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“Yuri your way to success! Vol. 1” -Now with footnotes!

Approximately 12 years ago, we were introduced to a certain J.C.Staff series about a girl from Osaka and her five friends. A couple of years latter, KyoAni presented to us a self-entitled otaku and her friends: the twin-sisters and the smart-but-clumsy bishoujo¹. Those stories would go around these girls and their (barely average) easygoing high-school paradise.
Interesting? Entertaining? What is the point? It doesn't really matter, deshou?
It just happened that the community saw it was good, the industry saw it was profitable, and from that on, we started watching shows about cute girls doing ... cute stuff for no apparent reason (both us and the cute girls).

The story:
Oh... the story! Yuru Yuri main plot is the daily events of Akari, Yui, Kyouko, Chinatsu (don't forget to add the -chan!). As middle-school students without a serious goal to achieve, YuruYuri focus on showing these girls having... fun! As the opening song itself explain "My real job is to 'student'! What's with that?" so all the key events of this series are pretty predicable and are related somehow to their school/hang out activities. The typical school slice-of-life.
But this isn't the real reason why 90% of us watches it anyway.
I bet you interpreted “fun” on the previous paragraph in a malicious way, huh?
While those easygoing and relaxing events of their daily life would give a fair amount of entertainment, seeing cute girls expressing their affection to each other in a PG-13 way is also pretty entertaining! And perhaps the key part of it: delivering such a thing without the inclusion of a douche male protagonist neither having to label the series as he-he-hentai! is what draws the attention of crowds to it. That said, straight from the first episode, it becomes clear that "Yuri"² moments are one of the key components of Yuru...YURI storyline.
Besides from being astonishingly cute and having these girl-love moments, the series strongly bets on their visual gags, practical jokes and references as save-points, keeping the viewers from being bored during long scenes or dialogues. A proof that it works can be easily found online, it's the amount of internet “memes” that were created from scenes of YuruYuri.³
Anyway, I digress.
There's no point into further developing this topic. Someone who is reading this didn't got here by accident and most likely have a backlog on series like this. If YOU happen to be one of these people and is now nodding in agreement, the reviewer thanks you for cooping with it. *brofist*

Following the same idea of the story, characters of YuruYuri are what one would expect of a show about easygoing school-girls. In a nutshell: They're patterned.
We have the clumsy, resident airhead MC; the admirable, dependable senpai; the polite, dependable "notice me senpai!" kouhai and finally the over-hyped, loose cannon senpai.
Not to mention they are all, obviously, CUTE.
Why are they always four? ...who is producing this, anyway!?
Oh, not to be forgotten, there are also the often forgotten supportive characters! They are there to add a bit of spice to the overall sweetness, some even have a separated story arc just for them which is great considering the flow of the story since it helps to keep the attention level. To be honest, these characters even get more screen-time than a certain MC ...you'd find out sooner or later.
Along the story progression, some other characteristics of theses girls become easy to notice and the classical tsundere/yandere/dandere⁴ action finally shows up.
Hahi, That was it!? Actually, there isn't much to digress about... giving a further explanation on these characters would spoil the first two episodes and completely ruin the mood. But still we want you to believe this is character driven so.... can we pretend we explained why, and you pretend you got it? *pshhh! No mod's gonna see this!*

In the era of moe, what isn't moe is a pagan non-believer!⁵
The artwork! Oh yes! *nosebleed* did I already mention it is... cute?
What kind of reviewer describes every aspect of the show with one single word?
Well, watch it and then we can discuss.
Just like its ancestors mentioned in the beginning of this review, YuruYuri's artwork is simple but well colored and surprisingly detailed at close ups. The “moe” factor is obviously part of it, which means, you won't find a character that is “ugly” at all.
Worth mention: animators did a very good job with characters' eye design. They doesn't have that artificial feeling to them neither artificial lightening, which makes it really fit the overall coloring.

yuriyurararara yuruyuri yuriyurararara yuruyuri yuriyurararara da-i-ji-ke-n!
Ain't I missing a “Kyarun!★~”!?
It doesn't takes much to create a OST for a slow paced school slic- *stabbed*
Still, it wouldn't be a lie ...to some extend.
The OST really matches the pace of the story, meaning, we get lot of relaxed synthetic instrumentals AND some funky remixed opening/ending. If you think you've heard these songs before, it's not a problem at all. Since this kind of series always use the same tempo and arrangement for their songs, sounding similar is just part of ride. Both the OP and ED are also performed by the main characters' seyuu-tachi. They're at the same time hilarious and addicting... during the first 5 episodes. Later on it gets really annoying and you'll just skip it all together.

Overall, YuruYuri is way more enjoyable than it seems. Really.
Not because it later turns into a full ecchi yuri R+ hardcore anime (!?), but because it manages to -somehow- make you laugh for 288 minutes. Who would imagine a school slice-of-life about pure teenager girls could be this fun? I wouldn't.
So, if you're wondering about watching or not, accept the challenge and get started on it already. The entertainment value may vary from person to person, however, it will absolutely manage to take a laugh from you, even if it's just with a short Higurashi⁶ reference (Heh, is that a glace of curiosity?) or a quick reference joke with the YuruYuri Akari x Aria Saga Akari and her signature expressions "waaay!" "hahi!".
Secure your loli and prepare for impact! A furious ride into the amusement world of these girls is about to begin!

