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Oh, Evangelion. How can I ever discover more of Gainax’s other shows without your existence? I got into this series by looking at shitposts of it alone. At first, I genuinely thought it would be a parody series that jokes about hospitalization and shit until I took a better look into the actual show. While yes, this series has that damn hospital scene, that’s not what I’m talking about. Evangelion is perhaps one of the most complicated anime ever for all the good reasons. One would say that it’s hard to get into and while that is certainly understandable, the thing is, it’s really meant ... to be a slow burner for a variety of reasons which is why I’m here to talk about and express what makes Evangelion such a visceral masterpiece in the first place.

Evangelion takes place in Tokyo somewhere in 2015. During that time in Tokyo, the place is invaded by humongous and potent alien war machines. There’s a super weapon developed by NERV that is capable of destroying those alien machines and that goes by the title of ‘Evangelion’. While that super weapon is really strong, only one person can control it and that belongs to the hands of Shinji Ikari. Despite this decision being made, Shinji could barely control it as it was not only very potent for him to handle but he didn’t really want to jump into situations that would potentially cost him his life. For a mecha anime, Evangelion is actually one of the most unique shows to be ever created. Most, if not, all of the things it has to offer are handled slowly yet impressively.

For starters, there are hints and philosophies that are very deep and told very well. One would say that Evangelion’s philosophies aren’t taken seriously and you know, they aren’t really meant to be. Think about it. The series creates a figure of speech that tells you two things: how things that lower your mood on a depending scale happen every now and again and how you aren’t really fit for a hard task. Evangelion is an escapist story that shows you how at times, certain limits you have tend to hold you back to the point that you just couldn’t really try to work on it. In this respect, it does a fantastic job of tackling those aspects. By writing how chaos is actually implemented, it also writes a lot of moments where characters are either at fault or don’t want to face them ever again, even if they’re forced to. All of this is easily hinted at by the fact that the main mech of the series is both a symbol and a soul.

Evangelion is a stressful series to watch and to me, that is for a valuable reason. Yeah, if you could notice, there are mech fights involved that are absolutely pumped. But outside of those fight scenes, the series doesn’t even need entertainment value to make its storyboarding excellent. It attempts to test your feelings regarding how shit kicks in and the main expressions in the series are depression and anger. Depression here is when you want to escape a situation despite the limits revolting around you and anger here is when you have enough of someone’s BS that you want it to end right now. Even better, the series doesn’t take any of those points seriously. It lets most things slide while still taking good care of direction and the connection between its plot points.

In my opinion, though, Evangelion’s biggest strength is how faulty the characters are as human beings, which finally brings us to the cast. These characters are unlikable depending on your view but they’re very human to themselves. Starting with Shinji, the sad and panicking kid, Misato, the chief officer and (false) guardian of Shinji and Asuka, Rei, the prototype puppet, and Asuka, the vengeful German. Shinji, at first, seems like a generic coward who purposely runs from his problems when something happens and you know what? Those elements are always present in his character so you aren’t wrong. But when you keep watching the show, there’s a reason why he always acts that way that gives him more depth. In fact, Shinji’s lack of bravery and joy create the story for us.

Now, I’m not actually saying that I relate to him, I really don’t, but Shinji arguably has a story for himself regarding his whole characteristics. Remember when I said that Evangelion is the culmination of depression and rage? In this respect, Shinji’s existence is the sole reason why those are focused well. He wants to escape from the problems that occur near him and he wants to fight against his father because of his past. Shinji lived through a horrible life and wanted to escape from it ever since. Shinji is an excellent protagonist because the awful stuff that he experienced is a dark mirror to him and he virtually tries to fight against them, even if he isn’t literally trying.

I don’t want to discredit the other main characters either. Misato isn’t really a guardian to Shinj. In fact, she’s almost an obstacle to him. That really makes her special because she’s been testing Shinji and his connection to humanity for the vast majority of the show whether that’s her intention or not. Rei may be an emotionless doll but she’s a fantastic piece of puzzle to Shinji’s growth as she’s “technically” his mom. As for Asuka… Okay, I must admit that she’s my least favorite of the main cast. Now don’t get me wrong, she’s not only a crucial character to the story but she also has interesting chemistry with any of the cast. It’s just that she isn’t as compelling as the other main characters to me.

The side characters are also good. There's not much to say about any of them honestly, they’re puzzles that question and/or test Shinji in the most human ways possible, although my personal favorite of those characters would be Touji as he has quite a lot of dynamics with Shinji. As for antagonists, Gendo is a fantastic villain and is one of my personal favorites. His desire to question Shinji’s entire life and society has always made him very substantial to me, especially when you consider he’s both at fault and foiled by faultiness very hard due to his backstory. Kaworu is also a great villain. He’s yet another puzzle that questions Shinji very well for the most part of the show and has very nice chemistry.

Now, for stuff that doesn’t really add to the story, unless you’re a complete sheep for Sakuga. The art style is great. Although I prefer the Rebuild’s art a little more (and I stand by that lmao), the original still has a lot of heart and is truly ahead of its time. The same goes for the animation. Movements are human and aren’t overexaggerated most of the time. Character designs are great, especially with how the mechs aren’t your run-of-the-mill block boys for giggles and actually resemble the story well. The soundtrack is good. Not much to say about it but the biggest standout is the opening. Voice acting is great in both Japanese and original English, with my personal favorite being Asuka in both languages as she fully sounds like a bitch fighting for her life. Netflix’s English dub, despite what others would say, isn’t too shabby either.

And yeah, those are my thoughts on Evangelion. Most of the time, a series is excellent not because you have so much fun watching it but rather, because it really tests your feelings whether their positive or not. Evangelion really is one of the best at those occasions. It truly makes its characters unlikable in the best ways possible. Even if it isn’t real in our places, it shows that you are not fit for a bigger test. You just want to live with your life and avoid challenging anything that lowers your mood. It’s smarter than you may think because it’s both serious and not so serious when it provides a figurative message. Evangelion is truly Gainax’s biggest gem of all time barring Gurren Lagann in my books. Thanks for reading.

[!]THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR NOT ONLY REBELLION BUT POSSIBLY ALSO THE TV SHOW[!]

It’s probably not so rare at this rate to encounter a sequel that runs as relatively frictionless as a previous installment until… THAT TWIST shows up. The kind of complex tone shift that looks like it could add variety to the story in tandem with being a great payoff, only for it to screw everything up anyways due to lack of context and/or taking itself too literally, basically being pretentious. For personal reference, Madoka’s movie sequel, Rebellion, falls under this category. When I first watched it, I was like “Oh boy! This ... will be a great conclusion to the original series!” But as I took a better look, it utterly aged like milk for me.

Now before I get to kneecap this movie’s favorite time-travelling devil, I’ll re-cap my disclaimers:

All of these are 100% opinion-based. What you’ll see is very subjective and therefore, shouldn’t be taken seriously.

I have no problems with anyone liking the series. If you’re a fan of the series, feel free to share why you think it’s better than what I said.

Alright, onto my thoughts.

