Reviews by Fernando Leonel Alba

This franchise used to have between eleven and twenty six episodes at some point but the previous entry had five and this one has four, is it running out of content or what? Oh well, at least this means that I can finish them faster, and for an IP that I’m enjoying less and less each season, that’s a good thing.

Visually, it’s surprisingly a step back from the previous series, because the artwork is not as polished at points, and due to the use of some very clear places as backgrounds and very bright special effects, sometimes things seem unfinished or lacking lining or details. At least it’s the season with more movement when people talk, there are almost no still moments in it. There are also some interesting visual bits here and there such as Pac-Man references, or the change of the way the light novel passages are integrated, this time mostly shown as what looks like letters that were torn apart.

In terms of sound, the ending has cool visuals but it is the most basic and typical so far, as is the opening, both are just very generic jpop songs, though I like Saori Hayami’s singing voice, way more than her acting voice, even though her performance as Ononoki might be my favourite from her for feeling a bit different than her usual roles. There’s, however, an improvement on the background music, as this entry has the most intense one, filled with themes that seem like they belong in a horror anime instead of this series.

Anyways, the name of the arc and the cover made me think that this season was going to be about Ononoki, a character I kind of wanted to see more of since she was given some of the best dialogues in the franchise, although they are usually next to some of the worst as well. And to be fair, more information about her is revealed, which is in turn related to the past of the four big exorcists within the setting, while there are still some interesting conversations about her or between her and Araragi here and there, so I guess Tsukimonogatari more or less gives me what I wanted, albeit in very small doses and with a not very good presentation, since it is told instead of shown. It’s understandable though, since despite having an important role in the entry, it doesn’t really revolve around her.

Instead, it’s supposed to mean a big deal and change for Araragi, but it doesn’t really feel like it, since he takes it straight pretty much right away, and the tone is for the most part very lighthearted, thus the viewer doesn’t really buy the supposed urgency of the whole thing. Also, whatever tension it tries to build lacks any possible impact, result of releasing Hanamonogatari before it. That’s the big issue of doing that, whatever big or suspenseful event might take place from here on won’t have much of an effect on me, since I already know the outcome and that everyone is fine because of that season.

At least, I’m willing to accept that it’s a series that escalates in quality from less to more, as it has a plain horrible beginning full of all of the cancer from the previous worst moments in the franchise. Lots of meandering, pointless conversations, attempting to have dialogues about serious things while simultaneously presenting the most stupid imagery along with them, and the biggest amount of incestuous ecchi and comedy yet, which in turn feels out of character from what was shown on Nisemonogatari. Remember how Tsukihi reacted to Karen and Koyomi back then? Well, the roles are reversed now for fanservice sake.

At the very least, as it goes on, it shows Araragi the consequences of abusing his power and acting rashly, so it makes everything he did before feel important for him by giving him shortcomings or even some kind of ultimatum for using his abilities. Too bad Hanamonogatari was released right before it.

There is a newly introduced guy that goes away just as quickly as he appeared before even being flesh out and for the short amount of screen time he had, he was pretty uninteresting. How do you make a character voiced by Takehito Koyasu boring? Tsukimonogatari shows how. He is not giving much to do, because as he himself points out, he is a pawn in the big picture.

So at least the show ends with a message of not letting you be played around by someone else, as two characters do the exact opposite as some previous arcs while doing the same thing as the best ones, by having them being proactive and going against what seems to be the predetermined course of action, while also setting up what everyone plans to do about it, as well as having them realize who is the real main antagonist that was pulling the strings from behind the scenes the whole time. Oh, and there’s also a very cute second to last scene with Araragi and Senjougahara, the last scene is whatever, it even ruins what seemed to be a breaking point for the two protagonists of the arc.

As a whole, it begins being the worst arc in the franchise by far, but as it goes on it increases its quality considerably, though just like Nekomonogatari: Kuro, it feels more like a buildup for things to come, a transition entry from Second Season to Owarimonogatari, instead of its own thing. I didn’t find it to be straight up bad, but to me it was just another passable anime like Hanamonogatari, and a step back in quality from the best point in the series just like that show.

The first thing to say about this season is that it’s best not to watch it unless one is at their 100% ‘cause I was kind of sleepy when I watched it and boy was it tough.

In terms of visuals and sound I didn’t find much differences from the previous season so I don’t bother much with it. The opening has Kanbaru and some other girl acting as friends even when they are enemies, though there’s a part where the vocals change completely and it is nice. The ending has a very creepy and completely different art style so it was cool to watch even though the song itself was more of the same. Some recurring characters has different designs which are good but the most important one isn’t permanent so fuck it.

This season takes two risks. One, coming out at this point even though chronologically is the last, at least when it comes to the anime up until this point, since the novels kept going, as far as I know. This will make any possible tension from future entries to lack any real impact since this one already confirms the outcome.

The second is having Suruga Kanbaru as the protagonist, as was built up in Second Season, since for plot reasons many characters are not around. Up until this point she was a comical type of secondary character, and as previous examples have proven, it’s very rare for a type of spin off or sequel like that to be good or successful or even not ruin the character.

So, is Kanbaru a good enough main character to take the place from the previous ones? Not in the least, or maybe she is, she could be, perhaps, if this anime was about her, but it really isn’t, since for a big portion it focuses on another girl whose name I didn’t bother to learn and who has a very simple and boring backstory compared to the previous main cast.

Said backstory takes one and a half episode to be presented and said presentation is kind of a mixed bag. First, like with Shinobu’s in the previous season, it is told instead of shown, and this time around there aren’t even some cool visuals along with it for its first half, all that’s shown is the character talking and Kanbaru looking at her with a straight face from time to time. Ok, there are some visual metaphors with floating objects but that’s it. The second half goes for something completely different and far more interesting looking for some reason, so it balances out.

As for Kanbaru herself, something important happens to her character wise, but not because of her, it’s something that someone else does for her, without her even noticing it at first. It’s not that she’s explored much either, some backstory of her is told, and she has some conversations with old time characters where she tells them about some of her doubts, they encourage her, and she gets over it rather easily and quickly, that’s it. Plus, it is weird to see her all serious like this, she doesn’t really feel like the character that was shown so far.

Ok, I’m not dumb nor uninterested enough to not notice that the series explicitly draws some parallelisms between the two girls but, Suruga, I don’t care about being TOLD about who you could have been, I want to SEE more of who you are, or how you came to be, or who you can be in the future, and you brought none of that in this show.

The more enjoyable scenes for me where the first and third out the four scenes where old time characters appeared, and even then, one of them undid a death from Second Season, and the other was kind of comical and didn’t have the same melancholic tone of the rest of the season. The second left me indifferent and the fourth was the same old pedophilic and incestuous humor that I made clear that I hate.

As a whole the season continues to have great visuals, serviceable sound, a welcomed different melancholic tone to the most part, and it isn’t really bad to be honest, but also feels like it has very little content and very little or very uninteresting characterization in it. A very passable one and I would say the second worst after Nisemonogatari so far, which doesn’t leaves me wanting to watch any possible sequel.

The first thing to mention about this season is the naming of it, which is the same as its source material but it’s actually the fourth in the anime. I will include Nekomonogatari: Kuro as part of it as it’s clearly part of it even if was released separately.

The second thing to mention about this season is how the plot structure is a rehash of Bakemonogatari, as it also consists of five arcs, and all of them are based around the same girls from that season.

Visually, Nekomonogatari: Kuro is a step back from Nisemonogatari for some reason, despite coming out later and being far shorter. The artwork is not as polished and although it had the action scenes that the previous season lacked, they weren’t as well made as the ones from the first. Second Season is the best one yet in that regard, as it has the same level of detail and polish as the previous full series, with, occasionally, what that one was missing. Also, there are permanent changes in the character designs which are directly related to the plot and characterization, which is a plus. Oh, and I noticed more CGI than in the earlier seasons, but it was integrated in a way that most anime can’t pull off.

In terms of sound, the franchise retains the same level of quality since it began, so I won’t bother mentioning it again moving forward unless I notice a drop or increase of it.

The problem with Nekomonogatari: Kuro was that, even though it wasn’t a bad season on its own, it combined the main issues of both previous ones, as it was mostly a setup like Bakemonogatari, and it had slow pacing while being heavy on fanservice like Nisemonogatari. The point of that entry was to expands Hanekawa’s character arc, show the circumstances of her family, and how her mary sue type of know it all and kind and intelligent girl archetype is nothing but a façade that she built around her to hide her pain and mental stress, and for the sake of easily get the attention and love she was never given, something that only ends up making things worse, as keeping the fake image of herself that she made only aided in worsening her condition regarding her aberration.

