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Firstly, I want to say that it feels like this is the Gundam show made specifically for me. I am very biased. I've been an EVA fanboy since I first watched the show years ago, and I really enjoy the wackier, more newtype-focused Gundam media that I've watched. That being said, I can't help but feel like GQuuuuuuX does have some problems that I'm going to be thinking about for a while, and I need to go into spoilers territory to talk about them.

Having just finished the show, GQuuuuuuX reads to me as a story about letting go of the past and embracing the future. ... Challia's story is about his quest to uproot the leadership of Zeon that has become so entrenched in feuding with Earth. This plot was even subverted with Char being the one to kill Kycilia, which leads Challia to try to kill Char because Char is also too attached to the past. Char is used in this plot incredibly well, being a symbol of rebellion against Zeon followed by Challia, but eventually needing to be discarded in order for Zeon to move forward. The problem is that GQuuuuuuX spreads itself too thin for this to really work, because Challia and Char's plot to overthrow Zeon isn't actually the main focal point of the story. It's adjacent to it, but the Rose of Sharon story is the primary one we're following. Challia's goal of overthrowing Zeon's leadership could be an entire 12-episode series on its own, and I think he's an interesting enough character to carry said theoretical series.

There are three proposed solutions to the Rose of Sharon problem. A.) kill Lalah and destroy the universe, B.) send Lalah home and destroy the universe, and C.) do nothing and let Lalah awaken. Allowing Lalah to awaken is what ends up happening, and one could argue that this is symbolic of allowing the world to move forward on its own, but I can't help but feel like the actual plot of the story hampers this message. Almost all of this is explained in about 3 minutes in the final episode of the show by Shuuji, which in theory is fine, but we never actually see Machu propose an alternative plan, she kind of just lets things happen. Shuuji is never explored as an unreliable narrator in his account of what's going to happen; we're just supposed to assume that he couldn't be wrong because he's seen this stuff happen before in other timelines. I feel like having Machu, who alongside the GQuuuuuX is to a degree symbolic of the future, being a newtype unfettered by the conflict of the past, come up with an actual plan, even if that plan was letting Lalah wake up, would have made the symbolism of the show work much better, as we see the character that represents the bright future of the timeline make an effort towards that future. This is more of a general problem with the show's incredibly short runtime to explore such a philosophically rich message, it doesn't have enough time to do everything it wants to do excellently, so it settles for the best it can do with what it has.

The short length of GQuuuuuuX is ultimately its biggest flaw, as I think if we had maybe three or four more episodes, there would have been enough time for, say, Machu to have a more clearly defined character arc. She does have an arc, Machu is seeking independence, but what she really needs is companionship. She's only able to succeed in briefly reuniting with Shuuji with the help of Challia Bull and is only able to save Lalah alongside Nyaan. Ultimately, she does go to Earth, but it's not satisfying to her because now she wants to find Shuuji for real this time. She contacts her mother at the end of the series because that connection is valuable to her, which she realizes because she finds the value of companionship. She realizes that having a Mav is important. THIS IS BARELY COMMUNICATED WITHIN THE SHOW. We needed to see the effects of leaving her mother behind and missing Shuuji on HER. We get a little, tiny bit of the latter, but this is the personal arc of the MAIN CHARACTER, COME ON. Nyaan fares a little bit better, and compliments Machu's story fairly well with her attachment to Shuuji and Kycilia, but she clearly loved Shuuji and now she's just fine him being gone because that's Machu's problem now? We actually see the lengths Nyaan is willing to go to find Shuuji and how that hurts her, but her story arc just ends with her shooting Kycilia. No resolution for the whole Shuuji thing.

