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(The following "review" is more akin to my screaming and word-vomiting than a "real review" tbh but idc lol)

YO WTFFFFFFFFFFF!!! Please let me just scream coz THIS IS SOMETHING I DIDN'T KNOW I NEEDED!!!

Are you familiar with the overjoyous feelings you get when there's an overused shoujo+hetero trope but they make it yaoi? fabulous. well, this is sth similar but REVERSED. now, you have an overused omegaverse+yaoi trope but they make it hetero. you think, as a fujo, you'd be disappointed? no, buddy. for a trope subversion lover like me, this manga is simply: fabulous.

Like... cute and pretty fem MC with (some) feral tendencies and ... big dicc? LET'S FREAKING GOOOOO!!! submissive and breedable yet competent and kind muscly guy with perfect, firm tiddies who's able to conceive a child? LET'S FREAKING GOOOOO!!! and yeah the age gap etc etc may scare you off but I feel 0 vibe of manipulation/toxicity between our MCs. on the other hand, there IS a flashback of an explicit age gap scene involving the guy when he was still in school and an adult I can't mention due to spoilers, and that is sth worth warning about (even from the plot & characterization POV, it's clear that THAT one is toxic).

but anyway, the plot in this one is actually quite straightforward: an arranged marriage with someone you don't expect, falling in love while preparing for the marriage, then facing some hurdles. but the way the story is packaged due to the trope subversion is SO refreshing. AND THE SMUT IS PRETTY HOT TOO LMAOOO. i love the guy's expressions sm during the deeds 😭😭😭 and the art in general really is great.

anyway, iirc the story has 2 volumes, with the 1st (chapter 1-5) already being translated to english. the 2nd one (chapter 6-10) tho is not, so you have to upload each image to google translate just to understand what they're talking about lol. but so far it's been great and this 100% made me crave stories with a similar dynamic AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO FIND IT 😭😭😭 (so if anyone know, please lmk!)

I have a really REALLY hard time rating this one.

In terms of plot, the games themselves are actually super fun, intelligent, and interesting. It showcases the characters' personalities and how the game changes them. Dare I say it reminds me of the mind games in Death Note, which is a huge compliment. I almost wanted to give the plot a 7 for 'good', but.............. the setting in this anime is AWFUL. It makes no sense. Is the private academy enabling all these? The student council for gambling? The hierarchy thing? The rule of being awful to the slave? How did they even reach this kind ... of consensus? Was consent involved? Where are the adults? How could our main character join this school if he's not rich or powerful? And why, oh why, is it GAMBLING out of everything else? I cringed a lot, especially during the first few episodes coz the setup and characters are so CRINGE. This seems to me like the creator pulled shit out of their ass just because they couldn't come up with a more believable scenario on how to stage multiple, high-staked rounds of gambling. Lazy ass writing. 5 for 'average'.

And the characters................................ phew. Okay, I'll just say that I like Yumeko a LOT. I think she's the most interesting female character I've seen in a while and it's amazing how, despite how unchanging she is throughout the show, she has changed a lot of people around her. It's also nice to see the development of the other characters including our main character. Like the plot, I almost gave the characters a 7 for 'good'. But omg THEY ARE SO CLICHE AND STEROTYPED!!! Yes, I do support women's wrongs as much as I support women's rights, but a lot of female characters here seem to exist with the main purpose of fulfilling a certain tsundere/yandere/etc fantasy and I just... blegh. I am SO tired of male-catered fanservice as well as self-insert, boring male characters whose initial existence in the show is unwarranted (like, why tf was he even enrolled in that school?). This anime would've been SO much better if Ryouta was a girl tbh. This would've been an iconic lesbian anime about mind games and free will which only comes out once every blue moon and proves that whoever creates this has enough balls and is, therefore, should be critically praised but NOPE, this ends up becoming your seasonal mid af edgy anime which we should've gatekept from cishet men especially incels. 4 for 'bad'.

The animation and art are just fine tho, ngl. I really don't have a problem with it, but there's also nothing groundbreaking, so imma give it a 6 for 'fine'. BUT THE SOUND OMG. Anyone who as much as stands a few feet away from my bedroom would've thought I was watching porn because there is just so much moaning. It's fine at some point but... this is just too much. Plus, the OP and ED songs aren't that memorable, so imma give the sound a 4 for 'bad'.

