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The premise given by the title seems unique--a human not only working alongside demons but commanding their respect--but it nosedives straight into a subpar generic plot.

It's impressive that the anime with the most unique title/premise turned out to be the most generic out of a lineup of fantasy and isekai anime with far more generic titles. Granted, I'm only 4 episodes in, but a lot of the promises that were set up in this anime's story have been broken. Of those promises: the MC who is the human in the demon lord army and who is designated the "strongest" is not shown to be the ... strongest (or smartest or otherwise having any sort of interesting quality) in any of his actions; and (not really a spoiler but if anyone truly cares this is a very minor SPOILER) his race being human being a secret to the other demons is not actually a secret and it doesn't even matter.

The problem with an uninteresting character goes beyond the MC. It's not entirely due to the characters themselves, as the plot and pacing tends to breeze by events and moments that could instill character development. And stakes. Golly gee, the characters treat the stakes with minimal care, which subsequently just leave the conflict feeling so benign and unengaging. An example: the MC was given a test on behalf of another character he cared about that put her life on the line. None of the characters treated it as important including the character whose life was at stake, and the MC anticlimactically completed the test in a totally unimpressive way that defeated the purpose of the test.

Outside of plot and characters, the animation and music aren't things I'm going to complain about but they aren't great either.

Pretty entertaining throughout, and then ends with what is one of the best single episodes of animation I've ever seen.

Story-wise, it's pretty simple--and naturally so, as if the plot constantly had characters on the verge of death without room to breathe (pun intended) it'd be a pretty unbalanced series. Speaking of puns about breathing, this season was a breath of fresh air after seeing Jujutsu Kaisen S2; I was worried modern anime had dipped in the quality of its storytelling and had placed all its focus on how it looked visually, but this pairs decent storytelling with fantastic animation. Granted, some of the training does ... feel disjointed at times and missing some of the gratification of a sense of progress that can be gotten from your typical shounen training arc, but there are indeed emotional payoffs.

Pacing and tone-wise, the first episode gives a really enticing hook with a sense of foreboding and mystery due to the seeming disappearance of demons. The middle episodes prior to the final one may've worked even better if they'd cut some of the "comedic" bits (e.g., Zenitsu's character in general) since I've never found them particularly worthwhile or funny. Otherwise, I think the parts that deviate from the seriousness, foreboding, and mystery of training and anticipation for finding and fighting demons are solid, particularly thanks to Tanjiro. The moments he brings to humanizing some of the other characters are nice. And, again, the final episode is pretty much perfection in my eyes.

I've had long-lasting complaints about some of the characters in this show, the hashira being among them. Their introduction in season 1 gave the impression they were stock characters (e.g., the constantly chipper insect breather, the constantly crying stone breather, the constantly angry wind breather, the constantly lustful/sexual love breather, etc.) and I was put off by them being lazily written. This season did well in rounding more of them out (except for the angry wind breather) and I was overall pleased with them being less archetypal.

This was a good season. Yay.

Season 1 is among my favorites of all anime and season 2 remained strong in terms of my enjoyment. This season felt a bit off while still being overall enjoyable.

In terms of world-building and the magic system, this series is among the best. There's complexity to the story that makes it refreshing despite it involving high schoolers. What initially made this show compelling was the premise of an unrecognized OP character who didn't value recognition which made his motives interesting and every event that involved him revealing more of his abilities entertaining. By season 2 there was still more to reveal about him alongside a ... compelling rival and foreign affairs plot. This season didn't exactly have the same compelling plot since the MC is already established and as a result the formerly entertaining events of people underestimating him aren't as entertaining.

