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This is an ecchi anime … no if or buts … and honestly why I watched it. To get the “full experience”, I also watched the uncensored version. There was an ample supply of fan service, ecchi scenes, and of course, lots lots of boobs. The female characters were all very nicely drawn and attractive.

The far-fetched premise of the story about the MK or man killer virus is a bit ridiculous but this is an anime so we should suspend our disbelief on that. Anyway, we currently live in the COVID era so world epidemics are a reality.

However, what I could not accept was the ... MC, attempting to find a cure for the MK virus. He was only a medical student. It was not even established whether he was a standout or genius. But still he broadcasted to all that he was going to try and find a cure ??? Tsk Tsk Tsk.

Lastly, I really hate the MC as he was drawn. I’ve seen this guy on a number of animes as a MC and bang my head against the wall wondering how is this art a MC. The artist must probably be a prolific animator or have a lot of influence or backers. Plus, in this anime, the outfit of the MC, is so deplorable or in bad taste.

Fortunately, there were a lot of naked attractive women and exposed breasts.

Isekai genre are popular nowadays and this is another one but actually one of the better ones.

As the title says, it’s about the world’s best assassin who died and was reborn (starting as an infant) into a fantasy world with all his memories & skills/experiences intact.

I like this anime because the story is linear, logical and does not have much fluff or unnecessary detours. The main character engaging to me since he was methodical, experienced and knowledgeable in his previous life and he stayed consistent with that in his reincarnation. The supporting characters like the mom, dad, goddess were also interesting.

I generally dislike harems ... but the 3 females here were at least not overly abundant like other anime and the trio were well-drawn. There was a romance angle, which is a must for me, but it was (correctly) tempered by the “mature” personality of the MC.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

I understand why the MC chose the 1 of the 3 but my heart ached for #2 girl. And in a later particular scene, the (unintentional) callousness of the MC to #2 girl was hard to bear for me. Also, unlike harem ladies #2 & #3, the #1 was a bit loli-ish, IMO.

My last complaint is about the “sister solution” in the last episode for hiding the identity of #1 female MC. They already did that for #3 and if the male MC loves #1 … romantically … how will that be able to progress in the future (between bro & sis) ??

Apparently, this anime is an adaptation based on a video game.

That shouldn’t matter though, as I’m only reviewing the anime based on its own merits, without any link to the video game, which I think should be how all anime are reviewed.

Good points:
Male MC is not a “shrimp” like Meliodas in Nanatsu no Taizai.
First episode was real good with lots of libido and inuendo, continued throughout the anime.
There were panty shots not of students but mainly of the teacher.
Female characters were nicely-drawn.
There were a few catching romances by the MC but don't think this is a harem.
...
Not so good points:
After a good first episode, the series sort of became a plodding often-disorganized storyline.
Yu-No, who was the main character in the anime title, only appeared in the last 1/4 or 1/3 of the anime, which coincidentally was the best part of the story.

In my opinion, this 26-episode anime should have been compacted to half that to maybe 13-episodes only to present a better storyline flow. Perhaps, it was a business or related decision back then, but it makes me scratch my head when other more deserving source material only get one 12-episode season only, in comparison.

Here’s a quite endearing rom-com with an un-cool guy who’s actually secretly a cool unusual guy somehow meeting and developing a relationship with the class idol, who’s secretly a responsible homebody.

I love romance stories and Horimiya is very special.

In my opinion, here are the good features of this anime:

1) The story illustrates one “happenstance” is all you need
2) Being able to bear a bad/sad situation with hope of a better future
Both above are related and also these concepts have valuable application IRL
3) Acceptance by your girl’s family is quite flattering
... The situations shown were quite amusing to me.
4) The characters of both Hori-san and Morimiya-kun…
 Simple Izumi
• being attentive and doing anything for Kyoko
• being proactive and going for it at opportune times
 Kyoko, the group standout
• with her strong & demanding personality
• with her charming jealousness
Both Izumi & Kyoko appealed to me because they had chemistry (i.e. completed each other) and also partly reminded me of my similar past.

In my opinion, here are my criticisms:

1) Towards the end, maybe 3 or so episodes (too much) almost totally ignored Horimiya so maybe either the pacing/mix earlier was not efficient or perhaps a short focused 10-episode season would have been better ?
2) I understand the honorific way of addressing each other in Japan and that the story is titled Horimiya but doesn’t intimacy mean
Kyoko calls Izumi Izumi and
Izumi calls Kyoko Kyoko
more often,
particularly later on ?

Last note: very bright opening theme --- specially the instrumental chorus.

First of all, the ending theme is great.
It has a piano centerpiece and the music beautifully evokes the feeing of the story. Playing it on a loop would be not a bad idea.

What drew me to this anime is the main Romeo & Juliet like theme of
lovers in opposing sides of a war.
Finding your true love or soulmate (or "rival" as was cheekily used in the story) is perhaps a once in a lifetime event.
It was a challenge in Iska and Alice's circumstances,
but they still steadily moved forward, and I was moved and pleased by that.

