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O M G. Studio Trigger have finally done it. They have finally produced something WORTHY to match the best of the best.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners is about David Martinez, some street kid punk who has nothing to lose. He joins a nameless street gang and becomes entangled in some of the most legendary feats Night City has ever seen.

When my close friend told me that Edgerunners was Studio Trigger's best work, I didn't doubt him, but wasn't going to blindly believe him either. I am a lot more of a skeptic than you think for this show in particular. You're going to quickly find out why.

Cyberpunk 2077 ... is not a masterpiece. If you asked me, I would rate it a flat 7/10 with its high points being an ephemeral 8. This is coming from somebody who believed in the hype from the very beginning, dropped hundreds of dollars on merch/pre-ordering the collector's, dumped 100 hours when it launched, AND dove into a netrunner build before Edgerunners showed how cool it is! While its story and worldbuilding can be lauded as one of the best, its gameplay and open world are unfathomably shallow. Yes, the game is now in a much better stable state than it was on launch, but the gameplay is such a mess on a fundamental level. At its best, it can only produce cheap power fantasies. The only good thing about Cyberpunk 2077 is the worldbuilding, the vibes, the story. And to its credit, the game does do a phenomenal job at faithfully bringing Mike Pondsmith's vision to life!

Needless to say, Edgerunners already has a pretty high bar to clear. I enjoyed the world of Cyberpunk and Night City, but I wasn't eager to just immediately jump into the anime. I mean, it's Studio Trigger! They may be a beloved studio in the anime community but I could never take them seriously because their intentions were to always nail the good vibes first. Mind you, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it always fell short of my personal golden standard - being able to simultaneously take my media serious and not seriously. You take the media seriously to see how well the world and fundamentals are built, then you take the media not seriously for the vibes and general silliness. In other words, Strelizia True Apus is still an enigma to me.

I am proud to announce that Cyberpunk Edgerunners is, hilariously enough, better than Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners fully realizes and even accentuates the already excellent worldbuilding that Cyberpunk 2077 offered. Mike Pondsmith's vision, from Arasaka vs Militech down to cybernetics, is once again realized and shown in a more flashy way. Generally, it presents its technologies that line up more with life rather than mundane video game combat scenarios. Unlike video games where it requires a power-fantasy for you to keep your vested interest in, Edgerunners keeps it real with its setting and no-name David. With that, Edgerunners is able to sell you more of the setting a lot better than the video game could. Again, that's saying QUITE A BIT when you consider that Cyberpunk 2077's story and worldbuilding is already world-class!

On anime metrics alone, this is Trigger's best work. The brevity of details and animations are unparalleled compared to previous works, with their use of CG being a tad underwhelming. Without filler fat, the show proceeded at a breakneck pace and thus accentuated the actions of... every single action! The characters felt legendary for a no-name crew. The soundtrack took quite a bit for it to sink in, but when it did... Anyways, I've always found that with Trigger originals, the more serious points about the originals are always lost and ephemeral. You would never feel the effects of the world impacting the characters despite it being a central theme. This isn't the case with Edgerunners. The world of Cyberpunk and Night City can be felt in nearly every single character interaction. The writing, which Trigger took and modified from CDPR, is world-class. The best of the best. Another reason why Night City is a dystopia that you shouldn't be dreaming of.

What makes this a true masterpiece to me is just the sheer collaboration alone. This is an anime with 300+ people that worked on it. Both CDPR and studio Trigger took a giant risk with producing the show, and believed in it every step of the way! Trigger recognized two key points - that they are creating an anime for a video game and that they were aiming for a global audience this time. And the results spoke for themselves, with Trigger pulling in an obscene amount of detail from the game ON TOP OF THROWING IN THEIR OWN FLAIR ALA REBECCA!!!

Video game adaptations - let alone BIG BUDGET VIDEO GAME ANIME adaptations are obviously a rarity. Sure. You have your Persona 5 anime and the occasional mobile game adaptation showing up on the seasonal page, but those are catered to a domestic audience rather than a global one. As a result, Edgerunners ends up ascending into a labour of love, something that everyone can clearly see from both a video game and anime standpoint.

I can only recall one other game/anime that shared such a circumstance like Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners. It's Final Fantasy XV and Brotherhood. Do you remember that show? Obviously, you don't, because it pales in comparison to Edgerunners. Square Enix aimed for default dubs, but only got high quality mediocrity across the board. It wasn't A-1's fault that Brotherhood didn't end up doing anything for the game, rather it was the lame direction Squex took to try and hype people up with cute anime boys.

So, when both CDPR and Studio Trigger see the vision, realize it in its entirety, AND put out a show with such richness, such flair from both sides... how could it be anything short of legendary? If you believe that this show could have used more episodes, it's because you want more. Unsatisfied with something so legendary that you want MORE. When your fans, myself included, desire SO MUCH MORE... I have nothing more to say.

After all, in Night City, people will only remember you for how you die. Legends are born when somebody survives your tale.

In summary,

Fly me to the moon, wayward reader. Cyberpunk Edgerunners is one of the best anime I've had the pleasure of ever witnessing. It is definitive proof that CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger is a match that could only be made in heaven. 10/10.

PS. This show rightfully earns the rare recommendation to watch it in dub, since the Netflix subtitles have some Night City flavour to it. This flavour gets lost in translation, as Japanese doesn't have a native word for GONK.

PPS. If you were interested in the game, you would have more fun playing melee rather than the gunz blazzzzinnnnn/netrunner. Trust me on this one.

[spoilerino warning xD!!!]

"Mikasa. Ever since we were kids, I've always hated you."

With that single line, Eren Yeager had locked in the fate of the world. The weight of it all, from the past to the future, had been too much. The burden he carries had finally crushed him. Eren Yeager, another victim to hatred.

He didn't realise that he closed the final alternative option. The window of opportunity had already pasted. But why? Why does he condemn the world to so much DEATH?!

War never changes because the endless and needless slaughter of life and culture results in a dull and dumb homogenization.

"Okay. And? What of the ... Marlyans and Eldians? What of Eren and Zeke? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is good? Who is bad? AND WHO IS THE ENEMY?!!?!" a curious soul asks.

The smiling Marianne laughs. "A pity," she replies. "So childish. So TRITE!!"

"... You're mentally insane."

"YES, wayward reader! The WORLD itself has made me INSANE!!" She cackles once more before taking a sip from her XL double double Earl Gray tea she purchased from McDonalds. "It is as Pagan Min said once. 'It always hits you when it's too late, [wayward reader], always when they've gone.'"

The curious soul remains puzzled. "Is this even an anime review?"

"What is the value of freedom? What is the value of life? Those are the questions you should have asked. Not this childish prattle." She takes another sip. She looks away from you, disinterested and tired.

"Are you... just disregarding everything these past two seasons talked about??"

"Y'know, I never thought I would feel so sad from watching a Russian man eat [his] Last Big Mac Meal for what could be the very last time," She continued. "He felt as if it was his last meal of freedom. The magic of the golden arches, disappearing forever!"

The curious soul blinks twice, attempting to process the monstrosity of a borderline useless reference.

"Oh, kiddo... okay. I'll give you a moment." She takes another sip.

--------

If you SERIOUSLY support the Marlyans or the Eldians, you're a nutjob. I only mean that in a very SERIOUS way that hopefully doesn't apply to anyone reading this review. Only SERIOUS nutjobs would draw inspiration from wars and hatred, using outdated concepts to push them further and further to mental insanity. It's totally cool to be childish about this, but if it SERIOUSLY defines you? I can only feel pity.

--------

You are snapped back into 'reality' by the sound of her slurping on what now appears to be an empty cup. She sighs and pouts, throwing it away.

"Is Attack on Titan a masterpiece?" the curious soul asks.

She grins once more. "No."

The curious soul tries to gaze into her eyes, trying to see what she can see - as futile as it may be - and fails.

"What is the value of freedom then?", the curious soul presses forward.

She chuckles, then faces the soul. Even with a clean gaze into her pupils, the soul still cannot see anything. She points to her confident grin. "This!"

"... And the value of life?"

She proudly points to the soul. "You, kiddo!"

The curious soul is taken aback. "... H-how...?"

"It is the children who shall carry the future for us, is it not? They are the ones who always inherit the dead corpse of the past."

A single dot connects. She wholesomely chuckles. "What did Erwin Smith die for? Why did Frieda die fighting Grisha? Surprisingly, they're both martyrs for the truth."

"So what is the truth then?!"

"Hmph! It isn't democracy that dies in the darkness, it's the truth :)." Her grin beams with delight.

"H-huh...?!"

"Eren and Zeke are both psychopaths. What they did wasn't for the truth, they're burying it."

"Uh... What makes you say that?"

"Who gets to decide the fate of the children? Nobody! It's psychotic to think that either plan is 'good for humanity'! What the hell do these two idiots know?"

"But Eren can see the future! He's just doing what the future beholds!"

She scoffs. "And render Eren a slave to time? Not even Ymir was that pathetic. Seeing the future is such a stupid shoe-in! But, alas. That's a talk for next season."

The curious soul is flabbergastered. She really is intent on ignoring all of the talking points this story offers.

"So what do you think of Eren's decision then?"

"Meaningless. That's why he's neither good nor bad."

The curious soul is stunned. "If it's all so meaningless, what would you do then?"

She laughs. "Finally! You're going to like this...!"