If you’re unfamiliar with Madoka as a whole, it’s about a girl named ‘Madoka’ who gets unparalleled nightmares, encounters a mysterious girl, and a cat alien named ‘Kyubey’ gives her a contract to turn her into a magical girl. The next day, the mysterious girl Madoka encounters in her dream is a transfer student in the same school Madoka studies in and she goes by the name of ‘Homura’. Both Madoka and Homura made more friends while fighting nightmares around in their magical girl journey. If you’ve watched the TV show but not the movie sequel just yet, you’ll be aware that Rebellion is quite different from the original. This time, it’s about Homura exploring the expanded chaos after Madoka’s sacrifice. Remember how Madoka has huge feelings for Homura in the TV show? Yeah, Homura decides to do the same after what happened.

Now on the surface, this doesn’t give more heart to the series at all. I mean, Madoka threw away her life just so she could save her friends, and Homura wetting herself hard for her after said sacrifice would be embarrassing, and I WILL talk about that. But for how it brings to the table, it’s actually the golden reunion of Madoka and Homura. Because both main leads have a relatively strong impact on each other, we can see why this is the case. Both Madoka and Homura have a fun yet very tragic and twisted journey throughout their lives. Their chemistry with one another is complicated yet adds up to their characterization. While Rebellion differs in its story from the TV show’s it adds a lot more variety to both the duo of Madoka and Homura and the psychological storytelling of the whole series. This might be Rebellion’s high point as far as overall writing quality goes, being able to give heart despite having major differences as long as the coherent context is added until… there isn’t…

The one thing the original TV show succeeds at is how it creates quite an endearing build-up and how it’s cautious with it. How delivers its personalized message in a figurative fashion is straight to the point. It could be a chore to watch though, considering how over-the-top it is with its philosophies but for the vast majority of its runtime, it does show what colorful creations look like. As for Rebellion, it may look like it would make for a great pay-off given the amount of complexity it holds. But as it turns out, it might be one of, if not, Madoka’s most contrived installations. Now I do believe that Rebellion doesn’t have a problem being extremely complex. It has a problem with trying to find an insightful elaboration. Sure, it DOES try to conclude the psychological elements of the plot and the duo of Madoka and Homura but those methods are jampacked by nonsensical information that I don’t know if the movie has the capacity to show heart.

For the philosophies involved, I just can’t get myself to resonate with them. I get that they’re one of the most complex things in fiction but realistically speaking, Madoka as a whole doesn’t have a literal meaning, to begin with. It follows a figurative pattern that attempts to make you emphasize with any of its cast, whether they’re a cinnamon roll or a piece of human garbage. The TV show nails that. The movie, not so much. It takes all of with way too literally that it ends up being either boring or deceptively funny. As for the chemistry between Madoka and Homura, turning the tables to differ from the show’s portrayal is, again, not a problem. It shows how Homura wants to change things after the events. The big problem is that the movie treats that story element as a goddamn popcorn entertainment of a gimmick rather than an actual presentation of one of the movie’s main story elements.

Now, the characters. We already know who the cast is but just in case you forgot who they are, we have Madoka the central angel, Mami the one magical girl whose head is food for the monsters, Sayaka the swords-playing magical girl, Kyouko the fiery magical girl, Kyuubey the alien grim reaper, and Homura the enigmatic time traveler. The cast was handled decently in the TV show. They aren’t the greatest but they have their moments that truly add to their characterization. This is all thanks to their combination of story contribution and character chemistry, a feat that the movie will sadly never be able to accomplish. And it’s embarrassing to think about because the build-up of the characterization in the show is a solid reservation for the movie’s payoff. Because Homura is the most iconic character in the series, I feel like she deserves a subcategory of her own.

Meanwhile, I want to focus on the rest of the characters first. Starting with Madoka, whose character is really lacking. She wasn’t that great of a character, to begin with, especially as a protagonist. In the TV show, she does get the job done but that’s mostly about it. She’s decent but she could be a lot more compelling. Sadly, the movie didn’t do her justice. Instead, it turned her into a flying plot device to excuse the entire story. The same standards apply to Mami, Sayaka, and Kyouko. Their contribution to the story is admittedly present, sure, but it felt executed poorly thus, making them fodders for choreography that is otherwise very fun to watch. I’m sad about how wasted Sayaka is. She may be my favorite character in the show but she couldn’t save the movie on her own. Didn’t care for Kyuubey whatsoever. He’s known for being a love-it-or-hate-it kind of character but in my opinion, he’s just yet another living plot device.

Though, no one is as stagnant and juvenile as Homura, who is just goddamn preposterous. Rebellion manages to turn her from a decent addition to arguably Madoka’s worst character. For the first half, she’s like the rest of the cast. She’s a living plot device to excuse the story. Not horrible but not good either. But once she obtains her demon form, this signifies the most idiotic case of character conclusion. Yes, it’s stated that she wants to see Madoka again and change the world after the chaos in the original show. But again, the big problem here is that there’s just minimal context to that, and yet, she overblows the objective so hard that it’s downright laughable. Despite her screentime, she has very little time to add anything to her character or the story and somehow, she manages to rush her way to a payoff that takes time to be constructed. All that buildup and all that chemistry just to make her a riddance mess of a character… Thanks, Homura, you depressed piece of cow manure…

While the story content in this movie falls really short, I can at least give credit to the production and sound. The character designs are well-made. Not only do they look really nice but they also fit well with both the characters’ personalities and powers. The animation is once again very solid. Barely any BS PowerPoint slideshows are involved and the production remains to be smooth. And speaking of smoothness, the choreography is over-the-top and brilliantly executed in both the motion and the atmosphere. The OST is once again great. Yuki Kajiura will always be my favorite anime composer barring Hiroyuki Sawano and Kevin Penkin. Both the Japanese and English voice-acting are great, especially for the JP with Chiwa Saito as Homura. But man, Cristina Vee’s performance is just too good to ignore. Not only was her delivery straight to the point but it’s also damn intense.

Madoka Rebellion isn’t horrible, but it’s a forced and pretentious movie that doesn’t know how the nature of Madoka as a whole works, despite its elements being a great contrast. It has certain moments that would have been compelling. Shame that it’s destroyed by stupid use of drama, monotone direction, and poor character writing, especially with Homura. Now again, I don’t have a problem with anyone liking this movie. If you have a chance of enjoying it, go ahead. No one’s stopping you. I just personally think it’s a contrived movie that ends up being a bad conclusion. Thanks for reading.

I’m an avid fan of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, having personally enjoyed the first two parts despite their flaws. Part 3 was kind of on the soggy side for me but it’s nothing to yell at. But parts 4 and onwards started to click with me a lot more as their storytelling and character writing tend to be more diverse. And of course, there’s part 7 which is blatantly my favorite of every part for a lot of reasons. For part 8 though, this is kind of strange. When I was reading it, I wasn’t very sure if I would like it or not due to ... how complicated it is, especially for JoJo standards. But as soon as I finished it (as well as giving it a re-read because… why not?), I tend to like it, but I also think it was pretty disappointing, especially compared to part 7.

