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Season 2 strikes a different chord than season 1. While the first season had a nice atmosphere and hilarious gags sprinkled throughout, it also knew how to retain itself and pull back for serious moments. Season 2 definitely does not disappoint in this regard, but it doesn't hit in quite the same way.

My biggest gripe with this season is with the first third or so. Those episodes had the worst gags - and I mean the WORST - that I have seen in the show so far. I understand that part of the humor of the sextuplets is that they're NEETs and virgins, but I ... really felt like some of the sex/scat/etc. jokes were just going too far. And this is coming from someone who can really appreciate a drag show or otherwise scandalous humor. It just was starting to become really obnoxious and frame some of the characters in such a negative way that I felt like they were becoming sexual predators. The episode with Todomatsu and Osomatsu on the double date comes to mind. Osomatsu was absolutely horrid and while I know that that was the point, it started to feel more "actually creepy" than "socially awkward."

Despite this, this season also had some of the BEST episodes so far, which really gave me whiplash. Iyami really shined in the last half of the season and the season finale was miles better than season one's, which I was honestly pretty disappointed with. So overall, I think that the show ranks a 7 for me. Still really funny and some great characters (Totoko and Chibita also had some good episodes and gags with the other side chars) but season 2 was just so disgusting and bizarre with its back and forth in a way that the first season was a little more careful with.

I really do hope that the maturity is retained and that I actually get to see some more growth from the characters. It does feel kind of annoying when they "learn a lesson" in an episode and then never actually continue with the morals past the one gag.

Earwig and the Witch is a complete let-down of everything Ghibli ever stood for. While I admire the studio for dipping their toes into 3D animation and trying something new, their attempt completely falls flat.

The animation feels weirdly rigid and unfinished. A lot of Ghibli's charm comes from its hand-painted environments and beautiful pastel colors, so a lot is lost when all you get is generic 3D environments. Don't get me wrong, 3D can be absolutely stunning - but something like Disney or Pixar has had the privilege of decades of experience and billions of dollars that Ghibli does not. It just does not suit ... the movie at all, although the designs are a bit iconic and I LOVE curly-haired characters.

Speaking of characters, I must say that I just absolutely despise Erica (Earwig). I don't mean to diminish the trauma and abuse that the poor girl goes through in the movie, but I disliked her from the very first time she speaks. She is just horribly mean to everyone around her and so manipulative that it's insane. It's not quirky or charming and reads like some sort of blossoming sociopath (I'm not trying to be dramatic - she's just that awful). Her character's animation only exemplifies how annoying she is, especially with the awful tongue-sticking-out-oh-I'm-so-innocent face she tries to pull. :P indeed.

For the cover of the poster and the small bits that we got of the epic witch rock band, I really thought that music and sound would play a larger role! I'm so used to the beautiful soundtracks in Ghibli films that this movie felt weirdly silent the whole way through and none of the rock music was utilized in a way that made any sense. I thought that Earwig would realize that she could unlock her magical abilities through music or something, but she never really sings or does anything musical at all. It's very strange.

The ending of this movie was also exceptionally strange. Ghibli movies are often criticized for not having "real conflicts," but I can usually pick out what the end goal of the protagonist is and try to guess what will happen. Ghibli conflicts may occasionally be low stakes, but there are stakes. For this movie, I could not figure out what Erica's goal was at all. It constantly shifted between wanting to leave, wanting to learn magic, and wanting everyone in the household to do what she wants. It became very confusing and in the last 20 minutes, I found myself wondering how on earth this could possibly end in a satisfying manner.

I really wish that we could've had more scenes with epic music numbers and witchy punk rockers, but all we got was an annoying little girl screaming the whole movie and being mean to the only two friends she had. I was really disappointed and bored throughout this movie, which made me sad. I really hope that Ghibli can find its footing again soon. I don't want them to stop pursuing 3D if it's something they're interested in, but I really hope that the story can be enough to help me overlook the somewhat mediocre-looking animation.

As both a passionate Soul Eater fan and person who enjoys slice-of-life highschool comedies, I thought that I would be the target audience for this show. Unfortunately, Soul Eater NOT! is truly NOT enjoyable in any way.

This show is a "prequel" to Soul Eater and takes place about a year or so before the events of Soul Eater.

I dropped the show after the fifth episode, so I can't fully comment on the story, but from what I had seen it was mediocre at best. I do enjoy slice-of-life shows where the characters just kind of do average things every day, so I thought that it ... would be really funny and interesting to see what the "average" person in Death City does, but this show just doesn't focus enough on Death City to keep itself propelling forward. It uses Death City as a backdrop, not as a focus, and I think that that's where it really fails. There's also some side plots about this group called "Traitor" that is not interesting at all - when the violence in the show does come about, it's weirdly shocking because the art style is so cute and nothing in the show leads up to it at all. It just sort of...happens. I thought that it might be a bit like Madoka Magica in the contrast but it just felt poorly written.

