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Tamayura as a whole is Junichi Satou's attempt to making an anime that has Aria's comfort, wholesome vibe but with a melancholic tone behind the story and he did an amazing attempt for making an original anime.

The series as a whole has a focus in three things; which are photography, moving on, and eventually growing. The entire run of the anime has very trope-like acts that is very common in a lot of CGDCT anime, however what makes the anime special for me is the growth of the characters and how beautiful the surrounding area of Takehara and eventually parts of Hiroshima.

The characters I did ... mention how the anime had a lot of generic anime tropes happening, the characters themselves feels fairly uninspiring at least compared to big hitters such as Aria/Hidamari Sketch/K-On, however the plot really made up that fact and I find a lot of the characters much more enjoyable even if they feel very generic base personality wise. To add to the point there's a fair amount of big VA names for a series that is almost never talked about and they did a great job.

The pacing of the show is almost similar to Aria and at times a lot slower, same director and the music isn't as great in comparison but fits the series nicely.

Overall I am glad that this anime not only exists it also has a very satisfying closure which even for a finished adaptation is uncommon, and for an anime original to achieve that I can only thank Junichi Satou for probably lobbying this series to have a proper end.

This OVA I'm giving a 7/10, for the series overall it's an 8/10, worth investing your time into if you like these types of anime.

Aria The Animation is a good start to a wonderful laid back series that is not only comforting is also amazing towards it's original end.

The strongest aspects of the series is it's character chemistry, while the main 3 fills the typical roles of an airhead, strict, and loud type the trio also has other unique characteristics alongside great voice work that make them very distinct as characters alongside their mentors and other side characters.

The pacing of the show might be it's make or break for a lot of people, the Aria series is very slow moving and incredibly laid back while also being very character ... and dialogue driven. The nature of Iyashikei tend to be slow paced but the series really takes it time in delving into the atmosphere of a very beautifully designed and colorful world of Aqua and Neo Venezia.

The series in general has a both comforting and melancholic feel to it, the soundtrack from this up until the 2021 movies are made by Choro Club and they did really well in presenting casual and fun music on it's tracks (namely AQUA) while also presenting ones that are more moody and melancholic for the scene.

The only thing that I dislike about this series is that giant cat Cat Saith(?) that makes characters such as President Aria and the other cats look like a total jerk and made Akari into this helpless damsel every time the thing appears and it keeps up until Avvenire, the anime is faithful to the source material so I can't exactly point fingers at the studio but without that thing the series would've been easily perfect from start to finish (Animation to Origination covers the manga's original run)

In conclusion the series is simply wonderful, the fact that it had a lifespan of 16 years with over 50+ episodes and 2 well made movies is a miracle, a lot of love was put into making Aria and it's sequels with that love easily felt on Origination. It has its flaws but regardless this is easily a series worth investing to that also has Picture Books and Sound Novels that are voiced with the same quality as the show.

I'm giving this season an 8.0/10, its a decent start to a great series that pays off massively towards Origination alongside extra content for the epilogue of the series to really conclude the series in general very well.

Takopi's Original Sin at first seems like those edgy/misery type animes that looks like it would freefall into the depths of despair each episode(thanks for the spoilers twitter), but instead it has a very clear theme of how kids suffer from either a toxic home environment or a neglected one.

The main characters themselves have incredible nuance, with nobody seemingly one dimensional having their characters actions all backed up with a horrible but logical reasons behind them. Nobody in this anime is truly a hero, but all of them have some qualities to become one and the story develops good enough on a decent pace. The ... story itself feels very real and grounded despite having a silly alien octopus jumping around sounding like a total goof, there was never once have I cracked a smile(up until a certain point, and not because of Takopi) despite me loving moe/cute stuff.

The art direction on this is heavily detailed and no punches were pulled on that departement, the VAs pushed an incredible performance that are convincing and the sound direction for the voices have unique touches that made a lot of actions feel more visceral in comparison to just a clean normal VA sound.

