I had the idea for these posts at the start of 2020, and now I am finally sharing my 2019 list midway into 2021. Keep in mind that the majority of these excerpts are those which I had written in 2019, so they don’t necessarily reflect my current scores or comments for each subject. Anyway:
Ako steals the show and runs away with it: the Animation.
Surprisingly awesome. It was unexpected to see the supernatural elements in Yume’s power, and the mystical nature of the Aikatsu System. I loved the little moments of offbeat humour. Such as Yume patting the bed next to where her, Ako and Mahiru are lined up, and then after a moment’s stare Laura just sits on the chair opposite them. Or when Yume runs off energetically and it seems like the others are going to chase after her, but then they give up because it turns out that she’s just a really fast runner and is already halfway down the path.
Aikatsu Stars more like Greatkatsu Greats.
What a finale. The throwback to season one in Yume’s pre-stage speech was greatly appreciated. She performs the same animation as she used to when activating her powers, but this time instead of the rainbow appearing in her eyes it emanates out of her body. She really had to fight for it but Yume ends up being an incredible character.
During my time with the show I did mention how the show and I seemed to be on different pages at nearly every turn, but only saying that on its own may risk the wrong impression. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just that most times I thought I knew where the story was headed it went somewhere else. I’ll still maintain that the actual act of gaining the Sun Dress was anticlimactic, but beyond that I’m quite happy with how Elza’s finale was handled. I had the story of her losing to Laura mapped out more clearly in my head, but I ultimately think that would have been a disservice to both her and Yume. Elza instead remains the goddess at the summit of Aikatsu, the insurmountable wall that Yume topples. It raises up Yume rather than bringing Elza down.
Another thing I had pointed out was the show building up this complex subplot about Elza’s frustrations towards the Sun Dress, and how I was disappointed that this subplot went absolutely nowhere. But that’s kinda fine since it instead went on to channel this complexity into Elza’s all-consuming obsession with it. Considering how (understandably) inoffensive the show had been the entire time it was a welcome surprise to see it temporarily develop fangs while Venus Ark were having their internal feuds. Elza’s cold rejection of her students as “the lonely sun” resulted in an amount of questionable character morality, harsh dialogue and desperate interactions that I never expected to come out of Aikatsu. And then once it was all over it was surprisingly sweet to see Elza descending from on high to perform alongside the other Venus Ark students as a regular idol.
Despite lamenting about how Ako didn’t get the Star Wings, that was just more of a ‘well dang it’ reaction since I like seeing her in the spotlight. In truth I think that benefits her character, and perfectly exemplifies what makes her so great in the second season. Ako holds down the home front while the others are all off messing with Venus Ark and the Aikatsu Rankings. It’s a very cozy position that provides more opportunities for the haughty Ako to display her caring side. Moving into a supportive (not supporting) role doesn’t diminish her impact at all either, since the second half also sees her developing perhaps the best chemistry in the show through her relationships with Kirara and Kanata.
However those last three episodes definitely reconfirmed to me that Haruka deserved better. She truly seems like she was supposed to be a main character but was…accidentally left behind by the story, when the writers jokingly gave her Yuzu’s international scholarship. I still think that the roadmap I originally imagined of Yuzu giving up the S4 position to form a unit with Lily after she lost the election, thereby putting Haruka into the main lineup would have been a better direction to take it. Although I suppose that does somewhat happen in the end anyway. It is a shame we never got to see the insanity that’d result from Haruka and Kirara interacting. I guess if nothing else it was nice to finally see her in an S4 uniform during the end credits.
Anyway since I enjoy these kinds of OST discussions, to close it out these were my top 10 songs:
- Forever Dream
- The Only Sunlight
- MAKEOVER♡MAKEUP
- The Wasteland’s Miracle
- Message of a Rainbow
- Music of Dream (Yume ver.)
- Episode Solo
- Hadashi no Renaissance
- TSU BO MI – Azayaka no Mirai e
- START LINE
Ako is the best.
Story-wise pretty much a 10th anniversary pseudo-remake of Onegai Teacher, though in actuality it’s a distant sequel. The last two episodes were total tearjerkers, and man it was beautiful to see the lake they were searching for end up being the place where Mizuho and Kei first met in Onegai Teacher. I guess I liked this and that more than I thought I did.
More Onegai Teacher stuff happens.
Kind of a source reader for this? Super cute and surprisingly compelling romance, with great art and animation.