This is good stuff but overall the season still felt slow and not very serious, since for whatever reason it had plenty of gratuitous fanservice, even for secondary characters. Not only that but it also leaves an aftertaste of being incomplete, since whatever point was brought up in it wouldn’t get a proper closure until the next series, plus, despite what it was trying to say, Hanekawa was still running from her problems and very reliant of Araragi to solve everything for her. On top of that, since chronologically goes before Bakemonogatari, whatever tension it tried to build felt fake and artificial, not intense in the least. Which is why I find it pointless to talk about Nekomonogatari: Kuro and Second Season separately.

The beginning of the latter builds upon the character fleshing she had on the previous seasons, and I have to say that it did a much better job at what both Bakemonogatari and Nekomonogatari: Kuro tried to do. The first arc is not only about exploring Hanekawa and delivering the message that only you can solve your own problems, but also finally bringing a closure to that and having legit character growth for her.

The main reason why it works better now is having her being the actual protagonist of her own arc, as Araragi is absent for plot reasons and thus she actively has no choice but to face her problems herself. Also, since she is temporarily the narrator, the viewer gets to appreciate her perspective and introspection in full detail. Regarding this point, the exposition is overall decent although it could have been better. The aspect is shown in three or four different ways, with the first one being her inner monologues and also easily the best one, the second and third ones are the scenes where she talks metaphorically with other characters about her different views, with the better ones being those that felt significant and well written, while others felt more subtle, ambiguous and not very serious. And finally the fourth way, and the worst one of them all, are the scenes where Black Hanekawa speaks to herself out loud, which is plain bad exposition and could have been easily fixed by simply having them replaced with more inner monologues.

Anyways, Araragi being absent during this arc not only meant having a different narrator and forcing Hanekawa to do things on her own, but it also allowed the viewer to see her from different perspectives, both her own and those around her, while it also let the characters have interactions amongst them without the protagonist around. I mean, at the end of it he still has a last minute apparition and save, but to the most part this portion of the anime had the image of the perfect girl being absolutely demolished while she was confronted by everyone around her to stop running from her problems, leading her to face them and accept everything and the aspects of herself and her responsibilities that she was avoiding so far, with even a permanent change in her own appearance, and this time it did feel like Koyomi only gave a hand instead of fixing the issues of someone else himself.

Not only that but the arc still keeps introducing new characters like Izuko Gaen and anticipating future events, while also calling back to past ones, that weren’t adapted at this point yet for some reason. This is very good stuff for this franchise and genre, and honestly, the major problems in it were the fanservice, which was still nowhere near as bad as it was during past seasons, and the confirmation that the Araragi sisters have a brother complex, he himself has an Oedipus complex, and that Senjougahara has an Electra complex, basically, that everyone directly connected to the main character has incestuous tendencies. Gross, but at least all of that is rather secondary and nothing of it is directly related to the main point of what is going on.

The second arc shows what Araragi was doing while that was happening and I have to say that unfortunately it goes back to the usual stuff and is thus a step back in terms of quality. Its beginning is a mixed bag, since it also introduces more characters that will be important later on, or shows a bit more of others that were very irrelevant up until this point. The problem is that it does that with some pretty tacked on and seemingly irrelevant conversations.

Ougi is the creepiest looking and sounding character in the franchise so far and every time she was shown on screen it was equally uncomfortable and interesting to watch and wait for her own arc that would come out two to four years and three to five seasons later. With that said, her conversation with Araragi felt very pointless and the way it was tied with the plot was rather forced.

On the other hand, Ononoki, who so far was a character so minor I didn’t even bother to name her when she appeared on Nisemonogatari, changed her stupid way of talking, as the series itself addressed, and brought some very interesting and quite existential questions about herself and the main characters of the current arc, thus her dialogues felt better integrated than whatever nonsense Ougi was talking about. Too bad everything was left unanswered but at the very least it made me interested to watch her own story after this season.

Anyways after that, this arc lost me completely with three things. First, it started with something trivial and very silly. Second, it introduced time travel, one of my most hated plot devices in writing because it can only mean that the characters have to either make sure that something happens, or prevent it from happening and most likely erase all consequences at the end. Meaning, it can only be a type of story where the characters are reactive at best, they aren’t allowed to have free will because they are forced to make sure that events take place in a premeditated way, only to most likely be erased or forgotten by the end. This pisses me off, it even goes against the message of the show and the previous arc. Thank you Noein for being the exception with your bittersweet as fuck ending.

And finally the third, it was focusing on Hachikuji. She had the worst arc in Bakemonogatari because it was the most disjointed with the message, narrative and plot progression, as it was mostly pointless stupid talking before getting a conclusion that wasn’t satisfactory, since she didn’t pass away nor did she get any meaningful character progression, and she herself was a very passive character that wasn’t even aware of her own situation, so of course and she didn’t do shit for her own and others had to do everything, only for it to not matter in the least in the long run. Plus, seriously, this girl is completely irrelevant to the big picture, and is mostly an excuse for pedophile humor and letting the protagonist to be at his worst, which in this arc it wasn’t even limited just to her, as it was also shown through other girls, Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting anything from this arc in the least.

To its favor, I have to admit that having the characters realize how much they fucked up out of something trivial, showing more people living and appearing in this mostly empty town, making everything prior feel important and that it happened for a reason, and sending the overall message that you can’t use time travel to fix past shit or you’ll end up making everything worse is always welcomed. Too bad it wasn’t very serious about it, as a big part of the arc is silly comedy, and Hachikuji is still left as a very passive character that doesn’t do anything on her own. The arc may revolve around her, but she still barely takes part of it, she isn’t allowed to do anything even when she is the focus of the story.

The third arc is centered on Nadeko, who in Bakemonogatari had one with good messages, but also the most disgusting and highest amount of fanservice, and silly comedy, even referencing memes. Still, since I more or less already knew what was going to happen here, I was actually more interested in it than with the one before it.

And what an arc it is, as it basically combines the best aspects of the previous ones. It also has the main girl of it being the narrator, which allows for more introspection and characterization, it keeps making Ougi a mysterious but interesting character, while tying her to the main plot in a much more organic way, it shows more people in the city that no longer feels oblivious to the main characters, while visually making it clear how secondary they are in a much better way than simply making it seems like the important cast lives in a ghost town, it draws parallelisms between Hanekawa and Nadeko by putting the latter in a similar situation, it explores and criticizes her, it exposes how Shinobu, Oshino and Araragi messed up in some of their past actions, and it finally moves the story forward, while also being serious and free of fanservice to the most part.

It even flips on its own at some point making everything that you assumed about it to actually have happened in a different way, while also expanding on how messed up the main girl of the arc is since she can’t even discerns reality from her own made up illusions.

It also explores a scenario that’s rarely touched upon in the harem genre, what would happen if one of the girls does not accept not being the girl for the protagonist and snaps and turns on everyone else? Nadeko gets tired of being seen as the cute imouto type of character and gets overwhelmed by people placing responsibilities on her, while she is also confronted for always playing the victim, similar to Hanekawa, but while the latter was able to talk back and face herself, a younger, more immature and more emotionally closed and unstable Sengoku can’t do that, making everything go horribly wrong. And it presents everything not as edgy bullcrap like a certain ending of a certain infamous perverted school romantic dramedy turned into gore schlock in the last episode.

Heck, it even feels meta for Kana Hanazawa, who usually plays that same cutesy type of character, as she was tasked to perform as the snapped version of her usual self. Of course and it isn’t like that, as she would later on keep on playing the same kind of dere archetypes and act all cute in real life, but during the arc, it gave that extra feeling and value. Even the opening and ending were interesting, as the latter changed the usual art style for something visually distinctive and more creepy looking, while the former became a dark version of Nadeko’s intro in Bakemonogatari, with even some pretty messed up lyrics.

The only things I have to criticize in it is how it still feels like everyone else forced what happened onto Nadeko, and her change was kind of very sudden, but that does end up matching well with her petty reasoning and how she kept running from her problems and playing the victim to the point of no return. Another mixed element was the conclusion, which made me appreciate Senjougahara for how cunningly she can completely change a situation, but it also remained open because otherwise the franchise would be over, in a way that felt like one big plot armor. But other than those kind of passable issues, this was easily the best arc yet.