Lastly: my overall enjoyment. Despite my complaints, I managed to finish Kakegurui relatively quickly and I kept wanting to know what's going to happen next coz every episode is paced relatively well and the cliffhangers are good. Having said that, I still cringed at times and even had to put the speed at 1.5x at some point due to my wanting to know what was going to happen next, but not really enjoying the story enough to soak everything in. But ig it does do its job of entertaining me. So, 7 for 'good'.

Overall: 5 for plot, 4 for characters, 6 for animation and art, 4 for sound, 7 for overall enjoyment.
5 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 7 = 26/5 = 5.2 rounded to 5

As a 26 year-old who thought she was past watching school-centric romance + slice of life, and whose goldfish-like attention span often makes her frustrated watching a media with slow pace and little to no major conflict, Sasaki to Miyano completely changed those assumptions I had about myself.

But most importantly: it made me believe in love again. Romance is NOT dead.

[Characters: 9 for great]

Let's start with the best element of Sasaki to Miyano, okay? The characters.

At first glance, our leads—Sasaki and Miyano—seem like your typical feminine-looking uke with tiny body and masculine-looking seme with tall height. Well, 50% of the time, those are what they ... are. However, the anime seems to be self-aware of that, and actually makes it one of the conflicts: Miyano is insecure about his feminine face, and gets hurt when he thought that that's all Sasaki likes about him (spoiler: it's not).

That should give you a hint on how complex and "beyond stereotypes" our leads are. Because not only that, these two also deal with very realistic elements of falling in love: wanting to understand and get excited about the other person's hobby, giving yourself time to understand your own self before committing to someone (and, conversely, being patient in letting the other person do that), communicating your feelings and stance clearly (even if it means admitting that you're still figuring things out), and just generally being considerate and respectful to the person you like and/or who likes you as long as they don't push any boundary.

Like. Seriously, these two feel very real and relatable. They are also walking green flags. Together, they're probably one of the healthiest couple in not just BL animes, but romance animes in general. And whilst I'm in the boat of "toxic representations are fine as long as they're depicted as they are: toxic representations", we already have too much of them in the BL anime scene and thus, Sasaki and Miyano are SUCH a breath of fresh air.

But our two leads are not the only reasons I give the "characters" element a 9. The side-characters are ALL so well-written, too.

They don't feel like NPCs or characters who are only created to help our leads develop. They have their own conflicts, anecdotes, love life, etc. And they all interact with each other seamlessly, making the world of this anime feels so interconnected.

The character designs are all good, too. Everyone looks distinct and they all have personalized outfit style.

[Plot: 7 for good]

Picking up from what I said in the previous section about the anime being "self-aware": overall, this anime is pretty meta.

You probably already know from the MAL summary that Miyano is a fudanshi, or a man who likes reading the BL genre. Well, this anime points out and (sometimes) makes a commentary on a LOT of BL tropes and anecdotes of fudanshi and fujoshis (a woman who likes reading the BL genre). Sometimes, they also do the same to weeb culture in general.

However, despite some of the plot being meta, some of it (especially the ones in the beginning and middle) are also cliche and cringe-inducing (ie. Sasaki being overly jealous all the time (though he ultimately supported Miyano that one (1) time)).

Furthermore, even if the anime points out the good message of, "a man liking BL doesn't always mean he's looking for the same experience irl," I believe the anime brushes off toxic fujodan (and weeb) behavior such as projecting/superimposing fiction to reality. For example, Sasaki gets excited to see his guy friends reliving the tropes he often read in his BL. Now /this/ is fetishizing IMO. I understand that behavior coz I was like that, too, when I was a baby fujoshi. But now I know better.

But overall, the writing and pacing of the story are pretty good. I was genuinely surprised at how easy I binged all 12 episodes of this anime was, considering that it was—as I said in the beginning—a school-centric romance + slice of life. Coz tbh even watching 3 episodes of action-packed and plot-heavy anime can make me frustrated.

That means Sasaki to Miyano did a good job in keeping me entertained despite the lack of drama and major conflict.

[Sound: 6 for fine]

The Japanese VAs for everyone did a great job. The English VA for Miyano was surprisingly amazing. I didn't like the English VA for Sasaki much, though. But maybe it's only a preference thing. My preference also told me I don't like the OP nor ED much. They both felt too underwhelming to me.

[Animation & art: 6 for fine]

I don't think a school-centric slice of life and realistic anime can get above 8 for animation & art from me. This is simply because there isn't much room for the animators nor artists to experiment.

Even if they COULD experiment with whatever they had at hand, they didn't. Sasaki and Miyano's color palette is standard, there's no distinctive art style, and the filters during the "doki doki" moments are pretty standard.