--------

Despite how Eren can see into the past and future, he's still too short-sighted. At least Grisha understood freedom and life. And Eren? When Eren had the world at his fingertips, he only saw two options. Either the Rumbling or indulging in Zeke's sorrowful fetish! If he had one more X-factor to aid in his decision-making, the writing could've had more options! And what is that X-factor you may ask? If Eren made Mikasa preggers... it would've made the show, dare I say it, MATURE.

If Eren x Mikasa actually happened, it would have also muddied the shit out of ancestral bonds, something this entire experience was centered around. Eren would then have to truly think about his family and his legacy before blowing up the world! And honestly speaking, that would have been pretty entertaining to watch as an ANTI-WAR junkie. No, I'm not a war junkie because I don't like spinal fluid and senseless death. It's all so terribly boring and overdone.

Perhaps I am asking a bit much, though. This is still a stupid show for kiddos who don't really know any better. Even if the show took this angle, it probably couldn't follow up anyways because this show IS catered towards everyone. They probably wouldn't have understood it. But, at the very least, it could have been much more respectable if it tried.

--------

"... YES, wayward reader!!! If AoT had a CANON SAO 16.5 moment, it truly would have had a fighting chance at being a TRUE MASTERPIECE!!!"

The curious soul became the puzzled soul. It couldn't tell if she had truly lost her mind or spouted some hidden gypsie gospel truth.

"But even if you took that perspective and still picked Eren's original plan..." She sighs, calming down. "That would make part 3 ostensibly boring."

A quiet moment passes. The puzzled soul doesn't know what to say anymore.

"Because when somebody lets hatred consume them... They become unpredictable," she solemnly says. "When *they* can write history, who gets to decide if they're good or bad? The surviving children, because they have no say in a decision made in the past. At the end of the day, Eren Yeager can't make good decisions. But nobody can judge that! He's only human."

"And that's why AoT is no masterpiece," she concludes. "Because it didn't have the final X-factor, it couldn't truly evolve from the shitty tropes that bind it. That's all!"

--------

In conclusion, AoT Final Season Part 2 is good enough to watch. It returns to being Anime XCOM for the finale, and it's refreshing enough from the suffocating predecessor. I was able to enjoy it as much as I could by letting the mildly entertaining military RP to guide me to the conclusion. AoT's depiction and emulation of war may have been masterclass with a phenomenal depth of perspective, but it lacked the soul to define itself as an artistic masterpiece. Just look at Gabi! FaZe has already accepted her.

The questions and moral conundrums AoT asks are so outdated at this point. But I guess that's what happens when you have edgy writing from the beginning of history to the very present. When all you can do in the present is hate, hate, and hate, humanity will fight itself to the very last man. Didn't Erwin say something like that? Regardless of, it's all so meaningless. So trite. Because the last man standing will die alone; it once again proves that hatred is the true enemy.

Do you know what modernity is, kiddo? It's living in the present. Experiencing the international. Anime tiddies. You reading this very anime review. The ability to have the knowledge of the world at your disposal has changed the game in every single way imaginable. That's why the past should stay dead. Living in the past isn't as fun as living in the present. Video games and anime are definitive proof of this.

Even though I might live a meaningless life doing meaningless things, it's a hell of a lot more fun than wishing I should have never been born. Ouch dude! You papercutted me with your fucking edge! 7/10.

Until next time, kiddos.

PS. In retrospect, I do continue to miss Wit's sakugas. Did we really need realistic 3d maneuver gear action? No. But it's okay, I guess.

[light spoiler warning]

Wow. When I got a message saying that "if I liked what I saw in the first season, I would definitely enjoy this one!", it pumped me up a little. But little did I know...

In the best interest of anyone reading, I'll keep this one short.

In no humane and ethical way could you ever justify putting a gun in a child's hands. Once that happens, your show immediately loses all value. What was once vivid and colorful was consumed by the hateful pale. A dry pale that's stylistically outdated and overdone. A pale so disgusting that you need a few screws loose to ... see psychedelic colors in it.

All of this paleness is so boring to watch. It's an autofellatio of self-indulgence, a never-ending cycle of pure unadulterated hatred.

"Who is the enemy?!" the anime protagonist yells, not knowing that he is only fighting to satisfy his own ego, not to settle the past. He doesn't know that within the abyss seen in his eyes, it burns with an intense jet black flame, nearly invisible.

"Hatred is the enemy!!" my wistful soul screams, fully knowing that blurting it out loud would not only be cringe, but completely useless. A thought cannot mend a soul. A prayer cannot heal what has been ruined.

What has happened in the past should stay in the past. We live in the present, and it should be our decision to pick our own destiny. That's why this show fucking sucks. Because watching X person cry "but I had no choice! I was forced to commit Y war crime" got really stale. It isn't fun.

It's like The Last of Us 2 in that regard, a lot of convolution for nothing. And thus, completely meaningless.

In summary,

Attack On Titan Final Season Part 1 is a psychedelic fetishization of war and it's fucking gross. 1/10.

PS. Wit Studio did a better job. MAPPA is now kinda mid.

Mushoku Tensei is the penultimate litmus test for anime.

Coming in hot as a LN adaptation with a production crew that's also as stacked as 86, Mushoku Tensei aims to reinvigorate the Isekai genre with a refreshing look.... is what I would say.

The problem with Mushoku Tensei is how hotly contentious it is. This is an anime that can literally end friendships based on how you align with it. Because of this, having any sense of rational discussion is nigh impossible.

Mushoku Tensei is getting a lot of heat for the right reasons. Its raunchy content is half degen stuff and half sexual harassment. I honestly have ... no idea how this stuff made it onto TV, but I ain't here to question it, I ordered a Roxy figurine!

The raunchy stuff is honestly very, VERY raunchy. It is also very hilarious. I have never seen the brevity of just how degen you can be, but god damn. These set ups are refreshing and outright wacky. You will not find any other anime like this, as Mushoku Tensei has a story to tell. Admittedly, it IS a very weird fusion of elements. I had never thought that Rudeus would actually use his degeneracy to come up with solutions that plague whatever anime world he's in. In that sense, he's very mature and is making an honest effort to not be a piece of shit pedophile or whatever you want to call him.

On the other hand, that same raunchy stuff is very discomforting. Rudeus' degeneracy reaches heights that even I find very questionable. Half of the jokes were good, but half of the other jokes and sexual harassment really doesn't help this guy's case as a legitimate Anime Isekai Protag... whatever the hell that means. Jesus christ, I have never found raunchy stuff discomforting before. The stuff that he does is just so creepy and to chalk it up to an absurd version of "children's love" is beyond questionable. Old man mentality or fresh Isekai brain, the stuff Rudeus does is still unhinged sexual harassment.

It doesn't help that his IRL counterpart is actually the ugliest of all ugly bastards, I squirm around everytime I see it because I'm reminded of just how much he would better fit in an NTR hentai. IT'S THAT BAD. His backstory is serviceable, but it's portrayed unrealistically in my trashy opinion. They paint this ugly bastard witch hunting scenario and assume that the glossed over past should be enough for you to feel empathetic. But when Metamorphosis can paint a better picture of hardcore bullying in a single page, this extremity feels a bit facetious. C'mon light novel, you can do better than that.

Unfortunately, you're just supposed to deal with it. That this guy eventually becomes good and that he actually becomes a legitimate dude down the line. What a typical trashy light novel investment tactic. If I could recommend you to skip this season, I would. Alas, I unfortunately can't. You really do need to watch season 1 to at least get a semblence of the amazing world building and its intricacies. If you were to skip straight ahead to season 2, you would find your experience to be mostly the same as if you watched season 1. Half-good half-revolting raunchy cummies, a slow build up that might not even pay off at all, but at least the world building in both seasons is pretty good. If you plan on actually venturing into this degen hole, you might as well watch season 1 and see if you pass the litmus test.

Could I recommend Mushoku Tensei season 1 to you? Absolutely not. Could you try to recommend Mushoku Tensei season 1 to anyone? All I will say is good fucking luck.

Even though I had a good time watching it, I find Rudeus' constant lecherous behaviour to be a major turn off. His shit-eating grin is a consistent reminder that his ulterior motives for women is to stick 2 in the pink and 1 in the stink. Even for degenerates like myself, it's a very hard recommend because you can't remotely rationalize this madman's behaviour. I can only recommend this to gigachad degens like myself, who can see through the garbage and can enjoy a pretty decent story. That's why I give Mushoku Tensei season 1 a 5 and not a 6. 6 would give it too much credit for the landfill of trash that we the viewers have to wade through.

When you're THAT deep within the rose pink abyss of degeneracy, you know as much as I do that no god would be willing to save you. 5/10.

But season 2...? That's the real deal. Until next time, kiddos.

"There is no purgatory for war criminals. They go straight to hell ambassador."
-Ukraine UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya to Russian counterpart Vassily Nebenzia

Oh boy. This is the third time that I'm rewriting this review. I think I finally figured it all out though. FYI, spoilers ahead.

No, 86 is still not a masterpiece. It will never be a masterpiece.

A masterpiece, in my humble trashy opinion, is a piece of art that could withstand intense scrutiny from all sorts of different angles. In this case, it would need to be rated on how well it portrays war and drama.