The fourth arc keeps on happening around the same time of the first and it’s the direct sequel of the second, it’s called Shinobu Time but it doesn’t focus on her, the name is just misleading to surprise the viewer with what eventually happens, and I got to say that it did a fine job at that. Unfortunately that means that she is still not fleshed out like the rest of the cast, because her story that started it all wouldn’t be adapted until three to four years and four to five entries later.

Not to say that nothing revolves around her however, since her backdrop story as Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade is told, and that is the best part of the arc as far as I’m concerned. Notice that I wrote told, instead of shown, as it is one big narration of her, which is why I found the manga version of that backstory better, simply because while it is still being told in-story, the reader is shown the events as a mini flashback, instead of what is done here.

The thing that stands out the most of this arc are the aesthetics, sometimes showing everything with one color or the complete lack of it altogether, or Kiss-Shot’s background in Japan 400 years earlier as scroll drawings, which is very appropriate for the time period, the previous ending being reused but with the relevant characters of this time, and even an opening that has the same creepy looking visuals and the best theme in the franchise so far, although with very limited lyrics.

It’s hard to talk about it without spoiling everything but basically, this arc has the same issues as the one that chronologically goes right before it, not much is going on in it, it’s just four characters occasionally being chased around by a ball of darkness, it has a lot of meandering with pointless conversations, it’s not very serious most of the time, Araragi is nothing but a pedophile throughout the whole of it, it is full of pedophilic scenes, both comical and dramatic that are supposed to be seen as serious and romantic, and the characters are not allowed to be proactive, as they are forced to followed a predetermined path.

At the very least, it has three positives, which are building up future events, reinforcing the message and theme from the second arc, and ending with a seemingly permanent death, but other than that, it is the worst part of the season, and the worst since Nisemonogatari, although nowhere near as bad when considering the whole of it.

The fifth and final arc is the direct sequel of the third, so this season has two patterns in it, it copies the plot structure of Bakemonogatari like I said, and it jumps around arcs across two points in time. For some reason, it goes for an opening with an early 90s art style mixed in, and a duet for the vocals done by the seiyuu of the main characters from the arc, which are Senjougahara, something welcomed, since she remained a rather secondary character since the first series, despite technically being the main girl, and Kaiki of all people.

Hitagi End once again has the positive of not having Araragi as the narrator nor even an active part of it, choosing instead to focus on his girlfriend trying to find a solution for their problems by herself, while also showing her at her most vulnerable and sincere, breaking her tsundere persona that she usually lets others see.

With that said, the actual protagonist and narrator of the arc is Kaiki, and what an interesting choice is to give that role to one of the main antagonists such as him, as it allows to flesh him out. Plus, giving his personality, view of the world, and age, from his perspective, everything that the rest does is childish and petty, which is true, and it is so reassuring and refreshing to see someone point it out, even if it is done in a kind of comical way.

Even though they are the main characters throughout it, the arc also shows the perspectives and action of other characters like Hanekawa, Gaen, and Ononoki who for some reason went back to talk in stupid ways and I like how Kaiki had her cut it off. Though I guess that could have been her way of trying to be, well, someone, and in a comical and meta way, trying to find her own character archetype.

Anyways, thanks to this narrative choice, it doesn’t feel like only one or two characters exist at the moment while everyone else does nothing, and because of the way it plays out, it gives a satisfactory ending to the arc chronologically right before it, while it also continues criticizing the pettiness of Nadeko and giving her a character growth, all while it sends a decent message, especially for the harem genre, it has Araragi realize how he can’t do everything for everyone else, explains certain actions and events from earlier seasons, and it still continues to anticipate future arcs and happenings, such as the importance that has built around Kanbaru throughout the whole season, which makes sense since the next one seems to be all about her.

Now for things I have to criticize about it. While having past occurrences happen because of the actions of some characters is good, it’s bad when that takes away a bit of the proactive initiative of some others. Also, Kaiki’s plan and logic was so flawed, it was obvious it was going to fail from the very beginning, but at least it led to Sengoku breaking his preconceptions and thus challenge him as well, and the overall resolution was good.

As for the finale, it doesn’t end the franchise as a whole, obviously, but for its own season, it feels appropriate and satisfactory, something that the previous ones didn’t have.

As a whole, Second Season has the best visuals, intros and outros, plot progression, characterization, writing, theme exploration and messages, while it builds itself well upon what was already shown, and it also does a good job in anticipating future events. It’s not free of issues of course, as it still has lots of pedophile shit, Araragi is insufferable throughout the whole of it, there are three unneeded recap episodes of previous entries, some arcs are not on the same level as others, and there is still stuff to cover. Besides that, it is by far the best season so far, and even though I still don’t enjoy this franchise, this was the first time that I felt like at least some of it was worth watching and recommending, and I now have the motivation to keep going with it. I give it an above average score that would be higher if it weren’t for the inconsistent quality among its arcs, as my ratings for each one will prove next:

Nekomonogatari: 5/10 for Kuro as a single entry and 7/10 for Shiro/Tsubasa’s Tiger, so 6/10 as a whole.

Hachikuji’s: 5/10

Nadeko’s: 7/10

Shinobu Time: 4/10

Hitagi End: 7/10

Final score:

The second season, Nisemonogatari, is one that I personally enjoyed a bit more than the first, because it’s notably shorter and the slapstick bits are this time around done by the sisters of the main character instead of his girlfriend, thus I find those bits more believable and amusing, than the kind of abusive relationship from the previous series.

Sadly, leaving my own experience aside, as a whole, it was a way worse season than the previous one. Not in terms of animation though, which was in fact way better, since this one came out some years later and had a much more polished artwork, while still keeping all the crazy and artsy visuals, too bad this one was even more static than Bakemonogatari, as it didn’t have any similar action bits.

The one aspect that remained exactly the same was the audio, as this sequel retains the same level in every aspect, from voice acting to sound effects to music. I loved Karen’s opening, Marshmallow Justice, for its energy and for not being the typical jpop song, but it is still nothing special and not that different either. Besides that, any other opening and the ending left as indifferent as the many from Bakemonogatari.

What makes Nisemonogatari way worse than the previous season was that it had all of the negatives in more obvious ways, with none of the positives besides the improved visuals. There are only two arcs this time around, and although that could have been good to have a more consistent quality among them than the series before this one, that wasn’t the case, as they were both even more empty of content, and with even more meandering.

There is lots of talking and none of it feel substantial, there are lots of characters appearing and none of them feel like they add anything to the whole, they even act a bit differently than before and even have a bit different dynamic with each other, to the point you’ll have to guess that something happened to them out of screen or something. The main issue is supposed to revolve around the Araragi sisters but they feel mostly secondary to what is not happening and being discussed, they feel like side characters even in their own season, and that’s something that will be said out loud as a joke in the Second Season.

Other than that, the setting still feels unaware of anything that is not happening, as the locations are even more limited than what was previously shown, and as a whole everything still feels inconsequential to anyone that isn’t the main characters, or that’s what I would say if the city didn’t look even emptier as it did before.

Plus, this anime has all the issues from the previous ones, all the perversions, this time with way younger looking characters, and on top of that it now added incestuous vibes and complexes that would be confirmed in Second Season. The infamous toothbrush scene is one of my most disgusting and hated of all time, why couldn’t it just be wholesome slapstick like in the beginning?

The only positive I’m willing to give to this season is that, just like the one before it, it anticipates future characters and events, this time with the apparition of other exorcists said to be as powerful and knowledgeable or even more than Meme Oshino, in the form of Kaiki Deishuu and Yozuru Kagenui, but other than that, it was a disaster of a season, and if not for the next one and the manga, it would have made me drop the franchise for good, despite my own personal preference above Bakemonogatari for its early comedy and for not being as bombastic in its directing.

I am no fan of the Monogatari franchise, it’s one I could never get into because it’s very long, it consists of many entries and arcs, and keeping track of the timeline is one big mess, as the release date has you watching stuff that goes before something you have already watched, or even in-between a season that already aired.

The basic idea that spawned such a colossus of a franchise is kinda interesting although not that special, it has to do with fantasy monsters lurking within a certain city and possessing people, which is why different exorcists and demi humans take care of them.

The pacing is tremendously slow to the point where the plot becomes an afterthought, despite whatever the characters might say about the situation, it never feels like it’s urgent or that serious, because the series is still mostly a harem comedy, and because the focus is rather placed on the characters, instead of moving the plot forward. That is why, besides the main and secondary cast, the city where the show takes place in is empty, it doesn’t matter what might be happening in the setting, what truly matters are the girls and how they feel.

