#springanime2018

Story is Great (9). Unlike today, anime before the age of digital advances put a lot of time in developing a single episode of 20-24 minute show for the audiences and this in turn makes the all the people behind the anime work hard to provide at least the best story that they could ever provide to justify the amount of time and money that is invested in a project. That is why if you are looking for wonderful anime in terms of story and content I would suggest you go back to watching the classics like cowboy bebop, samurai x, detective conan to mention a few.

Now how does this relate to Megalo Box? A lot! To begin with, this is a love letter to one of the most popular stories ever made: Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow's Joe) for its 50th Anniversary. It's a story of a true rise of an underdog from the slums to the peak of the highest pedestal. It does not keep you waiting and throws you to the depths of it's ssemi-dystopian world of underground megalo boxing. It is boxing with the addition of supporting boxing mechanical gears that enhances the boxer's skill, strengths and abilities.

Upon knowing this, you would be immediately pulled by the idea of it and the possibilities that it would bring. But I bet the you would not be able to guess the direction that the story would pull you through once you start watching it.

The story kept me guessing on what would happen next or would they be some high end upgrades that the protagonist would be going through. Yes there were tons of upgrades but not in the part that you may interpret it.

This is one of the stories that I can say I was totally satisfied from how it piqued my interest, how it sustained my interest and how it satisfied me with its conclusion.

Art is Outstanding (10). Megalo Box's biggest advantages is it's art style or to be more precised, how it imitated an art style. remember how I mentioned Cowboy Bepop? It was because If you have at least watch one of its episode or seen its art, you can directly see where it adapts the art style.

There are no, flawless lines here or vibrant colors. It stayed away from the flawlessness of anime of today and went to the classic 90's anime look with how it handled color and texture. Even on 1080p you can see the intentional grainy or imperfect lines that creates that character models and I love it!

Sound is Very Good (8). Sound is also very good. I would like to commend the ambient music and mood setting chimes and tunes it plays along with the story. It is a major factor of sustaining the moment when I watch Megalo Box.

"Bite" by LEO Imai the opening theme of the story is a great tool to setup the hype of the battle that the anime shows all through out the story and it greatly shows the personality of this anime: ruthless. Even if I am not a fan of the type of rock they play in this opening theme, I can truly appreciate it.

"Kakatte Koi yo (かかってこいよ)" by NakamuraEmi its ending theme is just fun for me. It brings me to a bar setting vibe not only with the music but also with the accompanying animation using neon lights. a perfect way to wrap up an episode.

Characters are Outstanding (10). This is where Megalo Box shines as the story is heavily reliant on the characters. All of the characters, knows their roles in the story and they are not pretentious or confused about it.

From the underdog protagonist of the story Junkyard Dog to his partner in crime Nanbu up to the end boss of the story Yuri and his manager Yukiko, all of their characters critically weaves the story altogether.

Supporting characters are there not only to move the plot forward but to make the mains of the story bloom and shine more as the story progresses in to it's final act.

Overall, I would greatly recommend Megalo Box to people who are sick of the mainstream approach to anime and wants to go its roots, or for people just love on brilliant story telling. It does not matter if you like boxing or sports genre in general, this anime is definitely for you. So watch it! Better yet... Binge watch its 13 episodes

Story is Outstanding (10). I was was never a fan of the Magical Girl genre since I was young, although I've watch a good amount of Card Captor Sakura and Sailor moon since I don't have a choice back in the Television era. But there is something with Magical Girls and a dark and morbid story that really tingles my weird taste in anime.

Mahou Shoujo Site is another anime that I did not expect much to blow me away in the Spring Anime 2018 lineup together with Hinamatsuri. I just thought that this is a mixture of totally contrasting genre and since I love opposing genre mashups that I would give this a try. And after watching the very first episode, it swept me away like a tempest in the end of days! I could not get enough of it that I have started reading its manga and the other work of Kentarou Satou Mahou Shoujo of the End (You should read this). This meant a lot for me since I am the type of person that is really picky when it comes to story and Mahou Shoujo Site did not disappoint... well I've never really set a huge expectation to it to begin with.

