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Nana Toshi is a 2-episode science fiction based on the manga with the same name.
It offers a small glimpse into the manga featuring a short battle between two city nations.
The drawing style is mature, concise and the main selling point of this short story.
Animation is simple but clever and well executed.
Voice acting and music are kept simple but fit the seinen genre quite well.
Probs go out to the directing of this show: within 2 episodes a cast of varying main characters is assembled with minimal introductions all while depicting several naval battles and political negotiations.. yet one can follow the plot ... easily and get a sense of what the characters are all about.
The battles themselves are naive and simplistic but it doesn't dim the entertainment value too much.
Definitive recommendation! 7/10

Youjo Senki is an unusual Isekai by all means. It is a slightly altered Faustian drama that cut out the middle man (Mephistopheles) where the 'bet' is wagered between the MC and God directly. 'Tanya', as our MC - being reborn as an orphaned girl in Germany - is called, is thrown into the midst of a World War I setting. There is combat magic though and ofc Tanya is adept.
What unfolds is an Isekai show without sex, rapid skill growth, 'exploring the world' or the unwavering unity of MC and mission.
Instead we get Tanya: child soldier, sociopath, narcissist and well-educated from a ... past life.
She dreams of a rear-end position on a career track in the military but gets a front-row seat to the fiercest battles in the many theaters of a world war.
Now this is where it should have gotten interesting:
but the rebellious show, after coming off strong, remains (much like any other Isekai) in its comfort zone. There's a grueling battle, some show of Tanya being a good superior while having a terrible personality, followed by a return trip to Headquarters and a 'victim of your own success'-styled reason for immediate re-deployment.
Youjo Senki laid pretty decent ground-work but fails to water the field.
i.e.: Characters are already developed when they are introduced and I'd say that is a strong point in the start of the show.
Instead of unnaturally developing characters they could have dived deeper into them.. but they don't do that at all.
A general lack of depth is Youjo Senki's biggest shortcoming. Politics, tactics, interactions, hurdles, 'God' and his meddle, the various countries and their many soldiers are all just swiped over. It's similar to a Tinder session where images and profiles are quickly examined and thrown into box a (keep) or box b (toss).. neither of which actually matter much after the fact.
Its superb animation, vivid expressions, resting duckfaces and over-the-top (in a good way) sound design keep the show entertaining nonetheless.
Youjo Senki manages to be incredibly boring and exciting at the same time. If you're looking for a clear-cut action show this military fiction comes highly recommended. If, however, you expect anything more from this: expect to be disappointed.
Summa Summarum: Youjo Senki is a very well-made One-Trick-Pony.

Story: 3 | Art: 9 | Sound: 8 | Char: 5 | Enjoyment: 6 | Overall: 6
A score of 6 might even be too generous for this show.
SPY X FAMILY looked promising at first: set into a cold-war scenario between two superpowers seperated by an iron curtain and ideological differences, quoting the likes of lupin III and james bond, the main character is a super-spy with the mission to avert all out war between the nations.
Quickly we realize that SPY X FAMILY is something else entirely.
The Characters turn out to be one-trick ponies, the mission an elementary school hack and the story a ... slice of life comedy gone rogue.
90% of the episodes are filler material and the plot is a gaping hole.
The super-spies target could be reached in any number of ways (by means of disguise) but for inexplicable reasons must be infiltrated using a fake family earning guest list entry to an exclusive event gathering prodigal elementary pupils at the targets mansion.
So the super-spy builds a fake family in which neither party reveals their special skillset (spy/assassin/esper) and a fake daily life with studies, cooking and other parental tasks at its center. Steadily the cast is expanded by adding more one-trick-pony characters. Each dumber than the next.
What the actual goal of the mission is (after getting invited to the mansion), is as unclear as the general point to it and it seems like the series is confused where it is headed.
Saving Grace of SPY X FAMILY is its splendid animation, solid sound design and creative use of effects.
Its fun to watch!
From that perspective the lack of story is quite sad. Tons of professional work went into this mediocre show.