The Footnotes:
¹ – extremely beautiful, cute, amusing, girl. Notorious examples: Anything Key/Visual Arts produces in collaboration with KyoAni.
² – Yuri is a modest synonym of Shoujo Ai, girls love, lesbianism, girl-on-girl action, etc.
³ – Seriously, YuruYuri related memes were all around /a/ by the time it aired. Ask Mr. Google.
⁴ – Japanese slang used to describe one's characteristics. (e.g: the tsundere is the girl who is violent (tsun) but loving (dere) towards the one she cares about.
⁵ – Yes!!! YuruYuri is 100% MOE, meaning, they can't possibly be less cute. UrbanDictionary gives a pretty neat explanation: “Moe is when your heart gets a boner.“.
⁶ – Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Cute series.
obs: credits to @MAL Ikusagami for the insight of the review title.

"Woaah, what an amazing preview! When will it air?"
"Dude, it won't... that was a 2min one-shot."

Probably the most common reaction after watching these commercial cuts, and certainly the utter sadness for Shinkai fans.
Those who are already familiar with his projects, might have notice that from times to times companies from all kind of services come and asks him for short movies that will be used as commercials. All these movies have a optimistic and uplift forward-thinking look to them, caring some kind of moral or sense of ethics.

In this case, this could easily fit as a preview for a cute boy-meets-girl slice of life ... anime, character driven, one of those series that develop into a deeper drama/romance. Even though this is just speculation, it's awesome to see how a short commercial was able to incite all these thoughts, when it's main focus is to sell things not make you ...feel.
Well, that's Japan for you.
Not just thoughts though. As a classic Shinkai production, some might feel also emotional affected by these short movies. Mainly because it shows situations many of us can relate and sure have gone through something similar in the past.

Besides from Shinkai, for this one-shot we also have Masayoshi Tanaka (AnoHana, Kannagi, Mushishi, Toradora!) and Yuu Yamashita (Azumanga, Bleach, InuYasha, Usagi Drop) for the Key animation and character design, and Ayane Sakura (Love Lab, BokuwaTomodachi, Endymion -Index, Joshiraku) for Miho's voice.

While we wait for another cinematic production from Shinkai-san, watching these short stories is a great way to unwind and refresh your artistic masterpieces battery.

-As for the standard MAL rankings, there's no use in further digressing about them.
Story: 6/10 - Art: 8/10 - Sound: 8/10 - Character: 6/10 - Enjoyment: 9/10
Character and story gets an 6 due to the lack of development, obviously.
Artwork and sound 8 for the astonishment they always are.
And enjoyment sure is a 9, even though it only lasted 119 seconds.

"She didn't jump."

Is something I'd like to clarify straight ahead before someone who just watched or will watch it summons the question. Noe can be a very weird girl but she sure isn't a suicidal.

It's pretty obvious, but always important to say: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE SERIES YET.
Another important fact to clarify about this "Epilogue" is that... it isn't a epilogue.
(Please don't wave your fist at me, I'm not the one who named it, I'm just reviewing it.)
According to the dictionary, an Epilogue is: "A short addition or concluding section at the end of a literary work, often ... dealing with the future of its characters. Also called afterword". Just like this, the problem here is that the scenes shown in these 3 minutes happens after Shinichiro "confession" and before the real epilogue of the series, where we see all the main characters moving on with their lives and Noe finally shed some tears. To be precise, this "fake epilogue" (can I address it like this?) takes place exactly after 19:05 minutes of episode 13.
Besides from not giving a conclusion for the series, this short music video cannot be labeled as an Epilogue because it opens more doubts and raises more questions than the ending of the series. Plenty of ambiguous scenes and the lack of dialogue makes everything a confusing mess. Things will only be understandable when you learn the fact these events happened before the actual ending, then, that's why all the issues aren't still settled (Noe friends, Hiromi tears... I won't give more examples to avoid spoilers).
The lack of dialogue was one annoying part of it. It's fine to turn an Music video into an epilogue if the scenes presented there can be understand with just images but it becomes a impossible challenge when there is actual consistent dialogue into those scenes.
Then, why P.A. Works did this?
My bet: to give fans something "more" in the Blu-ray version and, of course, sell Drama CDs.
Why Drama CDs? Because the dialogues that were suppressed in this video are the exact ones from the three tracks of the drama CD. If you watch this fake epilogue, listen to the drama cds AND have a fair knowledge in Japanese (subs nowhere to be found), you have great chances of understanding what happened. Otherwise, if you're a average western fan like the rest of us, take a look at forum threads, some people did really good analysis of it, or if you're lazy, scroll down a little bit to the end of this review.

Still, it's worth mention that the music chosen was a nice pick. Watch it as an AMV and you'll sure enjoy it.