But anyone who's as much of a war junkie as ... myself can tell you that the war they portray in 86 is nothing but a facade, with the allure of extreme elements to hook you in the show. In the first season, they spent a lot of efforts conveying the themes of war but don't elaborate on them because they have a melodrama to tell. The 2nd season continues to exasperate the problem, with more basic philosphical questions and a SHOUT OUT TO LOGISTICS BAYBEEEEEEEEE

Anyways, this is all fine because you have to remember that this is being aired on Japanese TV. And you know how wacky and drab Japanese TV can be. Personally, I despise the existence of 86 on a fundamental level exactly because it isn't meaningful in any sense. It is the epitome of controlled media and trying to make war... accessible and digestable to the average consoomer. More on that later.

If I had to compare 86 to something, it would be a modern poem, despite me not being a poem gamer. It tries to tell a melodramatic story, but its content and its strength is intentionally limited by the medium. You are not going to learn about the true atrocities of war from a Light Novel, for crying out loud.

When the 2nd season makes the first season feel pointless and tacked on, what was the point of the war and its associated themes in the first place? There isn't. 86 wanted to emphasize this meaningless war against "alien" AI. But there's nothing alien about it, despite being "decentralized bcuz AI lmao." If you still think that this is a war with aliens, did you suddenly forget that the Legion were created by the Empire of Giad? Did you suddenly forget that we humans invented computers? Computers that would form its intelligence over computer bits that we HUMANS invented? Let me remind you that everything happens for a reason. The undefined inception of the Legion is no exception.

So if 86 isn't about the war, what is it about? Well, wayward reader, it's about Shin Nouzen and his pathetic past. A past that's so poorly written that it kind of scares me, to be honest with you. As if the existence of Seraphine's instagram created by Riot Games wasn't harrowing enough (for emphasizing the epidemic of mental illnesses instead of correcting it), now we have kids who can relate to Shin Nouzen and his pointless T R A U M A.

I don't write books, but even I can tell that basing your characters off of mental illnesses alone is a very questionable idea. Especially if you need to build a drama off of said mental illness. PTSD is the reason why Shin is so... reserved and edgy... yet somehow massively appealing? When you write about mental illnesses, you tread on very thin ice. You must be able to capture what makes mental illnesses a horror to think about. Anything less than that and the writing would instantly become questionable because it wouldn't encapsulate the complexity of it.

In my opinion, there is something seriously wrong with relating to mental illnesses. It's a shockingly grim reminder that these issues are merely accepted in this society, with seemingly no hope to tackle the underlying issues at hand. When you take a look at US army vets from Afghanistan, you'll never hear anything positive about them. You either hate them for perpetuating a pointless 20-year war (despite bringing a peace that gave Afghan women a chance to actually walk the streets) or you hear about how much PTSD the vets get. We, as the younger generation, shouldn't look at this and be like "Ah, yeah man, Shin Nouzen's PTSD is TOTALLY relatable and TOTALLY adds to MUH IMMERSION!!!" That's... something else right? But when you hear that kids defend Seraphine's instagram for being "immersive," the grey area surrounding all of this becomes insanely more grey, wouldn't you agree?

Now, Shin Nouzen's character is entirely based off of PTSD alone. There isn't enough material to fully flesh out his backstory because the author has elected to drip-feed that information, not realizing that the stuff that happened prior to the war is specifically the secret sauce I was looking for. I would have been much more intrigued and invested in Shin Nouzen if he had a better excuse than "Oh, I think my dead friends left me, so I have to go join them because I want to die too."

But that's the thing about being a soldier though. The higher rank you are, the more you're reminded of what you've signed up for. Death is natural and expected, yet are we supposed to let that bitter weight completely define us as an individual? How could you wish for the sweet release of death when you are spreading the religion of hope at the same time? You don't, because doing so would showcase just how feeble-minded you are. That's why Major Milize (somehow) has a bigger dick than Shin Nouzen. Ouch.

Did Shin just suddenly forget that his ALIVE friends would still die in his name? Does he give enough attention to his B-tier side-characters? Of course he doesn't. He only has the hots for Major Milize. Despite how much I fundamentally disagree with this show's ideas, its characters were surprisingly well depicted when they AREN'T being insufferable high-schoolers. This is something that I couldn't cover in my review for season 1, since the review was preliminary and could only cover 4 episodes. But after watching season 2 and the special, I can believe that the emotions and ideas expressed were genuine and had obvious good intentions.

But all of this to say that 86 is anti-war is... a bit disingenuous. Yes, its ideas are most certainly respectable for being anti-war. Yes, its ideas are fleshed out enough to produce reddit essays telling you how to feel about these segments on a basic level. But it's not fleshed out enough to truly mean something. That's where it fails as a war anime, let alone being an anti-war anime. Its explicit focus on drama is the sole reason why I rated this a 1. Because 86 is not about war.

Being anti-war in this day and age is rough, especially when there isn't a war happening. Consoomers don't like extremely sensitive things and if you push them too far, they'll just flat out quit and move on to some other mundanity. But when true war is only about the terrible things, conveying that to people is an obstacle in of itself. That's why I believe that war stories should always be bad, icky, terrible, literally every negative adjective in the dictionary. It's supposed to be *that* much of a turn-off because it clearly demonstrates humanity's greatest enemy - itself. No matter how you look at it, war can only invite death to settle the profoundly stupid global temper tantrums. But when war happens, you bet your ass that we anti-war junkies will always answer the CALL OF DUTY!!!

So when you introduce ideas from something terrible, it's great because you're paying homage to the past that defines the present we live in today. But when you don't elaborate on those ideas, is it still a great idea? Or is it merely another fart in the wind?

86 falls under the latter category, being definitive proof that it's nothing more than typical anime junk food that capitalizes on normie emotions. Its brazen branding and merch game speaks miles of its true intentions. Because of that, I think that 86 is the perfect vessel for Japanese Media to pretend that it's anti-war. Think about it man! 86 is the closest to anti-war in mainstream anime. Sure, there might be a few oddball titles out there in the recent years, but none has the reach of 86. And with anti-war messaging that poor, it's very clear that any studio that takes a stab at a true anti-war anime would not survive.

If you know anything about Japan, it's that its hands aren't clean nor friendly, especially because it doesn't want to face it's past. Japan still has tensions with China after all, despite being a (formerly) non-beligerent country. Funnily enough, 86's material isn't even based off of Japan's atrocities in the second Sino-Japanese war. Tldr, Japan started what was essentially Asian WW2 in a series of incidents. China, they're still (understandably) mad over the Mukden Incident (see: Senkou no Night Raid). I bring this up because 86's material is loosely based off of Nazi Germany, at least with how egregious their persecution is. But at least Germany extensively apologized for its atrocities and has regained the respect of neighbouring nations. Japan has not.

Don't worry, wayward reader. This discussion isn't going to devolve into what-about-ism. I guarantee that because I honestly don't care about any of these tensions. I was born and raised in North America, so none of this history matters to me. But it isn't exactly inspiring as tensions remain high. It makes me think about 86 and how much it can inspire people to be anti-war.

And when I read the anime reviews and general reception... well...

Generally, war anime typically avoids talking about atrocities for obvious reasons outlined above. Anime, in the same vein as video games, are often a vessel for ideas and escapism - it doesn't need to be something legitimate unless it wants to be.

I understand that this sort of material isn't easily digestible. That's fine. The overwhelmingly positive reception? That's fine too! I harbor no ill will towards anyone who was involved with the production of this show. They clearly had a vision and they enacted on it. End of story. Who am I to contest that?! I'm just some armchair anime-tiddy connoisseur! They were successful after all!

But god damn. It's really saddening to see the top reviews review the anime on pure anime metrics alone. It's like they're not even factoring in the "war" factor because they're not gonna bust out the history books and absorb everything in it - which is perfectly fine. I believe that none of these reviewers have displayed any capacity of understanding the issues that 86 presented, and it's totally fine that they don't. But I won't recognize their reviews when they can't and won't explore the vile depths of hell known as war. The overwhelming positive vibes clearly demonstrates 86's success with its dramatical theatrics instead of honing in on proper war elements.

When Call of Duty can depict devastation and anti-war sentiments better (see PS. for explanation), it makes 86 look like an angelic, fanatical soliloquy, seducing young and bright kiddos that don't know any better. What a fucking shame.

If you absolutely love 86, you've clearly displayed more emotions to Shin Nouzen's story than the undefinable one that the 86 supposedly have. The fact that people aren't thinking about war and are praising the anime for being an anime is definitive proof that A-1 Pictures would rather have you buy their merch instead. They don't care if you become more anti-war or not. If you've bought their books, their figurines, and other assorted merch, you've already contributed to the disappointing consoomerist intentions of this show. That's why 86 will never be a masterpiece about war. And that's okay, right kiddo?

86 is proof that you don't let the kids fight in the war. You leave the fighting to real men. Slava Ukraini. 1/10.

Score breakdown (Base 5):
+2 Half-decent melodrama.
-6 Not about war.

Until next time, kiddos.


PS. Call of Duty did stupid war shenanigans better than 86. All of the Modern Warfare games (COD4:MW, MW2, MW3, MW2019) depicted stupid destruction far better than 86. Anti-war sentiments were also depicted better in COD:World at War, with the entirety of Chernov's character. He may have been a side thing, but his appearances were more effective than Major Milize's low-fi table discussions. The dialogue variations at the final mission were so much more harrowing than any of the anti-war messages 86 had. Go play them, they're stupid fun games.