The anime does not adapt the manga on a 1:1 ratio. It omits some parts and rearranges the story to fit the 12 episode seasonal format. Surprisingly, I did not feel that it was badly adapted; moreover, I felt that the anime developed an identity of itself that it can stand toe to toe with it's manga counterpart. I am glad that it did not have the adaptation disease that Tokyo Ghoul had.

Outstanding Story of bullied, abused, mistreated unfortunate girls who receives special items to help redeem their lost life and happiness.

Art is Great (9). The art felt magically eerie and I absolutely love it! The way that it mashes cutesie magical girly stuff with grunge darkness surprisingly works well. And I should not forget to mention how they combine live action, 3D CG, traditional hand drawn animation at the ending of the episode that makes me cringe for a bit then appreciate it after watching it. It is well represented in this aspect.

Sound is Outstanding (10). "Changing point" by i☆Ris is one of the best opening songs for the Spring Anime 2018 lineup. It perfectly hypes me up to watch the episode and goes well with the dark theme of the story.

"Zenzen Tomodachi" by Haruka Yamazaki tremendously adds to the eerie cringe of the ending animation. I couldn't even skip the ending song even if I want to. It is what I can describe as a satisfying cringe.

"...Watashi dake Mitete♡ (...私だけ見てて♡)" by Nijimi Anazawa (Yuu Serizawa) the ending song for the 3rd episode is another surprise for me. It is not as a cringe-fest as the main ending theme but it felt out of place at the beginning but after it was over it felt "Yeah it was a perfect ending theme for this episode"

The overall sound and song choices for Mahou Shoujo site scarily fits the theme of the story well.

Characters are Great (8). As for the characters in the story, the main protagonist of Aya and Yatsumura-san are one of the best yuri team ups that I have ever seen and I was not even aware of it at the beginning. Both of their back stories fleshes out their characters more which in turn make them into an endearing and easy to relate to characters.

I also want to give a special mention to Sarina's character in the story. I strongly believed that she is just a one off character that would eventually die at some point earlier in the story, but I got surprised on how she developed to one of my favorite characters in the whole Mahou Shoujo Site story.

The supporting characters are good, but not great enough to hold their ground. They are more developed in the manga compared to the anime.

Overall, this anime is not for everyone's liking and I know that. But if you are into the eerie, bizarre and good cringes, I would definitely recommend this anime to you in a heartbeat! One of the best Spring Anime of 2018.

Story is Great (9). Hinamatsuri is one of the anime that I did not pay attention during the initial spring lineup yet placed it on my to-watch queue, but to my surprise it took the No.1 spot in my Best Spring Anime List of 2018 together with Mahou Shoujo Site. The reason why it is one of the best, boils down to its honesty and child-like innocence. Hinamatsuri in Japan is a kind of festival/celebration for the coming of age of girls, and this is hugely represented in the Anime with its young girl characters having their own quirky coming of age stories.

What makes it stand out from other slice of life anime is that it develops the characters in a natural way that you can almost see them appearing in real life. It perfectly mixes comedy with action and drama which is a difficult feat to accomplish.

There were moments while watching this anime that I ended up bawling my eyes so hard because of a side story with a supporting character, or segments that cracked me up so hard with the simplicity of its jokes. It amazes me that the story allows it's main characters to be out-shined by its supporting characters, but still keeps the story intact. Simply brilliant!

Art is Good (7). Graphic wise, Hinamatsuri does not stun me with its animation approach. It is a standard looking anime when you first watch it which made it hard to pick out with similarly animated anime it was group with. However, the art is well made and clean that it does not distract me from enjoying each and every episode it releases so that is a great thing.

Sound is Great (9). The opening theme "Distance" by Rie Murakawa is definitely one of the best theme songs that I have heard in an anime. It sets the mood quite nice which is a great thing, and I never found myself skipping it unlike other opening themes.

"Sake to Ikura to 893 to Musume (鮭とイクラと893と娘)" by Yoshifumi Nitta (Yoshiki Nakajima) the ending song is the one song that makes me feel the yakuza vibe of the story. Although I felt that it doesn't mesh well with the whole anime package, it is still a good listen.

"Shashinchou (写真帖)" by Yoko Ishida, the ending song of Episode 6 was the trigger to me crying my heart out. The story Anzu, one of the supporting characters, is something unexpected in a story that sells itself as a comedy anime.

