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This is truly a hidden gem among unknown and underrated anime, not only when it comes to BL genre. The fact I still think and admire the anime after months prove that. And I hope to encourage few more people to watch it and experience something unique and incredible.

What attracted me at first is that it's a donghua (Chinese anime) because even hearing language other than Japanese is itself a fresh breeze and nice change, but it if it wasn't the case, it wouldn't matter, because that's the story that's most important and enchanting, no matter the language. But BL donghua are rare so ... it's a must to appreciate and protect them. If I had to make a list of top 10 or even top 5 BL anime, this one would be there without a doubt. Let me explain why.


First episode might not be very enjoyable, art style is just decent and nothing besides it, things may seem confusing or chaotic. But for me, it was like that only in the first episode and honestly every next one was better and better and I couldn't believe the direction this anime went, in positive way of course.


We follow the story of two main characters - Cheng Ke, immature young man who comes from very rich family but chose to live on his own in new place, and Jiang Yuduo, a mysterious and violent gang leader who knows the city inside out. Their paths obviously connect, but what's best, we get to see the amazing develop of the relation that starts with aversion, anger and misunderstanding, goes through curiosity, admiration, sympathy and ends with something much more complex and deep. I need to say, this story is most enjoyable if you're a slow-burn and character development oriented fan.
We get to see what main characters are really like, not at once but gradually, they're treated very seriously so we can really get to know them, sympathise with them, get attached to them and experience all emotions with them as well.
It can be said, the story is a deep, dark and multi-track emotional journey. As for BL donghua, there are not really many romantic moments but there are few wholesome and fluffy scenes that are worth watching the whole series, undoubtedly. I felt deeply moved during some moments.

Another thing I totally didn't expect here was very brave and pretty well written mental health thread that was a part of one of our character and then it affefted the other one as well. To be honest, I don't think I've seen such devotion, care and trust anywhere else. Observing such relation made me feel how great it must be to have someone like that in your life.

There are few dark themes in the anime but they're not too much and I loved how naturally characters behave and how two people with nothing in common can find comfort in each other and being able to see life from another perspective.


To sum up, the story is very realistic and human like, it shows how we need another person sometimes even the one that's totally the opposite of us. It also says how our life can change after making specific decisions and how we can recover from the worst state and way of living.


Besides, there's a cat! Enjoy this hidden masterpiece.

It's funny to think I started watching this anime only because I saw a short clip of it (that was a gore one) without hearing about it before. And after watching it, I think it's a very underrated anime. Yet, only specific group of people would like it, as I did. First episode didn't encourage me at all, but I didn't give up and discovered a real treasure. So even if you're not sure about it at the very beginning, it doesn't mean it's not for you. But I totally understand why people might not like this anime, it has few disadvantages. However, I saw ... much more strong sides of the series. And fast, I immersed into it, not being able not to click next episode, especially looking at how many episodes ends.
What you'll find in this anime: the most dark and ugly side of society and especially government you cannot even imagine, political commentary and corruption, thrilling escapes and chases, some brutal, gore scenes, characters with strong mindsets you'll hate but then you'll understand and a whole rollercoaster of emotions.
Starting with, one of our main character, Saiga, former war photographer, gets a very unusual power after some incident, he can now kill while taking photos with his very camera. I saw many weird powers in anime, but this way pretty stands out, I must say. Besides, what I appreciate is that there are no constant fights in Speed Grapher, actually, they're not even frequent. But on the other side, there's no single moment to rest, danger is always present. The main plot is that Saiga, for certain reasons, must protect a girl named Kagura, who wants to escape her life and be free, or rather, learn what freedom is. Our main character wants to help her achieve this. The problem is that she is a very important person, and one of the antagonists, Suitengu, is doing everything he can to get her back and he himself is a person with lots of power and money, so he has many ways to chase her. At the same time, Saiga, wants to find out about secret club Roppongi. We get to see sometimes what's going on in the club, and I can say, I haven't seen such deviations before. Besides, it shows what can you do with wealth and influence. It shows all bad sides of government and politics.