The art is middling. It's cute enough, but it feels bland and cookie cutter. The animation isn't that great, and the action scenes are not very interesting. The OP and endings songs don't really stand out to me, which is fine, but they're sort of just alright.

The characters are fine. I don't mind sort of bland characters if the worldbuilding is good enough to keep me hooked, but sadly it wasn't enough. It was especially annoying to me that this show was clearly just a way for the author to be a perverted pedophile freak - the characters are all 14 and are constantly shown in these bizarre sexual poses, always commenting on each others' bodies, etc. It was obviously written by a freak of a man and that deeply disturbs me. When, in the first 10 minutes, the main 14-year-old character pulled the classic "oh no friend-chan, I'm so clumsy and I tripped and fell straight into your massive 14-year-old boobies!" I knew that I was in for a horrible, horrible ride.

Apparently, this show follows its respective manga a lot closer than Soul Eater follows its, and maybe that's why I liked Soul Eater so much and hated this? I'm not sure. It just really creeped me out and made me feel gross to see these young girls sexualized like they were. It would've been interesting to see Jacqueline and Kim's romance develop further, but then they pulled the "ahh, I am so passionate about you and I dream of kissing you, but just as a friend haha! It's not romantic or love, we're just partners haha!" and I immediately lost interest. Can we please just get some genuine lesbian/bisexual/gay/ANYTHING relationships that aren't fetishized in anime?

Really just awful. If this was some random bland comedy yuri whatever I would've given it a 5 or a 6 but the pedophilia and its connection to Soul Eater immediately drops it even lower in my mind. I thought that this was going to add a lot of interesting flavor to the Soul Eater universe but if anything, I never want to think about it again.

Soul Eater is undoubtedly one of the greatest anime I have ever seen. Both visually and in worldbuilding (not to mention the absolutely incredible soundtrack), Soul Eater stands out from the rest.

It's funny that it's called Soul Eater, who is a character in the show - but it truly centers around Maka Albarn, a teenage girl that has some insecurities, a strained relationship with her cheating father, and a desire to be the best.

Maka is a light in this show. The humor is overall very well done, although I didn't enjoy a lot of the earlier sexual harassment "jokes" (when will manga and anime ever ... realize that showing a 13-year-old's underwear is neither sexy nor funny?), but overall the jokes really landed for me, even while watching the English dub.

Apparently, the story divulges from the manga, but I think that that's fine. I found the ending very satisfying and heartfelt. I do wish that certain themes and philosophies were explored a little more (for example, why are all witches deemed evil? I would've liked to see more exploration of the weird racist undertones there, or more exploration of Death the Kid's doubt and suspicion of the Academy. It feels weird that the Academy is supposedly this beacon of goodness in the end) but I do appreciate what the show is going for and its true themes at the end.

Also, I hate Black Star. I am sorry, I just cannot stand him or his personality at all. He is truly annoying and so toxic to Tsubaki. The show would've been so much more enjoyable to me if he ever learned how to say "sorry." Oh well.

This was a little bit of a let-down in comparison to the previous two seasons, which have remarkably made it into "wow, these are actually really good!" territory.

The biggest issue is with the absolutely exponential increase in the absurdity of the anime's premise. While the first two seasons carefully balanced the lines between parody, ecchi, and a genuinely good gourmet anime, this season decides to ramp up the tension and drama in a way that feels rushed and unnatural. It seems to be taking notes from Kill la Kill without actually taking into consideration why Kill la Kill was so successful with its insane premise ... of an authoritarian school district - Kill la Kill brings a level of absurdity from the very first moment you lay your eyes on the screen, which allows for the increasing insanity of its plot to just feel as though it's another reveal in the world. Unfortunately, Shokugeki no Souma does not have this permission from its audience to suspend their notions of disbelief. It quickly amps up the tension from an incredibly challenging and toxic - but believable - academic environment into a fascist dictatorship on school grounds.

Additionally, the art and animation quality has strangely decreased this season. Perhaps it wasn't as noticeable in the first two, but there seems to be way more use of the chibi forms of the characters than before. It seems like all of the budget was put into the orgasmic food scenes, which is fine, but just greatly contrasts against the rather poor animation in literally every other scene.

The first half of the arc, with the Moon Festival, was genuinely rather interesting and had some good character development for main cast. The second half had me slowly slipping into a state of contempt for how I could predict where the show was taking me.