Characters are Outstanding (10). I strongly believe that Hinamatsuri's characters are the strongest part of this anime. They are well written, beautifully characterized, fleshed out, and knows their roles in the story. From the bar tender Hitomi, the garbage collector Anzu to the main character Hina, even the lately introduced Mao, all of them stands out in their own charming way.

Even the minor roles in the story like Hina's classmates or the families of Nitta and Anzu are incredibly well written. You could feel the amount of care they put in the characters of the story.

No doubt, that the characters are the best part of Hinamatsuri.

All in all, even if you are not into the slice of life/comedy genre of anime, you should give Hinamatsuri a shot. I am 100% sure that you would not regret watching this anime.

Story is Very Good (8). The question is... Did Tokyo Ghoul :re redeem the failure of its root a brother? I would say it did, but it could have been better. The reason for this statement is that, although :re did well with the story and presentation, it failed in its pacing. I have been reading the manga and it takes 3-4 chapters of the manga per episode. Please take note that each chapter of Sui Ishida's Magnum Opus is filled to the brim with details and character build up that would take time to fully adapt. So having 3-4 chapters congested in a single anime episode is too much. In the case or :re, it ended up taking the story and character build up out of anime and focused more on the head on battles among doves, quinx and ghouls. Don't get me wrong, I love some good anime fights and some of the best I've seen was in this anime, but have not enough build up to back the battles up would end up in just a "generic" battle AMV style. This is what they should really try to work on the second season, even if it ends up as a patch to the mistakes of the previous Tokyo Ghoul anime.

Art is Very Good (8). The difference is clear when you watch the original Tokyo Ghoul anime and it's :re counterpart. There was a huge bump in the budget this time and it shows on the details in the art per episode. It now has a refined feel to it which I really like. I would like this to be kept on the second season and polish it even further.

Sound is Very Good (8). If there is one thing that Tokyo Ghoul animation did right, it is on the sound department. Although not perfect, it captures how its universe should feel and presented through the sound. "asphyxia" by Cö shu Nie still continues the trend of and eerie vibe with the opening, and "HALF" by Ziyoou-vachi is just a perfect way to end each episode; a light, fun, yet pretentious wrapping up of the dread and darkness of the story.

Characters are Very Good (8). One of the strongest part of the story are its characters. However, if they are not presented right they would fall into the land of forgotten characters. After watching all 12 episodes of :re, I could only count the number of characters that I remember. Most of them are remembered either because I watched the original Tokyo Ghoul, or have read the manga. This is bad, and this is the product of fast pacing of the story. Its hard to invest in characters if you do not let build up and shine as the story progresses.

All in all, Tokyo Ghoul :re is an amazing story that everyone should try. But I would still recommend that you read the manga, then watch the anime if you want to have a strong grasp of the characters and story. Or you watch the anime for the action packed Kagune and Quinque battles then go to the manga for details. Either way, you need both to fully enjoy Tokyo Ghoul.

Story is Good (7). The story of 3D Real Girl is simple yet it is fun to watch. A full blown otaku is pulled into the world of 3D Girls (Real Life Girls) by a drop-dead gorgeous yet mysterious girl who's trying to look for something real in her world. I wanted to point out that even if my rating for the story is just 7, the amount of enjoyment I got from following the character's mundane yet interesting interactions is still a 9.

Art is Good (7). The manga, which was the source of this anime adaptation has a very basic art that does not try to hide the feelings of its characters. As for the anime, I was looking for the same treatment/interpretation to stand out from similarly animated anime that dominates the anime market. This was a bit of a disappointment to me since I really appreciate experimentation in how anime is presented artistically. Megalo Box is one of the standouts of the 2018 Spring Anime (I will go in more detail on my review of Megalo Box after it ends almost less than two weeks from today).

Sound is Good (7). "Daiji na Koto (だいじなこと)" by Quruli the opening song is really well made. It is honest, innocent and simple that it perfectly sets the mood of the story for me. I would have given the sound an 8 or even 9 if it was the same for the rest of the OST of 3D Real Girl. I really felt that it is a wasted effort to have a good start, but a mediocre follow up. "HiDE the BLUE" by BiSH the ending song is nice but not good enough.