Jeoffrey

It's been about two or three years since the original RWBY was widely recommended to me, and I remember watching the first two episodes and not getting hooked at all. It has great characters, awesome fight choreography, a decent story, and excellent music – at least that’s what I've heard. I’m not crazy about the style of animation – I found it annoying after two short episodes. I just couldn't see the appeal of it. Maybe it needed more time, the animation supposedly gets better in the following seasons, but I wasn't in the mood for it, and I didn't have the time, so I put it off indefinitely. I wasn't originally planning on watching this reboot/spin-off either. But then three episodes came out at once, the summer anime season was just starting, and I didn’t have anything interesting to watch, so I figured I'd give it a shot. The first three episodes were really good. I liked the characters and the setting, and Ruby's first fight in the city in the first episode looked decent. The next fight, where the teams were to be formed, wasn’t as great and interesting, though. I was still curious to see how it would continue after the promising beginning. The main part of the story turned out to be quite disappointing because it wasn't half as imaginative as I had expected, and it didn't even meet my expectations for an interesting dream world animated by the Shaft studio. If you were expecting creative work with editing, color, camera, and composition based on the animation studio, then you're out of luck and probably should look elsewhere. Even though the setting had a lot of potential, in terms of animation and the use of color, music, and movement, it's an average anime that doesn’t stand out except for the first and the last two episodes. The rest is dull, not only in animation but also in terms of the story, with a few good ideas concerning various aspects and pitfalls of the human mind. What kept me watching were the characters, their motivations, relationships, and interesting background. On the other hand, I had a hard time believing they were that close, so "the power of friendship that conquers all" trope didn’t work for me in this case. Maybe if this happened further on in the story, when the girls already knew each other better, it would have been more convincing. In the end, what saved it for me and made it less dull and mediocre was the ending. The writers seemed to have made more effort in the last two episodes, so the fights in the penultimate episode were great, and the final friendly fight in the cafeteria was probably the best one. But it was all too little, too late, which is why I’m not giving it more than a 5.5/10. I'm curious to see what fans of the original RWBY will say about the series, as they are able to compare the two shows. I promise I’ll give the original another chance.

Drifting Home was a bit too long for my taste. I’m not saying I was bored, but I think that the message would have been more powerful if the movie was more fast-paced and intense. I only enjoyed the last twenty minutes or so, when everything was starting to unravel, and it came to important realizations and confessions. Plus, some parts were nice to watch, animation-wise. As for the characters, the film managed to capture real children’s behavior quite convincingly. The characters seemed quite believable, but you know children, sometimes they are cute, they can be surprisingly smart and honest, but their logic will just drive you crazy most of the time.  I could mostly understand what was going on in Natsume's head and she was probably the best-portrayed character. Kousuke was partially likable and partially incredibly annoying. And as for Reina, she just irritated me throughout the whole movie. On the other hand, the film worked with the characters quite well in the second half, opening their eyes, letting them move forward, sometimes holding a mirror for them, etc. The story itself was a long farewell to a house, deciphering its meaning and the message that everything is constantly changing and it’s not always easy for everyone to adapt. It’s also a reflection on the meaning of family and those who belong to it. I still think this could have been at least thirty minutes shorter, with more intensity and possibly a lot more magic. All in all, it was a slightly above-average movie for me. 6/10

I did enjoy it and actually got exactly what I expected. It managed to keep a lot of the important ideas from Cyberpunk 2077 that Mike Pondsmith’s universe is brimming with. It shows both the beauty and the treachery of the Night City and the true intentions of its inhabitants. As a player of the game with two playthroughs and some 200+ hours, I recognized a lot of the locations, the gangs, and some characters (it's a little disappointing that there wasn't at least a cameo or allusion to Johnny Silverhand, but at least I got Adam Smasher, and Wakako). Aside from being a fascinating look into the world of Cyberpunk, it's also a cool advertisement for the game, at least I had the itch to install and play Cyberpunk 2077 again. Oh, and it's obvious that this was made by Studio Trigger, which went completely wild in the last two episodes. Everything was incredibly over the top, insanely frantic, and simply awesome. The animation was excellent, the fights were perfectly dynamic and epic. The music was well chosen. It was quite striking, and it also worked well with the individual scenes. The only major problem I had was the pacing. At times I wished it wasn't so frantic and there was more time to flesh out some of the (mostly minor) characters or provide smoother transitions between twists. This is a general issue I have with Trigger. They just don’t know how to take their foot off the gas. What they do instead is step on the gas even more to reach breakneck speed, and I have a hard time keeping up with them.  At least in the second half, the show worked for me in terms of powerful emotions (the first half was a bit weaker). The ending got to me even though I knew it was going to end this way. It was great to visit Night City again. 8/10