Every JoJo part has a different theming and story and JoJolion is no exception. This part takes place in Morioh which is the same setting as Diamond is Unbreakable but is mostly in the Steel Ball Run timeline. Morioh has been affected by protrusions known by the locals as Wall Eyes and estimations are left unknown regardless of investigation. On the other side of Morioh, a girl named Yasuho found a buried man named Josuke (or preferably Gappy) and Gappy has been adopted by the Higashikata family. However, mysterious events will continue to roam around Morioh as much as they can, especially with the weird and suspicious race that is the Rock Humans. JoJolion has a lot of interesting and engaging elements to show but some are occasionally bottlenecked.

First of all, I must argue that JoJolion has the most unique ideas in all of the JoJo franchise. While Steel Ball Run’s take on the old American setting opens an amazing way to open variety, JoJolion’s complex mysteries are some of the biggest standouts in terms of premise. The whole 2 men fused into one with amnesia and the rock virus are weird and complicated yet they are incredibly fascinating to think about. Although I haven’t mentioned this until now, the Locacaca (why does this name have to be so confusing?) is also an extremely interesting element. A magical fruit used to cure a rock disease might as well add to the story. Now let’s have the premise appreciation out of the table, how’s the overall story going? Personally, it went quite well.

One of JoJo’s biggest strengths is that each part delivers a nicely crafted serious story that doesn’t even take itself seriously and part 8 doesn’t miss any of that. It does a nice job building up the Higashikata family while also taking its time to explore the mysteries behind it. It also has its moments where certain characters tend to be comedic while not being complete filler. If any, they are a nice addition to adding the overall depth of each character. But… here comes the issues… While part 8 still nicely builds the Higashikata family, it also makes incomplete structures. One of the worst offenders of that is Jobin’s death. Jobin, while being an okay character, didn’t contribute much to the story outside of being a very notable member of the Higashikata family and to end him immediately, even if it means being in the later chapters, really hurts.

The Locacaca fruits are nice and all but in terms of execution, they aren’t explained very specially. Not to say they’re bad, I just think that more content of it would do favors for the series. The Rock Humans also aren’t bad but they’re definitely my least favorite parts of JoJolion. They’re unique villains, sure, but they divine themselves so hard to the extent that I either get confused with what they’re on or don’t care about them. They’ve done lots of convoluted stuff which almost felt like a headache to sit through. Still, though, it’s a solid story. Just that some hindrance holds it back a bit.

The cast, although good, is kind of a hit-or-miss. Let’s start with the two main leads first. Those two are Gappy, the fusion of two men who have amnesia, and Yasuho, who I guess is Gappy’s potential love interest. Gappy is one of my favorite JoJos. His thinking of what he is, his contribution to the Higashikata family, his relationships with Yasuho, and how he finds hints of the mysteries surrounding Morioh make him an intriguing protagonist and character. While I wouldn’t say he’s a groundbreaking character overall, he might as well add a lot of impact to the story. While I’m not a huge fan of Yasuho, I don’t want to discount her either. She’s a really useful addition to the story, especially as a deuteragonist, and, again, has interesting interactions with Gappy. The chemistry between Gappy and Yasuho is truly engaging and truly adds context to the plot. Let’s move to the Higashikata family. They’re very weird and complicated to talk about.

Besides Gappy, Norisuke is my second favorite of the members. His responsibilities as well as how he thinks of Gappy, especially with how he originated, make him a solid character. Other members of the family… I wouldn’t be upset if the series forgot about them. For Jobin, again, he’s okay. He has his moments, especially with how he treats Gappy. But for the most part, he isn’t well-developed or anything. He possibly exists as a plot device. And the fact that he died without any meaningful context is pretty baffling. Joshu is a creep and not in ways that make him a good character. His obsession with Yasuho almost threw me off. He does get a little bit better later on but that’s not enough to justify his character. Kaato can be an interesting antagonist and does have moments with Gappy like Jobin but she’s so underused that I forgot that she existed. Tsurugi, Daiya, and Haato… uh… they’re mostly there. Really. They’re not too bad but… They’re essentially fodders.

Alright, let’s move on to the other characters. Rei is a decent side character and is valuable enough to be Gappy’s sidekick. But compared to Yasuho, he isn’t as interesting and/or engaging in my opinion. Again, the Rock Humans are my least favorite parts of the series. They really could have done more with their characterizations and they could have made the mystery cases more refreshing. But instead, they’re very mysterious for the sake of being mysterious and that doesn’t seem like good writing. Tooru is perhaps a standout of the Rock Humans but he’s also arguably the worst main villain in the franchise. He’s responsible for the mysteries behind Morioh and to waste him is saddening.

Every main JoJo villain has their own charm and they do play their cards right whereas Tooru… is just underwhelming. Being the evilest, most mysterious character alive doesn’t really come into play all the much when your characterization is borderline incomplete, and not having a setup, especially as a main antagonist, doesn’t help in all wonders. The only thing Tooru can do is barge in and become the biggest threat in the series without having any sort of practical context. Hell, even Kars has more charm than he does. His only saving grace is just how bloody awesome his stand power is. Finding ways to be a strong stand by being an enigmatic existence will always be more interesting compared to just punching harder. Half of the time, he’s pretty much a seasoned fodder to the plot.

Okay, enough of the writing. Let’s just move on to the stands, fights, and art. Personally, JoJolion has the most interesting stands in the series, even if some of them aren’t really used as much. Each stand has a very unique ability regardless of strength and they do fit each stand user very well when it comes to origin and personality. Props to Wonder of U for being my personal favorite stand in this part (and of all time for that matter). Again, being an enigmatic existence to be a threat is just awesome. The fights, like any other JoJo part, are always great. Each character has a complex strategy to find their way to stand up against their own foes. And the art is fantastic. JoJo’s art never fails to amaze me and in the manga, each part always improves the visual on and on as each progresses. This one isn’t anything to ignore. Very detailed while also being practical in its own right.

*phew* That’s… a lot for me to talk about. Really. JoJolion is arguably the hardest part for me to share my opinions on. I guess the TLDR for that one is that it’s a good part with very interesting elements with some occasional pushbacks and the cast is fine but isn’t too special to go through. Gappy and Yasuho are very good main leads, the side heroes are decent, and the villains are pretty underwhelming. This is a solid addition to the franchise but you may find some surprises involved as well as the side characters to be a hit-or-miss. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen a love story that crushes my heart as much as this. Bloom Into You is one hell of a surprise to me. Now I’ll admit, I wasn’t too big on this series when I first read the first chapters. I initially thought it would be a mediocre snorefest with a plot that’s boring and might as well call Yuu a generic moeblob. But as soon as I catch up with the chapters I’ve been missing out on, I really love it. It’s an amalgamation of elements that’s already been done before and converts them into a bundle of true ... beauty. This series has only gotten even better for me when I give it a few re-reads and such.

This series starts off with a girl named ‘Yuu’ thinking about her love for Shoujo manga and wanting to find the true answer to what love actually is. When she enters high school, she doesn’t know how to communicate with other people around her. Later, she encounters a student council president named ‘Nanami’ and both of them get along with each other. Like I said, on my initial read, it doesn’t feel any special. Not really a bad thing, but it could pick up more uniqueness to its story structures. But just reading more of it makes me realize that it shows what it is and how it really is built like that.

