Jeoffrey

So, after fifteen years we have finally reached the end of the Gintama saga unless Mr.Sorachi is trolling us again. The movie seems to act as a conclusion to the storyline in the anime series, in classic Gintama style, but who knows what he is going to come up with next... Anyway, this finale was classic Gintama, alternating top-quality action scenes with crazy and sometimes even stupid comedy that parodies many things, including other popular long-running anime series. It can also have a more sensitive tone and is sometimes skilfully philosophical, at other times it blatantly tugs on the heartstrings. In other words, once again it covers a lot of ground, throwing a lot of disparate elements into one unexpected and harebrained thing, that is meant to both entertain the audience and leave them feeling they have seen something really cool. I thought it was a fitting conclusion and I was quite surprised that it was not as overly emotional or intense as I had expected it to be. So, due to that I am not as emotionally devastated as I thought I would be at the end of this long journey, as a huge fan of this anime series, which I have enjoyed so much over the years. On the contrary, I think it was all good, and I am happy I can watch it again sometime, and that maybe, just maybe, they have not finished with Gintama just yet, although no one knows what is going on in that head of Hideaki Sorachi, and what he is going to come up with when he gets tired of playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice…

I feel as if someone had put ordinary dry bread covered in ketchup in my hands and claimed it was a new and original recipe. What do I mean? Well, I guess that for an original Japanese anime television series, the basic story and plotline development is very run-of-the-mill, predictable, and clichéd. I felt like I had already seen a lot of such anime series before, and nothing (especially the ending) surprised me at all. It had some energy, though, and I enjoyed the passion that the narrative and its characters (logically, except for the main male protagonist) exuded. It was probably the main reason I gave this mecha anime series a chance, even though I am not usually into this genre. Even the setting seemed promising to me. It is just that when the foundation is dry bread, even ketchup cannot possibly make it delicious. 4.8/10.

