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Goodnight Punpun wasn't a series I can say I enjoyed. I don't even think I comprehended most of it, but regardless, I'm glad I read it.

Many things happen in the life of Punpun Onodera, much like every other person on the planet. This manga tells so many stories at once, and I commend it for its realism. While Asano is telling the life of Punpun, the rest of the world still goes around, and their stories weave themselves into the narrative, like they do in real life. I loved seeing Punpun get close to other characters and thinking, "I wonder how they'll come into play ... later." Sometimes they did, other times they didn't, because that's the way real life is too. You never know.

The fact that every action has an opposing reaction is also highlighted in this series, and it's handled beautifully. Asano doesn't have to tell you how some things affected Punpun's life, it's made blatantly clear through his actions and thoughts, and Punpun thinks A LOT. Most opposing reactions come back around to him later in life, mostly to bite his ass. He wasn't the best person, and that's what made reading his life's story so great.

There aren't many people in this manga to truly like, honestly. Nobody is a good person. It's a reflection of life itself, that there are no good or bad people, just people, and that each and every one of them is worth sympathizing with. The worst of the worst have some good in them and the best of the best are twisted in some way too. Many series try to sell this idea, but few get it right. Goodnight Punpun hit the nail on the head.

This is a wonderfully crafted manga, but of course, there were some things I truly have distaste for.

The B plot was unnecessarily intricate for what it turned out to be. Aside from the final volume, when I actually did enjoy it, the plot just wasn't doing it for me. I couldn't care less.

Secondly, either the metaphors were too convoluted for my 18 year-old pea brain to understand, or they just straight up weren't supposed to make sense, but either way, I was at a complete loss when it came to the visual metaphors. Suspending your disbelief isn't enough for these, because I did and still couldn't wrap my head around them.

The only reason this series isn't rated higher is because I couldn't connect very well with it, personally. I value that in a series greatly, so it knocked a few points off. I can recognize and acknowledge this is an amazing manga, but so what? A manga about the human condition, connecting with each other, and living life, couldn't connect with its reader. Ironic.

But to wrap up this review, I'll just say that this is definitely a manga that deserves a reread. I'm sure it will be better the next few times around, but for right now, Goodnight Punpun is a manga that I read at the very beginning of my adult life. It's been an odd month with this manga, but I know it's been worth every second.

It takes a very open mind to read Boys of the Dead. Let's just get out of the way that this manga is full of triggering/taboo topics like rape, necrophilia, abuse, and more.

That being said, I enjoyed these short stories! They were interesting, had plot twists (as much as the plot of a one-shot can be twisted) and were just sickening! Some of the scenes made me retch, and for a horror manga, I consider that a plus.

The only reason this isn't rated higher is because the stories were, well, shallow. But for a collection of one-shots, I'm not surprised. The characters aren't well developed ... and the world building is minimal at best, but that didn't stop it from being a good read. Sometimes being thrown head first into a world and the characters living in it is the best way to experience a story, and it seems that was best for Boys of the Dead.

For fans of all things vile and downright disgusting, I really recommend this. It's a quick read, but it'll stick.

Hi, I'm a figure skater.

This manga is incredible and I can attest to that. (TL;DR at bottom)

STORY: 9

It's a simple premise, a journey of Inori's way to an Olympic medal, but that's what makes the story so great. With such a simple plot, there's no limit to what you can do with it if you know and care for the sport. (Which, the author absolutely does, considering nearly everything to do with actual figure skating is factual.) For example, they incorporate actual skating culture into the manga, which unfortunately is a culture of classism and superiority complexes, but the culture also attributes to the plot ... as well, oftentimes becoming a wall for Inori to climb over. A story about a bullied kid aiming to be the best is nothing new, but nobody has ever done it like the author of Medalist has.

The story is Medalist's strongest point, in my opinion, with how well done and versatile it is.

ART: 8

Now, the art is absolutely something unique, but specifically, the paneling is what I enjoy most. In figure skating competition, you have the whole rink to yourself, and it seems like the author is trying to replicate that feeling of freedom with their use of panels. Characters often break the boxes, sometimes there are no boxes, there's so much dynamic movement that multiple panels are used to not only emphasize the highlight of a trick, but also to show every part of a given trick; it's creative and fun for skaters and non-skaters alike. To me, seeing this paneling felt like standing in an open rink by myself, and I can only hope everyone else gets that same feeling, because I loved it.