To phrase it like this:
If Kimetsu no Yaiba were a game, it'd all work out.
The growing variety of obnoxious characters would bind you that much closer to your MCs Tanjirou & Nezuko. The fact that they are all structurally and substantially the same even within the way they are coated to be different from each other in the exact same way.. would have redeeming quality: other skills, looks, movement, priorities - so that each time your style and thinking has to change along and the game'd keep being interesting.
Conversations above 5 sentences would be evenly stretched apart and would always be the ... torchbearers of progress (next level, next boss, next character, next whatever).
If Kimetsu no Yaiba were a game, it'd all make sense:
Its animated like a game, its progressing like a game, its timed like a game and its not by accident but by design.
It has clearly fallen into the wrong hands - or the wrong industry.
Because as an anime it is only because of its technically immaculate production that it qualifies as mediocre. The characters are unbearable, their way of thinking is revolting, their voice acting is (by direction, not by execution) torturous.
And their attempt at "giving everyone their time to shine" as if it were a kindergarten is just as obvious as, again, as if it were a kindergarten.
90% of the main characters actions are obvious appeasement for the 90% of the show that is inadequate for kids. A bunch of psychotics in a sect fighting a bunch of other psychotics in a cult might've tipped the scale a nudge too much and thus they are counter-steering by oversaturating the diplomatic mission of the heart, their MC is following in parallel to his path of ever increasing slaughter.
If it were a game it'd work out... somehow.
In Kimetsu no Yaiba it didn't and it has been getting worse. All of it.
This season shows that the creators are trapped in a maelstrom of "need more death" in turn demanding more "moral compass" in turn demanding more "comic relief" in turn demanding more "drama" in turn demanding "more death" .. I mean.. "action".
Kimetsu no Yaiba is like a hi-end machine with broken buttons. Garbage - full of salvageable parts. Salvageable for the game industry.
If you haven't started already, then don't. Don't watch it.

When Macintosh began soldering their hard-drives into its Laptops there still were a lot of professionals who gave rave reviews anyways. So if you see someone raving about this who seems to know what they're saying.. it is probably something along those lines.

Hyouge Mono is a rare and rather unique work of well informed historical fiction.
This huge undertaking - approached with great seriousness, in great detail and on elaborate scale - depicts (you could also say: documents) the emergence of what will later be called "Bohème".
It follows its main character for more than a decade in his struggle of emancipation. A man who cannot devote himself to his lord, his clan, his nation, his family and who is neither artisan, nor master.
What begins with a desire sparked by jealousy and fanned by naivete: to possess, even if just in secret, a masterpiece... quickly escalates ... into an obsession and, after defining all choices, joys and misgivings over years of his life, evolves into a lifestyle.
Hyouge Mono challenges the societal order of feudal japan by tracing the transitions in the value of the famed masterpieces.
As their value shifts from being objects representing power, the right to rule, the heavenly ordained status.. to objects of art whose value is determined by its comparative place amidst other objects of art.
The chase after them no longer establishes power over others, but where the objects hold power over those who seek or own them - and seeking them means seeking for beauty, for biographical fulfillment, for personal control over who is allowed to see them, hold them or who is not.
Most importantly: the value of those who chase, desire, possess, view them is no longer determined by birth and ancestry - but by acquired taste, sensibility and knowledge.
All this happens in-between countless wars, skirmishes and under the influence of a new cultural movement: "simplicity".

The main character is materialistic, opportunistic, hedonistic and as such is viewed generally harmless. His harmlessness and lack of ideology/allegiance keep him alive as his lords die, domains fall, his friends are exiled and his former enemies rise to power, as his teachers are killed.

It is an amazing work of art - brilliantly executed and as interesting as it is hilarious.
IF - well if - you happen to know and have an interest in its topic.
Hyouge Mono is not only not for everyone, but it expects a very specific mix of societal, (high) cultural and (art) historic knowledge from its viewers.
The more of these are present, the more enjoyable the show becomes.
vice versa: the more boring it can become.

Spanning a hefty 40 episodes (no fillers, no bullshit) makes it a series I only recommend to very few people and in very few situations.
But to those who can find enjoyment in this show.. it comes in a blend that they will likely never again and have never before found in an anime series.
There is nothing else like it.
Nothing that I know of. And I have watched a shitload of shows and movies.

The likeliness that any company ever in the history of television would fund 40 episodes of something like this should be close to nil. However: some company apparently has. I for one am extremely thankful for that.
It is a masterpiece - that has only gotten 9 starts from me solely because from an outside view.. it is too demanding and too specific. For me its a 10/10.

