.hack//Liminality Review

Posted on February 15, 2026 by dreager1

This is a quick OVA series that I started a long time ago. With the final part of the PS2 .Hack series completed, it was time to finally watch all of the episodes. It’s fun to see what was going on in the real world while all of the fighters were in The World trying to stop The Wave. As a result this one is a bit more of a low key adventure but you still have some danger going on here. The most important part is really being able to connect the dots and see the pieces that you were only aware of in the background before now.

The special starts with Mai’s boyfriend being put into a coma after playing “The World”. It is a super popular game and everyone is playing it so people figure that it must have been a coincidence. Mai was playing as well but managed to wake up for some reason. Well, she isn’t satisfied with the situation as it is and wants to find a way to bring him back. She is approached by a man named Tokuoka who used to work for CC Corporation who are the ones behind the World. He tells Mai that the game is responsible but proving it and finding a cure will be difficult. Also, can she really trust him? The longer that the World is able to survive, the more damage the planet takes in the real world.

There is also a tough moral dilemma to deal with here. The mysterious monster within The World will keep on destroying more characters and sending their real life players into a coma for as long as he is active. If the game is deleted, then that will prevent any more victims from popping up but at the same time it will completely doom the ones that are present. Naturally that means the company is going after the first option in order to limit the liability and bury the proof of the glitch but the main characters want to save everyone that they can. It is with the knowledge that they could be creating new victims though which is why I wouldn’t say that this is easy by any means.

For what it’s worth, I would have to say that they made the right decision here. As long as there is a chance, you should not give up on the people who need help. So Mai and the others continue to push on. Each episode mainly focuses on different characters here. The first is about Mai and Tokuoka, the second is about Yuki and Kaoru, the third one is about Kyoko, Bith, and Tokuoka, then the final episode has everyone in. It’s a pretty good way to slowly build things up each time.

From the 4 episodes, I would say the second one definitely has the highest level of danger. The two heroines are trapped in a building that has entered lockdown mode with a lot of fires breaking out. If they don’t escape quickly then it’ll all be over. Naturally most of humanity immediately starts panicking and makes a run for it so you want to avoid those. Yuki and Kaoru do their best to escape the crowd and get away but it’s not easy. They have to use the vents at the ceiling of the floor and I always thought that looked really tough. I don’t consider myself to be super claustrophobic and yet I would have to do a double take there.

My favorite character in this series was Kaoru. She really only appears in the second episode but does a good job of staying calm and getting Yuki out of the building. Perhaps she would have survived on her own or perhaps not, but Kaoru made sure this was a guarantee. She put herself at risk and even got a sprained ankle out of this but did her best throughout. It’s why you always want to have an adult around in a high pressure situation. This is one of the rare titles where the adults actually hold their own with the kids.

As for Yuki, she panics a bit too much for my liking. She doesn’t really think things through and gets herself into trouble as a result. It’s just how these things go but since all of the other characters were really focused the whole time, it made her look a little worse in comparison. She did contribute in the final episode so I’ll give her that but it’s more of a consolation than anything else.

Then we have Bith who really came in handy by the end. He shows up rather mysteriously but has good connections like with the super hacker Helba. Without him, the characters wouldn’t have made it in time to save their cyber companions. He is also good at bluffing and has just enough credentials to hold up against the CC Corporation. I imagine that he probably spent all of his goodwill within this mission but it was worth it.

Kyoko also shows up a bit later into the series than the other characters but is able to help out right away. She is ready for the fighting to take place although you do have to keep your expectations within reason since for the most part everyone here is just a normal civilian. They’re not going to be putting in crazy combos and taking down tons of opponents or anything like that. This isn’t that kind of series.

Mai is still the central focus here and her character is interesting. She seems rather emotionless for a while and I thought that was going to be a full plot point but it mainly went away. I suppose that’s just how she is. For example she didn’t seem to care a whole lot that her boy friend went into a coma but maybe that was meant to just show that she was trying to cope with things. The guy was moving a bit fast in the flashback but it seemed like the event still ended positively with them. So I’ll assume all is well.

It does make her a good lead because it’s hard to know what is really going through her mind. She’s a bit of a wild card in that respect. I also think she had good reason not to trust someone like Tokuoka for a while there. If anything I would have been more wary of him like her friend Masaya. He did not trust Tokuoka at all and did his best to warn Mai about him. Ultimately she just wasn’t really interested in heeding those words. Masaya is a bit helpless but I appreciate him at least trying to protect her.

As for Tokuoka, well he is a good guy. He’s just as shady as it gets and I suppose that is bound to happen when you are fighting a multi billion dollar company. The series starts and ends with him getting beaten up. The poor guy definitely takes a whole lot of punishment but in the end is a critical piece to stopping The World so he can hang his hat on that.

This is a side piece to the games so the terms might get a little tricky for you. If you’re just watching this title you may miss some of the context but you can still enjoy it as a good conspiracy story. It is obvious that big business is hiding something and the heroes have to stop them. It’s a compelling piece either way. In order to get to the next level I think we would have just needed to have had some more suspense.

Ultimately there is only so much you can do with 4 episodes after all but I thought it was still a good adventure. The animation is also solid although there aren’t a ton of action scenes to really test it. It did help back up the eerie atmosphere of the series. It just feels like everyone is always very isolated and with glitches affecting the real world, you aren’t safe anywhere. This is not a horror by any means but I thought the atmosphere was crafted pretty well.

The soundtrack is really good as you will hear a lot of the classic .Hack songs. I liked each of the intros and it was cool to see the video game scenes from the accompanying volume at the same time. It helps to really tie the adventures together. Even with that you may lose track of some of the characters but you’re only meant to really focus on the ones in the real world here. One character even surpasses the speed of light with her reaction times.

Overall, .Hack/Liminality is a good example of an anime that may get a little confusing if you were to start with this as your first experience with the franchise. I think you’ll still have a good time but it might be worth playing the games first. Either way I would recommend this series. It’s so rare to see what people are doing in the real world while the superheroes are fighting so it’s just a fun angle. The CC Corporation is also shown to be as evil as they can be so this isn’t one of those situations where you will be on the fence. It’s clear that The World really needs to be stopped even if 99% of the player base doesn’t even know what is going on. One more episode to focus on the fall out and what the government does would be fun but you can probably imagine that for yourself.

Overall 6/10

Future Boy Conan Review

Posted on February 8, 2026 by dreager1

This is one of those legendary anime titles that everyone has heard of, but has everyone watched it? I think it’s just old enough where people tend to miss out on it and even for me I feel like I may know the name by association but didn’t really know the show. Well, now I finally got to check it out and it’s a fun title. Conan makes for a good lead and the show looks really good for its age. Some of that is due to the high quality of the release but it also shows that the animation techniques were really timeless here.

The show starts by introducing us to Conan and his grandpa. They are some of the last humans alive after a terrible war shook up the whole planet. The humans had gotten too violent with their massive means of destruction and so this launched the world back into the stone age. One day a girl named Lana washes ashore and it turns out that she is the grand daughter of the world’s greatest scientist, Lao. Unfortunately this means that the army led by Lepka want to kidnap her. This faction believes that the world needs the weapons of mass destruction once more and of course Lepka will be the one to lead the world. Conan must now protect Lana from the forces of evil and is really on his own after his grandpa dies during the attack. Can Conan adapt to the rest of the world?

Now even with something like 95-99% of humanity wiped out, you’ve still got enough people for about 2 cities and 2 villages. That makes sense as humanity will gradually grow again as long as they aren’t 100% eliminated. If anything it underscores how brutal the war was because this happened during the lifetime of guys like Lao, so to see humanity immediately reduced like this was crazy. It actually wasn’t nukes, but a kind of magnetic weapon that caused the problem within the planet.

One of the things that I appreciated about the show is how Conan quickly adapts to things. He naturally knows nothing about the outside world, technology, or any of that. Yet instead of acting clueless or confused he just works on understanding it. This is why I never like the fish out of water trope because often times it feels like the characters don’t even bother using context clues. If there’s something that you don’t know, then you just work to understand it by using tools that you are familiar with. That’s all there is to this in the end.

So Conan does well there and is quite mature for his age. I’m not always sold on the kids being main characters kind of dynamic but Conan isn’t your average kid. The show also gives him a good amount of super strength to the point where he can lift boulders, hold his breath for a long time, run across a moving plane, etc. It’s not to the point where he can become Superman and just save everyone but enough to where he is always really helpful in a bunch of different situations. Conan has a good moral compass about him so he’s always trying to help out his friends.

He’s not some crazy pacifist though and knows when the villains have to be taken down. As the series goes on, he gets a best friend in the form of Jimsy. Jimsy never really grew on me though. He’s another kid who grew up in the wilderness so he has to adapt to society as well. I’d say he just doesn’t do as good a job in that and while he is strong, I would definitely take Conan in a fight. Jimsy is always going to be held to second place in that regard. Jimsy just had more weak moments like ditching Conan at one point.

He eventually becomes a reliable friend but it sure takes him a while. Any adventure is easier with a friend so his presence itself helped Conan but the character could have gotten off to a quicker start. Then we have the main heroine Lana who gets a massive role here. Of course she gets along with Conan really well so you can expect a real romance once they are older. She has the ability to use telepathy to a small extent like communicating with animals or with her grandfather. She is being hunted throughout the whole series and does a good job of keeping her wits about her. That can’t be easy at such a young age.

Lana doesn’t have the physical abilities that Conan has so she often has to stay back during dangerous situations. It’s definitely something that annoys her and she always tries to get in on the adventures. At times she does get used as a hostage so that does put Conan in a tough position. It’s hard to blame her too much since she is a kid but I would have liked an episode with Conan teaching her how to throw a spear or something like that. I think that would have worked out really well.

The other big character for the heroes here has to be Captain Dyce. Now, calling him a hero may be a bit of a stretch. He starts out as a villain and even after that he starts to waver back and forth at times so you’re never really sure if you can trust him. He has a big betrayal at one point as well. Despite that, he is definitely the most entertaining character though. He may meddle in the heroes’ affairs a lot and get into trouble but there is a certain confidence about him. It also may help that he’s an adult so he is able to fight in a different way than the others.

