Summer 2016 Final Thoughts

- WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS -

Quick message before we hop right into things! I have found myself really busy with schoolwork and extracurricular commitments, and as such the only time I have been watching anime is just before turning in for bed. Even at that, I might fall asleep before the episode ends, and I never get around to finishing it.

With that being said, this might be one of the last "full review" posts for a long time (they're half-baked since I'm writing these months after I finished them). You'll also notice that there isn't as much meat in the reviews. Anime just doesn't have a place in my life right now, and it's sad to say that, but hopefully one day there will be yet another First Impressions. Who knows? Maybe there will be one next season c:

MyAnimeList

Summer 2016 First Impressions

This Season:
91 Days
Amaama to Inazuma
Orange
Re:Zero
ReLIFE
Rewrite
Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara

91 Days (12)

I Rate: 7.5

One Sentence: Though unable to fully utilize its potential, 91 Days still masterfully relays the story of revenge sparking an endless chain of killing.

91 Days starts off great - you have this depressed and empty protagonist who gets tangled in an elaborate revenge and corruption plot. It's an interesting premise, and the atmospheric elements of the anime are done wonderfully. The anime does lose itself over its run, and I don't think it ever lived up to what viewers were expecting in their minds.

Our main characters are pretty interesting for the most part: Angelo is an anti-hero, but you feel sympathy and pity him for his situation, and Nero is a surprisingly grounded and morally conscious person, for his close involvement with the mafia.

The story in 91 Days is a roller coaster, and sadly not in the good way. At times the show peaks at its greatness, and delivers a profound episode, and at other times the episode is forgotten within the next hour. This detracts from the show, and in the end I would say the watch is not worth it.

Best Girl: Fio, for making a killer onion soup

Amaama to Inazuma (4/12, dropped)

I Rate: 7.2
One Sentence: What happens when you throw a single dad, an annoying little kid, and a hungry high school student together into a cooking pot.

I don't have too much to say about this one. Really don't like Tsumugi (is that her name? I've forgotten by now). Dropped the show early on, tried to continue watching on several occasions, but this will likely end up being another Re-Kan! Then again, it's hard to be as dull and uninteresting as Re-Kan!

Best Girl: Kotori, she's pretty cool

Orange (13)

I Rate: 7.7
One Sentence: A refreshing spin on the overdone romance/drama categories, with themes of sadness and friendship that are conveyed well.

I think Orange got a lot better as it continued with its run, and I have to say that the whole parallel universe thing is done pretty well (as long as you can stretch your imagination a little) to add to the story.

The art is somewhat hard to get accustomed to, but it's something nice to look at once you get past your initial differences with it. Something the producers did very well was making the characters feel realistic. The behaviour of the cast in Orange was reminiscent of some of my high school days (not that I'm done high school or anything) and it's easy to relate to their actions.

The story is something different from the usual - featuring some dark twists and weaving of the time travelling throughout. It starts off relatively plain, but improves. Would recommend if you're exhausted of others from the genre, but there are definitely better ones out there.

Best Girl: as one of the only level headed characters, I gotta say Takako

Re:Zero (25)

I Rate: 8.7
One Sentence: Arguably the greatest thing ever made since sliced Rem I mean what.

It's a shame that I'm not putting much effort into this post because Re:Zero deserves much much more than what I'm going to give it. There are countless other reviews that are undoubtedly better and actually analytical of the disgusting beauty that Re:Zero is, but here is my little take on the show.

Let's start with some of the technical things! For starters, Re:Zero looks great and there are some stunning scenes in the anime. The art is clean and crisp (how I think it should usually be), really quite conventional, but it ends up contrasting with its subjects in a sort of wonderfully ugly way - the prevalent examples being Subaru's insanity, Petelgeuese and the many raw and powerful scenes of gore. The music and sound were other remarkable aspects of Re:Zero, with some truly memorable songs (the one that struck me the most was "Stay Alive," which literally sends shivers down my spine even now).

And now onto the characters. Subaru is easily one of my favourite characters of all time. The amazing thing about his design are the dynamic changes he undergoes. He starts off as your standard MC-who-is-weak-but-miraculously-saves-the-day, and the viewer gains more and more respect for him as the tribulations become increasingly difficult. I can say for myself (and others will agree) that I enjoy looking for similarities between the protagonist and myself - it's natural to look at what makes a character cool and then reflect those onto yourself. Eventually you start "becoming" the character, and Re:Zero takes advantage of this to throw the viewer into a personal crisis by turning Subaru into the character that we most despise. Suddenly you're conflicted as to whether you are still "Subaru" or not, further increasing the conflict you would have experienced normally. The other main players in Re:Zero are interesting in their own rights, however nobody really experiences much growth asides from Rem. Some of the characters are used as plot devices, and I could even argue that Emilia is one large, central plot device, simply as a convenient motivation that Subaru constantly has.

There are many different phases of story in Re:Zero, and it can feel like a romcom one episode and a shounen the other. While this could have easily turned sour, I found it interesting and a refreshing start to each episode that way. The first half of the season is used to introduce and develop the characters (pretty much just Subaru) while getting the viewers acclimated to the setting. Where everything goes south and Subaru loses himself is in episode 13, which includes one of my favourite scenes of all time. After that the show feels a bit unsteady and all over the place, but soon it's established that this part of the season is the redemption of Subaru and it is pretty much an action anime by then.

I'm sure that I didn't do justice to how highly I regard Re:Zero, so I definitely urge you to try out an episode or two.

Best Girl: Kinda sucks how Emilia can come in last episode and steal it from Rem, but yeah, it's her

ReLIFE (13)

I Rate: 8.0
One Sentence: Yet another high school romance kinda thing, except it isn't exactly high school, and there is a rather nice and heartwarming reveal at the end of it all.

ReLIFE reminds me a lot of when I started watching anime in terms of the feelings that it invoked from me and the fact that I started off with a lot of light-hearted, simple, yet wholesome series. The premise puts a creative spin on the saturated mess of SoL and executes everything to near perfection. It's limitations lie in its simplicity, however that is nothing to be ashamed of.

There are very few reasons as to why anybody would dislike the characters in ReLIFE, and I'm glad to say that I do not have any. Maybe it's because I'm a teenager myself and I can see myself in the cast, but who knows?

Art is very clean, conservative, with a slightly lower saturation of colours to produce a sort of realistic palette. Music isn't anything outstanding, but I thought the opening was great (actually, listening to it now, I find it quite catchy) and exemplifies the valuable period of our lives that we call youth.

ReLIFE plays out like a very classic high school drama, and remains consistent and strong throughout its duration. It is improved by the interesting circumstances of our main character Kaizaki

Best Girl: GOTTA GIVE IT TO AN ME BOYS

Rewrite (13)

I Rate: 7.5
One Sentence: At first a pain to get through, and then turns into what feels like a rushed mess, but actually ends with an intriguing message.

So when I actually started this post the second season wasn't confirmed, though it was very blatantly hinted at. Some time between the end of Rewrite and now, the second season was announced! Something to keep in mind as I briefly run over exactly what happened.