To me, Bloom Into You arguably isn’t really a romance story. By the time you’ve read a total of 44 chapters, you’ll start to forget that it has a ‘romance tag’. Think about it, it’s more on finding what the concept of ‘love’ actually is. Even if Yuu gains more experience from her friends, she still struggles to find the true answer behind that. It’s really sweet to see quite a lot of character interactions that are wholesome yet complicated and have a lot of interesting topics to go over. Each discussion has a fantastic focus on a character’s struggle with love and/or what a character is suspiciously doing.

My personal favorite aspect of the story is how Yuu and Touko hang out with each other, talk things through, and later, reveal their colors. Both are in a situation where they have a hard time trying to reach the definition of love together. This series truly knows how to pace a shocking scene. It takes time for character interactions to go on until the drama unfolds. All of this is achieved without any bit of cheap melancholy. Personally, it may technically not be the most complex love-based story out there but for how it’s constructed, how can I even forget about it one bit? It’s masterfully written and it never gets old to read.

The characters are my personal favorite part of the story. We have two main characters, both of which consist of Yuu, a first-year student who struggles to find love, and Nanami, a second-year student who tends to be kind of toxic at points. Both are just really phenomenal. They play an amazing contrast to each other and truly have a lot of elements that tie well with the story. Yuu is adorable and relatable, and that’s not even the true fraction of her growth for me. The real deal here is how she talks with not just Nanami but also the side cast. Yuu’s monologues really helped me with the stories’ definitions and she really delivers them very precisely.

Although Yuu is my personal favorite of the two main leads, Nanami is also phenomenal and is, admittedly, the character in the series I relate to the most. Sure, she can act toxic but to me, that is for the right reasons. Nanami is a tragic figure. She worked so hard ever since her elder sister died and she has yet to achieve her happiness. That is when Yuu comes to her for comfort. Both Yuu and Nanami have not only incredible chemistry with one another but with that, they also coincide with the story’s themes excellently.

Of course, we can’t ignore the supporting characters as well. I’m not going to talk about all of them but hey, there are ones that are possibly just as amazing. Sayaka is an amazing obstacle to Yuu and/or Nanami and is probably my favorite third wheel in anime/manga. She tends to be Yuu or Nanami’s way due to how she feels, especially in a love relationship. But at the same time, she tends to act empathetic towards them, and that empathy truly adds a contrast to how strange her actions can be. Maki is also a great addition. His moments with Yuu are cute and funny but also dynamic and straight to the point.

While this doesn’t add to the story at all, how can I forget about the art? It’s simplistic yet it’s sweet, shiny, and truly adds to the overall aesthetics. That’s all there is to it, really. It’s an art style that’s just very pleasing to look at.

Even by non-Yuri standards, Bloom Into You is what I personally believe to be the best Yuri series and one of the best romance (or preferably love) stories of all time. For only 44 chapters, it packs a lot of things that tend to be mindblowing when it comes to character relationships and drama. I probably don’t think there are main character duos in other love stories that come close to Yuu and Touko. I just think they’re downright amazing. With that being said, this is probably your best stop if you’re big on romance and/or drama. Thanks for reading!

[!]THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS AND POSSIBLY COMPARES THE MANGA TO THE ANIME ADAPTATION IN TERMS OF OVERALL STORY STRUCTURES[!]

After witnessing the deceptive mess that is Tokyo Ghoul Re’s anime, I’ve been convinced to read the manga once in a while. When I first read Tokyo Ghoul’s manga, I thought I would never get myself into it due to the sheer edginess surrounding it. While I still believe it’s very edgy, after reading the first manga, I was immediately invested in the story’s nice use of its ideals. And with Re, it’s going to be really great! …Until the ending comes in. That doesn’t mean it ... makes the series automatically mediocre or subpar but c’mon, you could have wrapped up the series far better than you could imagine. We’ll get into that later but for now, let’s jump into the story first.

Tokyo Ghoul Re begins after 2 years of an intense showdown with the powerhouse freaks that are the Ghouls. Ken Kaneki, better known as Haise Sasaki before his memory is regained, loses his memories and ends up ganging up with the Quinx squad. Even though Haise is a ghoul, his Quinx companions seem to show respect for him. Haise, similar to his true self, suffers through mind break. While the anime tries and fails to portray what the series brings to the table, the manga does actually work. Not only does it truly show how much pain Haise/Kaneki has been going through but it also still explores the elements behind the ghouls well like the first manga.

It’s a series that, although can be awkward to sit through due to how it portrays violence, shows how challenging it is to go back to where you were since the last time as well as face the nearly inevitable problems surrounding you. On paper, the plot twist in the manga is borderline vanilla. Yeah, let’s get that out of the way. Aside from shifting the tone of the story’s structure, it doesn’t really add much to the writing. Not necessarily bad, mind you, they could have been more interesting. It doesn’t make anything unpredictable at all. That is… until the series takes on the impossible.

Because the plot twist was obvious and therefore, surface-level to begin with, the manga saves it for later. In the first portion of the manga, it doesn’t seem too shabby. It does the job of constructing Haise and the Quinx squad but they aren’t anything very special. While they do have their lacks and moments, more consistent context could help. And funnily enough, that one “obvious” tone shift is where it comes into play. Because the first portion is occupied with a large build-up, the second shifts Haise into Kaneki, and personally, that’s what makes the manga truly shine.

You can keep the Quinx squad as much as you want because you don’t NEED ANY of those guys when Kaneki is the real deal of the story. Re’s manga manages to retain the charm and integrity the original has and can do a somewhat even better job at those. The whole interpretation of having to move forward even if you’re completely messed up really means to me. Kaneki isn’t some edge lord who would go high while attacking. He wants to find something that could make him normal again. Hell, the series also brings back the original characters and they’re still just as fleshed out as they were in the previous manga. All of this while not making the same mistake of shoving them in fight scenes as the anime does.

As for the characters, they aren’t great until the original cast comes back, as I mentioned earlier. Haise, the protagonist, is a mindbroken half-human, half-Ghoul. Saiko is a couch potato. Tooru is a shy introvert. Ginshi is that one lousy leader. And Kuki is… let’s say he’s a sad emo. The latter 4 are Quinx members and races while the former works with them. They have their trust and plan on investigating whatever the hell is going on in the series. For Haise, he isn’t a discardable can of garbage like he was in the anime but he still kind of annoys me. Yeah, he does get his jobs done but that’s about it. I’m not saying that’s a bad case of writing but for a deeply tragic protagonist, the series could pick up more time to actually make me care for him.

And as for the Quinx squad, in theory, they would be really good additions to the series. I mean, they’re punks who would get their jobs and actions right and they would spice up the storytelling. And yeah. But when they come into play, they’re not as significant as I thought they would be. They do have their lacks and moments but for the most part, they don’t relent on how they act like typical battle Shounen sidekicks. A particular example of this problem is Kuki. Kuki’s whole structure is "I want to prove to the team that I'm the best!" and while I don’t particularly find it offensive to the writing, it doesn’t help his character at all.

But again, the character writing truly picks up once the original cast picks up. Ever since I’ve watched Re’s anime, Kaneki is bloody useless when he comes back. He does nothing but excuse the series’ plot. In the manga, he’s just as great as ever. What makes him truly engaging is how he has to face his own consequences. As mentioned, he isn’t an edge lord even when he’s forced to be a killing machine. He wants to go back to being human and live with his life. For the other characters from the first manga coming back, they’re also good. To this day, Juuzou is still my favorite side character in the series because of how his character was built as well as contributing to one of the series’ main themes.