It’s always nice seeing an adult who can actually do something in this kind of adventure. He is tasked with the role of being comic relief a lot of the time but also has his serious moments. This balance works extremely well and he adds a lot to the show. It definitely would not be the same without him and his leadership. I also liked his robot suit. It may not appear as much later on but that gizmo was super handy.

Another one of the villains is Orlo. This guy is a lot pettier than Dyce but also makes for an entertaining villain. You may think that he looks bad since he spends a lot of time trying to intimidate a kid but that’s just how he rolls. I would have liked him to have ended out his screentime still being the leader of his group though. He ends up bowing to Monsley and her crew almost immediately. It’s true that he would have lost any kind of fight there but you at least have some respect for a villain who doesn’t bow the knee in the end. From the way he ended up succumbing to the others, it showed that he was not the main guy in any capacity.

His little sister Tera had even less moments to look threatening here. She is good at talking tough to people who can’t fight back but immediately falters afterwards. She is only a little kid of course but that made her look even worse. You shouldn’t be a villain at such a young age and have to be able to know that you’re on the wrong side of things. Orlo at least had some convictions, she was just following the path that was laid out for her.

Then we have Monsley who is essentially the second in command among the villains. She commands a ton of respect from everyone and has earned her spot at the top. Anytime she shows up, the village where Conan is at tends to take a lot of damage. She captures him a ton of times so we also see how capable she is. In some ways Monsley has to be the most impressive character here. Ultimately by the end of the story she has to ask herself some tough questions about what she is even doing here anymore. She gets a whole lot of character development and it is all handled really well.

Finally there is the main villain Lepka. This guy does one of my favorite villain tropes which is where he will feel a laugh coming and tries to stop it. The attempts are futile though so he ends up laughing as loud as possible and just going along with it. It’s just great when that happens. Beyond that, he just works really well within the role. You always want at least one villain who is just evil and the heroes have to stop him. He has no delusions of being a good guy or anything like that. He just wants to crush everyone and rule the world.

Right up through the end he is still fighting for this. He will shoot random people and murders as many as he can. He tries to punch Conan into the exploding ship at the end which would have murdered him. This guy is absolutely shameless but he did raise up an empire and nearly took over the world. Lepka was a very serious villain and definitely not someone to mess around with. It’ll be hard to top him as a main villain.

We also had Dr. Lao of course but he spends most of his time either captured, knocked out, or missing. He’s not a bad character or anything but I do feel like he could have made things a whole lot better on Lana. I’m unclear on the extent of his powers so maybe he was really just out of range for a large chunk of the adventure of something. I just think he should have helped more. In the end his presence is felt throughout the series but it almost felt like he had given up until Conan and Lana showed up. His disguise was great for staying out of trouble but not for helping the world stop the encroaching threat. I suppose he figured that without him, Lepka would ultimately not get very far. It’s not like this is a terrible plan but it’s far too passive for me.

The animation is pretty clear like I mentioned before. I also think that all of the environments really stand out here, whether it be the highly technological city or the small villages. There is a lot of movement in the fights which balance the visual humor well with the actual blows being felt. There are a few times where Conan is beaten quite thoroughly and the show doesn’t shy away from it. It doesn’t end up being super violent or anything but it’s clear that he’s taken a lot of damage.

The cartoony style ends up being beneficial for characters like Dyce as otherwise it would be harder to forgive him. Conan is super forgiving of everyone but the viewers won’t be as kind. The soundtrack is decent but it can be repetitive. It doesn’t seem like the show had a ton of budget allocated to it so the selection is small. The opening is decent, but I would say it looks better than it sounds.

If there was ever a show where I would say that it’s all about vibes, it would be this one. I think the show’s greatest strength is just that it has a fun atmosphere. It’s nice to see Conan just travelling the world to save Lana. The whole show feels very calming. Yes there are the big climaxes and danger moments but most of the time you’re just seeing what it would be like to live in a world without a lot of people. As far as post-apocalyptic worlds go, this one just seems rather nice. It’s good to have a more optimistic look at one for a change.

Overall, Future Boy Conan is a pretty good series. It has a very low key feel to it even with the end of the world stakes. Treat this as a slice of life adventure type story and you should be satisfied. The story wraps up nicely here so it’s definitely going to be interesting to see how the sequel fares. Could be a while before I check that one out though. There isn’t anything to really dislike about this show. It’s a pretty safe option that you can really recommend to anybody. As long as they enjoy a good adventure then this one will be a winner.

Overall 6/10

Vampire in the Garden Review

Posted on January 11, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a classic tale of humans vs vampires. This one apparently has quite a story to it but I can’t say that I remember it so well before actually watching the show. At 5 episodes it is quite short so that may add to the effect. I’m not the biggest fan of vampires in general but it’s a solid story. It does end without a whole lot of things being resolved though. In a way it’s like you got to see the main character’s part in it and then you turn the camera off before the inevitable bad ending that is going to happen to most of the cast.

The show starts by showing us the war between humans and vampires. Both sides have taken heavy hits over the years. Most of the humans are extinct and have retreated to a mini city that is protected by a special kind of light that repels the vampires. The vampires have their own mega base where they stay out of range from these weapons. Both sides continue to strike the other but neither have made a decisive blow to end the war as of yet.

Momo is a soldier who has had a tough time with this. She’s not big on violence and the vampires can also be kids and look really unassuming. She is unable to pull the trigger during a pivotal moment which causes shame onto her mother Nobara. Nobara is a high ranking general in the army and doesn’t have time for this kind of distraction. She also finds out that Momo has been hiding some music which is explicitly forbidden to humans. Music is seen as a work of the evil demons. Momo has enough and runs off, only to be taken by the queen of the vampires, Fine. Fine appears to be decent but is she really? The humans mobilize to save Momo while the vampires give chase because they feel that Momo may be corrupting Fine. Is there a way to end this cycle of violence?

I’d say that’s the main theme of the show. Trying to get away from the fact that this war is essentially an eternal one at this point. There will be no true winners or losers, only more bodies added onto the pile. The problem is that when the war involves this many people, it is not easy to stop. Fine essentially says that they should turn their backs on the war but at the same time it will keep on occurring. It’s sort of like closing your eyes to a bad situation. I’m not saying it’s inherently wrong in this context but it’s a short sighted decision. One way or the other, someone is going to win this war and then these two will be hunted again.

Now who is going to win this war? Well, I’m betting it will be the vampires, they just have too many strengths going for them. Yes, the humans have the lights but they aren’t particularly fast and can be evaded. The search towers are extremely lethal but the smaller lights are shown to be survivable. You have to factor in that the vampires can fly, have super strength/speed, and have absolutely incredible durability. They are not going down easily by any means. They will be in the driver’s seat in all the fights. The show tries to make this appear to be relatively equal but I just don’t see it playing out that way.

You can also see why the vampires are wary about Momo. See, this same situation happened to Fine earlier. There was another human girl who looked like Momo and things didn’t end well. The anime slowly peels back the cover on what happened in the previous tragedy but it makes the whole situation a lot clearer. Fine just seems to be walking into a trap from the perspective of all the other vampires. In particular, Allegro is someone who cares a lot for Fine’s safety and decides to take things into his own hands.

He’s a very loyal vampire to be sure. He also points out that as the queen, Fine does have a lot of responsibility here. She can’t just be shirking her responsibilities all the time. In a way she should be using her role to try to change things instead of escaping. Yeah it would absolutely be a lot tougher but it’s still an option for her with how much power she has. Ultimately things don’t go very well for Allegro at all but he ends up being sympathetic.

I liked Fine but she definitely had her faults with trying to run away and all. It was nice to see her fighting and the show actually gave a good explanation for why she couldn’t just absolutely crush everyone in her way. The fact that she refused to drink blood meant that she was constantly in a weakened state. This completely affected her fighting ability and why wouldn’t it right? So that made a lot of sense and I thought it was handled really well. She also helped Momo to escape her shell.

At first Momo was the kind of person who would just put her head down and accept whatever order she was given. After that, Momo would finally speak back and do well. I didn’t like Momo quite as much as Fine. They had similar character arcs in a way but the problem is that Momo was a more naive version of Fine. When they first made it to the sanctuary, Fine immediately knew that something was wrong while Momo was clouded by what she hoped to see. In the end Momo is a child so it makes sense that she would be easier to fool but it would have been really nice if she could have looked a little better in the meantime.

I think this is where the short length hurts a bit. If it had gone on longer, I think we would have had more scenes of Momo protecting Fine, the way that Fine protected her. We saw this briefly when Momo was forced to fight and it would have definitely continued into the next episodes. A dynamic like this is perfect when we really see both characters risking their lives and doing their best to protect the others. It’s a dynamic that I really enjoy and Fine absolutely did her part. She put her life on the line many times. If you are going to make the selfish move of ditching the world to protect each other, then you need a lot of scenes to really sell that. Even just one or two more episodes of the two of them on the run together would have been nice.

As for Nobara, well she doesn’t handle things very well at all. She should be upset with Momo for putting her in a tough spot but she could have more effectively gotten Momo on her side with words. Instead Nobara constantly lashed out and that’s not the right way to brainwash someone. Nobara took too long to really understand exactly what her main goal was. Is it to lead the humans or to protect her daughter? Unfortunately there was not really a way to do both. I think we could have gotten a bit more out of Nobara but she worked as an intense antagonist.

Then we have Kudo who ends up stealing the show a lot. He’s Momo’s uncle and the guy can really fight with his sword. He casually destroys vampires and also holds his own with Fine. It shouldn’t be possible for an ordinary human to be defeating vampires in single combat and yet he pulls it off. This guy has clearly been training for a long time and has more street smarts than the other humans. He has his own tragic backstory which partially explains this.

Kudo is focused and has a chip on his shoulder. That’s a huge red flag for any opponent going up against him. Life is not something you can be assured of having by the time you’re done with that fight. Kudo is the best character in the series without a doubt. He may not really be on the right side but it’s easy to see how he ended up where he is due to the previous events.

You’ll probably notice that I’ve referenced past trauma for a lot of the characters. Well, that is a common element among most of them in this show. Momo is the only one entering the conflict fresh. The others have all already had negative encounters with the other side that has turned them into who they are now. It all goes back to that classic cycle of violence. It’s why the war can’t be ended quite so easily.