Despite being referred as the different harem, the show is still a harem, it has the typical character archetypes, the fetishes and sexualization of minors you can expect from its genre, characters from the same family having incestuous complexes with each other, as confirmed in Nisemonogatari and Second Season, and overall the same plot structure that feels like a dating simulator, as the main character goes around, bumps into girls from either his school or his own family, or acquaintances of someone from those two groups, finds about their problems, tries to help them because he is a good guy, and most females in existence fall in love with him because of it.

The differences with all the other harem anime is existence is how the cast seems to be aware of the fact, as a kind of semi parody of the genre. The girls know that they fit an archetype and play around with the expectations around them and even go meta at points, while also making lots of references to famous anime and manga from different eras, and a lot of wordplay that make the heavy dialogue scenes more dynamic and fun for some.

That still doesn’t change the fact that a lot of conversations are meandering that go nowhere and stall the plot progression and pacing, but at least the talking speed, the way the dialogues are constructed and the self-aware characters are to be appreciated, especially for its genre, where normally all those things are of a very poor level.

The other difference with other series of its kind is that this one sends a message of one having to resolve their problems on their own and not depend of others, as a big part of what affects them is directly connected with their own mentalities. They may be possessed by supernatural entities, but it’s their own actions what makes the situation worse for them, and their own resolutions what lead to solve them at the end. On top of that, it’s not like the girls are passive, they try to find the reason for their issues on their own and solve whatever is troubling them by themselves, instead of waiting for someone to do it for them.

It’s a good message but it’s not very well supported by the narrative, since despite what they might do, at the end they still are mostly able to do that because they are helped by the goodie protagonist, the series wouldn’t be a harem otherwise, as the girls wouldn’t fall in love with him. Not only that but he is not even able to fix whatever is troubling them at times, which is why secondary character Meme Oshino steps in at the end of each arc to solve the problems, although more temporarily than permanently, but that is something that doesn’t become known until later seasons.

The biggest issue of this season is basically that, not only it doesn’t move the plot past its premise, but it’s also mostly a buildup of a series. It exists to present the setup, the recurring characters, the main message, and to anticipate future events and character arcs. Other than that, the only thing that actually happens in Bakemonogatari is that the main couple is established, and the rest of the harem is introduced.

But like I said, it’s not like this series is watched because of the plot, it’s the dialogues and the characters that draw people in. The protagonist, Araragi, is the same kind main character that makes everyone around him to fall in love with him that you come to expect from this type of series, but he doesn’t hides how much of a pervert of a teenager he is, without going to such extremes like others of his kind that become nauseating because of how they treat the girls.

But the real characters that stand out and the focus of the series are the girls. They crack jokes, they break the fourth wall, they are self-aware of their harem archetype and even extreme versions of them, they are sarcastic towards the main character, they have plenty of hobbies and different familial relationships, they interact with each other in ways that are not just flickering or teasing, and everyone has their own problem and backdrop story. From scamming and bullying (Nadeko), to jealousy (Kanbaru), to being unaware of their own state (Hachikuji), to make up a fake persona because of a fucked up family (Hanekawa), or even being victims of scamming and, to my understanding, even sexual assaults (Senjougahara). Plus, the show is full of their monologues, both internal and external, so their archetype is based and explained in their pasts, and their mentality is constantly explored and both shown and told. That’s the main difference with many series of its genre, the girls are way more than just fetishes for a male audience to look at. Unfortunately I can’t really say that anyone has a development or catharsis to speak of, those would come on future seasons, and even if they were, like I already said, they aren’t really supported by the narrative.

As many later imitators would prove, the franchise wouldn’t have become such a phenomenon in the medium if not for its visual presentation. Another reason why this title became as big as it is it’s because of its artsy visuals. Being the first and oldest season, Bakemonogatari suffers from quality drops, inconsistent character models, and very static animation, but makes up for it with crazy imagery, character designs that somehow stand out despite being based on typical designs for each harem archetype, trippy backgrounds that make lots of people write essays about what they could mean, as it isn’t uncommon for a room or building to seem surreal and falling apart, plenty of very different special effects and changes in coloring, lighting and shading, lots of references to many old school anime and manga, thus changing its artstyle completely, and at times, casually pulled out action scenes with some of the best and most dynamic motions in the whole medium. Heck, the anime even throws part of the inner monologues to the screen, taking direct passages of its source material, the light novel, as quick succession of inner thoughts of the characters. Good luck reading them though, as sometimes not even pausing the episode gives you enough time to do so.

If you are an experienced watcher, all this stuff wouldn’t surprise you much, as similar things can be seen on different works from the same director or studio (The Soul-Taker, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Madoka Magica, to name a few), but for a casual audience, it’s a before and after type of visual experience.

The audio department became as iconic but it’s definitely not as polished. The sound effects are good, and the voice acting is delivered rather fast and well, albeit with not that special performances from its cast, although it could be that many of their later ones would be based on these ones, and that ended up taking away its uniqueness, instead of the other way around. I give a full mark to the voices here considering how long ago the anime came out, but not to the rest. The soundtrack is very standard, the background music is just serviceable and the many openings are well done in terms of reflecting what the characters think on their lyrics and are accompanied by good visuals, but other than that, I didn’t like any of them, and skipped all of them after one or two times, simply because I find none of them to be special. Some of them are performed by the voice actresses of the girls, which is a fine detail but hardly one that I’m unfamiliar with, as it’s something that I’ve heard since at least Ranma ½. I loved the ending, Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari, for both its song and animation, but it’s still nothing truly special.

At the end of the day, this is a series with well presented characters and a good dressing, that make up for a season that is mostly a setup for future events and character arcs, and otherwise very empty in actual content and with very little substance in it, and the little it has is not well supported by the narrative. Well done in terms of distracting you from its many weaknesses, but still almost as weak as many other series from the harem genre. I find it to be among the better anime of its kind, but still paling in front of others like alternative versions of it, some of its future seasons, the final season of the Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai adaptation, and Ouran Koukou Host Club.

Hello, here´s an incel misogynistic cisgender male pig reviewing the feminist anime Oooku, a Netflix property based on a rather famous, acclaimed and highly rewarded manga, in turn inspired by many other series and movies which uses the same setting of a real place in life and history of Japan.

The premise this time around has to do with an everlasting pandemic around the Edo era that only affects men for some reason, leading to a matriarchy government and way of how society functions in Japan. So, basically is the kind of stuff that makes you instantly think it’s woke garbage. Not only that, but the first episode, which is 80 minutes long for some reason, is half exposition to explain how things are inside the chambers the series is named after and takes place in, and half of it is comically swapping gender roles. Men go through so many situations women are historically thought to go through, and if I bothered to watch that world famous and successful movie made by a company who historically sent the opposite messages that it wanted to convey with said film, I’d probably compare it to that.

But I didn’t watch it and I don’t intend to do it in my life. From the promotional material I saw, it seemed that said movie hammers you in the head with its message, while at the very least Oooku puts men in situations that used to happen to women, and it doesn’t just say it out loud, it lets you figure it out by yourself. The problem is that, because of the light tone, it doesn’t feel like a serious exploration of what it’s trying to convey and say. The rest of it has a female Shogun somehow changing decades old rules and customs with extreme ease and practically no opposition. It makes for a proactive character with strong presence and attitude, but without a very solid nor believable script because of how well and smoothly such big changes are allowed to happen.

The animation was done by Studio Deen, and it was what you can expect from them when making a serious drama such as this one. The character designs are quite realistic, which is a plus for the time period where the series takes place in, and the show manages to balance the pretty looking characters, recognized as such in-series, with the average looking ones. The overall artwork is not very good, especially with long shots, and the character figures would deform at times, particularly the faces. Giving the type of series, this anime is full of moments where everyone remains still, and even during those where there are movements, the motions themselves are quite stiff as well. With that said, the backgrounds are quite well done, initially only the chambers are shown, but later on cities and fields are present in the anime to break the visual monotony. Finally, the special effects are good for this series, and there are some pretty good directing moments here and there. Overall, the visual department is good enough, as you can expect from these people.

As for the sound, the sound effects are mediocre, sometimes good, sometimes completely absent. The music is good and fitting, there’s no opening but a very good ending which even fits the type of show for once in the historical genre, and the voice acting is serious, mature, a bit atypical, and every voice fits its character well and is well performed. Another good enough department.

