Jeoffrey

Compared to the second season, Minami-ke: Okaeri definitely brought some improvements, and a few episodes, especially in the first half, came close to the quality of the first season. The animation and music are solid, making it an overall pleasant watch. The team behind this third season did a commendable job. The familiar themes are back—focusing on the sisters’ relationships, along with the return of characters like Mako-chan, Fujioka still trying his best, and Hosaka finally being as wonderfully weird and cool as ever. However, I can’t help but feel like it’s time for something to really shift—some big confessions or developments would be great. Maybe in the next season? Though, honestly, I’m not holding my breath. For now, this season lands at a 7/10 for me.

Bye Bye, Earth really sparked my imagination! It’s set in a world like nothing I’ve ever seen, with rules that are both fascinating and bizarre. I found myself needing to focus and use a lot of my own imagination to make sense of the story, and I can totally see why it might lose some viewers or leave them confused. Not everyone is going to pick up on the references hidden in the names of the swords or characters, or be able to connect with the idea that music is a driving force in this world—where battles are essentially musical performances with conductors, soloists, and librettos. The inhabitants of this world are unique, far from your typical elves or dwarves, and even the more familiar fantasy races like mermaids are portrayed in completely unexpected ways. Each episode required my full attention as I tried to grasp everything or at least envision how it all fits together. While I didn’t always succeed, I still found the whole experience intriguing—fresh, different, and oddly captivating. It’s possible that this series will turn out to be a wild jumble of random ideas thrown together because they seemed cool, but for me, it felt more deliberate. The subtle hints and references suggest that there’s a deeper plan, with some pieces already starting to click into place. One thing that hooked me from the first episode was the music. Kevin Penkin delivered again—his work stood out especially in the early episodes, though it did mellow a bit later on. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the soundtrack, including both the opening and ending themes. This show kept me engaged, raised questions that I want answers to, and set up mysteries that I’ll be eager to see resolved in 2025. Overall, the first season gets a solid 7/10 from me.

It's a fun and silly show. Some of its aspects worked out great, others didn’t. It's a weird mishmash of all kinds of things, and there are certain rules that the series often fails to follow or simply forgets. The society is portrayed as a matriarchy, with women supposedly holding the main power, but besides initial conflicts with the stepmother and occasional heroic tea parties, I never got the impression that the position of women was even remotely dominant, quite the other way round. So, it's a pointless premise that is not fully utilized and hardly works at all. The handling of social status and nobility is also quite odd. Another thing that drove me nuts about the series was the constant repetition of "I'm just a mob character..." especially when the main protagonist doesn't act accordingly and then wonders why everything gets so complicated. It's satisfying to see Luxion give him a hard time in the final episode. However, the rewards given to the main character don't feel satisfying. It’s as if someone is throwing them at him against his will. I know it’s the creative intention and it's supposed to be funny, but it works maybe the first time, and then it becomes irritating (just like the hero saying that he's just a mob character again...). And now for the positives. The best thing about the series is the main protagonist, who is rotten and sarcastic, but ultimately still a good guy. He's one of those who understand that before you hit someone, you need to defeat them verbally. I really grew fond of Leon, and I enjoyed almost every interaction he had with everyone else: He had the best chemistry with Luxion, so it’s obvious who the ideal waifu for the main character is! The other characters are also well-portrayed. There are plenty of reasons not to like the prince and his entourage and to root for the hero instead, however, even they gradually reveal some good qualities that made me appreciate them, too. Similarly, the main female characters are sometimes strong, and sometimes tragic, but always relatable and likable. The story is a confusing journey of an involuntary hero, which, thanks to his knowledge of the game, isn't too dramatic or thrilling. It’s fun to watch the hero outsmart everyone, though. It didn't get boring for me even after twelve episodes. 6.4/10.