The Mugen Train Arc is easier to digest as a TV anime series adaptation than Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, mainly due to the addition of the first episode and the fact that there is a week’s break between each episode of the anime series. What I mean by the former is that because of the extra first episode in which Kyojuro Rengoku is introduced to us in more depth, this character gains more life and is a bit better fleshed out within the plot. His fate interests me more than it did in the movie. By the latter, I mean that all the whining, which is so annoying in the movie, is not as bad because of the anime TV series format, it is more tolerable. However, to give the first part of the anime series a better rating than I gave the movie, considering that it is an exact retelling from the second episode, strikes me as nonsense, so I am sticking to the same rating. In other words, yes, the anime series adaptation is a bit better, in my opinion, even though the downside is that it is simply a retelling of something I have already seen. Thus I cannot legitimately enjoy it as much as I did when I first saw it because I already know its narrative quite well. The Entertainment District Arc is the best part of the anime series so far. It has momentum, so the pacing is quite brisk. This anime series has some of the most gorgeous and dazzling fight scenes I have ever seen because the cinematography is divine, the editing is unreal, plus the set design and choreography of the fight scenes are also incredible. The Ufotable animation studio knows how to produce a fight scene and shoot it from different angles; they have great camera work, so the movement and the pace are dynamic. This is what slow motion is supposed to look like, and conversely, this is how to speed up a shot using editing so that the viewer's eye can process it. In addition, the anime's creators know how to work with color filters and know that the aesthetic impression is as important for the viewer as the smooth movement. After all, most of the team working on Demon Slayer worked on Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and anyone who has seen those anime series and experienced their fight scenes is not going to be all that surprised by the quality of this show. I thought that the best episode was probably the thirteenth when, in addition to everything already mentioned, I enjoyed Tanjiro's scene with Daki, especially when he show something like "Where are you going? Get over here!" Of course, the other episodes were also magnificent, full of beautiful and powerful moments, unexpected power shifts between the rival sides, and moments that gave me chills. I was afraid for the main male protagonists during at least one scene. In other words, from the thirteenth episode onwards, everything built up incredibly to a powerful and emotional conclusion that once again did not disappoint. I was happy with how they executed everything and that I once again got that profound feeling where I could sympathize with the main villain and his narrative, which was shocking, powerful, and sad. (I missed this a lot in the Mugen Train Arc with Enmu, for example). Likewise, I was won over again by Tanjiro Kamado and his empathy. Another big positive aspect of the Entertainment District Arc is the greater use of Nezuko. Finally, he is not just there as an ornament for decorative purposes that the main male protagonist carries around in his backpack, or just a symbol of incredible cuteness, or a comic element. Nezuko features some strong scenes in this show, saving others' skins at the right moments, and in her fighting form, she comes across as dazzling and sinister, almost like She-Hulk. Plus, when the hysterical Zenitsu is asleep most of the time and performs in some of the coolest moments of this anime series like it is nothing, there is almost nothing to prevent yourself from really enjoying this. Only almost, of course, because even the Entertainment District Arc has its weaknesses. For one thing, it is great that the first episode of this installment satisfactorily wraps up the previous part, dealing with what happened on the train and things related to it. It was necessary for me as a viewer. However, once again, the anime's creators had not learned their lesson, so Uzui Tengen's arrival on the scene is as strange and abrupt as it was in the previous episode with Rengoku. Again, there is a lack of introduction (this is something that the first episode of this anime series addresses with the Mugen Train Arc, although they missed that with Uzui Tengen). As a result, we only get to know Uzui Tengen from minor flashbacks, hints within the narrative, and some post-credits scenes. I quite liked Tengen, and fortunately, by making Tengen a slightly more interesting character than Rengoku was, in my opinion, it all works a little better. (By that, I do not just mean that he has three wives, but rather how he interacts with others, including his wives). After saying that, I still insist that I feel he deserved a better introduction. Another thing I did not get were some of the things that many praised terribly, although I, being ignorant of the original manga, did not get. Like, what was so freaking cool about the muscle mice? I felt like I was missing something; many viewers loved them, even though I still do not know why. Another minor complaint is that I found episodes eight to twelve a bit rushed and truncated. They were supposed to portray the setting and introduce situations and the characters. While they did all this quite well in the end, I could not shake off the impression that they were in a terrible hurry to get through it as quickly as possible so that the fight would be over. Anyway, all these negative aspects would still not have been so terrible and would have only made the overall impression worse by about half a point, if it were not for something else that really annoyed me. What irritated me so much was the plot armor of some of the characters. SPOILER ALERT. In the penultimate episode, Inosuke was really over the top. I could still buy that the first layer of his armor was immune to poisons because he is a mountain boy, although the organ shifting in his body was total bullshit! That was plot armor of a Fairy Tail level and perhaps even worse! That one line pissed me off, I could have done without it, just like I am sure the conclusion could have done without Inosuke, or the whole thing could have been made less stupid! END OF SPOILERS. I guess that is enough for the negative aspects. Most of the time, Demon Slayer shows how a shonen can be engaging, where the emotional aspects work, the fight scenes are good, and even the characters become increasingly easier to like. So there are weaknesses, although every show has them. So I am looking forward to future episodes to see what else the anime's creators are going to come up with and where they can take it all visually with the graphics because what they showed in this show demonstrated they are without question at the TOP of their game. The TOP narrative is now the only thing that it is missing, but the Entertainment District Arc, was well-paced and emotional. I found it moving, although the plot was lacking. I am awarding the Mugen Train Arc - 7.5/10 and the Entertainment District Arc 9/10, 8.3/10 overall.

I enjoyed Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon - The Second Act more than the first season. After all, the show’s narrative followed the story more strictly. There were some touching reunions that I was subconsciously looking forward to from the beginning. In the end, everything came to a pleasant and almost too much of a fairy-tale-like conclusion. Although there is still room for a follow-up, I do not know if I want one. In the beginning, I did not even know if I cared about this whole spin-off thing, even though, in the end, I enjoyed it. As with the first season, the soundtrack still works great, as do the member berries and most new characters (I even managed to get on with Towa in the end). The concluding story was not half as dramatic as I expected. It had its strong and weak moments, although overall, it was engaging and sometimes entertaining. The villains were not just evil either, they were rather misunderstood, or perhaps they could not express themselves. The season finished at a somewhat suspenseful but otherwise quite enjoyable pace. The second season, therefore, gets 7/10.