If you ask yourself why did I move to talk about other aspects when I only covered the first episode of the show when talking about the script, it’s because so does the series itself. The first thing that needs to be clarified about Oooku is that what you see on the first episode is not where its focus is going to be, as the other nine are a flashback that shows the origin of how things lead to the starting point of the anime. Quite a rare and risky narrative choice, as it leaves it with very little plot progression from where it begins and without an actual ending, it also doesn’t give an answer about what it’s done with the pandemic or why and how it only affects men. There is some kind of explanation about this point, given at the very beginning, but it feels vague, superstitious and not enough.

With everything I said so far you would think that I consider Oooku to be a show that’s not worth watching, and you would be wrong. It is certainly flawed, but I found it to be a pleasant surprise and the biggest one from this year as of yet.

The second thing that needs to be clarified about it is that it is for a bit of an acquired taste and not the type of series you casually sit to watch to have a good time. If you want some happy little escapism that leaves you with a good feeling at the end, this is not your show, it’s pretty dark and it doesn’t shy away from covering some quite messed up stuff, even taking or ruining the lives of many characters.

Once the prologue is over, the rest of the series is dedicated to explore its setting in a way that feels like it doesn’t leaves anything hanging or unexplained, and practically everything not only makes sense, it also feels respectful and accurate to actual Japanese history, besides the pandemic and the change of genders. With that said, it probably wouldn’t have lost much if the genders were swapped, but it is still a well-made alternative history type of show. The exposition is still not the best, as many characters would begin to talk about their lives in quite awkward moments and ways.

Besides a good world building, Oooku also deals with many themes you could expect from it, from the role of samurais, their code of honor, with the passing of time and change of eras and what needs to be done with and because of them, political relationships with other countries, what and how a ruler should be, financial management, unrequited loves, the extends one can go to for the sake of their country, and of course the pandemic itself and how men and women roles are changed because of it, with obviously the themes of oppression that can be expected from the premise, handled through the plot and not with preachy monologues. At the beginning only the chambers are shown but as the series goes on it also bothers to show how the commoners are doing, which helps in establishing the setting as displayed on the first episode, as well as covering other layers of the conflict. If the anime only showed the palace, it would feel a bit incomplete.

The series is also not afraid of showing dark topics such as rapes, systematized netorare for the sake of producing an heir (yes), and it forces characters into positions and lives they don’t want to convey how that might have actually happened to real people, and more specifically, women. The presentation is done tactfully and rather tastefully, as it shows enough for the scenes to be understood, yet not much to come off as edgy, exploitive and sensational, leaving the worst things implied. Also, no character acts like a straight up psycho.

Despite that, it’s not like the series is misery porn either, as it shows the characters’ backdrops to explain their mentality and where they come from, it has them being tainted by the corrupted setting and doing some immoral shit themselves, yet also confronting others and themselves, forming strong dynamics with others, and making it through the horrible things that happen to them to find some light at the end of the tunnel for them, as well as some kind of middle ground and point of respect and understanding with even their biggest enemies. No main character from episode 2 and onwards is left unexplored, undeveloped and without some type of catharsis, even when their endings are bittersweet. It’s still hard to consider the cast as amazing regardless, as there are a lot of them for the short amount of episodes, with even more than one name, which combined with their simple looks and clothes makes them hard to become memorable, and some minor ones are just irremediable assholes for the sake of showing the dark setting. Out of the main ones from the first episode, one of them feels like his role was over by the end of it, and the other was left to be shown again by the end of the work as a whole, I’d guess.

The finale of the series feels like a mixed bag, it ends in a good note for what happens throughout the whole of it, but since it only explains the beginning point of the first episode, the story is still far from over, and more arcs and generations of Shogun are seemingly left to be covered.

In the end, I didn’t exactly enjoy the series, but I appreciate the care it put into explaining its setting, making it feel coherent, and exploring its characters, and also how well it handled and presented all of its dark topics, leaving me now with something else to look forward to or another manga to read, as long as me and my country don’t perish before, of course. The premise and first episode made me expect something really stupid and what the show ended up delivering was something closer to the Korean show Kingdom, minus all the action and fun. Despite its noticeable flaws, I found it to be a quite good dark horse type of anime, and the biggest and most pleasant surprise of the year so far. On the bad side, Studio Deen only makes one or two good anime per decade as far as I’m concerned, so this means that they already filled at least half of their quota for the 2020s, but oh well, at least it happened this early.

Note: I will refer to the protagonist as a she, and the co-protagonist as a he.

I don’t know why I never got around to watch this short title, when I wanted to do it for years. Since I recently rewatched and reviewed Aoi Hana, another adaptation of the same mangaka, I decided to do the same with this one, and I have to say, it’s clearly a better title.

Coincidentally (or not), it has a similarly looking visual style, consistent artwork, seemingly purposely unfinished yet beautiful backgrounds, and this time, much more vivid and expressive motions, expressions and body language, making these characters feel more alive than the ones from that other show. It even has the same issues of having way too simple character designs which even look alike to others from the same series, and just like that another title, and many other anime out there, there is a problem with the lighting, making the brightness too high to the point of not being able to see what’s on screen at times, but again, this goes away near the end. It almost feels like the same team was behind both adaptations.

The opening decided to show the classroom with the lyrics on screen for some reason, it’s an ok jpop song but nothing much, it is even quite a bit too energetic for this show. The ending is cute and more fitting. The overall background music is cute and relaxing, it fits the series but good luck remembering it once the show is over. The sound effects are decent as well. The voice acting is a curious case, initially they sound weird for the characters, eventually they adjust to them well, and everyone did a good job in the performances, which are even atypical for their usual tones and acting. The main character has a more mature voice than expected, but the anime seemingly made it on purpose for an in-story point, so it’s ok.

Although it has recurrent elements of a middle school romance, Hourou Musuko is primarily a coming of age drama about transgender people, more precisely, the two protagonists. The premise alone makes it stand out from the get go. Despite that, it’s not like only the main characters matter, the focus is obviously placed on them, but the anime bothers to follow its secondary cast as well, covering their thoughts of the situation, their own insecurities, and the different dynamics between all of them, thus becoming more complex than it seems at first.

The plot structure isn’t very different than any other school show however, as it has the characters doing typical stuff, from a stage play for a festival, to activities on their own clubs, getting together on vacations, then being separated in different classes the next year but still going home together, all that stuff. But at least it bothers to make them relevant to the main plot, as the classes make cross-dressing plays for the protagonists to play the character from the opposite sex, and that’s the reason why they reunite. And even then it flips the expectations by having the roles fall on to some friends of them, thus it fleshes those characters as well, instead of having them only as the supporting cast.

The series focuses primarily on showing the mentality of its two protagonists, biologically male transgender girl Shuuichi, and biologically female transgender boy Sakatsuki, how they feel with their bodies and clothes and about the way everyone else watches them and perceives them. It also covers how first everyone on the group of friends find out and act towards them once they come to know, adding some romantic tension between them, internal differences because of that, some of them being supportive, others trying to be but still not accepting the whole of it or at least not as sincerely as they claim to do, some of them standing on a confusing indecisive position, and some others straight wanting to stay away from them. Not only that but because of the own initiative of the main characters, other implicated characters come to know about them, from relatives, to acquaintances, to love interests, even the whole school, and just with the main group of friends, there are also divided reactions about it.

This makes the characters that don’t accept the main two to be plainly unlikable themselves obviously, but from a writing standpoint this is good, as it shows how transgender people are rejected even by their own families. Despite that, no character is presented as being plain good or bad, they are more confused about the situation because of how unexpected it is, rather than plain despising Shuuichi, even subverting her own expectations, as her father ends up being the supportive one in her family, when she expected him to be the one to be against her the most. Her sister is the most ambiguous, as she cares about her “little brother” in her own kind of tsundere way, but still does not accept Shuuichi being a girl, even calling her a freak and a pervert and more mean things. Despite that, at some point she is very happy for how her own boyfriend is supportive of her sister, so, I’d say she ends up standing on a strange middle ground.

Another ambiguous character is former bully Doi, who used to mock Shuuichi for her feminine traits, yet in present time seems to be supportive of her, and even ends up being the co-writer of the second play and some people even theorized that he likes the protagonist. This is the hardest to read person in the whole show.

The series also bothers to show the differences in prejudice and judgment towards the main two genders, as almost nobody makes a big deal when Sakatsuki comes out as a boy, yet it becomes a big scandal when Shuuichi does the same, but as a girl. So I guess you could say how it portrays patriarchy being oppressive towards men and masculinity in its own particular ways, at least in Japan.

