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Extremely creepy, shockingly pretentious, parts preachy, parts harem.

This show is the epitome of awful writing.

HigeHiro, or "After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway" is a comedy romance series, which is not funny, and the romanticism in it will make your skin crawl.

When I watched the first episode, I had realized that this premise was very hard to execute, simply because the story will have to tread on many different areas which could potentially incite violent debates and whatnot among the anime community. But I gave it a chance in the hope that they would do the story justice, and would ... know how to handle issues of abuse and mental health.

13 episodes in, and it only got progressively worse.

On paper, this show delves into themes of individuality, companionship, loneliness, depression, abuse, and love. But if you watch the show, you'll realize that in actuality, this show pokes fun at all those issues. It gives the most nonsensical reasons for why things are the way they are, and essentially borderline parodies the aspect of running away from one's problems. The delusions are unreal.

And we have characters. Guys! We have a cast! Can you believe it?
We have Yoshida, we have Sayu, and then we have token friend who helps, token female harem candidates who are in love with the mc for reasons still unknown, the "villainous" family, and fan service shots of an underage depressed girl.

Did I Miss something?

Characters are lifeless robots, Yoshida is painfully flawless and boring, he gives you no apparent reason to believe he is fit to be a therapist, but the story suggests otherwise. He is likable according to some other-worldly standards, and everything he does is right, no questions asked.
Throughout the story you wonder, why did she "runaway"? Alas, Sayu as a character has no real motivation or development, her backstory is mediocre and has no meaning in the real world. Meaningless conversations about issues of PTSD, Depression, suicide and mental health fly around like ugly confetti. And to top it all off, Sayu's condition seems like a magical disease which can only be cured by our YoshidaCHAD, or so they say in the community.

This show leaves a very bad taste in your mouth, and an even worse after-taste, because all hopes of getting meaning out of it are but pitiful fallacies.

Forgetful, painfully mediocre, offensive on so many levels.
2/10

Alright, Imma do something dangerous.

Give a 7 to AOT.

WEEB JAEGERIST - "Wait dude!! But its a masterpiece! Nothing short of a 10/10"

Hear me out.
First of all. This rating is reflective of this season. AOT Final Season Part 1. Not AOT as a whole.

I'll agree that AOT is truly something else, a phenomenon the likes of which we see once every decade or two. But just because something is popular doesn't mean its inherently good.
...
Lets talk.
This season adapts the Marley Arc and sets up the final "War for Paradis" Arc. No matter how you look at it, the world of AOT has been truly expanded and the rules have been redefined, Titans are not the biggest threat anymore, fellow humans are. This dynamic is what allows AOT to truly shine amidst a bunch of anime focused solely on fights/war/strategies. However, you can't disagree that all this season is about is World-Building and setting up the final leg of the series. Due to this, the series suffers from what one might call, the "pseudo-filler syndrome".

ANIMATION
MAPPA has been getting a lot of flak from so called OG AOT fans for "BAD ANIMATION, 3D BAD, BRING SAKUGA!!". I personally liked the direction MAPPA took. Surely, the finished product ain't as polished as the WIT seasons, but considering they only got around 8 months to animate it, along with all the other things they have their hands full with(like JJK), it was all nicely animated, bearing very close resemblance to the manga art. Still, the scenes are sometimes jarring, the direction is great at some places, meh at others. A strong 7/10.

SOUNDTRACK
The OP+ED are fine. They don't hype you up or anything, but they do a respectable job at setting up the mood. The soundtrack is very forgetful. Apart from spamming the "Eren Transformation music", the soundtrack really doesn't have much to offer. It's just fair, I guess. 6/10

CHARACTERS
The characters in AOT, well, are good. Some more than others. But with the scale of the story dialled to 11, not all the new characters you introduce are gonna be fleshed out as they should be. Gabi, great. The chef/Sasha's lover, great. Sasha's sister, goood. Zeke, goood. BUT THAT'S IT. All the other titan shifters, Marleyans, Zeke supporters, these characters are defined alright, but we never truly understand them or the way they act. Eren's character has had a great arc, however the transition from "Please Save Armin instead of Erwin" Eren to "You are not free" Eren was kind of abrupt. Still, this is one aspect AOT doesnt disappoint much in. 8/10

STORY/PLOT
This is, honestly, a mixbag at this moment. The world has been introduced, the Eldian-Marleyan rivalry has been put out, the character motivations have been sort-of explained. Thats it. As I previously mentioned, this arc is all about setting up the final arc of AOT, and while it is one of the better arcs in the story, it just doesn't do justice to the viewer. Don't get me wrong, its a great arc, just not something I'll watch/read again. It's one of those "taking too long to get going" arcs. Now we got to wait another year to see a resolution to a story that started in 2011? *SIGH*
The story is not very emotional, even when it has all the chance to be. The characters and their interactions, their dynamics, all have potential to make you feel something, but you don't feel much of it. Because the series gives too much emphasis on the "sheer scale" and "war aspect" of things. It doesn't bother showing you the darker side of things, when it attempts to(like when Eren attacked Marley), it just doesn't do a good job.
The world building is alright. Not nearly as fleshed out as it needs to be. Whatever happened to the Azumabitos?
Also, the pacing is all over the place. Some episodes just drag on, while others give too little time to moments that can truly shine. Overall, 7/10.

ENJOYMENT
Personally, I enjoyed S3 P2 more. It had higher stakes, better reveals, noble character moments, interesting moral dilemmas, much more exciting. Maybe because of that, S4 P1 suffers from "EXPECTATIONS". Plus the fandom has really kind of become "toxic", where they won't take even a pinch of criticism for the series and would go to lengths such as devaluing other series just so that AOT rises in the ranks. One's enjoyment of a series has to take a lot of external factors into consideration.7/10

I look forward to the next season, but if they don't nail the ending(The manga's ending is not looking good), this season would have been trip to downtown.