Now, let’s talk about the ending. At this point, Tokyo Ghoul Re (or the entire series for that matter) has the potential to be one of the greatest Seinen series ever until the ending trudges through. Now, this isn’t to lay a harm on the writing but, at the same time, it’s really rushed. It doesn’t resolve the ghouls. It doesn’t kill any important character. The only thing worth talking about is how Kaneki manages his own goal. For everything else, it feels like it’s afraid to show its true potential. Personally, though, I can forgive it for being mediocre as it doesn’t go overboard on the series’ flaws. So, not bad, just that it could be a lot better.

While the anime’s art is ugly thus, making character designs look like they come from different shows, the manga’s is slick. The shading is messy but clean at the same time. It really makes the character designs appealing to look at despite the fact that it’s in a very gory manga.

And that sums it up. Tokyo Ghoul is an edge fest done right. It has a lot of intriguing elements brought to the table and it does a solid job handling them, just not the Quinx squad and the ending. While Re kind of pales in comparison to the first manga, it still does quite a lot of things right. Whether you like the anime adaptation or not, this is a far better experience if you’re curious about the series. Thanks for reading!

[!]THIS REVIEW CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS, TALKS ABOUT THE WHOLE SERIES INSTALLMENT, AND COMPARES THE ADAPTATION TO THE MANGA IN TERMS OF OVERALL STORY STRUCTURES[!]

Oh boy, this is an odd one… You have to be a big fucking clout chaser to take all the source material’s charm and dump it so poorly. This right is Tokyo Ghoul Re’s anime, inarguably one of the worst adaptations in the industry, if not the worst. It’s been a while since the OG Tokyo Ghoul got clowned by its anime, especially with Root A. While that was terrible, this one is pretty much next-level of pissing on the manga’s entire ... story. While I’ll admit, I’ve seen even worse seinen anime, it surprises me how much this tries to “add” what the manga “doesn’t have” only for it to fail hilariously.

Let’s start with the story. Tokyo Ghoul Re begins after 2 years of an intense showdown with the powerhouse freaks that are the Ghouls. Ken Kaneki, better known as Haise Sasaki before his memory is regained, loses his memories and ends up ganging up with the Quinx squad. Even though Haise is a ghoul, his Quinx companions seem to show respect for him. Haise, similar to his true self, suffers through mind break. The manga did a solid job constructing the storytelling. Even though it’s admittedly edgy, it actually shows how much pain Haise has to go through before regaining his memory to go back to being Kaneki. It also does a nice job with other things such as the Quinx squad (even though they’re one of the manga’s weakest parts) and how the Ghoul case can be resolved.

The anime doesn’t do any of that. Yes, Root A ignores all the content that the OG manga has which is already bad. Hell, by any means, it’s more than bad. But this shitshow pulls out a “different perspective” out of nowhere instead of… You know? Actually following the source material decently. It downright baffles me how this show wants to emulate the manga with “extra content”. It doesn’t. That’s like adding an overpriced DLC in a fighting game that’s pretty much a copypaste of an already-existing character. The anime is just too stupid to explain the manga’s premise. It doesn’t try to explain Haise and Kaneki. It doesn’t try to explain the Quinx squad. It doesn’t even try to resolve the Ghoul case. Instead, it pulls out random delusions that shouldn’t even be there in the first place.

But wait! That’s not the end of it. Trying to add as many characters while quickly making a story as possible is a bad way of writing and Tokyo Ghoul Re’s anime is one of its biggest casualties. The anime throws the series’ philosophical journey out of the fucking window in exchange for not only confusing filler but also very poor direction and pacing. I get it, you like action, but relying on choreography instead of explaining the cast doesn’t really help. Yes, this show throws in fight scenes and characters altogether without any bit of context. Hell, even it doesn’t properly explain/utilize some of the OG characters from the OG series.

And this brings us to another egregious offender, the cast. Haise, the protagonist, is a mindbroken half-human, half-Ghoul. Saiko is a couch potato. Tooru is a shy introvert. Ginshi is that one lousy leader. And Kuki is… let’s say he’s a sad emo. The latter 4 are Quinx members and races while the former works with them. They have their trust and plan on investigating whatever the hell is going on in the series. But you wanna know what they don’t have? A consistent personality. The main cast suffers from both inconsistent writing and a lack of story contribution. Compared to the manga, where they’re decently written and are straight to the point of exploring their motives, they’re used as the anime’s glorified pawns.

Haise is just an insufferable stray cat. He was fine (then becomes great when he goes back to being Kaneki) in the manga. While I wouldn’t say he’s an amazing character, he does build up character nicely. When he became Kaneki again, the whole series truly picked up its charm. The anime failed to replicate that. Instead, it would portray Haise as some annoying random underdog to serve as a plot device for a bunch of glorified nobodies. Once he became Kaneki again in the anime, he was even more useless than before. He doesn’t show a remotely interesting moment. He doesn’t try to explain something about the Ghouls. He’s just there, and for what? To excuse the show’s fucking story? This show treats him like he’s the only karaoke singer in an amusement park. What a colossal waste of character.

The Quinx squad can also piss off. Well… I guess they have different surface-level personalities from one another…? Who cares, they don’t really add up to the story at all. While I don’t think they’re great in the manga, they do have their moment where they can feel interesting. In the anime? They’re pretty much the equivalent of kids fighting over a hidden toy in a cereal box. They’re nothing but hooligans to mindlessly screw around. This sadly can also be said with the returning characters from the OG; it’s pretty nice to see them again but just like the main cast, they’re mindless hooligans who contribute nothing to the plot for the majority of their screen time.

For miscellaneous, the animation is rather poor. The production in both Tokyo Ghoul S1 and Root A aren’t really the best but there were a handle of merits to it. This one, however, is stiff. It feels like I’m watching modern South Park. The fight scenes are also bad. They’re not even fun from a basic viewpoint, they’re just thrown everywhere and it’s a borderline headache to sit through. The character designs are bad as well. They look like budget-plastic models. They look like they come from different shows. OST is forgettable. It’s not terrible but compared to the tracks in Tokyo Ghoul’s first season and Root A, they have very little variety to carry. Voice performances in both sub and dub are okay but again, they’re lacking in both direction and delivery. Kaneki/Haise’s voices in both languages are good though.

So yeah, just read the manga. If you want to get into Tokyo Ghoul in a proper experience then there’s nothing else we could do. Just read the manga. The anime of the OG may be dog water but this is so offensive that it’s actually funny. Until Tokyo Ghoul’s anime gets a Brotherhood treatment, it’s better to avoid it like the plague. Thanks for reading!

[!] THIS REVIEW NOT ONLY CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS BUT ALSO TALKS ABOUT THE WHOLE SEASON, NOT JUST A SEPARATED INSTALLATION [!]

Alright, I’ll just get this out of the way: this show is complete trash. Re:ZERO is actually the best isekai in terms of premise though. Compared to other isekais, which mostly focus on dumb power-scaling bullshit, this one revolves more around the mysteries of what’s based on a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Personally, this could have been a great isekai if it tackles those ideas properly, surpassing even the likes of Konosuba and possibly Mushoku Tensei. But because this show really ... likes to randomly mix things up for whatever reason, I have lost hope for it.