With that said, not everything in the script is very good. There are clearly pacing issues, as the adaptation begins from the 6th volume of the manga, leaving everything from before to be referenced through conversations or quick flashbacks. This is a mixed bag, as the presentation shows instead of telling, and it lets the viewer to figure things on their own, something that I appreciate as a positive when it’s well done and clear, but this way it also leaves the backdrop of the characters and some of their dynamics as background and incomplete information. Well, at least the people behind it did a good job to follow the two main characters as well as giving inner dialogues to the rest of them to flesh them out well, despite not showing their backdrops in their entirety.

That’s not the only clear issue in its pacing, as love confessions, change in seasons, months, and years, breakups and more stuff are shown in quite a hurry, making some events to happen in a more rushed way than what would be optimal. Two episodes even got re-released as specials with extra scenes because of that, flowing better in those alternative versions, but still losing something from the aired version, so I guess the original manga is the only of the three to feel really complete.

Another issue is the ending, which is not a closure in the least, it feels open to make you go read the source, while at the same time it goes for a quite lukewarm and mixed take. Despite the big fuss everyone made about Shuuichi, and some of her classmates mocking her, from one episode to another it seemed like everyone came to accept her, which would be a good but weirdly presented finale, as it feels like something is missing in between. That’s not the only problem with it though, as some of the closest characters to her, and ambiguously even herself, seem to still see Shuuichi as a he at the end.

Well, that, and everyone still refers to Shuuichi as a boy and Sakatsuki as a girl throughout the whole show, nobody uses the proper pronouns for them. So the series ends up having an ambiguous take, but I guess it would be much to expect from a 2011 anime, based on a manga that began in 2002. Despite being a bit critical on the perception of transgender people, it focuses more on showing and exploring them, than explicitly make a statement and take a supportive position about them. This does not take away its importance and value theme wise, but it will probably feel like it didn’t dare to go all the way out there and a bit outdated when consuming it today.

Since I’m an Argentinian cisgender male born in a catholic and LGBT+phobic house, I don’t know how accurate the portray of the struggles of the characters is, much of it felt like they wanted to wear the clothes of the opposite sex, but incorporating their inner thoughts and the perspectives of everyone else took the topic to a grander level. I still have to say, I have my doubts of the credibility of some circumstances within the work as a whole. First is how lucky were the main two to encounter a transgender (and I think also transsexual, but I’m not sure, as it isn’t very clear) woman to talk with them and help them in some way, as well as another girl that sometimes uses a male uniform to encourage them in her own way.

Second, lots of characters seem to be ambiguously conflicted about their own sexualities at some point, at least that’s how it seemed to me with Chiba, who desired to be the Romeo to Shuuichi’s Juliet both in and out of the play, Mako, who at points seem attracted to his friend, and like I said Doi himself, the hardest to understand in the whole series. Having lots of possibly LGBT characters together in a series of its time seems unlikely, it also makes it harder to believe of their ambiguity to take a supportive position of the protagonists, but like I said, as a whole this criticism is not that important because this point is left rather ambiguous.

Third, despite the big fuss made on the last couple of episodes and all the people mocking the main character, nobody strongly opposed the idea to have cross-dressing events in the following festival, and even the people making fun of Shuuichi would come to respect her position as the scriptwriter and director of the second play. Again, something seems to be missing near the end.

Fourth, I have a hard time believing that they would let one student take their classes away from everyone else, in the infirmary no less.

A point I’d like to address is that ten years later, Blue Period was adapted, and a character over there seems to be able to wear whatever they want, I thought it was weirdly accepted there as well, but apparently nowadays the rules in Japanese schools allow that, or so I remember reading two years ago when I began watching and reading those other works. This does not take away the credibility of Hourou Musuko, but it’s important to keep in mind that the situation it displays might be different nowadays.

As for the characters, they have a bit of the same issue as the ones from Aoi Hana, they come off as much more mature as you would expect from their age and this genre, even more so in here because they are younger than the ones from that other series, but at least here they still have some childish traits and more petty conflicts and impulsive reactions to be more believable. The incomplete ending and how different the last episode was from what was shown earlier makes the catharsis to feel lacking, incomplete and incoherent, but there’s a strong development for the two main characters, who come to accept themselves and confront others as the show goes on, even when Shuuichi is far bolder and more straightforward as she seemed at first.

Characters I would like to say a bit more in specific include:

-Chiba, who wants to be supportive of the two protagonists, but because of her own feelings, ends up being quite conservative on her views, resulting in a very conflicted character. She is also “at that age” and comes off as a very rude and bratty bitch of a girl, but interestingly, she also has the self-awareness and self-reflection of being like that, even accepting it when being confronted by others, and is also sincere of disliking herself for not being as kind and open minded as others. Part of the series is also dedicated to how this character comes to terms with herself and others.

-Anna Suehiro, a character without much depth on her own, but a strong contender for one of the best girls and girlfriends in the whole medium. Mature, kind, understanding, and supportive. She seemed a bit too perfect but the series bothered to show some childish and impulsive traits of her, proper to her age, like starting relationships impulsively, and it also shows the limits of how open minded she really is, resulting on two great scenes near the end of the anime, one of them in the specials.

-Characters like Maho and Momo, despite being unlikable themselves on their own, are needed for the sake of the writing, as they represent how transgender people can be rejected even by those close to them, and that not everyone is supportive. At least there are salvageable traits for the first that I already covered earlier, I can’t say the same about the second, she was close minded, a hypocrite, and not even much of a character by herself, as she is only defined for being close to another girl. This character doesn’t add anything to the whole, honestly, her role could have been filled, and better, by anyone else, but at least she doesn’t have much screentime to count as an important flaw.

Despite the issues in its credibility, pacing, ending and own position, I find Hourou Musuko to be one of the most thematic relevant anime out there, even more so considering the time period it came out, and even more so for its source material. Plus, it’s a slice of life where everything feels like it’s moving the plot forward, and it did the good thing of showing multiple different perspectives, to add complexity to a premise that seemed interesting but simple. Not only that but it also had an either very appealing, looked into and fleshed out cast with interesting dynamics, or a well handled one in terms of writing for the case of those characters that aren’t that good on their own, all in just eleven episodes. I don’t think there’s much rewatch value in it, but it is definitely a worth watch for at least one time, as long as you don’t hate on anyone that isn’t cisgender. Now I have to go, there’s a complete story of 123 chapters that I want and have to read as soon as possible to see how all of this truly ends.

HERE IT IS FOLKS, THE LONG AWAITED DONGHUA ADAPTATION OF THE RAVAGES OF TIME, THE HIGHLY ACCLAIMED CULT CLASSIC MANHUA HAILED AS THE BEST WITHIN ITS MEDIUM AND THE BEST VERSION OF THE ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS IN ANIME AND MANGA…

…And it looks like shit. Well not bad exactly, but definitely as average as many other 3D donghua out there. Compared to other 2D action donghua that has gained some fame in recent years like Wu Shan Wu Xing, these visuals will surely be underwhelming. It’s even worse when compared with the action anime that were airing at the same time that this series came out, like Jigokuraku, Kimetsu no Yaiba or Jujutsu Kaisen, to name a few. Heck, Aiyou de Mishi is a non-action 2D donghua that aired at the same time as this and it looked way better. When paired with all those competitors out there, and even with its own source material, which doesn’t look exactly great either but it’s visually still pretty good, this show ranks at the very bottom when it comes to visuals, as it looks like the cinematics from a PS3 videogame.

Everything from its artwork, backgrounds, special effects and not very expressive and quite stiff and similarly looking character models, looks rather fake. Better than anime with bad CGI but certainly way worse than anime with good CGI. The motions during fights are not bad actually, and the choreography of those battles are quite good, but the shaky angles don’t let you see what’s happening in the clearest way either.

Not to say that there aren’t any visually good and interestingly directed moments in it, especially in the last episode, but those are very few in a pile of mediocrity. Normally I wouldn’t pay much attention to that, but The Ravages of Time is a heavy action work, especially in its beginning, and action needs good production and presentation, something that isn’t present here and makes for an important flaw.

As for the sound, the sound effects also range from weak to quite good, resulting in another just mediocre result. The voice acting also comes off as average, although I blame it a little on what the script is like at the beginning of the manhua, not allowing to show much more of the characters other than everyone coming off as a badasss. With that said, still, almost every character sounds very similar to the others within an age the same or close to theirs, with the only exception being the feminine looking characters, that still sound alike as well, thus this aspect is also mediocre. The music in the other hand is quite good and fitting for its series, even the opening and ending, an epic song and a ballad respectively, both with traditional Chinese music vibes. That is also important when dealing with an historical show, and a detail that anime pay less and less attention as time passes it seems (Golden Kamuy, Vinland Saga, Rurouni Kenshin remake, for examples), but this is not the place to talk about that.

