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If you're looking to watch a movie with a neat ending and characters that act like they do in the movies, then Her Blue Sky will probably disappoint you. Yet, for me, a lot of the things that many people may not enjoy about this movie were things I really appreciated.

I'll start with the technical aspects of the film first, though. The art was amazing. While there are certain scenes where CGI was obviously used, it wasn't so distracting or jarring that it looked "bad" to me. The backgrounds in particular were really lovely, high quality, and while looking somewhat computer generated, WORKED in my ... opinion and gave them an almost photographic, realistic feel. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I personally thought they were very nice. Something else I noticed about this movie was that animators took care to animate very subtle expression changes during certain scenes!

Now, as far as the writing goes, I'm a firm believer in Mari Okada as one of those writers who, when she misses, misses badly. But when she hits the mark, her work really shines. While Her Blue Sky wasn't AMAZING for me overall, something I really appreciate about the film is the realism of its characters.

This obviously varies between characters (see: Shinno still reads as very anime-), and it's a matter of opinion, but Aoi in particular felt like a teenage girl: when confronted by a difficult choice regarding her first love and her love for her sister, the answer to me, as an adult, was obvious -- but she didn't know what to do. It's a moment that's easily dismissible as "this protagonist is really stupid, huh?" but to me, that really communicated that she was still very much a child, someone who wasn't grown up enough to see what the "right" decision would be easily.

The same goes for characters like Masamichi, who could have very well been villainized for the drama, but read as an adult -- which is what he is. The characters all function and act their age in my opinion, which is very rare to see in anime or even dramas in general.

Some may dislike the ending -- it doesn't end "cleanly" (or maybe they dislike the less realistic part of it, that's understandable), but personally, I loved it. The movie didn't NEED to wrap everything up, and the way the story is told post-credits felt right to me. Anything else would have made the movie drag; it said all it needed to say, though I will concede that there were some plot points that felt abandoned by the end (the festival is made to be such a big deal, but in the end...?)

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, I enjoyed the characters, and most of all I feel like the themes of first love, losing sight of your passion, choosing between yourself and the person you care about, etc were well presented. While I again feel like Mari Okada is very hit or miss for me, she wins this one.

(Also there's a REALLY fun rock cover of Gandhara which is worth looking up on youtube at least-)

I actually went into this series expecting to dislike it because of the things I'd read about it, but ended up enjoying it.

I'll start with the technical aspects: while lacking in the typical Yuji Ohno soundtrack, I think that the music suited the series perfectly fine, and, while not as memorable, was overall very solid. The art direction was very appealing, and I say this as someone who saw stills and was very concerned about the stylization -- the characters look very good in motion and tonally the art direction added to the series' appeal and is actually one of its best assets. The animation ... does offer up some fun sequences, and is overall very solid.

As for the rest...
I think, for the most part, characterization read as fine to me. I felt like I was missing something because I was expecting the cast to feel more out of character given what I'd previously heard (I'll concede re: Zenigata, though. That was... weird. I like to pretend it never happened and incidentally it almost feels like what happened between him and Fujiko happened to someone else entirely... but I'm getting ahead of myself). Lupin in particular still feels more or less like himself, Jigen's love interest subplot unfolds as per usual, there are a lot of complaints about Goemon as well and while I do feel like some of it is very ??? (see: Goemon needing to understand Fujiko to improve his swordsmanship... correlation where-) I didn't see his attitude towards Fujiko too unusual, especially given that the two would work together in other series.

Zenigata, though... mm.
Again, it almost feels like what happened between him and Fujiko happened to someone else entirely. Even the morning after scene felt kind of hollow -- it actually took me a minute to realize that the person Fujiko had been sleeping with in the opening sequence to episode 4 was Zenigata given his attitude.

That being said, I agree with the commonly held opinion that that only happened in order to fuel the Oscar subplot which... I'm pretty mixed on. I definitely feel like it can be read negatively, and I think part of that has to do with Oscar's lack of closure. That's another area where Zenigata's characterization fails somewhat: he's so warm towards Oscar in flashbacks and only seems to remember that he cares for him near the end when he gives Oscar a flimsy reminder of what he told him when he was a kid. It was handled pretty sloppily compared to the rest of the writing, and leaves Zenigata feeling more like a plot device than an actual character. Out of all of the characters, he feels less like himself, and more like whatever the writers needed him to be.

Oscar himself... is very interesting. I personally see him as a foil to Fujiko, and think that he could have been handled better. There was a lot of potential for commentary on the concept of 'femme fatale' and gender in general, but I think the execution was lacking in that department. He really would have benefit from a little more focus (even though some feel like his presence was already too invasive; I think if his screentime had been allotted to more thoroughly exploring his relationship with his gender and why he feels like it prevents him from having a romantic relationship with Zenigata instead of pushing more focus on his jealousy towards Fujiko because of a single one night stand his execution would have been far more successful).

