May 2, 2024
Sand Land: The Series
(Anime)
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I have always liked the manga and it was great to see such a good anime adaptation of it. I never managed to get around to watching the movie so I was glad that the first half of the series was the original story. I also really enjoyed the addition of the Forest Land arc as the second half of the series. True to Toriyama's storytelling skills, the characters were engaging, funny, and felt fully realized. The back story lent to motivations and underscored actions. The ending was satisfying. I think that animating the story also helped it and made it more engaging than the
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Apr 26, 2024
Shaman King: Flowers
(Anime)
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One of my problematic fave shounen is back with a sequel and honestly? I liked it. Tonally it fit with the previous series. The characters were easy to root for including Hana, who might annoy some viewers. It balanced darkness and comedy well. However, there were still the detriments from the original series to contend with like how it handles other cultures and underage relationships. The speed of the narrative also seemed a bit too fast in places and when the thirteenth episode finished, it felt like it wasn't the right stopping point for a first season and maybe a 24 - 26 episode first
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Apr 21, 2024
Ruirui Senki
(Manga)
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Ruirui Senki (Shadow Eliminators) started out really promising. The characters were easy to root for and likable. The plot was intriguing. The art was inviting. Then, about half way through something went terribly horrible wrong, and that's why I would rate this a 4.5/10 if we had half ratings. As we gained more world building and the character list expanded, things became confusing and convoluted. Then, as the manga entered a clear going to get axed speed run of plot points, its flaws became magnified to the point it was extremely difficult to follow what was happening and especially why it was happening. That's why
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Apr 14, 2024
Two on Ice
(Manga)
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If my review is marked as preliminary, I wrote it after reading the final chapter but MAL hadn't recognized the series as complete yet.
Two on Ice is one of those titles that comes along that really should never have been in Shounen Jump in the first place and that's part of why it did not survive. There was a lot to like about the manga. The characters were likable, easy to root for, and kind of weird. Choosing pairs figure skating as the sport also kept the story fresh since it's not a sport overdone by the previous Jump titles. It was also fun ... 
Apr 9, 2024
Suzume no Tojimari
(Anime)
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I really enjoyed this movie as I suspected I would when I saw the trailers years ago. The characters were likable and once I realized that it was like Alice in Wonderland where Wonderland kind of comes to the Alice figure, a lot of the strangeness of the story and the narrative felt intentional and increased my enjoyment of the narrative. I also liked how the story seemed to be a metaphor for growing up and becoming your own person as well. Both of these things were well done and I enjoyed them. The reason that the story isn't a 10/10 for me is mostly
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Apr 5, 2024
One Piece Film: Red
(Anime)
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I think this is my favorite One Piece movie so far. It had a stronger narrative than some of the others and I really liked how they tied the past into the present (of the story in 2022 at least). I really liked how they created a reason to have so many fan favorites together. I also like how they explored how devil's fruits can be very dark when influenced by negative forces. That said, it still had a lot of the other movies' weaknesses. The narrative was a little convoluted in places but cleaner than other movies. There came a point in which it
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Apr 3, 2024
Metallic Rouge
(Anime)
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Those who have been following me a while might be surprised that I finished something I rated a 4/10 and can't recommend. However, like a lot of things I didn't enjoy that I've finished, this started out really promising, the characters endeared themselves to me, and then something went horribly wrong with the narrative. When this anime began, there was something really nostalgic about it to me. It had a vibe to it that drew me in and seemed really familiar. The first few episodes were pretty good and then came time for the narrative to start moving to where it wanted to go, and
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Mar 31, 2024
It was great to have these characters back for another season. Their story is so strangely cute and they're both so weird. It's delightful and hilarious. I really enjoy how the story captures how people can be when they're still in middle school and how believable a lot of the interactions are. It really lends to the humor and the cuteness of the story and the characters. I looked forward to this anime every week. It'd have been a 10/10 for me, but there were some small things I was not really into but did not ruin my enjoyment of the bigger ticket and small,
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Mar 30, 2024
It was great watching the anime reach the part of the story where things really take off and it feels like the narrative really came into its own for me when I read the manga. The characters are still endearing and funny. The gags are more hit than miss. The increase in dramatic elements really put it over the top. Every week I looked forward to the episodes especially as the story progressed. It had a great balance of comedy and drama. I'm kind of sad that season 2 wasn't longer.
If you liked season one, you'll enjoy season 2. If you were iffy on ... 
Mar 27, 2024
This was one of my favorite anime of its cour. The protagonists were both so relatable. They had their own anxieties and hopes. Adachi's journey towards acceptance rang very true to life even with the magical ability to read minds. I really liked that it was not easy but it was not overly melodramatic either. I think that I would have rated this anime even higher except the secondary couple needed so much work. Their story felt like a kind of after thought and it needed a bit more fleshing out to be satisfying. I wish the effort that went into the main couple had
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