Back to RomanRonin's Profile RomanRonin's Profile

If you liked the first season, this special is a notable improvement on the existing formula. I really liked the first season, but I had some issues with it. This special pretty much resolved all of them.

One of my biggest complaints with the first season was how Rena comes across as a self-insert harem protagonist. The entire story was told from her perspective, and for the most part the other characters seemed to only exist in relation to Rena. This special fixed this completely by interweaving multiple plot arcs in a way that dramatically increased the depth of Rena's love interests. It's still not ... perfect: the other members of the Queentet still seem drawn moreso to Rena than each other, but it's a step in the right direction.

Another complaint I had about the first season was the dialogue. It felt incredibly clunky and verbose to the point of having to occasionally pause and rewatch certain scenes (something I NEVER have to do, and that I blame on this being adapted from a LN). This special improved on this a lot by letting moments breathe, which gave certain scenes just the right emotional weight. Maybe this is just partly due to Satuki being less involved, but I felt like even her scenes were better.

Overall, the actual production quality felt a touch better too. I can't put my finger on it, but the audio and visuals all felt just a bit more polished than the first season.

There are still some nagging issues with the plot, which is to be expected for a harem yuri. Seemingly no one cares about homosexual relations in this show. The five most beautiful girls in the entire school are all clearly in love with each other, but no one seems to mention how unusual this is. I don't mean that as a critique of homosexuality or anything. I just mean that the Queentet seems to exist completely separate from the outside world and I feel like the implications of that, especially with Mai being a world-renowned supermodel, are left unexplored.

In any case, this special was a step up from the first season, so if you watched that already and were unsure, definitely give this special a shot.

Silent Witch was such a fresh breath of air. I truly expected going into it to be watching a cliche fantasy anime, complete with all the typical tropes: Mary Sue MC, power of friendship, meaingless plot. Well, I couldn't be more wrong, and a large part of the reason why is Silent Witch's MC, Monica. She may be the world's biggest nervous wreck when it comes to social interaction, but she really stole the limelight. She's an intelligent character who rose into the Seven Sages, the highest rank of mages there is, by capitalizing on her knowledge of mathematical formulas, the language underpinning magic in ... her world. This knowledge of hers is not just her expertise, it's her dearest love. Give Monica a tax accountant's ledgers and she will pledge her undying loyalty to you. As an MC, she's really a nuanced character fighting through her anxieties to do her job as one of the Seven Sages. and she's played to absolute perfection by her voice actress. If you don't fall in love with Monica within the first few minutes of seeing her, you're just beyond redemption at that point.

But Monica isn't the only great thing about this anime. Visually, it's great with fluid animation and a refined art style that legitimately reminded me of CloverWorks. There's also a great cast of characters who befriend Monica and really make the world come alive. Most interesting among all of them is the Second Prince, an enigmatic figure Monica is secretly protecting but who no one truly knows much about. The interactions between him and Monica are just some of the best scenes in the entire show. The plot too is great with some degree of depth, but it takes a backseat at times to focus on character interactions first and foremost.

Now this isn't to say that I thought the show was perfect. There were some minor gripes I had with details. The plot, while still good in every sense of the word, rounded out some details at times that I felt could've been expanded upon. There were also some weird choices with a couple characters, including a development with a close friend of Monica's that comes out of left field (if you've seen it, you'll know exactly what I mean). Most notably, in my opinion, is the lack of detail we see with the magic system. When it comes to Monica, we see some scenes where she really gets into the nitty gritty about the formulas behind certain spells and how they work, but there's only a couple of these. Beyond Monica, magic feels very stale and generic, with no real sense of scale or significance. Magic may not be actually core to the story, but I kinda wish they fleshed it out a bit more, just for immersion.

But none of those minor things should deter you from watching the show. It's a great, refreshing take on the boarding school sub-genre of fantasy anime, and Monica is a top-tier best girl, so watch just for her alone.

I am not exaggerating in saying this is hands-down the best anime of 2025 and a runaway favorite for Anime of the Year. Rarely have I seen a show that so perfectly blends all of the essential elements together into such a perfect product. Firstly, the animation is superb. The art direction is clean and beautiful and, unlike most manga adapatations, actually lives up to the manga's art quality (at least, as much as that's even physically possible). The color choices are amazing, and CloverWorks' particular style fits perfectly with the anime. The voice acting is on point. The score fits exactly as you'd expect ... while playing more of a backseat role, as it should in this kind of anime!

In terms of the plot, this show is a refreshing take on the rom-com genre. We have two main leads who, despite both being pure rays of sunshine, feel realistic. They don't just magically fall in love with each other, but instead actively fall for each other as the story progresses. They are nervous as all hell at times, but don't just stutter for 13 episodes and let the plot force them to be closer. Instead, they each takes steps towards each other, and the progress of their relationship feels natural and perfect as a result. The supporting cast has the perfect balance, crucially involved in the plot but not so much as to limit the time we get with the main leads alone. This cast is no mere gallery of side characters either; they're all properly developed, fully functioning characters who you can't help but root for.