Without the same driving force, I was hoping for some of the supporting characters to shine a bit more. Some did and provided a few standout moments that made me interested to see more of their characters (e.g., Kokonoe Yakumo and Kudou Minoru). Outside of that, characters pretty much were serviceable and went through the motions. I think the culprit that was detrimental to this season was the pacing, as I can't really fault either the plot or characters. Things were happening and they were interesting, but I can't say things were given the necessary time to build upon or bring about significantly emotional moments. The antagonist of the season had quite an interesting skillset, though his climactic moment was short and... well, anticlimactic. I expected more of a battle of wits given the MC is not going to lose a contest of power, but it was pretty straightforward and unsurprising. The antagonist didn't really get development to come off as threatening or otherwise interesting, which also didn't help it be as engaging.

So, I guess by "off" I'd say this season felt disjointed and undercooked due to its pacing. Though it's still doing enough to be solidly good in my book.

This show is unfortunately pretty similar to Demon Slayer in terms of its good points and bad points. What I mean by that is that its animation quality is pretty darn amazing, while its story and pacing are pretty lackluster.

The magic system and fights going on seem thought out and pretty inventive. A decent bit of it went over my head, but I was nonetheless satisfied with the visuals going on to not really question it much. From the start the stakes are high and engaging, though they devolved drastically once the infamous Shibuya Incident was underway. The gratuitous destruction and death quickly evaporated whatever ... stakes there were, along with most of the engagement and interest I had with the characters. I found myself repeatedly questioning what was keeping me watching, and the answers weren't entirely satisfying: "It looks cool, at least;" "A lot of people really like this show;" "I sort of want to know who will die next." It was kind of that marginal interest like watching a horror movie simply for its expected gratuitousness. Interesting, but leaving a sense of disappointment for the amount of potential fun to be had.

It's kind of weird saying the story felt lacking since many plot-changing events happened. To start with the more apparent flaws, I can't count how many times a deus ex machina was used (for both protagonists and antagonists). It was momentarily hype when the first couple happened, then it kind of became ridiculous and frustrating. Every fight bled into another, leading to no fights really feeling resolved. That lack of resolution was felt by the end of the season, and where the season ended left me even more confused. All the deaths that were racked up along the way from insignificant fodder to main characters felt more or less the same, with the passing thought, "Oh, I guess they're dead." It's pretty disappointing MCs went out that way with all the time previously given to them. I think there were attempts to have some deaths give a pang, but they generally didn't land and they felt very unearned. The repeated interruptions of the ongoing plot with flashbacks were at first awkward, then became uninteresting filler in which I pulled out my phone to busy myself with something interesting while checking back to see if the primary plot had resumed. I'm acquainted with the use of flashbacks in anime and there are quite a few I recognize as utilizing them to great effect (Haikyuu for example), however here they were more distracting and like non-sequiturs. All in all, the combination of unceasing fights and disruptive flashbacks made for an unsatisfying experience when it comes to the story and pacing--kind of like being fed breadcrumbs at varying intervals and never a full, satisfying bite.

There were a few other things that bothered me that go into spoiler territory that I'll vaguely say involved characters having the chance to do something that would obviously solve something and the characters, for whatever reason, did not do it. Anyway, it's not all bad as there's the bones of an engaging plot here. If it was elevated to the level of the visuals, it could've been something like what the majority of people seem to already think about this show.

It's a thoroughly satisfying under-2-hour movie that is equal parts intense and wholesome. (I wish more movies these days were under 2 hours.)

It's actually rather impressive that it manages to keep the tension up in such a straightforward way. The show itself has at times used unsportsmanlike plot elements like a player cheating or audience distraction stuff, and has also presented antagonistic characters in relatively dislikable ways, but this conflict is just simply... straightforward. There are no dislikable characters, it's just got sheer good-natured competitive fun permeating everywhere. It's fun.

Tone aside, the plot is pretty straightforward. Naturally. It's a movie about a singular volleyball game. ... Of course, straightforward isn't bad. I loved it. Like the show, as usual, the use of flashbacks is woven into the ongoing events and provides character background and depth at effective times. In terms of thrilling emotional impacts, the kind like when Tsukishima blocked Ushijima, this movie certainly has them (though, not quite at that level of thrill). I can't exactly put into words what a certain first-person point of view sequence near the end had me feeling, but if I had to try, I'd say it felt nice.