Speaking of characters, there are plenty of interesting ones here. I would like to mention and honour our Suitengu (sama). He's a character no one would like. And I truly hated him for almost the whole series. And no, I didn't get to like him at the end, let's say, my feeling became neutral. But his story was very intriguing, maybe a bit cliché, yet I'm glad his actions were explained in some way. And it applies to all characters here. No one behaves the way they behave without a reason, no matter of their intentions are positive or negative.
I also wanted to mention best antagonist trio, consists of Tsujidou, Ginji and Makabe and I regret there weren't more of them while we got even their past and some quality time of them in action. I think they're also underrated inside this anime.
When it comes to relations, I really enjoyed seeing how Saiga and Kagura become closer and closer and start trusting each other. As for Kagura, while everyone else is her enemy, her attachment to Saiga is absolutely understandable, as he's the only one that doesn't want to use her and want to give her freedom and peace. Besides that, there are few rather weird relations, for example between Shinsen (Kagura's mother) and Suitengu. Besides, this anime really shows how bad family can look like, looking at Kagura's one.

There are also supernatural abilities in Speed grapher and as it's not my favourite thing in general, here, it worked really well and it wasn't even main subject that was for better. And supernatural powers helped to show true nature of characters even better, especially these most disgusting or selfish sides. Last but not least, they're actually original and interesting! As a fan of gore, I wasn't disappinted, especially about our crazy dentist.

I'd say, the series is for people who enjoy heavy atmosphere most, you won't find funny moments here. There is also lots of action and there are literally no boring episodes. The anime is also very direct and bold when it comes to violence and especially sexuality. Everything is for people and we need some pleasure, but where's the limit? You need to figure it out. The show is very uncomfortable, yet it was good to watch because it causes so many negative emotions, to most people obviously.
I also liked the fact there is no sign of romance during the series. I expected that, but I highly appreciate the fact how Saiga-Kangura and also Suitengu-Kangura relations looked.
Another thing about plot itself is that pacing is really good, it isn't too slow and too fast, so if you're easily bored or worried you won't keep up, it's a perfect choice. Everything is exactly like it should be.

I liked how there's a nice balance of grotesque and provocative elements and emotional/psychological aspects when specific characters change, develop or fights their personal mindset.

To sum up, Speed Grapher is a series that violently confront us with the real human nature, society, but also the price of power and richness. While it tells a story of people that just want to find peace and try to live in this chaotic word.

And who knows, maybe such a secret club exists in our real world too...
In such case, I wish you to meet someone like Saiga who'll do everything to keep you safe!

This is such a special title for me and I got obsessed many years ago when I heard it's gonna be produced at all. It took me some time to write something about it, because it's just hard, I always have so many thoughts while thinking about this series. And honestly, I may be not right person to try to explain why it's so good and you should watch it. This title comes to my mind every time I recommend anime to other people and I'd suggest it to everyone, especially people who like anime that don't take place in Japan. I don't mind classical ... anime that take place in their native country let's say, but I watched quite lots of these whose action is settled somewhere else. Mostly, Germany or England. But Anime inspired by medieval Poland? It's surely one of the most unique thing ever. And I was worried they won't be able to make a good anime out of it, with such idea because it seemed unusual. But it was very successful. I'd say, almost every aspect of it, there are little things that don't seem right but it's just my personal observation.

Getting to the point, the anime is mostly focused on astronomy and Christianity topics. These two are quite contradictory which makes things more complicated. There are also not many religion related anime, if so, they're comedy and the thing I loved here very much is that there's no shadow of comedy. So, if you're not into serious things, you can skip. But for all other people, it's a perfect title. Heavy topics, atmosphere, anxiety, dread... There's no place for entertainment. And I'd say, it shows the reality of life in middle ages pretty well. I'm glad they didn't skip even the most scary and violent parts of it. And it's the only one anime I know that was brave enough to present how Christianity really was like, especially back then. This anime is close to me also because of this very topic as someone living in Christian country. If you don't know much about it, it's a good choice too, to learn something very interesting. This anime is also pretty brutal sometimes, so watch carefully.

Moving to another aspect, how's anime made, when it comes to episodes, plot and characters. And I can't help but saying again, this anime is most unique when it comes to everything, it has its own rules and don't look at anything else and I love it for that. Even after watching synopsis, you're not prepared for what comes. I was very surprised at the beginning of the story but later it started making sense. Everything was perfectly logical. And it's rare to see when both plot and characters are there for each other, they complete each other, and every little detail is necessary for further moments. This anime is a constant fight between faith and truth/science. And I liked how characters cooperate without even knowing each other. And how the desire to find the truth can motivate and make us do things we didn't know we're capable of. It also asks many psychological questions like if it's okay to die for the truth we are not even sure about. There are also many philosophical reflections that force us to think, which it very to my taste.

