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"When you're enjoying yourself, doesn't that mean somebody else is suffering as a result?"

Every person in this world had wished to go back in time at some point; whether it be to fix a mistake or to experience an event again, it's all the same. Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo is about a girl, Konno Makoto, who obtains the ability to leap back into time. At the beginning, she uses her newfound powers for trivial things to make her life more fun and exciting. However, as she changes events that were supposed to happen, she creates more problems, uncovers secrets, and experiences more pain than satisfaction. ... Through her course of actions, she learns that changing the past causes drastic consequences. As she attempts to fix her wrongs, it may be too late since "time waits for no one".

This is a simple story about a girl who learns that "with great power comes great responsibility". The beginning is lighthearted and joyful. It seems to be an ordinary slice-of-life. Somehow, she stumbles upon a device which allows her to time leap; however, she does not know she has this ability yet. After an extremely unlucky day, she accidentally uses her powers to prevent her own tragedy.
There are many questions that are not answered. As expected from a show about moving through time, there are many possible plot holes and unless otherwise explained, remain plot holes. Unfortunately, this show is no exception and contains many unfulfilled questions; about the characters and concept of time traveling.
The conflicts that arise for the protagonist, Makoto, are well developed. It greatly illustrates the butterfly effect of the chaos theory (for anyone interested in time traveling). For a simple explanation, it shows changing one small thing in the past can create a great change in the future. The conclusion was not satisfying. As stated before, there were many questions unanswered and the ending did not clarify much.

For a movie aired in 2006, there was not much expectations for the art, but it was surprisingly fresh and alluring. The animation of body movements was smooth and seemed natural. The designs of the characters were not extravagant but they differed and had their own unique traits that it was easy to differentiate among them. The setting is well-done and even people in the background are animated nicely. However, it was noticeable that some actions seemed awkward but they are usually short and can be overlooked. Whenever Makoto time leaps, she enters what I will call a "time warp area" which seems to illustrate the various timelines. Although this representation is nice, it was a drastic change in art style and elicited more questions about time traveling.

The music reflects the tone of the plot. As the plot progresses, so does the music. All the music choices were enjoyable and pleasant to the ear. Sound effects were detailed and placed meticulously at the right time. The voice acting was incredible and it was especially appealing to hear the emotions shown through the voice of the protagonist. It can be evident through the pitch and tone of her voice of exactly what she is feeling. Tension was also built by the absence of a lot of noise. By creating an almost silent atmosphere, the audience's attention is drawn to what the characters are saying.

Konno Makoto is an easily liked protagonist. She is innocent, fun, and outgoing. She is supposed to be the dynamic character, the one who learns something and changes for the better through experience. However, this change was too sudden and did not gradually happen. The beginning showed no growth and rushed it at the end.
Mamiya Chiaki is one of Makoto's closest friends. He is shown to be joking, playful, and stubborn. Although it may not be obvious in the beginning, he greatly cares for Makoto, her well-being and her feelings. However, later in the story, something is revealed about Chiaki that the audience may assume is a plot twist. The movie does take a few minutes to explain this but it did not settle well.
Makoto's other close friend, is Tsuda Kousuke. He is extremely friendly with everyone and is presented as the nice guy. With Makoto and Chiaki, the three of them form that perfect trio. They always hang with each other and have fun. Although Kousuke does not contribute to the plot until the end, his existence was necessary in order to move the plot forward.
Minor characters display a seemingly small role in the overall story but what they say at the beginning and the end of the movie is perhaps what completes the change for Makoto's character. There are many minor characters in the movie. Notable ones being, Kaho, Yuri, and Takase. Kaho is responsible for the change in the tone of the plot, Yuri is the person who reveals the change in Makoto, and Takase is the one who exhibits the consequences of Makoto's time leaping.

Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo was an enjoyable anime. The theme may not be original but the delivery is there. Consequences were the highlights of the show while explanations of time were the downfalls. The art was suitable and relatively delightful and sound was fine. Overall, it was -time- well spent.

“Neither of us was needed by anyone before. I’m glad I met you.”
Two boys named Nine and Twelve are complete opposites; one has a warm smile and the other has a cold gaze. Zankyou no Terror is about the boys' acts of terrorism. Along the way, they meet Lisa Mishima, a girl who is bullied by her peers and lives with a paranoid mother. The plot is intriguing because the audience has to ask themselves: Why? For two boys around the age of seventeen, terrorism is no silly matter. As the story unravels, the viewers find out about their ultimate goal as well as their ... pasts that led them to their unyielding decision.

The overall animation of the anime is not typical and is far from the norm of a slice-of-life. The depiction of the characters leans toward a more realistic interpretation and are not those "big-eyed, colorful hair" art. The colors are not vibrant but rather a dark, ominous tone, fitting for a psychological, thriller type anime such as ZnT.

The music choice was nothing particularly outstanding but it certainly did fill its roll. I still get chills down my spine whenever a flashback plays with the electric guitar riffs. With actual songs, I found it interesting that this anime chose multiple with English lyrics, not something you hear in your typical anime. Something that bugged me, however, was that the characters who spoke in English were all good except for one minor, slightly major (?), character named Five - although, it did give me a few chuckles here and there.

The main protagonists, Nine and Twelve, are well-developed. The audience may find it difficult to relate to them but it is easy to sympathize with them. They are practically foils of each other; also, despite the difficult road that lies ahead of them, they are as close as can be. Lisa, no matter how much trouble she causes, moves the plot forward. However, Lisa does constantly seem like a nuissance and does not seem to do anything but be a paperweight to the Nine and Twelve duo. Next we have Detective Shibazaki, a central key to the story. Through his clever and shrewd critical thinking, he is able to play the terrorists' game. He goes as far as opposing orders to accomplish what he believes is truly righteous. As for Five, I have many questions about this character. Because of her unique personality (and odd English pronunciation) she was eccentric and sometimes just plain creepy. There were many things that were not clearly explained about Five and that left me feeling a bit disappointed.

