Jeoffrey

This show is garishly colorful, strange, and slightly crazy. Unfortunately, it is also crammed with way too much and, in some ways, very chaotic. In other words, the anime's creators (and I am not at all surprised that it was made by the Bones studio again) were given practically almost unlimited space for their creativity. A universe was created where almost anything is possible and where, at least according to the anime's premise, virtually anything could happen. As with Blood Blockade Battlefront, for example, the potential was simply enormous, and even in this show, you could see the anime's creators playing around with it quite a bit at times. The biggest problem for me, though, is the narrative. The show does not work due to the lack of clarification. They are also constantly jumping to "before" and "after" in the episodes. It is, therefore, confusing. Surely the anime's creators probably want to stimulate the viewer's imagination and want them to think about this, although for me, they failed to do so, so you could not engage with this anime series. Furthermore, the longer I watched it, the more the narrative's main ideas seemed all too familiar. Practically from the beginning, I thought: "In which movie is there a story about a group of people with supernatural abilities who live in seclusion and oppressed by society, and among whom there is some doubt that their uniqueness destines them to rule a society?" Yes, I have just rather clumsily described the X-men movie franchise, and the inspiration of the franchise seems strong here, even if the form of the "superhumans" in this show has pretty much been adapted to Japanese tastes (Magical girls, Mecha, etc.). However, unlike in the X-men, as mentioned earlier, there was no atmosphere in this show at all. The narrative was rather too colorful, episodic, and chaotic, whereas, with this kind of content, I would probably prefer something much darker and more coherent. Furthermore, the world did not impress me very much either, just as I was not impressed by the "Superhuman Bureau" organization around which it was all supposed to take place. The anime's creators failed to get me to care much about any of the characters. Even now, I do not remember anyone's name. For example, I only know that there is a blonde ghost in the form of a small child, a strange magical girl with some weird creature living in her cleavage, a time-traveling human/leopard. While those connections sound pretty interesting and original, I was not impressed by any of them while watching. Of the supporting characters, the only one I remember is Earth-chan because seeing her made me smile at least a little. It is true that I thought things got a bit better at the end and that I started to see some hint of atmosphere and preparation for the big (season) conclusion. There were some unexpected twists; however, unfortunately for me, they fizzled out again and only confirmed that the anime's creators had watched X-men. All in all, I thought the anime's creators managed to make a minimal experience out of maximum potential. So I should be disappointed; however, I threw in the fact that I did not like the animation (it is just too garish, and unfortunately, it does not suit the show), and the soundtrack was not very impressive. It would be a rather below-average show, but the potential is just there, and it still had an epic first-season conclusion. Because it will continue with another season (spring 2016) where many things could be unraveled - in other words, because of the hope that it can only get better, I am going to award a rating according to this, that is a weak average. 4.7/10.

I could find a few good things about this show. I have to say, for example, that like Sougo and I am quite smitten with Felia, both in her Lolita form and when she is older, so at least a couple of characters caught my eye. On the other hand, I could have done without the caterpillar that turns into robot. SPOILER ALERT. I guess the concept of "angels" and their protectors would not have been in the show; it would not have been sci-fi. We probably would not have gotten the classic "environmentally friendly message" at the end about protecting our precious planet, so whatever, even the caterpillar is something to get used to after all. As far as the narrative is concerned, we got a few familiar tropes, a few moments that we better not think about, a fairly bearable "tragic" romance, in my opinion, and, as mentioned earlier, the "environmentally friendly message." I can say that it was not as bad as I initially feared, and the last episode, which tried to create a sense of an epic finale, and you could see that the anime's creators were trying hard, worked quite well for me. END OF SPOILERS. I appreciate their efforts, leaving aside all the stuff that does not make any sense and that I am not a fan of mecha. Plus, even the narrative's grand finale was pretty obvious. I quite liked the ending, and the narrative was actually quite interesting. I enjoyed some of the characters and that it had some pretty nice animation and some very decent music in places. So for me, this was average entertainment for one season, the denouement and some aspects of which I quite enjoyed, although I am probably not going to watch it again. 5/10.

Komori-san Can't Decline! is not particularly dazzling, and you cannot really flesh out a fairly ridiculous show based on a girl called Shuri Komori, who is so nice that she cannot turn down people's requests in two-minute episodes. However, the main idea of why Shuri Komori does not say "no" was something. While it was not perhaps anything unpredictable or original, I had no problem believing it. Anyway, watching it, I somehow did not mind so much, and I even quite liked the animation style. The main female protagonist is quite likable, and the little guy who clearly had a thing for Komori was equally interesting. All in all, it was a pretty pleasant short anime series; unfortunately, in this case, I would say too short because it definitely had a lot to offer. 5.7/10.