Also, both the RX-78 (both the one from this timeline and the original) and Char being symbols of the past was a really neat idea, alongside Shuuji, who is the focus character for the main philosophical ideas of the show to be explored in the last few episodes and the pilot of the RX-78. The problem is that GQuuuuuuX pays way too much reverence towards the original Mobile Suit Gundam for this to work. We got two episodes dedicated to OYW stuff focusing on Char, and character who is THE reason why all of the plot happens. Lalah has to let go of Char and wake up in her own timeline, but Char is shown doing cool Char things for two entire episodes and the finale. He's even the one who helps Machu return to the GQuuuuuuX, which makes no sense from a metanarrative perspective. You could argue that the past can help us move into the future, but that was already the main point of Challia's story, so why do it again here? The EVA-ification of the designs is actually something I like in the context of the story's message, being something new to the series to help visually represent the difference between the GQuuuuuuX timeline MS and the RX-78, but why then is the Red Gundam also EVA-fied? Wouldn't it help the message if it looked like the original RX-78? It's already Red, there's a visual distinction between it and the other timeline Gundam. Also the OG RX-78 becoming big comes out of nowhere which is really funny but I still don't know why it happens.

Deux and Shiiko show up for, like, one episode each before either being implied probably dead or killed onscreen. Shiiko works pretty well, being stuck in the past and dying because she can't move on. What was the point of Deux's character? I think she's supposed to be symbolic of the Federation being stuck in the past, but throwing her at Kycilia is the only thing the Federation does, and CHALLIA'S QUEST TO KILL KYCILIA IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD THING. Maybe it's supposed to be that the Federation are going about this the wrong way by trying to destroy the colony, but CHALIA AND CHAR BLOW UP A SPACESHIP, which is probably going to kill a lot more people who are caught in the crossfire.

All of that aside though, the show is beautiful. It almost made me cry. The music is amazing. The message is compelling, even if its delivery is a bit compromised by the show's length. My personal, very biased rating is a 10/10, but realistically it's like an 8.

I think this is the best animated movie I've ever seen. I'll probably stand by that, but there's a chance that changes. Ultimately, this film explores parts of the Fate franchise that are darker and more sinister than anything we've seen in the anime before, and it manages to feel like a semi-complete package while not divorcing itself from the rest of its trilogy and still setting up the next film very well. I don't mean that this film can be watched stand-alone, far from it, you'll want to have seen at least ufotable's UBW and Fate/Zero adaptations first for maximum enjoyment, and you should ... DEFINITELY watch the first movie in the trilogy, obviously, but this movie feels complete. It tells a very specific story and it does so masterfully.

It's definitely worth saying that I do not want to rewatch this movie again. As amazing as it is, it is an incredibly difficult film to watch and it is definitely not for the faint of heart. There's murder, gore, assault, the whole complete package of unwholesome reality, but I'm very glad the film has it. This is without a doubt the darkest part of the entire Fate franchise but it soars with that title as a badge of honor, creating a story that feels so much more real than anything else in the series by far.

Sakura Matou is a character that I feel Fate's other adaptations really threw under the bus. She gets practically no development in either Zero or UBW due to how little her story matters to those series/routes, and that's okay. Here, however, we get a full exploration of what makes Sakura tick, how she's been scarred by her life with the Matous, and we see what happens when she's pushed to the point of insanity by the world around her. SPOILERS IN THE REST OF THIS PARAGRAPH - The film makes it very clear that Sakura's descent into madness isn't just because of the contents of the grail inside of her, the murders of (at least in this movie) Gilgamesh and Shinji were something that Sakura herself did. I think this was an excellent choice and it serves to push the drama of the situation even further. I haven't played all of the VN, but I assume this wasn't something original to the anime.

The other characters are nothing to scoff at, but they're going to be pretty familiar if you've already seen any other adaptation of Fate/stay night, so I don't feel like I have to touch on them. Shirou is pretty good here though, maybe not his best but certainly a good character.

The animation and music are both spectacular, the among the best in their craft. The 3rd movie definitely exceeds this one in both of those categories, but the artistic merit of the film is still excellent.

Overall, the best Fate movie in the best Fate series, I give it a 10/10 but your scores may vary by how much you value enjoyment over quality. This isn't for everyone but if you liked the rest of Fate it's definitely a solid watch.