The animation is pretty good. I don’t consider it to be anything high end but the show works well and I don’t have any real issues here. It’s all pretty flashy and the characters move well. Action isn’t the highest genre in this adventure but there is enough of it where I’m glad that the show looks good. The soundtrack is a bit on the weaker side. Since music is part of the whole divide, we don’t have a lot of it. Fine tries to teach Momo a song and it’s okay but when you exit the show you won’t have heard any real catchy tunes. I’m also mixed on music being something that was left for the vampires. Shouldn’t the humans use that either as a means to trap the vampires or as a way to take some power back? Just letting the vampires keep it seems like a surrender to me.

For a vampire show it mainly avoids a lot of the blood sucking. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the average vampire type product. It can get a little violent but never extensively so. I think this would be a fairly safe anime to recommend to folks. It doesn’t have a ton of replay value though so it’s not one that you are likely to go back to. Enjoy it for the initial run and then keep on moving to the next thing. That’s the easiest way to go.

Overall, The show covers a good amount of ground in 5 episodes. It has a happy ending on the surface but you can’t help but feel that it is the calm before the storm. The war will never stop until one side is destroyed, no matter how many small communities appear that try to surpass this. They will all likely end up like the first sanctuary at best. I would have liked to have focused more on the war itself but that was clearly not the focus for this show. You’re going to be here for the drama and the show is written well. It does feel a little confined within the 5 episodes where there are things that could have been more fleshed out but it should satisfy you.

Overall 6/10

Loki: Season 2 Review

Posted on September 7, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to close out the Loki saga over here. Season 1 was pretty fun with a lot of interesting concepts and the TVA actually worked rather well as a centerpiece. This season spends a lot more time, buying time, if that makes sense. As a result it does tend to be a little less exciting and I felt like the season didn’t really hit its stride until the final episode. You almost could have jumped right into that. It’s still a good season and you should definitely check it out if you watched the first one. Just be prepared for some of the slower pacing you’ll have seen in a while.

The last season ended with Loki failing to stop Sylvie from murdering Kang which started a whole chain reaction that changed the TVA. Now nobody even remembers Loki and he’s time spazzing all over the place. He needs to find a way to stop warping through time at random intervals, get everyone to remember the true timeline, and get things back on track. To do this, he will definitely need Mobius on his side and together they will have to convince Sylvie as well. This definitely won’t be easy.

The season is only 6 episodes but technically there isn’t actually a ton to cover. That’s why it does feel like the show tries to start buying time later on which can feel a bit obnoxious. This brings us to the worst character in the series, Timely. This guy takes forever to finish a single sentence and is always super nervous. It’s hard to take him serious even though he’s supposed to be a super genius. He gets the important things wrong anyway after all. I guess maybe it’s better to think of him as a red herring. Not the most flattering way to think about him, but ultimately that’s what he is reduced to.

The show also has to nerf Loki quite a lot in order to extend the chases. For example at one point you have Loki and Mobius trying to track down a defector named Brad. This should be easy. It’s 2 on 1, Brad’s just a normal human, and they have the element of surprise. Even with that, Brad manages to shake them for a good chunk of the episode. Keep in mind that Loki is still a powerful god with magical abilities. Stopping Brad even without hurting him should be absolutely easy. It should in fact be absolutely trivial.

Throughout the show Loki feels like he’s just a human with basic magic powers which feels off. He gets humiliated by Sylvie every time they fight and the rest of the characters don’t treat him like a powerful threat. It’s a classic case of Loki getting weaker the instant he became a protagonist. In one episode Brad just disrespects the guy for a long time. Loki gets the last laugh but you’re hoping he would just knock the guy out after a while.

This season is really aiming to complete his character arc of redemption though. So you could say in a sense that the fact that Loki feels more muzzled is intentional. It does lead up to him looking really good in the final episode which not surprisingly was my favorite one. Loki really got to cut loose there and while I would argue that he made the wrong decision, it was one that was very understandable. He did what he thought he had to. A certain anime named Madoka had the main character make the same choice and ultimately it’s up to everyone else to decide if they accept this or if they will help find another way. Unfortunately I don’t think Loki has any friends who are going to be selfless enough to try and help him here.

So power levels aside, Loki was a fun character here. I enjoyed his dialogue quite a bit and as always he had a great dynamic with Mobius. Mobius is the other standout character here and if anything I wish that his role could have been bigger. Anytime he’s on screen, you know the role is going to be really good. He’s great as being condescending and then sarcastic as the need arises. He’s perfect in the jaded, middle aged dude role. You really believe him when he just seems bored of everything at this point. He has mastered being detached from reality.

As a result you don’t really care about his serious plot of wondering about what his life could have been like. I think he’s at his best when none of that matters to him. If we had to get a new season without Loki, I actually think Mobius could hold his own show. The rest of the supporting characters would have to step it up a little bit though since he was way more charismatic than any of them. None of the others could even come close to his ability.

Ouroboros is one of the characters who gets a lot to do here. He’s one of those tech geniuses who isn’t great as social interactions but gets the job done. He isn’t bad but his array of jokes are a bit limited. He’s really got one gimmick and it will be spammed a lot. So not a bad character, but probably not someone who will make you raise an eyebrow. Ravonna gets a much smaller role than you would expect but she’s okay. My main issue with her would be that she didn’t have much of a grand plan.

It felt like she was easy to manipulate and the way she went out was rather anticlimactic. Ideally she will return with some kind of a power up, but if she never appears again, I will always remember her as being a little overconfident. Miss Minutes was a lot more compelling. She was good at hacking everything and getting in the way of the heroes. If anything you could say that she got off rather easy here. People are too trusting of A.I. and so she could definitely do more in the future. She’s one of those insane villains who can be fun to have around.

Then we have Brad who is a fairly reasonable villain. He’s very cocky and not one of the stronger characters here. What I mean by that is he will very easily be broken by anyone. Loki gets him to crack first, then Miss Minutes cracks him next, and by the end he gets mind controlled. Brad really can’t catch a break, nor does he deserve one. He’s a classic example of a guy who just does whatever he wants and ignores the consequences. Someone who is a good agent but not someone you can count on. The show handles his character well.

As for Sylvie, she was a bit too weak willed for me. She made her big decision in season 1 and at this point I feel like she just needs to stick to it. There’s nothing here that should be particularly surprising to her. She had to know what would happen by removing the cosmic lynchpin and just made the decision that aligned with her morals. I’ll get into this more later on but I would argue that it was actually the right move anyway. Loki was on the wrong side for most of this season and by the end he stumbles onto a new path but otherwise Sylvie would have been right.

So Sylvie falters a bit too easily. She is still a fun villain to have around but the heroes let her be too smug the whole time. They should probably at least try to arrest her in the meantime. I also don’t buy Loki losing to her every time when they fight a bunch in this season. Eventually he ought to find a way to win. We can assume that he did and we don’t get to see those futures but I would have liked the show to have made that clear. Otherwise it’s close to an unchangeable point in time which I always find dubious at best. Sylvie made a nice little life for herself on Earth and should have been satisfied with it.

Then we have He Who Remains, who is a solid villain. I liked him a lot more than in season 1 but the guy is still way too suicidal to be an impressive villain. The fact that he can defeat almost anyone but chooses to die just makes him a bit lame. I get that he’s been around forever and after some thousands of years anyone would want a break but then he should go out on his own terms. Go to a planet that’s about to explode and go with a bang. Don’t just let someone stab you to death. I liked that Loki called him out on it.

The mini theme song is pretty fun as always. I like the eerie music that plays when the Loki logo is being spelled out. It sets the tone nicely for the adventure although it would be nice to have more of a real theme song. The soundtrack doesn’t have many other tunes but this is still enough to be memorable. The visuals are also good, the effects are on point and the battles look good. There isn’t a ton of action here but what we do get is good.

Okay so one of the big debates here was on whether the TVA should prune timelines or not. Kang believes that this is necessary as you have to stop the timelines from splitting or it will introduce more Kangs who will eventually destroy the multiverse. There would just be too many of them to stop. Meanwhile Sylvie believes that doing this is immoral as you are destroying countless universes daily in order to ensure that there is only one sacred timeline. Since a new timeline comes into being for every decision that every person makes, it is quite literally infinite.

Of course it is prioritized to deal with ones that will have a Kang spawning and the TVA exists outside of time so it’s not like they’ll ever be late but it is something that will never end. I tend to be on Sylvie’s case here. The TVA is playing judge, jury, and executioner at the moment. They slaughter more people on a daily basis than anyone else in history. No matter how you slice it, that’s a really bad look. Their overall goals and visions may be ambitious but overall they don’t void this point. If the Kangs do start a war, then you will have to fight them and hope that good prevails.

Due to the way that time travel works, maybe they’d all be dead already if the war was going to come and so they shouldn’t worry about it either. Assigning themselves as the heads of time is certainly an abuse of power. You also have to trust that Kang was telling the truth. So yes I am firmly on Sylvie’s side. Even if saving everyone means they will eventually die, it’s your duty to save as many as possible. In the final episode we get a quick twist that allows Loki to bypass the whole debate but nobody could have predicted that so it doesn’t make Sylvie wrong in hindsight.

The final episode has a lot of Groundhog Day type moments and cool time loop discussions so that’s another reason why the episode ended on a super high note for me. I like the idea of time essentially being used as a rubber band for Loki to check things out and try many kinds of techniques. Ultimately we even get a thousand years+ timeskip so he’s lived more than almost any other character in existence. It’s hard to even wrap your head around that. It’s certainly impressive that he didn’t go crazy from doing all of that. He has definitely matured over the years and hopefully the franchise remembers that he is now a super genius for anything else that he appears in. Also that he can time travel at will and controls the multiverse. That should come in handy for many things…

So if I could make any changes here, it would be to speed up the events of the first 5 episodes into about 2. You can easily do this without stretching everything out. Then you have around 2 episodes for Loki doing a ton of time travelling and exploring ways to solve the situation. Finally you end as normal. I can’t stress enough how much more interesting it was to have Loki on the field than to be talking with Victor and the others about nothing. Maybe find a way for Mobius to go with Loki so we could still have good dialogue and banter the whole time.

