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Bullet point takeaways:
--> The franchise is facing the Dragon Ball problem. The fights so far, in gaming terms, have been an attribute check followed by a stat check.

--> In classic low level writing fashion, the plot is staged by lack of information. There's only a couple of characters who know whats up. Everyone else is walking in a dark room.

--> Animation isn't lazy. Thats the most that can be said about it. Art is lackluster.

--> MCs haven't matured. In fact, they've degraded to the point it feels like this anime is a parody of itself.

--> What remains is the (borrowed) legendary world ... building. And it is falling apart too. The new characters introduce powers that are plain stupid.

Thoughts: If anything is to be complained about, it should be the source and this studios willingness to put any resources into this capitalistic attempt of a continuation. If you take away the brand of Mashima, this story is a failure. OG fanatics will still gobble this adaptation, basking in the bright afterglow of FT's former glory days. It could've been great, but it missed the mark by a lot.

I don't expect that this anime will get better. Everyone has reached their personal goals and this has now turned into an aimless journey fueled by the "mystery" or "the lack of info" of the the 100YQ. And the mystery was resolved in ep1. What remains its neither mystery nor story. Just plot armor and mediocrity.

Happy Watching.

The Trash Hunter series takes the well explored and exhausted plot of "The Hero's Journey" and adds a few tasty flavors to make it a very enjoyable show. The anime is only 12 episodes in, and writing this review seems a bit hasteful. However, it does enough right to leave a solid foundation for how it will progress.

The gaming anime genre is flooded with mediocre and confusing MCs and sadly so is SLF. Rakurou, in game Sunraku, is both thoughtful and extremely stupid at the same time. And this isn't the first time we've seen a "luck" build. Sunraku ends up skipping a lot of ... the intro features of the game, which does not make sense given he's introduced as a skilled player. Any player with skill, especially one specializing in trash games, would surely like to know game mechanics to effectively find loopholes. However, putting this confusing character aside, Rakurou is very enjoyable to watch and we (mostly) don't get the cringe kind of comedy we've come to expect from shounen. Not to say that I enjoyed the comedy, it was still bad, just not annoying. Let's discuss the character skin he's chosen. While the half-naked part is forced onto him, it still shouldn't be a stand-out feature as many players in the game make it out to be. Players love to experiment and nothing should be a surprise. The author just takes the easy way to justify Sunraku getting noticed, when a naked birdman should not be that weird in an online game. Anyway, there is still a bigger problem -- volatility. Rakurou deviates from his persona as and when he pleases, which makes it a bit annoying to watch. Okay, rant on the MC is over..moving on to the specifics for the anime.

Writing - 7/10
-> Positives: Creative and Enjoyable fights. Creative Boss designs. Backstories of NPCs make sense and are enjoyable. SUPERB world-building. Entertaining unique characters. Well written dialogues (noticeable even through the translation i.e. subtitles).

Negatives:
-> Generic plot; op, overskilled, stupid and stupid lucky MC; shallow romance; Rakurou's writing is as "trash" as the games he loves to play (-2).
->for a character build based on luck, the author misuses it for supposed comedic effect, but its just immature. but i get that the target audience is wide. e.g. when fishing for the serpent, sunraku should be the one to fish it out, yet he isn't. luck much? i think not. Basically what I meant is that the author takes full convenience whenever he's out of ideas. I'd rather have a dull few seconds than paradoxical shit. (-1)

AV - 9/10
Watch the show! Fantastic sound design and voiceovers and visuals are great too. Maybe as the show goes on they will degrade but maybe not. Not much to complain about. The opening song grows on you. It was specially made for this anime. Also, did I mention the sound design was great?

Enjoyment - 8/10
This is one of those shows that would "feel" exponentially more enjoyable if they released 90 minute episodes on a monthly schedule instead of 20 mins of appetizers every week. Every episode "just" misses the mark to being a satisfying watch. The commercial tactics like episodic cliffhangers are too frequent and takes (0.5 points) away from the enjoyment. But all else comes together very well to produce a very entertaining show. The comedy is not my taste, but the world of SLF compensates for a lot of the mistakes the show makes.

Overall: 8/10
-> I was being objective about it. 8/10.

Reviewer's rating: 6.5/10
I absolutely hate it when the author takes convenient liberties. Either take the liberty or don't. Do not try to produce the perception of depth of thought when theres none, especially when it matters most. Apart from that, a really enjoyable show.

Only one word comes to mind for the concept of this anime: milk. Shuichi is milking his fans with this one. Like most people watching this show, I too am a fan of the Initial D series. Legendary as it may be, even Initial D got tiring to watch towards the end, but was still bearable.

There are 3 glaring issues with MFG which make it impossible to enjoy.
1 - The MC - Kanata - is a recycle of Takumi and MFG is a recycle of Initial D.
2 - The show does not move on from the legacy of Takumi. Even Boruto moved ... on from Naruto's legacy, and most people still hate it.
3 - Shuichi does not understand modern day cars at all! And yes I know it's fantasy but if so, please don't use real world examples in a fantasy. e.g. Make the MC race in a Toyota 96 not 86. Every detail is realistic except the racing. For a racing/car enthusiast it creates a paradox. And even fantasies need some basis. Shuichi is just talking out of his ass with the grip to weight rule.

Bonus Reasons:
4 - Shuichi is extremely bad at writing romance plots, every since Initial D btw. And MFG spends more time on stupid shitty immature romance.
5 - (Anime only) the voiceover for the race commentator is so f-ing annoying. The guy is over-excited ALL the time. It was painful to the stupid overhyped commentary even in the calm parts of the race. Like s.t.f.u please
6 - There is so much focus on getting every driver's perspective. This is not Initial D where two drivers are racing. What does the MC (who is at the last position) got to do with someone in fourth? Like can we tackle that perspective when we get there? And it's not like they have anything useful to say. Most of them utter trash.
7 - Downplaying of drivers. For a competitive race, that author himself said holds worldwide prestige, most drivers in the race are downplayed to point of having no skill. That is bullshit whether its fantasy or not. IF you don't believe me, organize a worldwide competition for Rock Paper Scissors and see for yourself how much skill a player can bring to a "game of luck"
7 - (Anime only) When done right, tactics like cliffhangers and plot stalling can improve engagement. In this case, they were neither interesting nor engaging, just plain infuriating. There are some episodes that you can plainly skip and it would not affect your understanding of the anime/plot, infact it would make it more enjoyable. And thats saying something for a 12 episode series. This isn't one piece where you can afford that kind of time investment from the viewer.

So that makes the review:
Plot = 3/10
Visuals = 7/10
Audio = 6/10
World and Characters = 2/10
Overall = Need I say anything?

Should you watch or not?
Yes: It is a very enjoyable show..probably 7/10.. IF you don't want to think. Watch it as a slice of life instead of a racing show.
No: If you even remotely think you know something about cars.