Rewrite stays very faithful to its visual novel source for the first half of the season before it starts to develop its own independent plot line. We see a lot of events from the common route (naturally some stuff has to be skipped to compress everything into 13 episodes) but the anime ends off with an original ending. The gang of Kotarou and his harem stumble across the rainbow river and then all of them start disappearing from his life. Suddenly the city is being run over by giant monsters and literally everybody dies.

It's a shocking ending, something that I definitely did not expect to see (maybe because I didn't get far enough in the VN), but the blow is softened by an epilogue, where Kagari (the key to everything) is seen tracing a line on some sort of TRON-esque board, where there are a bunch of lines and connections and stuff. The line (symbolizing the world that was just shown in the anime) leads her finger to a dead end, and you can infer that Kagari will "jump" to another world, where her friends survive and everything is swell. It was a pretty good ending in my books, able to keep the entire value of the ending for this season while also having the opportunity to explore a different path. I'll be looking forward to how the second season turns out.

Best Girl: This rendition of Kagari is pretty cool, though I only finished the Kotori and Chihaya routes, so wouldn't know if she's like that or not in the visual novel

Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara (13)

I Rate: 8.3
One Sentence: Continues right with the Autumn Elections and starts the Stagiaire arc off, same good ol' Shokugeki no Souma.

We're introduced to a few new characters and we learn some more about some overlooked old characters, but for the most part it feels the same: quirky characters who each have a strong trait that make the person. A few of the Polar Star residents were deprived of their screen time to make this happen, but it prevents any chance of the show becoming stale.

Music is hypey and gets you in the mood for some finger-licking goodness, and without the superb animation the memorable scenes of Shokugeki no Souma wouldn't be memorable at all.

This season of Shokugeki no Souma feels a lot like the previous, and it may be, but that is far from a bad thing. Much like its predecessor, Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara is a delightful and engaging show that draws in its audience with the absurd yet amazing world of food that it presents. The season ends with Souma losing in a three-way tie in the finals (this is earlier on), but displays some of Souma's immense growth and later adventures (the Stagiaire arc, but nothing past that).

Best Girl: NONE OTHER THAN THE MIST EMPRESS HERSELF, HINAAAAAAKOOO

Identity

Long time no see! I've actually been working on the Final Thoughts for the summer season (at a super fast rate of five characters per second) and felt like I couldn't post anything else before I finished that. Obviously you can see a change of heart since I'm here, but less of this and more about stuff that pertains to the title.

I was sitting in my physics class a few days ago and lab groups were going up and presenting their approach to finding the elastic potential energy stored in a toy gun. When one of the students went up and did their presentation, I found myself thinking about my history with that person. This led me to realize what changes that person had gone through since I first met them, and for the first time I actually looked at that person. Sounds corny right?

But yeah, it was an eye-opening experience. I saw things about that person that I had never seen before, and it was crazy because I had always assumed there was nothing else to see. It wasn't even that I judged that person by their cover solely, it was that I had completely misunderstood the cover.

That got me to thinking about how those around perceive me, and makes me wonder if anybody else has thought the same about me.

Me. Speaking of that. Heh.

I went to the UBC tour today with my good pal Jeff and got a tiny (and probaly incorrect) notion of what life on campus is like. To sum up my visit, I'll just steal something that I said to Philman about the experience: "But yeah I'm just enamored by the atmosphere there." Going to UBC has this certain glow to it, and to say that I successfully graduated from UBC is an accomplishment. Who knows though, at this point I'm just hoping to get in.

Anyhoo, thanks for stopping by to listen. It felt good to let some of these thoughts see the light of day. See you next time!

EDIT: So I actually finished this post after midnight... happy birthday to me?

Holy it's pretty much October

It's been a really quick first month of school and responsibilities and work are already starting to pile up, giving me just a taste of what's to come. Under some advice I've started working on my Grad Trans and Grad Profile, so hopefully my efforts now will take some stress off me in the future. In terms of my workload, it's been surprisingly light. That's to be expected as it is the beginning of the year, but I thought by now I would have much more work. However work is only half of the situation (probably less than that even), and I have taken on a lot of responsibilities this year.

Leading Students' Council is definitely proving more difficult than I initially thought, but hopefully I can smooth things out as we progress through the year. The responsibility of being on Students' Council along with various other councils and a volleyball team has me running around the place, but all this adds to what will surely be a memorable senior year.

I think the way I'm going about with Students' Council is better than previous years, but it isn't quite "the legendary year" that many of us expected. We've only had one event but with our upcoming Club's Day I hope we'll have a positive reception and time planning.

Anyhow, that's all from me for now. I kinda puked all over this post and just wrote whatever I felt like at the time. Wait another month and maybe I'll be back with another mediocre and confused post :)

Starting for the last time

So yesterday the school year started off with its very first full day today and if anything, I'm feeling excited. This is my year. This is how the last chapter of my high school adventure will open.

Yay.

Classes today were exceptionally boring, but I'm sure they'll pick up in no time at all (the rules and course outline stuff is typically difficult to sit through). For those wondering what's on my slate for this year, well, it's a bit of stuff. This year I'm taking (in no particular order whatsoever):

• Band
• English 12
• French 12
• Physics 12
• AP Calculus AB 12
• Physics 12
• Computer Programming 12
• Law 12

It looks like a somewhat heavy year, but it's up to me to juggle everything along with extra curriculars. Some other stuff I've horded onto my high school dinner plate are Students' Council obligations, involving myself in the school and local community, and the school ultimate team. I have a pretty busy year ahead of me, but I'm sure post secondary will be yet another challenge that I will take.

I plan to heavily invest my free time in developing and improving Students' Council and the clubs and councils system as a whole. Alpha is not the most spirited school, so it will be difficult to run events with a turnout rate that I consider successful. However my goal, at the very end of it all, is to raise a stable foundation that future councils can use.

That's it from me tonight, I'll try to get back to you guys sometime soon. Until next time.

Hiya c:

This month has turned out really busy for me (somehow) and it's already drawing to the end of August. It's unfortunate that I haven't been able to fully take you guys with me during my 24 days of hanging out with friends, working, and fulfilling various other obligations, but hopefully this post will ease my negligence.

I've been friends with a certain group of people for about two years now, and while most of us are scattered in the lower mainland, two of us are actually quite far away. Most of our interaction and connection are through games and Skype, but for the first time we were able to assemble most of the group. The two who don't live in the lower mainland came to visit us in the middle of August and we were able to have a really packed but amazing week together. That was a big highlight of my month, and I'll be sure to treasure the time I spent with them.

Since the latter half of July I've been working at a sushi restaurant (a good hour and a half commute from my place) and it's nice to have a nice steady flow of money going into my wallet again. I'm really thankful that I was given another opportunity to pick up some hours of work and I definitely won't squander it. The sushi is also a plus.

Next week I'm headed to the optometrist (maybe I'll have to get glasses with the way my eyes are failing on me) and I also have to start thinking about the upcoming school year. It'll definitely be a big one for me and those in my grade, and I hope that I'll play an integral role in making this year a memorable one worthy of leaving a legacy behind.

Anyhow, that's all for this small update. My fingers have started hurting again so I will go brush and turn in for tonight. Hopefully next post won't be too far from now, and you'll hear from me soon.