Overall, Loki Season 2 has its share of fun moments and I do enjoy the debates on what the right move is. The focus on time travel and its many implications are also a lot of fun. While Loki may not have been on the right side for most of it, it doesn’t take away from the adventure. This show is going for a very cerebral approach and it works more than it doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to see how he loses in the Secret Wars film. However it happens, I’m expecting that I’ll be smirking as I won’t buy any of it but that’s what happens when you make the main character this powerful. Loki should be literally unbeatable now, unless he secretly wants to be defeated or something like that.

Overall 6/10

Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow/The Blue Night Sagas Review

Posted on July 6, 2025 by dreager1

Yeah that title is a mouthful right? Well in this case each cour got a different subtitle and that’s more or less how they list it on Wikipedia so I figured ehhhhh I’ll write it out like this. Get ready for a pretty long flashback saga thrown in. It’s important to be sure but you’ll probably be more eager to see what is going on in the present so in a sense this will definitely slow your roll quite a bit. We do get more action in this season although I still find myself wanting for more Rin battles. This must be what Edward fans felt like in FMA where you could go 20 episodes without the guy getting a real battle. Some MCs just don’t get all the screentime.

The first half of the season mainly focuses on Shura as we finally see her backstory. She vanishes one day in the present and Rin/Yukio are sent off to find her. There is still a bit of tension here as Yukio is still acting really shady and irrational. Even Rin who is one of the more oblivious guys out there is starting to pick up on this. With Shura being in danger there isn’t a whole lot of time to think about it but the situation will only continue to get worst at this rate. Shura is being controlled by a villain from her past known as Hachiro. Defeating him won’t be easy and it would appear that Shura may die anyway due to a contract. Can she be saved or will the heroes have to make a sacrifice here?

Once your soul is partially owned by a demon then you’re going to be in for a rough time. It really isn’t easy to save Shura as a result and she’s secretly known what was coming up ever since childhood and just didn’t tell anyone so they wouldn’t worry. It’s a heroic mindset so I don’t fault her for that. She probably could have left some kind of word for the rest of the characters so they wouldn’t chase after her but I’m not really sure what kind of wording you could have even tried to say that would have stopped them. Odds are they would see through most lies.

Shura has always been one of the more powerful fighters so it was nice to finally see her in the lead again. For the most part she is no match for Hachiro but she still gets some good action scenes. She is still used a bit for fanservice at times and even this life or death matter couldn’t help but still ship her a bit with Yukio. Definitely a really weak ship especially when Yukio is acting all crazy but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say his actions here really were to help Shura. I like to think that he was totally faking everything he was saying even if it’s lightly implied that to a degree he meant part of it. Forming a pact would grant him more power which is something he desperately wants after all. This arc was able to continue his slow decent into darkness.

I can’t say Hachiro was one of the more interesting villains though. He’s certainly powerful but not particularly ambitious and it’s not like he has a super end game either. He’s someone you don’t want to cross but that’s about it. The heroes are way too lenient the whole time though and should have crushed him at the first opportunity. You will want to roll your eyes by the end of this arc. I would have liked to have seen Rin do more in the fight here but surprisingly he doesn’t play a pivotal role the way you might expect.

Rin still looks really solid throughout the anime though. He is really trying his best both in handling what the past brings in the next arc and even confronting his own feelings for Shiemi. It’s always best to take a pro active approach rather than sulking on the sidelines so that was really good. He may no look as good as he should in the fights by this point in the series but there are asterisks behind some of his worst showings so I cut him a tiny bit of slack here. By the next season I’m hopeful that we will be seeing more of prime Rin since he was down in the dumps for half of this season.

Unfortunately I can’t say that Yukio looks good at all here. At this point he is so jealous over Rin’s abilities that he is trying really dangerous methods to awaken his own. Even risking his life and basically coming close to ending it on the hopes that a life or death situation will manifest his powers. Yukio is willing to go to any level to wake them up including working with the Illuminati which is obviously a bad call. Not to mention pointing a gun at his friend Suguro. By this point in the series Yukio cannot be trusted at all and it’s a shame to see how far he has fallen.

It’s also a drop that has lasted whole seasons by this point so it’s certainly been a while since we’ve gotten to see him as a very heroic figure. Ah well, I guess that just wasn’t in the cards for him this time around. He is without a doubt getting stronger though so he will be hard to deal with. I expect that eventually he will be pulled back into the light, hopefully before he causes too much damage.

Aside from the Shura story, we also get the end of year celebration for the main characters. So we get a classic festival and interpersonal developments with the various characters. Not to mention that Lightning continues to discover more about the blue night massacre which is putting a lot of eyes on him. Lightning is a tough guy and not afraid to ruffle some feathers though, he just continues to work hard on that and doesn’t look back. I think he can be a bit too extreme at times to where he can feel like a villain but I can understand why he is tired of dealing with all the bureaucrats.

One thing to remember about this series is just how corrupt the government is. The “heroes” are working with Mephisto, a legendary demon after all. A lot of the issues they are dealing with in the present are due to crazy unethical experiments in the past. The whole second half of the season deals with a whole lot of that and the government doesn’t seem to have learned their lessons. They are still better than the villains who are trying to destroy everything but by no means are they innocent. You eventually need them to be taken down but right now that’s not really on Rin’s radar. The main characters will stop any evil in front of them but a systematic change is hard to do.

Rin’s various school friends are still around as well of course. Suguro helps Lightning out a lot and as a result he knows a whole lot more about the situation than most of the kids. Of course the more he learns, the more danger he gets put in. This is why Yukio targets him after all and at this point the guy definitely needs to watch his back as well. The villains can come from anywhere after all and Suguro isn’t the most powerful fighter by any means.

Meanwhile Shiemi is still dealing with romance issues. She is just unsure of what love really is and sorting out her feelings has been difficult. I appreciate that she is giving this some real thought rather than falling into anything too quickly. It’s not an easy concept to wrap your head around after all and once you have someone confessing to you, it just gets that much more complicated. It’s as if she’s on the clock now and has to decide much quicker than otherwise. There are so many kinds of feelings you can mistake for love as well so she needs to rule those out. She’s also started taking a route away from being a fighter which is a good decision, although now she’s being forced into a role that might put her in even more danger. Sometimes you just can’t win I suppose.

Shima is still working all the sides and continues to be an interesting wildcard. I can’t say I trust the guy at all though and none of the characters should. When you’re working all of the groups against each other, you have to be extra sure of where his real allegiance is or you will end up getting burned. He’s not the most powerful fighter so Rin could take him in a straight fight but the guy definitely feels like the assassin type so all he needs is a clean shot and he could still be a problem.

Then the second half starts and we have to take a break from the present right when things were getting real interesting. It’s time for Rin to learn the truth about everything that happened in the present. I know this flashback is a real big deal but it is the weakest part of the season in part because of how passive the main characters are. They just allow everything to happen rather than making moves to stop it all.

We see how Shiro grew up and joined the order. How he met a lady named Yuri who would be tasked with watching over Satan and would have a first row seat to how crazy the guy would get. It’s a very twisted dynamic to be sure and who would have guessed that Satan would turn out to be evil?? I would have liked the warning bells to have gone off within the organization a little bit sooner but they’re all just so arrogant and cocky that they could contain him. If there’s one demon you should not underestimate, it would surely be this guy right? Definitely not their best appearance and Satan definitely makes them pay for it.

There are a number of annoying things about the flashback but the would be romance with Shiro and Yuri has to be at the top of it. Ultimately he’s too gruff and stubborn to actually say that he likes her and allows her to keep on seeing Satan and basically sacrifice herself for the mission. Yuri also doesn’t seem to want to be a burden and so she takes on each mission even knowing about the danger. She also begins to care for Satan to a degree which was definitely a mistake. I was glad the series didn’t try to go out of its way to make him seem like a caring guy.

Satan may have started out as a baby but from the start his evil impulses are definitely there. It’s portrayed in a way where he would turn evil no matter who helped to raise him. It’s just in his very DNA and soul. You can’t fix that and I would say this is as clear as that’s going to get. At the same time I would say he loses whatever mystery is left within the guy. We just see him in a vulnerable/weakened position too often to take him seriously. He gets a whole lot of cringe scenes while growing up in the asylum and the fact that the humans were able to placate him for so long is rough. It’s the same thing that happened with Lucifer and I even dare say Mephisto gets hit with this. You can’t take them seriously when Lucifer and Satan are constantly spitting out blood and dying to be reincarnated later on. Then Mephisto takes a gunshot and winds up in the equivalent of the hospital? Yeah he’s probably trolling but cmon now.

Of the 3, Mephisto seems to be the most dangerous with his time manipulation but they all have full weaknesses. Mephisto at this point has been jobbing so hard for so long that I almost wonder if he still remembers how to be a fierce opponent. One thing’s for sure, he’s been playing the long game for a longer time than most other antagonists. He probably gets some kind of record for this. No matter what his end game plan is, I dare say I will find it to be way more convoluted than it needed to be.

I also would say Yuri having kids with him was definitely a mistake. The less said about this ship the better but the whole plot definitely makes you shake your head. Like I said, she took the job way too seriously and her feelings got way too confused the whole time. None of the characters make it out of the flashback saga unscathed. They all make their share of mistakes and all of them seem like self inflicted errors. Any of the characters could have handled it way differently like for Yuri abandoning the order, the Order could have just taken Satan down earlier and worried about the resurrection at another time, Shiro could have stepped in, etc.

The characters really allowed things to get out of hand and of course the ramifications of this are that we got the blue night disaster and all of the current events in Blue Exorcist. This also put Shiro further under Mephisto’s thumb which would really become a life debt. That’s probably one of the toughest things for the heroes in this series which is that they’re basically forced to work for the villains under penalty of death. Rin is really the only hope to shake off these chains if by now he is strong enough to change the world.

The animation for the show is good. Nothing amazing and I don’t think you will be seeing this on lists for best animation but the action works well enough. I expect that once we get a long Rin fight we will get to see the animation explode. When characters have fire powers, it really helps the animation to look extra sharp because the colors work well with the swordplay. If you mess up fire based fight scenes then the studio has a real problem I would say.

As for the soundtrack, they are still using a whole lot of the old tracks from previous seasons so there isn’t much new here. Neither one of the openings are particularly solid. I would say they are okay but definitely not game changers. They really aren’t doing anything innovative here unfortunately. It’s not bad or anything but I do hope they can spice things up a bit in the next season or just use some of the old tracks more. The electronic battle theme and the classic Blue Exorcist themes are right there begging to be used more!