I think the one thing I was left wanting from this movie was more detail in the animation. It's not at all bad, though the quality and dynamism is something I would've loved to see utilized particularly to enhance certain moments.

And that's about it. It's a very fun movie.

This is a show whose story and characters are not very good. It does have an intriguing enough premise to potentially warrant pushing through, though for me I could only bear it up to episode 10 before I realized the show had jumped the shark a few too many times for my liking.

Each character is a cardboard character. The MC is the misunderstood good guy; the female lead is the unconditionally good-hearted and naive baka; the other female lead is an alternative version of the unconditionally good-hearted and naive baka; the guy named Jail is basically Javert but with typical mannerisms of anime characters who ... wear glasses; and the other characters are basically just marginally more shallow than the main ones. They all generally behave in a manner that is 99% convenient for the plot.

Speaking of the plot, there are plenty of times some sort of conflict could be fairly obviously resolved but it isn't because it's inconvenient for conflict to be resolved since that would mean the episode and/or story would be over. I can't count the amount of times the plot used the trope of the MC seeming to be beaten only to obviously subvert it. The point in the plot I made it to actually had a pretty interesting twist with something unique coming out of a portal, but then the unique element inexplicably disappeared and the plot returned to the contrived and uninteresting fights with power scaling that changed according to what the plot demanded at any given moment.

Other than that, the animation was average, and the soundtrack was whatever.

This is an entertaining if not entirely coherent second season (part 1). What I chalk its shortcomings up to is a convoluted and overtuned plot. I guess it's somewhat refreshing to have an isekai really emphasize its story compared to others that rush headlong into the common tropes while emphasizing the temporary appeal of magic and action. But I can't say I enjoyed questioning just what was really happening and why several times an episode. As far as the animation and music go, they feel rather standard if not above average. Characters-wise, I can't say that anyone really stuck out as interesting. That's probably thanks ... to the plot. Anos remains the driving force of engagement I have in this series, so I guess I'll see if the anime gets better.

The first season felt pretty solid in terms of having its conflict resolved in an entertaining manner. This season poses a big question mark for me because a lot of nothing has been happening in its opening episodes. I mean, stuff happens, but it's not engaging and not feeling like it's going anywhere. I'd be fine if it committed to its name in it following a quiet life in the countryside as a sort of slice of life, but even then it really lacks conflict and stakes or a general reason to care about what the characters are doing. I don't see a reason for ... watching it, and it's not giving me a reason. That's my overall take: I just got bored with it and dropped it.

This went from a compelling revenge story (first 3 episodes) to a hate-watch (everything after). This is a rare show that makes you frustrated with the writing. It's very bad. It gives promises, and then breaks them. It's baffling. It's infuriating. So much so that it caused me to go here to simply write how bad and infuriating it was. The main character is set up with such potential, then it deteriorated with dumb character actions and crappy subplots. It culminates in an anticlimactic fight that has no consistent logic in how anything works and I felt no satisfaction in the payoff if it could ... even be described as a payoff. It was so contrived, illogical, and drawn out. It competes with being the most frustrating thing I've experienced in anime, right up there with Zenitsu's character from Demon Slayer. Yes, this is an emotion-driven review too. A hate-review, if you will. Because I genuinely disliked this show.

This show is engaging for a variety of reasons. It actively engaged me with the various mysteries of its characters, from their motives to their backgrounds to their powers. The ability to juggle more than two "sides" already makes this show impressive, but to then have most of them compelling and entertaining to see play off of each other is simply great. It's a curious case of sort of rooting for everyone but also not wanting anyone to win, whatever "winning" means.

So, yeah, the characters and story are this show's best features. Visually it's pretty great as well, and the soundtrack is serviceable. The ending ... may have felt a bit anticlimactic as a lot was going on, but seeing as it's not really an ending and there's more yet to be unraveled I can't fault it too much. This is definitely one of the better isekais out there.