The plot also is completely unencumbered by the traditional time-delay tropes like misunderstandings or obstacles to their progression. That isn't to say the show doesn't have them: it certainly does. But, it actually moves through them at a reasonable pace. Without spoiling anything, there is one friend who seems like they're going to be a major thorn in the side of the relationship, but one of the main leads confronts the issue and within an eipsode or two wins this friend over. That's what I like to see in romance anime! We shouldn't be bogged down by drama, and this anime takes that to heart.

To demonstrate how fantastic this anime is, let me offer a critique. CloverWorks somewhat overuses a particular windy day animation in significant moments, doing close-ups of characters and having their hair be gently blown by the wind. That's literally my most significant criticism of this show, and it's nitpicking just to bring it up. THAT'S HOW GOOD THIS SHOW IS. Please, watch it: I insist! And, if you somehow finish the show not thinking it's a strong contender for anime of the year, I genuinely pity the joyless mire that is your heart.

Rarely has a show been so short-changed by its production quality. On the basis of its story alone, Kijin Gentosho had the potential to really make a name for itself. The story follows Jinta, a swordsman from the Bakumitsu era who, without spoiling details, becomes entangled with supernatural affairs that significantly prolongs his life. A prophecy awaits in the long-distant future of the modern era, but that's not what this first season is about. Instead, we get to follow Jinta throughout the time leading up to the modern era, and see him develop as a character as he comes to grips with the inevitability of ... the passage of time, and his peculiar outside perspective of it. In this, the show repeatedly approaches time as a narrative concept in various unique and refreshing ways that I personally haven't seen in anime before.

Now, the plot isn't perfect. There are some narrative short-cuts, and some characters feel oblivious at times for the sake of preserving particular mysteries until their intended reveals. These are minor discrepancies however and normally they wouldn't impact my final score of a show.

However, there is a much bigger elephant in the room, and it's the reason why I believe this show is among the most wasted potentials in all of anime history. I'll be bluntly clear: the production quality of Yokohama was abysmal. The art direction was generic and stale. The animation itself felt static and clay-like, with fight scenes feeling like they were animated on a stack of Post-It notes. And this isn't even to mention the further falloff in the second half of the season: if the first half was bad, the second half was historically terrible. Most scenes were reduced to static depictions of characters speaking with no real additional movement, and even then characters were roughly rendered in a lower-quality artstyle as if the production itself was rushed to complete. Even worse, some scenes started to not even be fully animated at all, with backgrounds being left unfinished in the initial release.

You'd think this, while a tragedy, is still fine to put up with in exchange for such a great story, but that's why the otherwise minor shortcomings in the story are more notable. It doesn't help that the greater issues with the plot begin to arise in the second half, particularly with how weak Jinta seems relative to his age. It's not a battle shounen, but Jinta is actually pathetically weak for what he is. Again, this would be a minor discrepancy, but taken together with the poor animation, it becomes more noticeable to the point of being grating.

I have a feeling that based on the visual production quality that these story defects are also in part Yokohama's fault, so I think I'm going to continue the story in its original source material. I recommend as much, and while the show still has some good moments, it's akin to coal mining in order to find an artificial diamond: it's just not really worth the effort.

I really went into this expecting it to be some generic yuri bait with zero substance. In that, I was pleasantly surprised. Now, don't get me wrong: this was still at its core a yuri harem anime with lots of intimate moments. However, instead of just throwing some bland plot between intimate moments, the show actually fleshed out a complex love polygon with multiple compelling love interests. Each love interest introduced doesn't necessarily appear to be one at first, until we peel back some layers and we see their backstory, and more importantly we see how our main character Renako influences their feelings.

In that ... sense, the show almost feels like a visual novel game where Renako is the insert for the player, saying the pivotal lines at the pivotal moments to win the hearts of various heroines. A core element to this show is Mai, the perfect heroine archetype who first gets the idea of love in Renako's head and who is desperately trying to win Rena's love. However, she's honestly the least compelling of the fleshed out love interests thusfar, partly because of how annoying she is, but also partly because she's more of an antagonist at times for the arcs of the other girls. I found that concept really interesting and a refreshing take on the harem genre: a perfect heroine who the other girls in a sense have to compete against to win Renako's heart.

The animation was fairly good for the production, though there's little actual movement so it's really just art design, which was mostly good. One notable critique at times was the speed of the dialogue: you can tell it was adapted from a LN because some characters speak way too fast. More specifically, Satsuki speaks at lightning speed and her dialogue is very content dense. I found myself having to rewatch parts during her mini arc, and that kinda ruined the immersion (though I understand they wanted to fit the content of this season neatly into 12 episodes). In short, this isn't necessarily Mozart, but if you're looking for a fresh take on the yuri genre, then this is definitely worth jamming out to.