While it feels like we are starting to approach the end of the series, it also feels like the title is dragging its feet a bit. Blue Exorcist has always had some weird pacing issues. It feels like the world is only partially fleshed out. The characters accept some rather odd situations without questioning it. Only Rin seems to know how twisted things are but half the time when he speaks up, Mephisto just threatens him to his face. There is no winning if the world is still ruled by demons and it’ll be interesting to see how Rin finds a solution to this. While trying to obtain more and more power is usually something the villains do, I think it is the heroes who need to crave it this time. That’s the only way they can overthrow the demons and really change things up.

At this point there really should not be much more time for school adventures. I like them as much as the next guy but the world is going crazier and crazier with the demons running amok throughout the country. I need to see some initiative for the heroes as they take them on directly. I also really need to see Rin taking a more prominent role. If they find a way to sideline him again in the next season then I’ll be shaking my head. It’s time for Blue Exorcist to get serious and give us some serious plot progression in the present timeline.

Overall, The season spends a lot of time in the flashback which definitely slows up the pacing. Most of it you can easily guess and piece together from the lore we already had so I think this could have been condensed a whole lot. I just want to know what’s going to happen in the present so the next season has the potential to be the most explosive yet. I would say as always, Blue Exorcist continues to be solid but still lacking things to make it a very good show. It’s a mix of characters and action. The series just has not been ready to turn the corner but perhaps that will change now. If you’re this deep into the series, you should definitely continue in order to stay current. It feels as though the series is starting to approach the climax so I doubt we will be getting another 4 seasons at this point.

Overall 6/10

My Happy Marriage Season 2 Review

Posted on April 27, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of the rare romantic drama series over the many romantic comedies running around. Typically I’d say that a comedy will always beat a drama but this has been a good show. The first season was fun enough although held back by Miyo herself. Season 2 is a definite improvement but Miyo continues to develop rather slowly and isn’t really being aware enough of her surroundings. She needs to tap into the classic power fantasy elements that have made characters like Jinwoo and Boruto living legends. Miyo has the abilities for this, such is her birth right. So now we need to see her using them.

We’re able to squeeze in a few different arcs throughout this season. The first few episodes are about Miyo finally meeting Kudou’s parents. Naturally this is always a fairly big moment in any romance series. As you would probably expect from Kudou’s demeanor, his mother is quite strict. She begins bullying Miyo in earnest and when Miyo doesn’t fight back, the bullying only intensifies. In a way she seems upset that Miyo isn’t tougher since Kudou’s partner has to be strong. Kudou’s father is a lot more mild in comparison. It’s a fun enough way to start the arc although it’s fair to say that it’s the weakest arc of the season. Miyo just doesn’t handle herself with enough poise here and we should have been done with the bullying stuff by the end of season 1. Nobody should be able to mess with Miyo by this point.

Miyo has come a long way from the days of season 1 where she was a punching bag to every character in existence. She doubts herself less here although she still moves with less poise and authority than she should. Miyo is at
her best when Kudou’s life is on the line as she quickly proves that she doesn’t have a “No kill” rule. That’s a good thing in this kind of verse where it would be difficult to imprison everyone and you have to deal with politics running around. She is slowly getting more used to using her powers in an offensive way as well.

Miyo has a ways to go but if she keeps up her training then she will be a force to be reckoned with. The problem is that she seems to be actively deciding not to practice her abilities and I could see that being a huge problem down the road. When you have special abilities I would argue that it is your duty to practice using them and improving your craft. It’s just not an optional obligation by that point and I need her to start embracing this. Miyo also needs to work on establishing stronger boundaries like not letting Arta constantly pine after her. Shutting that guy down once and for all would be a good thing and I’d also argue that she could probably tone down her attempts to sympathize with everyone.

Sympathizing with a guy who has been on a big mass murder spree just isn’t the right move if you ask me. So Miyo had her ups and downs here but if she continues the trend of getting better after every season then we should be in a good place. Meanwhile Kudou is still a solid character as always who is ready to take Miyo’s side. He defends her from everyone including family so I appreciate his loyalty. He is generally more confident and uses his powers as needed. While his battle intelligence takes a huge hit in this season, he looks good beyond that. It’s a case where his core personality is still really good which is the main important part. He also makes a big decision near the end of the series that was definitely a good one. I can see this being a huge benefit over the next seasons as he will have more free time now.

Kudou’s father Tadakiyo is a reasonably fun character. He takes a more laidback approach as he lets his wife largely do whatever she wants. He is happily retired and just likes to keep the peace. It means that you can’t really count on him in daily affairs but he can fight as needed. He’s not a particularly interesting character as a result but he gets the job done. His wife Fuyu starts off as a big bully but softens up later on. I think the anime’s pacing was a little too quick in this case though as she basically becomes a completely different character within a few episodes. That was a little annoying but I suppose she’s still solid enough. Maybe the writer just figured things would be too hard on Miyo to have to deal with another big bully and so that plot was cut short.

As always Arata is around and I really appreciate the open disdain that Kudou shows him the whole time. Kudou just can’t stand the guy and with good reason. Miyo may be able to overlook a kidnapping attempt and some flirting but not her future husband. Arata seems like one of those guys who just can’t take a hint and is always on the wrong side of every matter. His plan is absolutely terrible in this season and I’m convinced that he is basically just around to hold Miyo back. She needs to cut this guy out already. Honestly he’s just gone way too far for anyone to ever trust him. I don’t see him ever really going up as a character.

We start to get glimpses of the main plot as the legendary Usui declares that he will be taking Miyo. This guy is the most powerful member of the Usuba clan and he can use complete hypnosis to mess with your 5 senses. So as a result he could be anyone or anywhere. Kudou takes Miyo to a guardsman base for her protection where she meets a girl named Kaoruko. The problem is that Kaoruko also likes Kudou and most of the soldiers here are all big bullies for no reason. Will Miyo have what it takes to put an end to this once and for all?

For the record I don’t think taking Miyo to this base is a terribly good idea but no location would be all that safe. Realistically there is no defense against Usui due to his ability. The main plan that would have made sense would have been to expedite her training instead. Still, it’s a good chance for Miyo to make friends and she handles herself pretty well in this arc as she stands up to the bullies and defends Kaoruko. If anything it’s just a really bad look for the army that they are unaware of all this treatment or simply don’t care.

Kaoruko makes for a fun character. She is a solid fighter and doesn’t let all the bullying get her down. I did have some suspicions about her that ended up being well founded but despite that she is okay. It just feels like there is not much of a point to her being in the story just yet so we’ll have to see if that changes for future arcs. Since she seems to be lacking in particularly strong abilities, I don’t see her being very useful in a fight. Her last big appearance is mainly crying at a party so it was a rather sad way to go out.

The big climax happens when Usui finally makes his move and kidnaps Kudou. For once it looks like Miyo will have to be the one to save the day and fortunately she is aided by Kudou’s shikigami. Although what she doesn’t know is that the Shikigami shares all of Kudou’s senses and he gets the memories so Miyo would definitely be rather embarrassed if she realized what was going on. Nevertheless, it’s time for action and the shikigami is unfortunately very weak so she will still have to do most of the heavy lifting on her own. Not like this will be the first time that she has done so though so this ought to be easy. It’s just the first time in a combat sense.

The final arc has quite a bit of action which is nice. It also gives the soldiers something to do as they fight a bit in the subplot. In general I always found the soldiers’ plot to be rather boring compared to the main Miyo plot but at least it went somewhere. The show was hinting early on at a possible argument between Miyo and Kudou when he rats out a protest group but nothing came of it. Maybe it was just showing that she was a bit sympathetic instead of her being upset. Still, it’ll be interesting if that turns into anything.

The soldiers have powers and such but they all feel so weak. Kudou has one right hand man who is important but most of the soldiers are rank and file otherwise. I think their plot will be more interesting as we get to learn about more and more of the specific soldiers within the group. That’ll help balance things out a bit there. Also we’ll need their plot to be good because assuming we don’t get another fighter like Usui for a bit, I’m not sure the romance is enough for the show to hang its hat on.

The romance between Kudou and Miyo does tend to be rather weak. I like the fact that it’s not a rebound or anything like that but Miyo is much too timid and since the two characters are ultra stiff around each other, there isn’t much in the way of banter. You could pull out a random anime from any year and it would probably have a better romantic dynamic between the leads. Maybe that will change in the next saga, hopefully it does. I would imagine this should be a natural part of the development.

As for Usui, he was a good main villain. His overall plan was rather lackluster but he does have a sad backstory. He just mishandled the whole situation and let things quickly get out of hand. The show also may have made him a bit too powerful. There’s a reason why complete hypnosis is used so sparingly in media. There is basically no counter to it. You need a high tier series with FTL fighters like Bleach for a proper fight to really be put into action. Realistically Usui should be able to handle the entire verse here. His ability to be completely invisible is unmatched and of course he is also an expert sword fighter. The show may have used this guy up a little too soon but of course there could be stronger characters in the winds. We’ll have to see.

The animation looks solid here. The show gets to show off a bit more this time since there are more action scenes at the ready. It’s always fun to see the fire and electricity shooting out at the opponents. The hand to hand fights are also solid as are the sword battles. Towards the end some of the fight scenes do make you shake your head a bit though. I get the feeling that the author is definitely not used to fight scenes as much as the romantic ones. For example Kudou’s final fight just doesn’t make sense as he seems to forget object permanence immediately. He knows good and well that his opponent has the ability of illusions and yet he’s shocked every time his attack doesn’t land.

Throughout the fight he learns nothing and makes the same mistakes over and over. It just makes Kudou look absolutely terrible as opposed to making the villain look better. As someone who was said to be the strongest in the verse, I would expect more out of Kudou. Particularly since his abilities have a wide range of destructive effect. So it shouldn’t be particularly hard for him to land a blow by predicting where the villain will be and striking. Yeah it was not a good look for him.

Meanwhile the soundtrack isn’t bad although it’s not particularly memorable. I would like the next season to really introduce some proper battle themes. The theme song is also okay but that’s about it. So you could say that the soundtrack is more of a weak point in general. This is a story that has to thrive more on the plot and fights which is fine, the series is able to do that. A nice soundtrack would be appreciated though, so fingers crossed for the next season.