--This is the ending of this review.--
-The following is a interpretation of the scenes, for those who are confused at what the hell they just
watched. Obviously, CONTAIN SPOILERS.-

As mentioned above, events from these 3minutes video happens after Shinichiro "chooses" Hiromi. After reading lots of forum discussions and trying to interpret the drama cds, I could get the following:
Ai-chan and Miyokichi relationship as friends is progressing smoothy.Miyokichi still loves her and she's starting to see him as something more than a friend, finally giving up on Shinichiro. This is confirmed at the scene when they do a "remake" of the time Miyokichi asked Ai-chan out, dragging Shinichiro along, in order to recreate the situation, with a meaning of "starting all over".
For Hiromi, her dream come true and she is happy for finally being able to be together with Shinichiro, however, she feels guilt for saying those things (from ep 12) to Noe, concerned about her. It's easy to see that it was concerning her because of her basketball performance. Throughout the series it became clear that her performance in game was deeply related to her emotional state specially when it involved Shin-chan. At the same time, Tomoyo (Hiromi's friend) acts the same way, and she's shown doing great plays -in the Drama CD, it can be understand that she was also seeing someone and was having a nice time with this unknown guy-. We can also see some reminiscences of Hiromi's "bad personality", the one she said she was trying to drop, when she's with Shin-chan at the sea house and keep pushing about Raigomaru's tale and how Noe was the first to read it, etc, etc. She states something about how Noe could see a side of Shinichiro that she couldn't, then ending up in tears, but at the same time accepting it, understanding that the relationship Shinichiro had with Noe was different. On the drama CD it's also shown that she becomes the basketball team captain.
As for Noe, she is finally able to interact with other people, and is slowly opening up to new friends (this is confirmed at the TRUE epilogue when we see them together). Although Shinichiro didn't stayed with her, he was a important person in her life, as the one who "gave her tears back" meaning: gave her happiness back. She still reminiscences about him but is okay with it. Actually, they both still cherish each other, as seen through the visits to Jibeta's cage.
About her Siscom brother, she goes visit him from time to time and he's fine doing whatever he likes with motorcycles.

Wrapping up, I feel obligated to include this here as a final consideration: +1 for finally a "The Childhood Friend" victory!!!

"-What are tears?
-Let's see, when you're sad...
-Not when... what are tears?
-Well, to keep your eyeballs clean and moist the tear glands secrete..."

True Tears was P.A. Works' debut anime as a solo independent company. It wasn't based on a manga, light novel, visual novel, anything, it was a original production. Because of this, the studio was considered careless by a considerate percentage of the critics, however, this helped increasing the series' audience at its premier, it was an audacious move after all. With the show progressing and popularity constantly increasing, it prof itself a well played market strategy.
Then, someone might say "What is it worth ... being a original production if it's crap?"
Interesting point. There's no merit at all in creating a story that won't live up to viewers expectations.
Luckily, True Tears doesn't fall into that trap. It might not work for everyone but it is, undeniably, a well elaborated and carefully conducted story.
Yes. I'm well aware I just poked a sore spot. Unlike what the previously lines stated, lots of people consider its story to be a huge failure, blaming character development to be the villain of it. Unrealistic characters, patterned story, flat personalities, are just some of the major criticisms this anime receives. They aren't completely wrong, and of course, each of us has our own opinion, however these statements are focusing into small flaws and turning them into huge plot holes without taking in consideration the environment surround it. Meaning: Other elements of the storyline and small pieces of character dialogues which explains and corrects those "mistakes" so that when you see the final product, all the pieces must be visualized together and these flaws becomes invisible.

It is a misunderstanding to label True Tears as a Harem to start of. Harem series, for the ones who aren't familiar with it, are those stories where the main male lead is surrounded by girls -all in love with him- and the protagonist can't make up his mind, because he enjoys his situation or for pure hesitation. Somebody who watches the first 2 episodes of True Tears will notice that this anime isn't about it.
Just like that, I would humbly ask you to NOT take in consideration the series summary here in MAL. Clearly who wrote it didn't watch the complete series (besides from spoiling the entire first episode).

True Tears strong attribute is the Drama, with Romance as a important side-kick of it. After all, a emotional loaded series without heartwarming moments would be just too painful to watch.
The story progresses exploring inner conflicts of the characters, set with situations from their past strongly represented through metaphors and subtext that will require some Pause-Play action in order to fully understand it. "The Tale of Raigomaru and Jibeta" was sure the ace in the pocket of producers.
It's nice to emphasize the symbolism of it. The anime was structure in a way both stories (The actual main one and the fictional Raigomaru's) are developed independently. However, they are joint in the meaning, and Raigomaru's is constantly influenced by the outcome of events on characters life's.
Just like that, I was impressed how this show managed to represent characters reactions to events on the story in a perfect "human" way. It's well known, that drama series are often criticized because of strong emotionally packet scenes suddenly followed by easygoing everyday events as if nothing happened, leaving that sour taste on the mouth. True Tears escape from this pattern, as Raigomaru's Tale shows and the same applies for other characters as well. Hiromi performance on her basketball practices, Noe's berries, etc...