Madoka Magica is one of my favorite anime of all time, possibly up there in contention for my no. 1 spot with Evangelion and Monogatari. However, unlike those other two shows, it took me a lot longer to truly appreciate it, and it was when I decided to write this review that I finally bumped its score up to a 10.

As a note, Madoka was one of the first few anime that I decided to watch, and it was the first anime ever recommended to me. That being said, I only ended up watching it well after I had the show's main plot twist ... spoiled for me. If you haven't seen this show before and have somehow not had the show spoiled for yourself yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. It's only 12 episodes long and, as I'm going to detail in this review, it has one of the most thought-provoking stories and presentations in all of anime.

I'm going to mostly avoid spoilers when talking about the story, but if you haven't watched up until episode 3, I highly suggest not reading the rest of this paragraph. Madoka Magica does a fantastic job of pulling off its bait-and-switch premise, combining the magical girl premise with psychological horror better than any other show I know of. It is far from the only show to do this, but it was very early when it comes to this trend in particular, if not the first show to attempt it. The story focuses mainly on the characters rather than the world they inhabit, very loosely defining the rules of the world so that they can be expanded upon for the purpose of character drama. This is a surprisingly good example of a soft magic system, as the magical girl powers are explained by the end of the show, but they don't have very many predefined limits. The individual main characters are all written incredibly well, with each of them having well-defined motivations, goals, and relationships with other characters. My favorite character in the show, from a writing perspective, is Sayaka, for reasons that I can't really talk about except in very vague terms. Her reaction to the situation she found herself in was very believable despite how over-the-top it was, scarily believable if I'm being honest. She has, without a doubt, my favorite character arc in the show, but I can't really say it's the best simply because of how fantastic the other characters are, but it's even harder to talk about them without spoiling the ending of the show. Overall, the story is the reason why I can't stop thinking about this show, and I can't give it anything other than a 10/10.

The art style is one of the things I also really love about this show. Being made by studio SHAFT, it really shows what their staff is capable of. The show has a very "cute" style to how all of the characters are designed that contrasts the show's main themes very well. The shading makes very good use of crosshatching that I've never seen in an anime as well. As far as the quality goes, it gets full marks. 10/10

The music goes very hard and works perfectly for almost every scene. Yuki Kajiura does a fantastic job here, though I still don't think it's her best work, that would be Kara no Kyoukai. Regardless, full marks, 10/10.

Another spoiler section - the horror elements of this show work very well, but don't go in expecting it to be scary. You're either going to get nothing out of this show or you'll be downright horrified, not really spooked. I'd compare it to something like Chaos;Head if you've played that, but even that has a lot more shock-value horror. This isn't Five Nights at Freddy's, thank God. There aren't any jumpscares, there aren't any dumb screaming scenes, the only horror elements are psychological.

Overall, 10/10 would recommend. It's also a show you can watch with your parents if you're into that since it doesn't have basically any fanservice whatsoever. I watched this with my younger brother who hates anime and he gave it like a solid 8 or 9 if that means anything. I give it the writerman seal of approval.

Wow. Just... Wow.

The Kara no Kyoukai series has been on my radar for quite some time, mostly due to its connection with Tsukihime and the rest of the Nasuverse. Up until this point, the series as a whole had been a solid 8, something I'll remember going forward but nothing to write home about. Mujun Rasen, or Paradox Spiral, is another matter. This movie is smarter than I am, and I don't say that lightly or to make fun of it. I sincerely mean that this film is more thought-provoking than I was able to comprehend.

As far as the writing goes, this is ... the first time I've seen any anime property in the Nasuverse really dive into the metaphysics of the Counter Force and the Root of Akasha, but it was woven into the story very well. The characters are all very well written with no real exception, and the story knows exactly what it's doing. I would have liked to see more of Ryougi, but that's probably a me problem and the story is probably better for having her on-screen way less than in previous films. Touko finally gets the attention she deserves here and it almost feels like 'her movie' in a way, though that's not to say she's the most important character, far from it.