Overall, This season brought more action which was definitely nice. At times the actual story is still not the most engaging though and the show’s attempts at humor tends to be on the weak side. It’s not really the kind of show where you’ll crack a smile. That said, we’re finally approaching the wedding and it’s about time since that should have happened already. I’m ready for Miyo to embrace her role as a Kudou and really start to show off some confidence. This is her chance to shine and she can’t let anybody stop her. If she continues to develop her powers as well then she should be a real threat. Also a change of scenery could be nice for the characters to get away from the main cities and not be tied down by regulations. Could be a nice way to explore their being a power couple. If you’re looking for a solid romance to check out, this one fits the bill.

Overall 6/10

Charlotte Review

Posted on April 17, 2025 by dreager1

Charlotte is definitely quite the rollercoaster ride. The show begins as a happy comedic slice of life for most of its run but then takes a sharp dive into being a rather dark drama. One episode in particular feels super extreme next to the others and so you can never really guess what will happen next. I tend to have quite a lot of issues with the series as it began to end in terms of plot points and abilities working a little oddly. Still, you will be on the edge of your seat the whole time, that’s for sure.

The series starts off by introducing us to Yuu who is far from your average anime protagonist. This guy is a perv who cheats on his exams and basically misuses his power in every way. He has the ability to take over another person’s body for 5 minutes and in that time his original body falls unconscious. So it can be a bit dangerous since your body might slam to the ground hard but also 5 seconds isn’t very long so that can also backfire really heavily since you may return to your body before completing your objective. Still Yuu has managed to be quite popular and nearly nabs the girl of his dreams but then he is defeated by the supernatural student council. Tomori and her gangs now have blackmail on him and force the guy to transfer students and help in finding other metahumans. All of them must come to the school where they can do no more harm. Yuu’s no hero though so how will he escape from these guys?

That’s the plot for the majority of the show at least. As it goes on we get a lot more depth to the world though like with evil organizations on the rise and things like that. It really expands and gets pretty interesting with all the ramifications of what’s possible. That being said, the show really needed more episodes because the ending gets super rushed. I like how sudden it all occurs because we get to be shocked like Yuu but there are a lot of parts that absolutely fall apart. We’ll get to all of that but the character roster is fairly small so lets talk about them.

First up is Yuu and of course like I explained he is not a very nice guy. He would be one of the big villains if we based him on the very first episode’s appearance. Fortunately he does improve from there which is good but it’s a bit too slow for my liking. For example once we’re already deep into his character arc, he notices Tomori being beaten up by a bunch of thugs and does not arrive to help her. He simply does nothing and judging from Jojiro’s reaction, he is aware of it as well and does nothing. It’s just a true shame because the plotline is never addressed. For all we know she is still bullied.

Yuu also falls to the darkness more than once after this event so he’s inconsistent at best. He could have used his powers to really help out humanity but instead he always picks the wrong path. Perhaps he’s just inexperienced but you do lose a lot of patience with him by the end. He should have improved a lot quicker and with less setbacks. Then he would have been a character you could get behind. So yeah by the end of the series I was still not a fan of his.

Then you have Tomori who is a fun heroine. Her whole mission does put her in a lot of danger since she is always going after metahumans. She is very quick to violence as well but ultimately she comes off as a much more balanced character. I do think she looks a little too weak in the climax of the series though. I expected her to be putting up much more of a fight. Her power is that she can appear invisible to one person at a time which is of course a huge drawback. My main issue is that the show itself seems to forget that several times.

We get a twist at one point that she was following Yuu around for ages and yet nobody commented on her at all even when it would have made sense like when his old friend was around or when Yuu was beating people up. From where she was standing it didn’t look like she was even trying to hide. Naturally this ability is next to useless in most cases but that’s part of the fun in the show. You have all these crazy abilities but they all have tons of downsides. (Until the end of the series anyway) It’s a pretty fun gimmick. Either way Tomori showed that she was the only one really ready to lead this team.

As for Jojiro, he has super speed but basically cannot control it. He can pick a direction and zoom off like a bullet but it also means he has a hard time doing anything while moving at that speed. He often injures himself in the process so it’s another unusable power. He was a fun character but once Yusa joins the crew, it does basically destroy his character because his one trait quickly becomes about being obsessed over her. It completely takes over his character to the point where he is written out in the end, the villains don’t even bother going after him.

Yusa is a lot of fun because of her split personality. Dead spirits can inhabit her body and so it turns out her older sister is living inside of her and can take control at any point. Yusa doesn’t remember what happens while she is taken over. Her sister Misa has fire powers with seemingly no drawback so right off the bat it’s one of the best powers you could possibly have. Yusa tend to be a bit of a space case while Misa is the tough one who is always picking fights. Naturally you can probably guess that Misa is my favorite character from the two as a result. Honestly they could have used her during the action scenes since she could definitely hold her own. Ultimately the way she goes out is very underwhelming.

Ayumi has a very big role as Yuu’s younger sister. She is always trying to look out for him by replicating her mother’s recipes and generally being very reliable. She does a good job of going with the flow and always having a very upbeat attitude. Ayumi always keeps the atmosphere bright and was a really good supporting character, I would even say that she was probably one of the best characters in the series. She absolutely needed to have a good ending in order for the series to work.

On a technical level the show is also quite solid. The animation looks really good and the character designs are very colorful. The fights that we do get look really good. In particular Yuu goes up against a swordswoman at one point and the slash itself was super clean even if the whole sequence will definitely have you rolling your eyes. Like cmon now. Meanwhile the soundtrack is really solid. The opening song itself has a super retro feel to it. It sounds like a 90s theme song and I would say even the visuals match that. There are quite a few nice themes within the episodes as well so the series gets more props there as well.

The series also avoids one of the common anime pitfalls, namely fanservice. It’s not completely nonexistent but yeah the series did good there. There is a random scene near the very end when a character is stripped but that’s more for some dicey undertones. For the record I think it was a mental attack on the heroes and nothing actually happened and hopefully there’s no interview from the creator about how something did happen. That would just be needlessly dark like this was an episode of Sword Art Online or something.

Now as I mentioned, the series can go through tone shifts rather quickly. So in one moment you will be having some happy days and then suddenly you’ve got people being tortured and murdered. The violence isn’t particularly over the top or anything, I think it’s just the suddenness of it that pops out. The only real violent scene I would say was when one character got tortured. Most of it is offscreen and all but we still see the aftermath which was real gruesome. It shows just how dark the world can get even if we didn’t get to see most of it.

Okay now we’re going to start getting into some real spoiler territory. Yeah you could argue the whole review delves into spoilers but this is about to go more into detail so definitely give it a skip if you haven’t watched the show yet. You don’t want to ruin the big twists for yourself because this is a show with massive twists all around. Okay so last warning you want to skip the next 6 paragraphs. Here we gooooooooo.

The turning point in the series is when we find out that time travel has been going on for a long time. Shunsuke is Yuu’s older brother and his ability is that he can use any light to travel back in time. The catch is that every trip causes his eyesight to deteriorate so he cannot do this forever. If he continues this then eventually he will run out of “retries” if you will. The problem is that every timeline still ends with the adults capturing all the kids and murdering them/using them for experiments. In this timeline, he has attained peace for the most part. Not around the whole world but at least in Japan. Time is running out though as the terrorists are getting closer. So this ties in with Yuu and his ability to steal powers and thus, use time control.

I thought it was very effective how we were taken by surprise along with Yuu at the terrorists showing up and beginning their murder spree. Shunsuke’s peace came at a heavy cost in that the characters were unable to defend themselves. I would have liked the main characters to have looked a little better though. I found it really unlikely that Yuu would be crushed so quickly by one of the assassins and the excuses for not using time travel previously were extremely weak. Now the villains did have a clever plan which is to have had a hostage for many years before using their plan. That way unless the heroes are willing to time travel literal years into the past to counter the strategy, they are stuck. It’s hard, almost unfathomable to try and relive years of your life without making any changes. That’s just not going to happen and it’s exactly what the villains were banking on.

It’s great writing by the show and I agree with that much. However, Yuu could have absolutely time travelled, say 1 week into the past. Talk things over with the friends and just think of a plan. At the very least it is an attempt and it’s one without any real downsides. For that matter, in the present you can talk things over for a few days with everyone and then time travel. Time travel is just too broken of a power to not even consider here and I would say that was a real issue. It’s not a plot hole as of course it is a real choice the characters could make but it was an annoying decision.

I would also say this whole plot development opened a lot of interesting doors so that is why it was unfortunate that the series was already ending. You have terrorist groups across the world, other groups of powered fighters, etc. In every future timeline the governments are all evil as well. All of the powers immediately leave once the characters have finished being teenagers which also puts an end time limit on this provided that the heroes can make a cure. There are just a few episodes though so it’s all very fast.

We have a whole journey about how Yuu has to go around the world and absorb the powers of tens of thousands of fighters all on his own. By the end of the series he is near all powerful and it’s a really interesting development. Yet once again there just isn’t enough time to process it. I do like that most of the abilities aren’t shown to us exactly so we just see Yuu doing cool things and can assume as to what the power actually does. Once again though, time travel becomes an issue. He was blind but then he gets a healing power, meaning he can now travel through time. Seems like another good idea to go back in time right? Yuu could go on the journey early and save the world.

So as with many titles, time travel was ultimately the undoing of the series at least on a logic level. It opened up so many pathways to a better future that Yuu just ignored. I did really enjoy the story though even if Yuu falling into a depression for a second time was a little repetitive. His decision to not go back in time was also a big shot to both Shunsuke and Kunagami after all the years they put into this. I really liked Shunsuke, he was a really heroic character who really gave it his all. I could definitely admire that. Meanwhile Kunagami was also fun, especially with how well he was able to put on an act for years without people realizing the truth. Now that is definitely dedication. Their squad of fighters never really got a chance to develop but the series was pretty short.

Overall, Charlotte was a fun series. I do think it was a little too ambitious for its own good though. Ironically the series may have been a bit higher if it had stuck to the happy slice of life episodes from the first half. The second half had higher highs but also lower lows. It really needed one more cour to properly handle this plot. I always love a fast paced adventure but you still need to handle this a little more on screen. I’m skeptical of a lot of the developments by the end like the main characters actually holding off the terrorists while Yuu was gone since the government would have done something. Most things could have been held off with more time. At the end of the day though, this was a fun series and so I would definitely be able to recommend it. It has a lot of interesting ideas and really good world building at the ready. I’d certainly be up for an expanded cut or remake at some point.