Oh boy, a Korean Webtoon that hits ALL the right vibes but manages to be completely meaningless.

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (or ORV) is about an underdog hero who had faithfully and loyally read a webnovel to its conclusion. You can say he's dedicated, since he turned out to be the ONLY reader after 3,149 chapters.

It's easy to see why ORV is so appealing. It's your typical... I guess "hybrid" isekai where the world manages to turn into a video game. It has fresh and interesting ideas, blending in RPGs with a worldwide battle-royale streamed to the... stars in the sky.

But not only does the world-building fail ... to captivate me, I just found the story to be oh so very DRY. I dropped this webtoon at chapter 21. I think I gave it a fair enough shot.

At the very least, I expected a functional game because well... I'm a GAMER. As sexually repre- cringe as that sounds, do I really need to explain myself? Do you not understand the significance of my undoctored photo of Marianne smiling? Hmph. Casual.

Even though my expectations are bare minimal when consuming media, ORV manages to be even worse than my baseline expectations. Not only does it fail to prove that it's a game, it abuses the creativity of game mechanics solely to drive the plot forward - a catastrophic and fatalistic flaw.

Where do I even begin with this mess? Well, let's just start from the little details. Whatever the hell this "game" is called, it appears to be an RPG from the onset. You have stats and skills to complete your objective. You even have traits, which allow for a "General Evaluation" of the character. What's repulsive is that all of the things I've mentioned are more labels than anything. While that IS what they are in typical RPGs, the way ORV uses them is to merely assess a person's capabilities and personality. But you don't need to be a GAMER to tell that the edgy teenager has the "Edgy Teenager" trait, or that the Reader can read text faster. It's this uninspired creativity that makes me think that "Press F to pay respects" had more meaning than this.

Okay, but what about something tangible ORV has? You mean the "regressors"? They just seem like the same archetype as "Edgy Teenager". You can't tell me that "Regressors" have a special meaning behind them because they don't. They're innately edgy because they look like they've seen some shit. And those Dokkaebis? Seems like a cop-out that act like tangible beings for the CONSTELLATIONS to watch via twitch.tv. Bleh, the Constellations. They're these beings that sponsor your journey to beating whatever game this is. Through a dialogue box, you can basically surmise what they're thinking and that their donation of a paultry 100 coins is enough to say they like what you're doing.

Ugh, these dialog boxes are my biggest gripe with this webtoon. They tell the reader (both Dokja AND you) EXACTLY what they need to know. But these boxes are EVERYWHERE and explain SO much that you don't even need to think about what's going on. Oh, slap a kid? You'll get 5 dialog boxes from different constellations that basically tell you whether or not they approve of your action (they don't). It feels... too convenient. Almost as if the author is using game mechanics for sheer convenience...

But hold on Mr. Chips901, if you were actually IN a game, you'd actually want that kind of information to drive your decision-making. And you'd be correct, wayward reader. But this convenient information doesn't stop at what the gods think of you, the convenience extends to EVERYTHING. From the skills to the traits, all of it is just too convenient and the writing is to blame here.

Yes, I'm saying the writing is trash. Because in the first "game," Dokja SUDDENLY becomes super OP and is already well beyond our mortal comprehension. I mean, he literally has a skill called "FOURTH WALL" without any description to its abilities or capabilities. Holy shit, the authors are BRAZENLY going for the WOW and SHOCK factors! You'll never know what THE FOURTH WALL is fully capable of, but it can negate you from fear, block people from spying on you, and can even do your final exams for you so that you don't flunk high school. Neat! Now, if it could do my taxes and date my women for me, only then would I consider it "overpowered."

The point is, this shitty facade of a game won't work on me. The story bombards you with window dressing words to tell you that Dokja's playing the game right. But do YOU know what's going on? The answer is no. If you did, you'd be able to explain the significance of everything exactly BECAUSE it's a game. The failure to prove otherwise means that the game... isn't really a game.

Okay, let's move on to the lack of foreshadowing. Every situation/conflict/obstacle that the characters face are all so predictably boring. Instead of using what you have in the environment to formulate a solution, which would showcase the writer's creativity, ORV almost always elects to tell the reader that Dokja had it all figured out all along. All of this is presented in the SAME moment that the problem is being solved instead of showing the character doing ominous things for the future. It's exactly like you inviting me to a hardware store to assassinate me. And instead of using the wealth of tools at your disposal, be it a hammer or screwdriver, you instead call in an ICBM missile to blow up not just me, but the entire hardware store solely because you want to look cool. +++++S T Y L E.

Isn't it obvious that this webtoon isn't for me? This is a story that doesn't need you to think about anything, really. The story lays itself out, from how characters feel to the most overly convoluted solutions for convenience's sake. If you don't like substance in your anime because it simply hurts to think about it, you'll enjoy this story just fine. But even if this webtoon "gets good" much later, I just don't see a point to it when I'm being spoon-fed everything from character expressions to THE PLOT TWISTS.

What's the point of the journey if you know where you're going? There is none. Curiosity is what drives your passion and reasoning. The lack thereof proves that the journey isn't a meaningful one. In other words, I find ORV completely tasteless because there's nothing to be curious about. Its ideas are great ones, but it can't manifest itself into something much greater. If ORV had something going for it, then I would have already found out within the 21 chapters that I read. And if you still think that I'm missing the point, then please enlighten me. If you can prove that ORV had something worth reading about, then I shall continue reading and change the rating accordingly.

"A Reader should fight like a reader." - Chapter 21. This is where I gave up. Everything about this statement shows just how unfortunately shallow this webtoon is. Go ahead, go outside and announce to the world that ORV is the next greatest thing since Sex 2. I'll just go play a REAL video game like Hades instead. Just be back before dinner, mkay?

Megalo box 2 is the power to take a step forward.

Sequel to the popular Megalo box, Megalobox 2 subverts expectations from the very beginning. With a story that isn’t centered around a protagonist, Megalo box 2 hones in on a more personal touch.
Megalo box 2 kicks off in the future, taking place after the events of the iconic match between Joe and Yuri. It showcases this absolutely secret sauce of elaborating on the direct future, something most media don’t even consider. But this sauce is one of the most delectable ones out there, as I haven’t found a single instance where this sauce has tasted ... remotely rancid (yet).

Anyways, the reason why I find this secret sauce so mystical is because it always adds a lot more to the table. Megalo boxing gear (which existence I’ve always found perplexingly odd) has evolved, the world itself has evolved, but the only person who didn’t evolve is Joe.

For reasons unknown, he has taken up the path of illicit drugs and returns to the underground, permanently harming his full potential as sniffing dirty sugar would rightfully wreak havoc all over his body. Yet this show is not centered around Joe’s rehab, it’s moreso about the impacts of Joe’s legacy. Yes, this means you are required to watch the first season. Because this second season builds upon the impacts of something truly legendary.

Inspiration is the word I would use to describe the general mood of show. Inspiration as an emotion is very hard to pull off in media exactly because it requires a well-established world to back everything up. Without inspiration, you’re lifeless. But with it, you can dream, hope, and walk your way to a better tomorrow.

Okay, but having a pre-well-established world is only step one. Execution is step two. Megalo box 2 kicks off its first arc by depicting the plight of immigrants who are settled in an abandoned amusement park. This arc isn’t convoluted at all – big bad mafiosos try to evict poverty-tier immigrants. Unfortunately, that’s where I’ll stop talking about the story since it would just be me regurgitating the plot. To take a deeper look would spoil the fun. But everything else is the real deal.

The characters, if it wasn’t obvious from their circumstances, feel real. They all say the same thing about how they were all inspired from that singular match, but they all walk vastly different paths. It’s this variety and depth to these characters that makes them so interesting and believable. Therefore, I unfortunately cannot describe why these characters are so good simply because the show is built around them. It is exactly like Ping Pong the Animation in that regard.

My favorite characters are Yuri, Chief, and Liu, all respectable people that vary wildly in appearance. Chief is the de facto leader of the miserable immigrants. He bolsters a gear that’s thicker, making it defensive in nature. Liu on the other hand wields a gear that’s lighter and nimble, fitting for a fuck boy with dyed hair. I didn’t like Liu at first, his appearance gave off this cocky and egotistical vibe comparable to an insufferable influencer. But by the end of the series, he was as respectable as the rest of the cast. Yuri… well I didn’t expect anything from him and I got everything from him. Mac, despite being as fleshed-out as the rest of the cast, was my least favorite character. His story was too generic and tasteless for me to relate to. But again, I can’t describe the circumstances as that would heavily lean into spoilers. If you want to know why, shoot me a DM.

Mabanua returns to score the soundtrack of the second season, and my god. It is inspiration and then some. The general tones are vastly different from the first season with it feeling significantly more personal this time around. I have to commend him for this masterpiece of a soundtrack, being able to describe to my ears what a nomad returning home would sound like. On top of that, he’s still able to bring unique hyper vibes that the first season’s soundtrack is known for. I’m not sure if he executed the Latin music themes down to a tee, but those somber tones are truly chilling because they shouldn’t be such a downer. Favorite tracks are Liu’s theme, Determination (obviously), and the theme of NOMAD (both regular and UNPLUGGED).

The reason why I rated Megalo Box 2 a 9 is simple. The last episode was one of the most uninspiring endings I’ve ever seen in my time of watching anime. Not only was it purposefully and utterly predictable, it betrayed most of the values that made Megalo Box so good. Megalo Box 2 had the unique opportunity to send it off with a bombastic finale like the first season did. With Joe out of the way, watching matches is akin to watching it in real life because you aren’t able to predict how the match will end.