I also wanted to highly appreciated the fact there are ACTUAL polish names or surnames there. I came across other shows or books where polish characters don't have anything to do with Poland. But here, it's more than fine. Of course it doesn't apply to all characters, sadly, but they still did a great job. I'm still waiting for Nowak's name reveal, by the way!
Similar thing, few polish notes that appears, are also perfectly okay and a nice bonus for Polish speaker people.

I liked how every character in this series has their own strong personality, views, opinions and mindset. It's fine not to be sure about your life but here everyone pretty much know what they want to do and don't hesitate to achieve that or be a piece that will lead to truth. I think strong is the rightest word here, all characters seem this way, and it's interesting to see when completely opposite minds face each other.
I totally adore and keep a great impression of our Rafał, Oczy and Jolenta. But my favourite character will always be Nowak. This is who I see thinking about most tragic and lost character. I also have some private reasons to like this very character. I don't even know if he's generally likeable character or not, but he's surely one of the most interesting fictional person I ever came across.

I'd say this anime is also pretty educational. If you're interested in astronomy, it's a must. I'm aware most people know what's heliocentrism. But do you know exactly? And especially, I guess most people don't know how heliocentirsm became a general truth. And how much time passed until people came to terms with it. I admit, I didn't know that much. And it was incredibly interesting to learn about it. I didn't even know it was that fascinating, yet so sad in some way. There are a lot, really a lot conversations about astronomy and science, so be prepare for that. But there wasn't any boring moment here.

This anime was very emotional for me, like every other of my favourite ones. There's a mix of all negative and scraps of positive feelings you could ever experience. There were moments I couldn't believe what I actually witness, what's happening and why it has to be like that. But as I said, Orb is about real life and power of Christianity which wasn't actually a good thing. The very ending of anime moved me and touched these parts of me I wasn't aware of having. I won't hide, the fact this anime takes place in the country I live in and I'm extremely associated with, played some role. But I'd be interested in every anime that takes place in any other place than Japan and during some moments in the past. And I think Middle Ages was a very hard moment to live, yet interesting to learn about.

Another thing is beautiful and well made art style. The animation is pretty sharp, but what I appreciate is that it doesn't focus on the action and flashy things but on dark, claustrophobic places, disturbing atmosphere and on the other hand, it can present breath-taking night skies that make you want to become scientist and study stars.

Soundtrack is very worth mentioning as well, I don't know if I should try to explain it. You just have to watch it and see yourself. It's more than ideal for the specific scenes.

After watching anime, I wanted more, so I read the manga that didn't have anything that wasn't in anime. But I'm glad to say that the story is fully completed that doesn't happen often. It may not be very long, but I think it stay with us for a very long time. I'm not forgetting about it ever.

And don't forget to pass ten percent of profit to Potocki. I hope he'll finally get it!

May this beautiful anime bring some hope, reflections about our existence, motivate to learn more about the world that still may hide something. I love all people who also fell in love with this anime! <3

I was postponing watching this Anime for a very long time, but finally completed it and didn't regret at all. I like action, but I was worried there will be too much of it, because non-stop fights aren't very entertaining. I didn't have any expectations before watching this anime, I just hoped it will be fine but I got something much better.
So, if you're a fan of action genre, it's a must watch, if you didn't watch it so far, do it immediately. Honestly I don't find anything that I didn't like about this anime.

First of all, art style is pretty and very to my ... personal taste. It made the whole experience of watching much more pleasant and also all fights and action scenes are perfect, it'd be weird if they weren't since it's pure action anime, but it's worth mentioning. They did a great job. And what's more important, fights aren't repeatable and don't look the same, like it happens in anime sometimes and is very boring. Here, it's quite the opposite, fights are literally breathtaking and engaging. It's been a while I felt such excitement.

Surprising thing for me was characters. After seeing the anime cover, I thought I am definitely not gonna like our heroine, let's say, but it turned out to be completely different. I mean, her look and voice match her personality perfectly, but I didn't expect I'd like her so much. It's not that type of anime when we focus a lot on characters past and feelings, but still I liked all of main characters and all others that played some role in this anime. I imagined I'll get boring or exaggerated characters, but it's totally not the case. It'd say they're very realistic. And I liked to see they show their personality and how they deal with things.