Only downside if I can pick and choose is that while I can empathize heavily with the kids suffering, the adults does seem evil to a certain stereotypical extent, almost something I've seen from so MANY soap operas, but you tend to write a story with personal experience sprinkled on it, I just wish there was more to the adults of the story but they are not the focus here.

Overall, it's an amazing watch and somehow an anime that I can't exactly recommend just to anybody especially since the first episode was very viral for a reason, I usually steer clear of anything Sci-Fi/Supernatural or whatever involved but this one just felt logical enough to me that I never took it as a joke.

I'm giving this one a 9.5/10.

Food for the Soul is a fantastic food oriented SoL CGDCT that is consistent from start to finish, coming from the makers, director, and other staff of Non Non Biyori this anime original is strikingly similar in feel while also not a straight carbon copy of it.

The anime while food themed has amazing scenes of daily live of the very lively main characters plus notable characters, taking place around a college it does have some episodes that only college students/adults can do which is a very refreshing change of pace of the usual high schoolers when it comes to these types of anime.

Speaking of the ... characters, while I did say the anime is not a straight carbon copy of NNB, some of the characters do feel like they're heavily inspired from NNB such as Tsutsuji and Shinon that resembles Renge and Natsume respectively with Mako almost mirroring Hotaru, even with that all the characters have shining personalities of their own and fun to follow with.

The overall art of the anime also looks fantastic, the character designs are distinct and cute while the food....they put a LOT of effort to making them look delicious while not looking like outlines of a cooking video whether its a cutlet, stew, or rice it looks very good and you can relate to the characters enjoying them because the food simply looks mouthwatering.

The anime is a great comfort watch while still being highly entertaining, I had high hopes knowing who was behind the show and it still delivered higher than expected. It's clear that this was made with love and passion from the staff and cast delivering a very well made show, and while I am realistic about an original anime that isn't too mainstream getting a sequel, I still hope this one gets a sequel because the anime is special.

In short, I'd classify this as an Iyashikei with how similar paced it is to NNB that has fantastic display of food and how they are cooked plus the typical showcase of SoL that is entertaining, I'm giving this one a solid 9.2/10.

Ninkoro is a comedy CGDCT SoL with a slight twist, the twist being the two main characters are not doing cute things and are rather murderous without mercy while still being somewhat lighthearted about it.

The show is filled with many shenanigans and is sprinkled with a lot of SHAFT's trademark things such as the pastel cards and the famous head tilt. It's mainly comedy focused with how the two girls go on their work and their obstacles that most of the time aren't involved in assassination.

The characters design are very unique, even the ones that only appear for 20 seconds or less and the ... VA cast are very stacked even for those that only appear for such a short time. Personality wise the main 2 characters are the typical straight/funny man duo while the other side characters have personalities with decent enough depth and not just one note characters(apart from one, no spoilers). Some people say the shortly lived ninjas felt like a waste but I think that's part of the charm, make them look very cool just to murk them instantly.

The animation also goes wild especially with some of their big fights, the SoL ones are fairly basic but they put a LOT of effort in making the fights very dynamic even though it only applies for only 3-4 people, still very sick.

My main complaints are about how long it took for the two main girls to receive proper character development, and the show's attempt to make the killings far deeper than it is. The two main characters for 7-8 episodes felt like textbook psychopaths/leeches and thank god there were one episode where Satoko showed true compassion. And for the other complaint the show's attempt at making things darker than it actually is felt like a brain aneurysm of a tone change, dark comedy is one thing but this was just SHAFT overcooking stuff while the manga showed a much better pace at it.

Overall It's a fairly good anime, would've hated it if it wasn't for one very needed episode and logic pretty much gets thrown out of the window(while SHAFT tries to put it back in really hard) but it's still just a silly watch, I'd give it a 7.4/10.

This anime feels like a true sleeper isekai, what's seen on the surface might sound wrong but turns out the dad is a total model citizen and the show is very laid-back without any pervy moments that you'd usually expect.