I Wonder

Hey, it's me, your Alpha Students' Council President for the 2016/2017 school year! I'm so glad that I get to work with the talented lineup for this year's group, and I look forward to enjoying another amazing school year here. This is my fifth year on Students' Council and I hope that I can use my experience and ideas to help run new and exciting events, along with all the traditional events Alpha has always had.

Well I'd like to say this, but I really can't, after all, it isn't what I feel.

So I'm here again, because nobody else ran for the position of Students' Council President and to be honest, it isn't that great. In the past I've ranted about problems that various clubs and councils "work" with and how there is a general lack of communication between all groups in the school, but this time around, I'll be going off specifically about Students' Council.

To any and all 2016/2017 Students' Council members who may stumble upon this: this isn't directed at you nor does it involve you. You happen to have a very passionate and outspoken leader who doesn't think that he can make change in his school.

Anyhow. If you're not familiar with my opinion on the current "system" of communication between councils and clubs at Alpha, I'll quickly run it over here. All communication in the school is a disconnected and jumbled mess or nonexistent. Because of this, simple problems such as schedule conflicts, event proposals, and mediocre collaborations are rampant through the school year.

Here is where Students' Council is supposed to step in. We are supposed to be a group of passionate individuals who run a central hub for all clubs and councils to connect and relay information through. But throughout my four years of being on Students' Council, I have not seen this purpose fulfilled. Another major objective of Students' Council is to promote school spirit, and to be fair, all previous incarnations of Students' Council have tried, but not in any meaningful way. Granted, it's difficult to be proud of a school that has a bad rap, but there is no school spirit.

Students' Council is far from what I want it to be, and I want to be the one who sets forward a motion to change the entire school. There is no foundation and clubs are lacking basic structure and organization. However it is daunting to think about how much I need to do to get the essentials down and start "rebuilding".

Sometimes I wonder if I would have been elected President if there were other candidates. I can easily see others winning solely through popularity, and I wonder if I would have been able to effectively convey my message and platform to a group of students in their last year of high school.

I am far from an amazing person, but I think that my vision and "ideal Alpha" is something that is amazing. I know that there is no chance for me to completely flip the school around, but at the very least I can start making change.

Thank you for listening to my rant and watch me eat my words in less than a year's time.

Summer 2016 First Impressions

- WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS -

I'm such a weeb. Here you are, whoever you are. The wonderful SUMMER 2016 FIRST IMPRESSIONS POST WOW CHOOOOOO CHOOOOOO.

And yes, I will write about ReLIFE in the Final Thoughts post.

MyAnimeList
Summer 2016 Final Thoughts

This Season:
Orange
Rewrite
Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara

Orange (2/13)

I Rate: 7.9
One Sentence: Interesting anime about the life of high school friends that utilizes flashforwards to tell the story and add a little bit of spice to the soup that is Orange. 

Orange has definitely brought some freshness to the stereotypical high school genre of anime, with its usage of various devices and an uncommon story. The unconventional thing about Orange is the flashforward that we are introduced to right off the bat, revealing a future where the group of friends are gathering to commemorate the life of a late friend. The main character, Naho, receives a letter from her future self, asking her to act differently in future events in order to live a high school life with no regrets. I like the way that the story in Orange is headed, but it doesn't strike me with any wow factor.

From the first two episodes I can't say much about any of the characters asides from Naho and Kakeru. Naho seems to be your typical shy and motherly high school female lead, however there is one gripe that I have: her blatant disregard of the letter. It seems ridiculous and unbelievable and she continually refuses to listen to the letter and pay heed to its warnings, despite the fact that all the events it has foretold have come true. On the other hand, Kakeru seems like a character who is carrying a lot of baggage, and has an interesting story to be revealed (that, and the guy is going to die).

The art is a bit different from conventional, but only when it comes to the faces of the characters. Asides from that, there really isn't anything that separates it from your typical anime. There are definitely moments of beauty in Orange, but more often than not the animation and art remain average. Personally I'm not a big fan of the opening or the ending, but they both do fit into the atmosphere of Orange.

When it really comes down to it, no, I do not think that Orange will be anything revolutionary or something that will destroy you in a beautiful and poetic way, but the point is that it doesn't need to. There was a decent amount of buzz around the anime before it came out, and I think that people expected too much out of Orange, when all it should be is an anime that tears a bit at your heartstrings and makes your eyes well.

Best Girl: Naho (though she's somewhat unlikable as far as female MCs go)


Rewrite (2/13)

I Rate: 7.3
One Sentence: Nothing amazing, but an interesting and worthwhile watch for any fans of the visual novel source.

There's a good chance that if you have not completed the common route in Rewrite, or know nothing of the visual novel, you will be very confused as to what is happening in the anime. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Rewrite is a mediocre anime, but a decent adaptation. My perspective is that of a person who has played the common route and finished a route or two, so there's a good chance that the adaptation sounds much better from my eyes.

Rewrite's plot has faithfully followed that of its source material, while making small changes in order to compensate for some of the VN's meaninglessly long scenes. For those not familiar, Rewrite takes place in Kazamatsuri, a green and modern city, and centers on Kotarou, a high school boy who has supernatural abilities. He eventually finds himself in his school's Occult Research Club, and he, along with the other members search for otherworldly happenings. Eventually he discovers that not all the members are as they seem, and that they all play a role in a very large scheme that is happening right in Kazamatsuri. I can't say too much about the story in the VN, as I have only finished one and a half routes, but the story is unique and I rather like it.

As for characters, Rewrite is home to characters who are largely two dimensional and not very exciting to watch (somewhat expected, as VNs tend to include just the popular archetypes of girls). There isn't much else to it.

8bit has done a nice and clean job with the animation, with very fresh and simple art, and smooth animation. The opening theme and ending theme are expectedly borrowed from the visual novel, but both sound good. For some reason I really liked the animation that accompanies both pieces, there's just something about them that feels great.

All in all, if you've played the VN (and liked it), watch it, it's a good adaptation and you'll enjoy the little things and the fact that Rewrite got an anime. Otherwise I highly recommend you to skip and watch something else.

Best Girl: burn me at the stake but Chihaya is pretty cool (though her route is kinda ehh)


Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara (3/13)

I Rate: 8.3
One Sentence: The long awaited second installment throws us right back into the Autumn Elections with more of the food showdowns that we love so much.

Shokugeki no Souma finally rewards its patient fans with a second installment of the well received first season, and it's been anything but a slow start. Each episode has whizzed through one showdown each, filled to the brim with dramatic cooking and the baring of chests. Plot is more or less the same, with the main focus being the tournament and an overarching story of the Elite 10 (that's what they're called, right?), but sped up to accommodate the shorter season.

All the main characters from the last season carry over into this one, though obviously there is a highlight on the contenders for the Autumn Elections. Yukihira is still his calm and confident self, Tadokoro gets knocked out but is chill about it, and Hayama continues to be the dark horse of the whole shindig. Nothing new here, but we are finally getting the backstory of characters like Alice, so we've got that going for us.

As always, the art style and animation in Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara is lively, bold, and dynamic. The art is rich with deep colours, complementing the nature of the show, and it's always a sight for the eyes when watching. Opening is refreshing and suitable for a show like Shokugeki no Souma, though I can't the latter is the same for the ending.