Moving more to the plot, for me, there's a great balance of seriousness and humour. Also, great balance between action and calmness, well, there are not many peaceful moments, but still, we can experience few nice conversations and I think it makes the series very pleasant to watch. The plot is just interesting, there are few different cases, but each of them is captivating in some way. Worth mentioning thing is that how the anime shows so-called underworld. Yes, there are many series that focus on it too, but I'd say it's one of the most realistic and intriguing one. It's quite sad and very brutal. It's also thoughts provoking. Another thing is that, I absolutely expected there will be more sexual related moments in such anime, but I was positively surprised. And no, I don't think the fact female characters wear revealing clothes means sexualisation. But I was also happy to see nice female characters outfits.
Also, I enjoyed seeing how Revy's and Rock's relation develop slowly here, and glad there was no shadow of romance.
There are few historical references here that might be interesting to fans of history.
Besides, personally I liked that some part of the action took place on ships.

Music in this anime enchanted me a bit, especially Roberta's theme, if I can call this way. It was stunning and so suitable.
Voice actors obviously did a good job, I especially loved Revy's one, and I am glad I got to hear her so much.

With this, I hope season 2nd won't disappoint me. But I can honestly reccomend Black Lagoon to any action anime fan and probably not only.

If you already watched a lot of anime of various genres, but you didn't watch this one, I honestly reccomend it. Or actually, for everyone. I like to watch anime movies as a break from series, but I usually forget about them fast and don't really overthink them. But if something made me write a review, it's really special (or I just felt like writing). And the movie felt like a fresh and warm breeze.

First of all, I fell in love with the art style. I watched anime from different years, with more or less unique styles, but hardly came across something even similar ... to this one. It absolutely enchanted me since first minutes. And I think captivating art style is really important and makes the whole experience of watching much more pleasant. I also loved all little details here and that nature seemed alive. I could feel the very magical atmosphere of the show.

Of course plot is necessary for a good movie as well. Sometimes, I'm a bit scared the plot will be too complicated for me to understand and enjoy the show. I don't like when there's too much action, threads and characters because it's hard for me to become emotional and get into it. That's why watching "The girl from the other side" was to my taste very much. If you're the same, you'll like it too. And if you're not, you might like it too because it's just a great break from more complex anime. It rarely happens, but I was amazed and couldn't take my eyes out of the screen for the whole 70 minutes and was sad when it ended. While watching, I felt like I was experiencing truly masterpiece. And I could watch few more hours of Shiva and Sensei daily life and conversations.

The plot was very simple, we only had two main characters and because of that, we could focus only on them. Somehow, I got to like both of them very fast and I was fond of watching their relation develop. It was sweet, innocent, soft and warm. It made me forget about reality completely, while watching, nothing besides this beautiful imaginary world existed. And I think that's the point of movies. I also felt like I'm gonna experience big heartbreak in the end, whether it happened, I won't tell, but I just have to say, if a show can make you all emotional, it's very good. And I also love experiencing all kind of negative emotions while watching fictional characters.

I wished I could see more of this fantastic world and know more about Shiva's and Sensei's past, but information we get in the movie is fine amount and made me very interested, so that I plan to read manga soon. Manga will probably be much more complex and a bit different but for now I rate only movie as an individual thing.

Another thing I want to mention is voice acting, which is very pleasant here. I won't hide, Fukuyama Jun and Takahashi Rie are definitely on my recognisable and liked Japanese voice actors. It's also a very strong side of this movie, that allowed me to feel all emotions more.

There's not a lot of music, but it's very high in quality and suitable for such a movie. Slow, gentle, promising, a bit mysterious, disturbing. Music played a great role here as well.

Last but not least, I also liked the message, mostly about not judging someone by their look and I myself didn't expect Sensei's personality to be like it is, after seeing him for the first time. So it was a pleasant surprise. The movie was about loneliness, care, devotion, protection and fate. Among others probably. But all these topics really interest me and I loved how I naturally smiled many times while watching and felt warmness inside.

A few words about the short OVA, it was really unique and beautiful. I don't think I can find right words to even describe how it affected me. Mostly, I liked how it presented that words are not necessary to show feelings. It was shocking how intensively and variously I felt them during these 10 minutes. Of course music helped here a lot, but it was still a great experience.
Besides, I truly loved the cozy and cottage vibe that was leaking from the screen.

I highly reccomend the movie, if you have free hour, you won't regret that.

Over 200 pages of Hikkikomori's internal monologue. Sounds boring, yet can be enjoyable to specific people like me. What's more? Sex, drugs and violence! Or more like: Drugs... God... and... Games?

I started my NHK journey with anime, then read manga and lastly - the novel.
Comparisons between all of these will be inevitable. But it's the novel's review so let's get started.