I am additionally not a fan of what I believe to be the romance the show is trying to hint at developing between Yukihira and Erina. While I love the character development they've both given one another, I personally believe Megumi and Yukihira just make far more sense as a couple. Additionally, I hope that Shokugeki no Souma doesn't intend to rob us of the greatest sapphic relationship of all time between Erina and Hisako. I could really see that blossoming into something even more special down the line. But since Shokugeki is one step away from a harem anime, I am reluctant to put my full hopes into it.

Looking forward to the next season and hoping my critiques here are rectified in both the animation and writing quality.

WARNING: Mild spoilers about small themes but nothing major.

This was a very interesting experience for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed Usagi Drop. It has a beautiful, charming art style, especially the watercolor intros and collage/sketch-style opening and closing themes. Just for the atmosphere and cinematography alone I would heavily recommend this show.

I especially enjoyed the little touches in the characters' designs and actions that added to their personalities and the overall atmosphere - a child tapping on their sandals to get them to fit, characters stumbling as they jump or run, kids kneeling to look at flowers or bugs...the realism and beauty of simple actions is ... true to form and almost feels Ghibli-esque.

However, there were some themes within the show that I fundamentally disagree with on an ethical level and that left a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. Maybe it's just a cultural misunderstanding or because the show is a product of its time (the show was released in 2011 so I assume the source material is a few years older than that - I also know that the original material had a rather...unfortunate ending that I'd rather not discuss) so maybe that's why?

For example, the story has a situation in which a character is trapped within a loveless marriage where she has no goals or aspirations outside of the desire to take care of her child. This is framed as the character's fault, and her decision to remain within the loveless, toxic relationship is ultimately painted as a good decision for the sake of her child without really considering any alternatives or complexities beyond "sacrifice is the best." I do think it was ultimately the most REALISTIC option and I'm not saying the character HAD to leave, but I just think the show just kind of accepts it without any deeper understanding or criticism of how to prevent this situation or find other solutions.

In the end, I did really enjoy the show and would recommend it as long as you appreciate it for what it is and take its flaws alongside its beauty.

I can't in good conscience really recommend this show to anyone. It does have some addictive qualities purely for the thrill and drama of the mystery, but it doesn't live up to what it sets itself up for and is mostly a let down in terms of story, especially for such an interesting premise.

The animation is pretty average, although I did enjoy the character designs a lot - Zack and Eddie were my favorites. The sound is also pretty average and even felt kind of repetitive at times. Moodbuilding was alright but sometimes the sound effects and music were so dramatic and noticeable during very ... pivotal scenes and it made me feel awkward while watching.

Speaking of repetition, holy cow. The dialogue DRAGS on. At the end of the show you kind of understand why Rachel is so insistent upon establishing the deal between her and Zack but it really stilts the pacing and development of both the show and the characters. The story definitely has an interesting setup but just kind of falls apart after a while.

I can totally see that this was originally a video game - I actually thought so during the first episode and then googled to confirm my suspicions. I think that it really should've been kept to video game format, though - the characters are just so much better suited to that format thanks to the protagonists' rather uninteresting personalities. While Zack is pretty entertaining, he also feels very 2D with a basic sob backstory that is meant to get you to quickly sympathize with him. Maybe the writers could've spent a little more time actually turning the video game protags into real characters for the show, although there have been plenty of video game protags with interesting personalities beforehand, so I don't really understand why this was such a challenge. Sticking to canon? Idk, the game seemed popular but not that popular, so I really couldn't say.

In the end, can't really recommend that anyone else watches this. The youth of Rachel and Eddie also made this feel like some kind of a weird violent fantasy on the behalf of the director or something. I don't know if that kind of sexual energy was in the original game but I wasn't a huge fan of the dynamic spurring between Rachel and Zack, as well as the strange relationship with the doctor - which, to be fair, is painted negatively by the writers within the actual show itself.

Overall: 7
Recommended for those who love psychological thrillers, card games, satire, and crazed characters. "Villain of the week" episodic plot with some fun thrown into it.

I was honestly rather impressed with Kakegurui. I remember attempting to watch this a year or so ago and just giving up after the second episode. This time, I watched the whole thing through and found myself overall enjoying it!

It is very challenging to make gambling and basic brain games look fast-paced and energetic, but somehow, Kakegurui manages to accomplish it! I found myself braced against the screen enthralled, waiting to see the results of each and every challenge. Perhaps ... I'm a bit of a compulsive gambler myself. The animation style of Kakegurui really lends itself here, in addition to the fantastically jazzy soundtrack. Overall, these elements of the show are incredibly satisfying and almost worth it on their own.

My primary gripes come with the framing of the characters; each episode is essentially a "villain of the week" plot, where Jabami and gang must discover with member of the student council they'll face...with some other fun foes thrown in there. While the interactions are exciting, they lack some depth due to the time restrictions of the episodic format. This was disappointing, but I really enjoyed Suzui's and Mary's character development the most. They felt the most reasonably paced out of any other character.

