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In the opening act of the final episode of the 1st season, we see the Yuru Camp girls all grown up, with Rin arriving on her grandpa's motorcycle and Aki taking on the mantle of Miss Chug. Everything looks realistic until the punch line where Nadeshiko arrives on a rocket-powered tent. "Hey, maybe this is how we'll end up in 10 years?" "BS." Evidently someone saw this and said, "Hold that thought. No, not the rocket tent, that's absurd."

You get a taste of what the research and animation teams are capable of when the film starts with Shochiku's towering Mt. Fuji signature card and fades ... into a shot of Mt. Fuji at the exact same angle. It would have been much easier to trace or re-render Shochiku's Mt. Fuji, but because our intrepid heroines often camp where the sacred peak is visible, it was fitting that the studio found the exact same spot and drew it in their own style. While the characters are based on Afro's style, the backgrounds are of impeccable quality. After a scene where the girls look forward to what they might be capable of when they're no longer limited by age restrictions, the opening song by Asaka fires up, transporting us 10 years into a day in Rin's life as a magazine columnist.

The series has always been slice-of-life with a nod towards realism, but the film's central theme is "freedom, limitations, and revival". The opening act had the girls ready to embrace the freedom adulthood brings, while the film's events show them that for various reasons they can't do whatever they want. Sometimes they don't have the resources to make something happen. Sometimes Japan's shrinking population forces the issue. Sometimes a better cause gets priority for government funds and policies. Even though no one is harmed in this film (except maybe a 1990s-era robot), these adversities make the film all the more believable, and the solutions the girls come up with track with the feel of the show perfectly.

The other thing that makes it believable are the characters and the performances by the main cast. For the most part the glimpse of the future we saw in season 1 was carried over to inform the performances, but making sure to include what they've learned in season 2.

This time the big how-to narrated by Grandpa Shima is how to build a campground, in a corner of Yamanashi called Takaori. Its conversion into a campground parallels a real-life conversion story, and both were used to promote one another. While much of the dirty details are omitted, and the story takes a good deal of artistic license, if someone wants to turn an abandoned community site into a campground, this film isn't a bad place to start.

The soundtrack is what happens when Akiyuki Tateyama gains access to a full orchestra, which gives him the flexibility to start small with the Takaori theme using only a handful of instruments, almost going away completely when the project seems doomed to fail, and bringing in everyone for a rousing buildup to the climax. Personally I like his take on bluegrass and folk and there's a little of that here too, but you won't hear the stuff from the TV series except as small reprises.

This is a worthy coda to the Yuru Camp story, and yet a great way to keep the series going until the 3rd season.

Game-based productions aren't anything new. If they're any good, they can be like Fate/stay Night or Clannad; done poorly, well, there's no shortage of terrible Hollywood movies based on popular games, which should say something about Hollywood writing.

Here's a TL;DR: People who have played the game will appreciate the expanded backstory for the Jumi, but they may be put off by some plot decisions made by the writers. For those who have not, some elements will likely be a distraction from enjoying the series. As someone who has played and enjoyed the original game, I don't regret watching this, but I do hesitate to recommend ... it.

Visually, I'm of the opinion that the staff did the best they could based on the concept art. A lot of then-Squaresoft's concept art put people (particularly boys) in some, shall we say, unique costumes, and Legend of Mana is no exception. Creating character designs that can be animated but at the same time be faithful to the original concept and game artwork is no easy task, and I think they did all right, though it may be off-putting for some people. I did like the designs for the all-new characters Sappho and Marina, and if Square Enix had any sense at all they would make them a part of Echoes and release Legend of Mana style title card art featuring them (I won't hold my breath). The animation itself "felt" a bit amateurish to me for some reason. The studios animating this aren't ones I'm super familiar with, so this isn't Kyoto or Shaft quality by any stretch, and it seems that they ran out of time to finish the final episode because there are still or blank frames used at key dramatic moments. Hopefully they'll be filled in for the Blu-ray release, even if they're probably quite graphic.

As someone who has played the original, I enjoyed the recreated environments and the nod to the world creation system, but to be honest the stuff about artifacts creating places lost to time probably would have been a lot better had there been a fair bit of context from this era of Mana games.

In terms of performance and direction, again, I think the cast and director did a pretty good job. They managed to cast Kaori Nazuka with her massive vocal range for Pearl and Saori Hayami for Serafina, and while I have no idea who did the vocal direction, they clearly know what they're doing. Hayami also sang the opening and closing credits songs, the ending being a lovely Japanese version of the Song of Mana from the original game. And while the fantastic Yoko Shimomura wrote the soundtrack for both the original game (which is rearranged for the anime) and some additional tracks, she didn't write the opener, which is a bit of a shame. The intro's all right, it makes full use of Hayami's vocal talents, but it's not something exceptional, I skipped it after the first time just like any other intro.