I can't say I am completely satisfied with the ending, but it was definitely wrapped up nicely. This show is rated R and I can understand it. The central theme of this anime is serious and should be handled with maturity. I Hope this review has cleared your thoughts on this anime and if you intend to dive into this journey, I wish you: Von voyage!

Am I the only one who thought this anime was going to have explosions and have a war-like theme? Yeah? Oops. With the title D-Frag!, I thought this would have something to do with a hand grenade. Nope. It's one of those one-guy-bunch-o-girls-in-club anime and I was putting it off until one of my friends suggested it, claiming it was hilarious.

Story: 8/10
Sigh. Not again... The plot definitely did not interest me at all. I've watched plenty of shows where a guy goes into a club with a bunch of girls in it, yadeeyada. Despite the synopsis being so bland, I found that the actual ... plot was progressing at a nice rate. The setting actually moved outside of the club room (phew) and there were a variety of conflicts that the protagonist faced.

Art: 8/10
The art is definitely very average. Typical school uniform, typical characters all with different hair color, and typical school setting. The art also tends to focus a lot of attention on the head of the characters. I don't particularly like how the hair is colored - it uses gradient, you'll see what I mean if you plan to watch this. Nothing particularly stands out... until those fantastically inputted little, special scenes. The art will suddenly catch your attention and I guess it is because of this contrast that I paid closer attention to the show.

Sound: 8/10
The background music does not stand out too much, which isn't a bad thing. This show is very light-hearted and most of the time, if not all, it fits with the scene. The little sound effects are nice. Voice acting is also great, but personally, the male protagonist screaming all the time gets to me.

Character: 10/10
WOAH THERE. Yeah, this anime gets a perfect score for character. Each character is unique, all weirdos. Maybe there's one character here and there who have the generic behavior of all school-related anime but the variety of personalities is extraordinary. This anime somehow makes even the minor characters of the show stand out. It's quite genius, actually. This anime may not stand out much in terms of the other criteria, but I fell in love with all the characters - even those who only appear for a max of two episodes.

Enjoyment: 9/10
Each episode did not fail to elicit laughter from me. The oddity of all the characters along with the random plot and plot twists combine to create an anime that does not fail to please. For a school anime, this one does not fail to deliver entertainment.

Overall: 9/10
Do give this a try and if you want to test this anime's waters, try two episodes, not one. I felt the first episode does not truly represent the rest of the show. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a little chuckle and fall in love with the characters. However, if you cannot handle the male protagonist screaming for half the episode every episode, this may not be for you (take into consideration that some people enjoy this screaming!).

Ah, slice-of-life. If you are not one to enjoy putting yourself into the character's shoes... well you should at least give it a try for this anime. Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou is quite different from other comedy anime because rather than having a continuous plot, it has various skits. I am not exaggerating when I say this is my all-time favorite comedy anime (I have not watched Gintama yet so maybe my opinion will change).

Story: 7/10
Although there is no real constant plot, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou does not fail to implement various, entertaining scenarios. Each skit is not too short and most importantly catches my ... interest. Laughing at a bunch of mischievous boys doing the most uncanny things, what else do you want from an anime with this title!? Also, each skit contributes to future skits in later episodes which is probably the only connection between the episodes.

Art: 9/10
I have to admit, at first the art was not extremely appealing to me - the background is usually quite bland, colors don't stand out, and character designs were typical, and some minor characters (mostly females) didn't even have faces drawn. However, after delving deeper into the show, I found that each character was uniquely drawn. By the end of the anime, you may be referring to the characters by "that guy with that hat" or the "dark-skinned blond guy"! Another great thing which I loved about the art was the FACIAL EXPRESSION. My god, the overemphasis of their reactions are priceless and send me to a hysterical trance every. single. time.

Sound: 7/10
The sound is just average. They don't really stand out but on some occasions, the background music does bring laughter. This is because certain skits have a specific soundtrack and whenever the music pops up again and that skit made you laugh before, you'll have a smile on your face and nothing has even happened yet!

Character: 8/10
All of the characters are funny. Although some of the them may have stereotypical "comedy character" personalities, traits, etc., the other various characters balance it out. Most of the characters are males; however, near the end of some episodes there will be a short skit involving female characters who do contribute to the main story. Some of them are annoying, especially the voices, but that does't detract the laughter. If you are looking for dynamic characters then this anime may not be for you. I did not see any dramatic changes in the characters so if you were looking for a character you could relate to who becomes a better version of himself, eh... sorry.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I can certainly say I enjoyed this anime. I looked forward to it whenever a new episode came out. It was so enjoyable I had to write a review for it years later! Although comedy anime is usually a love or hate, I don't think it's even possible to hate this anime unless you don't like skits and prefer an actual plot.

Overall, despite not having a perfect score on any criteria except enjoyment, I gave this anime a whooping 10/10. Why? I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every single second I spent watching this show instead of doing homework or getting outside to get some sunlight. I re-watched it a second time when I introduced it to my friends for goodness' sake! If by the end of this review this anime still doesn't intrigue you, eh... what can I do? I'm just saying you're going to be missing out! If you watched the first episode and still aren't hooked, I guess it's just not for you. Comedy is subjective and I guess you'll find better laughter in some other anime.