As for the overarching plot... wew.
As I kept watching, I kept thinking to myself "Man, as a standalone concept completely removed from Lupin, this is pretty interesting," so I was actually RELIEVED by the ending twist. While it wouldn't have been the worst to have imposed that sort of background to Fujiko, it did feel somewhat off as more and more of the plot was revealed.

It's definitely not the worst of twists, and conceptually, I don't think it's bad at all, but it did feel somewhat odd when applied to a Lupin character, so as much as I tout "Mari Okada works are very hit or miss for me," I'm glad to say that she stuck the landing on this one in my opinion (Does this mean I'm opposed to them giving Fujiko a backstory that vibes along these lines? Not really, but this particular case felt very... weird, if only because I felt like it actually would have served as a detriment to Fujiko's character especially because her characterization is heavily affected by what happens to her in this spin-off; at the end of it all this ensures that she's still the same old Fujiko).

Overall, I did enjoy the series. It was very stylish and the storytelling was interesting. Though I did feel like it was veering way outside of Lupin territory by the end, it was still an enjoyable watch and I actually don't regret picking it up even though I was almost certain I would. I do wish we could've had one episode where Fujiko's chest wasn't out, but that's just how they do things in this house.

And on that note, I think that if one wants to watch this series after having grown familiar with other seasons of Lupin or even coming off Cagliostro, they'll find it much more enjoyable if they go into it acknowledging that tonally, this series is very different and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a different flavor of Lupin, one that isn't everyone's cup of tea, but its differences don't make it inherently bad.

It should be noted that I'm going into this review as someone who binged Part IV and Part V one after the other and I feel like I'm nuts for liking this season less than Part IV. This isn't to say that Part V is bad, but I do feel like it's a lot easier for me to say that I enjoyed Part IV as opposed to Part V. I have a lot of conflicting feelings on Part V: what it does well, it does really well, but the rest is more of a mixed bag.

I'll start with what I liked.
While I felt like the ... art direction read as more generic as opposed to its predecessor, the backgrounds in particular were gorgeous and the animation was clean. The soundtrack was wonderful as always, though admittedly this season's version of the theme wasn't my favorite.

When it comes to the plot episodes focusing on the main cast, I felt like things were more or less handled very well (in particular, the final arc read as very solid as far as the main cast was concerned even though I do feel like they could have given Zenigata more of a chance to shine overall; but a lot of potential arcs that could have revolved around him were admittedly addressed in the prior season).

The Fujiko-Lupin dynamic was handled very interestingly, and was clearly a focal point of this season which didn't bother me. On the contrary, it was refreshing to see a season where their relationship wasn't glossed over or reduced to a simple "oh they're fwb but it's not our business."

...Unfortunately I dislike that Ami was the catalyst for this discussion.
I don't think that Ami, overall, is a bad character, although I did find her somewhat bland compared to last season's Rebecca. My issue with her primarily lies in her crush on Lupin. This isn't the first time that the franchise has introduced a young girl (a minor) who develops feelings for Lupin, and it's always handled with class. This season also has Lupin rejecting Ami's feelings (although as the season continues I almost wish they'd written him as firmer in his dismissiveness), but in general it grew increasingly uncomfortable if not annoying for her crush to be pushed front and center.

From a writing standpoint as well, it felt kind of skeevy given Ami's backstory. Like, I just sort of sat there like. Why would the writers feel like this was an appropriate means of handling this type of character.

...But,
anyway,

Enzo also was a bizarre case. I felt as though I didn't understand him as a character at all. While not outright malicious his characterization was very inconsistent and he almost reads like a completely different person in the final episode.

As far as other new additions, Albert was interesting, but I wish they'd done a little more with him (though I understand that a lot of what happened in Part V was likely a set up for a Part VI series). Yata was an interesting character who regrettably got very little screentime (a side effect of Zenigata feeling practically Benched after the first arc).

When it comes to its MANY homages, I felt that some worked better than others. They definitely weren't done in a way that felt overly invasive, but I did feel like the imposition that every iteration of Lupin III takes place within the same universe hindered the show somewhat. As a viewer, I'm willing to appreciate the reappearance of Castle Cagliostro as a small nod or easter egg, for example, but the way the writers impose the concept that all versions of Lupin are the same felt like it was crossing the line into bizarre.