I liked this follow-up to the anime series Beyond the Boundary. It indeed had its shortcomings concerning its logic and the behavior of the two main protagonists. SPOILER ALERT. One of the characters tries to protect another character, but the person in question does not want that at all. END OF SPOILERS. I have seen it several times in the first anime series, and so even though I could have expected it, it annoyed me a bit. If Akihito had taken a different approach, told Mirai how it was, and then they tried to face everything together, the follow-up would not have had to be so insanely emotional. On the other hand, it probably would have been boring without all the emotional aspects. So actually, I guess thanks for that. Also, I was quite happy that the crazy plot twist from the end of the anime series (or first anime movie) was explained and that I thus learned how such a thing is possible. The narrative is slightly cliched in some aspects and it is actually like a romance described in a trashy novel, although I have to say I still quite enjoyed it. I am quite happy with this ending to the anime series. I liked the animation and the soundtrack too. All in all, again above average 7/10.

When I found out that this first part of a two-part movie project is actually just a retread of what happened in the 2013 anime series Beyond the Boundary, I was not too keen on the idea. However, given the fact that the second part, Beyond the Boundary Movie: I'll Be Here - The Future, has also already been released, I figured I would watch both of the two parts (they were released at around the same time). Certainly, squeezing a twelve-episode anime series narrative into an hour and a half is not really possible, and it is clear that the anime's creators had to do some extreme editing. Fortunately, in my opinion, they were quite successful and only picked out the highlights. So they rehashed what happened in the anime series, and my final impression is essentially the same. I liked the two main protagonists, especially Mirai, whom I liked very much. I enjoyed the mysterious and rather original narrative, and I liked the rather good, in my opinion, love story element. I also remembered that I had been put off from giving it a full rating back in 2013 by the not-so-great ending and especially the very end, which serves tries to bring everything to a head emotionally. So I was again slightly put off by the conclusion of this movie. Anyway, the soundtrack and animation are good, and I thought the movie adaptation of Beyond the Boundary was simply above average. 7/10.

I have to say that I thought Attack on Titan: Junior High was really funny sometimes. Sasha is probably the best character, even though I also liked Mikasa, who is quite different from the original show (this anime series is a parody of Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan). So even though I did not have much faith in it at first, I had fun with this show, and therefore I think it is slightly above average. 6/10.

I quite often hear the opinion that Haikyu!! is the best sports anime series and I have to agree. I like Kuroko's Basketball as well, although Haikyu!! is funnier and does not even need to feature characters with constantly developing sports "superpowers" to keep the suspense going. Sure, many of the characters have above-average and almost unbelievable talent; however, unlike Kuroko's Basketball, Haikyu!! does not give us that all the time. Rather, it emphasizes that volleyball is a team sport and that good results are all about a combination of teamwork and team spirit. The characters are great, and I enjoy the interactions between the two main protagonists and the fact that the characters are evolving, which was very apparent, especially in the first season with Tobio Kageyama. Plus, the anime's creators are very good at the episodes that do not have any acting in them, so I found the first two episodes of the second season quite entertaining. Plus, there is a new manager in training, and I like her too because she comes across as a cute girl, and even though it is pretty clear where her character will go next, I already believe I will enjoy watching her. I like the animation, and the soundtrack is again awesome. The narrative is heading in exactly the right direction. All in all, an absolute 10/10.

The beginning of Utawarerumono: The False Faces was very promising; I liked the main male protagonist, the animation is very nice, and the soundtrack too. Unfortunately, it is true that, unlike the first anime series, it dragged quite a bit, and so even though I enjoyed watching it, it lacked some oomph. Furthermore, where there were some interesting fight scenes and strategies in the original anime series, there is only fan service and harem building in this show. Some better action scenes and storylines arrive in the last third of the season. However, even that is not as good as the end of the original anime series, so it did not stop me from feeling bored, especially during the first two-thirds of the season. Furthermore, the ending itself was a disappointment. It was very weak in terms of content, although the fact that it was nice to watch makes it average, in my opinion. 5/10.

Young Black Jack is an anime series set in the world of medicine following a medical student becoming a surgeon and trying to teach the audience some moral lessons. However, the problem for me is that I do not find it very believable. I already spoilered one piece of nonsense I noticed in the first episode, and now after the second episode, it seems to me that the nonsense continues. How can I believe a show about a surgeon with so many logical errors and things I cannot believe? I cannot do that. If it were all just some stupid joke, then perhaps I could, however, it takes itself very seriously. Plus, how can you have an anime series about surgery without any actual surgery in it? In the first episode, they did not show anything interesting regarding the surgery, and in the second, they did not show any surgery at all! Plus, the conclusion of the second episode was one big load of crap. So I am not going to waste my time with this anymore. Dropped after the second episode.

Lovely Muco is quite a watchable show, even though it somehow does not seem to have much substance. I also did not find it very cute or very funny. I think they could have made looking at the world through a dog's eyes more interesting. However, as it is, Muuco is simply an overly hyperactive dog who makes up all sorts of silly things and is devoted to his owner, and that is all. I was waiting to see if it would pick up somehow, although unfortunately, it just stayed the same, and I got a bit bored with it all. I did, however, make it through to the thirteenth episode in the end, and perhaps I am going to finish it at some point because I feel it is not a total loss. On the other hand, I feel it did not deserve more than 3.5/10 from me. Dropped after thirteen episodes.