But I didn't give Sasaki and Miyano a 5 for average because I think they did slightly better in portraying the beautiful sunset at the final episode and also Miyano during the cross-dressing competition.

[Overall enjoyment: 8 for very good]

Sasaki and Miyano is a breath of fresh air for me. It's also a huge surprise coz I didn't expect it to hold my interest throughout the show. All in all, the final rating is (9+7+6+6+8)/5 = 7.2 rounded to 7

This anime is objectively bad, even without adding grotesque imagery to the equation.

[Plot: 1 star for 'Apalling']

Let's start with the plot, shall we? Shoujo Tsubaki is a 47-minute movie divided into three acts. The 1st act serves to set up the rest of our MC's (Midori's) sufferings and life journey, but the plot points of this 1st act can be told only within 5 minutes, while the rest serves as mindless torture porn. There's no suspense, (IMO) no thrill, no exploration of the characters (for both the MC and side characters), and I think this act will be the hardest part for anyone to watch.

Surprisingly, ... the 2nd act is slightly better. It introduces us to a new character and sets up a more compelling conflict between all of the cast. Midori's demeanor changes a little bit, too, in this act. And everything left me wondering where the story will go from this point on, whether Midori starts to be more assertive and gets good things, or whether it'll become her new downfall. Yes, there are still disturbing images in this act, but I think it's still tied to the plot.

The 3rd act, meanwhile, is the reason why I rate Shoujo Tsubaki's plot as low as I can, and it's not because of disturbing imagery. In fact, there's almost no disturbing imagery in the 3rd act. The plot in this act is just THAT shitty. This last and 3rd act should've shown a resolution, something to tie down previous acts and to provide an ultimate conclusion for the whole movie, be it positive or negative.

But it gives me nothing.

There's no clue as to how Midori's story ends, nor what her future may look like. There's no message for the viewers, except that they have just wasted 48 minutes of their lives. If I'm trying to do a mental gymnastic, I'd give the creator the benefit of the doubt and think that they're trying to say "Life's full of suffering no matter what we do." But truthfully? I don't think even THAT is the message, especially since it says "illusion". Are they trying to say that life is an illusion? And even if this fits Act 2's imageries and plot, WHAT OF IT, then??? So, what if it's an illusion? What else is there to take away? None. This doesn't feel like an ending.

[Characters: 2 stars for 'Horrible']

Some of the character designs are interesting, especially the circus people. But that's it. We don't know their motivation, why they're the way they are (physically and personality-wise), why they joined the circus, nor their deeper relationship/interaction with other characters.

I'm not going to lie and say some of them don't have character development, though, because they do. We get to see them change at the end of the story. But the problem is: WE DIDN'T SEE THE PROGRESS AND WE CAN'T EVEN DEDUCE SHIT COZ WE LACK SO MUCH VITAL INFORMATION ABOUT THEM AS CHARACTERS!!! So it's like... "Huh? Where did those come from? How come they're so nice now? Tf?"

The worst of it all? The MC isn't even that interesting! She's just a vessel for tortures, sufferings, and even more torture and sufferings. And when I thought she at least would show a character development on Act 2, NOPE! She went back to her old self TTTTTT

I wanted to say that the MC only serves as a pawn for the plot, but the story doesn't even have THAT concrete of a plot to begin with! lol

[Animation & art: 2 stars for 'Horrible']

This movie was released in 1992, the same year Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Ai no Kusabi, Tokyo Babylon, and Video Girl Ai got released. And I did read from another person's review that Shoujo Tsubaki was a one-man show. Despite that amazing feat, I. Do. Not. Care.

It's SOOOOO pale in comparison to other animes released that year. At times, Shoujo Tsubaki feels almost like a slideshow, and ironically, the only better animation and art were during the grotesque parts, where it might've shown bursts of colors, skewed anatomy, and variant expressions, and for this I don't give this aspect a 1-star rating.

But to me that's still not enough. I'm sorry but the overall animation and art really is that bad.

[Sound: 4 stars for "Bad"]

I don't think the seiyuus are that bad, but I don't think the sound is mixed well. There are times when the sound is just so freaking loud compared to the rest of the audio, as if it's not tuned/balanced yet.

I don't have any complain for the sound effects, OSTs, or opening/ending song, though, but I do acknowledge that there's nothing about them that stands out, hence the almost-middle rating.

[Overall enjoyment: 2 stars for "Horrible"]

People said this movie is one of the worst anime to recommend to other people due to its disturbing imageries. I wanted to check it out to test if they were right, and if I--someone with virtually no fictional ick--am able to handle it.