There isn't much to say when it comes to Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara, you could easily throw the 13 episodes in along with the first season and call it a single one (though you'll notice a change in pace for sure). Nonetheless, I'm sure that I'll very much enjoy this second season of the anime to its fullest, with all its absurd antics, erotic scenes, and dramatized cooking.

Best Girl: don't like Erina, Alice is eh, so gotta be Tadokoro

Spring 2016 Final Thoughts

- WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS -

So the good chance that my watch list of airing anime would increase near the end of the season ended up flopping, and all I have to offer to you are the same four that I introduced in the Spring 2016 First Impressions post.

MyAnimeList

Spring 2016 First Impressions

This Season:
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2
Mayoiga
Re:Zero
Sakamoto desu ga?

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 (25)

I Rate: 8.1
One Sentence: A very fitting and great conclusion to what was a fantastic series of friendship, action, and comedy.

When the spring season began airing and I was greeted with the lovely image of a second season of Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, I was actually planning on not watching the second installment. I felt that the first season was enough for me and that the second would be mostly the same content and structure. But, obviously since I am writing this post, my thoughts have changed, and I have indeed indulged in yet another season of Ansatsu Kyoushitsu.

Ansatsu Kyoushitu 2 follows up right where the first left off, and we ease back into the regular routine of one-off episodes, with students getting their personal highlights as they continually try to assassinate Koro-sensei. This was what I was afraid of, but even at that, the content managed to stay relevant and fresh. However, at the midpoint of the season things take a serious turn and the anime slips on a darker side. This transition was incredibly smooth and could not have been done better. I'm also very glad that the show started preparing for the ending relatively early, through revealing Koro-sensei's past and setting up for the finale. In my mind, Koro-sensei allowing the E-Class to kill him was the best ending; it emphasizes the teacher's strongest weakness, his students, and it also benefits the students.

The cast remains the same, with the addition of Itona as a member of the E-Class. Character development is highly focused on Nagisa, with other students getting little attention. I do not think that this was sufficient, but in the end Nagisa feels like a relatively changed and different person, and that goal was accomplished. Putting that aside, all the other characters remain likeable and easy to root for.

I have always been a fan of the art style in Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, and very much enjoyed the vibrant, high contrast, colour scheme of the anime. The lining of characters is somewhat rare but adds to really make them pop. The opening theme is catchy and well suited for Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2, and while I initially thought that the ending was a bit out of place, it did make for the dramatic and emotional moments.

Overall, a genuinely enjoyable and great show to watch. I recommend if you're looking to invest some time into a longer series and have the patience to wait for the anime to pick up.

Best Girl: Nakamura for her tragic unrequited love and not butting heads with Kayano (even though Kayano's love is also unrequited...)


Mayoiga (12)

I Rate: 6.7
One Sentence: While Mayoiga is able to provide an entertaining anime to watch, it is only so due to the hilarity of the show, and lacks anything to invoke deeper thought or interest.

To begin, I will say that despite my seemingly decent rating of the show, Mayoiga is an absolutely terrible show from start to finish. However, there is one single redeeming quality that presented Mayoiga a rating of 6.7 from me: the novelty value. I watched the show as it was airing, and every week the discussion threads on Reddit and MyAnimeList would blow up with hilarious comments and banter. This sole reason was the main motivation that I used to watch the show to its completion.

Story and setting. Despite its poor execution, the story and setting were interesting: A group of societal misfits travel to an undiscovered village to start anew and are faced with embodiments of their psychological scars, dubbed Nanaki. It was quite a good idea, and a little bit of it was able to peak out at times during Mayoiga's run, but besides that it is wasted.

A large concern coming from the premiere of this anime was that there were too many characters, and I can safely say that yes, that concern was valid. After a quick count there are 31 characters, and there are still other characters that appear later in the show's run. Most of the characters are static and one-dimensional, however there are a few that become dynamic with the revelation of their past and what caused their psychological scar. I think the tool of flashbacks was severely underused, and when it was used, it wasn't done in the best way. The few revealed pasts of the characters are interesting, but some may seem completely silly and absurd.

The art in Mayoiga is decent, above average at best. Nothing stands out here, or in the sound department.

To sum up the problems in Mayoiga, and what makes it a do-not-watch:

• lack of meaningful, interesting characters
• terrible lack of flashbacks and explanations for 30+ characters, who all supposedly have psychological scars
• the aforementioned 30+ characters, which a good 3/4 of are useless

Spare yourself and skip Mayoiga next time you're looking for something to watch.

Best Girl: Maimai, for that priceless pout in the opening


Re:Zero (14/25, ongoing)

I Rate: 8.7
One Sentence: An action, mystery, and thriller entry for this season about Subaru, a normal teenager who is teleported to a RPG-like world where he is cursed with returning to a checkpoint every time he dies.

Re:Zero reminds me much of Erased, in that it has its viewers in its grasps and in a frenzy right off the bat with an original idea and execution. Currently the anime holds a rating of 8.67, sitting at rank 45 on the MyAnimeList top anime list, and I highly agree with its rating.

I am in love with the story and how it is being presented to the audience. The future is never certain, and neither is the past, this device brought into play by Subaru's curse that sends him to a checkpoint after death. He is put into a world where the king (or whatever authoritative body was in place) has fallen and a royal selection is due, in which the new ruler of the empire will be chosen out of select candidates. Subaru bumps into one of the candidates, Emilia, and decides to align himself with her and help her win the right to rule the empire. Naturally though, there are those who are opposed, and that is what brings about the main conflicts in Re:Zero.

There are a good amount of characters in Re:Zero, but the trio that have the most depth to their personality are Subaru, Emilia, and Rem. Subaru gets an amazing amount of development and time focused on him, as expected for the main star of the show. However it's not just pouring screentime for him, the way that he develops and the way that it is conveyed to the audience is brilliant. Subaru transitions from the typical "MC who can do anything if he puts his mind to it" to a very very ugly "egoistical and pitifully weak MC". It's a great twist to everything and adds to how original and fresh Re:Zero feels, especially in the character department.

What's a good anime without some spectacular art? The art style is pretty conventional for the regular scenes, but where Re:Zero absolutely shines is in the detail and expressions of faces. In the episode where Subaru cracks and undergoes his transition to a distasteful character, there are some genuinely terrible and scary faces that nobody ever expects from the MC. The work and effort that is put into these expressions is astounding, and definitely provides an impact. Art aside, the soundtrack is superb, along with great opening and ending themes.

If you haven't heard about Re:Zero this season you've either been hiding under a rock or not watching anything. I implore you to pick it up as it passes its midpoint of the season, or at least give it a chance. Granted, it may not suit everybody, but Re:Zero is definitely causing waves this season.

Best Girl: pretty sure there would be a riot if I picked anybody else except for Emilia


Sakamoto desu ga? (12)

I Rate: 7.8
One Sentence: Ridiculous and hilarious in every aspect and leaves you always wanting more of Sakamoto.

It seems that every season there is always that one over the top anime that is crazy enough to keep you interested, and in a good way (and no, Mayoiga was interesting in a bad way). For the spring 2016 season, Sakamoto desu ga? most assuredly snags this title, and it adds itself as one of the most eccentric  anime that I have watched.