Before we get to me reviewing the series, same warnings as always:

All of these are 100% opinion-based. What you’ll see is very subjective and therefore, shouldn’t be taken seriously.

I have no problems with anyone liking the series. If you’re a fan of the series, feel free to share why you think it’s better than what I said.

Alright, let’s get to it.

If you’ve watched Re:ZERO before, you’ll easily notice what it is about. But for starters, it’s about a boy named Subaru who travels around a fantasy world with a possibly immortal elf-girl named Emilia. Both of them are overwhelmed with mysterious darkness, which rules over said fantasy world. Subaru then discovers a cursed power that allows him to rewind time upon death (and revive him). Season 2 is quite different from the previous, though. It also focuses on what’s based on the seven deadly sins (not the Shounen series, mind you). Subaru then encounters the seven witches after abolishing the threat of the White Whale and defeating Petelgeuse. The idea of the witches being based on the seven deadly sins could have made this season great. Hell, might as well fix the problems the first season has. There are so many interesting and refreshing concepts to explore.

But no. As mentioned, Re:ZERO likes to waste its time randomly mixing its story elements for a living. One of the most laughable parts of the series is the pacing. To me, pacing is quite subjective. If you want to know why I strongly dislike the series then it would be this one. Re:ZERO has no desire to tell a complex story despite how it was built. How it handles the relationship between Subaru and Emilia as well as Subaru’s desired love for her in season 1 were already bad enough. On paper, they’re engaging and emotional. After all, Emilia is responsible for guiding Subaru through an overwhelming curse they’re encountering. But season one has no idea how to handle them. Not only did it make those confusing but it made the relationship toxic and not even in ways that helped the story.

Season 2 is even more laughable. Not only wasn’t it even arsed to fix the fundamental problems season 1 has but it shoves in its otherwise interesting ideas randomly as I said earlier which in turn destroys any integrity whatsoever. Season 2 is too stupid to notice when is the right time to introduce the fucking witches. I don’t care if they’re all introduced at the same time, it just shoves them randomly regardless of what kind. Not only that but it also does a poor job explaining each of them. This series really had the stupid tendency of turning them into brainless dick riders for Subaru. The series didn’t even show what they really are. Instead, it treats them as nothing but dolls with batteries. Oh, and dare I say the useless “magical” dialogue in the second half of season 2. That really wasn’t needed. It just makes the series even more stressful than it already was.

This brings me to the other laughable part of the series: the “characters”. Let’s start with the 2 main leads. There’s Subaru, the teenager who can rewind time by dying. There’s Emilia, the white-haired elf-girl who wants to become a ruler in the future. I don’t know what kind of ruler to be exact but eh, we’ll just find out. They are nothing but soulless puppets to excuse the series. Subaru is a really bland protagonist not because of the fact that he’s a loser. In fact, the concepts for his character would make him a phenomenal MC. Compared to other isekai MCs, he would definitely be a solidly written character for how human his motives are. The biggest problem I have with him is that the series can’t be bothered to use him properly. Subaru is more of a plot device that just unfolds the mysteries and that’s it. His dynamics with either character aren’t really interesting. They’re rather bland and forced.

Emilia is the worst offender of the series. Season 1 already made her a generic female lead who serves as nothing but a one-trick pony but Season 2 made her a complete dumbass. She has no clue about what she’s doing in the show. What do we do to handle her character? Oh, that’s right! Make a fucking long flashback of her 400 years past that doesn’t even contribute to the damn story. She has no excuse whatsoever. At this point, I wouldn’t even be sad if the series killed her off which is probably never happening. Side characters are also borderline pointless. I’m honestly glad that Rem barely appeared but other than that, she’s still a stiff and useless rhinoceros. The witches, as mentioned earlier, have no real purpose except being dick-riders for a subpar protagonist.

I guess Echidna stands out from the other witches a bit since she has more screen time? I don’t know. Other than the fact that she pisses to make cursed tea, she’s still a mannequin with functioning legs. Garfiel, while not on the level of Emilia when it comes to ruining the series, is also a baffling addition. He has no use throughout the series other than being a cheap comic relief. Shoving in a backstory doesn’t really help in a department either. He is without a doubt one of the most annoying side characters I’ve ever seen in any anime.

Despite how shitty this series is, I’ll admit that the animation is quite decent. Not great but there could be merits to it. The character designs are amazing. They actually express the identity and lore of each character very well. At least better than the actual “characters”. Personally not too big on the OPs and EDs but the OST is also great. It reflects the visuals and drama quite nicely. The English voice acting is good but the Japanese voice acting is great, with my personal favorite performance in the show being Maaya Sakamoto as Echidna for how she captures her mysterious personality very well.

Re:ZERO season 2 is an unbelievably pathetic and stupid sequel that serves nothing more than stupid theatrics. Hell, even season 1 wasn’t good. It was hamfisted with plot conveniences and such. But at least it was a mindlessly fun series that doesn’t take too many things the furthest way. Season 2 couldn’t achieve any of that. It was just blatantly stressful to sit through. The lore is admittedly great but the story screws all of it up. Without question one of the most wasted stories ever. Compared to other series like Shield Hero for example, though, it’s peak. It’s definitely superior to those things. But that’s not saying much. That’s like saying “Oh, that was the least painful explosive diarrhea I ever had”. Well good for you! It’s still diarrhea…

What happens when you combine Legend of the Galactic Heroes with Gundam? You get Code Geass. Created by the same studio that created the likes of Cowboy Bebop, Gintama, and Gundam, Code Geass is one of the most interesting series when it comes to combining multiple genres into one - telling a story about war drama while having other elements to keep certain characters developing ideals and such. This was once one of my favorite anime of all time all because of the protagonist fighting evil by dressing up as evil and the whole war thing. It looks really epic. Looking back on it though, ... I can certainly tell that this series is so uncertain… Not bad, but something’s off with it.

If you read my previous reviews, you may already know what I’m talking about before I review things. But for beginners around:

All of these are 100% opinion-based. What you’ll see is very subjective and therefore, shouldn’t be taken seriously.

I have no problems with anyone liking the series. If you’re a fan of the series, feel free to share why you think it’s better than what I said.

Without further ado, let’s jump into my reasonings, shall we?

Like I said already, Code Geass is a war drama. It’s a story that focuses on a vengeful prince named ‘Lelouch’ who disguises himself as evil to fight his deceiving family after obtaining the ability to mind-control people for once from an immortal witch named ‘C.C.’. Both Lelouch and C.C. fight against the corrupted government alongside their friends, Suzaku, and Kallen. This series has such an immaculate premise. A battle between empires in the modern world while being affected by the ancients is surely something to be excited about. It’s very complex for what it is but it makes a surprising amount of sense. The first season presented pretty well. It’s not the best thing ever. There were twists that felt either stupid or rushed. But nonetheless, it did a good catch. Then there’s the second season, which makes the whole series really problematic.