The Promised Neverland. Wow.
I had such high hopes.

Promised? Never.

I still vividly remember 2019, when I decided to binge this recently finished show called "The Promised Neverland". I had heard great things, but I went in with zero expectations. More often than not, The thriller aspect of Shounen stuff isn't really thrilling. 12 Episodes in, and my jaw had dropped.

A truly spectacular experience.

That's why it fills my heart with unsurmountable dread and sorrow, that The Promised Neverland, S2, completely squashed all expectations, decided to do away with common sense, and produced a clusterf*ck of incomplete troupes and formulas.
...
I know about the manga, and how it tries to fit in over 150 chapters into 11 episodes. I don't mind that. I didn't like the manga to begin with. I had hoped that if they were taking an anime only direction, might as well give us something better.

Oh, I was so wrong.

So they skipped arcs, deleted characters from existence, but kept the same story. Basically they removed everything redeemable about the manga, and presented us with a worst moments ever compilation of Promised Neverland.

Why? How does that even work??

Direction and animation were severely downgraded.What even was that last episode, a slideshow??
Soundtrack was forgetful.
There were no hype moments,and plot? Was there actually a point to this story?
The characters were severely underdeveloped. The lambda guys, the rescued children. My god, if you can't handle so many, why even bother introducing them in the first place?

And Phil? Man,they just sidelined him so hard. My man Phil, all he could say was "Emma".
And Emma!
GODDAMNIT EMMA! You are singlehandedly responsible for destroying most of this story's credibility.

The dynamics between humans and demons, and the moral dilemma of consumption of animal meat, these concepts had always been great, but their execution was lackluster.

3.8

Don't do this again. Please.

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW, LIKE ALL REVIEWS SHOULD BE!

I vividly remember reaching a point in my anime marathon that i couldn't seem to get a show that could grab my attention and keep it still for more than 3 episodes. Maybe it was because i had watched a ton of different titles in a relatively short span of time, but i had enjoyed a great deal of them, nonetheless. So while searching for an eye-catching title to invest my valuable time in, I inevitably stumbled upon a rustic but colorful poster of Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, an anime not many people seem to talk ... about. However, judging from its high user rating, one thing was certain, This show was held in high regards by its viewers. And so i hopped on, with little to no knowledge of what it had in store for me.
To summarize my experience in one word : BREATHTAKING.
This is a story that spans decades, and while doing so, it touches upon various themes, including but not limited to - WAR, GLOBALIZATION, INDUSTRALIZATION, GENERATIONAL GAP, FRIENDSHIP, UPBRINGING, AMBITION, TRADITIONAL AUTHENTICITY vs MODERN CULTURAL SHIFTS. And while these complicated words seem to suggest that this show might not be for everyone, that notion couldn't be further from the truth.
Rakugo Shinju is, well, about Rakugo(duh!). But for an international viewer like myself, The word itself may hold very little significance. Rakugo is a live sitcom, where every character is played by the same person. To put it more traditionally - An authentic & ancient art of storytelling of Japanese-origin. However, to expect an expositional onslaught from the get-go about this culturally engrained Japanese verbal artform would be very wrong of the viewer. The first episode is indeed an hour long, and while it greatly differs from what you'll end up seeing in the entirety of the series, just like a Hanashika(storyteller) setting up his Koza(stage), the first episode sets the stage for the events that are to come.
The way the story unfolds in front of your eyes keeps you glued to your seats. No, there aren't any high octane action sequences or long philosophical dialogues, rather Rakugo Shinju binds its viewers with its nuanced authenticity, realistic character development, engaging plot progression and an OST that could calm a raging bull. The show is authentic to the T, showcasing the rise, fall and apparent rebirth of the artform in a way that keeps the viewer intrigued. Its a history lesson indeed, but one taught with benevolence and patience.
The diverse cast of characters in Rakugo Shinju add the varietal spice to this beautiful tale.
The characters feel very human, unlike the extremely animated ones an avid anime watcher is prone to be greeted by on your average run of the mill slice of life show. They are intricately detailed in their behaviors, they have flaws they can't seem to accept and complex emotions which they can't begin to untangle. Their interactions with one-another are what gives Rakugo Shinju its magic flair.
Then there are the Rakugo performances themselves, which are super-entertaining. The voice actors really do justice to their character's styles and fashion. While i cannot vouch for their historical authenticity and relevancy, one thing's for certain, if the anime's purpose was to make its viewers fall in love with and in admiration of Rakugo as an artform, it has achieved so with flying colors.
Then comes my favorite part, the OST. The soundtrack is pure bliss. And it moves forward as the plot moves. There are elements of early 50's Jazz, 70's Jazz fusion and classical Japanese music, a blend that brews a blissful aural experience that enhances the royal rustic feel of the show. The animation too is good. Studio Deen does a fantastic job of creating a proper visual representation that a show like this deserves. It has a certain sheen, a polish or gradient to it that feels original and yet very nostalgic.
While i personally feel the art direction, composition and direction in general could have been much better, and certain parts of the story seem rushed, all in all, everyone involved has done a truly remarkable and commendable job.

I highly recommend watching Rakugo Shinju if you've watched some slice of life anime prior, and would go on to say its a must for every anime connoisseur out there. It is truly an inspiring story, one of growth, of fighting one's inner demons and finding oneself in a mist
of uncertainty. Its a story about the uncertainty of life and the regrets that haunt us till the day we die. And finally, at it's heart, its a story about a great tradition fading into obscurity in the modern world and how that seems to affect the lives of those involved in it. The story of then, now and then.

8.3/10 - A true testament to the power of anime as a tool of storytelling to bring generations' together.