You would expect a lack of a linear story in a one-off show like Sakamoto desu ga?, but when all is said and done and the last episode has been finished, one has to wonder if there wasn't some sort of greater story arching over the events of the last 12 episodes. That is the case with this show, and while there isn't anything tangible to support this, it feels like you've gone through a journey with Sakamoto and his class.

There really isn't much to say about characters, and we don't see any development, albeit that tearful last glance from Sakamoto that reveals quite a bit. All of the characters in Sakamoto desu ga? are pretty run of the mill, but they are amplified by how amazing Sakamoto is. A truly amazing person is able to bring out the best and worst in everybody. There are obvious examples of this, from Kubota's transformation to Atsushi's dark moments, that speak to how influential Sakamoto was.

The art in Sakamoto desu ga? is pretty standard, being quite clean and fluid. Personally I thought the opening was very appropriate for the show and enjoyed it very much along with the animation sequence that accompanied it.

For those who have trouble reading in between the lines or understanding implications, there is this useful comment on the Reddit discussion page for the last episode. This is the reason as to why I feel there was at least some sort of story in Sakamoto desu ga? Anyhow, theories aside, Sakamoto desu ga? was a terrific watch that made me laugh and grin, while delivering a swift punch to the gut at the end of it all.

Best Girl: Fujita (I think she was the class rep)

Uncertainty (2)

I'm sure that I've written about the topic of uncertainty, and knowing myself, there's a good chance I titled the piece Uncertainty as well. In that case...

I present to you, Uncertainty (2).

In my later half of the semester I have found myself struggling in areas that I have not before. To be precise, I have: scored lower than average on a socials test, stumbled in French speaking two times, and have not been able to achieve the marks I desire in chemistry.

Wooooo, talking about it already gets me a bit down. Here's a neat picture of a tree I took a while back (to which I added vignette).

Random picture inserted? Sweet.

With my recent results, I've grown disheartened about my future and doubtful that I'll be accepted into the universities that I'm interested in. However, the one weird part about this is that... I'm not even doing "poorly" in my classes. In fact, two of those three classes will have little to no significance on my admission to post-secondary, and yet... it feels terrible.

I think this will be one of the more difficult moments in my life, the reason being that everything is... wait for it... uncertain (surprise). I hate the feeling of not knowing what I will go through. Once I am homeless, I am homeless (and there is likely little I can do if that happens). Similarly, once I have found a comfortable, not completely tedious job, there is only that to focus on for the next few decades.

Good time to take a break? Good time to take a break. Let's take a nice deep breath; inhale... and exhale. Wow great job! Now once more; inhale... and exhale. And one more time; inhale... and exhale.

Awesome. You're only a few more sentences away from being free to go!

It's been a while since I have felt this shaken up, but whenever I do, I look at this image and feel a bit better. Hopefully you will too if you're looking for something to hold onto.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one.

Maaaaaay is Gone

Sorry for not posting at all recently, there simply hasn't been anything to write about. I'm taking each day as it passes and I find it harder to write about anything significant. There were and still are things that obscure the path ahead of me and what's in store, and I don't think I'll be fully content until the end of summer school rolls around (aaaaaaand I forgot that I haven't confirmed anything about summer school to you yet).

However I did get my braces (hell, have I even told you about getting braces yet...?) tightened today and I have to say that the pain has finally arrived. It hurts to put even the slightest pressure on any of my teeth and I have to say that this feels pretty bad. Oh well. Only uphill (or is it downhill?) from here, right?

Anyhoo, thanks for tuning in for the second post of May, wow. Keep twiddling your thumbs until the next post.

Hi

Hi there! I have returned from the incredibly deep hole that I dug myself into (partly to keep cool from the recent onslaught of heat and partly to hide myself in the shame resulting from the AP exams).

It's been a pretty rough afternoon/evening for me. I came back from two ultimate games in Coquitlam and felt pretty down. All in all, it has been an absolutely terrible last few hours for me, but hopefully the long weekend will remedy that.

That's about it. Haven't typed up a post in a while so I figured it would be nice to let anybody still reading this god awful blog know that I'm (unfortunately) still here. Alrighty, that's all from me. Until next time.

AP Exams (2016 Ed.)

Over the course of the last 6 days I have been cramming information from my handy dandy Barron's AP Psychology study guide and wondering how I'll fare this coming Monday. I plan to spend the rest of tonight doing practice tests and patching up any holes in my knowledge and then spending tomorrow on AP Chemistry topics that I haven't formally been taught.

This is my third year doing AP exams and I have to say that (surprisingly) I feel rather comfortable heading into this. I do somewhat regret my decision to retake the AP Chemistry exam, seeing as I have neglected to spend much time on that, but in return I hope to at least score well on the AP Psychology one.

My ultimate goal for this year is to score 4 on both the AP Chemistry and AP Psychology exams, and to finish the school year off with a mid 90 in the class. Last year it would have been devastating to receive anything short of a 4 on the AP Biology exam (thankfully I did get just that), however as a result I definitely want to get 4s again. I'm really banking on my previous experience taking the exam and my improved performance in chemistry this year for the AP Chemistry exam, and hopefully my studying for the AP Psychology exam will work out to my favour.

That should be all I have to say about the matter, so I will leave you with that and head off to do some more practice tests. Thank you for reading, and goodbye my cherished reader.

Spring 2016 First Impressions

- WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS -

Like the recent winter season, I have decided to hold back on the amount of anime that I watch (especially with exams haunting me every night) and have taken a more conservative approach to watching. While there aren't a plethora of entries right now, there's a good chance this list will expand by the end of the season. But for now, I hope that you'll find a little bit of amusement from this meager offering: my first impressions on the Spring 2016 season.

MyAnimeList
Spring 2016 Final Thoughts

This Season:
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2
Mayoiga
Re:Zero
Sakamoto desu ga?

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 (15/25)

I Rate: 8.0/10.0
One Sentence: We start off the final half of this season with Koro Sensei beginning the story of his life, and how he came to be the entity he is now.

I'll keep the entry for this one short, seeing as it was a mere week and a half ago that I wrote about Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 up to episode 14. I'm glad to see that the background of Koro Sensei is finally being explained relatively early on, as that spells out an exciting and action packed final arc. With the ending of the first season I'm confident in Lerche's ability to close out this one. Looking forward to how this one will end, as it's been a great ride the whole time.

Best Girl: with Ritsu's nonexistent screen time and Kaede's little arc, I felt it would be fitting to crown a new best girl: the slightly more relevant Nakamura


Mayoiga (4/12)

I Rate: 7.0/10.0
One Sentence: An interesting and promising premise about a group of people looking to start a new life off the grid is spoiled by a lack of direction and poorly written characters

From the very beginning of Mayoiga the viewer is introduced to what seems to be an endless stream of characters. By the end of this introduction I was dazed and completely lost, but maybe that's because I wasn't paying enough attention, or I expected half of them to die off by the end of the first episode. I felt a lot of Danganropa vibes from the anime (not that I've watched Danganropa, but I have a gist of what goes on), but was sorely disappointed from the lack of... well, deaths.