That brings me to the more controversial bits, which is the story. The anime's plot hews closely to the events and dialogue in the game, with a couple of key distinctions. First and most important, the Jumi backstory is greatly expanded, so the new content involving Sappho and Esmeralda is well worth it for fans of the game. Second, unlike the game where you're compelled to pick the boy or the girl (now officially named Shiloh and Serafina), both player characters are part of the story. The anime progresses as though Shiloh is the player character and Serafina is a unique NPC, and there are some decisions made in the story specifically to include Serafina in some significant fashion that will be off-putting to some viewers who have played the original game. I'm honestly of two minds about this. On the one hand, having Shiloh and Serafina both involved can be amazing if written well. Serafina's character arc incorporates things that are already firmly established in the game's story, even in the Jumi arc itself. And yet, there's a simplistic feel to it, the plot twists felt like they were straight out of a 1980s Saturday morning kids' cartoon (think DC superhero movie but dumbed down), and the justification was 2 very brief glimpses into Serafina's past in the final episode that didn't really convince me. I think this could have been 2 episodes longer: 1 episode to delve into Serafina's past, and 1 more episode or a 1-hour finale because the final episode felt like a rush job other than the still frames. I think the idea itself is interesting enough to warrant giving it the time it needs, but unfortunately, that's clearly not what happened. I also think that dropping the audience into the story without the larger context of a shattered world is doing the game's story a bit of a disservice. Marina was introduced as a new character and even got regularly shown in the credits, but in the show itself she is criminally underutilized.

I can understand doing a series on part of this game's story. It can be a jumping-off point to do the other 2 arcs and even the broader story involving the Mana Goddess, or spinoffs that explore some of the one-off stories in the game or even content involving other Mana games like Trials or Secret. Clearly someone at Square Enix thinks the Mana franchise is important enough to greenlight this. But here's the thing, animation is expensive, and it wasn't important enough to Square Enix to invest in a quality production so other shows in the Mana world can happen-- if this show doesn't sell, sponsors will be more reluctant to invest in the franchise. It's a good effort, but I fear this might be the last production in the Mana world at a time when fantasy anime is a dime a dozen.

I'll keep this brief. Afro is about as insane as any manga artist gets, and the first half of the bonus episode is a Twilight Zone spoof, which is so right up his alley, he probably wrote the scenario for C-Station. And of course Aoi is the host.

The first scene was fascinating if a little unrealistic; it would be peak glamping if they shipped your gear to the campsite for cheap, including one of your friends in the improvised cold weather sleeping bag/box.

The second scene was right on the edge of funny and outrageous, a bit of a "what if a dystopian regime decided to ... open a 'campground'?" scenario. Don't bully Nadeshiko, fibbing sisters!

The third scene was like the first scene, only weirder, especially if you aren't familiar with Japanese mushrooms.

The second half is a bonus scene set during the Izu camping trip, very likely setting up the upcoming film.

There really isn't much to say, the animation and audio are on par with season 2.

The Yuusha de Aru canon is surprisingly big. There are several different light novel series focusing on different eras and character groups chronologically beginning in the AD era, 300 years before the events of YuYuYu. Additionally because of the limited length of the stories involved, it is quite hard to create a spinoff series based on another team other than the 2 that Togo Mimori / Washio Sumi were a part of. They were able to keep the momentum going just enough to release 3 feature films and later 6 TV episodes for WaSuYu, but it might be a very different story for the other ... novel series like Kusunoki Mebuki or Nogi Wakaba.

So it's understandable that the production went with the approach of giving us a glimpse into the other series through the eyes of the Hero Club, and retell the second half of the second season with more detail. While some moments from the prequel series are featured, it's rather clear that much of the new content centers around Mebuki and her team of Sentinels. We get to see some important moments in the inner workings of Taisha that led to the decisions made by absent adults in the first 2 seasons, and we get to know Mebuki's friends and her rivalry with Karin that predated the Hero Club.

And yet, whether because of time constraints or a desire to hold off, the prequel content featuring Wakaba was distilled down to a series of flashbacks, giving us little time to get to know half the team before they're cut down by the Vertex. We do see the primary conflict of the series between Chikage and Wakaba, but this is enough to spoil all the drama without animating the full 13 episodes. Perhaps it could be argued that the gritty realism might have been a bit much even for a Yuusha series known for extreme emotional drama and graphic non-sexual violence against young girls, but it might be better said that this is an introduction to the broader canon, beckoning the viewer to explore the stories of the other teams in the light novels and manga.

The all-new content centers on the Hero Club after season 1, giving us the charm that attracted viewers in previous seasons (with an additional layer of weird due to Sonoko stealing the show), and episode 1 features several songs released on a companion single. The final episode includes an epilogue for the YuYuYu time period, signifying that there probably will be no new content in Yuuna's story on the screen. It's a good ending, depicting how the girls have moved forward years after the final mankai.