The art and animation have stepped up astronomically from the previous movie, it really is a spectacle to behold. The music is outstanding, even for an ufotable production. It gets a 10 in this category.

Overall, I don't want to spoil the film. Go watch the Kara no Kyoukai movies, this one is my favorite thus far.

I LOVE Carnival Phantasm, probably to an irrational degree. There's so much I have to say about this show even though it's only like 2 hours long in total, but that just speaks to the depth and quality of the work. The bottom line here is that I think this series stands among Kaguya-Sama and Nichijou as one of the greatest comedy anime of all time, but that's only IF you have a cursory knowledge of Type-Moon's body of media.

I am not really a Fate fan. I liked ufotable's UBW adaptation and Apocrypha was an above-average show, but I'm not as fanatical about the franchise ... as the rest of this review might lead you to believe. I am, however, a massive fan of Tsukihime, a game that I will hopefully play at some point whenever the remake gets officially translated, and with Mahoutsukai no Yoru getting such a fantastic localization earlier this winter I wouldn't be surprised if that actually happens. A lot of my enjoyment of this anime came from seeing the main cast of Tsukihime fully animated in an episodic series, which you can't really do anywhere else. I guess Melty Blood sort of counts but that's not the same.

What this anime does best is its comedy, obviously. It thrives in putting its characters in bizarre situations that make no sense and asking "how would this character act in this situation?" but turning up the absurdity to a ridiculous level. I don't this would work very well if it was just a stand-alone series, but with a main cast normally associated with such a serious tone, it makes for some of the funniest cases of intentional tonal whiplash I've ever seen.

Some of the show's humor does come from being overly self-aware, which could normally be a detriment if executed poorly. Thankfully, it only adds to how insane the execution of the premise is. I think the best example is that in some way, shape, or form, Lancer dies in literally every episode as a tribute to how easily he gets clowned on in every other series he appears in. This kind of commitment to the characters isn't exclusive to the main cast, pretty much every character stays true to their appearance in their original media. There's only one character as far as I know that changes at all from their original counterpart and that might not even be true because I haven't read Hollow Ataraxia.

The animation is fantastic, allowing the show to be visually distinct from other Type-Moon anime while still keeping the characters recognizable. I don't have much to say here but it's good and the art direction goes hard sometimes.

The story is... nonexistent, there is no story. It's a series of semi-unrelated skits that often don't even maintain a narrative through-line within a given episode. Well, that isn't entirely true, there is the story about the "holy grail war" that pops up in a few episodes, but that's pretty much only with the Fate characters and sometimes Neco-Arc so it doesn't really count.

In one episode Saber is implied to have eaten Lancer alive. I'm not giving you any more context.

I know that I wasn't being entirely serious about my rating in my Inferno Cop review, but here I completely am. Carnival Phantasm is a 10/10 anime and I cannot name a thing it could have done better. The only real problem with it is that you can't watch it legally without buying a DVD, which might cost you a bit of money. Well, that and there isn't more, I want more. Type-Moon, make a Carnival Phantasm 2, the Melty Blood community would lose their minds and it's a good way to promote Fate/grand order without putting 3 FGO characters in the Tsukihime fighting game.

SSSS.Gridman is a surprisingly great anime with a lot of problems, problems that ultimately hold it back compared to the rest of Studio TRIGGER's catalogue.

In retrospect, when taking Dynazenon into account, I consider Gridman to be the superior show in its writing, its cinematography, and its characters, but when I watched it I was pretty underwhelmed. Compared to Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, and even Kiznaiver, Gridman's animation is pretty generic for about 70% of its runtime. I'll get to the remaining 30% later. It doesn't have the signature "TRIGGER energy" that the other shows made by the studio contain. Most people can distinctly ... tell when watching an anime if it was made by TRIGGER, but Gridman could have been made by anyone. Even Dynazenon had a bit of "TRIGGER-ness" to its art direction and some of the action scenes, but I can't remember a single moment in Gridman that brought me the same level of hype as even the first 2 minutes of Kill la Kill.