But this match was significantly different because it lacked the tension that made the fights so good in the first place. It was like I wasn’t watching a fight, but rather a montage of the good being good. It even went full anime despite being a well-grounded series. I would cringe if I had to rewatch the ending of Megalo Box 2. While you may enjoy the ending far more than I will, I just wish the ending had more bite to it. If season 2 throws out some of the tensest matches you’ll ever see, the ending is the limpest, wimpiest dick punch you’ll ever witness. It did not finesse its strengths and masterful tension, it did not flex, and it certainly did not entertain.

Megalo Box 2 showcases the lasting impacts that stem from something truly legendary. It showcases people that choose their own destiny, boxing for a very real purpose. It’s inspirational and only adds to the fact that Megalo Box is the real deal. If I were to be blinded by the light that is inspiration like the rest of the characters, I would gladly walk towards it to just see how far I can go. See you at the top, dear stranger.

Ping Pong the Animation takes no prisoners.

With director Masaaki Yuasa at the helm, he’s able to transform a “seemingly lame” sports drama into one of the greatest anime of all time. I say “seemingly lame”, because here in North America, we see it as more of a friendly sport rather than something truly serious.

Ping Pong the Animation is about two high-schoolers with a monstrous talent for Ping Pong. It describes an athlete’s journey to the very top, the best of the best, the one percent of the one percent. Even though it’s primarily about Ping Pong, its messages can be applicable to real life in ... regard to chasing your passions. It’s for this reason alone that I think that Ping Pong the Animation is, without a doubt, a masterpiece.

You don’t need to be a connoisseur of art to understand just how rich the show is. You don’t need to be a sports athlete to relate to the characters. All you need is a pinch of curiosity to explore the unfamiliar.

Conversely, as outlined by multiple reviews, you can find it pretty easy to dislike this show. The art style for instance, is an easy point of contention. From the beginning to the OP, Ping Pong the Animation SCREAMS that it’s not like any other anime you’ve ever seen. Its obtuse art style may deter those who were expecting large anime eyes and XXL bonkhonagahoogs of the anime tid. The story too can be seen as a bundle of cliques because it doesn’t seem to do anything unique. They have tournament arcs… They play Ping Pong seriously… I’m just going be frank with you, I don’t watch sports anime so I can’t relate to this critique at all lol

Let’s first talk about the art style. It’s rough, unorthodox, blended 2D and 3D, and overall, kind of UGLY. But as you watch through the series, there’s this inexplicable charm that exudes from it. As the show progresses it enthralls you with a lot of soul. The one aspect that might throw people off is just how mutable the art style is.
The OP and later episodes demonstrate this. Hell, even the posters for this show is vastly different than what the show actually presents. The later episodes have moments where they swap to a more cartoon-y and 3D style, blending in just as well as how Space Jam does it. As the colors aren’t shaded, they allow for the 3D to flourish just enough to slow the pacing a little.

Of course, this isn’t perfect. This anime came out in 2014 and the 3D is still easily distinguishable from the 2D, and that’s a good thing. Because it shows that the presentation and execution was done immensely well. You wouldn’t need to criticize the 3D moments because their impact is so minimal on the overall enjoyment.
There is also another egregious flaw in this diamond in the rough ala reusing footage. Yeah, I’m not going to sugar coat this one. They reuse animation clips, even going so far to repeat said clip twice with only one shot in between. This can also be used as ammunition to deter it from being a masterpiece, but I don’t believe that this is a fatalistic flaw. These repeated clips are only used for style points and still convey what they want to convey. I will admit, it is a bit tiresome to watch the same flashback with the same clip that just has a different filter on it. I can’t defend it, but I also don’t care about the flaw since it still fits in the show just fine. Even though I felt like I yearned for more Ping Pong action, I was never mad when they repeated the same flashback ad nauseum just to remind you that each player has their own personal stake in the match.

And that’s because when Ping Pong the Animation shines, it truly shines bright. Like a supernova, anyone who watches will be dazzled, seduced, awestruck. Those who miss it because they had a long day at their 9-to-5 job will be confused or depressed as they miss out on such an ephemeral yet visceral event. Thankfully, said event can be archived, much like how we can still watch a 7-year-old anime (at the time of writing) on the interwebs.
Let’s talk about the presentation. It is a complete upgrade from the manga, faithfully adapted with everything and then some. With overhauled visuals that look fittingly modern, Masaaki Yuasa’s masterful story telling is employed to full effect here. He translates each panel masterfully, and even adjusts the story to better suit the medium. On top of that, each element of the show has so much soul infused into it. From the story down to the subtitle translations (or even the dub for that matter), every moment feels like true art because there was so much care put into it.

Like Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, a literal urinal that managed to change how contemporary critics and intellectuals view art (in other words, paving the way to how people view modern art today), Ping Pong the Animation invites us to accept its challenge, straight from the blu-ray cover. The cover looks strikingly intriguing because it’s clean, drawn in a classical anime way to emphasize everything that’s important in that single frame. In this case, it’s the characters. I’ll briefly go over the characters later. For now, let me explain why Ping Pong the Animation absolutely obliterates the three-episode rule.

Ping Pong the Animation begins its ruthless massacre from episode 1. Shattering a person’s ego is as close as you can get to killing important main characters in any media, and Ping Pong the Animation does it without even blinking. It’s a story about chasing your passions and climbing to the top because…

“There are some sights you can only see at the top.” – Koizumi, ep2, Blu-Ray translation.

Nobody cares that you were a top-tier athlete for your local high-school unless you were talented enough to be world-class. Only then would you have the world witnessing how powerful your existence is, basking in whatever glory you can bring. To stand at the apex of your passion showcases PURE ascension beyond the enthusiast tier. To stand as a king, a master of your subject allows you to look down on your cute plebian kouhais as they squirm around practicing a move you learned and mastered in mere minutes. Beyond the 98th percentile lies the 99th and 100th percentile. Beyond the S-tier lies the SS-tier and SSS-tier.

Ping Pong the Animation is as meta as any A-tier (and above) sports anime, with my closest comparison being Whistle! or Touhai Densetsu Akagi. It exemplifies and fuses every element needed to become a world-class athlete. In other words, Ping Pong the Animation needs to prove that it’s the real deal, and it does that by building itself up to the first tournament arc in the third episode. As stated earlier, Ping Pong the Animation begins its merciless assault from the get-go. It doesn’t seem like anything interesting happens until the very end where two characters duel it out in a “friendly” match. This is where the duelist nature of the sport truly shines, as it’s this vicious energy that drives each character to win and obliterate their opponent. And it’s only after this first duel that you know that you want to see more. Episode 2 follows the same structure, the same song and beat. You’re left HUNGRY for action, craving the destruction of egotistical bastards who think they’re the shit. Then for the third episode, Ping Pong the Animation doesn’t blue-ball the viewer. It capitalizes on their anticipation by jumping straight into a tournament arc. Even though the characters aren’t quite as fleshed out as they can be, the results speak for themselves.

Character growth is Ping Pong the Animation’s strongest and most legendary strength. It transcends the original adaptation, making the original manga look poor and weak in comparison. I won’t bore you with the differences here, though.

Enter the heroes, Smile and Peco. Smile enjoys playing Ping Pong on a casual level, but stifles his own talent when breaking a sweat is more of an annoying chore. Peco can only be described as a cocky son of a bitch who thinks he’s the shit. It’s the journey of these two characters with an unparalleled talent that showcases what honest and true passion looks like. You WANT to keep an eye on these characters because they CAN speak with their skills. When other characters recognize their innate talent, you can recognize them as a force of nature that can and will destroy people’s dreams.

This bloodthirst isn’t exclusive to these characters, it extends to everyone. Each character in Ping Pong the Animation has a purpose, from the no-name grunts all the way to Kazuma “the Dragon”. They show you how they see Ping Pong. There are plenty of ways to appreciate a sport, but I think my favourite has to be…

“Sights where competition isn’t a factor,” Sakuma, ep. 6, Blu-ray Translation.

By the end of the anime, I was a sucker for nearly every single character. Each character had grown up or shown a powerful level of maturity and depth to them. As the world continues to spin another day, these characters move on from their ruined egos. This is where Masaaki Yuasa’s touch comes in, as each character has their own stylish theme, memorable appearances (minus Kaio high, their eyebrows are their personalities), and captivating story. To name a difference, the manga doesn’t elaborate on Kaio High nor Kazama at all. It’s exactly that focus on interpersonal relationships that proves just how strong each character is. Every single one of them are out there for blood, but only one can stand at the very top.

Even if it comes at the cost of sacrificing the potential of the story (if there was any, because the story is pretty clear-cut), I believe this is a fair trade. Watching these characters passionately crush each other’s dreams brings along this tension that you would only know of if you were slightly competitive in nature. This means that if you don’t give a shit about the characters, watching Ping Pong the Animation might be a complete slog for you. Because if you care about the technicalities and formalities, Ping Pong the Animation doesn’t provide much. It has flashy matches, but the full games aren’t shown. Players inspect each other’s racket and you’re told about each player’s playstyle through subtitles, but that’s it. They show moments of Ping Pong theory, but only enough for you to grasp the killing intent. Behind the scenes, there truly is a wealth of depth that isn’t explored, but that’s fine. It’s moreso about the characters than the theory, the melodrama rather than the actual game itself.