First of all, the novel provide us with more detailed plot, as for a book, of course. There weren't many threads that appeared in anime, there weren't few characters like Jougasaki, President, Torotoro and I could say it shows how lonely Sato really was ... because there was almost no one by his side. The novel focused mostly at Sato himself and his excessive negative thoughts and feelings. Also, there was much less action and drama (like during the offline meeting) and I appreciate that. Because after reading the novel, I have a full picture of Sato's psyche, as much as he is aware of it himself. It isn't any kind of positive picture, just the real one.

The novel is definitely more similar to anime than manga. While anime was a mix of darkness and comedy, manga was just weird, kind of chaotic, with many funny elements, the novel is mostly serious, deep and depressing. It is written in a light style, but the subject matter is heavy. And many conversations are just identical in the anime and novel, but there are also few new ones, which make the whole story more complete and characters more unique.

What I liked very much was the first person perspective that makes the story even more relatable. I don't mind both first of third perspective in books, but here, first perspective is just a must. I could relate to Sato a lot in anime, but here, sometimes I felt like I was reading about myself and my mind, which made it more interesting and personal experience. Maybe it was purposeful for readers, maybe not, but I'm glad for that.

There were philosophical reflections and references. I also like Sato sometimes refers to quotes or books. And yes, I just enjoy philosofic babble so it was to my taste. Myself, I could write a lot about meaning of life and God.

What I found nice was peaceful pace, compared to manga and even anime in some parts. Personally, I felt like the pace was very natural, not too slow, not too fast and everything was logical.
Speaking of technical matters, there were not too many descriptions or unnecessary ones. I love books, for me there could be more of them, especially more reflections or thoughts but I know most people don't like too much of it so I guess it's a strong side of the novel, also because there are no boring parts, action is very smooth, there are no too long stops or specific parts and everything is very enjoyable to read. Besides, the whole novel isn't too long.

Now moving to plot matters. Drugs. I don't remember drugs being mentioned in anime, they were in manga a bit but here it was something else. Drugs were really an important part of the whole story. They didn't only cause hallucinations and mood swings but Sato and Yamazaki treated it as an escape from boring and disappointing reality or to gain courage and energy. That's the sad truth of drugs users, to only be able to feel anything or "happiness" while being high. With that, I don't have much experience but I think it's presented very honestly and carefully in the novel. And to think these were only "legal drugs", yet caused so much. The fight scene and before that, it reminds us, Yamazaki wasn't happy at all as well. Myself, I was mostly focused on Sato's state but despite personality differences, Yamazaki was depressed too and I think he wasn't very far from becoming Hikkikomori himself. Though he was more confident and independent and I think it helped him. In anime, I liked Yamazaki from the very beginning and I'm glad novel developed this character more. Personally, I didn't find Misaki that much interesting character and I find it better she started appearing more only in the second half of the book. I won't wonder who's most tragic character in the story, just every other of them deserve to finally find peace and happiness and I honestly would like to have a good talk with them and give them all hugs.

Misaki and her relation with Sato. In the novel there's not much of Misaki. And honestly, their relation isn't that close as it is in anime, at least I think so. I didn't feel much connection or any chemistry between these too while reading. Though, their conversations were similar both in anime and novel, somehow, Misaki seemed more distant. While relation between Sato and Yamazaki was even better, I really felt like Sato cares so much about his neighbor friend, when he constantly thinks about him after Yamazaki left. I liked reading about their close friendship, like they spent so much time together in the apartment of one of them. They shared depressive feelings, but I think they were able to feel a bit better while being together. Though, that was sad it was possible mostly only after using drugs.

Sato truly wanted to leave Hikkikomori life since the very beginning of the story, but he couldn't, at least easily and it shows, when we're in a very bad mental state, even if we want to change our life, it's very hard and even after attempts to change it, we tend to come back to our old lifestyle, it's very hard to motivate yourself and usually, we need external stimuli or other people. In sato's care if was both. If he didn't have problems with allowance from his parents, he probably would never change. If he never met Misaki or reunited with Yamazaki, it'd be the same too. I like the reality, because it shows how powerless we our ourselves against our own mind.
What's more, Sato's addictions or bad habits: he smokes, drinks alcohol more than occasionally, experiences video games addiction, experiments with drugs. I think it's relatable for people with such a low mentally state, trying to feel anything or just make yourself feel a bit better for a moment and ending up with unhealthy habits.