If you're going into Gridman without the expectation of a TRIGGER show, however, I think you'll get something out of it, maybe even more than you would from shows like Kiznaiver, BNA, and Darling in the FranXX. That being said, it isn't perfect. The pacing is abysmal at times, especially in the first episode. The final battle struck me as lackluster and the ending is a bit excessive with how it overexplains concepts that really don't matter that much. That's it for my criticism though.

The animation, as stated earlier, is pretty basic. HOWEVER, during the fight scenes, we get what I consider to be the most genuine love letter to tokusatsu action that has come out of the anime industry. While I feel that Dynazenon does fit the general hype level of what we thought Power Rangers was like when we were 6, Gridman's attention to detail and commitment to that kind of style is a sight to behold. The use of clunky CGI for the kaiju is something so brilliant that I never could have thought of because of my narrow mindset when it comes to 3D animation in general, it works because of how ridiculous it looks, not in spite of it.

The story and characters range from serviceable to fantastic, and Akane is the real stand-out. Skip this paragraph if you haven't seen the show because I'm going to go on a spoiler tangent here. Akane is the best villain from a trigger show and it's not even close. The only competition is maybe Noriko from Kiznaiver but she isn't really a villain so I'm choosing to ignore her and Kiznaiver has its own problems. Akane embodies the human desire for escapism without it feeling like a lecture towards the audience. In that way, Gridman shares a lot in common with Evangelion, being that they both are trying to say that going outside is good for you and escapism is good in moderation but damaging in excess. It's fitting that Gridman shares a parent studio with Evangelion, TRIGGER is an offshoot of Gainax. Eva's ending always felt on the nose and very direct compared to Gridman's for me, and while I think Evangelion does it better, Gridman is still a different take on the concept. Either way, having a main antagonist with actual motivations and complexity is a breath of fresh air coming from TRIGGER.

The sound design is excellent. I can distinctly remember several tracks from the show that stand out as perfect in the way that they are used. The OP and ED are fantastic as well. This is such a subjective category but the review is entirely my opinion so I'm allowed to say that it's good.

Overall, SSSS.Gridman is an amazing show that I highly recommend.

THIS ANIME IS A MASTERPIECE 10/10 ABSOLUTE BANGER WATCH IT PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!

With that out of the way, here's an actual review.

Inferno Cop is epic.

This show is just a shitpost made by people with a lot of talent and a lot of passion. I could not make better if I tried.

The animation is absolutely horrible and I love it. There are times when this show doesn't even try and it works so well. Half of the characters are just copy-pasted to the point where you can't tell if it's a deep and complex analogy for how the anime industry is so saturated with the same characters ... over and over again or if the animators were just having too much fun.

This show has a FULL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK and it somehow slaps. I had to go look this up because I forgot whether it even had more than one song but I found a playlist full of bangers.

The characters are amazing and they have so much complexity and depth. Look at Inferno Cop himself, who has a total of zero definable personality traits. He's so complex and well thought out that we mere mortals cannot comprehend his existence.

The story is so amazing that I cannot even begin to describe how great it is. Every plot twist had me on the edge of my seat. My brother, who I rewatched this with, said it was like nothing he's ever seen before, and I'm definitely not lying through my teeth when I say that. It is glorious. It is amazing. It is... E P I C. People say it's not even comparable to shows like Evangelion or Monogatari, and that's true; it's because they simply do not understand the subtle and DEEP themes and symbolisms in the plot. You just "don't get" Inferno Cop if you can't see how amazing it is.

That's right, Inferno Cop is the greatest anime ever made and I'm tired of pretending it isn't. Ignore the fact that this review only gives it a 9/10, it's because MAL's scoring system simply cannot contain the pure levels of EPIC this show consists of. Really, this review should be a 99/10, because that's just how great Inferno Cop is. GO WATCH INFERNO COP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO WATCH IT!!!!!!