Another mediocre isekai. I didn't enjoy it very much and it had a couple of annoying flaws. What annoyed me from the start was how the main character acquired his first monster and his OP powers. Becoming powerful by literally tripping over things and being handed everything on a silver platter is just lame and dull. I was totally disinterested in the main character. He seemed to have almost no personality, he handled most things without emotion, just drily commenting on things. He didn't really do anything that would make him likable or relatable. He was just there doing kind of ‘cool’ stuff all the time. I was only half-entertained by the story. Part of it was just the main character walking about and helping out here and there. The giant conspiracy that the writers tried to incorporate into the story didn’t work for me. Even though the plans of the secret organization seemed spectacular and were supposed to pose huge risks to the world, I didn’t really feel any suspense. How could it possibly work when the protagonist figures everything out right away? The series didn't even really manage to sell me on the world in which everything takes place. A lot of the secrets were either boringly revealed straight away or only vaguely hinted at, perhaps saving the answers for the next season. Considering how boring this one was, I highly doubt I'll bring myself to watch another one. It’s a shame as it seems to be a nice combination of fantasy and mysterious futuristic technology, but we don’t get to find out much about why the world works the way it does. Even the last fight, which was supposed to be the climax of this series, barely worked. After about a minute of explosions and constant repetition of the same spell, I couldn’t believe I was still watching this. Even the finale and the major moments when the show is supposed to come up with a deeper message and give the whole journey from point A to point B some kind of meaning was quite boring because it lacked strength and significance. It’s partly because I forgot most of the side characters the moment the protagonist left their town. The only thing I ended up enjoying was the goofiness of the protagonist's slimes, which is not enough for me. 3.7/10

I was really looking forward to this movie, expecting it to bring a satisfying conclusion to the final scene of the series. I thought it would be suspenseful and dramatic, and I expected there to be an intense and engaging dialogue between the taxi driver and his last passenger. I ended up disappointed. The finale that I was so excited about turns out to be an ambiguous scene that only takes a couple of minutes and is resolved using a single shot in the end credits. While it was presented in a fairly interesting way, the problem for me was that it was essentially a recap of the series, so I knew what was going to happen, and not much was added in terms of the story or the characters’ motivations. Since it is a retelling of the same story in a smaller format, a lot of it is trimmed down, including many scenes and dialogue that I loved. Odd Taxi: In the Woods is basically a mediocre compilation of a great series. It doesn't bring much new, which is rather disappointing given my high expectations. There was quality material to work with, but the finale ruins it for me, and my overall impression is kind of "meh".

Kantai Collection is probably the most contradictory show of the winter's releases, in my opinion. I still do not know what to think about it, and the concept of girls who are not girls but warships took me quite a while to get used to. And so I was in different states of wanting to drop it after the first episode, after the second, I started to like it quite a bit, and after the third, I was again on the fence about what to expect next. Sometimes I found it very weird, sometimes cute, sometimes it managed to surprise me, and most of all, it kept me confused about what I thought of the girls. Sometimes it is about the common everyday concerns of young girls, and at another time, they are fighting like warships. Plus, they never die, they sink, never get injured, but get damaged, and if they get repaired, it takes some time unless there is a "repair bucket" that acts as a source of auto-repair. I was curious to see how the concept of their mutual love would develop because sometimes it feels a little like Yuri, and other times they talk about sister ships. So this is very weird, and it even made me watch a few gameplays from the original free-to-play web browser game, hoping to understand it. I managed to figure out a few things. In principle, someone who has played the game knows this could be a cool anime series. The Admiral (the player in the game) is regularly featured in the anime series, even though his visual appearance is hidden. So it gives the game player a better chance to relate to the anime series. Plus, there are a lot of hints and connections that I might not have understood without seeing the game (the "repair bucket," for example). Anyway, it awakened my interest because I had not played the game. In my opinion, the animation is very good, as is the soundtrack, plus the characters are quite intriguing. I thought this show was quite watchable, it was quite interesting and very special, so I am awarding it a better three stars.