Would probably mean more to me if I had any clue who this extended cast were, but S2 is made with the assumption the viewers are already playing the gacha and therefore never introduces them. Even so, Hello Happy World’s off-the-rails episode was amazing.
Amazing character designs as I’ve come to expect from 3hz originals.
Very nice.
Dokuro is very cute actually, despite how grotesque and offputting her violent tendencies are. The ensemble had some nice chemistry so it made me interested in the source material, since a short OVA wasn’t enough for me. But unfortunately it’s a light novel not a manga.
Like the first one but with a very nice graphical upgrade
The drawings and animation were all exceptionally good. Plot and premise were unique and well-realised. But perhaps most importantly that jazz soundtrack was killer. All in all a pleasant surprise for how solid it was. Even though I saw it coming and totally understand why it happened, I’d be lying it I said I’m not a little sad he didn’t end up with his mermaid wife.
Was planning to watch it way later, but it has Caren so I decided to tackle it soon after Hollow Ataraxia. Fate seriously just exists for the amazing slice of life spinoffs. What a riot! I had so many laughs from this. It’s full of great situations and inside jokes.
More prominently features based best girl Caren.
I love how Fate itself totally adopts the ‘Lancer dies a lot meme’ a la Leomon
The aesthetic of Metropolis with the imagery of Weathering With You and, surprisingly, a hefty helping of Ideon. I went in not having any clue what the film would be about, but having the climax be an Ideon-esque Instrumentality through time, space and consciousness where the male lead triggers Third Impact (by uniting the meteor with the human Ruka no less, which evokes similarities to the Seed of Life Impacts), briefly becomes the Anti Spiral (literally has the same naked, pitch black + scratchy white outline design) and then causes the Spiral Nemesis by turning his body into energy that births galaxies, was certainly at the very bottom on the list of things I would have predicted.
Maximum 80s weirdness. The first 20 minutes is just a bunch of hilarious music videos cut to western pop music trying and failing to be deep, and the second half is a narrated real life documentary about the production of the Cipher OVA. I’d be lying it it wasn’t funny and enjoyable though, especially with its terrible dub.
“Code Geass Re;surrection was a mistake.” – Hideaki Anno (1992) probably
Boring and pointless, it infringes upon the brilliance of the previously finished saga while ultimately offering nothing of value itself. If nothing else I was excited at the prospect of movie-budget Sunrise mech fights with the sleek Knightmare frames, but it didn’t even deliver on that front. I walked into the theatre expecting this to be a meandering cashgrab which never even pretends to justify its existence, and by golly I left feeling that it was a meandering cashgrab which never even pretends to justify its existence.
Interesting to watch since the mech designs seem like this was part of the eventual lead into Tekkaman Blade. Dangaioh itself looks a lot like Orgun and Blade, and the first mech it fights looks a lot like Tekkaman Evil. Like this: Dangaioh (1987) > Detonator Orgun (1991) > Tekkaman Blade (1992)
Easiest 10/10 of my life. I walked out of the cinema considering action anime a solved equation. Art, animation, choreography – all damn unmatched in the entire medium. This is Dragon Ball at the best it’s ever been and it truly shows why this franchise is untouchable in the action genre. It’s just so crazily unrestricted and fundamentally free-form because the power set is designed to encompass literally anything that one could imagine. I was speechless the entire time. This pushes the limit for what I thought animation could be. It’s still hard to forgive Toei for what they let Hugtto turn into, but if this production was the result of them accidentally spilling the Precure money pile into DBS then at the very least I can say that it was worth it.
Very fun. One of those zany comedies that doesn’t take itself very seriously. Lots of fun stylistic similarities to things like Dragon Quest, FF or Breath of Fire.
Fantastic adaptation of a fantastic source. For some reason they went above and beyond with the backgrounds, directing and soundscape, to the point it was often even reminiscent of something like Texhnolyze or Haibane Renmei.
Very good but I can’t find any proper notes anywhere to say more than that.
I’m really surprised this has a reputation as a lesser Fate. Though I suppose I have always found the Fate fandom a rather baffling bunch of people. Apocrypha was super entertaining! Everyone is overpowered as heck in this show and it makes for awe-inspiring animation spectacles.
So good it even manages to make me glad that Unlimited Blade Works exists. Brilliantly plays off the established UBW character dynamics to create an outstanding experience on the highest rung of slice-of-life. God-tier art and colour composition, bite-sized length that doesn’t overstay its welcome, organic characterisation and chemistry. For every step back that UBW makes, Emiya’s Kitchen takes two forward.