Planet With is one of those shows you never expect to be amazing, but in reality you should have known all along. I cannot say that Planet With is the greatest anime of all time or the "most underrated" anime of all time, but I can say that it was a fun and bizarre show that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The characters are solid, especially Souya and Ginko. I can't really talk about them without spoilers, but I enjoyed the supporting cast members as well.

The animation is fantastic. I know this is a hot take but this might be the best use of 3D animation I've ... seen yet. All of the models look so clean and articulate. I can't say it wouldn't have looked better with 2D animation, but it doesn't detract from the experience. Fight scene choreography is on-point and the show's visual design is very creative.

The music and sound are great, especially the theme that plays like every battle. The OP and ED are so good as well.

The story is the best part of this show, and boy is it a rollercoaster. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but if you go into this show with expectations you will be proven wrong. The characters have decent motivations and despite the short runtime, they're all explained pretty well.

The comedy isn't always great but when it hits it hits. There's a scene in like episode two that got me to laugh hysterically which basically never happens with anime. It's not the selling point but you won't be wishing it wasn't there.

Now the question is: should you watch it? HELL YES!!! Regardless of what kind of anime fan you are I highly recommend Planet With. It's only 12 episodes and it has a little something for everyone, and I mean that. You might laugh, you might cry, you might get super hyped by the action. This show is awesome and I don't use that word lightly.

Studio TRIGGER has made some of the most innovative and captivating anime series of all time and I don't think that can really be denied.

Lately, their work has fallen a bit short of that in the cases of BNA and arguably Darling in the FranXX, but overall I think their track record is pretty good. Dynazenon is a fantastic example of what TRIGGER is leaning towards and I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

For starters, Dynazenon's characters aren't perfect by any measure. Yume tended to be the most compelling as a lot of the side plot focused on her, ... but she had little-to-no actual personality and her most notable trait was that she had a somewhat tragic backstory. Yomogi is worth mentioning because he's not a horrible protagonist, but as a character, he doesn't really work. Gauma was funny but bland as well, at least he had a motivation and presence in the show. The other two were okay and the main antagonists were alright, but they aren't worth mentioning. It's all pretty standard-fare for a show like this.

The animation and sound were both excellent, but that can't sell a show. I don't remember much of the soundtrack aside from the opening and one of the insert songs, which isn't a bad thing, but it would have been nice if there had been a few more stand-out tracks. There's one episode in particular where the visual design was excellent, but aside from that it was nothing out of the ordinary.

The story makes sense and stays cohesive. It fulfills its promise of being a sequel to Gridman and that's about it.

So why do I give it a 9? That's easy: because it felt like a 9.

The action, the atmosphere, the often cheesy and over-the-top writing, it all works. I don't expect Dynazenon to make me rethink how I consume media, but it couldn't have been a better love letter to the kind of shows I grew up with. Dynazenon captures the wonder and excitement that I felt watching Power Rangers as a kid without feeling like a kids show. I can't think of another show that does that aside from maybe Gridman, and even then I think Dynazenon does it better. There is a moment in the final episode that I have gone back to watch maybe a dozen times and it still hasn't gotten old for me. If you had a similar childhood to me watching shows like the previously mentioned Power Rangers, Voltron, maybe the original Gridman, then I highly, HIGHLY, recommend Dynazenon. It is a fun watch that still holds up under scrutiny to an extent.

Now about TRIGGER. Dynazenon is one step forward and one step back for them in a lot of ways. The animation and storytelling haven't taken much of a hit, but the stylistic approach to art direction and the high-octane energy that Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill are known for are noticeably absent here. This can be seen as a good thing, it makes Dynazenon much more approachable than TRIGGER's other works, but it ultimately removes some of the charm that makes those shows I mentioned iconic. I can't say it ruins this show for me because it doesn't, but this isn't really a TRIGGER show, it's a show made by Studio TRIGGER.