I had very high expectations for this anime series because of the fact that Yoshitoki Oima was the manga artist who wrote this anime series, and well, it did not let me down. In my opinion, she wrote one of the best anime movies of the last five years, and A Silent Voice is the movie that probably had the most impact on me emotionally in recent years. Once again, this show has an interesting subject matter, which, this time, is about life rather than simply living, and which cleverly combines all sorts of themes, such as evolution, adolescence, predestination, prejudice, and loneliness, among other things. The show is really about relationships, so there are a lot of feelings, drama, and sometimes there is some action. This anime series also has a huge advantage in that the main male protagonist starts off as "Tabula rasa", so the audience can really enjoy the development and evolution of his character. In addition to this, there are a lot of friendly characters, very good animation, and a wonderful soundtrack that work together to deliver a truly magnificent experience. I enjoyed most of the episodes and really liked the characters like March, Parona, Pioran, and Gugu. I also liked the main character Fushi, and in particular the mysterious man in black, who guided me through the narrative. The concept is good and well-executed, it has an interesting subject matter, plus a bit of mystery - in my opinion this anime series really hit the spot. On the other hand, I wonder if I could not have expected more from it. I found the anime series moving, and it touched me emotionally, although I am not sure whether it was such a powerful experience for me to remember it in five years’ time. At times I felt like it was forcing its vision too excessively, and sometimes I found it too predictable, mostly in terms of the huge and sad twists, which is why they probably did not have as strong an impact as they should have. My feelings about this anime series are somewhere between a weak five stars and a very strong four stars - 8.5/10.

Love is hard for otaku (this is a slightly different anime series, however, it still fits). This is especially true when your girlfriend is a very attractive normie girl, so no one and not even you understand what she is doing with you and why she is with you at all. However, love is about being together, getting to know each other, and just sticking together through thick and thin. I understand that the main male protagonist has a hard time. I understand the confrontation of two worlds that the anime's authors present us with here. In my opinion, though, it is a bit too over the top and dramatic. I also understand the relatively good reviews because this show has some kind of quality. The narrative is moving and touching and manages to stir up your emotions. Admittedly, some of the storylines are kind of those typical romantic comedy tropes. However, I can live with them without any real issues. (There was only one instance where I had a problem; during the last episode of the first season, there was the line "we are not related by blood...". That was when I wanted to facepalm when I heard those words). Those situations where someone likes someone else, and then someone else likes them, and then someone else likes them back kind of seems realistic as they are just a part of normal life. Everyone eventually finds himself in a similar love triangle or other tangled mess. The characters are not flat. Each character has its positive aspects, and each is tragic in some way, or more commonly, has its shortcomings. I could not relate to everyone; some I was not too impressed with. Once again, it reminded me that I do not enjoy watching delicate boys (Itou). However, that is a matter of preference. The soundtrack is not that bad either and perhaps the opening really suits the romantic atmosphere. However, I cannot bring myself to say that I found it extremely entertaining somehow. It is not that I do not think love stories are not for me. I have seen a few of them, and sometimes I can be pretty sensitive and can enjoy a good romantic comedy. However, in other words, I did not find this show moving, even though I noticed some excellent moments. The manga has already been completely translated, and there is still enough material for at least one more season of the same length. At least this show is still probably better than this year's other spring romantic comedy, Tada Never Falls in Love. 6/10.

This show was suggested to me as a top tip I received after hitting the jackpot with Gurren Lagann, so I had high expectations for this one. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with this anime series. I was expecting something more amusing. However, I only got moments where I raised a slight smile, which was rare. I was expecting some action-packed scenes, and there is truly quite a lot of them, although they did not feel very tense to me. As far as the love story is concerned, yes, I did register it, even though once again, I could not feel any strong sparks to keep me interested. Furthermore, even after eleven episodes, I still could not get on with the main male protagonists even though it was noticeable that they were slowly evolving and developing. However, this did not grab me either, and none of the supporting characters appealed to me either. If I add to that the mecha carnage, which, unlike Gurren Lagann, I did not find very engaging, my overall impression is simply that this is a below-average show. So dropped it right in the middle 4/10.

Even though I know that this anime series does not warrant five stars, I still think this is a truly groundbreaking and unforgettable show. I will never find any character as tragic and unbearable as Orihime, and I will never idolize any anime girl as much as I do Rukia. Plus, I loved the action-packed scenes and what I thought were great fight scenes; I even liked the narrative (main plotline) a lot. As for the fillers, sometimes those annoyed me (like when they "downgraded" the zanpakuto and the poor Shinigami had to catch them to avoid being destroyed by the Seireitei), although sometimes they were fun (Karakura-Raizer). Apart from the characters mentioned above that made me the most emotional, I also grew incredibly fond of Kenpachi Zaraki, Gin Ichimaru, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Kisuke Urahara, and many others. In other words, this was my first true anime love, and even though it is not perfect in many ways, it was still the first one, and it is one you will never forget.