The soundtrack – holy fuck bro. It’s world-class, or at the very least, one of the most memorable anime soundtracks. When it comes to soundtracks, I mainly listen for emotional appeal, since my brain has a deficiency in braincells and can’t really grasp onto lyrics with whatever meaning they might have. After all, I sometimes daily drive anime OPs and have no idea what they’re saying until I feel like looking up a translation.

I can describe the entire soundtrack with a single word – passion. Can’t you feel it too? From the casual theme of the Katase High School Ping Pong Club to the existential crisis that is the Melancholy of the Dragon, each track is filled with this inexplicable passion that somehow only fits in Ping Pong the Animation. Yes, you can insert this theme wherever you want, but the roots are undeniably clear. China’s theme belongs only to an egotistical bastard named China. Butterfly Joe’s theme belongs only to a seasoned veteran who has seen everything the sport has to offer, beginning with a beautiful melody akin to sniffing sunflowers and transitions into a ferocious intensity of a boss theme. Of course, not every song is a masterpiece, but it’s worth noting that even the off songs still set the tone well enough to not be placed under intense scrutiny. Nobody cares that you can find 25 flaws within the Christmas jingle.

Enter the hero, enter the hero, enter the hero.

Upon saying this phrase, the hero from Planet Ping Pong swoops in and saves the day. To me, Ping Pong the Animation is sheer inspiration. In an ever-growing world filled with unique and unforgettable experiences, Ping Pong the Animation still stands at the apex. It is, dare I say it, objectively good.

Objectively, Ping Pong the Animation has no flaws, only blemishes. I’ve watched this show at least 5 times now. Each time, I’ve watched and enjoyed it all the same. I haven’t completely rewatched the show in dub, but the only flaw with the dub would be Kong Wenge’s voice. I’ve read the source material, and have found that the anime adaptation is so much more impactful, leaner, and transformative. If you’re able to spot a true flaw that can leave a stinky impression every time I revisit the show, please let me know. Otherwise, whether the blemishes affect your viewing experience is entirely up to you.

I honestly can’t trust anyone who rates this show a 4 and below. A rating of 4 would imply that they dislike Ping Pong in general. I can understand if they watched Ping Pong the Animation just to watch it, but to find the anime insulting is an entirely different thought process. I can understand brushing off this show as mediocre if they weren’t able to resonate with it. But saying that this show is terrible simply because it’s unable to match whatever standard they uphold as the very best can only showcase how they can’t place a limit on their own expectations. Such expectations are still fair, but it would be like trying to compare Ping Pong the Animation to Gintama, Ghost in the Shell, the newly released Arcane or even Squid Game (if you like C-tier nonsense). Following this train of thought would only lead to more and more needless subjectivity.

Ping Pong the Animation doesn’t care about your opinion because the show is having fun with itself. With its diverse art styles, invigorating story, and legendary characters, it’s clear that this is one of Masaaki Yuasa’s true masterpieces. Being able to transform something that took place in the 90s to something in the mid-2010s is certainly no easy feat. I’m not sure if I can call this an easy watch as I can easily rewatch this show for many times to come. But I can say that there is only one barrier that might prevent you from watching the show in its entirety – the obtuse art style. If you can’t even overcome that single barrier, then it’s not me gatekeeping the show, it’s yourself.

To simply refuse to watch Ping Pong the Animation because of its obtusity exposes just how conceited of an anime viewer you are. It’s exactly like judging a book by its cover and refusing to touch it with a 10-foot pole. And it’s okay if you feel insulted by my statement because this wasn’t directed towards you, but rather one of my best friends (you know who you fucking are, you bastard) who refuses to watch the show simply because of the art style. To feast on pointless seasonals instead of exploring the medium with your capable eyes is honestly a damn shame. On the otherhand, if you’re going to continue to be a connoisseur of seasonals, that’s perfectly fine. Just don’t come at me pretending to be a hot-shot snob (which thankfully, they don’t). Because praising a seasonal show as a masterpiece when it really isn’t only shows how incapable you are of being able to grasp the bigger picture. Can you really call yourself an “anime critic” when you can’t even explore the unfamiliar and default to the safe-space that is delectable seasonal trash? The answer is no.

Ping Pong the Animation can be the revelation you were looking for all your life or it can be one of the most mundane sports show you’ll see. To have watched the show already places you on a level higher than the average viewer because it’s definitive proof you have the capability to explore the objective unfamiliar. Ping Pong the Animation might not be for everyone, but everyone - at the very least - should give Ping Pong the Animation a chance.

Word count: 2773. Thank you so very much for indulging in the vomit that is my verbiage. Until next time.

(This review contains light spoilers)

Vivy Fluorite Eye's Song is a marvellous journey to watch. That's my TLDR, no snappy line to draw you in, nothing that would appease the fanboys but nothing to satiate the haters.

That's because Vivy - Fluorite Eye's Song is primarily a story-driven anime that appears to tick of a lot of checkboxes, but disappoints you when you realize that the checklist is nothing more than just a checklist. You can let your brain hit full criticality with this one by drawing comparisons to other works with zany sci-fi themes, but you'll sorely be disappointed when you find out that it doesn't ... offer any commentary on anything deep... anything that's thought-provoking.

That's okay, because it's not like Wit Studio are going to go on Github and post Matsumoto's source-code for everyone to scrutinize. It's also not like Wit Studio are going to crack open the "TiMe tRaVeL" books and deliver you a hard lesson on what they think time travel ACTUALLY is. Do they even fully understand what A.I. is all about? I couldn't tell you, I love anime tiddies! The point is, while the sci-fi elements are very integral to the story, they aren't the complete focal point of what you should be dedicating your brain cells on.

Wit Studio aims to tell a story about Vivy, a songstress A.I. that was chosen to prevent the war between A.I. and mankind. It definitely appears that Wit Studio aimed for the skies with this one, going 100% batshit-crazy to combine the genres "Musical" and "Thriller" together. Don't worry, I'll get to that later. For now, let's just say that it's very easy to feel apprehensive about this. I mean, this isn't the studio's first foray into original anime; they did create the mediocrity that was Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. Needless to say, my expectations walking into this were completely 0.

One of the strongest points of this anime is the base story. Wit Studio have practiced their "show, don't tell" skills to great effect this time around. Instead of telling us that there will be an inevitable war between AI and humans, they show it to us in the very first minute of the anime. In a gruesome and glorified fashion, no less. Even with the generic designs of a generic idealistic future, the generic pitiful humans you see cannot escape the brutally generic *BONK*. To prevent such an catastrophe, the fate of the world lies on Vivy, some songstress AI that can't even spit out a banger that's worthy of the mainstage. She's employed into the Singularity Project, tasked with preventing the calamity by meddling with specific events.

Throughout Vivy's journey (or Diva, I still don't know who Vivy is specifically and I'm beyond the point of caring), the anime kept asking a single question: What does it mean to put your heart into it? Even though the answer is quite obvious, it's much easier said than done. In a major gambit (without spoiling anything), Wit Studio spent 10 entire episodes fleshing out this journey. It never tried to directly answer that question (thank god), but it shows that Vivy could grow enough to answer that question on her own terms. And in a spectacular fashion too, from a simple amusement park bombing to LITERAL SPACE TERRORISM!! Say what you want about these scenarios, but they're meaningful enough so that anyone can invest their base interest in it. Of course, this means that you can't really derive anything thought-provoking from a "Musical Thriller," the answers they provide only serve to drive the story forward, and that's okay.

Suddenly, after 10 episodes, they were dropping info bombs like crazy; good ones too! Suddenly it made complete sense why Vivy/Diva was selected for this mission! Suddenly they justified a character's existence through a simple joke of "not updating software." I didn't say they were *all* good bombs, but they were crazy bombs nonetheless. Suddenly, the entire story (and by extension the point of me investing my time in this show) boiled down to a single song. I'm not kidding. Wit Studio had a few powerful plot twists that I couldn't see coming because I was straight vibing (and baked) with the joyride they were having me on. By the time I wanted to ask the important questions that may or may not cause my brain to hit full criticality, Wit Studio answered them for me instead with great timing. They're showing me what I want to see, and they're telling me what I want to hear. Check this off, check that off, so far, so good. So why was that song so important? Well, it's supposed to be a song that would make everyone happy, fulfilling Vivy's journey and ending the war.

But the song sucks.

It may be a cutesy JPOP song about hope, but in typical JPOP fashion, it felt soulless. You'd be hard-pressed to convince me that this is a song that only Vivy could sing. This entire song was supposed to be Vivy's redebut and final performance, yet fell incredibly short because of stiff competition ala Diva. Ouch. Just to be clear, I still gave Vivy a very low bar to clear with this song. The final song was based off of the lyricless ED that encapsulated a very specific flavor of melancholy very well (and was also composed by Vivy), yet fell short in the lyrical department. Unfortunately, this means that this song was served as a means to an end. It didn't show how Vivy put her heart into the song, which goes to show just how weak of a character she is. And I'm even not talking about Diva, though the whole alter-ego thing definitely didn't help my brain and only added to my sheer confusion.