Also not a plus for the show: predatory/villain lesbian trope (like, a bunch of this). I'm kind of tired of only seeing the villains as queer-coded. In Kakegurui, it really suffers from this. However, Jabami and Mary seem to also potentially be queer-coded, which I find interesting. I can't tell if it was simply meant to be fanservice for the simping male crowd or actually a testament to Jabami's sheer dedication to the pleasures of gambling. In the end, this made for an interesting twist on the villain lesbian trope; perhaps in the second season, we can see more development.

I enjoyed seeing characters that weren't blatantly "good" or "evil." I hope that Kakegurui Season 2 lends itself to more development of the characters we've grown to love, and perhaps we see more of Jabami's backstory.

Taking place 2 years after the main series, Redial explores the relationships between the characters in their new universe.

Honestly, this isn't worth watching unless you've seen the full series and even then, don't watch it. It doesn't add anything new to the characters and is just fanservice (which can be fun, but in this case, it did not leave a satisfying feeling. Also, unnecessary beach trip episode featuring sexual harassment & groping of characters + predatory lesbian trope! Awesome!).

Bad bad bad bad bad & the original ending of the anime is so much better (even though that still wasn't great), so please, don't ... even watch this. It will not make you feel anything but mildly confused and upset.

Spoilers ahead, be warned.

I have a lot of emotions after watching this show. The primary one is disappointment. The premise here was so interesting and the animation was fluid and stylistic enough that I had so much hope, but with each episode, that hope waned.

The story, plainly put, is poorly written. There are so many loose ends by its conclusion that nothing makes any sense; the excuse of "ex machina!!" is a fun token in the show, but the divine intervention here doesn't even help explain what on earth is going on.

For starters, my main concern is with Yuki. By all concerns, he is just ... an awful character. I have nothing against wimpy or scared characters, but even this doesn't prevail. Nearly 3/4 into the series he suddenly switches into a completely different person and nothing has really occurred to explain why. His "romance" with Yuno is completely disturbing, and while I understand that that's the point, it just glosses over so many blatantly abusive points. Are we meant to forget that Yuno kidnaps Yuki, keeps him in an abandoned hotel, and (supposedly) helps him pee?? Yet we're meant to forget that because "Yuno was always there for him."

Additionally, Yuki's morals simply don't make any sense. He can excuse Yuno murdering a 5-year-old (who for some reason has knowledge and access to incredibly lethal weapons and devices?), but when it comes to killing her own young self, that crosses the line? The show attempts a debate on the moralities of death, but it completely falls flat at every turn. There are no moral debates or conversations. The characters survive or kill when it's convenient for the plot, not when anything of interest is actually meant to occur (and I DON'T consider a majority of these well-implemented ex machinas. 9th's death was the only acceptable and somewhat clever one. All else is meaningless).

The only somewhat bearable character befitting the "mystery/thriller" element of this show is Aru Akise, my personal favorite. He was genuinely intelligent and clever, and he definitely deserved more of a primary role than what he got. His entire plot actually made sense in the realm of the ex machina, and for that, I applaud Future Diary with playing around with that concept. Otherwise, he was the only person I actually cared about in this drudge of a show.

Nobody acts like an actual human being. The detective & 9th's romance came out of nowhere and made no sense. She is a literal terrorist who blew up hundreds of children in an attack on a school. ???? Also, where is the media and legal force on this? In the real world, this small town would be getting a lot more attention. Supposedly, this is meant to be covered up by the mayor, but that makes absolutely no sense. It's also hard to believe that Yuno and Yuki would've simply been allowed to go back to school after 1. it blew up and 2. they attempted to murder the head of the police force. These are two separate occasions in which they were directly responsible for terrorist actions and apparently the Japanese law system just overlooked that.

In the end, this wasn't a mystery, or a thriller, or anything even really resembling a story. It was fanservice. The focus of the plot was clearly on Yuki and Yuno's romance (and unnecessary tit shots of the other underaged female characters). All of the female characters had some ridiculous sob story usually involving sexual abuse or extreme violence (not unbelievable, but just so much. Each story feels less and less important as they pile upon one another). Seriously, I hate to say it, but I got bored after the third time a female character got sexually assaulted. It wasn't shocking, it was obnoxious.

This isn't a good anime, which is a serious shame. It had so much potential and I dearly hope that Paradox holds up some sort of candle to its mediocre predecessor.

Future Diary feels less like a stand-alone anime and more like an incel's wet dream fanfiction of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but where they fantasize about having powers to blow up their school & bullies over anything that Madoka Magica is so wonderful for.