Even if you strip it of its dressing, the meat is not the best thing in this series either. What you probably heard or read about The Ravages of Time during all these years is that it is a super detailed and smart look at The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, focusing on highlights and equal time dedicated for every major character, strong characterization for everyone, military strategies and tactics, mind games and very well written sociopolitical and ideological discussions, while still being an overall faithful adaptation, even if it still has its new twists and dimensions for the characters on its own. And the thing is, all of that is present within the manhua, yes, but not so much in the beginning, and even less in the donghua, where the subtitles of the adaptation are simplified and not as detailed as what you can find when you read the source material.

Not to say that the series so far is poorly written, and it has some of that good elements, while also building up and anticipating plot points and character dynamics that will be important later on, but it also suffers strongly from two major issues that remain present during the entirety of the original work, although not as much as what has been shown here. The first one is that, although necessary for the coherent and cohesive whole and for future events, some of its chapters and now also episodes are simply not as interesting nor as packed as others. Not a major problem, but one worth mentioning.

The other bigger issue is how in the beginning, The Ravages of Time is full of something that never goes completely away and that works against it in its intention of portraying a serious and detailed look at these historical events, which is the dick measuring, especially in the beginning. This aspect is present on two forms, with the first one being the excessive amount of rule of cool. Although every character is presented as cool and badass, and has good enough highlights, spotlight and their time to shine, thus seemingly being presented fairly and equally, this also results on way too much spectacle, to the point where the series stops being believable. This is particularly true for the heavily plot armored Huo Liaoyuan, one of the two main characters and protagonists, who is so un-killable he might as well be a supernatural being in a setting where everyone else is an overpowered human, but still feels like a human.

The other form of dick measuring is the many HAHA GOTCHA moments present in the beginning of the story, affecting even the credibility of the many plans within plans and strategies within strategies of the characters, because of both how sometimes they are explained as they happen, instead of before their execution, and for how much the characters are able to see far ahead, somehow even manipulating circumstances they don’t have any control of.

Anyways, here are the important aspects of this particular season:

-The story begins somewhere between the end of the Yellow Turban rebellion and the rise of Dong Zhuo, his coup d’état and tyrannical government.

-This first season doesn’t have an ending, the conclusion of the former point should be shown on a possible continuation.

-Although important, none of the main characters of the novel and other adaptations are the protagonists here. The series is shown primarily from the perspective of Sima Yi, who plans events and manipulate others for the sake of what he thinks is right and to make profits out of the conflict, and Huo Liaoyuan, an assassin and both a friend and underling of the former.

-Some characters are presented differently than in many other adaptations of the same events and novel: Dong Zhuo is not a goofy senile old man or an impulsive and easy to fool madman, Liu Bei is not a saint, as he is willing to do questionable things for what he thinks is the greater good, Zhang Fei and Lu Bu are not just brutes, they are quite smart, the latter is even put on the same level as the main tacticians of the conflict, and Zhao Zilong and Diaochan are just two alternative names of two major characters in this show.

-Although this season only shown them just in name, a big part of the whole story is dedicated to a group of students of Sima Hui and future military advisors that work for the major generals, referred as The Eight Geniuses. The only one highlighted so far was the first, Yuan Fang, an original character working for and related to Yuan Shao.

-An important original character that stands out enough to be worth mentioning on his own is Xiao Meng, an eunuch, assassin, and the best archer out of the whole cast. If the adaptation keeps going on, he will become one of the best cross-dressing and androgynous characters in the whole medium.

-Cao Cao was teased but he did not appear yet, he might in a possible next season.

In conclusion, this first season of the adaptation of one of the most praised manhuas is great in ideas but just decent in execution. The production, presentation, aesthetics and atmosphere range just from mediocre to decent at best, the characters are more imposing and cool than deep or very well written, the core story is good but there is too much silliness for the sake of spectacle in it, and it feels like a setup for future events with no form of conclusion in any way. Even the possible continuation will have many of this issues as well. Worth checking out for being the starting point and a promise for something far bigger and better to possibly come out who knows when, if even, which makes it look like the usual overhype of the fanboys of a fighting shounen that say that it is average or slightly above average in the beginning, yet it becomes much better later on. If you are not willing to go through that for this season and even the hypothetical next one, I suggest checking out the source material if you haven’t, it is very long, very detailed, quite the challenging read, and very anti mainstream in its approach, but very rewarding for those who are patient with it, but only after a while, as it is the seinen and true version of “IT GETS VERY GOOD AFTER 40 CHAPTERS AND ALL OF ITS ALMOST 600 (so far, and still far from over) CHAPTERS ARE IMPORTANT GUYS, I SWEAR”.

Note: There is only one spoiler in this review, but it is a big one. This anime stands out a bit for being quite mature and relaxed with its subject matter, and because of its visuals. It’s otherwise nothing special in terms of plot.

I originally watched this title back in 2017, and just like Amanchu!, which I also revisited this year, I’m glad I rewatched it because I had a different idea in my mind of how the anime actually is.

For example, I remembered Aoi Hana to be just drama, yet there are quite a lot of comical moments in it. Comical, yet not funny, I don’t think anyone will exactly laugh with the light moments in it, since what it got from me was a smile at best. With that said, I rarely laugh when watching anime, so there’s that.

Anyways, this series belongs in the early 00s trend of having yuri anime inside girls only catholic schools, what with their own chapels and stuff, a rich girl, and a tall and petite girl, usually black haired and with brownish/red head respectively, as the main characters, typical stuff.

A trend that was quite the rave back then for its novelty, but was pretty much forgotten by now and kind of infamous even then, because the relationships of the main couples in said anime were often toxic, manipulative, sometimes even abusing.

Aoi Hana stands out from the norm thanks to two things. One, it is not like that, and two, and this is a big spoiler, but I just have to say it, the main characters are not the main couple. The first thing that has to be clarified about this title is that, despite having the main girls together in the posters and opening and ending song, both of which with lyrics from one character speaking directly to the other, the romance does not revolve around them as girlfriends.

In fact, despite being tagged as romance, the series is more of an anti-romance, it belong in the same category as 5 Centimeters per Second in that regard, in the sense that it’s not exactly about the progress or conflicts of any particular relationship, as it is more about people hurt because of unrequited love, so it’s more of a drama than anything else.

Although there are definitely characters in this show that are more questionable than others, no one can be exactly labeled as a plain awful person, they hurt others not out of intention but because they themselves don’t realize how they truly feel and how much they are really affected because of those feelings. So a big part of the show is to explore the backdrops of them and make them grow a little by realizing that.

With that said, only Fumi, the main girl and protagonist of the series, is the one to fully reach that level of catharsis, not even much of a development. And I have to say said conclusion was kind of a mixed bag, her whole conflict was starting out a relationship because of her hurt heart after her unrequited first love, which she remembers at the last moment that it actually wasn’t the first. Despite that, she has the best scene of the whole show as she calls out on someone else’s bullshit. The rest come to a realization but there’s no progress for them besides that, as the anime just ends with a quite open and incomplete ending, making you go to read the manga if you want to know the true finale.

Aside from that, Aoi Hana is not exaggerated and corny nor unrealistic as the romance genre usually is at least in anime, mostly thanks to those sensible characters, who in some cases are in love with the same person yet don’t take it on the other, don’t overreact, and even when they cry about it, the scenes are not presented in an overly dramatic way. No hysterical characters, no yelling, no running after someone, no awkward confessions in front of everyone else. This is not one of those emotionally manipulative tearjerkers.

At the same time, the differences in its execution are more present in its presentation rather than its plot or characters, which at the end of the day are still typical, simple, slow moving and kind of uneventful, nothing that would please or caught the attention of a critical audience or someone that isn’t a super fan of the genre to begin with.

Visually, Aoi Hana has quite a distinctive identity thanks to its polished artwork and beautiful and atypical seemingly hand drawn backgrounds, closer to either paintings or drawings made with crayons at times. The downside is how simple and typical the character figures are, even with some facial repetition here and there, and even more so because as soon as it ended, the adaptation of Sasameki Koto aired, another work from the same mangaka with very similar character designs. Also, given the nature of the show, it is very limited and not very good in terms of movements. An initial issue with the visuals that goes away later on is how bright the anime is in the beginning, something that still happens to this day with some titles for some reason, I don’t know why. There were times that I had to get farther away from the screen to even see what was happening, but fortunately that doesn’t happen from the mid to late point of the series. Oh, and I have to point this out, there is very limited CGI, and yet it was very well integrated within the rest of the elements, a rare case in the medium and overall a rare win in the visual department for J.C. Staff.