Story: 10, Art: 9, Sound: 9, Character: 10, Enjoyment: 9, Overall: 9.
(Subjectively: Enjoyment 10/ Overall 10)

I didn't quite understand why at first. Why is watching this show so enjoyable?
After each episode I was (honestly) asking myself.
Ousama Ranking is quite simple at first glance. It doesn't boast with an elaborate Setting or Storyline. It starts out unassuming, casually flirting with innocence. As if the people behind the show had just woken up from 50 years of slumber.
As if the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20s never happened.
You see: it is the same old story of a rightful heir, betrayed by family and aides, country and friends - and the existential GoBeOrNoBe which has been popular since ancient Greece ... (pob. even longer).. "Death or exile?".
Ousama Ranking not only chose to go the route of repacking a classic but also to do so with 'outdated' techniques of visual storytelling.
- let me tell you right beforehand: it is not a masterpiece.
I'd go so far and say: it was not meant to be by design.

Returning to the initial question: What makes this show so enjoyable?
Its art is a reminiscent cocktail of 70s Japan animation, French Comics and British picture books - with a dash of salt taken from American late-night shows.
The MC is quite a french little fella - his condition is a modern twist on the infallible Prince from Germanys famous story-tellers Grimm. Modern: that means 1960/70 when pedagogy joined hands with the arts (back then girls, children of color, kids with disabilities would be 'cast' into classical hero roles).
Shadow is quite american in his absurd "absence of a body"-body, that is a single multi-purpose Organ.
This is only the tip of the ice-berg in what turns out to be an intricate, enormous and sensibly composed sequence of quotes.

Ousama Ranking pays an overdue tribute to Europe's history of Storytelling. It is a patchwork comprised of Masterpieces Gullivers travels, British tales, Romanian myths. - The naked King and the pact with the Devil, a seducing Mirror, a journey into the Underworld and a King who resides over rock and lava.

Ousama Ranking maneuvers on a narrow path between a variety of poles.
i.e.: Weaving a ton of old tales together can easily turn into a shallow copy (of a copy of a copy..) - using old school visual styles and approaches usually results in nostalgic gimmicky.
also: "unassuming", "flirting with innocence". Usually (nowadays) these aren't compliments. But there was a time when animation, childrens books and plays and almost every movie (for all ages) were doing just that.
Just like its predecessors the show places the two poles (any two poles) on top of each other.
The constant anguish, catastrophes, drama, loss - they are the foothold of the unassuming innocence of young heros, for this is their home.
while: Packing all these references into a one-cour show while also pleasing the customers - we've seen a lot of that in the passt 20 years.
Few exceptions graduated from the heap of rubbish that came out.
That Ousama Ranking retains all qualities of its topic - the darkness and naivety, humor and enthusiasm without irony, sadness without stillness, history and progression and perpetual repetition: entertainment borne from serious questions - while keeping playfully aware.. watching somewhere from the high ground..
Its been a while that we've seen something like that.
That plays a big part in the big impression it leaves.
It seems I have been hungry for this. Every month Netflix and co. come out with a new show.. and they're all good for entertainment and all very forgetable.

I repeat: do not expect a masterpiece.. but a loving letter to the history of storytelling. aware that it takes part in it - and while only fleeting, can confidently converse with the immortals for a bit.
I can only wish the show success and that it inspires the head honchos of the industry to fund more works like these.

overall: bravo!

Saraiya Goyou is beautifully and attentively narrated. It oozes a refined calmness as it carries through its story in a steady pace. Something we rarely ever see in television series. Film and animation operate with contrasting pacings to enforce/evoke emotional states upon/within the viewer.
to forgo the industries mightiest trick is hard to pull off - there is precedents but no recipes. Frankly, most directors fail miserably. Saraiya Goyou pulls it off.

What can you do with time when it is not acting out in torrential surges, crashing waves, receding lines, ebbing and rising?
Time just passes during scenes. Time has passed between the scenes. ... It is not said, hinted or explained how much time. In Saraiya time is neither tool nor topic.
Faces, shoulders (posture) and hands are shown in great detail instead. The distinct and hard to animate faces of the characters are at the center of this show. There are less frames than usual. For one to reduce the workload of course, but this has also the effect, that we have the necessary time to take these splendid faces in. We can see them more clearly and distinct for there are gaps between them. Not budget holes (like Piano no Mori) but different aspects of the characters.
Beautifully accentuated in contrast to the backdrop of the series. Backgrounds are composed of stunningly detailed textures (most notable: wood), photographic precision in architectural lines and livened up with well placed thick brush strokes for certain outlines.
Trees are often edited photographs and give off a vivid, odd and luminous presence.
Like with faces, the backgrounds appear on repeat regularly but revealing new sides, aspects, perspectives or routes adds depth to them. We come to understand the characters better, when various expressions we have seen before, come up in a different combination. We understand the lay of the land when the turn that connects two roads we already know, is shown for the first time. "ah. so this is why he is interested and offended. it stirrs him up.".
Everything is taken and told at face value.
No dark powers are at work here, noone lurks in the shadows, no destiny must be fulfilled or escaped from.
Day to day - caught up in ones own struggle - estranged from oneself and from others - just a compromise away from falling apart but also a compromise away from survival - an immortal unknowing: this is the only way those who cannot fit in with society live.
This is the fundamental understanding on which the show is built.
It makes a damn good job at that.

