that Utaha doesn't get that one to one resolution with Tomoya. It's weird because Megumi and Eriri do but Utaha doesn't, which is kind of jarring.

Overall, the movie is great! I am super glad that they stuck the landing. It has been fun watching the Blessing Software team and I will always remember this series.

It's hard to believe that the original anime started over 15 years ago and was finally coming to an end. Gintama was so incredibly unique with it's very meta comedy, characters and setting. What made it an amazing series was how good it was at doing comedy stories and serious stories while blending both together.

Gintama the final adapts the final arc of the manga and puts it into a movie format. It has all the qualities that make Gintama great and gives the fans a satisfying conclusion to the story. However, the movie does end up feeling more like a half season anime show than ... a movie. It would've been nice if they went a bit more out in terms of animation quality.

Overall, It's nice to have a completed series that stuck the landing. There will probably never be a series like Gintama and I am glad I've watched it!

Netflix has been investing in a lot of original anime projects and Bubble (2022) is one of them. This project had big build up when it was announced that Wit Studio, who animated the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan, was involved in this movie. It also had the director and producer of the first 3 seasons of Attack on Titan and legendary writer, Gen Urobochi, of Madoka Magica and Psycho pass fame was writing for Bubble (2022). It was also revealed one of the best anime composers, Sawano Hiroyuki, was going to compose for this film. It just screamed amazing!

So imagine my disappointment ... after watching this film when it turned out to be quite bland. Yes the animation is phenomenal, the music score is god tier and the world itself is pretty interesting. However, the plot is just a very typical boy meets girl situation and it never goes beyond that whatsoever. The characters are just generic, one dimensional and forgettable. I never connect or root for the main characters and the supporting characters just end up being there for the sake of it. There isn’t anything at stake until the last 30 minutes of the film. The first 100 is just a slow pace drag of occasional things happening.

It’s a shame that with all these industry veterans, this is the best they came up with. At least the visuals and music is astoundingly good.

Since Konosuba is finally getting a season 3, I thought I would finally go back and watch this film in celebration of that announcement. What sets this movie apart from other anime movies is that this is actually a canon story that is from the novel.

The movie does end up feeling more like 4-5 episodes of the show stitched together then an actual movie. Especially considering that the animation quality is more or less the same as the show and not remotely better.

However, that isn't necessarily bad as that means it inherits all the things that we loved from the show. The ... comedy is still on point, the characters are lovable dummies and the over the top nature of everything is still here. It's basically just half a season of Konosuba and that's fine.

Belle is a modern Japanese take on the classic Beauty and the Beast story. The director Mamoru Hosoda made some wonderful anime movies such as Summer Wars, Wolf Children and Mirai which I absolutely loved. So I was no doubt going to watch Belle.

I love the contrast in art and animation style between the real world and the virtual world. The real-world uses 2D fluid and dynamic animation while the virtual world uses this 3D dazzling and beautiful aesthetic. Both are amazing to look at. One of the biggest highlights though is the music which is just wonderful. The final performance is just absolutely stunning!

I ... also enjoyed how Mamoru put a new spin on the classic tale through the use of a virtual world. It made the story feel fresh even though it goes through a lot of the same beat for beat story you have seen before. The characters are also quite lovable in their personality and I adored the character development that our main lead Suzu goes through. The story does juggle a lot of plot points and doesn't give a completely satisfying resolution to everything. However, the story has a lot of heart and soul in it that it comes out as very sweet and touching by the end.

I had a blast with the 2 hours watching Belle and I do not doubt that you will too.

Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Enjoyment: 8/10