The anime starts off with a huge variety of characters riding a bus on a dark and stormy night, and it's hinted that they're all from some sort of online forum, through the way that everybody is addressed by a handle. Eventually it's revealed that all of them are seeking to start a new life, discontent with their current ones, and are heading to the mysterious and undiscovered village of Nanakimura. The largest problem with Mayoiga is the pacing. We're a third of the way into the season, and very little has happened. So far the group has arrived at the village, lost a member, and split up (into those who stay and those who want to leave). To be fair, episode four ended off on a more exciting note with a few cliffhangers, but if this pacing is kept up, then we can be sure to expect a cruddy ending, a rushed ending, a second cour, or any combination of the three.

As I mentioned in the mini-introduction, there are a lot of characters who are present in Mayoiga. If we do a thorough count of them, we have 31 characters in total, who have the semblance of being important. We can make the assumption that they are important through the fact that they each have their little card in the opening theme (and ending, however it seems that all the characters are being spread out through the season). The excessively large amount of characters leads to a decrease in quality and the slowing down of the plot. More characters means that there is more fighting for screen time, and it also means that characters are much harder to relate to and have a harder time growing.

The best parts of the show are the opening and ending themes, both which are beautiful in their own right and send goosebumps up your spine. Additionally the animation/artwork that accompanies them are great and fit the tone. There are a lot of amazing theme songs coming out this season, but I do have to say that the Mayoiga opening is my favourite so far.

To end this first impressions off, Mayoiga is not showing any signs of getting any better, and unless something huge happens in the next episode (or really pushing it, the episode after that, the halfway point of its season) I can't see the anime being anything more than sub-par. It's a shame, since I genuinely enjoyed the setting of Mayoiga, so I'll just keep putting the opening on repeat until my ears bleed.

Best Girl: tsundere Maimai can be cute at times


Re:Zero (4/25)

I Rate: 8.2/10.0
One Sentence: At first seems like a good and much longer KonoSuba lookalike, but has a much more sinister and dark undertone to it.

Even though I haven't watched enough series from this season, Re:Zero seems like it's already clinched the spot of the best anime for this season, and for good reason. There's great usage of undertones in Re:Zero, as the lighthearted and comedic nature of the anime lures the viewer into a sense of false security, and then leaves you grabbing air as you fall off a cliff(hanger).

The anime is about Subaru, a shut-in who finds himself in a completely different world, akin to that of a fantasy MMORPG. He runs into trouble and is rescued by a cool beauty (who he later learns is named Emilia). Subaru decides to help Emilia look for an insignia that was stolen from her, and in the process the two of them are killed in a secluded loot house. After some confusion he discovers that when he dies he respawns at a checkpoint, but also goes back in time, erasing everything he has done. If you watched Re:Zero's first episode and stopped halfway, then you'll definitely think that it's another KonoSuba. But the show takes the stereotypical premise and adds a little twist to it, making it exciting and uncharted territory.

So far all the characters are easy to like, and our dynamic duo of Subaru and Emilia will see some amazing development over the 25 episode span of Re:Zero. None of the other characters have gotten any substantial amount of screen time, but there's some interesting stuff going on with Felt, as the last time we saw her she was knocked out and taken by Reinhard. I'm looking forward to where that goes and how it ties it with the main story we're seeing right now, but that'll come with time.

There are some more fantastic contributions from Re:Zero to the growing pool of excellent anime themes we have this season. Both the opening and ending are great (although I'm slightly more partial to the ending), and I thought that the little scene with the opening was pretty poignant to the anime. Some amazing stuff with the sound department coming from this show, and I'm thoroughly pleased with what it brings to the overall quality.

It would be an understatement to say that I'm excited for what Re:Zero has to bring to the spring and summer seasons this year. I'm glad that White Fox has 25 episodes to craft the anime into something brilliant, and needless to say I will watching every episode upon release. Re:Zero gets a big thumbs up from me.

Best Girl: definitely Emilia (Felt hasn't had enough screen time anyways)


Sakamoto desu ga? (2/13)

I Rate: 7.6/10.0
One Sentence: Loads of laughs and smiles from an anime that revolves around the stylish, cool, and perfect Sakamoto-kun as he goes through his day.

Sakamoto desu ga? is a wacky anime about Sakamoto-kun, a first year student in high school who has stolen the hearts and attention of everybody from day one. There isn't much else to say about the anime. Each episode has around two mini-stories (surrounding Sakamoto-kun of course) and there isn't much of a coherent story from what the mini-stories have provided so far.

For the characters, there's the god perfect Sakamoto-kun, who is absolutely ridiculous in every aspect but a likable character nonetheless. Two other characters, Sera and Aina, were each featured in their own mini-story, but have not made another substantial appearance. Sakamoto-kun will most likely be the only character of significance and the others will just be there to push the story along.

There's an upbeat and absolutely fitting opening for Sakamoto desu ga? with a surprisingly soft and gentle ending theme. There isn't anything else that I can really think of when it comes to the soundtrack.

If you're looking for a bit of a quirkier anime, then Sakamoto desu ga? might just be the fix that you need. Granted, it won't cater to the comedic styles of every individual, but it might do just the thing for you.

Best Girl: pretty much the only girl we've seen so far is Aina, so she gets it automatically

The Unintentional Hiatus

For the past month (give a few days) I was gradually building up the parts in what is now a published Winter 2016 Final Thoughts anime post and I have to say, it took a surprising amount out of me. There was never a solid half hour session of me sitting down and giving it my all, but instead sneaking in the paragraph or two between queue times for League of Legends or during lunch. It was an interesting feeling, to not exhaust myself by writing for two hours, but as we can all see from the unintentional hiatus, not the best method of writing a long post.

Updates updates updates. After reading the latest post before the anime post, I realize that I never made the announcement here. During the spring break I had braces done, or well, the top brackets done. Maybe the thought slipped my mind or I was unconsciously trying to stash it away, but it happened. It's fitting that I tell you this now because this Saturday I'll be going in to get the bottom brackets in. The braces aren't particularly flattering and they've made the previously simple task of eating a chore, but I hope that things will get better as time passes (i.e. I won't feel pain when I eat).

Stopped trying to climb after a huge losing streak in League of Legends. I've been sitting at Gold II since and haven't been spending nearly as much time on the game as I used to, so I have deteriorated in the mechanical aspect (bittersweet).

Our school ultimate team has played a few games now and we're getting into the grove of things, but far from being any good. I think I have a decent grasp and overhead of the game, but now I need to focus on my personal skills (especially my atrocious flick). I would like to become a handler sometime between now and next year, however there's a lot I need to learn before getting even close to that.

AP exams are creeping up on me (holy there's already less than a month) and I need to start studying for my exams. This year I've made the choice to take the chemistry and psychology exam, so we'll see how that turns out in a matter of a few weeks.

I think that about does it for most of what has been happening in my life. Somewhere along this year I need to go out and get my L, but for now the single thing that I'll be fueling my efforts into are the AP exams. Thanks for reading, and I'll try to post soon.

Winter 2016 Final Thoughts

- WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS -

I ended up picking a few more entries this season, so this post won't look as pathetic as the first impressions one. As you can tell I'm terrible at introductions. Get ready for the second installment of a wild and crazy ride.

MyAnimeList
Winter 2016 First Impressions

This Season:
Akagami no Shirayuki-hime 2
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2
Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
God Eater
Haikyuu!! 2
KonoSuba
Musaigen no Phantom World

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime 2 (12)

I Rate: 7.7/10.0
One Sentence: Good concluding season that ties everything together nicely and ensures a happy ending for our friends at the castle.