While this isn't the most exciting series, there's quite a bit to say about it. Let's start with the production values. The animation is far from spectacular, with a lot of the monsters being CGI, and it doesn't look great. It's not the worst I've seen this season, but the stiff, unnatural movement stands out in some scenes. The effects, especially explosions and flames, are downright bad. I get that they're working with large battles and armies on what is probably a limited budget, but understanding that doesn't make it any better. It still takes away from the epic feel they're going for. On the plus side, Kohta Yamamoto did a decent job with the music. The soundtrack fit the scenes well, sometimes even salvaging moments where the animation fell short. It's a solid fantasy score, but then there's the rock opening, which is easily the dullest I've heard this year, and a lifeless ending track. Sure, I can skip them, but it’s a shame when the background music is solid, and the theme songs are such a miss. As for the characters, visually, only one caught my eye—and that’s just because I’ve had a soft spot for girls with pointy hats since Black Magician Girl. Personality-wise, though, none of them grabbed me. The main character was bland, and the girls around him, including the small/big demon lord, were forgettable. The comic relief from Jiron mostly fell flat. The knight Alistair had some potential but was quickly sidelined, and General E Rudole was interesting for a couple of episodes, though it looks like the story might keep him around. The plot itself was a bit of a rollercoaster. There were moments that mildly piqued my interest, especially when the author dabbled in strategy, but more often, it was a mix of tired clichés and dull stretches. In the end, I’d call this a slightly below-average anime. I’m not sure if I care enough to see where it goes next—probably a 4.4/10 for me.

Yes, Your Majesty. Alright, I’ll admit, this latest Code Geass continuation worked for me in the end. Like I mentioned with Lelouch of the Resurrection, I just don’t get why anyone felt the need to follow up on what was already such a perfectly wrapped-up story. The original finale was one of the best anime endings I’ve seen, and with all these sequels, it feels like its impact is being watered down. Especially here, where we find ourselves back in almost the exact same situation as the beginning. Neo Britannia is behaving just like the old Britannia, and it’s painfully similar to the original series. The only takeaway from the opening was the reminder that humanity seems to love repeating its mistakes—plenty of real-world examples of that. Once again, we’re fighting oppression, the main character unknowingly holds a crucial role, and there are tons of twists and reveals—some excellent, some a bit questionable. That "Palpatine-esque" reveal of the main villain's identity? Yeah, I could’ve done without that, even if it wasn’t as ridiculous as it was in Star Wars. But, looking at the story as a whole, I was pretty entertained throughout. It kept me hooked, threw in some surprises, and overall delivered on the narrative front. So, credit to the writers where it's due. With only twelve episodes, though, the show didn’t have much room for deep character development. It was just enough for the main players, while the supporting cast mostly echoed characters from the original series, making it feel like we didn’t need much more from them. I did enjoy the cameos from key figures in the Code Geass universe, including those from the Akito films—it was nice to catch up with them. Animation and music? On point, as expected. Given that this was also meant for the big screen (hence the movie version), Sunrise really delivered on those 2D mecha (Knightmare Frame, of course) battles. That vibrant, smooth action sequence in the final episode was a real visual treat. The ending hit harder than I expected, though I kept thinking it would've been more impactful if there had been more episodes to flesh out the relationship between Sakuya and Ash. Still, it was a solid and emotional conclusion, even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Lelouch’s saga. All in all, while this isn’t the legendary Code Geass of old, it held its ground. A decent 7.2/10 from me.

An intriguing short film that doesn’t rely on dialogue at all, featuring only a single song, yet it still manages to convey a message. At first, I found myself just watching the repetitive scenes, unsure of their purpose (I’m still not sure what the deal was with all the smiling face emojis), but as the film gradually built up to its finale, it started to click. That slow build-up really makes the ending hit harder, especially as it ties together some of the film's themes around the title and the floral imagery. Visually, the animation style was quite charming, and the one chosen song fit perfectly. I might not have fully grasped all the symbolism, but even so - 7/10.

From an animation perspective, The Imaginary is definitely an interesting and well-crafted piece of work. The soundtrack is also solid, and the film is full of imagination and clever ideas. Still, I couldn’t fully connect with its charm. There were moments where I found myself making cynical comments and noticing where the creators had drawn inspiration. The fantasy world was captivating with some well-thought-out rules, but I struggled to believe in how it connected with the "real" world—it didn’t quite mesh for me. The characters didn’t grab me either. The main protagonist didn’t win me over enough to root for him, and I found side characters like the cat, the dog, and even Emily far more engaging. The villains were well done—they were intimidating and commanded respect—but I couldn’t help seeing clear influences from Miyazaki and even elements of a Dementor. One of the villains' partners felt like an anime twist on Sadako from The Ring. Still, it worked, and I can’t complain too much. In the end, The Imaginary is a charming film full of great ideas and a touch of life lessons, wrapped in a vibrant, colorful package. But maybe I’ve grown too old and lost touch with my own sense of wonder, and my imaginary friend has long since disappeared. That might be why it only resonated with me at around 68%.