It's easy to misunderstand True Tears characters. Specially if one listen to a friend who watched it or reads about it somewhere. Even reading these reviews might change the way someone interprets them. Hopefully to a better one.
These characters personalities are way more complex than what we're used to, and the reason why they can't be simply explained is because production succeeded at making some really realistic characters. However, the challenge of an advance like this is too keep every character on the same level of complexity, otherwise, some would become flat and others way too dense. And... this is what happened. Not to mention supportive characters were completely neglected, although this is still acceptable due to the focus of the anime.
Using the three main characters as an example, Hiromi and Shinichiro background story was well structured and understanding the reason of some of their actions would require a deeper commitment from the side of the viewers. On the other hand, Noe's character, besides of her background story, was way too simplistic when compared to others, without a further development, only receiving producers "attention" at the end of the series. This creates a contrast that completely ruined the enjoyment for some people, turning what would be a great drama/romance into a hateful/psychological (Huh, dejavú Makoto-san).
Still, on the overall, the job done specially with Hiromi character was marvelous. That said, in my personal opinion, character is worth a 9 out of 10 since, like said previously, the final piece hides these mistakes. You know they're there, but they don't affect the enjoyment of the show.

Animation and Artwork were really smoothy. Being it a drama it was expected that characters expressions would be carefully animated and so it happened. Also worth mention the quality of small details like snow flakes, leaves and sea water sparks but above all, this anime really represented its name. True Tears had one of the best Tears animation I've ever seen. It is not rare to find series with horrible "eye sweat" animations. It was a surprise to see how well drawn they were.

Sound, music, OST, openings, casting... deserves nothing but praise. The seyuus chosen for this series fit perfectly to their characters. The OST written for it was also outstanding. Emotional packed violins and pianos but also acoustic guitars for happy funky scenes. Reflectia (the opening theme) even did recently a cameo appearance on P.A. Works most recent anime TariTari. Only thing I missed tough was the small number of insert songs. Just a couple of them.
However, analyzing the songs shouldn't be limited to just saying if they are good or bad, one important aspect of it is timing and placement. A insert song placed at an awkward moment can easily ruins the entire mood of a scene. True Tears didn't have problems with it. OST was perfect placed, something that greatly increases the emotional value of certain scenes.
-A notorious example of it would be the last scenes of episode 6.-

Still, the most impressive about this anime is related to its story.
Its plot and script is way stronger and denser than lots of drama/romance series similar to it, however, it doesn't tries to impose feelings on you. It might make you shed some tears but it isn't a constant machine gun of feelings. You may end up thinking "Oh man, this is sad" but it stops at it, through the entire series there isn't a scene that you can notice it was prolonged to induce the viewers to cry or something similar.
In the place of it, P.A Works built a compelling storyline, that keeps you entertained and curious to known what will happen next, what will a certain character do and how it gonna end. Specially how it gonna end, since the final conclusion was marvelous hidden till the very end.
This is a series I'd strongly recommend watching for a second time in order to fully understand it.

Something that is lovely about these romance anime it that you always get attached to the story and in most of the times, when there's a love polygon, you start cheering for a character/couple. The satisfaction of seeing your favorite character achieving his/her goal or the sadness of a misfortune is part of it.
It's silly to bias the final enjoyment rating on this character success/failure, what matters is that the series managed to keep you entertained the whole time!
Story 9 / Character 9 / Art 8 / Sound 9 / Enjoyment 10 = Arithmetic Overall: 9

True Tears, for me, was a masterpiece.
But, c'mon. They could've picked a better name.

"Reality, be rent. Synapse, break! Banishment, this world! ...."

Behold!
The ultimate review by Dark Flame Reviewer Master.
What? You don't know who I am? How pitiful. Well... as expected from a human commoner. It is no surprise you haven't watched this epic series yet... What!? Did you say you don't acknowledge the meaning of the word Chuunibyou? Holy Chimera, do I need to explain everything?

Chuunibyou, aka 8th grade Syndrome, Pubescent Crisis, Fourteen sick, Hebephrenic schizophrenia, by the commoners, is actually the gateway to the Unseen Horizon. Only those who feel it can see the true reality. This tale presented before your eyes summons the adventures of ... Dark Flame Master (Yuuta) and Tyrant's Eye of Truth (Rikka). However, Yuuka felt to the darkness of a common life as high school year begins. He now says that such things like magic doesn't exists and swear to never address himself by his honorable title as Dark Flame Master again.
He will try to convince Rikka to believe in his new ideals, his new way of seen the world. A world were magicians and powers are just part of an illusion, part of the 8th grade syndrome. Rikka on the other hand will attempt to save this warrior's soul, and bring him back to his good old days.

Along the series, a lot of character development is put in action. As our protagonists struggles with their everyday school life they will change their impressions and way of seeing things. One may notice this is one of the strongest points of this anime. The dept characters have and sometimes the dialogues full of subtext carrying the message this story wants to transmit: The meaning of growing up.
-Specially in this period of great changes that high school is-
The beginning of a new season, new friends, subjects and challenges. At the same time, it's the end of the childhood and some things can't possibly stay the same as they were when you were in primary school. Along with all these changes, comes together a feeling of everlasting hesitation, self doubt and you start to question how you really are. It's unquestionably an important and difficult step into the life of most of us, and it's impressive how just a few anime series that have as their focus high school touches this psychological side of it.
Then, you might thing: If it's so complicated and dramatic how can this be a comedy?
Well, there is always a good side of everything, and Chuunibyou mixes both perfectly. Once again returns to the essence of slice-of-life humor, places it in an adorable environment, and proves to the world that the classical "Cute" is not dead. In the era of "moe" it's refreshing to see a slice-of-life with school girls that isn't filled with fanservice. At the surface and on the first episodes, Chuunibyou looks pretty average, besides from the great animation on the action scenes, there is nothing special to it. However, as the story progresses it starts to become clear the objective of the anime and midway through it reaches its edge.
However, don't expect too much romance. unlike the title which says "Regardless of My Adolescent Delusions of Grandeur, I Want a Date!" this aspect was neglected for the production during almost the entire show. But you will find out why.