The anime starts off typical, dad gets hit by the infamous truck-kun and he gets reincarnated, as the vilainess in a women's dating sim. The typical route would show Grace be a total ass to the game's MC Anna but because dad sees everybody as kids he acts very caring towards everybody in a typical parent manner and that's where it gets interesting as the game ... completely derailed and turned into something unique.

The world building inside the show feels very expansive and interesting, with two sides of the coin of real life and the isekai world being shown it's great to see the parallel between the two with the dad's family and the game the dad's in. The characters inside the game also felt very lifely with a lot of the characters given some background and personality to make them actual human beings and not just one and done.

Overall the anime currently feels a bit slept on, which I guess a bit understandable because at first I was questioning what the hell the anime is going to be like when I went in blind judging from the title AND cover, and I'm glad I took the shot way back when it was just released because it's one of the more memorable gems I've stumbled upon that is just funny, entertaining, and also heartwarming(with some sad undertones beneath)

I'm giving this one an 8.7/10, a season 2 feels like a must but since the manga is still fairly new, we'll just have to wait if there's not enough source material.

Hidamari Sketch is an anime that focuses around the high schoolers daily activities around the Hidamari Apartments.

The anime starts off very rough, and I did drop the anime after 4 minutes and took me more than a month to get back to. The first season is what I would call an animated magazine, with realistic objects often blending in the highly cartoonish with polka dots background often lingering around the anime, so what makes the anime special to the point it has 60 episodes counting the OVAs/Specials?

The characters are very distinct and entertaining to watch without being overbearing and one dimensional, with Yuno being the ... seemingly innocent one but still has grit, Miyako a boorish airheaded and goofy neighbor/classmate that is still kind and considerate of others, Sae the seemingly mature and working senior with flaws when it comes to caring for herself, and Hiro the mother figure of the 4 that has plenty insecurities of her own alongside the side characters of Yoshinoya-Sensei the perverted teacher that genuinely cares for her students and many others.

Purely talking about the first season, while the art overall is rough and feels very experimental it still has great qualities when it comes to background OSTs that are used for multiple seasons and wonderful VA performance with the comedy in it either being amusing or just hilarious.

I wrote this review with the other seasons in mind, I did finish the series a week ago and it is for me the best SoL that revolves around realistic scenarios with the manga still having a very similar feel to the anime since Ume Aoki is involved in both anime and manga. It seems like an excuse but the anime does get better after this season, MUCH better on all aspects including writing and art direction(no more mixing realistic objects and background characters have detail now), and mainly the animation where it gets a huge upgrade that it could rival nichijou a bit.

It also has some fan service moments where they are often nude in them but I'm surprised how tame and innocent they feel so huge props to the studio.

Overall it's a very fantastic series, the first season is potatoes compared to season 2 and onwards but with 3 seasons and 10 specials it makes up for the quality that it lacked. It's unfortunate how underrated the series is despite being made by a well-known studio with the amount of content that it has, it's definitely a golden standard in the SoL genre.

I'm giving this season a 7.6/10, the characters and overall direction make up for the quality of the first season and I'm glad the final few episodes of season 1 and onwards to the final season the anime is given great care and proper treatment up until the end. Highly recommended if you enjoy any SoL content in general because it is simply a fantastic series with mostly lighthearted moments and some touching ones.

Minami-Ke Okawari is the 2nd season of the series and with a studio change there's plenty changes that are apparent from the start.

Tl;Dr : Jump straight to EP8 if you want a more similar vibe to the first season.

The first change that you'll see is the art, the characters are changed into a more generic anime look with very distinct features to differentiate themselves from others, such as Haruka's eyes having a red color, Chiaki's hair has a fade color and the strand is animated and more that screams "hey we are the important characters" + the unimportant characters have blacked out skin. The ... surrounding area is more realistic and is also more metropolitan with the apparent tall buildings around + Haruka's high school felt like a completely different building.

The story is also formatted differently, can't really comment much since if I'm being frank the plot of the first 7 episodes are very forgettable and very boring while at the same time try really hard at the entertainment aspect in more ways than one. The reason why I mention only the first 7 episodes is because they are different than the rest of the episodes moving forward and I'll tell you why.