Characters worth noting:
Alice - very attractive well-endowed princess ... with some sexy wardrobe
Rin - good loyal conformist assistant
Nameless - interesting technology based character in a swords & magic setting
Jhin - serious but quite capable member of the squad
Mismis - cute bumbling captain but can be annoying so much that you really
wonder how she got that rank; also distracting cuz she reminds me
too much of a better character from Owari no Seraph

Good concepts
- Saint Disciples
- Neutral cities
- Astral swords (but slightly similar to Asta's in Black Clover)

Lastly, I was a bit disappointed by the final episode of the season.
Unlike other similar anime that you know is preparing for another season,
I saw inadequate pacing over the initial 11 episodes that I expected
and actually experienced too much content/setup being jammed into episode 12. As well the battle sequence and corresponding dialogue
could have been written better, again seemingly rushed work.

Anyways, a good anime as a whole.

This is a sunny love story that I thoroughly enjoyed and give two thumbs up to.

There was no ambiguous beating-around-the bush between the 2 MC who just went with a straight intense confession right on the first episode and then a nice steady progression in their relationship.

Other aspects I liked included:
Crazy over-the-top antics
Lots of fanservice
Great art/animation, particularly the awesome gals
TALL crybaby male lead character who's a hopeless romantic (as is me)
...and by the way, did I mention he was tall ?
...
After smiling throughout, sometimes crying (like the male MC), I was quite happy at the end.

This is not some childish story about some kids.
Well it is, but its a superb take on time travel as a person's pre-teen self
but with one's adult memories intact.

Outstanding themes abound here, of which below are some of the ones I value:
--- an underachieving, solitary male protagonist
--- a wonderful mother & son relationship
--- having great friends at school
--- the hero personality without regard for one's well-being
--- against popular opinion, someone still believing in you
...
Excellent story development too, as well as a not very obvious villain.

*** SLIGHT SPOILERS FOLLOW ***

Being a hopeless romantic, I had one complaint though.....almost.
A possible love interest for the adult-aged protagonist was very nice
but a bit underaged for him.
However, just when I thought the happy ending lacked something,
a very satisfying epilogue addressed my issue entirely.

*****THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*****

Great great great animation.
Outstanding art.
Looks like a big budget production.

But...

...the story ... the plot ...
is so disappointing ...
...
I finished episode 9 and then stopped.

From the beginning, the MC, who was a young lady,
who was in her late teens or early twenties perhaps,
was primarily looking for her friend, who saved her
from their village's destruction,
when they were still small kids.
Now grown up, she's nice and all that,
but there's nothing special about her,
except for the fact that she accidentally / luckily
was able to get a personal fairy.
I guess becoming a fairy user qualified her
to join the government's fairy military team.
They just ignore the fact that she's a newbie
with no experience in law enforcement / military tactics
in stark contrast to the other government fairy users.
They do not even train her at all and
she automatically just joins missions like it was nothing.

Then on episode 9, they naturally included her
in a very serious mission to protect an artifact.
Excluding her fairy, her normal weapon was a long rifle,
so that surely means in combat situations,
she should be a long range type participant.
NO, she attacked the villain directly, with her rifle,
like she had a pistol/sword/knife
or some other close range weapon.
Did her mates stop her or try to stop her ? NO.
What then happened ?
A senior team member was forced to defend her
from being critically struck
but in the process, that senior team member died.
Did anyone blame her somehow for that result ? NO.
Everyone was just sad sad sad.
Dumb dumb dumb.

Here's another pre-2010 gem I found.
Again, in my opinion/observation,
unlike other older or pre-2010 anime in general,
Moribito's animation looks very much present-day clear quality.

A standout & unique feature of this anime is the MC.
She's a woman.
She's a middle-aged woman.
She's a middle-aged woman warrior.
She's a middle-aged woman spear warrior.
...
This is a epic-type anime not only in terms of length
(i.e. 26 episodes long)
but also due to the type of story.

This story involves the history of a country/empire
as well as its lore (spirits etc.)
which contributes to the enrichment of the tale being told.
But the best quality of this anime is its heart
which is represented by the MC,
who for reasons explained in the anime,
has pledged/committed to saving 8 souls,
with the last one being the young prince
she protects for the majority of this story.

It is an endearing relationship between the MC
and the young prince, that is well-developed thru the anime.
As well, there is no dearth of action/suspense sequences here.
There's also a tiny romantic angle.

All in all, a definite recommendation from me.

i just found this unexpected very nice little gem
(this was based i guess on a game,
but I didn't know/play that game
and frankly, do not care about that
as i treated this anime solely on its own merits

normally i ignore pre-2010 anime due to quality reasons
as they mostly pale in comparison with the standard current-day anime we have

my main criteria for considering these older anime is the art
... and Valkyria Chronicles has quite good animation
that you'd think this was made only in the past few years

and as a personal choice of mine, i appreciated that the MC's
were young people but not high school age children

the side characters were varied and interesting
the story was realistic and engrossing so the lengthy series (i.e. 26 episodes) was admirably apt

lastly and most importantly,
this anime has a central romance thread
that was well-developed
between 2 very likeable MC's


(SPOILER)

and concluded positively to my utmost satisfaction
Also, the male MC being slightly odd/quirky was a bonus to me