I saw Trigun long before Cowboy Bebop, Lupin III or Samurai Champloo. That was almost 20 years ago. I am conflicted and it's likely that I am not the only one. 10 years ago I started my first rewatch of the series. Full of anticipation and certainty of all the goodness that has faded from memory and would provide both comforting nostalgia and crispy cool freshness. I was surely in for a blast. - But then I wasn't.
Vash the Stampede was a game-changer for me as a young boy.
Growing up with Hero magazines from Marvel, DC and Calvin & Hobbes.. I had the ... twisted yearning for being expressively special.
Vash was the first character that I was not identifying with, yet found genuinely likable. Understanding a character is vastly different from wanting to be it. Vash will forever be synonymous for the embrace of awkwardness, curiosity, unassuming play and pretend. For the progression and liberation from skill and ability.
While Alita, Son Goku, Tsubasa, Shinji, Spider Man, Spawn and the rest of the ragtag bunch kept spiraling in perpetual progress: getting stronger, meeting someone stronger than them, facing a problem beyond their ability, falling headfirst into traps and ridiculous encounters,
Vash presented a radically different view I believed - and it taught me an important lesson on whats beyond the unforgiving path to Mastery.
Its the reason why no Hero could ever be allowed to actually become one: a Master can only progress to a Dilettante.
And to me, this is the only lesson worth learning from Trigun.
For the past 10 years I have attempted numerous rewatches of the show.. and if it weren't for my unshakable positive first impression, I wouldn't have bothered to keep trying.
The show features a bunch of memorable characters, each of which has great potential, but fails to bring them to life. Nothing really comes together and at no point the story or people follow through. Just endless repetitions of characters acting themselves out.
The jokes, satirical plays, witty remarks and jumbled up world-setting are worn down after two or three episodes. What follows is an arduous exercise of waiting through same same and potaito potahto, tomaito tomahto for the occasional "reveal".
As Triguns characters are widely set in stone there is not much progression overall. Instead it works the angle of disclosing parts of their inner workings that shed light on the goofy facade of comic relief.
However: the mind, heart and soul, along with the past, are closely guarded secrets - and behind every dirt-road, sand-pile and saloon door waits the next mad max punk, creditor, bounty hunter, crazy priest and pistolero. everyone is penniless, homeless and aimless. Yet they manage to lay waste to whatever little there is.
It keeps the cast busy and in dire straits - and a reason to limit the "reveals" to a breadcrumb trail.
Vash the gunslinging master evades and ducks and redirects whatever this hostile world throws at him. Whats missing aren't just the throws - they're merely the visible representations of a show that barely makes contact at all. Trigun has many inspiring elements.
That it inspired others who made it count might be its only justification as a highly acclaimed classic.

Or am I missing something?

In light of the new Season... I rewatched the thing. Regrettably.
[Review contains some Spoilers]

A warning based purely on politeness - since there hardly is anything to spoil.
Mahouka Koukou has two faces.. and it feels like the work of two authors throughout the entire Series.
One is the "backdrop": a future world where esoteric science of quantum physics and genetic engineering brought about magic users in service of military armament. A world war is behind us and cooled off while magic is developed and mages cultivated as deterrents (yes. it's the 60s all over again.).
the protagonist is a lab prototype of some sorts, who lost ... most emotion in the process and is bound to his kid sister, the future heir of their prestigious family. he serves as her bodyguard and guidepost to legitimise his existence to the rest of the family. the more he is shunned and cast out.. his sister responds with an equal increase in affection towards her brother.
their family is modeled after ancient greek myths: gods, half-gods and "creation". incest, threats, rebellion.
The MC was artificially enhanced, making him extremely capable in processing complex semantics and code - his skill set is valuable in black ops missions... thus he leads a double life as operative. .. there's some more.. yada yada.
like what you read?
sounds like a dark plot - with greek myth woven into a secret agents life during the economy boom of the 60's and its shadow sides of global animosity, mafia family reign and corporate corruption?

unfortunately not.
the whole story is only ever hinted at. shown in still images. mentioned in passing. remembered in thought.
it gives reason for pretentious discussions over magic sequencing - it provides reasons for action and battle scenes - but none of these talks, fights, encounters EVER really have ANYTHING to do with the backstory.

