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I started watching this, expecting just some anime slop with a funny gimmick, and with the novelty of having an older protagonist.

Instead what I got was a story that has clearly no love or even thought put into it, in every episode there are at least 5 things about either the world building or the character's actions that makes absolutely no sense.
Not only that this show contorts itself just to keep this terrible "Im strong but I dont know that I am" trope, and its just so forced, contrived, and BORING. The world has absolutely nothing special about it, things characters say are immediatly contradicted ... by their actions (not because of deceit or anything just first draft writing), and it seems liek every idea presented is executed in perhaps the most boring way possible.

Also they gave the guy who can only parry a sword instead of a shield, because that might've racked their brains too much with a glimpse of originality

I know everyone's been making this joke but the only thing the main character parries more than swords is my interest

This was not good, Demon Slayer already has a terrible problem with character writing, the one redeeming quality is the amazing action, and this season has basically none of that besides the very last episode (which is episode 8).

All the episodes not counting the last are the same: Tanjiro goes to a Hashira to "train", every single one of the fodder hashira's look at him in awe for how good he is, Tanjiro doesn't learn anything, leaves for the next hashira. This is probably one of the worst training arcs I have ever seen in anime, it might as well have been filler, Tanjiro doesnt ... learn anything from this training, its useless.

And for those who say episodes like this can build characters up, very little of that is actually done during this arc, the pacing is terrible and the time is very poorly used.

Honestly you can just watch the first and last episodes and very little is lost, you're going to save yourself a lot of annoying "banter", specially the scenes with Zenitsu.

The last episode is the only praise I can really give this season, it has great action and high stakes, even if the outcome is pretty obvious.

This is an absolutely incredible show, I just want more.

Out of all the cute girls do cute things anime that came out in spring 2024, not only is this the most surprising one (honestly this is the most surprising show of the entire season) but it is also the best one, by far, the character writing here is IMPECCABLE and the conflicts are so well written, the dynamic between all the members of the group is absolutely perfect. Even when two members are added halfway through it managed to surprise me to how enjoyable those two characters are. This is up there with bocchi for ... best band anime i've seen, no joke. I hope a new season is announced because at this point, the story is obviously not over and I'm really glad to have more of this, I love this show

I understand cgi turns a lot of people off but please this give one a shot, the animation is incredibly expressive and the cinematography on display here uses all the advantages of 3d to its advantages and to create some beautiful and dynamic shots, not only that the animation blends the 3d and 2d perfectly even with characters, it doesn't feel jarring or anything, this is TOEI animation we're talking about and they made a great job.

As a big sci-fi nerd and as a fan of studio BONES' work I was looking forward to this being the best show of the season. And this being a show celebrating the studio's anniversary, this was going to be awesome! Welp color me surprised when ding ding ding! IT WAS DISSAPPOINTING!

The beginning is pretty good, it presents us with great world-building and an interesting hook, it doesn't give us the answers of what the main characters are actually doing or why right away, which is something I love. However, these simple answers are not answered until like 6 episodes after, which is too ... late, by that point, I had already fallen out of interest for the story and the characters. The episodic nature of the show wasn't the worst, the side plots were above average, pretty good at times, even, but throughout the first half of the show we had no idea what the goal of the main characters was or their motivations.

Then there was the second half, and oooh boy did they drop the ball, this is the part of the show that proves to me this had 30 episodes worth of script and they had to cut it to 13, because every episode after 6 had nonsensical plot-twists every 10 minutes. Plot-twists that would shake the entire foundation of the world we knew are dropped like nothing and this happens up until the last episode, which had not one, not two, but THREE GIGANTIC TWISTS that made absolutely no sense and that were not important to the plot AT ALL.