The biggest issue with Code Geass’ second season is how it tries to emulate the previous by being more over-the-top with drama and action. While I do think it’s more fun than the first season in terms of surface-level entertainment all thanks to the mad choreography it contains, what’s kind of unapologetic is how it reuses the problematic twists in R1 and think they could be better by extrapolating them; they’re not. They’re possibly the same thing. It makes shows like this more embarrassing. Another big issue I see is how the series tries to toy with the characters with said twists. I don’t know if this feels like a redundant argument but in my opinion, the empires already have their chances to show their true strengths or power so I don’t get why the story shoves more drama to it. Unless one character or a few more needed some kind of secondary plan, it really comes off as amateur if you ask me.

Speaking of which, the cast also comes off as amateur. What we have for the main cast is Lelouch, a vengeful prince trying to save the world by being evil, Suzaku, an honorary knight who is willing to bow down to his superiors, C.C., a witch who grants people the ability to mind control, and Kallen, a Britannian-Eleven girl. While the main characters have their moments, a lot of them aren’t really anything exciting to talk about. I really like Lelouch. His path to achieving world peace makes him a truly engaging character. His method of fighting all of evil by dressing up as evil isn’t the most unique thing ever but hey, it would make for solid writing. As for the rest, I don’t think they could even come close to being engaging. I mean… I guess Suzaku is an okay character. I like how he interacts with Lelouch on most occasions. But for the most part, I feel like he’s unreasonably idiotic. Him being the biggest hypocrite in the whole show doesn’t really add much to the imagination.

The other two main characters are pretty bad. Not terrible, but still mildly inconsistent. C.C. may be the sole reason why Lelouch fights against the will of evil but she’s only really there to push the plot forward. I feel like Kallen has very little purpose to the story besides the mech fight scenes. I mean, her interactions with Lelouch are okay but she’s still a flat character mostly used for fanservice (well, both C.C. and Kallen are mostly the main fanservice girls for the whole show). The side characters are pretty bad too. With the possible exception of Orange Boy, who’s pretty much a decent definition of loyalty, most of the side characters are either mindless lunatics or just simply plot devices. The worst character overall has to be Nina though. At least Suzaku’s obsession with Euphemia can ‘tell something’, but Nina’s obsession makes zero sense and should never exist. As for the main villain, Charles was a big letdown. He’s kinda interesting in terms of motives but he doesn’t really add up as a character. He only exists for Lelouch to seek what he wants.

Oh, wait, I shouldn’t forget the most important part of the whole series: the ending. Despite the unintentional hassle, this show has gone through, the ending is really good and keeps it from being bad. It’s not the best ending in anime ever. Hell, I’ve seen better ones (LotGH’s ending and 86(anime)’s ending, just to name a few), but at least it fixes the problems with the story and characters. What makes the ending great is it shows how Lelouch ruined a lot of things after taking his father’s throne. As soon as he ruled Britannia for a few days, he realized that it wasn’t part of his overall goal and thus, bringing people in the world into the even more wrong sides. So instead, what he did was sacrifice his entire life for the greater good and bring everyone to peace. That, to me, is one of the best ways to fix all problems. Instead of power-ups or something like that, Lelouch thought he would never be friendly to the people around him so what he did was erase his life from existence. But again, just because the ending is really good, doesn’t mean the series is good as well.

For the miscellaneous, the animation was ahead of its time. Not the best thing ever, but it remains quite consistent. I’m personally not a fan of the character designs. Even with the best clothing in the series like Lelouch’s Zero outfit in R2, they look WAY too tall to match their canon height. They might look like glorified stickmen if anything. The mech designs though are amazing. Rollerblades, ejectable seats, and grappling hooks as the base kit make for very exciting action sequences. The chess scenes are horrible. As someone who plays chess with elders sometimes, I find it insulting that Lelouch can get away with an absurd mindset on chess. I just don’t think it works like that. The music is decent but the salsa theme in fight scenes doesn’t really click well with me. The OP and ED are great though. The voice-acting in Japanese is great but the English voice-acting is on a different level. Johnny Yong Bosch’s Lelouch may not be as deep or epic as FukuJun’s but his role is incredibly dynamic and works extremely well with how Lelouch approaches certain things.

Overall, again, it’s not a bad series by any means. It’s okay. It has its moments where it can feel intriguing. But it could have been way better if it wasn’t for idiotic drama shoving. The twists can be interesting but there are way too many of them to the extent that it doesn’t feel any natural. The characters, with the exceptions of Lelouch and possibly Suzaku and Jeremiah, felt really flat. The best thing this show has ever done is the ending. It’s embarrassing to see how this show turned out. As interesting as this is, it doesn’t really do justice to its themes and such. To think it could become unreasonably idiotic only for it to show any sign at the very end, I never expected this to be like that. Oh well, it’s still really fun to watch. Thanks for reading!

[!]THIS REVIEW TALKS ABOUT THE WHOLE SERIES AND NOT JUST A STANDALONE INSTALLMENT[!]

Over the years, I’ve been watching harem anime that end up being either vacant and boring or severely infuriating, two sides of the sheer negativity a harem has for the most part. The Quintessential Quintuplets (from here on out shortened to 5toubun) is the biggest offender of both sides—a series that doesn’t care about its story, its characters, pretty much its goddamn everything at this point. Not even good voice acting could save this car crash. Yes, I know you came here when I answered this question “What is the worst harem anime ... of all time?” But yes, I do believe this is possibly the worst harem anime of all time.

Before we get to me reviewing the series, let’s recap the disclaimers again:

All of these are 100% opinion-based. What you’ll see is very subjective and therefore, shouldn’t be taken seriously.

I have no problems with anyone liking the series. If you’re a fan of the series, feel free to share why you think it’s better than what I said.

Alright, let’s get to it.

What is the idea of 5toubun? Well, 5toubun is a harem series where a poor high school second-year named ‘Fuutarou Uesugi’ has a part-time job where he tutors 5 girls who happen to be quintuplets of each other. Each quintuplet has a distinct personality to each other and all of them equally hate studying. As a concept, I find this to be quite ‘eh’. It’s not too bad. It’s actually better than a lot of other premises in other harem anime. I just think that it feels a bit too dry and doesn’t feel any more engaging. But don’t worry. I’m pretty sure the show itself would make solid or even decent use of it, right? …he he …RIGHT? To which I would add, NO. Not even close to that. Now this is where the series drops really hard.

What makes this series such a big fail is the scriptwriting. The dialogue is downright atrocious. It’s either dry and monotone or chaotic and out of place, and I don’t mean the latter in ways that would make the show mindlessly enjoyable. You got interactions between Fuutarou and any of the quints with discussions that aren’t very special. They’re just topics that feel very shallow. Hell, the characters aren’t even the best at tackling them. They just talk back and forth to each other about random things randomly. It gets old really quickly to be honest. Another massive issue is how there are a lot (not all but a lot) of tropes around. I don’t necessarily mind seeing a handful of tropes in any show but the series is completely littered with stale harem tropes to the point where it doesn’t feel realistic in the slightest. You also got the so-called “comedy”. As mentioned, it’s not even funny on the surface. It’s a massive headache to sit through. It’s all over the place.