By no means was there anything great in Akagami no Shirayuki-hime 2, but as with the first season, there was an above average showing from the second. The atmosphere, feelings, and environments carry on, leading to a second performance that seems a tad bit washed out, but still enjoyable.

The story consists of events that challenge our main characters, Zen and Shirayuki, as individuals and also as romantic partners. If there is anything bad to say about this anime, it is that the story isn't nearly as impactful or profound as it should have been. As a viewer and one with common knowledge, it is evident that a romantic relationship between a prince and a commoner is discouraged. I believe that this "challenge" that Zen and Shirayuki face was shown rather poorly. At times it felt like it was simply the meanderings of the group and less Zen and Shirayuki trying to find a way to make themselves suitable for the other.

We see a surprising amount of growth in our castle friends group, especially in Obi. There are hints of some sort of attraction towards Shirayuki, and I think that the anime really could have gone somewhere with that (instead that specific dynamic between Obi and Shirayuki was rather abruptly cut off). It would have been intriguing if Obi was introduced as some sort of dark horse to the relationship between Zen and Shirayuki, but the producers most likely did not want to stir trouble. Kiki and Mitsuhide sit back as kinda-kinda-not side characters but both of them do get a brief highlight. And finally we have our new couple, Zen and Shirayuki, who have overcome their obstacles and can now happily live out their lives together. Raji, the prince of the neighbouring region gets some good screentime as well. The characters do seem flat throughout the 12 episodes, as they all play certain archetypes, but are likable nonetheless.

As expected, the animation remains of the same quality, consistent and pretty, and the theme songs are both fitting for Akagami no Shirayuki-hime 2. There are some really sparkly and nice scenes, but overall just solid animation.

I did enjoy Akagami no Shirayuki-hime 2, but I'm just hounding on the aspects of the anime where it did fall since it is the second season. I expected something different but instead got the same (which isn't bad) stuff as the first season. If you enjoyed the first season immensely give the second a try, but there isn't anything huge that happens, just a nice way to end off the series.

Best Girl: Shirayuki (not saying much since the only other relevant girl was Kiki, but yeah)


Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 (14/25, ongoing)

I Rate: 8.0/10.0
One Sentence: Class 3-E returns for a second season, where a lot of twists and turns happen and we're inching closer and closer to the full story of Koro Sensei.

I'm glad that I ended up watching this second season because it's actually pretty good and not nearly as repetitive as I anticipated. I remember reading somewhere that this season would adapt the manga's ending, so I'm looking forward to what the ending will bring.

The story is picking up more than ever, especially in the most recent episode, where Koro Sensei prepares to tell the class the whole picture of how he came to be and why he is the teacher of 3-E. While the previous episodes had avoided confronting this and instead focused on the adventures and tribulations the class of assassins would go through, it's good to see the story going somewhere decisive and relevant. That being said, the events that have happened are still exciting and great to watch, and the story can only get better with the latest developments.

When it comes to the characters there's no shortage of them, however Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 finds a way to make room for all of them and keep them all in the picture, even if they are pushed out by the main cast. I'm particularly enjoying the usage of characters with niche skills for specific events, as that adds some importance and individualism to each of the students. An (rather poor) example of this is the recent plot twist where Kayano turns out to be a villain and is another tentacle wielder after Koro Sensei's life. The purpose of this development was to find a way to progress the plot, and what a better way than to turn one of the students against everybody

The art remains nice to look at, although nothing superb. The OP is catchy (much like the first season) and the ED is a more sombre and mellow track (much like the first season if I recall correctly), both of which are good to listen to.

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2 is a really great thing to pick up if you have watched the first season and enjoyed it (although that was my case and I still neglected to), and I recommend you try out the first season if you're new to Ansatsu Kyoushitsu. Excited to see where this is going, and I hope that the conclusion will do service to the series.

Best Girl: Ritsu is still pretty cool, even though she has a lot less screentime


Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (12)

I Rate: 8.8/10.0
One Sentence: A sort of dark horse mystery anime that kept viewers on edge with its suspenseful story telling, twists and turns, and its grim and dark setting.

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (aka Erased) was this absolutely bonkers new anime that took the winter season by storm and has easily made itself a contender for best anime of the year. However the unfortunate problem with any anime that garners this much attention and popularity is that it receives abnormally high ratings, and draws in "haters" who attempt to deconstruct the hype. It is natural to have opposing sides in order to create balance, so for those who give Erased a 10.0/10.0, there are those who give Erased a 4.0/10.0 or a 5.0/10.0.

In my conceited mind, I like to think that I sit somewhere along the middle of the two sides. Erased was easily the best showing that the winter season had to offer, and the amount of discussion and popularity it had is a bit of evidence. Personally I loved Erased, and I think that it is one of the more prominent anime to have come out in the last while.

Let us start with the story that Erased provides us with. The main character is Satoru Fujinuma, a 29 year old manga artist/pizza delivery boy. He experiences a unique phenomenon that he calls "Revival" that zips him back in time before an accident of some sort. Lo and behold, his mother is killed one night and it turns out that to prevent this incident he must travel back 18 years, all the way to his childhood, right when a string of abductions are to occur. A large portion of the anime is spent with a highlight on saving his classmate, Kayo Hinazuki (one of the flaws in Erased), and after a short and hasty conclusion to the two other children who would be abducted, Satoru is faced with the abductor. When all is said and done, Satoru goes into a coma and wakes up whatever amount of years later, only to face the abductor and defeat him in a final showdown. Erased ends fuzzy and with happiness on the horizon. The praise that the series gets is from the way that the story is presented and the twists in development. Every episode left us with a cliffhanger and that alone was enough to make us want more. Without a doubt, there is an interesting plot present, and while the pacing could have been much better, it was not detrimental to the success of the series.

When we take a look at the characters, we can see there's a good amount of depth to each of them. Obviously the concept of having 29 year old Satoru acting as a child is something that isn't very typical, so it does give a bit of a unique view. For the rest of the characters, there aren't really any outstanding ones besides Satoru's mom, Kayo, Yashiro, and Kenya (which is obvious with the screentime that they get). In my eyes the character department is above average, but nothing spectacular.

The animation and soundtrack are two highlights of the show. Atmosphere and mood were wonderfully and masterfully done, and definitely worthy of applause. There are scenes that truly send a shiver down your spine. In my opinion the art style is great, and A-1 Pictures have done an amazing job with the pieces of music that they used.

Unfortunately due to a large amount of hype, Erased gets a lot of bad rap, however when you ignore that and watch the anime for yourself, you can see that it truly is something worthwhile and special.

Best Girl: AFTER THAT AMAZING SHOW OF DEDICATION AND PURE LOVE FOR HER SON, COULD WE PLEASE HAVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR MS. FUJINUMA


God Eater (13)

I Rate: 7.5/10.0
One Sentence: If the first nine episodes were as good as the last four God Eater would have been amazing, but I wouldn't be saying this if they were.

God Eater is a bag of mixed marbles (is that how you say it?) There was the rare episode that was done exceptionally well, but asides from that the anime doesn't reach the mark. Props to ufotable for the surge of quality in the episodes after the show's break, but that will never erase what happened in the first nine episodes.