DanDaDan proved this season that their success was no mere one-and-done phenomenon. In an age when seemingly every series falls off following its first season, DanDaDan instead dramatically improved upon their already successful formula. As someone who loved the first season, but thought it was just a hair away from being a true masterpiece, (nearly) all of my concerns were addressed this season.

The plot dramatically opened up in terms of scope. The first season's plot was introductory. We got to see our two main leads and explore their relationship a bit, but most of the run-time was spent getting us acclimated to the absolutely ... bat-shit insane concept. This season, however, we moved past formalities and really ran with the craziness. Many new and interesting characters were introduced, and others were fleshed out even further. We got to see at least two or three significant threats that took more than a single episode to defeat, raising the stakes and really contextualizing the strength of Okarun and Momo's powers.

The score was great as always, and the music was next level! There's one scene that I'm sure you're already aware of and yes, it is even better in context than it is just as a music video.

The animation is the only mixed bag, but I'll make the argument in favor of it. Let me be clear: the animation is still infinitely better than the average show. However, many have raised issues with some small aspects of it that feel like shortcuts. One element in particular is the background animation, which feels somewhat stale at times. I'll admit, even I brought it up as a concern earlier on in the season. However, after watching the full season, I've realized what's going on. The studio really went out of its way to experiment with gritty movement animation this season. There's a lot of scenes, and I mean a LOT, where we see a first-person perspective with a lot of grittiness and motion blur, as if we're actually living it out in real time. This really emphasizes not only the pace of the action, but really emphasizes the effects it had on our main characters. In this, I think the background art is supposed to offer some contrast in order to really dramatize the action. Now, this might be a bit of a stretch on my end, or just outright cope, but considering how much they nailed literally every other element of this season, I've gotta give them the benefit of the doubt here. The best way I can sum up the animation this season is refreshing and experimental: ScienceSARU really went out of their way to test new camera angles, visual effects, etc. and I think we got a better show for it.

I'm wagering that there are very few people who watched Season 1 but are on the fence about watching Season 2, but I'll offer my advice regardless: just watch this. It's well worth it!

Bad Girl is a cute comedy show about our lead, Yuu Yuutani, and her attempts to be noticed by her senpai, Atori Mizutori, by acting out like a 'bad girl.' The joke, however, is that Yuu is such an innocent and loveable girl that her interpretation of 'bad' is endearingly adorable. Yuu becomes the center of a love polygon, but remains completely oblivious to it.

As a comedy, this show has some good moments, with relatively fresh and funny humor. The animation is fine (honestly better than I expected for a non-Fairty Tail Bridge production) and the character designs are fairly unique without going over ... the top. The voice acting is great, especially on Yuu's part.

The romance element is a bit lacking, since everyone kinda quickly falls in love with Yuu without much doing on her part. I get that it's meant to be a gag, but I also wish they actually focused a bit more on the 'bad girl' side of things. Yuu kinda gives up on this front fairly early on, save for an occasional failed attempt here and there to remind you of the premise of the show. And finally, it's a bit clear at times that this was adapted from a 4-panel comic. While that's not bad in itself, it's very difficult to avoid that origin bleeding through into the show via its plot points. If you like lots of shorter, less-succinctly connected scenes in an anime, then you're gonna like this, but I personally prefer a more cohesive plot direction.

Overall though, it's an enjoyable show that has sadly been a bit neglected in the midst of a particularly strong season of anime.

Take my review here with a grain of salt as I struggled to remember my original feelings about the first season, but this season felt lacking. I remember the first season, while certainly a harem anime, being a bit more nuanced in developing the relationship between Nagi and Erika and contrasting it against each of his unique relationships with the other girls. Now, however, it feels like everyone has been reduced to tropes. Hiro was better as an outside character than as just another main cast member. Sachi was once a sister conflicted about her feelings towards her brother, but now she's just 100% incestual ... towards him with no sense of hesitation nor nuance. Erika actually seems okay, but she's also not been developed that much and has taken a backseat despite being, in theory, the second protagonist of the show. Nagi is actually the worst off of the characters this season as he's been reduced to an actual idiot with little redeeming qualities and little ability to do anything besides make foolish decisions and seem bashful at all moments of the day. Ai is a relatively cool new character, but she's such a tropey 'childhood best friend' type that her introduction effectively solidifies this show a harem instead of a romance. Maybe this show was always meant to just be a generic harem anime and I'm misremembering the first season, but it doesn't have any special element to make it stand out at this point.

I've been keeping up with Dr. Stone from the very start. I've been loyal, and whenever there was a dip in quality, I kept up the faith, believing it would improve at some later point, or that it was an adaptation issue, or some other excuse. However, I've gotta accept the reality at this point: Dr. Stone has lost its special sauce.