Something interesting in Chuunibyou is that supportive characters plays important roles building the background story, as their personal memories, wishes and worries are also shared with the viewer along the story. This, although appearing to be a minor difference, helps to break with the patterned school slice-of-life with stereotyped characters so common these days.
Nevertheless, originality is something difficult to discuss.
I wish not enter in this merit nor question where some of the ideas for this series came from, however, some situations were difficult to fully enjoy because they were way too similar to series that came prior it. While watching, some may do the same association I did, and recall of a certain high-school girl with similar "delusions" and a desire to create a similar club with the objective of researching these mysterious beings and things. An air-headed teacher would allow them to do it, and they would spend most of the time goofing around. It won't be a surprise if in the next season of Chuunibyou their club decides to do a movie project.
Even though, accusing something of not being original when anime is widespread over the most different genres with the most different studios is certainly a miscall. Just like this, in the matter of characters, although KyoAni uses some characteristics Slice-Of-Life fans are accustomed to, they bring together in this show lots of elements well known from their projects. A compelling storyline, great OST, voice actors and, of course, wonderful artwork and character design.
This last one, plus the develop of the story and characters themselves saves the plot from being repetitive and boring just like supportive characters from being flat and just puppets of the main storyline.

Chuunibyou would be perfect if it wasn't for a single planing mistake: It tries to be serious in the background but appear funny and easygoing on the outside. From the beginning producers probably knew it would be a challenging thing to do, we've seen things like this go wrong before, and as expected this "careless" look takes control of the show. Basically the outside setting wouldn't allow the story to develop any further nor deeper because any change in the mood of the show would get in contrast with the atmosphere they built. This becomes explicit towards the ending when the anime had to give closure to a bunch of unsolved aspects and had to rush it in a couple of episodes. It didn't worked pretty well, as so we got a second season.
Consequently, this 2nd season is only possible because of that. If the story progressed the way it was heading to, there wouldn't be material for a second season, it would end here and now. Whenever this was intentional or not, this just dropped the 'story' and 'enjoyment' scores of the show. After all, it still needs closure.
On the other hand, worth mention, artwork and sound maintained its high quality during the entire series. Therefore, no complains with them. If KyoAni have some strong points, those are definitely part of them.

Someone once said that Chuunibyou is a love letter to all anime fans. We all have our "chuunibyou side" and many of us went through similar situations presented on the series, so it's easy to relate to. That is one of the reasons why the series received a good approval at its premier, and is still cherished by many people.
Characters as well, are affectionate and easy to attach to them (besides from being astonishing cute).
For me, Chuunibyou was satisfying and enjoyable. Something that was worth watching, but after the praise-carried recommendations I've received, I was expecting more of it. So, my piece of advice is: Watch it without any prior knowledge about it, besides from reviews of course (but be careful with spoilers). This way you will probably enjoy it much more since everything will be new for you. And if there is a highlight in this anime, it's probably its ability to surprise you, in many different and adorable ways.
Numeric score: Story- 7/ Characters- 8/ Artwork- 9/ Sound- 9/ Enjoyment- 7/ Overall- 8
(You do know you can check them by clicking the "Overall" hyperlink, right?)

"Be engulfed by the flames of darkness and begone!"

"I'm the freaking heroine, and you know it! My name's on the title!!"

What the fudge happened here?
Dear J.C.Staff, are you people making fun of us? Or do you actually acknowledge your own mistakes with this franchise?
Either way, this little Index-tan special, just like the previously Index-tan series, was deliciously hilarious. However, while the specials for the TV series were filled with random gags and fanservice shots, this one did something more...
It is divided in parts, like chapters, that goes through key points of the movie, and what is most impressive, it also recaps the major plot holes, asking for answers while blaming some VIPs ... of the staff. It's pretty hard to find a series that actually admits its own storyline mistakes and even makes fun of it. Oh, but it didn't stop there, this special gets to a point they even question their own fanservice with, a fanservice shot. -Fanserviception?

Almost the entire main cast of the franchise have a little cameo appearance, so fans can rest easy. With the exception of Accelerator... He's the only one who didn't show up. Sad statement -should have left it for the ending.

Comparing these random 12:01 minutes to the entire movie, they were more enjoyable than half of it. It managed to take a good laugh out of me with the most unexpected and hilarious dialogue and animation. Specially when Arisa is shown with a different stereotype, the one which, honestly, would be the real thing if this wasn't a fantasy anime series.

Try to find this subbed. Watching without understanding the dialogue won't bring the same enjoyment. Yes, I gave an Special a 7. Curse me.
Numeric score: Story 6 - Art 8 - Sound 6 - Char 6 - Enjoyment 10.
Stupendous!

