Jeoffrey

The best of the Toho Animation Music Films Project. An excellent production by the WiT animation studio overseen by a very experienced director with a score by one of the finest composers of our time. The result is visually breathtaking and all the detail and the colors are magnificent (but what else should you expect from COLORs). The story is intriguing too. It leaves you guessing about what exactly is going on in the story, but it does successfully portray a decent range of emotions and drama in a minimal space, all accompanied by a well-fitting song, not to mention all the colors. I'd like to see this one as a feature film to know the whole story pieces of which captivated my attention. Available to watch here. 9/10.

I liked the setting, the main storyline, the treatment of the revenge theme, about half the characters, and the fact that the writers weren’t messing around. There were adult themes, gallons of blood, brutality... However, I struggled to believe some of the situations and scenes, and I found the episodes unbalanced. My impression fluctuated depending on how much I was immersed in any given part of the story. The final verdict was decided by the last episode, which had great action and brought everything to a satisfactory conclusion for me. I enjoyed the series as a whole, it made sense, and it worked for me emotionally when the authors were making an effort, so it’s 6.8/10.

There's a lot going on in the final episode. Everyone is fighting, characters are pouring their hearts out, one of them is even clumsily trying to break the fourth wall, and another one says "IT", so you actually get to hear the show’s title... I should be enjoying the climax of the whole story, there's so much happening, but my final impression is zero. The fights aren’t exciting, the dialogue is mind-numbingly boring, the touching scenes don't work, breaking the fourth wall doesn't seem witty and you barely even notice it. I have a hard time remembering why it all happened and what it was all about five minutes after the episode. The point I'm trying to make here, using the last episode as an example, is that The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World is a rather forgettable and dull anime that didn’t have anything I hadn't seen before and better. Plus, I often got the plot mixed up with the series about a reincarnated exorcist, which is also running this season. At least in the beginning, there was something I could distinguish the series by. The main character spoke in an extremely formal way, calling everyone "sir" and "miss". Plus, I was amused by how poorly written and clichéd the first villain was. His angry expressions were so hilariously dumb. But then the main character started speaking normally, Albert Alium stopped scowling and the series lost all its appeal for me. The humor, if any, was either not very funny, or stupid in that cringe way that reminded me of The Fruit of Evolution. The worst part was Rose’s training for the tournament, after which I had no idea how I was supposed to find the main character likable and take him seriously if he was acting like some sort of "masked" idiot. All the characters felt stereotypical to me. There’s really nothing original or interesting to say about them. Some, like Elisa (the second main character!), seemed completely irrelevant to the story. Plus, it wasn’t special even as far as animation is concerned. The fights were all cuts and a couple of effects. I can't tell you if the music had any effect on me as I barely noticed it. A boring, below-average show that didn’t impress me much but didn’t annoy me all that much either (I did make it to the end). 4/10

If you haven't seen the movie, don't read my review as it contains a couple of SPOILERS. A pretty decent continuation of the series. It probably won't be my favorite part of the story, but it has kept some of the show’s qualities and its overall nice vibe. The beginning was a little too slow for my taste. I was a little annoyed at how quickly Rimuru managed to solve all the problems once he showed up in Raja. I soon realized that this wasn't going to be the kind of story where I would need to worry about the main character or anyone around him. My assumption was confirmed by how the story progressed and especially the ending. The revival scene in particular had me laughing at how silly it was and how everyone had plot armor, even though the death of a character certainly wouldn’t have hurt the story. You’d even expect such a thing to happen based on the established fantasy clichés. I do like the world of TenSura, I've grown fond of practically all of its characters and I do believe that even though the main character has become incredibly overpowered, there are still threats and forces far more powerful and potent, nevertheless, the creators fail to make them apparent resulting in zero suspense. It just isn't the same as it used to be and it does have some unintentionally hilarious moments. The animation is very decent, the fights are smooth and dynamic, colorful, and generally fun to watch. The backgrounds aren’t exactly detailed (just like in the series), but it doesn't affect the color and vibe and you mostly don't even notice. There was one scene, though - the mine cart chase - where 8bit tried to get creative with the cinematography, and wanted to convey the frantic motion in which everything is happening. Unfortunately, I don’t think they did a very good job of it. As for the music, I thought it was aptly chosen, but only slightly above average and sometimes not very distinctive. Still, I'm glad to have had another glimpse into the world of TenSura. Plus, the film had quite a pleasant pace, it got me excited about the next season, and introduced at least one interesting new character (Violet) whom I want to know more about and will be happy to see join the ensemble. My final rating is 7.5/10.