So Ufotable’s Fate can be good.
I must say that Heaven’s Feel is infinitely more bearable than UBW or Zero due to the sole fact they aren’t awkwardly steering the dialogue towards ‘muh ideals’ every second sentence. That continues to be true here. There was one scene where it felt a tad too blatant in comparing Shiro’s upcoming choice of ‘kill the few to save the many’ to Kiritsugu (we as a viewer pick up on the implicated nuance through Zouken’s dialogue, but then Zouken throws out the subtlety and beats you over the head with ‘yes just like Kiritsugu Emiya’s choice’ anyway). However I’d be willing to say that is balanced out via the beautifully understated shot of Archer walking amidst the purple flames and ruined Einzbern estate, as a visual homage to Shiro in the Fuyuki Incident. That resonated with me far more than I would have expected considering how much I loathe UBW, Zero, Shiro and Archer. And for as much as I rag on Ufotable’s Fate entries using overly-intrusive vfx to hide unimpressive choreography, this movie’s Berserker vs Saber Alter was actually a really nice fight.
The Sakura ship is much more compelling than Rin imo, and I’m super on board with it. Nothing in Fate captivates me so much as just the mundane everyday lives of Sakura and Shiro together in pseudo-newlywed cohabitation. Though for as much chatter I heard surrounding it, the film didn’t actually have a whole lot of sexual content. It is one of the rare scenarios where Nasu’s dumb eroge magic transfer nonsense had any meaning beyond cheap fetishism, and I think they could have taken that further in terms of the character insecurities it was highlighting: their fragile intimacy, unstable balance between trust and dependency, and overall just an urge to claim ownership between the two of them. That really forms the undercurrent of their entire romantic and moral friction, and despite that being the film’s most vocal discourse going into it that really only become relevant in a rare few scenes. I’m not simply asking it to go overboard into pornography, but this sexual storytelling was an unexpected example of actual character nuance for this traditionally tone-deaf era of the franchise.
Ultimately, Heaven’s Feel once again reiterates to me that I think I do consider myself someone who likes Fate, it’s just the main duology of UBW and Zero in particular that I hold in such disdain. I’m so emotionally invested in Sakura, dang.
Prototype Gilgamesh was really cool!
Surprisingly easy to watch when I was struggling to keep up with other seasonals. Gripen’s reactions made her a really enjoyable deuteragonist, and the soundtrack was actually so killer. Awake From the Deep is immediately a top 10 insert tracks contender.
This Ghidorah was so cool with all his reality-bending hullaballoo.
I’ll never understand how such a beloved property got so mediocre an adaptation. Everything except the voice casting was subpar.
Very fun and great soundtrack.
Little comedy bites about some side-story stuff that happened during gaps in the anime. The funniest was main antagonist Kaizan Doushi secretly flirting with Setsuna while the hero gang were distracted with their speech.
Zany, pervy Gainax fun.
The source material is good so the story and characters remain entertaining. The visual style is quite appealing, but the animation and art are a bit of a mess.
The different art style was not the big point of contention that I was expecting. Though as with most adaptations of this fluff SoL genre, the manga’s comedic timing and punchlines somewhat get lost in the adaptation process.
Surprisingly strong romantic chemistry between Subaru and Minato! Given how these types of anime usually go I wasn’t expecting them to commit so straightforwardly to the ship. I’d say it’s a 6/10 show with an 8/10 romance.
Really good adaptation of a really good manga. They captured Hibari’s ‘dumb puppy’ nature well with the animation.
I respect what it was trying to do, but it was boring.
How do you make this show and then never have Megumin and Emilia interact…?
I don’t know who decided Kabaneri needed a romance-centric outing, let alone this many years after the series ended, but bless them. This was such a nice watch. Though she was once the flavour-of-the-season best girl I had forgotten how ridiculously moe Mumei was. Girl’s just blushing up a storm while literally blending peeps. Plus the romcom antics in this film make her an absolute treat.
Very glad that this turned out as such an amazing adaptation considering Gotoubun serves as an example that a great source is not enough to secure an appropriately great anime in and of itself.
As great as expected.
What a strange experience. Episode 1 seems like the setup for your stereotypical shoujo harem. But then episode 2 has her brother turn aggressively rapey in an almost caricature-esque way, and then after he leaves home to repent she realises that she was actually in love with him all along (see: Stockholm Syndrom). Then they have graphic sex because apparently this was actually hentai all along and I simply missed the tag.