First of all, I am slightly disappointed that the second season of Cells at Work! is so short. Eight episodes is really not that much, especially when half of it is actually just the Cells at Work!! The Movie (that have already been aired) split into four episodes . However, I think you have to appreciate that there was not much source material left for a second season (as actually, only the sixth volume of the original manga series remains unadapted). Plus, it is forgivable considering the new episodes are still more or less as good as in the previous season. Again, some interesting new facts emerged, and I enjoyed watching the engaging depictions of some of the processes in the human body that I was somehow already familiar with. In addition, they also tell you things you can know from even a simple Actimel commercial (did you know that there are billions of friendly bacteria living in our bodies that have a beneficial effect on your digestion? I did!). It was also quite tempting to compare all of this to the spin-off series Cells at Work! Code Black, because both series sometimes had episodes that featured the same part of the human body that were aired in the exact same week. Of course, the atmosphere of this show was still quite light (again, especially compared to Cells at Work! Code Black), which was only disturbed by the great comeback of a familiar enemy. This great enemy does not seem like such a terrifying threat which would make me throw my pack of cigarettes in the trash and never go back to them, and still somehow strikes me as more like a misunderstood cell that I almost sometimes sympathize with... Anyway, I quite enjoyed these few new episodes, I perhaps even learned something, and I even smiled occasionally - so, I am now satisfied. 7.8/10.

I probably enjoyed the spin-off Cells at Work! Code Black a bit more than the second season of the original Cells at Work! anime series, and not just because it is longer, darker in tone, and more suspenseful. Everything in the show means a lot more to me rather than, say, the way a healthy body works, because as I have gotten older I have also struggled with some of the issues highlighted in the show (stress, alcohol, smoking...) to some extent and so on. Truth be told, it is quite an intense show and I think that if I had weak nerves or a stronger will, then thanks to this anime series, I would perhaps be able to quit some of my bad habits (or at least I could try to for a few months). Unfortunately, however, that is probably not going to happen. I like that there is a real point to this show, because if it helps anyone quit habits harmful to their health, then it has served its purpose. I can fully empathize here because this time we know some specifics about this concrete human body (for example, you can determine that it is a middle-aged man or even older - so same as me). I also liked the idea of the cells' daily struggle to live in an inhospitable environment, especially finding their motivation to continue their work. I also really liked the idea that it almost suggested that death is the moment when your own body and its cells just give up on you. Equally, I appreciated and reflected on the fact that a near-death experience usually leads to a drastic change in lifestyle, that there can be a real effort to change, and it can be a long-term thing for most people (again, it seems to be about willpower). The show also present the fact that when something is wrong with you, your health problems suddenly start to pile up pretty quickly. The way the necessary interventions (medical interventions) were depicted was also quite interesting. I liked the characters and the soundtrack was fine, even if the animation was a bit lacking (not just compared to the original Cells at Work!). Anyway, I found that this show was valuable and informative, which I appreciate, and I am giving this a thumbs up, because now I am aware that Joffrey could easily end up like this one day too... 8.2/10.

The Tale of the Heike is an extraordinary anime series that caught my attention with its aesthetic, animation style, and soundtrack. It almost gave me the impression at times that I was watching a strange combination of a television series and a theatrical performance. There is much Japanese mysticism and tradition, some interesting historical characters, and a reasonably simplistic narrative concerning the fall of a great dynasty and an epic power struggle. The epic account is all told from the perspective of a young girl. Personally speaking, I saw it as an effort to bring more people closer to the Japanese classics. Getting folk to read those books would explain why a lot of the politics and plotting is so simplistic and comes across as slightly truncated to make it easier and more accessible for the audience to follow. However, it does have its own undeniable charm, and I immensely enjoyed Aoi Yuki's performance in the lead role and admired her singing in particular. It was a unique experience - a very interesting show, even though it was probably worth only one viewing. This show hopefully educated me a little, enriched me culturally, and was certainly not boring. On the other hand, I wonder if this is an anime series I would recommend to the average anime viewer, and something tells me that a lot of the people I know would find it too weird or boring. It is simply that this show is definitely not going to be for everyone, even though I did enjoy it quite a bit. 6.9/10.