The obnoxious fan service, I usually just shrug it off but the fan service shown here just felt wrong since the fan service is straight up just the characters being nude, and worst of all the majority of them are targeted towards Chiaki, previously it would only revolve around Haruka and Hoshino's suggestive poses but this time they really need to push the fan service really hard.

The characters also felt very out of character, Haruka becomes mean, Chiaki is just the straight man to Kana's shenanigans, Touma is just boy, Makoto is just girl, Uchida's stupid, and the people that I see still maintain their established mannerisms were the middle-schoolers. The kid that they introduced are very forgettable and there's no sights of Touma's brothers.

The only reason why it's not a straight up "Not Recommended" is only because the remaining episodes starting from episode 8 are very watchable, while they still maintain the art and all, the characters revert back to their usual selves and there's an interesting plot happening that pays off in the end alongside the lack of fan service which is actually great to see

Overall, this season is a half disaster and the fact that the 2nd half is very different from the 1st half shows that they made a mistake along the way, because the 2nd half is genuinely a great watch if you enjoyed the previous season, it's just the 1st half is a bastardized version of what existed, almost felt like Chiaki told Haruka to complain about the quality(season 1 tv gag, highly missed) and asread did change it for the better.

I'm giving this one a 5.3/10, skip the first 7 episodes if you liked the vibes of the 1st season and the rest are worth the watch if you want more of Minami-ke, I'd give episode 8 and onwards a pretty solid 7.8/10.

Minami-Ke is a fun and simple anime that shows 3 school girls that are in 3 different school ages living in one roof, with one being the parent of the family and the two younger siblings usually head butts at each other.

The general art of the anime is a timeless one, looks great and gives of a similar homey vibes like in earlier Doraemon. The design of the main and supporting characters are made to blend with the rest of the nameless/non-main characters but are still recognizable by themselves.

The comedy of the story is a bit of a hit and a miss, the gags are ... consistent but there's some memorable ones in shape of TV Segments that they watch together on the living room. The dynamic and chemistry of the characters gels pretty well especially the 3 main sisters, but not a lot of depth when it comes to the many characters themselves. There's also a tiny bit amount of fan service thrown around but thankfully it's mostly reserved for Haruka and her weird but attractive admirer and it's not the revealing kind(I mention this because the 2nd season is brutal with the fan service, and it involves almost everybody).

Overall the anime(1st season) is basic and innocent at it's core, plenty of attempts of comedy but it's main strength at least for me is the things that the girls do on their daily basis and the overall relaxing vibe that the anime gives that is complemented with how the characters and the general area is drawn alongside it's calming soundtrack.

I'm giving it a 7.8/10, the anime is great if you want to watch a SOL CDCGT anime with not a lot happening reminisence of Non-Non Biyori/Lucky Stars.

Yuru Camp/Laid-Back camp is a very relaxing and an almost conflict free anime without having a single stress bone getting rattled.

The first season of Yuru Camp is a general introduction to the characters and camping in general, the anime being focused around Nadeshiko and Rin. The camping times are very relaxing and is accompanied by the beautiful scenery surrounding the camp, the calming music being played, the general relaxing noise of the area, and the food being cooked(this is the climax of every camping arc).

The overall art of the anime is really great, the characters design are unique in more ways than one and although ... the animation is a bit choppy, it's saved by how beautiful the surrounding area usually looks, almost like a Bob Ross painting at times but it still blends in nicely with the characters.

The show does have plenty of gags that are reoccuring even by season 3 that are just cute and lighthearted to make the anime not looking like a CGDCT camping gear and tourism ad(it still kind of is), while the show's pace is very slow it still has moments where it does have entertaining bits to not make it entirely monotonous.

Overall the anime is like a nature camping documentary but with high school girls, there's pretty much no drama involved and just very minor conflicts (apart from the 1st episode) that are easily resolved with patience from the girls.

I'm giving this one an 8.1/10, it's very relaxing, light, and most importantly laid-back.