I'll be straightforward with you; I don't remember what happened in the first nine episodes. All I can say is that the plot doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, nor is it mindblowingly great. You can expect the plot to follow something along the lines of a typical shounen anime. The main character starts out relatively weak and then for some reason or another (in God Eater's case, it was a conveniently overpowered weapon) gets massive and ripped to defeat some "unbeatable" raid boss, at his own expense. There's a few cool little things here and there, but overall nothing special.

The characters are all either badasses or the comm guy or the tech guy who's always sitting at HQ spewing lines like, "CAAAAAAAAP'N, HE'S GONE OFF THE RADAR." There really isn't anything noteworthy here. There's a tiny bit of development, but hey, what else are you going to expect from an action show?

At the very beginning I had a hard time even looking at God Eater, because of its unorthodox art style and animation, but by the time I finished episode thirteen I had come to love and appreciate it. In terms of my personal taste, the style felt very clean and appropriate for the show. The animation was also good, although that is to be said for many action anime.

Best Girl: IROHA UTSUGI FOR #2 ONEE-CHAN OF THE YEAR WHAT'S UP WITH ALL THESE CAPS


Haikyuu!! 2 (25)

I Rate: 8.5/10.0
One Sentence: HOLY MOLY WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH A THIRD INSTALLMENT FOLKS, THE VOLLEYBALL TRAIN AIN'T STOPPING HERE CHOO CHOO.

Honestly there's isn't anything else to say except that Haikyuu!! might have somehow gotten even better since the first season. The quality has been consistent throughout both seasons and there is never a boring episode. As with the first season, I also thoroughly enjoyed this season and it was my absolute pleasure to have an opportunity to continue my ride on the Haikyuu!! hype train.

There really isn't too much speculation when it comes to something like Haikyuu!! 2 and how it will end. About halfway through the season it was evident that the Karasuno squad just had to win, (after their crushing defeat handed to them by Aoba Josai in the first season) and that the next challengers would be Shiratowizawa. Because of this I find it difficult to claim that the predictability of Haikyuu!! 2 is a factor that takes away from the quality of the anime. Asides from the actual events that transpire, there's a very good amount of backstory for a lot of the characters.

As said, loads of character development present, all while still keeping the practices and games and "actual volleyball" there and relevant. If my memory serves right, I said something about some side characters getting shafted to the side in the first season. The awesome part is that this season takes care to give each of the players a spotlight, even going as far as to introduce a new (well, not really new, but nobody knew him back in season one) Karasuno player and giving detailed stories on players on other teams.

The art, animation, and music remain spectacular, with fluid, masterful animation and songs that get you hyped up and ready to go. There's a lot of attention to the little things and you come to appreciate those details. Loads of breathtaking animation that is absolutely perfect for the fast paced nature of Haikyuu!! 2.

It's been a wild ride with Haikyuu!! 2 and a third installment is in the works, so the hype train will continue. I don't remember seeing if it was officially said to be a movie or another episodic season, but nonetheless, I know that sometime in the future I'll be able to once again enjoy the fantastic sports anime of Haikyuu!!

Best Girl: Hitoka stole the spotlight this time around, but really both managers are amazing


KonoSuba (10)

I Rate: 7.8/10.0
One Sentence: Unexpectedly hilarious and awesome for something that looked like a generic SAO or DanMachi.

It wasn't until KonoSuba was just about wrapping up its short season that I finally decided to sit myself down and watch at least an episode of what was I had naively labelled as another generic fantasy/adventure anime. But I am so glad that I did.

KonoSuba had me in fits of absolute laughter, episode by episode there was always something humorous around the corner. The story, while definitely not anything spectacular, is loose, but provides firm ground for other aspects of the anime. Essentially what happens is our MC, Kazuma, dies and is transported to a limbo of sorts. He is greeted by Aqua, the goddess in charge of this space, and she recruits him to be reborn in a fantasy world, your typical MMORPG, while also granting Kazuma the ability to take any single one thing with him to this world. After being mocked and teased, Kazuma seizes his chance and chooses Aqua herself as the one thing he wishes to take, and as you can guess, hilarity ensues. The events that transpire through those oh so short 10 episodes have the perfect balance of comedy and touching moments, and that was huge towards my personal enjoyment.

Now for the characters. All of them are hysterical in their own little ways, and their personal quirks make them stand out as original characters. I thought that Studio DEEN did a great job twisting the archetypes of a MMORPG party and in that way the characters are actually interesting to watch. As such, the run down of the KonoSuba party is

• Kazuma, the leader who tries to keep his party together and functional to no avail
• Aqua, the archpriest who can really do nothing except pull out all the stops when needed
• Megumin, the archwizard who deals only in explosive magic and only has enough energy for one huge explosive attack before passing out, and
• Darkness, the masochistic crusader who hits literally nothing but is willing to tank everything

The colours and art are bright and cheery, fitting for the lighthearted theme that KonoSuba encapsulates. I rather enjoyed the art style and the soundtrack is nothing impressive, but definitely gets the job done.

One of the best parts of the anime is the way that meta commentary and criticism on the world (symbolizing the fantasy/adventure genre) in cleverly incorporated. Studio DEEN utilizes the fact that Kazuma comes from another world to use him for this purpose, and this makes it all the more funny. I would recommend KonoSuba to any anime fan in a heartbeat.

Best Girl: all of them are great in their own way, but the award goes to Aqua-sama


Musaigen no Phantom World (13)

I Rate: 6.9/10.0
One Sentence: Dumbest thing to come out of KyoAni in a while, but somehow manages to claw its way to decency in the very last part of the season.

So pretty much the only reason why I planned to watch Musaigen no Phantom World was because it was a coveted KyoAni production, but I learned the hard way that coming from a renowned studio does little to the actual quality of the anime. I'll try to keep my thoughts short on this (but that should be easy seeing as I'd rather spend less time writing about it anyways).

The anime works with episodic plots, and the only time the story bridges through more than one episode is in the last two installments of the season. This is to be expected, and really does not hinder the show in any way. What does make Musaigen no Phantom World a forgettable watch is the content and the way that it is presented. There was a disgusting amount of fan service in the first episode alone (however it's worthwhile to mention that it was toned down quite a bit). The whole thing with Mai having to grope herself in an erotic manner to withdraw power from her body was also a turn off. Basically there is no profound story of any sort. However to give credit where it is due, the last two episodes were much higher in quality compared to the episodes before it. I enjoyed the Enigma arc.

Characters are straight from a cookie cutter and believe me when I say that nobody is interesting in the slightest. Everybody has experienced a tragedy of some sort and that is where they gain the motivation and power to fight (although if I am to be fair, that is every character in their simplest form). They were pretty looking though, which brings us to our next topic.

Art and animation (we'll ignore soundtrack since there wasn't anything prominent) are excellent, as expected of KyoAni. The colours seemed a tad bit off to me, but besides that everything else was top notch. All of the characters were drawn really well and looked great in general. That's... that's it.

Next time you're searching for an anime to watch and stumble across Musaigen no Phantom World, I would definitely choose to skip it. There is nothing that you haven't seen or experienced before, and it is easily forgotten.

Best Girl: Reina (only because she is voiced by the same VA who did Ayase)