The sound is nothing special however, serviceable sound effects, good relaxing and melancholic piano pieces that reflects the overall vibe of the show quite well and yet they are easy to forget. The same thing can be said about the opening and endings, they are fine for what the show is about but nothing to remember unless you hear them regularly. The voice acting is odd, as most of the cast is composed of minor names, with only two or three big voice actresses in it, some of them sound realistic, mature and atypical for the kind of anime this is, some of them, the more comical ones, give the exact opposite impression.

The distinctive visuals, the mature presentation and tone and the sensible characters is what makes Aoi Hana better than most of its counterparts that I’ve read or watched or know of on a critical level, but it’s still a fairly slow paced, simple, kind of uneventful and incomplete show for anyone outside the target audience.

And even within said target audience, the series has the issue of being for a very specific taste, one that likes high school dramas and romances, yet also wants a different and mature presentation, things that rarely go together, as the two genres were always conceived as something to work more on an emotional level and not so much on a critical one. The cheesiness, the petty characters, their emotional breakdowns, the conflicts, the overdramatic reactions and soundtrack that go along with them, all of that is fine for an audience that consumes this type of stories just for a quick easy watch, knowing well that what they watch or read is otherwise not very good in terms of substance and writing. Aoi Hana presents itself as an oddity that gives them the same content with a slower pacing, a much lower energy, teenage characters that act so reasonably to the point of feeling less human as they should for being appealing within the genre, and even for how they would react in real life, and a kind of incomplete ending, given the promotional material, that makes them go to get the manga, which from what I read on comments and reviews, is a bit different, in the sense that does include some exaggerated an even quite nasty scenes, and it still ends with an unsatisfying conclusion. It ranks among the better yuri I have consumed, but it can also result in a very dull and forgettable watch for most people, because of the same aforementioned reasons that give it some level of quality.

Time for Another review of a P.A. Works show that I absolutely despised that was equally beat to death, this time attempting to do a horror series and resulting in one of the most beloved unintentional comedies of all time within the medium, that nowadays is remembered as a better Mayoiga, a title that was almost universally mocked to death and that I didn’t watch because if this is supposed to be the better version, why bother with the other one?

Anyways the studio definitely delivered with the visuals in some regards and didn’t with others. The overall artwork is clean and consistent with no major issues, and as usual for them, the backgrounds are very well made, the rather dark coloring fits the attempted mood and tone well, and the special effects are very good as well. But again the problem is the completely uninspired character designs that seem to have been taken from literally anywhere else, not only that but unlike the last show I covered, this time they don’t even have a distinct hair style or color or accessory to at least stand out from the other characters within the same show, outside of the main girl with an eye patch. It goes for a kind of realistic approach in that regard but the result ended up being completely unmemorable and dull to look at, plus the style of faces it went for went against that idea of realistic looks.

The motions are a bigger issue in the visuals since the characters in this series are seen only in three ways during its whole duration: 1-Completely still and emotionless. 2-Barely moving, and emotionless. And 3-Moving so much and in deformed ways for the sake of being unnerving that instead comes off as a joke. Since the overall aesthetics are quite plain and flat for a horror product, the makers tried going for crazy faces and exaggerated movements as an attempt to scare the audience and the result was, once again, one of the most cherished unintentional comedies within the medium.

The directing is pretty average as well, nothing regarding camera work adds to the atmosphere it tries to build, and the quick cuts the series does to broken dolls, or other things like a particular part of the body of someone about to die, to feel random and, for the third time, unintentionally funny.

Similar things happen with the sound department, the sound effects are good and fitting and the background music is a typical albeit well made horror soundtrack. It’s just that, again, the directing doesn’t use them properly in the least. The volume can randomly go up by a lot for no reason to make the sound effects seem intense, and the tracks turn to something like seem taken out from Silent Hill, and what might be happening on screen when they are used is just the characters walking to some place. In Another series it could have been a little bit scary but for this one, from the premise itself it’s clear that nothing supernatural is coming out at any moment, so it’s all both artificial and fake tension or interrupted by one of the most random death scenes that you’ll watch in the whole medium, making you laugh at best and be irritated, like myself, at worst. Which is a shame because the main theme is actually quite good, but it’s a bit long and repetitive for what it’s worth, and so overused and misused that it loses its effect very fast. I found the opening to be unfitting for the anime and quite crappy even on its own, and I can’t even talk about the ending song because I don’t even remember and I don’t care enough to check it out again for the purpose of this review. Voice acting is standard.

The series was always thought of as the anime equivalent of the Final Destination movie franchise, which people liked in the beginning but ended up hating as it went on, so right out of the bat the comparison warns you to better skip this title. In this case, the reason for all the deaths is a curse from a former dead student that kept ongoing for thirty years, as presented in the show in its first three minutes. This makes anyone from a specific class to die at any moment, meaning, anything bad can happen to anyone at any moment in any way just because the script says so, you already know what the result of that ended up being. Essentially, a butt hurt causes lots of innocent people die even decades after their death. What’s worse is that the main girl knows a lot more than she lets others know, making an otherwise simple resolution for an equally simple show being stretched out for way more duration than needed, especially when you consider that she is the main suspect, being accused just because of her appearance and rumors about her or some shit. And that’s not all, as the growing dementia because of the curse makes any character to change completely for no reason other than just because. A completely normal person can turn into a psychopath murderer the next moment, to kill everyone and soon afterwards die themselves, mostly because of the main plot device of the show, but sometimes because they lost their mind. Except for the two protagonists, every other character can get totally rewritten at any given moment.

Not that it makes much of a difference really, as there are no real characters in the series, considering how weak their presence and personalities are, and how practically nobody has a backdrop, even less so any development and catharsis. Only a few of them are alive at the end of the show, and they remain completely unchanged from all the horrible deaths and killings they witness and survive by a hair. Only the main girl has a pretty dumb backdrop, and is not present in the main series, it was released as an extra episode or ova. Forget about character archetypes, these don’t even reach that level of characterization, they are closer to mannequins which only difference with the dolls shown at some points in the anime is that these ones are kind of alive, as they kind of move and kind of talk. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this might be the worst cast of characters I have seen in my life, both in quantity and quality, as there are a lot and not a single one of them isn’t terrible.

The absolute worst aspect of both writing and characterization is how the curse can make everyone forget the information they gathered and, at the end, the person responsible for it, in what’s essentially the worst excuse for delaying the plot and any kind of character progression whatsoever ever written. Not only that but despite all the deaths and killings going on for thirty years, nobody in the little town the show takes place in does anything about it. Even when is known that only a specific class is cursed, nobody investigates, nor tries to close the class, nor change the numbers of the classes, nor moves the students to other classes, nor close the school, not even tries to alarm others, nor moves on from the town on their own to avoid the possibility of being caught in all this tragedy. By comparison, last year I read Uzumaki, where it also takes a lot of time for people to react, but at least they do at some point, and the setting ends up explaining why no one could do anything, I found it underwhelming as essentially the characters weren’t any better nor had any more of a real option than this cast, but at least they try and there is an explanation, over here there’s absolutely nothing. This is easily among the highest positions on the worst written shows I have seen in my life, dragging on with no excuse just because it has to.

There is only a half positive I can say about this anime, which is that it anticipates at some point who the dead person is, it’s just that it’s quite subtle and easy to miss, since every other second in the show is completely different than how that information was given. And the reason for why it’s only half a positive, it’s because it ends up being a huge plot hole, sice that character was nowhere inside the class during most of the whole show, which was a rule that the series established earlier.

Oh, and I almost forgot, since it doesn’t happen much, but there a few scenes that are meant to be funny and are even more random than any of the deaths. Also, this series somehow managed to have the most unfitting and out of place beach episode of any anime of all time, whether its setting is a school or not

Bottom line, this is an even worse anime than the last one I covered, and I hate it even more than that one, easily one of the worst written and directed products I have seen in my life, with no sense of logic and rationality within the script whatsoever, and with one of the worst, if not the worst cast of characters I have seen in my life. It looks nice but that’s about it. Remembering about it only made me drop its score even lower, I’m afraid, making it earn a place among the worst titles within the medium that I have seen in my life.