This show clearly lacked direction, they had so many cool ideas but didn't have the appropriate time to set them up so they just crammed them all into 7 episodes and ran with it. If twists are done right, they can be the defining moments of a show, but when they are poorly made, they take the audience away from the show and make them not care anymore. I believe these twists could've been impactful if the show had more time. But what we have here is an incohesive mess. Which is a shame because studio BONES did a great job with this adaptation (even if, to be honest, it's far from their best, its still pretty damn good)

What I thought was a run of the mill romance anime set in school with a gimmick where the unpopular guy gets with the popular girl became one of the best romance anime that I have seen.

This show has such impeccable character writing, the journey the main characters go through to find their self-esteem is incredibly cathartic and relatable, the impeccable direction makes every episode put a tear in your eyes.

The relationship between the two leads develops super naturally and its not artificial or forced like romance anime many times is, you feel like both of the characters make the other one's life better.
However the ... show does sometimes indulge itself in some tropes and clichés that I'm super tired of, but theses instances are rare and the show does it so well I can look past it easily, also they're mostly present in season 1, season 2 is where the meat of this show is the most tender

Top the amazing character work and direction with an incredibly emotional soundtrack and this is definitely a contender for best romance of 2024

It leaves me wanting more but from the way it ends it feels like a pretty conclusive ending.

Also the second opening was directed by the director of death note if Im not mistaken, and it's AMAZING.

I don't have the exact words to describe how amazing this season of jjk is.

This might be the best action I've ever seen from a singular season of anime, every fight has the same love given to it as the best fights in demon slayer. I can't fadom the amount of work this must've taken, but what they achieved here is ground breaking. Cinematography, fight choreography, lighting, music. It does not miss. And yes, I am aware of the work conditions MAPPA is putting its animators in, and it's a tragic tale, but not one for me to discuss here.

Now for story, I understand ... if people don't like certain aspects of this season, but I thought both arcs this season adapted were filled to the brim with thematic relevance and great character work. This is a ruthless world, a world that subjects kids to premature death, and it uses that to deconstruct every character (especially Itadori). The way this show talks about death: how it affects us, what meaning should we give to it and the will we carry from the love ones who have perished is nothing short of amazing. It all just works so WELL, and it makes it one of the best shonen anime I've ever seen. The ending theme still haunts me because it reminds me of every cliffhanger this season left me with

Season 1 was great, but season 2 puts this in the big leagues next to Hunter x Hunter and Fullmetal Alchemist

This anime is masterful, after the fun, perfectly directed and beautiful pilot. I was really surprised about the amount of work that was given to this series, and it absolutely deserves it.

Zom 100 is a story about how to live life, how to look at the bright side even when things are at their worst, it's about not giving up, about enjoying everything right until the end and that it is never too late to start following your dreams.

It might seem cheesy but this show is all but, it is beautiful and it deserves its amazing production values and the attention from anime watchers, I ... really hope we get a second season because this is the type of show that can change your view on life. It's still in its early days but I can tell that this story is special. 9/10

Barring Frieren, this is, by far, the most surprising show of autumn 2023, maybe even 2023 as a whole.
I came into this expecting just a fun show about Formula 4, which is something i'm not super into, but I wanted to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did because what I DID NOT expect was a fun show about formula 4 that is an expertly directed story that explores deep themes of PTSD, disasters, survivors guilt and how to move forward.

This show was directed by Ei Aoki, who directed Re:Creators, another HIGHLY underrated anime just like this one. And he does a ... phenomenal job. The entire production here is really good but I have to give special props to the direction. Those races utilize the cgi to their advantage to create super dynamic camera angles that make the races really exciting to watch. Especially that last race, the way the camera moves around the race track is chef's kiss.

The show follows 4 characters who all seem a bit basic in the beginning, I almost rolled my eyes at first because I knew exactly what those characters were and where they were going. But I was completely wrong, they subvert the tropes and give the characters realistic character arcs, very akin to some of my favourite shows like Haikyu.

If I have to be negative about this show is that I would've liked some sort of epilogue, but this is a non issue if a season 2 comes out, which while not necessary at all, would be interesting to see where they would go if they do it.

I'm feeling an 8.5/10 maybe going up to a 9