He constantly think about killing himself, but never consider doing it seriously. It's like passive suicide thoughts many people experience and in reality, such thoughts are exactly that frequent and that persistent. Everyone who experienced that, can say the same, I wouldn't comment it if I didn't know what's really like. However it's important to say, everyone can go through it in different way.

Awareness. Sato is actually very aware of his own state. He's often ashamed of his thoughts, imagination or behaviour. I think it's pretty rare but it makes his character even more interesting and deep. Cause even after hearing he's a failure of a human from various people, he might be the only one who despises himself the most. And sometimes, even if we know we're doing the wrong things, we don't know how to change it. One might say he's too focused on victimising himself, by constantly thinking he's the worst type of person, filthy hikikomori, etc but that's the part of him I can really understand too.

Infiltration chapter. It's truly a shame the chapter didn't appear in Anime. I'd love to see two young adults in weird disguises, secretly on drugs, attend a religious meeting to listen what certain girl has to say. Sounds really great. But this chapter was one of my favourite of the whole novel. I'm glad religion topic was expanded here, because it always interests me. To be honest, the whole religious meeting and this "organisation" let's say, seemed more like a cult. But aren't all religions actually a big cults? But it's a topic for other time, though very interesting. Not only we are being assured Misaki is kind of forced to be a part of the religion but also we meet a young boy who experiences the same, that he's only there because of his parents. He suggests our protagonists to never convert and if they convert, to never have kids. I can understand that very well as someone who live in a religious country. I also liked that after entering the meeting Sato felt like it's the first time he is actually welcomed and everyone seems to be friendly and smiles as him. It may be a bit work of drugs they took, but also real thought which is understandable. Isn't that religion or cults way of converting people, to show them how happy and nice they are and how they want every person to feel like belong somewhere. So they can control them all later and basically just use them to be more powerful. Sounds familiar and very manipulative. Thinking about MLM incident in anime, I was afraid our boys will actually join the religion. It'd be only temporary or fake happiness. But I was happy to read mkre religious reflections in the novel, not only by Misaki but also Yamazaki. I guess Sato was least affected by the religious blabbering.

The ending. As I expected, it was exactly the same as in anime. Sadly, because I considered it as the weakest part of the story. And while in anime it made a bit more sense because I could believe Sato cared for Misaki truly, in the novel, not that much. But in my opinion, the reason why he decided to save her was that she was the only person that was close to him and could make him less lonely. They both could make each other less lonely. In final chapter Sato kept saying he wants to die very much. That he was trying to die in various ways. It's like his whole existence was about waiting for death. And now, it's something I could write about myself too. I couldn't relate more. That's also why his words about suicide hit very hard. "I always had planned to die". "I always had been searching for some way to die". And even if he wasn't physically and seriously trying to kill himself, I know what these words mean. It shows very precisely how dark his mind was.

Does Sato love Misaki? I don't think so. And didn't think so while watching anime reading manga. Maybe he likes her. But he'd eventually develop some kind of affection to anyone that'd behave like Misaki towards him. I don't really see Misaki and Sato as a couple. They're both too insane for that, as for me. But I can imagine it changes in the future. Speaking of which, I don't think after ending everything goes well for them as they imagine or plan to. Especially for Sato. Because it's surely not easy to change your lifestyle so drastically so fast.

Afterword was really depressing, yet interesting. Well, I could expect a fully healthy person couldn't write such a story in such a detailed way. And I'm not surprised the author felt like he was writing about himself. And I don't think it's good I was feeling like I was reading about myself during some parts. But I'm glad the author managed to finish the story, I'm just sorry how it affected his later life.

The novel will be great for people who loved anime and if my NHK journey started with the novel, I'd love it too and it'd totally encourage me to watch anime. I reccomemd the novel but only to true fans of NHK or people who enjoy depressing and philosophical reflections.

In process of looking for my Yamazaki.

Good-bye!

Can anime about minerals be enjoyable?

I didn't have much hopes and expectations before watching the show and I ended up being positively surprised. I don't think mineralogy is a common field or something attractive to most people, but maybe this anime will make someone become interested in that, because minerals are hidden gems among other unpopular fields.

Why I reccomend this anime? It may be entertaining and fun even for people who never were interested in rocks and geology in general, including me! Yes, I've always liked biology and nature, but never studied minerals too much. And the anime is really eye-opening on the matter that ... gems can be very close to us, we just need to know how to search for them. And I bet, it'd be very satisfying for anyone to find a pretty and shiny mineral. I like that this anime is really about rocks and there's hardly place for any unnecessary things. And as for an average person who didn't have idea about various minerals, it can be a very educational show. There are many information here, but they're all basic a d explained easily. I didn't even imagine I'd find it interesting from where minerals come and how they end up in the specific place, yet, now, I have it in my mind. I'd say it's perfect anime for these who are interested in gems and these who are not.