I wasn’t expecting such straightforward romantic development from a children’s anime. Usually these things skirt the issue with undertones and subplots that go nowhere, but not here. I thought this was a majou shoujo but it’s actually just a straight romance show. Got mad good in the second half with tons of incredible relationship dynamics and surprisingly compelling drama. This gets dark out of nowhere and I am all about it. Considering how much I wrote him off as as ‘edgy Cayenne’ upon his initial reveal, Miura really ended up stealing the show. The ending was pretty spectacular too.
I commented on it before but I truly believe this movie is really only a movie by technicality, and that indeed its narrative structure and pacing actually feels more like Love Live Sunshine 2.5, being 5-6 epilogue episodes that are stuck together in movie format only because they had to be. For that reason I left it unrated on the decision that for me it’s just sharing an entry with Love Live Sunshine 1 and 2.
Really amazing though. Exactly where I believed the stories and characters would continue onto, I’m so thankful that me and the writers were on the same page throughout the entire narrative of Love Live Sunshine.
(Randomly turns into Macross Plus halfway through.)
Great cast + character designs and a very cozy setting. Its humour was constantly on point.
The Giga Road was one of the coolest super robots I’ve ever seen! That was a jaw-dropping final battle because that beautiful behemoth was just such a spectacle to watch fight. Besides being massive (which I always love) the design was sick with its flowing cape of flame, and the movement was so slick as it flew around. It’s always insanely hype seeing a super robot come out during a real robot show.
Rural backgrounds are w o w
I went and climbed a tree.
A fun mahou shoujo + idol show with a bunch of goofy humour that doesn’t take itself seriously. Plus a whole bunch of retro Tatsunoko references.
Fun ensemble! Masato and Wise were a surprisingly nice ship.
I love how bouncy the animation in this show is. It was fun! The random cinema outing to go watch Shin vs Neo Getter Robo was the most unexpected crossover I’ve ever seen in anime. It was interesting to see this as an inspiration for To Love-Ru as well. With stuff like one component of their initial meeting being a teleportation into the bath, similarities between Marie & Peke and the ending being a large-scale memory erasure that the groom remembers anyway.
Fun but often sabotages its own suspension of disbelief with how self-aware the characters are, and the discussions about “my true form” were always very inorganic.
Universally touted as either the best or second best Precure, but I must admit I didn’t get that out of it. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because duh I still gave it an 8. Obviously there were some really cool fights and I quite enjoyed the Cutey Honey homages strewn throughout, but beyond that I can’t say I was ever invested in its characters or plot. The thing I always hear the most about GoPri is that it’s the entry with the best fights. I can agree with that, but with a caveat. There’s like six or seven high-stake movie-quality fights against enemy leaders where the animation and choreography is really impressive, but the fights around that were pretty much just your standard jump-punch-monologue-finisher battles. Those big battles were indeed quite near the pinnacle of Precure fights in those that I’ve seen, but the rest around it was mostly unnoteworthy. I feel like Heartcatch more consistently had varied and creative choreography even outside of its big setpiece battles.
animes except the best one
First 24~ episodes are nearly unrivalled in the mahou shoujo genre, but then the second half it just drops the ball hard for whatever reason. Hana’s bullying trauma was the most interesting aspect of the show but episode 31 hand-waved it away in the most nonchalantly offensive way, and I don’t know if I ever forgave the show for that.
Really not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I guess I can understand some of the complaints considering it never really moved past its episodic nature like other entries do, and it definitely was a bit of a black sheep in the franchise for only having four melee bouts in the entire thing (with the most substantial fisticuffs in the show being Hana’s cameo to introduce Hugtto). But the main pull of A La Mode to me was always Cure Parfait, and she was every bit as great as I’d imagined. Girl’s literally a rainbow Heartcatch. Totally worth it for her alone, but the show surrounding it was quite solid as well and imo definitely gets more flak than it deserves.
Aesthetic overload. The CGI was a bit overused though that’s unfortunately a tradeoff Trigger has had to make ever since they split from the resources of Gainax, but the art style more than made up for it. It was finally another Imaishi work that attempts the same kind of dynamic colour composition that made TTGL so eye-popping, which made it an absolute artistic feat.
As per the norm features a bunch of Imaishi throwbacks. Galo looking like Kamina, his bodysuit resembling Lagann, the Matoi tech, the Lio de Galon and subsequent lines like ‘I’ve decided, this thing’s name is…’ or his overall attitude while piloting, the greyscale fistificuffs in the finale, the part where they focused for a moment about Lucia attaching a drill. Lucia is actually Spring of the Trigger Girls too.