Let's just talk about the characters, or the lack of meaningful ones. See, each story arc takes place in its own period, so there's always a fresh cast of characters for each AI issue they tackle. The scenarios are believable, sympathetic, and even meaningful in the context of Vivy's journey! But the problem is that each scenario is a self-contained tragedy. It's a double-edged sword, you don't need to be completely invested in these characters as the story progresses, but you also can't send faithful "thoughts and prayers" to a dead anime character. By the end of the show I didn't care about a single character, because each of them served as a stepping stone to Vivy's growth.

Despite the major 10ep gambit, I'm also inclined to say that it didn't pay off. My only expectation of this show was for it to show me a song that only Vivy could write. But because of the befuddling mess that is Vivy's growth, I'm left disappointed rather than yearning for more. This entire time I was lead to believe that Vivy and Diva were the same person and ego, not separate entities with their own "personalities." This was a dealbreaker to me because the show shoehorned Vivy as some important character, when she had 0 involvement and still suffered from the same existential crisis she posed to herself from the very beginning. Hell, I would even go so far to say that the song in EP1, the 5 seconds you hear before she does that pose (sung by Diva), is more of a bopper than the final performance. What a regression. And out of respect, I'm going to spare you my tirade on Matsumoto, who I thought was a complete eyesore.

I had to ignore a lot of things for one shitty JPOP song just so I can derive the slightest meaning and call it a day. There wasn't anything meaningful for me to remember this show by, outside of the OP and ED of course. It took place in an uninspiring idealistic future where the main selling point of the aesthetics are the graphically detailed shots of HOPE and PERSONALITY. Though if you ask me, Wit Studio did a better job at visualizing SPACE TERRORISM! It also wasn't like this is Wit Studio's top game, one of the fights only used keyframes without motion blur, making that entire fight feel uncomfortably stiff. I do have to commend them for the great pacing, leaving me on the edge of my seat at the end of every episode. But I can't find a single excuse to defend Vivy's godawful singing. I'd much rather listen to Diva instead.

At the end of the day, Vivy Fluorite Eye's Song is still one hell of a joyride. It's a visceral experience that I do believe is somehow worthy of the genres "Musical" and "Thriller." But just like any other joyride, I find it very hard to recommend it to those who demand a little substance. Oh well. Par for the course for Wit originals.

I tried REALLY hard to like this show. I really did. But when I found the answers that I was looking for, they just added to my frustrations.

After watching the second episode, something felt very off to me. There were giant red flags waving around, indicating the typical "A-1 light novel adaptation" style in the days of yore. But jumping to the conclusion of blaming A-1 for this atrocity - even that felt off to me too. So I browsed the forums and stumbled upon a podcast that dubbed this series as "a modern anime masterpiece." I thought I would give it a shot because ... maybe this podcast had some insights to why this show is hyped up. At first, I thought of it as nothing more than a joke, because they were using buzzwords like "Nazi Germany" and "emotions" and "ROMANCE" or something like that. But then I realized that they were talking about the light novel, and that's when I paid serious attention. Unfortunately, I don't really remember the precise wording of the podcast, but I do remember them saying that they were hoping that the anime adaptation would do this series justice. But after the third episode...

I am so sorry to announce this, but 86 is fucking garbage.

Everything happens for a reason, especially war. I'm a junkie for this kind of stuff because war is just inherently so complicated. It unites countrymen to fight against the looming threat, be it communism or whatever. The stakes are always high, proper logistics and coordination are required, the unparalleled camaraderie with your fellow squad members, and I can go on and on... But yeah. You get the point. I'm a junkie.

86 is about a war between a longstanding empire and the Republic. The empire used autonomous drones, slapping around the Republic and decimating their forces for a good year. After that, the Republic developed their own autonomous drones, promising a 'bloodless' war, but things are never that simple. The Republic drones are not only piloted by actual human beings, they're piloted by citizens that are stripped of their own humanity! What a shocker.

From this point on, there will be very light spoilers, containing information from the 86 wiki and VERY mild spoilers from the show. And strap yourself in, because this is a good one.

Story - 0/10, not even a 1/10.

It's easy to see why this show is so appealing. 86 draws a few parallels to Nazi Germany, with the Alba's (silver-haired people and eyes) blatant "racism and jingoism", but that's about it. On the other side of the spectrum we have the 86. Consisting of Colorata, a bunch of ethnic groups (26 of them to be precise) that are basically the Jews of the Republic. The biggest problem 86 has is the near absence of realism when portraying the war. Here's a simple question. Why is there a war? This question can be the most rudimentary and primitive one, but it's one that 86 fails to address, even in the wiki. World War 2 happened because Hitler convinced the Germans that they can get out of the economic rut by bullying the rest of the world. The Vietnam war happened because the US wanted to rout the communism out of North Vietnam. The War on Terror happened because of 9/11. Even Valkyria Chronicles, an underrated anime war RPG (ALSO adapted by A-1) taking place in an alternate WW2, the East European Imperial Alliance (anime Russia) invaded the Atlantic Federation (anime Europe) over what's basically anime oil! War happens for a reason. It isn't baseless. It's complicated. It's why mediocre works depicting war are often seen as a joke. They fail to capture the intricacies that make war so complicated and interesting.

86 is no different in that regard. There is no reason to have this war, no politics to complicate things, no ideologies to side yourself with, and no fight to fight for. You can say that the 86 are fighting for their own survival, but that's about it. They've been persecuted by their own country, so there's very little reason for them to fight outside of just trying to see another day. So why are they forced to pilot these garbage death traps then? Well... it's because of shitty politics.

Before I continue though, if you somehow don't know what democracy is, here's a very brief and quick lesson: Democracy is where the people vote in the representatives that represent the people's interest. Say you really want Taco Tuesdays at McDonalds for whatever reason. If you're of legal age to vote, you'd vote for someone that would make that a reality. If enough people vote for that one person and they get elected, they promise you that they'll work towards implementing Taco Tuesdays at McDonalds. Keep this in mind while I describe the politics of 86 to you.

In the world of 86, the Republic became the world's first 'modern democracy.' Everywhere else is ruled by a Monarchy. This isn't explicitly said in the wiki, but the words 'modern democracy' would imply that the Republic is a progressive country. This is seen through the immigration of the many ethnic groups the Colorata has. But because of how the Alba's advocated for this democracy, "the most humane form of government," they somehow became anime aryan supremicists overnight. So I guess the phrase 'modern democracy' got isekai'd into a brand new world, because the Republic president signed presidential order #6609 "Special Wartime Peace Preservation Act," or SWPPA. The SWPPA declared everyone of Colorata descent (remember, the 'minority') to be supporters of the Empire, and thus enemies of the state. This act revoked their civil rights and property, setting the stage for the 86 piloting the Republic's "autonomous bots." Of course, there were people that rebelled against this presidential order, but somehow the Nazi Alba put a violent end to the peaceful protests. So much for 'modern democracy.' So much for the voices of 10 million Colorata citizens who just wanted Taco Tuesdays at McDonalds, but received the equivalent persecution of a gas chamber. Life is simply unfair, don't you think?

Needless to say, this is one of the dumbest implementation of politics that I have ever seen. You don't just drift from "modern democracy" to fascism overnight. There has to be a significant catalyst involved. Just take a look at what happened to Germany before WW2. A very quick and dirty TLDR is that the world HATED Germany for the events of WW1. Treaty of Versailles, one of the main catalysts to WW2, heavily crippled Germany to the point where they had enough. But does 86 come anywhere close to this? Absolutely not. To me, it felt like the author just didn't think about this at all. As if they didn't want to deal with the can of worms she willingly opened herself. As such, they lose an important layer of worldbuilding that gives the war and everything around it more meaning. The light novel is around 9 novels in, and the anime? Well, there are bigger things than just worldbuilding. In fact, 86's world building is some of the worst worldbuilding I've seen in a while. It's been a long while since I had to actively search out information for a show, because I seriously didn't understand the world after 3 episodes. Nobody should have any lingering questions about war... because it's war. And yet, I don't see or understand anything that proves that 86 has a legitimate war.

As stated above, the lack of realism is what really makes this show absolutely lifeless. Why does realism matter THAT much to me? Well let me put it like this. If anime is a gourmet dish that everyone indulges in, then realism is how much salt you add to it. You'd add a pinch of salt to the dish to brighten up the flavors, to make the flavors just right, but adding too much salt makes the dish unbearable. 86 is the blandest chicken noodle soup MRE that I've ever had. All 86 needed was a simple reason for why the current events are what they are. A simple sentence like "The Empire wishes to prove their military superiority so they invaded the Republic with autonomous drones" or "The Republic of San Magnolia's president had a meeting with their cabinet members and they convinced the president to persecute literally every ethnic group (except the Alba, of course) in the country." Holistically speaking, these simple reasons don't need to make a lot of sense. At the end of the day, I'm watching an anime, not a war documentary on how the 86 got persecuted. But it's the subtlety that lets me be a bit more empathetic with the actors in this god-awful theatre of war.

And so, this brings us to the anime, which I haven't talked about at all up until now. There's a good reason for that. After doing my research and letting my thoughts simmer for a bit, I came to a simple conclusion. The fundamental problems that exist in the anime are also the same fundamental problems that the light novels have. That's why, even with zero expectations going into the first episode, I was massively disappointed by the world that 86 has to offer. It unnecessarily brings in extreme themes without properly fleshing it out. It downplays any consequences to any of the characters that does something absolutely BONKERS and OUT OF LINE. That's why I can't bring myself to blame A-1 for this dumpster fire, because it's very clear that the author just wanted the shock value of racial supremacy for their dumb little melodrama.