And true to my hypothesis: I did handle it well. It's just that it's not entertaining enough, with or without the disturbing imageries. I mean. If gory stuff is something that you personally enjoy, perhaps you'll enjoy this. But I don't consume gory stuff for the sake of it, hence this movie did nothing to me.

And I think most people are either non-gory enjoyer, or simply someone who won't enjoy bad stories like this. Hence, I won't recommend Shoujo Tsubaki.

[Total score: 1 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 2 = 11. 11/5 = 2.2 in average, rounded to 2]

Sorry but this review will be messy because I'm writing this for my own instead of for others. I simply want to write down my thoughts so I would remember what this manga is about and my feelings about it if I ever want to revisit.

Tbh this manga is probably the most realistic portrayal of what living as an LGBTQ feels like in Japan (or Asia as a whole, because I relate to it a lot, having live in Indonesia).

The best thing about this manga is certainly the characters. The incredible diversity aside, everyone is depicted so humanly. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE how, even ... tho LGBTQ and its experiences are the one of the core themes of this manga, it makes a really bold statement that a label doesn't make you YOU. It's not... your whole thing. It doesn't make up your whole life.

And this is what I've been struggling with irl too coz... I don't exactly fit in the cis hetero society because of my preferences and gender expression. But I don't fit in the LGBTQ community either because I just... don't feel like I'm bi enough or nonbinary enough or demisexual enough. I just want to be myself, whatever that 'self' is. And even now, I have labels that I /might/ think represent me, but I'm still so confused about them, because I feel like the community pressures me into putting on a label on top of inventing more and more new labels and concepts I'm not familiar with.

So this manga is liberating in a sense that... you don't need to understand yourself fully. It's okay to be confused. It's okay not to put on a label. It's okay to put on a label and not have it define you as a person. It's okay to just... be. To just exist, even if majority of people in society aren't like you. And because we exist, that is enough of a reason for us to live happily. That's why I'm really in awe with Anonymous. Because if there's anyone I relate to the most, it's either Saki (with their happy lesbian marriage lol) or Anonymous with their label-less, careless attitude. If I do end up finding someone I want to spend my life with, I want the relationship to be like Saki's. But tbh atp in my life, I feel like I relate to Anonymous better lol.

Aaaaanywayy, the characters are great. They're humanely, fleshed out, distinctive, and each have their own character progression, goals, background, etc. These characters did a lot of heavy lifting of the story... but the story itself is actually so, very simple. And that's the negative part about it. Because it's very character-driven and simple, the earlier parts don't interest me much coz I don't know who these characters are yet. I don't care about them, and therefore I don't care about the story. I have difficulty getting immersed in the earlier parts because of this.

Art is great, but tbh nothing's too groundbreaking about it. Overall impression is only 8, because as much as I love the latter part, it took me a while to get there and I'm not a patient person.

So yeah, here are my final score:
[Art: 8, story: 8, overall impression: 8, characters: 10] final score 9 (rounded from 8.5)

[Overall enjoyment: 4] Listen. I really REALLY don't know how to go about this show. I initially watched the show weekly when it aired in 2015 but it gets harder and harder to keep up coz it just gets pretty boring and cliche to the point that I just thought 'why am I doing this again'. It's honestly a pain. I dropped it and finally picked it up 3 years later coz I just realized that 'wth there's only 3 episodes left so why not' so I tried to watch it again coz I wanna REMEMBER why I dropped it. And I guess I kinda ... found out why. Yea sure some stuff made me doki doki and the notion about friendship and their love for the survival game are cool but... the only word that came up to mind after finishing everything was: pointless. Which I think is a REALLY harsh word to describe the show but idk what else to say coz even the good stuff doesn't made me feel better about the show.

[Sound: 7] I like Hotaru's voice-acting. The opening & credit scene were alright. But again, just like many other animes I've watched, I can't seem to be blown away by the OST or SFX. Nothing really stood out for the sound except for Hotaru's voice and (sometimes) Yukimura's cute voice.