"There are no innocents fighting a war"

specially when it comes to the front line.
If you are fighting, you're fight for an ideal, fighting to protect the lives of the ones you cherish, but in order to do it you're ceasing the lives of those who oppose you. Inevitably, together with it comes a feeling that question if what you are doing is right or is wrong.
This feeling is called Guilt. The main focus of this anime.

This review will follow a different approach than the majority here. Trying to present a different viewpoint.
Anybody who searches through reviews will noticed that a lot of people gave pretty ... low scores to this series, and even lower to its story. Why is it? There will never be a consensus, since each reviewer have a personal interpretation of the matter, however, I strongly believe these scores results from a unexpected complexity of the storyline, not common to action animes.
From the surface, Guilty Crown seems just like any other action/battle shounen series, the first episodes will really remind -those who watched- of a certain series that also has mecha and this genetic/genome element on it. However, as the story progresses it becomes clear that its storyline is way denser and heavier than it appears to be. If it happened to disappoint so many people, this is because it was badly driven and poorly organized at critical turning points, but it certain had the elements to be a masterpiece.
This is something to give credit for.
Another common complain is its ending. This review won't touch this matter. It's unreasonable to blame the series for not making the ending you wanted. It wasn't a ambiguous neither a vague ending, so there are no complains towards it.
Many people misinterpret what this anime really is about. It isn't a romance, neither a adventure, it's far from it. Interesting that some OST gives a clue of its true motivators, and yet, many seems to not get it. (Listen to the OST -Ready To Go)
Guilty Crown is about how a society can go to ruin when a crisis appears, how power can corrupt, the importance of friends, and specially, family. One can simply watch it for the battle scenes (worth mention: their background music was really well elaborated) but should have in mind the story isn't simple as a swordplay like that.

The reason why Guilty Crown story collapses on itself is the amount of different elements presented in a short period of time. Imagine a book series. One of those trilogies that each book have more than 500 pages, no pictures, and a heavy built background story. Now take everything and compress into a 22 episode anime series. There is no way it would have room for everything. Guilty Crown tries to tell a entire saga from it's birth, through its glory and till its fall. New action and thrilling elements are introduced non-stop to a point the viewer starts to question what is all that about anyway, and this is where Production I.G lost it.
The big mystery, the key for the story, was perfectly and cleverly elaborated, hidden from the beginning till the end and when it was time for the curtain to fall, it closed up with a grand-finally that just a few could say they saw it coming.
However, while the writers were focusing into elaborating this solo segment of the story, they complete piece was running towards a dead end, with a absurd amount of loose ends and continuation mistakes. In order to save it, they manipulated the original structure of the characters, performing a completely change of ideology and personality of some of them. This, not the story, ruined Guilty Crown's kingdom.

This sudden change in some characters is what did the most impact on this show dignity. People sure change as time goes by, and some tragic or happy events can also make their feelings and attitudes to change. However, nobody goes through a complete ethical and moralistic meltdown from the night to day, neither someone can recover from days of suffering in a blink of an eye. Perhaps if the second arc of the anime was divided from its main piece as a second season, it would be easier to swallow, but the way it was done, doesn't mater how you see it, it's too abrupt. -Dear Production I.G, just one "breather episode" (ep.13) can't possibly be enough to shoulder a change like that.
Also, interesting to mention, Shu -our protagonist- isn't the "hero" of the series. The character that holds this significance is another, but in order to now spoil it, I'll void its name. Shu, instead, is the figure of the anti-hero. That is why it's correct to expect from him some attitudes he took, and that is also why some changes in his character are acceptable. He drives away from the pattern of shounen's heroes. Where the protagonist "seeks power to protect", he is afraid of it, is insecure, childish and lacks of determination. If Guilty Crown has any of originality on it, it's right on this topic.

Even though, the OST makes up for this series. The reason why I can give it a solid 8 is because of the magnificent job that was done regarding the sound production. From all the little blasts or fire effects to complex insert songs, they all sounded real, equating to a cinematographic production. These insert song, themselves holds an important meaning on the story and also works as a breather for action-packed scenes.
The reason why the enjoyment reached a fair score was also due to the pieces chosen for some key scenes. Strong operas at some parts, along with epic fast-paced drum & bass, and even some classic-style compositions, turns the entire sound division an pleasure to listen.

I prefer to consider Guilty Crown as a deviant series. Not for what is on its surface, neither for its concept. But for hidden aspects of the show. First, some subtle dark humor in the villains dialogue aligned to a curious irony in some episodes and twists of the story. Second, for the way it manages to be eccentric at times but still don't loose its main characteristics as a "battle shounen". The final couple of episodes brings ideological senses with a "sweet" sarcasm that you gotta be courageous to try it. That conflict of what is sick and what is beautiful contrascenes with what is right and what is wrong.

