Adolescence is usually a difficult period in most people’s lives and one that is marked by large changes in one’s environment, bonds and own self. A transitional period from childhood to adulthood, emotional surges and heartfelt moments become common occurrences as one goes through their day-by-day interactions. A turbulent time indeed, but one that is etched upon the heart. Whether the markings convey the branding of pain or the scribbles of happiness, it is a time that shapes us all.
Blue Reflection Ray tells the story of the energetic and genki Hiori Hirahara and awkwardly shy Ruka Hanari as they vow to protect the feelings
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of young women everywhere through the magical power of the “Reflectors”. Reflectors use the power of their own feelings to try to protect those of others, which may otherwise go berserk when they are faced with difficult emotional moments. The anime is the brainchild of Mel Kishida, an accomplished artist who has great talent for capturing innocence and softness of his characters in his concept art. Some famous works he was involved in include Hanasaku Iroha and the Atelier game series. Interestingly, Blue Reflection Ray is an adaptation of the video game “Blue Reflection” but was described as an “unfaithful” adaptation of the game. As a fan of the original game, I can’t help but be drawn to those words. After watching it, I think I get why they called it that. The way they linked it to the original game was fun, but it’s more of an easter egg and not playing the game beforehand would not really affect the viewer negatively. Nevertheless, playing the game first would enhance the experience as you would be familiar with the mechanics of the world already.
Anyways, regarding the anime itself, I would say it is overall good, but has serious shortcomings. A rather bold decision was taken for the art style, which is minimalist and depicts the characters in rather flat colors. Skin and hair are emphasized with the use of gradients. I haven’t seen this art style used before, so it took some getting used to, but eventually I grew to like it. Unfortunately, the same can not be said about the animation, which is lacking in presence and relatively simplistic. To be fair, since this is an anime about emotions and feelings, there is a lot of dialogue and talking between the characters, so animation isn’t really a priority. Still, I would have liked to see the animation be more intricate and detailed, at least in the fighting segments of the show as I think that could have heightened the experience quite a lot.
As for the story, it was generally good. It was slow at times, but when it picked up, it got really thrilling. The pacing is consistent so its easy to follow, but some parts almost feel like break periods between segments of intense action. The anime delves (albeit not too deeply) into themes of teenage girl psychology, love, regret, guilt and apathy. There are also strong moments of shoujo-ai strewn about here and there, which felt organic most of the time so it didn’t bother me. Nevertheless, one weakness of the show is the main characters themselves. They feel bland and are difficult to emphasize or relate to, especially in the beginning. They eventually get better, but I wouldn’t say that their characterization is that well done. On the other hand and rather surprisingly, the antagonists of the anime are particularly well-written. I found myself always looking forward to seeing them on screen and learning more about how they think and why they do what they do. The antagonists felt unique from one another, and you could really emphasize with their own stories. You can almost boil it down to that the main characters represent idealistic optimism, while the antagonists represent brutal realism, the latter of which my jaded self could relate better to. As for the ending, it was satisfying. With a few modifications, it could have been truly excellent, but for what it is, I think it a perfectly acceptable ending to the story.
A strong point of the anime is the soundtrack, particularly the battle theme and tracks played during intense moments of the series. They did an excellent job at uplifting the tension and impact of some scenes and gave them a lot more weight, sometimes picking up the slack that the animation or writing generated. Truly a surprise that I didn’t expect once I first started it.
Overall, I think it was decent for what it set out to do. It’s not a Madoka Magica or Utena, but for a magical girl anime, its pretty respectable. If you like magical girl or shoujo-ai anime, I would say you can give it a try and it may click for you. You can tell that there was effort and passion behind some aspects of this “adaptation” and with some extra funding, it could have been something special but alas, it cemented itself as a painfully mediocre to sorta good mahou shoujo anime.
7/10, Take a shot whenever you hear the word “feelings” in the anime
Nov 4, 2022
Blue Reflection Ray
(Anime)
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Adolescence is usually a difficult period in most people’s lives and one that is marked by large changes in one’s environment, bonds and own self. A transitional period from childhood to adulthood, emotional surges and heartfelt moments become common occurrences as one goes through their day-by-day interactions. A turbulent time indeed, but one that is etched upon the heart. Whether the markings convey the branding of pain or the scribbles of happiness, it is a time that shapes us all.
Blue Reflection Ray tells the story of the energetic and genki Hiori Hirahara and awkwardly shy Ruka Hanari as they vow to protect the feelings ... 
Dec 21, 2021
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
(Anime)
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Studio SHAFT is well known for delivering unique anime experiences that tend to break the mould of what we define anime as. Weird direction, overly-dramatic animation and sleek style is the signature of the studio and big names such as Monogatari, Madoka Magica and Nisekoi all benefited from this.
In this review though, we look at a less-known title of theirs, where they decided to crank the dial of crack in whatever they're smoking up to 11. Of course, the title I'm referring to is "Sasami-san@Ganbaranai". The anime is about a girl named Sasami who we first meet as a shut-in NEET living a comfy life under ... 
Dec 21, 2021
“Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story” (quite the mouthful) is an anime adaptation by Shaft Studios of a mobile game series based in the Madoka Magica universe. Now I know the regurgitating feeling you must be feeling hearing the word “mobile” and “anime” in the same sentence, but with the word Madoka in the name, it’s a hard series to ignore. In addition, Gen Urobochi was not as involved this time and instead, fresh talent spearheaded the direction and story-telling of the series. Despite all that, I thought to at least give it a try. After all, the key-art looked beautiful and engaging
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