Not as memorable as Poemii or Dokuro-chan, but still a very fun entry in this magical girl parody trilogy.
It’s one of those anime films that are just an extra long episode. This is the final arc adapted as a film because it didn’t fit into the TV show’s episode count.
Magane was the best part. An evil genki girl is something I haven’t seen done before and it was pretty glorious. What a showstopper. I really respect the decision to use 5 of its 22 seasonal episodes on a single final confrontation with Altair. Was a bold move that did great things for the pacing.
Interesting mech designs, fun soundtrack and a whole bunch of 80s cuties.
Nanami’s Big Day Out was a fun anime, but there were too many episodes focusing on the side characters. I did like the aesthetic and, by and large, the characters, but I can’t help it that what comes to mind first whenever I think of Utena is just how much I hated Akio. I get that it’s ‘the point’ and that mr Ikuhara-sensei says I’m a bad person for feeling disgusted by it or whatever, but I just really do not like Touga or Akio and the prominent focus on their sleeping around. And again, I understand that tackling that taboo is seemingly what Ikuhara aimed to do, but that doesn’t change the fact that I still just don’t like it. It intends to make you uncomfortable, and uncomfortable I am! Okay? I get it, I understand it, I respect it. The entire show is about headstrong females, and Ikuhara exploring teenage sexuality to say that they are not ‘dirty’ for having been sexually open – neither defiled nor defined by it. In a setting that would often be about the harem protag playboy’s sexual conquests or voyeuristic exploits, it takes, or indeed empowers the female perspective. Instead of denying it or using it for any kind of moral comeuppance, it acknowledges the promiscuity as a backdrop, works with it, and then continues on to show the girls as not having become slighted or less valid by it, not becoming narratively hinged to it in the least. Touga and Akio are sleazy and that’s never really punished, and instead of Utena being a general ‘grr boys are bakas’ tomboy she is permitted an organic femininity as she experiences love for Akio. The scene most offensive where she sleeps with him in a painfully intimate moment is most indicative of this, and regardless of how frustrated that event makes me I can get behind the message. It’s narratively brilliant, but man is it hard to stomach. I understand what was done and why, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy actively watching those slimeballs. What I don’t like is Touga, and what I especially don’t like is Akio. They’re gross and look like they probably smell bad. Get ur grimy mitts of Utena you adult freak. She’s literally the same age as Precure protagonist jeez. I get the message, and I like it a lot narratively, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard to watch or that I hate the two of them any less.
I at least appreciate what they were trying to do with the new director and seiyuu each episode
Incredibly fun ensemble!
Good animation all throughout. Fun characters, and some fun fights. Plot twists and multi-layered relationships aplenty.
The soundtrack is a fantastic space symphony that comes across as fairly rare in anime, but the rest is not good at all. I was decently on board at the start with its promise to be Sailor Moon in Saint Seiya aesthetics, but that didn’t last long. Terrible recycled special battle scenes, and halfway through it straight up is no longer about the Saintias anymore, instead focusing on introducing new Saints every three minutes.
The manga was so good that an adaptation was inevitable, but but Nanako not speaking just doesn’t work all that well in anime format. Still solid though, but the pacing takes a bit of a hit since in animation you have to sit and wait for her to write out her sentences.
Aki Toyosaki just goin nuts the entire time and a bunch of cute goddesses = naisu
The setting and overall aesthetic of the show is cozy in a way that only 80s slice-of-life anime are. The chemistry between Hibari and Kosaku was so much fun! It’s definitely problematic to look at in terms of political correctness though, since the anime adaptation introduces a bunch of transphobic jokes and genuinely racist moments that weren’t part of the original manga.
Great art style and not much else.
I actually greatly enjoyed the longer pacing here. But once more barely any Sugu. At this point I can’t help that I simply see SAO as “moments with Sugu” and “moments without”.
The pacing was just kinda wonky, it was needlessly gory for no real reason (which makes it clash with the rest of SAO), and it felt a bit too obvious that they were holding back Asuna as a hook. In all honesty I wasn’t too keen on Asuna’s appearance either. Her playing into the harem, competing with Alice, and considering the others ‘one of us’ as they chat all night about him. Like, girl, don’t do that? He’s literally your husband already, you don’t need to play their games. I still had fun with it but it’s evidently the only SAO so far that I’ve rated less than an 8.