- Lets look at the other side of the show.. the side that is animated, told, progressing and takes up 95% of the whole thing:
emotionless super overpowered character is unfairly evaluated for b-string in prestigious high-school and dotes on his sister who is a-ranked.
his sister has a crush on him and spends her time blushing, being awkward, good looking, cute and being super powerful.
then a series of events unfolds, always in the same pattern:
MC is challenged and surprises everyone with being OP. A new girl takes note, because MC is OP.. and falls in love. MC gets into a higher position where he meets some more girls. A challenge comes with the new responsibilities and he OPs them and new girls come and sister is jealous and MC feels nothing but is super polite and guarded and full of worded appreciations for all the others and their work. But truly: its just a gesture. The whole guy is just a series of gestures and proof-of-concept actions that show how OP and well-mannered he is. Of course he is dense as fuck.
10-20 scenes of blushing women in every episode and we don't even know if he doesn't get it or just doesn't care. Pretend or not: he won't react until someone calls him out - and then act surprised and change the subject.

Its like a reverse Dating-SIM (everyone tries to date you and you avoid the matter while doing everything to stay in favour. he wants to be wanted.) with occasional Jump&Run or Puzzle solving events mixed in.
The dialogues are void of life and sound even worse than paper.
More like they were carved from blocks of wood.

The story drips on like a leaky faucet. Somehow filling the basin of 26 Episodes.
It could have been science-fiction, drama, forbidden love and an dystopian outlook on a perfect world.
The initial sketch: written with a pen by a sound mind.
The execution: drawn up with a dick dipped in ink by the left, carving knife chipping wood by the right - and counting from one to five to one to five... by the head.
It is a huge disappointment. Mildly entertaining, mildly amusing.. just enough to keep you from dropping out.

A short memo on the series, without spoilers:

Its a peculiar one. Its pacing, vivid color palette, headstrong characters, action focus and unfulfilling lives/work/relationships across the board.. suggest a run-of-the-mill student turns hero outset. but from the very start you notice something like an under-current.
seriousness, commitment, thoroughness.
all the forementioned elements of storytelling are expertly applied - it is well paced, a shitload is happening (war, fighting, transformation, misunderstandings, journey, revealings) it stays light on its feet, dialogue on point.. adding the very detailed animation on top.. for a great many series these ingredients were plenty sufficient to make them successful.
it is really ... entertaining from just that.
the go-to tools of the pro's: they've done their job.
but where most would stop to keep windows open for production hick-ups, saving budget to spend on important fight scenes etc. .. Xamdou goes a different route.
the noticable under-current I mentioned? it starts surfacing and keeps on runing and popping its head out throughout the series. It manifests in a dedication to detail and a refusal to work with common tropes.

There is a widespread problem within the animation industry: big teams, tight schedules and division of labour.. almost all animated series show an alarming lack of depth. It seems the creators don't take their world, settings and characters seriously.
"How would he feel/react/move?" - "would he accept this situation?" - "does he understand?".. basics! - on to: "how does he jump a fence?", "what furniture is in his house?" - on to: "do differences in opinion necessarily mean struggle?" - on to: "which objects would he pick up with care and which in a casual manner?" - on to: "when hit with force, how does he maintain balance?"..
The animators of Xamdou where asking an astounding amount of questions, carefully considering the answers and then deciding on which level(s) to realize them. Without the vain notion of raising the questions aloud in the finished series.
The dialogues are full of understanding, earnest thought and reflect the characters very well.
Movement is filled to the brim with lovely details, quirks and a dedication to anatomy and physics.
Fights are short and don't carry any sub-text.
There's attention to detail and they keep on adding creative approaches to convey and show what is important to them.
This is super super rare for this kind of show. It has been alot of fun to follow the trail of answers they came up with and guessing their underlying thoughts, ideas and problems raised.