Overall 6/10

Natsume’s Book of Friends Season 7 Review

Posted on March 2, 2025 by dreager1

Natsume’s Book of Friends is definitely a pretty impressive adaption but you only had to look at the seasons to know that. It’s pretty much unheard of to get 7 whole seasons and I’m sure we will be getting an 8th some day. It’s a very peaceful franchise where you can watch the episodes at any point. I definitely had a good time with it and while the show isn’t going to knock your socks off, you can always depend on quality writing and good story telling.

If you’re new to the franchise, the general plot is fairly simple. Natsume is a man who can see Yokai and has inherited the “Book of Friends” from his grandmother Reiko. This book contains the names of many Yokai who are effectively forced to do Natsume’s bidding while they are there. He intends to return all of their names back to the Yokai but can only do this when the Yokai is right in front of him. Along the way Natsume helps them all out with their daily problems.

In the first episode we have a Yokai inhabiting the body of a clay form that looks like Nyanko. So a pretty solid way to jump in and a lot of Hijinx play out from there. The yokai itself is one of the calmer ones as it just needs some time and is generally pleasant. Natsume is all too happy to help out while Nyanko is a little grumpy as always. We get a little danger but for the most part this is just a fun little adventure. It’s a pretty solid premiere with a self contained story that worked well.

Following that episode, we have an adventure where somebody is messing up the flower garden every night. Natsume decides to put a stop to this and naturally it turns out to be a bunch of Yokai. They’re trying to take care of a small castle and need the flowers for beauty purposes. Natsume helps them out and ultimately gets to prove that he can be delicate as needed. He really gets to show off his expertise in cleaning. Another low key episode here but I was glad that Natsume got on this right away. He wasn’t about to let anyone mess with his folks.

After that we have our first case with Natori. He and Natsume are helping a guy who is being haunted by scarecrow Yokai. At this point the main factor of interest with these team ups is seeing what will happen with the Book of Friends. By the end Natori is definitely confident that the book is a bad thing and must be taken from Natsumi. Technically I get it because Natsumi is hardly the strongest guy around and is often in lethal danger. He has to be saved on the regular by Nyanko but one day he might be too late. Additionally Natsume’s family will also be in danger but regardless it isn’t likely that Natsume would ever forgive Natori. Natori definitely ends up being one of the most interesting characters as he has to balance this all together.

Natsume is okay but he’s not the most interesting character so you need others to bounce off of him. I still disagree with Natsumi not telling his folks about the book. Additionally Natsume can be too naive and training throughout the show. At least Nyanko always keeps his guard up but then at the same time his big mistake is that he gets drunk on the job and isn’t a very reliable bodyguard. He gets lucky quite often but doesn’t take his job nearly as seriously as he should.

In the 4th episode we have our first really emotional episode. Natsume and Kitamoto pass by an old bookstore where Kitamoto wants to find a book from the old days. He decides to keep visiting this place but is always pressured by the store owner to leave right away. Not a very good feeling for a customer but Kitamoto is not dissuaded. What he doesn’t know is that the girl is a Yokai and Natsume decides not to say anything. I think Natsume was definitely wrong in this one even though the girl said not to say anything. This was the absolute perfect time to finally break the truth to him about the world of supernatural things. So I can’t see this as anything but a massive L tbh. I enjoyed the banter the whole time though and the Yokai was nice. She did a good job of watching after the store.

After that we have a story about a dragon scale falling down onto Earth and Natsume decides to grab it for Chobihigue. It’s okay but this would be the weakest episode up to this point. I still don’t care much for the main Yokai that hang around Natsume. They are just really weak supporting characters all around. Their antics aren’t particularly funny and I don’t find them to be very interesting either. In general Natsume isn’t a funny show anyway, it’s meant to survive on the good stories and these Yokai yet don’t cut it. Even Chobihigue’s big twist doesn’t hit as hard as it should because we just don’t care about that guy.

Next up Matoba appears and I really liked the opening to the episode as we get a mini mystery on if he was punking Natsume about having a Yokai in the bird cage or if he was messing around. The actual story has a focus on Matoba and his team having to face off with a Yokai that is trying to get past the glass traps. I always like Matoba episodes since they focus on the big problems that Natsume is lucky enough to avoid. For the most part, Yokai are very dangerous and while this guy may look like an extremist next to Natsume, he feels like a realist at other points. He is a really good antagonist and one who has a lot of valid points. In a debate he will always beat Natsume but that’s more due to the latter’s inexperience than anything else. I definitely look forward to their inevitable clash over the Book of Friends someday.

Following that up is an episode about a Yokai skeptic. This episode would hit so much harder if Natsume ever actually told people about Yokai though. Since he doesn’t, you don’t have the usual tension here. Fortunately it was a nice Yokai anyway so the whole thing didn’t matter too much but I did like this guy. He seemed reasonable about it without being written to be over the top. I’d probably be skeptical about Yokai myself if I was in the show. I’d need a lot of good old fashioned proof and with the main Yokai guy being intentionally cagey…yeah I wouldn’t suspect a thing.

After that is a pretty interesting episode but it does rely on Nishimura being really slow on the uptake. A Yokai decides to transform into Natsume and visit the guy every night. He gives Nishimura a weird doll finger to hang onto and keeps on coming to check on it. This “Natsume” can barely talk and acts nothing like the real one. Nishimura has a lot of different excuses to himself on why Natsume is so different and so he never actually suspects anything but you feel like he totally should. The whole thing has a happy ending and all plus I enjoyed seeing Nishimura get a bigger role. He may not be the smartest guy around but he’s a good friend.

Then we get our big two part adventure of the season. Natori and Matoba are around as they have to ensure a ceremony goes as planned. If it’s interrupted for any reason then there will be big trouble. So they all have their ways of helping. Natsume wants the pacifist approach, Matoba wants to destroy them all and Natori wants to destroy the bad ones but does try talking a good game about not being too extreme. The episode further shows the gap between the two exorcists as Matoba is clearly a lot stronger and more capable. We already knew this but it’s always fun to have a reminder. Natsume as usual holds them back a bit as he is easily taken out. We do have a good amount of danger here and the ensemble cast really helps to make the episode feel grand. Every season should have a solid two part adventure like this one.

In the second last episode, we get the big emotional episode that should have been the last one. We see how Reiko got her first ever Yokai name and then how she even made a good friend. Unfortunately a big misunderstanding causes them to drift apart which was unfortunate. It’s probably one of the saddest episodes of the series and definitely the saddest one of the season. Reiko may have great powers but she sure went through a whole lot while she was growing up. Not having any friends is already rough in itself and then things never go well when she has the opportunity to make some. The other girl was also sick all the time but really tried hard in order to get better at the various games in order to play against Reiko. It’s easy to get sad about it just remembering the episode.

The final episode goes for a fairly emotional vibe. Natsume helps a origami out so that creature shows him a lot of nice memories. Natsume and the creature bond quickly and it’s a reminder that some Yokai just want a friend and are totally harmless. We get a lot of little cameos and then the season is over. It’s not really a grand finale or anything like that but it does a good job of showing the average tone of the season. So I understand it in terms of being fitting to end the season like that but I would have chosen one of the other episodes to end off on.

The animation is fairly decent as you would expect. Nothing particularly noteworthy but standard is enough for a slice of life title like this. Great animation could possibly help this one jump to the next level but at the same time I understand why you wouldn’t throw a crazy amount of budget at this one. The series doesn’t require a ton of animation and it’s fairly dialogue heavy. So as long as the animation isn’t bad, then the series doesn’t get held back or anything like that.

Likewise the soundtrack isn’t bad. It’s very low key and definitely not the most exciting but it works well enough for what it’s trying to do. I would like the technical aspects to show up one day and really support the writing though. Natsume may be very laidback but you can absolutely still find a way to make the show a little more exciting. This way you’ll attract even more fans and get that higher replay value.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friends has a very familiar vibe to it. It’s the kind of show that has remained consistent for its whole run. You always know that you can count on good stories here and that is important. I can easily recommend this to anyone because it’s really inoffensive. You learn a lot of general life lessons about being a good person as well. The characters are all very polite generally and there aren’t too many evil antagonists. So again, feel free to check this one out as a calming experience and you can basically jump in without any context. The series doesn’t seem to be in any rush to actually wrap up the plot so they can keep these stories going for a very long time.

Overall 6/10

Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Review

Posted on February 2, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for an anthology that definitely goes by really quickly. There are only 5 episodes after all and they tend to be pretty short. Still, it’s a pretty nice way to get to see the characters a bit more. The idea for each of the episodes is to get to know a different character a bit more. The animation is solid and this definitely got a reasonable budget. It’s a fun tag along to the game although on its own I’m guessing it won’t be turning a whole lot of heads.

The first episode starts off with a bang as we see into Noctis’ childhood and his run in with a powerful monster. After that we have him and the team fighting with some of the enemy empire’s soldiers. It was a good idea to start and end the series with some solid action scenes. Like I said before, most of the story is really about character development but action really helps for the whole thing to feel real. We also will get to see later on in the final special how the King uses his powers compared to how Noctis uses them. I can’t say he was super impressive but I know the guy is old and all. It just means that the kingdom was always going to be doomed. Either way this was a pretty intense opener and the animation got to show off a bit here. I also like how Noctis avoids eating any vegetables in his burger, that’s how I do it too.

The second episode is about Noctis’ friend Prompto. He used to be really timid and overweight but the guy always had a kind heart. He would look after animals and he did so in the present as well which triggers the flashback. Well, he wants to be Noctis’ friend but is a little ashamed at just how big he is. So he begins to work on losing weight. He runs every day and continues his exercises even in really tough conditions. It really speaks to just how dedicated he is and it’s really nice to see. I’d say it shows how he secretly tries hard even when he always gives off the impression of being a comedic slacker. I appreciate the depth although I would like him to act a bit more serious and driven like that in the present too. No reason he has to always keep this a secret right?