I finally made it through the second season, but it just didn’t hit the same. The biggest change is the shift in animation studios — from Daume to asread. — and you can definitely tell. The animation style is different — not necessarily better or worse, just more colorful and maybe a bit more detailed, but overall, it just feels different. I still can't decide if I like it more or less compared to the first season. Asread. initially tried to keep some of the quirky animation techniques from the original, like the odd cuts and camera angles, but they didn’t really pull it off, so they gradually dropped those attempts. The humor didn’t land as well for me this time either. While the show tried, I found myself laughing a lot less — sometimes only once per episode, and occasionally not at all. The quality of the episodes varied, with the best ones coming towards the end, especially the resolution of the Fuyuki storyline, and the final episode itself was pretty solid. The main characters remained mostly the same, but some of the side characters felt pushed to the background, and I was particularly disappointed with how Hosaka’s character was handled. The music, however, was a highlight once again. Both the opening and closing themes were great, and the background music was well-chosen and enjoyable — it really stood out. But even the good soundtrack couldn’t save my overall impression of the season, and I ended up dropping my rating from a solid 4 stars to a strong 3. Despite that, I’m still planning to dive into the next season — hopefully, it won’t take me another month to get through it. 6.2/10.

Terminator Zero isn’t a total disaster—it doesn't disgrace the Terminator universe, but it didn’t blow me away either. The action scenes were solid, and there’s plenty of blood to go around. However, there’s also a lot of philosophical pondering about whether humanity deserves to be saved — some of it works, but other times it feels empty and clichéd within the sci-fi genre. The characters were hit or miss for me; some were likable, but others, like Kenta, were downright annoying most of the time. Even Malcolm, who decides to fight fire with fire, wouldn't have convinced me if I were in Kokoro’s shoes. The story was decent enough, with a clear beginning and end, though a lot of the twists were pretty easy to predict. (Potential SPOILERS) For example, the identity of Misaki becomes obvious after a certain scene in a store, and you can figure out Eiko’s true nature just by seeing her friend reappear after some time. (END OF SPOILER). The creators leave such blatant clues that the big reveals don’t really surprise you. The ending was fine—it leaves room for a sequel but also ties up most loose ends, so it works either way. The animation was decent, though they did rely on CGI a bit (thankfully, not Skynet or any other AI). The one thing that bothered me was the weird purple or light green outlines around some characters, but otherwise, the scenes were well-detailed and the movements looked good when things got intense. The music did its job and fit the tone well. Overall, it’s an okay watch — nothing groundbreaking, but also nothing offensive. If they decide to continue the story, I wouldn’t mind checking it out. 6/10.

So, I just finished watching Dragon Raja, and honestly, I'm not entirely sure I grasped everything. What exactly is Dragon Raja? Imagine Hogwarts, but in a world that coexists with our own. Here, students learn to fight dragons using both magic and advanced technology. So, is it fantasy or sci-fi? It leans more towards fantasy, but seeing a bizarre training battle that looks like something out of CoD in the backdrop of a majestic castle is kind of weird. We have a protagonist who's more of an average loser who suddenly discovers he's the chosen one. Apparently, a strange powerful creature, supposedly his brother (damn you, Naruto), resides within him. This creature seems to be playing the role of Mephistopheles out of boredom (damn you, Faust). There's a ton of dragon lore thrown at us in a pretty disorganized fashion. I also got lost in the system of "dragon voice" magic (damn you, Skyrim) and its mix with modern tech. The only clear thing is that Lu Mingfei wants to be the red-haired sexy girl's lackey — I've met many guys who'd want to be just that (damn you, simps). The whole show is a mess, but at least the animation was decent, and the music was okay. Even though the themes and plot were all over the place, nothing really annoyed me, probably because I had to focus so hard on understanding what was happening. The moments when the show tried to be funny but failed didn't help much either… 3.5/10.