You know, when I first finished my first anime, I was really into searching for something similar. I bet everybody's first anime was their masterpiece and formed their actual concept of what anime they prefer and strive for to watch. My first anime was called 'Blade and Soul', due to the fact I'm quite a senior player in that game, and was really excited about the anime. I really liked it, and I still tell the same, however, the anime itself wasn't what actually is important. The important fact is that afterwards I found out about SnS, which literally formed my total perception of what I like. It was my masterpiece and actually managed to force me to think about my future. But eventually you get used to that 'what am I gonna do' feeling, and continued watching different anime, knowing that all of them have some kind of story to them, that is why I made a huge list for myself. Now you may ask, why am I telling all this? If you noticed, I like action, fantasy, super natural anime, romance is a plus, and you yourself, reading this review, might be someone like me, thinking 'Should I really watch this? I'm not really into this kind of anime, so I'd rather watch something else, because it's probably not interesting'. That's what I thought when I first added it to my list. One day I stumbled across a video that spoiled me the last scene of the anime. It fired me up. The next day I picked up this anime and watched it in a single watch. Now I'm here, writing this review right after this. If you want my honest opinion, pick the show already, it's just going to be a conclusion of the key points to put a rating onto this anime.
STORY - 9.
Indeed, I will admit some people might disagree, since many really loved the story, and I did myself too. Everything was completely fine, and it really messed with my feelings at times. I loved the way the creators developed the story without any plot holes and without any rushing in a 25 episode life-span. When I finished my 13th episode of this, I thought 'Will this even fit into 25 episodes?', because that episode was a little twisting everything for me. However, it was nothing to worry about, since they managed to execute everything just as I expected. No, the anime is not predictable, if you really want to know - it's the other way around, very unpredictable, because it manages to force you into believing everything is actually going the way they're telling you. But the hints are obvious, and I'll tell you a cheat - always hear out stupid c-, I mean, Ami-san. I'm not telling when, just pay attention, and you'll understand me. She is quite a mature and smart person, even though she is quite a meanie.
The only minus in the story that I managed to spot - it wasn't rushed, instead it was the opposite - it was too slow. However, it was probably due to the fact I was spoiled from the start, nonetheless, I forgot it until I got to the last episodes. The last episodes messes with feelings, make sure to get ready. And actually it's quite reasonable - it doesn't put you into the seriousness, and instead of focusing on the main plot, it inserts comedy and a little of side-stories, and the main plot only starts off later, with twists happening later.
ART - 9.
The art and animations were totally fine, however, the climax of the arts' beauty can be noticed the best at winter's period in the anime, and that happens only in the latter episodes of it. Nonetheless, the anime is really well looking considering today's standards, to be honest, I didn't notice anything bad about the art style nor the art itself, the only thing I noticed is the intros/opening being a little worse quality than the anime itself, but probably it's just me. I only watch them once - when I first see it, and if there's a new one - once again to see the new one. That happened in the 13th episode I believe. However, the last episode surprised me the most, that it had a 8 minutes introduction before the opening.
SOUND - 10.
As I mentioned before in one of my reviews, I'm not the one to judge this. However, I actually managed to run into a discussion with myself about Inko-chan's voice. I got interested who actually voiced that thing.
I-I-I-......Inpo.
*spoiler starts*
he eventually tells his name
*spoiler ends*
Jokes aside, voice acting was great. However, at times I missed Takasu's speech, as of him responding 'Y-Yeah' and such, but I guess it's to expect, I doubt I would be able to talk anything different in situations as he had to go through. All voices were really nice, however, I really liked Yasuko's voice. Just my honest opinion here!
CHARACTER - 10.
I bet this is the most important topic in this anime, because the characters develop a lot throughout the anime! Considering they eventually reach their age of 18, as we could assume. In the start of the anime, everything is okey-dokey, a guy meeting a girl, they both find out about their crushes, and decide to help each other, even though Takasu is kinda looked low upon Taiga.
However, the development in this anime is visible in many of the characters, that's why I really enjoyed the show. The whole class, and even some outsiders, managed to have development in their character. I'm talking about Sakura, Sumire, Nanako and others, not even mentioning the development between the main characters!
ENJOYMENT - 10.
It was really mind-blowing to see something complicated as the situation in the anime, unravel into something that I would just be completely satisfied with! And writing this review just makes me feel happy about the fact that I really enjoyed the show. To me, watching anime, is like... is like watching something, that probably will never happen to me, such misfortune (pun)... and seeing a happy end makes me happy... makes me happy, that maybe one day I will have a happy ending myself, no matter what kind of future awaits me, we all have our destined paths and we all will have our own rendezvous loves and passions. I was really excited while watching this anime, and it made me realize some things that even though I thought I realized before, throughout life, we make many realizations, don't we?
OVERALL - I will conclude everything with one, simple quote from Alan Watts (overheard it on a chill mix somehow, and couldn't bear the fact I didn't know it! Coincidences like that happen, don't they? And here I'm putting it on one of my favorite, if not the favorite, anime review!)
When we finally got down to something,
which the individual says he really wants to do,
I will say to him:
You do that and forget the money,
because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing,
you will spend your life completely wasting your time.
You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living,
that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing,
which is stupid.
Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.
What I mean is that, instead of clinging onto things that you THINK would be the best, instead, look for something that would make you happy, and sometimes, the happiness is way closer than you think it is.