Characters - 2/10

You would think that the poor depictions of war would only fester within its lore and world, but it's also poorly depicted in the characters. Nevermind the dysfunctional military that the Republic has, that's part of the worldbuilding and I've already roasted it enough. Though, it's bad enough that I do have to reference it here.

The first problem that I should bring awareness to is twofold. First of all, the main cast (Lena and Spearhead Squadron) are all around 15-16 years old. Being underage in a war is one thing, but the kicker is that the main cast are all highly ranked within the military. This is a big deal, since military rank actually matters. It determines who gets to call the shots and who would make the harder micro decisions in a tense situation. You want to rely on higher ranked officers due to how much battle experience they have, and you wouldn't want to disobey them for a shitty judgement call made by a lower ranked person. You would think that due to their military rank that everyone would act somewhat like an adult, BUT THEY DON'T. THEY ALL JUST FALL INTO THEIR OWN ANIME TROPES. But, whatever. At least they all look cute/hot, right?

The Spearhead Squadron are all 2nd Lieutenants, which means that you would think that you can safely assume that these guys are battle-hardened war veterans, but this is one of the worst anime military squadrons I've ever seen.
Lena on the otherhand, somehow got the rank of Major at the young and tender age of 16. She may be very impressive at face value, but she has never actually fought in a battle before. This is one of the biggest red flags I have EVER seen in a war drama. There's a big reason why people need to "earn their stripes" before they have any actual authority.

Because not only does your military rank determine how much battle experience they have, it also determines how emotionally hardened they are. And from what I've seen so far? The cast is 100% anime and melodramatic, 0% realistic. Take the Spearhead Squadron for example. Even with how serious they are when it comes to the themes of this show, I can't get invested in these characters. None of them display any actual military experience. They're just there to pilot their dysfunctional toilet mechs on the battlefield and be typical anime characters outside of it. Any tension that this show tried to build through the use of extreme themes are immediately lost on me. There's already a pointless war, and now there's a pointless squad for a main cast? What's the point of all of this god damn FLUFF in my eyes?

UN-DA-TE-KA, the LAMEST squad leader I've ever seen, is just there to sit and look cool. And I guess he's edgy too, since he has been seen reading various books on war and politics (one of them includes Mein Kampf). But the fact that he's the leader of the squad makes it that much more disappointing when he doesn't display any real camaraderie to his squad. What's even more disappointing is that we haven't had a chance to see him be an actual leader. You can say that we haven't seen anything yet, but anyone whose as much of a junkie as myself would immediately spot the one instance where he could have displayed leadership. Y'know, the one instance where someone acted COMPLETELY OUT OF LINE and LAMBASTED THEIR OWN COMMANDING OFFICER FOR BEING AN ARYAN (she absolutely didn't deserve that because it wasn't her fault in the first place, but whatever. The entire scene was disappointing anyways).

And before I continue to Lena, I'm not going to review the rest of the squad. I already hate them due to the fact that they're all just there pissing around and not appreciating the work THEIR OWN COMMANDING OFFICER PROVIDES. Sure, I get it, the point of the series is to have fictional tension between the anime Nazis and the anime Jews. But hating on their commanding officer for trying to make things better would be like the Jews dunking on Schindler for being a part of Nazi Germany... despite the fact that Schindler is a very famous man by saving around 1200 Jews during WW2. And that was during THE HOLOCAUST.

Moving onto Lena, the character who I hate the least by a paper thin margin, she's the typical protagonist who's kind, prideful, smart, beautiful, and innocent. If it were up to actual Nazi Germany, she would have immediately been sent to the firing squad for her stunts in the lecture hall. But nevermind the fact that she's a major, she literally got saved from any consequence due to NEPOTISM OF ALL THINGS. I only hate her the least because her VA performance really does sell the fact that a 16 year old should NOT be entrusted with the rank of major. She also could have had the opportunity to prove why she is the major, but it's all about placating the viewers with pure and genuine (ONLY in the VA performance) shock value. If you think I'm being too hard on her, that's because of her military rank. There's someone else in a different anime series that has the same rank as her. It's Mokoto Kusanagi, from Ghost in the Shell. She's even nicknamed "The Major" for being a badass, for being battlehardened by the various missions she's on, AND DOESN'T LET EMOTIONS CLOUD THEIR JUDGEMENT IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT. And Section 9 is the PERFECT compliment to her, as their synergy is world-class! So, why shouldn't I be hard on Lena for being a mere 16 year old prodigy Major? Don't answer that. I already know you can't.

One very, VERY appalling aspect about 86 is the fact that it doesn't contain an antagonist. I'm not joking, if you look up the word "antagonist" on the wiki, you won't get any results. Something something the real war was the friends we made along the way? I understand that it's half drama and half action, but not having a villain in a war drama implies that the character's growth are based purely on survival. Which is fine... except for the fact that 86 takes itself too seriously. Oh, am I suddenly supposed to ignore the racial supremecy bullshit that they're shoving down my throat? Sure, I can do that. In fact, I'll even just ignore the war in its entirety. If we simply ignore the war, then we're just left with the "drama" and the "action" that's supposed to push our characters forward. But because of the lackluster worldbuilding and the fact that EVERYONE IS A TEENAGER HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE WAR, I'm starting to get a feeling that this is going to turn out to be yet another shitty melodrama. If I wanted a pointless war drama, I would have changed the direction to focus more on the smaller battles (Spearhead Squadron are constantly deployed to the frontlines) and day to day interactions. That way, the series could still use whatever... extreme themes they want, but the main focus would be on the characters itself and not exactly a 50/50 split on war AND drama. The war would still affect them, because war affects everyone. It just solely depends on how the author utilizes the factor of war... which should be painfully obvious that they don't want to utilize it at all.

Okay, I've dunked on this show too hard, so I'll dial it back a bit. Whenever I think about characters in a War Drama, I ask myself a simple question. "Can I trust these people to have my back?" If the answer is begrudgingly yes, then they've already failed me. I can trust their combat experience well enough I guess, but I don't expect them to have my back when times are dire for myself. Especially if I was an anime Nazi in their squad. They would probably let me die in the next mission. And that's where the war drama fails, because there's an untapped wealth of potential in exploring these types of relationships. But... whatever. It's just a light novel. I've already showcased how irrationally angry I can get.

Art and sound - 8/10

I do have to give credit where it's due, though. A-1 Pictures have done a fantastic job bringing the light novel to life. The designs are great and the world looks... well I can't comment on that because they haven't shown enough of the world yet.

If there's one thing that I hate, it's the mechs the Processors use. They look like a rust bucket and work like a dysfunctional toilet. But don't worry, I'm not dunking on it just because I can, the wiki also agrees with my sentiments. So, they got that right. And this brand of... mechs... aren't my style. I'm not a big fan of spider mechs in general, but maybe that's because I've been spoiled too much by the Tachikomas.

Enjoyment - 1/10

I wrote around 1.2k words for the story segment. That should tell you how much I enjoyed it (I absolutely hated watching this show thus far).

Overall - 2/10

Maybe I'm just too cynical, because that podcast put me in the mindset of wanting this anime to be a 'modern masterpiece.' But it wasn't like I was expecting a complete representation of Nazi Germany in anime form, that'd be way too easy to roast. What's clear is that 86 was never about the war, and it never will be. It's about the tension between the anime Nazis and the anime Jews being forced to work together. At face value, even I can appreciate what this show is going for. But after giving it a mere shower thought, 86's foundation of war crumbles like SAO's foundation of a game. All that's left of the husk are the raw anime emotions that everyone loves and consumes. And this show is hyped up because of those raw anime emotions. Another contributing factor would be that the show doesn't throw any punches depicting war, outside of the blatant anime aryan supremecy. And that's also okay with me, because war is rightfully a terrifying prospect that not a lot of people want to talk about. But if I were to describe to someone the complexities and intricacies of war, I would just say three words and walk away: War never changes. Any deviations to the formula would leave a disgusting aftertaste in my mouth because it's more of a parody at that point. But don't let me stop you from enjoying this show, more power to you if you do enjoy everything that I absolutely abhorred. After all, I'm merely a war junkie and am a fellow connoisseur of anime tiddies. I've been desensitized due to the frequent 'nam flashbacks that I get. I simply won't be able to experience the same emotions you would while watching this show.

Which is a shame because A-1 have supposedly done an amazing job adapting this light-novel. The fact alone that I managed to suppress my urge to defaultly blame A-1 for this monstrosity of a dumpster fire is a testament to how well A-1 have improved their presentations. But I can't be a proper judge of this, as I won't be touching the light novels at all. But if it means anything to you, I will still watch the rest of the season, just to see how the melodrama turns out.

If you wanted recommendations of something that's infinitely more hapless and impactful than this, pick up Muv Luv Alternative on Steam! It's +50hrs for $40USD without a sale, which is already a great deal for depression in anime form, but therapy is not included. I'm only plugging this here because apparently people haven't seen stories like these before, and I guess that's true to a certain degree.

In conclusion, 86 reminds me why I can never take light novels seriously. The author should have never borrowed ideas from something so established and terrifying without following up on it. To use those ideas solely to create tension in the dumbest melodrama... it's proof enough that 86 is one of the most pathetic pieces of war media I have had the displeasure of ever witnessing.