An ordinary music video about a light romance set in a drama school, featuring some fairy tale motifs and a certain amount of symbolism (apple). It's simple, it's short. Since I like retro animation and rock music, which was combined here in a way that I enjoyed for those few minutes, I'm giving it a better rating than it probably objectively deserves. Available to watch here. 6.8/10

I found most of the series interesting, but only to a certain extent. The story is fairly simple, almost run-of-the-mill, reminiscent of SW: A New Hope in a Waterworld-like setting, except for foam on the surface and the occasional tree sticking out of the water reaching all the way up to the sky. The characters aren't very complex, but I do find them likable, and I’m interested in their journey. The animation isn’t bad, despite being fully 3DCG. Polygon Pictures did a passable job – not excellent but not terrible either. I was quite intrigued by the world. Sadly, the designs of most of the animals aren't that great. They are imaginative enough but not visually stunning or terrifying and they didn’t evoke any emotional response in me. I’m just not that crazy about Kaina, it’s only slightly better than average. Still, I'm interested to see what happens next and how things continue in the upcoming movie. 5.5/10

Even after the final episode, I wasn't sure how to rate this show. It does have some undeniable qualities. It does a decent job of communicating its message and even evoked an emotional response in me, but I was far from blown away by it and couldn't fully immerse myself in it and have a good time. What I didn’t like was that the dialogue was dragging at times, and some of the ideas were quite weird and didn't really fit into the story. A vampire? Really? What didn’t make much sense to me was the motivation of the villain who wasn't really a villain as is often the case. I was rather annoyed by Al's whole storyline and its conclusion. Plus, for a twelve-episode series, it packs a bit too much for its own good. It tries to be a romance, an adventure, it tries to deal with social issues, intrigue, magical mysteries, and who knows what else, jumping from one to the other, none of it working 100% for me. But the positives outweigh all the negatives. There are two likable main characters whose mutual chemistry works pretty well, resulting in a great romance, as well as some cute moments. Both characters had a convincing development and they really needed each other for that. I got the message the show was trying to convey, was intrigued by some of the themes it chose to tackle, and got some pretty satisfying answers, albeit not very deep. Animation-wise, it was quite average, with occasional good moments. For example, the first fight between Anis and the monsters wasn't bad at all. At other times, it was obvious that Diomedéa Studio still has a lot to improve. The last fight wasn't very good and some of the effects in it (fireballs) were downright weak. Anyway, the “magical revolution of the reincarnated princess and the genius young lady” really started happening in the end, which made the ending quite satisfying (the series delivered what the title promised). Since I liked the ending, I'll give a higher rating and try to forget the weaker passages that weren’t as convincing... 6.6/10

I liked the original visual style. The story, although quite interesting, was kind of mediocre. It wasn’t emotionally powerful, just mildly engaging. Since this project is presented by Toho as "musical anime movies", I was quite surprised that the song itself played a minor role, more of a glorified background music. Available to watch here. 5.5/10

In Hikari no Ou, I was intrigued by the story but didn't care about the characters. With Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World, it's exactly the other way around. The series managed to sell me on the four cardinal heroes, gave each of them an interesting backstory that I found relatable, and made them all hit rock bottom from which the only way is up. It was like The Rising of the Shield Hero but with an emphasis on relationships. Unfortunately, the depiction of the characters’ transition from "I don't trust anyone" to "I might trust these guys" wasn’t very convincing. I felt that this important development happened too quickly, in an uninteresting and unnatural kind of way. Plus, the storyline about Kizuna and the literal bonds between characters just felt weird and didn't seem to fit in with the whole. Some aspects of the story felt problematic from the beginning and didn’t match the overall vibe. The Japanese idols started to make sense to me when the real setting of the story was revealed (what the world really was). However, the mathematics battle still seems like a silly idea to me. What I will remember about this anime in a few months is the fact that there was a witch who liked gambling, a priest who liked girls, a dragon girl who liked food, and an adventurer who simped for idols. I doubt that I will remember what Stepping Man’s story was about and what was actually going on in the episodes in general. I'm interested to see what's next in store for the main four characters, and how they will develop as personalities and as a team, but I can already imagine that it will be wrapped up in weird, boring, or dumb ballast again, making me think of wasted potential worth nothing more than an average rating... 5/10

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is a cute, slow-paced, naive romance, which was so boring at times that it almost put me to sleep. I should appreciate the fact that the story takes place in an office setting and centers around adults instead of high schoolers as is common in anime. It makes no difference, however, given the personalities of the main couple. It's the same kind of "puppy" romance about incredibly shy Japanese people full of blushing and unspoken things, moving at a snail's pace. There's absolutely no conflict, drama, or anything that would add a spark to the story, just everyone "wanting to be as cute as possible" the whole time. Humor plays only a secondary role, so don't expect this to be a hilarious comedy or anything like that. It’s meant to be a lovely story that will melt your heart, but even that works only about half of the time for me. The animation is adequate for the purpose, that is, it’s all in cute pastel colors and the creators managed to conjure up some really nice shots (frozen landscapes, sakura blossoms...). The score doesn’t feature any grandiose themes and makes do with light piano and violin, which are quite prominent in the right moments and nice to listen to. The romance itself was mediocre. Sometimes there was great chemistry and nice moments between the main couple, other times it didn't work for me at all, and sometimes it felt almost silly - unfortunately often at moments that were meant to be serious. Not even the supporting characters impressed me with their romantic lines. Especially Katori and Otonashi didn't make me feel anything at all. On the one hand, I don't want to be too harsh, it's supposed to be an enjoyable rom-com and it does fulfill the definition of "enjoyable", but beyond that, it's just a mediocre romance and a weak comedy that made me realize that a story about a relationship between two kuudere isn’t really my thing. But at least the main characters like cats, which I can relate to. 5.5/10