In the third episode we see how Gladiolus was training Noctis but the main character was always being a total slacker. Gladiolus didn’t really have much respect for the guy but kept on with his duty. One day his little sister visits the kingdom and gets lost but Noctis protects her and gets the two of them back home. It at least showed that Noctis would rise to the occasion as needed even if he could stand to train a bit more seriously. It was another fun episode although I do have to suspend some disbelief on Noctis and the little sister escaping the castle so easily. I know it was a secret passage of sorts that leads outside but nobody noticed the hole earlier or had guards around that area? I’d also expect there to be some kind of magical surveillance system because this seems like a security nightmare no matter how you slice it! Luckily things had a good ending for the heroes.

After that we wrap up the character intros with showing us what a tough time Ignis had in getting Noctis ready for the real world. Noctis would not study much at all for the exams and also couldn’t cook for himself. We get to see the real spoiled version of Noctis here. With everyone else he tends to put on the facade that he has his life all together but here we see all the cracks. In a way you can say that Ignis gets to see a side of Noctis that he hides from everyone else so in a way that is pretty big props for Ignis. At the same time it just makes Noctis look really bad. By the end Noctis tries his best to make a meal. While he ends up failing quite badly, I will give him some slight credit for the attempt. I’m glad that he is a lot more mature in the game though.

Finally we go full circle as Noctis meets up with the demon and gets to avenge his family. The demon honestly puts up a super good fight considering this is Noctis with his summoned weapons and the rest of the party. I would expect Noctis to be a bit stronger but this is a fairly early version of the character. Also maybe I am underestimating the monster a bit. Regardless it is a pretty solid action scene all around. A bit of a bloody one as well I could mention. I was a little surprised even at just how intense it got. I suppose with limited time for action, the animators really wanted to go all out here.

It’s a climactic end to the saga and so it made sense to end that way. I enjoyed both the action and slice of life moments here. These episodes could have easily fit into the main game as bonus cutscenes or side quests so they did a good job of making these intro episodes feel real. I’d definitely like to see more Final Fantasy titles get the full media treatment like this one did. A movie, show, and the main game is really a whole lot of content. Any title that isn’t VII or XIII would have to be quite jealous.

Overall, There’s not a ton to discuss here due to the show’s short runtime. All in all it was a fun experience. Short titles like this are a fun way to see your favorite characters for just a little while longer and so there’s no real downside to it. While it won’t have the same punch to people unfamiliar with Final Fantasy, you can probably still appreciate the fun vibes. Some of the stories like Prompto wanting to lose weight so he won’t bring his friend down can be applicable to any story so it makes for an easy watch. Likewise for taking down a monster to avenge your family.

Overall 6/10

Kimi No Todoke: From Me to You Season 3 Review

Posted on November 3, 2024 by dreager1

The wholesome anime has returned for a third season! The episode count is super low but given that most of the episodes have extended runtimes I would say it evens out. There’s definitely a lot of drama going on here and for once we can actually start to blame the main guy here. He’s just losing way too much confidence and isn’t turning up the way he should be. It’s a pretty fun third season all in all though and hopefully they announce the next season soon to start wrapping up the story.

The season roughly goes for the structure of focusing on the two leads, giving an episode to Ayane, an episode for Chizu, and then wrapping up with the main duo. All of the characters are always around of course but the focus shifts. This season mainly has the big field trip and then the next Christmas party as the next two big trips. Each of the relationships are going further but that comes with a lot of extra complications and hurt feelings on all ends. There is less time for the wholesome day to day life as this season definitely goes for a more somber vibe. Rather than go by episode I’ll mainly go through each pairing and how the season went for them. I’ll end off with the main duo.

Also let me start by saying that Pin is a superb main character as always. This guy always has the right advice and knows how to give the characters a pep talk right when they need it. Without him they would really be spinning their wheels and not doing much of anything. He’s the guy you want in your corner for exactly this reason and it’s nice that we have a series where the adult character isn’t oblivious or complete comic relief. Pin is a comedy character a lot but when you actually listen to what he is saying, it all tends to be rather profound stuff.

Okay so first lets go with Ryu and Chizu since generally I do think this is the weakest romance out of the 3. This season finally covers the big moment of Ryu confessing and Chizu not really being sure how to handle it. After all, she’s always liked his brother so switching now could be like a rebound? Also she just sees him as a friend and this could end that. I appreciate Ryu being self aware enough to say that he is intending to end their friendship since they can’t progress otherwise. He is betting it all on this after all. So Chizu is under a lot of pressure to readjust how she views Ryu and see if it works.

Obviously this isn’t the final season so things are still in motion but a lot does happen here. At the end of the day, neither one of them are great about being open with their feelings. Ryu does have more of the initiative though in terms of him actually confessing and not backing down from it. He doesn’t play it off as a joke or anything and stays focused. So I respect that part. I have no problems with Ryu as a character. He’s solid enough, the romance itself it a bit harder to buy into though.

Mainly for Chizu’s side here. It’s very similar to a manga I recently reviewed called Lovely Complex. Chizu doesn’t really see Ryu as a romantic interest to the point where she laughs initially. It’s super hard for me to picture her changing her mind suddenly. It always comes across more like she is picking Ryu because the first option didn’t work out and also because he is so desperate. So it’s more out of convenience and being able to keep her friend. Not the worst reasons for starting a romance but yeah I’m definitely considerably less invested in this one compared to the others.

Then we have Ayane and Kento’s plot. So Ayane has been with a lot of guys before but it was more out of a sense of tradition and just hoping maybe she will find the right guy. She’s never actually been in love before so in a way she doesn’t know what it’s even supposed to feel like. That’s why she wanted to really just keep on trying but the guys she picks are always not that good. So now Kento has made his move but she can’t tell if he’s serious or not. Can she even afford to take another risk on a relationship?

Now this is a plot that’s a lot more interesting. For starters, the idea of not knowing what love is even like is definitely depressing but realistic. There are so many films and stories where it feels like the characters just start dating on a whim because it feels right but you can’t tell if they actually love each other. Now here is an instance where that is actually the case and Ayane has been doing this for a long time apparently. It’s definitely an interesting plot and you can also see why she doesn’t know if she can trust Kento.

He’s a super nice guy who is nice to everyone but as a result you can’t really tell if that’s just a mask or not. Maybe he’s just super nice to everybody or she is being played again. In a sense that is what dating is for, to find out about the other person but it’s also pointless if you don’t see a future ahead right away. So we have some real dilemmas here. Meanwhile for Kento, it’s similar. He’s always been a nice guy and genuinely so, so it’s not something that’s easy to turn off. Also there’s nothing wrong with being nice, he just needs to get Ayane to see that he’s being genuine.

Kento is a character who is easy to root for so it also makes for a fun plot in that sense. As the omnipresent audience, we know that both characters are good but of course the view from the ground is way different. Ayane is always defending her friends and keeping them happy so of course you hope that she gets a happy ending too. That just doesn’t have to necessarily include dating.

Finally we have the main pairing. Sawako and Kazehaya have been doing really well so far. Sawako has gained her confidence and Kazehaya is always a good guy. Well, that finally changes here as he gets super scared after almost kissing Sawako. So for most of the season he is avoiding her to an extent and just being really cold. Is he tired or the relationship or something? Sawako has to face all of her fears once again and this is definitely the most forced part of the whole season. Their romance as a whole is still solid but if we just looked at this season in a vacuum then I would say it definitely didn’t go over so well. Kazehaya looks pretty terrible once the plot starts.

He actively pushes her away when she tries to find out what’s going on with him. He never actually explains himself and just continues to put in that distance over and over again. I think the worst part about this is how unnecessary it is. He should have just clearly told her what happened and his worries. The fact that he feels like he can’t confide in her like this is really bad. It should be second nature by now and instead he nearly gets them broken up. The fact that he didn’t think about this at all is definitely a bad look. So Kazehaya purely from season 3 is not a particularly good character.

He makes the wrong decisions over and over again. Meanwhile Sawako looks good as she continues to persist over and over in order to get to the truth. She is really putting in all of the effort in this relationship. Without her then they would definitely be in big trouble. A different main character would have probably gotten all upset and just created more drama. Kazehaya should feel bad about almost kissing her there since it’s not super responsible for being on a trip but shutting himself off like that is crazy.

The Christmas episodes still have their happy moments but they definitely get hampered down a bit by this main plot. It’s also a shame because in life there are no do-overs. They may have made up later on but that’s one party they can’t really take back. At least they didn’t do anything crazy like mess up the gift exchange the way that Chizu did. The whole point of a secret gift exchange is that you don’t know who is getting each present so causing a scene over that is definitely no a good move. It’s the one time you almost feel bad for Joe but he caused so much chaos that I couldn’t help but smirk a little bit.

In terms of the technical elements, the theme song is fairly weak. It’s definitely not one of the catchier tunes. The soundtrack is largely unchanged so it’s not bad. A little quiet without any big time hits but it works well enough for the series. As for the animation, the show looks smooth. I wouldn’t call it particularly high budget but it’s not really going for that angle anyway. As long as the animation is clear then that’s about all that you need for a show like this. There is less time for comedy of course but the show still has some fun jokes here and there. Ultimately it’s hard to avoid for any romance series though. Inevitably the themes will get more serious and there will be less time for the happy days. This one has a good balance though.

At the end of the day one of the strengths of the series is that the characters are all fairly mature. You don’t have the usual misunderstandings and panicking that you might see in another series. Kazehaya is the most immature here but otherwise the dilemmas that the characters are facing are things you will probably see in real life. It makes the stakes feel a lot more personal and really let you jump into what’s going on here. I would probably have liked there to have been time for more fun but that’s pretty hard to do during the dramatic period. So with things being good with Kazehaya again, I look forward to more general fun in the next season. I’m also glad that Sawako’s father started to mellow out a little more here. In general he was a solid character and I’m also glad that he got to spend some holiday time with his daughter. I would have felt bad if he was totally pushed to the side.

Overall, Kimi continues to go strong as a good title. The season really flies by with the limited episode count. I know with the run time is more or less evens out but there is still something nice to say about a season having over 10 episodes you know? While the gap between seasons 2 and 3 wasn’t too bad for me since I started the series late, I hope season 4 doesn’t take nearly as long. I’m ready to see all of the climaxes happen in the anime version and how it all turns out. In the meantime you should check this one out regardless. Wait or not, you don’t want to miss out on the Christmas hype!

Overall 6/10

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