It’s fun enough, and being the first season carries some merit in that it simply hadn’t had time to totally collapse in on itself like the latter seasons will begin to.
More Symphogear, and all that entails. I will say that the plot progression started to feel a bit haphazard, or inconsistent. Things like Hibiki losing Gungnir just to steal it back two episodes later, losing her arm only to regenerate it in a manner of minutes, or the only reason for Fine’s survival being that scene where she saves Shirabe, felt a bit poorly planned, and thus somewhat lacked impact. It seems somewhat like it was written on a moment-to-moment basis, rather than starting from the overarching narrative. And at this point I really do think it’s a bit ridiculous how they just throw the Swan Song at everything despite how it’s supposedly a last resort… On the other hand though, Hibiki’s fisticuffs choreography got a lot of upgrades, and the new additions to the cast were really fun. Animation was solid with a few sick fights in there.
grandpa what
Looked like it was fixing all the narrative problems I had with the other series and then…Cagliostro and Prelati were still alive. Secretly. This information relayed in a quick one-liner after they appear. But also it’s pointless because they were only still alive so they could get in another cheap emotional death scene. Of course, Symphogear. Why would I expect anything else. It’s a good thing I’m enjoying the overall aesthetic of the songs and fighting so much because unfortunately this franchise keeps finding new ways to disappoint me with its unsubtle storytelling and random narrative structure. Nothing in this show is actually foreshadowed, just messily dredged back up. They’re never setting things up going forwards, but looking back to see what they can pull forward.
Norie makes this franchise worthwhile by herself. She’s a spastic girl which means we get to listen to Iguchi Yuka going nuts the entire time and it’s a blessing.
The art is fairly stiff but in a lot of ways this is pretty much the best adaptation you’ll get for this source.
It’s a really nice adaptation.
An aggressively bland mahou shoujo, though it gets brownie points for a Kugimiya role. I didn’t realise til the end that it was a proper sequel to the first Twin Angel (thought it was an alternative setting), so it’d probably have meant a lot more had I seen that beforehand.
Bland start. Decent middle. TERRIBLE last three episodes.
Perhaps the most immediate thing one would notice about Urusei Yatsura is that every character is a terrible person. Ataru is ‘the universe’s most unfaithful man’, Lum is a brute who forcefully makes herself his fiancee, Shinobu doesn’t hesitate to make it clear that the only thing she’s after in a man is looks and money, Mendou is self-absorbed to an insane degree, Megane is a massive creep, and Cherry is just pretty ratty all around. They’re garbage people and it’s super entertaining watching them screwing each other over at every possible chance. It makes for lots of good moments and recurring jokes based on these scummy character dynamics.
It’s interesting how as a viewer we’re obviously super quick to side with Lum and her quest to win over Ataru, but when you actually look at their characters Ataru was always completely up front with his desire to be a skirt-chaser not tied down to Lum, and she was actually the one constantly bulldozing his feelings.
That night drive is one of the most interesting scenes in the entire series. This might genuinely be the only time we get a quiet moment between Ataru and Mendou, when usually they’d be fighting the second they lock eyes. It’s a very unique and memorable application of their usual dynamic.
The art and animation are pretty insane in this film.
Loved seeing all the drastically different interpretations of the series.
It was insanely cool to see Urusei Yatsura in modern HD after watching the rough 80s art/animation of the main series for so long. I am extremely saddened that this never turned into a complete 12 episode series in the same vein as CardCaptor Sakura’s modern revival through Clear Card.
Really solid adaptation. The lineart was pretty noteworthy all throughout.
The romance was very sweet. Watching the main two misfits slowly come together and help each other find their place together in the world was genuinely super heartwarming. I’m super invested in them now, I need a fluff sequel manga pronto. It sent some strange messages though, honestly. It almost seemed like it was trying to…delegitimize concerns over climate change? There was obviously a lot of parallels to stuff like shifting weather patterns and rising sea levels, but there’s also a large aspect of it dedicated to accepting as something natural or unavoidable. Which is strange.
The anime’s peak. S3 and the OVA benefit a lot from the change in studio. Not only are the art and subtle changes to character designs better, but the humour changes focus. It becomes less slapstick, instead focusing on character chemistry.
at least i’m pretty sure this screenshot was from mini yuri
It’s still endgame Monogatari so that’s a baseline quality of incredible, but it does feel like kind of an unnecessary epilogue after the utter perfection that was Owari 2.
skapbadoa 
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