The author's expressions are... well, expressive! Extremely so! But it's not a bad thing at all! Sure, the lines can sometimes get scratchy and a little hard to make out in a few cases, but their use of scratchy lines really makes for fun art to look at! The character expressions themselves make me laugh because they're so exaggerated and funny looking. It's amazing how the author can switch between drawing a realistically accurate skate, to adorable characters, to those same adorable characters bawling their eyes out obnoxiously because they're kids. So great!

CHARACTER: 9

Oh my god, I honestly don't know where to start. It's amazing.

Inori is your typical lovable underdog, and (in the 6 chapters I've read) she has so much room for development and has even already had some. Her development isn't even cliché, it's actually seeming to be very original and something known only to Inori. She's fun and hilarious with her interactions with everybody, her dedication and drive to skate is so carefully crafted, and her other traits are unique and make her character to be easy loved.

I mentioned clichés before, and, yes, some of the characters do fall into clichés. But, they're not limited to only the cookie cutter mold they were (Or weren't, I don't know the author's characterization process.) molded by, they have good development and reason for falling into a cliché, it's never for no reason.

ENJOYMENT: 10

My favorite part of the review, all the personal sappy bits!

Reading this manga was so much fun, like recognizing technique practice and tricks and *coughs* falling on your ass a lot. But I especially loved seeing the passion the characters had and the passion the author must have in order to put that into them. It's not easy to write a story from the beginning of a sports career, there's so much that goes on under the surface of what regular sports enjoyers see, but this author clearly did their research and made sure that the whole process of figure skating, from getting a coach, to competing for the first time, was as accurate as can be.

Of the sports series I've seen, there isn't much figure skating representation. Yuri on Ice!!! exists and I love it, but that's about it, and it's a sports-romance anime as well. Nothing that's purely figure skating, which is odd considering how popular a sport it is.

I adore Medalist because it's figure skating for figure skating's sake. A child with a passion who chases that for as long as they can, and isn't that what every successful figure skater stared out as? That's what I started out as, and seeing myself in these characters was something I've never felt before. (In the lens of a skater, at least.) Medalist, despite only having read 6 chapters, means a lot to me, personally.

But for the non-skaters, I know that they can love and appreciate this manga as much as I do too. It's given so much care and attention to detail that, you don't have to be a skater to read it. There are explanations for complicated things, enjoyable moments outside of the skating and amazing art as well. It's an experience for everyone.

TL;DR

The story is amazing because the author takes advantage of the freedom they've given themselves by having a simple plot.

The art is unique and extremely fun to look at in every way.

The characterization breaks expectations and gives a reason to appreciate almost all the characters.

My enjoyment is very biased because of my history, but this manga is very easily enjoyed by others who don't share that history.

Thanks for reading if you did! I really hope this is all concise and easy to understand, but I just had so much to say about Medalist T—T

SK8 The Infinity: Mangling skateboarding beyond recognition.

There are a bit of spoilers in here, so read at your own risk.

Story: 6

'S' being a huge foundation for the plot already throws off this show for me. It's a huge race between skaters that takes place in an abandoned mineshaft, which honestly, doesn't sound too bad. But it's the fact that every single character is so invested in 'S' to the point of ruining themselves, (Miya and Reki are severe cases of this) when all 'S' is is a competition. SK8 states multiple times that the whole point of skating is to have fun and just do ... what you love, but the concept of 'S' being so important to the plot and the characters seems so contradictory to me. Anytime the skaters are seen skating outside of 'S', it's usually for reasons related to 'S' and only 'S'. They know the point of skateboarding, but they still drive home the competition aspect, and it gets redundant at times.

Then there's a sort of fantasy element to SK8. This isn't to say that fantasy-type sports series are inherently bad, but when you've got characters talking to their skateboards and then slinging mini bombs at other skateboarders, something just isn't really right. SK8 isn't set in a fantasy world, but you have all these fantasy-esque characters set in the real world, and it's a huge clash of the two. An example of this is when Reki explains how boards are built and all the parts that go into a board, yet nearly every other character has some sort of board that defies that. (Cherry's board specifically pissed me off) And while this might seem like a minor complaint, nearly everything else is like this. I feel like SK8 would've been in its element had it just been set in—at the very least—a realistic fantasy world instead of the real world. The inconsistencies are just too prevalent to ignore.

Art and Sound: 7

The art style is great, I'll give SK8 that, and the character designs are extremely unique and make for iconic characters. Simple character designs like Langa are just as recognizable as complex ones, such as Shadow (at least when he's in costume) and they really hit the nail on the head when it came to art. Not to mention that the settings are equally beautiful and have great detail but never too much.