If the scriptwriting is dog water then so is the cast of characters. What we have here is Ichika, the teasing actress, Nino, the tsundere, Miku, the quiet girl, Yotsuba, the energetic girl, and lastly, the serious and gluttonous Itsuki. Are they distinct from each other in terms of character basics? Yes. Are they anything to write home about as actual characters? I’m afraid not. Literally far from that. I don’t know if I could call them “characters”. They don’t even have ‘some’ moments that made them stand out one bit. The “female cast” of 5toubun is a bunch of annoying and boring goblins who would overblow their character quirks instead of having any decent development whatsoever. Though for the annoying part, Miku is an exception because she’s a little more of a quiet girl, as the series states that out. She’s not really annoying to sit through. But even she’s a living archetype for the whole series. It’s just that she stood out from the other quints a little bit just because she doesn’t show as many expressions as the others.

The others can suffer from whip spanking. Itsuki is a crybaby, and I don’t mean a good crybaby, an insufferable one. She straight up takes almost everything too seriously and it gets head-scratching. Yotsuba is just the happy-to-go-lucky girl who hypes herself every time she’s on screen. Nino is a classic annoying tsundere who’s abusive for little-to-no reason regardless of conflicts and relations. But no one, NO ONE is as punchable as Ichika. She’s not only extremely annoying, but she’s also unreasonably manipulative. Nino is also manipulative but the manipulativeness from Ichika is a lot worse. How she “teases” Fuutarou isn’t enjoyable or cute. It’s incredibly toxic. That’s like punching a kid over a LEGO figure and calling it “teasing” for a living. So yeah, those are the quints. They are living mannequins with quirks that don’t even help their characterization at all.

Oh, wait! We can’t (or perhaps we can) forget the protagonist of the series, Fuutarou, the man who tutors all 5 girls. He is undoubtedly the most boring organism ever. Kirito and Tanjiro are well-written and inspiring characters compared to that milkless pawn. Now you would think that he would carry the series since the girls are a pile of nothingness, right? No, he’s literally just there. Hell, I forgot what his sole purpose of the show was. What does he do again? Oh, that’s right. To tutor the 5 girls. How interesting is this? As far as how the show presents, as interesting as toilet paper. Besides that gimmick, there’s just nothing special about him. Most of the time, his interactions with the quints are just boring and forgettable. It’s like reading a bunch of chores to deal with in an essay format. If you are as boring, if not more boring than Fuutarou then I am deeply sorry that happens…

Btw, if you’re wondering what my ranking on the quints is, here’s what it looks like:
Miku > Itsuki > Yotsuba > Nino > Ichika

All of them suck-ass either way.

Okay! Enough of the shitshow of the story and characters. Let’s move on to the miscellaneous elements. Artstyle is okay but is rather generic. Didn’t like the music in the series whatsoever. I guess the opening is fine-ish, but I don’t know, I couldn’t listen to any of the tracks one bit outside of watching the show. The Japanese voice acting is good. Not a fan of the English voice acting but Nino’s dub voice is kinda spot-on personally.

And that does it. So how do you make a good harem? By at least making character growth and interactions more intriguing while not going too hard on any of them. 5toubun can’t achieve any of that. It just makes the goddamn everything force. Now I actually don’t mind the first few episodes. They’re not special or anything but they’re not offensive to the series either. But by the time the show progresses, the whole presentation turns into a dry and outdated sponge. It’s not interesting and it’s not even entertaining. It’s just a massive chore to sit through. Despite my negative feelings towards this show, again, I have zero problems with anyone liking/enjoying the series. The girls do look admittedly cute. Thanks for reading.

2023 has been an improvement to 2022 regarding seasonals so far in my opinion. While 2022 does at least bring up a lot of exciting ideas for newer anime, they barely care about using them effectively. With some exceptions I have in mind, they’re nothing worthy to talk about. 2023 does the same thing except, a lot of the anime this year (again, so far) have thought to themselves. Skip and Loafer is no exception. At first, I thought this would be just an alright show judging from the first 5 minutes of it. But as I gravitate towards the series, oh my! This is ... a combination of a refreshing experience and pure excitement.

So what exactly is Skip and Loafer? Skip and Loafer is about a country girl named ‘Mitsumi’ who would show Japan sheer positivity by attending a prestigious school. When she arrives in Tokyo however, she’s not prepared for city life. Thankfully, she runs into Shima and both became quick friends. Together, they made friends and they all follow Mitsumi’s journey. I’m personally not too familiar with this kind of idea but this series so far has done nothing but a great job of presenting such a unique premise. Forget what I said about the first 5 minutes of the show. This has put a lot of soul into its storytelling and directing.

Skip and Loafer is very consistent and on-point with how Mitsumi follows her school journey alongside her friends. It truly shows how passionate you can be to spread the word across a place you want to be in while not being so serious about it. Mitsumi being the passionate country girl in school she truly is and trying her best to give out inspiring wisdom to people. I would hella love to see more shows have something like this. This right here is the kind of slice of life that spreads such a diverse message. The romance parts never feel forced also. The dynamics between Mitsumi and Sousuke aren’t too light but also not too toxic. Although very subjective, the comedy is refreshing as well. The jokes are clever and the scenes of characters giggling around are very fun.

Enough talking about how great the story is. I also want to talk about the bundles of happiness that are the characters. We have Mitsumi, the clueless country girl. We have Sousuke, the chill boy who is Mitsuki’s (possibly) first friend. Anyways, these two are a great pair for how they tone the drama. Mitsumi is very passionate about what she wants to do but doesn’t seem to know how to get herself on the right track while Sousuke bonds with her and talks about how they’re doing on their school trip. Again, the series did a fantastic job at making characters interact with each other before drama comes in. Both seem to convey the pros and cons of seeing/interacting with people very well.

You also got these side characters that are also engaging. There’s Mika, there’s Yuzuki, there’s Makoto, and all of them are a great supporting cast that isn’t just a bunch of surface-level comedic reliefs. My personal favorite episode is the 9th one where in the second half of it, Mitsumi reflects the balance between the positive and the negative while Sousuke is in a very gloomy mood. Despite this situation, Mitsumi is still there for him and will always make sure their dreams come true. Both the main cast and the side cast interact with each other just as wonderfully.

For the superficial aspects, the art style is simple yet conveys human emotion really well. It feels very friendly to look at. Looks like a glorious Japanese children’s entertainment even though it really isn’t. The OST is quite solid. Each soundtrack has more expressions to themselves than just average laidback songs. Both the opening and the ending are equally good. The voice acting is great. The VAs are quite precise with their roles. Glad to see Maaya Uchida and Megumi Han bringing even more great roles.

“If you're more concerned about breaking character than your own feelings, you're gonna snap at some point. It'll take a toll, and they'll notice that you're not being honest and that you're distancing yourself.”

To me, this quote says it all. Skip and Loafer is the epitome of obstacles revolving around human emotion and a presentation of a rather accurate balance between the positives and the negatives. The directing is amazing, the drama is well-paced, the romance aspects never get old, the humor is really fun, and the characters are truly multi-dimensional. This show is truly a comfort zone that has a delightful meaning to it. I don’t know what else I could say here. Skip and Loafer is without a doubt one of the best series this season. That being said, I’m looking forward to what a second season looks like. Might be even more enticing. Who knows? We’ll find out. Thanks for reading!