Besides, animation is amazing. I'm not the biggest fan of modern animation style, but here, it's very suitable, especially how forests and rivers are presented. As a person who find beauty in nature, I'm pleased. Animation is also very detailed and it also shows differences in various minerals. Another strong part of the anime is cute girls! I watched several cgdct anime, but this one stand out a bit, in positive way. It's really nice observing characters being so happy about looking for minerals, especially Ruri which also have different cute outfits and hairstyles. But I liked all main characters, I think they're pretty well written as for such kind of anime, they have unique personalities and preferences. I also like the fact Ruri is more attached to Nagi, and Seto to Imari. It's also a big luck for our high schoolers to find older friends who study something they're highly interested in.

It's also worth mentioning, Ruri's motive, from only wanting to search for valuable minerals that could be sold for a lot of money or to make accessories with them, to become truly interested in minerals origins and diversity. As she said, at the beginning she wanted to look for pretty rocks and now, she wonders why the rock is pretty and why it exist in the place at this moment. She also claims it's fun to learn new things and I couldn't relate more, I've always thought expanding knowledge about various topic is not only important but also enjoyable. It shows, we can actually study something we like and are interested in and we can make our future about it.

Another topic is hobby and being misunderstood. Like Seto who liked rocks from the very early age but was ignored or even mocked by that so that she kept it as a secret to finally found people who share the same passion as she. It's also impressive she never gave up on minerals and was able to learn so much herself. To sum up, every hobby is great if it makes you happy and I wish everyone have people to share your interests with. As a person who never was open with my love for anime and manga, I wonder, maybe if I was more open, I'd meet other people who shared the same interest, at least in my class. Because in my later life, after school, I actually found some and I'm telling anyone, having someone with whom you can talk about something you're passionate about, is really a great feeling.

I didn't expect such a random anime to be that enjoyable, to be honest. Though minerals somehow attract me too, especially after watching the series. Thanks to the anime we can remember how mysterious and rich nature is and to not underestimate its power. Also, we shouldn't give up on our hobbies and sometimes we can look at the same thing from many perspectives.

Nice anime as a break from darker ones!

Warning, not very professional and highly personal review. I'm just writing it to honour the anime that affected me directly.