Visually, it's on par with the first season, however there were a number of moments where the lighting/color grading seemed unnecessarily dark (some of the action cuts in the opening credits, for example). Speaking of opening titles, this animation sequence evolves as more of the canon is introduced, and the "releasing" vines towards the beginning is a really nice touch. The opening and ending songs are easily the strongest in the series. The soundtrack expands on the excellent soundtracks of previous seasons, culminating in a new track for the reprised climax from season 2. I think I prefer the original, but the new music was also quite strong.

Not long before the Blu-Ray release of episode 3, Bandai Visual released a teaser (first 10 minutes?) on YouTube, continuing the heavy action of the second round battle thus far. This teaser showed Chihatan clearly trying to isolate the Panzer IV from the rest of the team, which makes tactical sense as it's the brains of the operation and one of the strongest tanks in the team. But having knocked out Ooarai's 3 heaviest tanks (Mk IV, B1 bis, Porsche Tiger), Chihatan's mobility advantage is diminshed, making the odds more even. I predicted that if they focused too much on the Panzer IV (which wasn't ... even the flag tank), they would leave themselves open to an effective counterattack since they're losing sight of threats like the StuG III and Hetzer.

Yeah, spoiler warning. I thought it was just hilarious that the typically sleepy Mako is hyper at night, and Azusa as expected is becoming second only to Miho as a tactician. In the interlude part featuring the other teams' round 2 matches, I rather liked the fight featuring Erica, who finds her groove after a frustrating standoff with Pravda, and the scene in the lower deck bar where Mako enjoys a melon soda float. The 3rd round fight against Keizoku concludes the episode with a surprise, though honestly knowing Keizoku's commander and the 2nd round match against Saunders, anyone could see it coming.

As if to make up for the lack of anime physics from episode 2, the episode 3 fights turn the tank-destroying physics to the next level, from the super-fast Matilda IIs to the ever-ridiculous BT-42. There's no song number like in the previous 2 episodes, and the soundtrack is largely the same as before. There's a fun yet even more ridiculous extra episode on the Blu-ray, but that's a review for another day.

Next episode will probably become available in at least a year, and Ooarai will again be at a disadvantage. All signs point to St. Gloriana as the last boss, so it will be up to teamwork.

Perhaps in a nod to the long time between episodes, the production begins with a brief recap and comedy skit with team Turtle and the BC captain. Then after an updated opening title, we begin right where the last episode left off, with Ooarai having barely survived a brilliant trap set by the BC girls. But our heroes are at least as crafty, and the match ends just like you'd expect, complete with the stereotypical circular firing squad (and I've said too much already). There's a fantastic backstory to the BC team, which is fleshed out in a bonus episode that comes with the Blu-ray.

The ... middle part of the episode honestly felt a tad rushed, but this is understandable-- the production wanted to thoroughly develop the Japanese-themed team, Chihatan (also a hilarious pun on the Japanese Chiha tank), and it was clear that all the teams we've seen thus far would dominate the field in the first round. Round 2's match felt more visceral, with Chihatan utilizing the cutthroat tactics used by the Japanese army during World War 2 (without the war crimes). Ooarai turning the tables towards the end and Chihatan getting away with their lead intact was a satisfying drama to watch. I do like how they turned what was a one-trick pony, 2-dimensional comic relief team from the movie into a team that can learn and improve, even if they have to be tricked or ordered into it.

Visually, there's the usual cute girls riding physics-defying tanks, though there wasn't too much of the latter in the second round match. This episode features the second night battle, and with better lighting effects (muzzle flashes, tracer rounds, bloom effects) from the TV show along with better camera control (vibration), you get a much more immersive and intense show, thoroughly bringing the audience along for the ride. Likewise, the audio draws you in, using the fantastic soundtrack to highlight dramatic moments, and going heavy with the gunfire, the growl of the engines and treads, and armor pings to accentuate the fierce combat.

A fine addition to the Finale series, and it leaves you wishing for a time machine so you can watch the next episode.

Yet another foray into the Isekai genre. I swear I've seen like 15 isekai trailers this year alone. I know they're desperate for content, but yikes.

This one looked promising, cutesy characters (Kana Hanazawa AKA Nogi Sonoko's actress), interesting premise of "least popular kid in school becomes best hero", and overall looked fun.

What I saw instead was a Saturday morning kids' cartoon, except clearly aimed at teenage boys considering some of the fanservice and harem flags. Instead of telling a thought-provoking story we have events happening because Plot and all kinds of silly shortcuts like some rando at school teleporting everyone to another world because Reasons. ... I mean, I get it, "It's anime, you just go with it", but 6 episodes in and I was sick of it. It felt as though I were playing a game where I just dumped a few thousand bucks into it and it automatically gave me all skills and the best gear in seconds. This expectation of "instant upgrade" is one of the turn-offs of nearly all gacha games and other "free to play" stuff for me.