I am going to try to be brief... In this show, I particularly liked the conflict between the two interesting parties, where I could not be sure who to really be rooting for, because the anime’s creators are constantly reminding the audience that the Idaten are not human and in many situations behave very differently from a human perspective and often really inhuman like true gods, very indifferent to ordinary things. Similarly, the demons are constantly reminding us that they are demons, and even though they usually have much more interesting characters than the Idaten themselves due to their humanity (and so I found some of them, therefore, more appealing that way), we are constantly reminded that they are monsters. It is all really well produced, because here the animation studio simply did not mess around with the censorship of sensitive topics, and so things happen in the show, often (like the end of the first episode) with very original graphics or musical accompaniment, that leaves you with a sense of wonder and I really enjoyed it. I also liked the animation a lot, the fight scenes had the right dynamics, and in general, the whole thing just had a nice flow to it. What the most irritating thing for me was, on the other hand, was that the anime creators decided to put some of what I thought were important expositions into fast-forward mode, and so I, therefore, could not keep up with everything written on-screen. In fact, I then had to get up and pause watching it just because I was interested in catching up on reading all of that information! But enough already, I wanted to be brief... The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is just an enjoyable combat anime series that kept me interested, entertained, and curious regarding a possible follow-up. 7.3/10.

I found the beginning of this anime series really interesting, similarly, watching the strange relationship going on had a little something to it at times, and I found Yoshida likable because the character made a lot of sense, and his head seemed to really be in the game. On the other hand, I was squirming uncomfortably at some other important parts. OK, so yeah it is perfectly normal to not try and have sex with an underage girl, however, I somehow could not get over the fact that it was still quite weird to just take her to one’s home to sleep over at night. I mean, if you really wanted to help her out just for a short time, I guess it could be OK, however, I sure as hell would not just let her stay for six months without immediately wanting to know exactly why she ran away from home and did what she did. Plus, if there was ever a good reason to contact social services then this would be it... Well, all right then, maybe I could try to get my head around it (I could come up with an explanation so I could accept it). However, there are more things that have a weird vibe and do not sit well with me, meaning I could not fully buy into it. What annoyed me, in general, was the behavior of most of the female characters (except maybe Asami), and the way they dealt with their problems. Again, I could list a ton of things that I found were just not believable, or that I just did not like. When some anime fans on a forum started gossiping about who Yoshida should get together with, intensely debating the pros and cons of all the female characters, I had already made my mind up that he would be best staying single. *SPOILER* Likewise, I just watched in disbelief at the very end as everything was being torn apart, and I could not even understand Yoshida anymore and wondered if it was not just another Dogeza: I Tried Asking While Kowtowing episode (because even here Dogeza, a traditional Japanese way to apologize, can resolve every problem and handles anything that seems overwhelming). *END OF SPOILER* The whole of this drama felt weird to me, I could not empathize with the situation, and I did not really find the way the characters dealt with it believable either, and it felt almost stupid at times. So, I am sitting here thinking about my final decision of what I should award this, what I actually took away from Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, and how much I enjoyed it. All I could bring myself to award this was a very unconvincing "meh". 4.7/10.

Well, I finally finished the fourth season of Hitori no šita: The Outcast. It took me so long mainly because after the first few episodes, I had to force myself to keep going because I did not enjoy the story dedicated to the main male protagonist and his group at all. Even though the last few episodes were interesting, I could not be bothered, really, as I had lost heart somewhere in the middle of the season. There were at least a few action-packed scenes that were good and affected the rating positively, although otherwise, I am awarding a mere 3/10, and I do not know if I can go on, although I hope not to lose any sleep over it.