Dr. Stone was always a comedy, but its first two seasons were fantastic because they uniquely and refreshingly blended in comedic and serious elements into a completely original concept. Having effectively the anime scientist version of Sherlock Holmes awaken in a future prehistoric ... world and have to rebuild society from scratch is just such a golden concept, and the execution was fantastic. Each episode would present some new issue, and through Senku's scientific knowledge and determination, we'd end the episode with a sense of accomplishment for having unlocked a new step along the road towards scientific recovery.

This is no longer the formula. Now, with the onset of actual plot tensions like Dr. Xeno and the mysterious Y Man, the actual process of scientific development has taken a backseat. This has been a slow process over the past few seasons or so, but it has become far more obvious this season. In prior seasons, it took an entire episode just to get an electric battery. Now though, we get fully functional gas motorcycles in 3 or 4 minutes! The science is literally just endless MacGuffins repeated to get a certain tool into Senku's possession, regardless of how difficult it would actually be. Resources or time no longer actually impact anything, and therefore there's no sense of satisfaction nor accomplishment at the end.

So too has the tone completely fallen off. Dr. Stone obviously is a shounen and has always been geared towards that audience, but it used to have a certain element of higher-level quality to it, with underlying adult themes about the nature of power, the question of society's moral nature, etc. Now though, Dr. Stone is basically an elementary science PBS show, holding your hand through the plot and constantly teaching you really basic concepts as if you're a literal 5 year old child.

Dr. Stone has also become reliant upon an ever-ballooning cast of 'prodigy' characters. Dr. Stone was interesting at first because Senku was a 1-in-a-billion mental prodigy going up against Tsukasa, a 1-in-a-billion physical prodigy. Sure, there were other characters who had unique skills like Kohaku and Gen, but Senku and Tsukasa really stood out. Now though, there's some new super genius added nearly every arc with some niche specialty.

The dialogue devolved into everyone just repeating simple points as if they're guest starring on an episode of Dora the Explorer. I really feel bad saying all of this because I legitimately had Dr. Stone in my top 50 anime of all time, but this season just became too unbearable to continue.

I suggest that if any of this resonated with you to follow my lead and switch over to the manga.

The first season of Kaiju No. 8 was a pleasant surprise for me. That's why it pains me to write this review, but Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 is just not living up to the expectations left by Season 1. Core to the problems of this season are plot issues, specifically an abundance of plot convenience and shortcuts.

Without spoilers, it's tough to go into much detail about this, but to start, there's a pivotal arc based around another encounter between the JAKDF and Kaiju No. 9. In it, a significant character loses their life and No. 9 gains a significant power-up. However, while this ... as a whole isn't a problem, the execution of this is absolutely abysmal. There is zero foreshadowing of any key moments in this arc: everything just happens out of nowhere with no build up. While not evrything has to be foreshadowed extensively, there's a difference between surprising your audience and just making things up on the fly to advance towards a pre-conceived plot point (the latter of which is what occured here). Not only that, but the plot tension does not suggest that No. 9 should've won here. Rather, it's the opposite. Every single detail, every single invoked trope, and every single line of dialogue suggested that "things would be different this time" and No. 9 would be defeated. For the show to serve this up on a silver platter, and then deus ex machina its way into enabling No. 9 to overcome the odds is just poor writing, plain and simple. The writers recognize this too, because they throw in a couple of one-liners here and there to address obvious plot holes, as if a character stating a clear flaw in a plan is proof that plan wouldn't have worked. I'm sorry that this seems incoherent without having watched the show, but trust me when I say that the plot movement in this arc is genuinely irritating to watch.

But it wasn't just the plot that fell off. The animation was inconsistent, with some moments looking fantastic but others looking stale and simplistic. The shading contrast is too low, making all the shadows feel dull and not dark enough, which in turn makes all the lighter colors feel kinda dull and, for lack of a proper term, generic. Again, this isn't always the case, but there's far more scenes where it is. This season also shifts the cast of characters, sidelining many interesting ones in the first season in favor of less interesting side characters whom we know nothing about and could not really care less about.

The world building of the show actually starts to get in the way of the plot too, in my opinion. While we see a bit of a look into the wider scale of the JAKDF, it might as well be nonexistant since nothing outside of where Kafka is in any moment matters whatsoever. Either Japan is so hard hit by kaiju that literally all 20 division of the JAKDF are tied up at all moments, or, FAR more likely, the author just didn't know how to properly scale the threat of the disaster with the JAKDF and didn't give us any context as to why they can never mobilize to help each other in the hope we the audience wouldn't notice it.

All in all, if you want to sum up my long spiel into a single takeaway, it's this: Kaiju No. 8's second season is a mediocre, underdeveloped production that squanders the potential of its first season, and that's a shame.