It is the most honest truth say this series is fascinating. Fascinating, and this is it.
It failed in so many aspects it becomes hard to give it a higher score. However, it is entertaining, have some alluring elements -I'm not talking about Inori (...) Or maybe I am?- and ends the game with a interesting plot twist plus a acceptable epilogue.
At least, I'm glad this didn't end up being a 200 eps. anime.
Numeric score: Story 10 - Art 8 - Sound 10 - Character 4 - Enjoyment 7 - Overall 8.
(You know you can see it by clicking the hyperlink where it says "overall" right?)

Putting it simply. Definitely worth watching for its uniqueness. For being... Exceptionally ordinary.

"Their Standing Points."

Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko.
A short, cramped, minimalistic tale compacted in a 5min OVA.
A lovely, unique, emotion-packed tale expressed at its best in a 5min OVA.

Everything always has two points of view.
Every point of view has a different interpretation.
The everyday life of the Girl and her Cat.
The everyday life of Chobi -the Cat- and its owner.
...
Shinkai builds this short movie -this long poem- with the same elements old-school cinema were made. Before all the advances in CGI and other technologies, when few scenes and no dialogue were needed in order to make children happy and adults believe in fantasy again.
First the introduction scene, the introduction of the characters, then followed by a monologue of one character conducing the narrative as the scenes keep changing. With a calm and relaxed pace, a whole story is told within 4:57 minutes.
The artwork reminds some nostalgic home-made productions from the times of the first portable cameras that were still black/white, however, you can notice it's perfectly drawn and detailed, as expected from Shinkai. This plus an endearing background music by Tenmon only confirms that the focus is the story itself, without other interferences nor distractions.

Great books doesn't need tons of volumes to be good.
It's often said that sequences ruin the movies.
The same way, Shinkai doesn't need more than five minutes to tell a story.

In a review, I'm supposed to present the series, do a little analysis but not spoil anything. When we're talking about an OVA like this one, I must be honest and say that I won't be filling lines that goes nowhere and will simply state: Watch it. It is worth it.
No, I'm not being vague.
If you watch it and don't get it, watch it again.
If you do it and still don't get it, you're probably too young for Shinkai's movies.

Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko is a piece of philosophy after all. Packed with antagonism and metaphors just like this review.

"The kind of story that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

Were my thoughts when I finished watching this movie. Interesting thing that this feeling answered my own question that I had before. I was unsure about watching at the beginning, wondering how a story about raising a child could be so interesting and so loved by many people. Now I realize that what makes it adorable isn't a major plot with turns and twists neither an exceptional story, but all the beautiful little things from daily-life gathered together. Parents out there would easily and gladly answer, without a second thought, that there isn't ... a better love story than the one between a parent and a child.
On the other hand, some may drive away from it, because heard it's silly or childish. At first sight it sure seems a bit naive and looks like a "overly-cute" fantasy, but think about it, is there any story out there that is 100% free of criticism? Just like you shouldn't "judge a book by its cover" don't judge this movie before watching it.

What makes a masterpiece?
In order to give a full score, an 10 out of 10, usually reviewers tend to weight all the aspects of a show.
This would include story, artwork, sound, characters and all the elements that gathered together makes one final piece. There is no doubt that this concept is correct, but what if one story is so great that by itself excels in this criteria? Should you give credit to it, or just mathematically consider the final score? In my humble opinion, the least you can do is show respect to it, opening an exception to the pattern and review it in a different and unique -just like this story is- way.

Usually when you talk about animes with wolves and werewolves, to most people the first thing that comes in mind are usually fantasy series or fairy tales filled with magical elements, usually medieval themed, and lots of other mystical creatures. Sometimes these stories would develop into a romance, where a human character falls in love with this being that is half-human/half-animal and their relationship would slowly progress until they finally end up together.
Then what? What about the After Story?
Ookami Kodomo finally breaks this generic kind of story and goes further, showing how it really would be raising human-wolf kids in modern-age Japan.

If raising a "normal" child isn't easy stuff, imagine raising two, with a gap of just one year, and worse, those two aren't normal babies, they are wolves. What do you prepare for their dinner? Do you buy them kid's or dog's toys? Where do you take them, to the nursery or the veterinary!? The most trivial thing can turn into a real hardship if someone finds out about this little "issue" and then, the biggest fear of every parent: have their kids taken away from them, could become reality.
Just like this, the story will develop while we see Yuki and Ame grow to become great humans -or wolves?- with their mother Hana working hard to provide them the best of the best.
It isn't a "slice-of-life" but instead it would be better classified as a "life story" since along the 120 minutes of this movie, you can accompany 12 years of these kids and their mother life. And it's also a romance, a love story, because this love doesn't always need to be between a boy and girl. Besides from the parent-child relationship, the story also shows the lessons and all the help you can get from strangers and neighbors when you're facing problems. That is one of the most wonderful things in these animes, the ethic and the sense of moral they carry with them.

Ookami Kodomo was produced by the same director and studio that became famous due to "Summer Wars" and "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", titles that might sound familiar to many people nowadays. Their style of a simple animation without much coloring details or special effects may drive some away from their projects, yet, I guess this is the perfect style for a movie which has the story and characters as the main focus. If the animation and the outline are beautiful or not is a different discussion, however, it must never be considered as "second hand" quality, after all, style is something you can't argue about.
Along with this, every character movement was well elaborated and some scenarios had a really beautiful artwork. Also, just pointing it out, something that really impressed me was the quality of the animation of raindrops, I don't remember seen one so good like this.