In fact it felt like a really cheap copy of the first arc of SAO: aside from the aforementioned "you're going to this fantasy world and you may not refuse" (which is seriously abused in nearly every isekai and I really wish they'd move on to something better), the "instant upgrade" of the first 2 episodes was like abbreviating Kirito's grinding.

So I mentioned "kids' cartoon"... I've watched anime aimed at young kids that didn't make me feel insulted to watch like this show, similar to the way some old American cartoons are cringeworthy. I haven't read the source material so I can't say anything about that, but the anime adaptation feels like something got rushed or dumbed down, possibly to save money, possibly a hamfisted attempt to broaden the audience, possibly producer/director shenanigans. In any case, I stopped at 6 episodes to ensure I have some working brain cells left.

I binged an isekai series because of CrunchyRoll's YouTube clips, number 3: Bofuri

I remarked that this is like a complete newbie to Dungeons and Dragons kept asking ridiculous questions and kept rolling natural 20s. "Hey, can I eat the poison dragon?" "Well, let's see here, roll for initiative... 20. Roll for damage... 20. Saving throw vs. poison... 20. Let's switch dice... 20. You know what, you're immune to poison."

Now, I hate MMOs, because I just want to play a game and have fun, not interact with potential trolls, griefers, and stalkers. So I completely understand our heroine getting the toughest shields possible and dumping all ... points to defense, although that wouldn't do anything for the social problems of griefing and stalking. It's supposed to be in VR, but that doesn't really matter, it's effectively an isekai. Well, all right, it's sort of like SAO but without the constant specters of murder and death. This is the kind of light-heartedness I can roll with. Part of the fun is seeing how Maple can inadvertently exploit the game and be a top-ranked player without really meaning to be a top-ranked player.

Visually, a good balance of 3D effects and 2D character animation, not jaw-droppingly great, not eye-clawingly awful, good enough to get the point across. Same with the audio. The characters aren't exactly Nobel literature prize material, but they're not cardboard cutouts either. All in all a fun romp.

I binged an isekai series because of CrunchyRoll's YouTube clips, number 2: Slime300

Back when games were much simpler, you could theoretically level all the way to the maximum just by whacking slimes in the starting area. It would take you forever, of course, because each slime only yielded 1 experience point. Intrepid electronic engineers could nowadays hook up a microcontroller and some transistors to the controller's buttons and have a machine learning model actually play the game in the starting area until the character's maxed out, which would honestly feel too much like a chore. So that in a nutshell is the premise of this ... story and the question that no one except that guy who is no fun at parties asked.

You couldn't do this in a modern RPG, of course, the XP scaling is just insane.

The rest of the show is pretty much what you'd expect. Something rolls by, takes one look at our heroine, laughs their pants off because she's still in the starting village, gets thoroughly pasted by the max lvl heroine, then joins the heroine's... party? Family? Whatever. It's predictable, it's cliche, and it's so satisfying when the challenger loses.

Don't expect epic story, super iyashi, deep themes, or even nonstop laughs. It's just a humble isekai.

In February 2019, a sequel series was announced for the hit anime Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, a mashup of isekai fantasy, comedy, and slice-of-life with solid themes of family and society. The premise almost reads like an otaku wishlist: What if a dragon turned into a buxom maid and lived in modern Japan? The answer, of course, is a lot of slapstick, boob jiggle, and Kobayashi talking sense into all-powerful mythical beasts.

Then on July of that year, the main office of Kyoto Animation was attacked, killing the director, Yasuhiro Takemoto, among several others, in the middle of what was presumably preproduction.

It could not have been easy ... to pick up the pieces of the preproduction work and see it through to broadcast, even with a month or two hiatus and a worldwide outpouring of support. But you get the sense that Kyoto Animation wanted to accomplish two things with this production: First, to bring the laughter and tears of good entertainment to everyone who suffered loss (particularly poignant considering the outbreak of the global pandemic less than a year after the attack), and second, to memorialize those lost in that incident.

Not only did KyoAni succeed in both objectives, they delivered a production that raised the bar. I have to agree with many comments online that the fight scenes in this show easily outclass those from many action anime. The soundtrack expands on the mostly light-hearted music from season 1 to include epic battle themes and the kingdoms in the dragons' world, and the manga was followed pretty much dead-on but with the visual touch that only this studio can bring. This is the pinnacle of professionalism and perseverance in the aftermath of such tragic loss.

Tatsuya Ishihara was brought on as director, and since he's directed Nichijou, Haruhi, and Clannad, I'd say he's the best guy for the task, and the results speak for themselves.