This is my first and maybe the last review ever, after 8 years of watching anime. NHK was on my "plan to watch" list for a very long time, probably few years. And as most anime from the list, it finally got to be watched by me and also was honoured to get the highest rate. I'll try to explain why.
After 5 minutes of the first episode, I knew I was going to like the series, mainly because of the animation style and ... atmosphere. And I wasn't wrong, but I also didn't know how much it's gonna affect me. When I was exactly in the middle of the anime, I thought "I'll rate it 10 out of 10, it totally deserves it". With every episode, I was falling in love more and more with the series and didn't want it to ever end. First of all, this anime is very ralatable, for me, that is. I probably never watched anything more relatable (maybe few a bit). Of course this one condition can't make the whole production a masterpiece.
But going deeper into it: Hikkikomori is sometimes mentioned in various anime, there are sometimes characters that suit into the description of the condition. But here, our main character is a full time hikkikomori. With social anxiety, fear of going out of their room, not being able to care of themselves. As a person who experiences and still experience exactly same things, I'm just happy I got to see another person struggling with that. Not to be sadist and being happy to see someone suffering but I think other people with the same problems might actually find it comforting and realise they're not alone with that. At least it made me feel better and I became aware of few things. I personally am pretty similar to Satou; tendency to go back to bad habits, becoming an addict, imagining scenario that probably won't happen, becoming attached to people easily, being confused about my feelings, not feeling good in crowds, thinking people will laugh at me and much more. Speaking of our main character, I love how realistic his life is being presented here. There are moments when things are getting better and we think it's gonna be permanently okay and everything will end well, but then, it's getting bad again and sometimes it's even worse than in the very beginning. Sound familiar. I'm very glad it isn't one of these overly positive stories. Because, even if we manage to get out of our comfort zone once or twice, it doesn't mean we're healed and won't go back to it. In reality, there are constantly ups and downs. I believe everyone can relate to the question "what I'm supposed to do now?" that we can hear in the anime pretty often. Being lost and not knowing what to do with our life's isn't something uncommon, most people experience that. But still, it was a bit heartbreaking hearing it with such a despair voice.
It's also consoling to see Satou being able to smile and be happy for a moment while being with people that are close to him, like of course Yamazaki and Senpai, sometimes Misaki. I can move to another topic now, which is characters. I think every other person is well written and presented here. Starting with main character or actually characters, to all secondary and tertiary characters. I believe we can learn something from every character that appear in the series, more or less directly, more or less useful for us. And every meeting we get to see, every conversation we get to hear, isn't meaningless, it's necessary. There are actually not that many conversations in the anime, compared to others, but every one of them is very valuable. Even characters from the offline meeting episodes, I can't forget about them. All characters that got a lot of screen time, really had unique personality, I could see positive and negative traits in all of them.
It's also worth mentioning, relations between main character and others, especially with Misaki. It was intriguing to see how it develops and changes, from aversion, interest, romantic fascination to suspicions, indifference, anger and relief. But I'm pretty greedy and would love to see more of them and even more of main characters, doing whatever, nothing ambitious, that is, confused Satou, mysterious Misaki, confident Yamazaki or paranoic Senpai. I liked most themes in the anime, conspiracy and constant fear about it, video games and what's their actual role in our lifes, how to deal with MLMs, friendship and why we need others to function, and all other philosophical matters like sense of life and existence of God. What also made me love this anime, was that how emotional it was. I appreciate production that are able to make us emotional and for that, we need great characters we can relate to or just get used to them. And it happened here. During the series, I smiled and laugh, cried, was shocked, angry, irritated, moved, sympathetic, cheerful, depressed and much more. And most of all, the series made me think and reflect a lot, about my whole life, my choices, everything, I was thinking and thinking and I love the series that force us to do so. And during these few days I was watching this anime, I couldn't think about anything else, I was that much into it. My views toward specific characters wasn't the same all the time. Till the very end I thought Misaki doesn't have honest or good intentions, I wondered how much Yamazaki really cares about Satou (I think he does a lot), what are true feelings of Senpai, because she never looked happy, whether Jougosaki was a bad person, and if president really had no other option. The balance between comedy and darkness here is amazing. Though most of the time atmosphere is quite serious, there are also many chill and funny moments. It also suits into the idea of realism. And to say, I felt like I made friends with most of the characters, got used to all locations, felt like I was experiencing everything with them, including all feelings. Also, my personal preferences, I really loved the animation as I mentioned earlier, I don't know if it's about anime from this year, but it's really to my taste which made the whole series great to watch. I need to mention music too, there wasn't much music and it's a good thing, because when it occurred, it was perfectly chosen for the situation we were in and I couldn't imagine better track. Most of the pieces were slow and melancholic, bringing sadness but it made it more emotional which is a very good thing. Before watching few last episodes, I was very concerned about the ending. That's even understatement, I was dying to know but didn't want to rush and watch everything at once. I literally couldn't sleep and wondered about ending, also, thinking about everything happened and what might happen in the end. But I couldn't let ending change my whole watching experience and my general mark, because it's not good to judge the whole production by only one part. So, the ending was predictable, even though I imagined producers will not go the way they went. Maybe it wasn't overly positive, but I'd gladly see completely different ending scene. I'm not a fan of dramatic endings, and it was too bit as for me, but at the same time all the words said in the last episode hit my heart. The story of Misaki wasn't very surprising but also, realistic, and it could and probably happen a lot in real life. It can be debated whether her behaviour was truly egoistic or not. But personally, I can understand her motives, same as for Satou's ones. I'm also not sure they at a good couple but I was cheering for them anyway. Ending was definitely the worst part of the anime, in my humble opinion, but maybe our characters suffered enough and it took them a lot of time to be able to even admit they weren't good, especially Misaki. All counseling sessions had unforgettable atmosphere, and after watching the whole thing, all of them were really meaningful and necessary. My last thought is that everyone deserve to be rescued and find or be found by someone like Misaki. No matter what she was thinking at the beginning, she end up with true feelings for the other person.
That said, I hope I'll be able to rewatch the series in few years time and be as fond of it as I'm now, maybe notice new details and have different reflections. I'm also afraid I never find any better or equally good anime. For now, be beware of NHK, because it always works, and don't fall into MLM work system unless you have the gift of persuasion and zero guilt. Also, don't be late for 9 pm meeting, or you'll be fined with a million yen. Good-bye, all Hikkikomori and others who found pieces of themselves in this masterpiece!