The music of this movie is adorable. Specially at the prologue and the ending scenes. Some calm and relaxing pieces that fits perfectly with the tone of the story. Just like that, sound and OST in general contributed to create the environment of the plot, nostalgic at some times but also thrilling at others.
The movie is structured as if it was being told to someone, just like a book. The one narrating the story is Yuki (grown up already) and the calm and gentle voice of her VA helps to bring this air of fantasy an old fairy-tale would have. I got no complains at all regarding sound.

Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki, was a lucky surprise that I found by accident while browsing the database, and now this is a story I'll always cherish deep within' my heart.
It might induce different feelings in each person, depending of what one has gone through in life, if he/she is a parent, etc... just like some may go down to tears and others may feel indifferent to it. However, I guess everybody can appreciate the beauty of the story.
Expect a lot of character development -as if this wasn't clear yet-. You'll see these kids grow and there is no way you won't attach to them.
For the numerical breakdown of my scores, you can click the "overall" and check by yourself. What I took mostly in consideration -like said before- was the enjoyment and quality/originality of the story, that is why, in my humble opinion, this 10 is very well deserved.

Then, if not this, what moves people's hearts?

"Then, would you accompany me to the depths of hell?"

For those who watched the TV series, this sure rings a bell. It was said by Index to Touma in the very first episode when they met in Touma's apartment.
After this encounter, Kamijou Touma's life would never be the same again. He didn't know back then but he was about to discover a world with dangers beyond his imagination and had yet to realize how important he would become.
The Toaru Index/Railgun franchise stands out due to its great character design and art, exciting battle scenes and an interesting story about the fight between the scientific and ... the religious factions. It is fast paced and finish with deconstructive villain vs. hero action.
This kind of plot is based in the well-used formula of action anime that always happen to be successful in a way or another. There is this major scheme going on and our protagonists are randomly catch in the middle of it, while they are completely unaware of what is going on.
One could say it's an old and repetitive storyline, but wouldn't deny it proves to still be effective anytime a new project appears with this setting. This movie is no exception. It could've been better developed but was sure joyful to watch.
With just these few lines I could review the entire story. That's exactly why my score to its story wasn't that high. However, there's way more to analyze. For the breakdown, if you might, read below.

My first thoughts on this were "I've seen enough Index to know where this is going". Endymion story develops just the same as a special/OVA would go and takes place after the end of the TV series, although, no prior knowledge is necessary in order to understand it.
Again, Academy City, the place where science has no limits and students are often endangered by experiments conduced without good sense by both religious/scientific factions, will be the stage for another conflict.
Have you ever wondered what makes a "miracle" possible? The Miracle of Endymion, as some like to refer about an incident that happened long ago and is about to take the stage again. However, this miracle might not be so perfect, and there are some who would swear to death it was never such a thing.
Just like the tv series, this movie contains a lot of symbolism and references to holy scriptures and ancient story as well. Being this one of the most important pillars of the entire franchise it was pleasant to see that they did it very well with this movie.

J.C.Staff, nowadays, stands as one of the greatest studios when you talk about anime. So, as expected the artwork was a joy to watch. There were some nice scenarios and the character expressions were perfectly drawn. You can easily notice someone cared about the details not only on the most important scenes but during the entire move. It sure impressed me the high quality of the CGI that was also meticulous coordinated.
Usually movies have a larger budget then TV series, more sponsors and more time to produce less material. This way, movies tend to have better results, just like the post-production, the animation and the planing of these 90 minutes were superb.

Being it an action-driven story, it's acceptable that the focus isn't in developing characters, even though, one thing is leaving characters with low priority and another is completely leaving them aside. In my point of view, there's just a lack of effort in making them deeper.
Index fans will be depressed to know that she isn't the spotlight this time neither. Her screen time in this movie was also minimal. Index Librorum Prohibitorum stopped being the main focus of this franchise long ago.
Endymion presented lots of supportive chars -as if there wasn't already tons characters in this series- but just a couple of them are developed and actually have some kind of background story. Those who read the novels might be a little more comfortable with this, since some of these characters were introduced along the volumes, but for those who didn't, it just feels like these chars are jumping in and out of the screen.
There are a few cameo appearances from the TV series for the joy of some fans, but they would only show up some minutes and didn't played a important role on the story.
All of this just contributes to blurry the glow of this movie. It becomes hard to follow and be excited by the story when you can't attach to the characters.

As for sound and OST. We got a lot of insert songs, very pretty ones. One of the main characters, and center of the plot, loves to sing and make a living out of it, so as expected, there are some moments during the movie when you can just sit back and enjoy her cute voice.

In the end, a predicable story with a pretty predicable ending. It felt like I was watching an OVA.
Endymion didn't reach my expectations, I wasn't amused as I thought I would be. But still it was a very pleasant movie to watch and a great story to pass the time.
Considering it has been a while since the TV series aired, it was nice to relive those moments.
As for a final consideration: Yes, we got (a bit of) fanservice! Some interesting camera angles and odd "where are your clothes?" scenes.
J.C.Staff sure knows how to please their fans without tagging this as a ecchi.