Overall, the show wasn't bad.
I enjoyed the parts that appealed to me personally, and disliked the parts that didn't. I'd definitely recommend starting with Part IV before this one, as Blue Jacket seems to be weaving together a more cohesive universe than previously seen with Lupin, so while it's possible, it's difficult for me to recommend this season as a starting point.

EDIT: tacked on some post ep-24 thoughts at the end

the short version of this review is: watch eureka seven

the long version of this review (feat. some spoilers) is:

i'll start off with the good things about the series because there's a lot less to talk about there. the art, animation, overall production quality is very good. this makes sense because of the studios behind the project so as far as the visuals go franxx more than makes the cut.

unfortunately, however, good art =/= good story (but i'm getting ahead of myself). i do think that characterization is done fairly well: i'd say there's not a single ... (major) character in the cast that doesn't have some type development and i do like some of the writing choices they made (specifically the way they handled futoshi -- who pushed aside his own feelings because he wanted kokoro and mitsuru to be happy as well as ichigo wrt ikuno's feelings).

the show's overall writing, while a mess, also had some good plot points (zero two and hiro's scenes were especially moving near the middle of the season but that may be my bias towards those tropes talking).

but that's about all i have to say about the show that's positive. the rest is... not so good. for one thing the way the major plot regarding the "true adversary" of the show is silly. it's entirely left field and while i'm willing to give the writers some credit if a season two is planned (which would make the twist less Out There if still not introduced poorly) it was ultimately clumsy and far too abrupt with absolutely no build-up. i sat there in awe when the twist was revealed and not in a good way. they pretty much damn the pacing for the remaining episodes to be awkward.

additionally the world building itself is rather weak.
while franxx introduced an interesting take on the concept of immortality, the timeline and actual lore behind the technological advancements nullify any sort of philosophical impact the topic could've had. it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense and is, again, handled clumsily like pretty much every other plot element of this show.

really, it just seems to lack direction.
nothing is explained in a satisfactory way and at times one may even question if the writers even know what they're doing.

it's just. sloppy.
the high notes are high, of course, but not nearly enough to salvage this mess of a show. if the writing was a little more focused, definitely, this show would be much, much stronger but as it stands, even as beautifully as it portrays certain tropes, you're much better off watching something else that does an entirely better job of handling the topics that franxx wishes to portray.

this show went from mediocre to somewhat tolerable to absolutely insufferable because of the pacing and overall world building. if i had to recommend someone a 'mainstream mecha' i'd definitely choose something else.

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ep24 edit:
the show still does a terrible job of exposition.
while i'm normally a fan of endings like franxx's the lack of buildup leaves the ending feeling hollow and a lot of the other plot details that hadn't been addressed previously (see: nana and hachi, ikuno's hair turning white, etc) are clumsily shoved in at the end leaving viewers with dissatisfactory answers.

Overall Crybaby stays true to its promise to adapt the manga in its entirety. Given the short season, certain arcs were jammed into a single episode (ex: the first OVA which was 40 minutes in length is the first episode and the Jinmen and Sireine arcs get similar treatment), and overall the pacing is incredibly fast. Personally, I didn't find this a problem, as Yuasa's previous work, The Tatami Galaxy, tends to be able to condense lots of content in a short amount of time.

As far as story goes, there are certain instances where I feel as though Yuasa executes the emotional scenes better than ... the source, and Crybaby puts a lot of interesting twists on certain elements of the story and characters. The flashback sequences also add a lot more to the cast, making certain scenes more poignant than in any other version of the story.

The directing style captures Devilman's original over the top tone, and the animation is very expressive. The designs complement the fast paced action very well; my primary complaint is just that certain scenes are so darkly lit that it's difficult to see what's going on at times, but those scenes were few and honestly that could just be my problem due to my laptop screen.

As much as I enjoyed Crybaby overall, one thing that does detract heavily is the amount of sexual content in it. While Nagai's work is known for including plenty of lewd content, the sheer quantity of sexual violence and sexual content in general can seem gratuitous and distasteful. Certain instances of sexual references just seem oddly placed and unnecessary and it doesn't really take a back seat until episode 7. In particular there's a certain scene in episode 5 that was cut from the manga due to Nagai's editor's requests and for some reason they decided to include it in this adaptation which, in my opinion, hurts more than it helps; it's another instance of "this really didn't need to be here."

I'm still pretty satisfied with Crybaby.
The ending was pretty much just like the manga's (barring the changes they made to adhere to the minor story changes Crybaby makes). It's a little disappointing that it was labeled as the "love story of Akira Fudo and Ryo Asuka" but didn't quite feel like that in the end. Still, it did follow along with the source material fairly well, so the ending wasn't too much of a surprise.