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As one would expect from a story with the premise of a computer simulation, Last encore is truly a digital spectacle with heavy surrealist influence. The outlandish visuals complement to the conflicting philosophies of the main cast and its antagonists. Outside of the signature Fate action scenes, discussions between characters cast call into question topics such as human nature, life and death. suffering and bliss.

However, to truly enjoy this anime I would highly recommend reading up on the universe of Fate Extra since the anime assumes the viewer is already informed. It's difficult to fill in the gaps without external resources since the situation on ... Earth in Last Encore is a massive departure from reality. In hindsight, my feel for the story was cohesive but it was awkward to go through the wiki to patch up discontinuities. On to the proper review.

After overcoming my initial animosity towards seemingly dispassionate Hakuno, I actually came to appreciate what he represents as a Dead Face. He is a composite being made up of the memories and emotions of the numerous masters defeated in previous Moon Holy Grail Wars so he is accordingly characterized by hatred and the desire to do what is denied to the defeated: the ability to climb. The losers in the Holy Grail Wars all felt resentment to some degree during their final moments as they are being deprived of an omnipotent wish-granter. Who better to direct that resentment towards than the strongest masters with blood on their hands? This is really a breath of fresh air from the paragon of goodness that many anime protagonists embody.

The characterization of Nero here is equal parts bubbly young girl and wise emperor of Rome. She serves to keep the story grounded as a measure to keep Hakuno from crossing the line from an anti-hero into villain territory. They have some insightful dialogue regarding the hate that Hakuno feels, and how he can sublimates that into genuine compassion. She falls into the trope of the beautiful girl who heals the male lead's jaded heart. There is no romance in the story, but it's her childlike optimism unwavering acceptance of Hakuno that leads him to fight for the salvation of humanity as opposed to its destruction.

All in all, this was a wonderful story . The only significant drawback is the mandatory reading beforehand to get a handle on what's going on. Studio Shaft's visuals really pulled through for me on this one, and it's really a shame that production issues kept us from seeing the fourth strata. Enjoy!

Dropping a review here while the anime is airing.

This is a story that would massively benefit from a sequel. I'm sure a lot of readers share the same frustrations that I had flipping through several underdeveloped subplots.

Who is spacesuit girl? Why is Adachi distant from her mom? What's the deal with Shimamura's childhood friend? While all of these threads have some iteration of a knot at the end of their respective chapters I would have really appreciated additional development in later chapters.

I don't think the author made committed any slice-of-life sins such as hyper-focus on the setting or an overly ambitious cast of characters. ... All that's left to be desired are a couple extra chapters.

The art is pretty mediocre but that issue is completely rectified in the anime. I might even suggest passing up on the manga since it sticks to this 4-panel structure which is quite static.

As a casual I'll do my best to analyze this objectively since this series does have several redeeming qualities that save it from being a six.

The art style is really striking, ad there's a lot of people who are fans of the thick line work which isn't really as common in lower budget productions. Some of the fight scenes have some pretty obvious CGI use but it conveys the sheer force behind the fight scenes. Lots of fantastical techniques and blood and gore if you're into that,

I'm probably dropping this series because of the lack of character exploration. There's a lot of ... generic muscleheads in this series and there's very little time spent looking into Baki's background. The romantic side plot is well written-- but also pretty awkward. It's probably the only realistic aspect of this crazy martial arts series but there's nothing here for me to get invested in.

As a refugee from the yuri fandom I have to say that these mahou shoujos are pretty cool!
Unfortunately, if you aren't a fan of lolis fighting in magical girl outfits this series doesn't have much to offer on the side.

The spinoff so far doesn't seem to be that critical to our understanding of the mage world but the familiar setting of Fuyuki City is comforting enough. The urban fantasy aesthetic is what plays into separating Fate from more high fantasy series. The animation is pretty good, and there are some servant-level fights to be enjoyed. Not as spectacular as ufotable but it's fine.

The story ... is pretty average when it comes to addressing the relationship between Ilya and Miyu.The narrative's strong point is the characterization of Miyu as the stoic, overly logical one, while Ilya is kind of an otaku, more imaginative and impulsive. They're really cute together, and the fan service moments are kind of funny. I honestly wouldn't recommend this to someone new to anime but given that this is a spinoff newbies probably aren't the core demographic. On to season 2!

I'm not going to pretend this is some 21st century masterpiece. It's just as much of a cash grab as Boruto but at least it's funny as hell. I recommend you watch it subbed bc some of the english voice actors don't line up. Neji, Tenten, and Lee still sound the same so the dub is somewhat passable.

The show is basically just a bunch of Naruto-related comedy sketches of Rock Lee going around Konoha with the consistent side cast being TenTen- resident straight man, and Neji - resident cross dresser. There are some cute and heartwarming moments but it's mostly just for laughs.

The ... extra time we get to spend with Team Guy is 100% enjoyable and a sorely needed departure from all the ninja war bullshit. 10/10 would recommend.

Also TenTen is 10/10 best girl.

A seriously disappointing sequel to the original.

How do people find this story inspiring? The only thing I learned from this extremely predictable story is the importance of god-given gifts in determining your fate. Naruto is like- the ninja equivalent of a trust fund kid. His daddy sealed the nine tails inside of him knowing it would give him access to all the best jutsus, the biggest chakra reserves, etc. It gets hard to sympathize with Naruto after the Pain Arc.

If you want a more believable underdog story, watch Black Clover.

I know the war arc wasn't originally intended to be a part ... of the series. It is SO OBVIOUS that an entire third of the Shipudden runtime is just a giant cash grab. No hate to Kishi. Shounen Jump and publishing schedules are brutal. What happened in the manga can't be changed, but it seriously undermines the quality of the story.

The issue with female characters is also magnified tenfold during the war arc. Sakura had so much potential to perform more feats on screen. I hate to see her getting crap from shounentards when her medical skills are leagues above Naruto and Sasuke. Seeing her being outdone by Six Paths Naruto who just woke up with the ability to restore AN ENTIRE EYEBALL at will was just a huge middle finger to her years of training under Tsunade.

Seriously. God-given talent. Kabuto was right when he imitated Orochimaru. For the talentless, our only hope is to harness the talents of others. Not the message I watched Naruto for, but it is the message I got.

I wanted to keep the crux of my thoughts within a couple of sentences.

As an outsider/non-fan of the thriller genre I noted that the series started off strong with an engaging premise and several surprising twists. The ways the characters interact under their unfortunate circumstances is "fine" Got invested in the game of survival, rooted against the antagonists and all of that good stuff. The protagonist himself is a bit of a useless idiot but I can't say he wasn't well written. He is honestly just not everyone's cup of tea and is pretty obviously a self-insert-type.

It ended up getting really bleak towards the ... end, but then out of nowhere they started doing real weird shit. The powers just felt really incongruous alongside the rest of the story. My investment in the story ended near the finale, but it was a good run.

Story: So it starts out with this popular tomboy Hiromi, who already has several other girls vying for her attention. Juli, the incredibly cute transfer student takes a liking to Hiromi and they get closer. It's a sweet story, with a sufficient amount of drama fit into 9 chapters. The epilogue (Chapter 9.5) is also really adorable.

Art: The style might be a little outdated, but the designs are still very attractive.

Character: I think the story did a good job fleshing out why the Juli and Hiromi like each other. Both of them are surprisingly mature, and rise to the occasion for each other. It was ... nice to see a throwback to an innocent middle school crush.

Enjoyment: It's a pertinent reflection on romance and friendship between girls. I almost cried at the end. I only wish there was more content/character interactions to work with.

Overall: It's worth your time. Please give it a read :D