The OP and ED are both good and catchy. I could hear the first few seconds of both and think, "Yeah, that's SK8 The Infinity!" So no complaints here!

Character: 6

Honestly, the characters are the only reason I kept up with this show, but it seemed that with every episode, the characterization just got weaker and weaker. They all have great personalities and have their own unique traits, but their arcs all fell kind of flat for me. The only characters with good development are Langa and Reki, of course because they're the main characters, but I also wish that other characters had more after their arcs. Miya became obsolete after his arc ended, and Joe and Cherry have a history, but not much after that. SK8 tells you who these characters are rather than shows you, and—this is just a personal preference—but the latter seems so much more appealing than the former.

Enjoyment: 4

My enjoyment is very opinionated, so take this section with a few pounds of salt.

SK8 tries creating its own skate culture within the show, but it fails hard and is honestly just irritating to watch. The best moments in SK8 are when they're not skating, believe it or not. It's that bad. Tricks that are done in the show are either impossible or just given ridiculous names that take away from the show. It's hard to take any of the skating portions seriously when you've got 'Love Hug' as a real trick in canon.

The drama was done horribly. Sorry but I hated it. Not even mentioning Adam (Embarrassing antagonist), but the whole misunderstanding between Langa and Reki was actually really annoying especially when the solution to their conflict is Reki relearning his love for skating while giving a speech to a stranger who hit him with his car in a love hotel. It's so unbelievable I can't take anything seriously.

TL;DR

SK8 seems like it's being purposely bad to see how far its fans will go to defend it, except it's being entirely serious. Not really a fan. Read SK8R's instead.

Lucky Star is a gem and every time I've watched it, it only got better.

While its humor is really hit or miss with people, I think it's perfect, especially when you consider that it was made in 2007. Often, its jokes are pure relatability and coincidence among characters, but when it references its time period, it does so in a way that doesn't date it too much. It is a product of its times, but that's half the beauty of Lucky Star.

Since it's a slice of life, there isn't very much plot, but for what it lacks in plot, it makes up for with its ... characters and their interactions. The dialogue is natural and genuine, it has some of the best flow of dialogue that I've ever seen and the characters' personalities really shine in their interactions with each other. You learn the ins and outs of them in their actions, preferences, habits, speech; Lucky Star will show you who these characters are before it tells you. And if or when it does tell you, it'll be brought up naturally and is never forced. In the few moments where you truly learn about the characters in any meaningful way (near the end of the series), the show handles them with the care they need and will be as subtle as possible while still getting the point across. I think Lucky Star has some of the best characterization ever, it feels so real and natural that you don't even notice how genius it is.

I'll put art and sound in one, but I personally love them both. The art is almost a signature of the late 2000's and is pretty iconic in my opinion. The OP and soundtracks are as memorable too, and they feel so nostalgic even if you have no nostalgic ties to the show. Everything creative about this show is done so well and has aged well. It also has really good voice acting, both sub and dub voices are spot on and great.

Lucky Channel is great and I love how Akira herself is a jab at the industry she works for and her segments with Shiraishi are always entertaining and how they wind up in the end is very satisfying too.

Overall, I adore this show and will recommend it to almost anyone.

this is such a beautiful story that i can relate so much to. so far, it's all been countless metaphors that aren't too pretentious or hard to understand, and i really appreciate that in anime. i feel like land of the lustrous does metaphors incredibly well and accurately portrays the meaning behind them without literally telling you what's going on.

also the art is so amazing. usually 3d modeling is kinda frowned upon and seen as lazy in anime, but the animation for this enhances the story so much. i don't think regular animation would have done this show justice.

a small detail i noticed and really ... appreciate are the little noises that are usually overlooked are given so much care in this anime. since they're gemstones, they don't have skin, so when they move around, it's a nice sound of dense, glasslike material moving or hitting something. i really loved that tiny detail.

lol i love this so much and can't wait for season 2 i might just pick up the manga because it was so good

watched this back when i was around naota's age, loved it simply for the abstract mess of things put together in one show, the fast pace it had, and the simple chaos. rewatching this now, i can really see how it subconsciously affected me and why.

it's about growing up, and also the refusal to grow up disguised as a supernatural mecha anime. the metaphors are kind of hard to see, but they still make an impact whether you realize them or not. at least, that's what happened with me, seeing how i turned out after watching this at age 12.

i also love how the creator ... just took all the things he liked and stuffed them into a coming of age anime. call it unprofessional, but i think that the cluster fuck is what really drew a lot of us in. it's like seeing into someone else's head and interpreting in your own way.