[Characters: 4] I have a REALLY mixed feeling about this part. I like the characters. But I think I like them because they're MEANT to be likened by someone like me: a young-adult bisexual fujoshi. And honestly IMO these characters might not only appeal bisexuals or fujoshi. Probably women, in general, will find it easy to fangirl to them so I'm REALLY surprised that MAL would tag this as shounen as opposed to shoujo. I mean, we have a cool female MC who disguised herself as a guy and have this dangerous alter ego that's actually useful for her team in the survival game; one ikemen who's sociable & cool & popular; one ikemen who's a bit weird, quiet, and sometimes interact with the other ikemen in a way that'll make woman squeal; one yandere ikemen who's (despite being an enemy) is taking an 'interest' in the MC; and said enemy's ikemen male teammate who's absolutely devoted to said enemy even after getting harsh responses. I mean... I really don't know what to say. It seems like I SHOULD like them but they came off pretty shallow to me as if their only purpose is to serve as material to fangirl to and it's pretty sad. I DO, however, like some of the moments where they kinda develop a bond and build trust... then there's also the drama, pushing the other away, getting rid of trauma, etc etc... my heart pounds most of the time because yea I dig that shit but I cringed SO hard at the same time because goddamit HELLO CAN YOU BE MORE PREDICTABLE! Idk, I completely lost it at this point, really.

[Plot: 4] I don't learn much about the sport but I guess that's my own fault because I thought it's gonna be more sports-heavy but it seems like the softgun is only an excuse for the show to throw in some cool action scenes and have something else at stake. The main concept was pretty unique but idk, just like how the characters are predictable, the story is predictable too.

[Animation & art: 7] At least I can't deny that the art is really pretty. The character designs, the overall visual, the art in OP & ED. The animation was... okay if not better than average BUT the animation during the fighting scene is so so. There's no problem with it but there's DEFINITELY nothing special or groundbreaking in it. So I can't give it more than 8.

[Average: 5] rounded from 5.2

[Overall enjoyment: 9] This shit was funny as hell okay. I watched it in one sitting and I've never thought of wanting to drop it even though the mid-part got pretty boring, dark, & pretentious real quick (which I'll be talking about in the story part). But honestly, the first few introductory episodes were great and the ending twist + epilogue were SOOO fun. The great ending left everything on a great note for me so even if I frowned at some stuff in the middle, I was overall in a happy mood when I finished this series.

[Sound: 7] I really dig the opening credit ... (especially the art/animation), but the song wasn't my taste enough to let me hear it every time I start an episode. The ending credit song was not as catchy as the OP but it's better than average. The art in it is pretty but not better than the OP either. Voice-acting wise, I think everyone's voice was matched up. I don't really notice any weirdness. But the SFX & OST wasn't really memorable. I finished the whole thing and thought, 'was there anything special with the SFX or OSTs?' and found that there wasn't.

[Characters: 8] The characters are one of the strong points of the show. Mob/Shigeo (I prefer to call him Mob so I'll call him that) as an MC was pretty good. He's likable and extremely relatable. Tbvh he made me go 'aww' a few times because of his kind demeanor. For an 'emotionless' character, he made me chuckle a few times with his reaction/answer to some of the weird stuff thrown at him but honestly he's not all that entertaining otherwise. And that's why I think Reigen is a REALLY great addition to this story because he makes up for a lot of things that Mob is lacking to provide for the viewer (confident persona, a reliable figure, and pretty much a source for laugh [maybe I have a bad humor but I both laughed at & admire his antics during his 'exorcism' work]. Mob was supposed to be the strongest character in the show, but somehow I feel more at ease when Reigen is around (especially near the ending. Like, I know Reigen was basically useless, but when he showed up I feel like he'll turn things around in his own way).

Speaking of the strongest character, I'm also not very sure that I like the idea of Mob constantly overpowering everyone because the fights got pretty predictable (I'll talk about this more in the story part). The rest of the side characters were pretty good. Ritsu, Dimple, and Teru were strong figures here. The supporting characters were entertaining as well (The body improvement club, the telepathy club, the council president, & the delinquent). But I REALLY dislike Ritsu's awakening. Not because it's based on negative feelings (I can get by with that), but it's because his motive just... doesn't make sense to me. Sure he got the power because he's constantly crushed by his inferiority towards Mob but he ALWAYS has that for a very long time. And if his stress is also driven by the guilt of framing one of the delinquents in his school, that's okay but I just can't see him DO that in the first place. Like, the motive is really isn't that strong that it seems like a very OOC decision/action to make for him. The awakening research (or sth) might've helped but then why is he so shocked when he got the power, then? Idk... a lot of things about Ritsu sit very weirdly for me. Another thing I've noticed is that Mob didn't really undergo any character development. The only character developments we've seen were from Teru and Ritsu. But maybe they're saving Mob's development for the 2nd season? Idk.

[Plot: 8] Before I rant, I'm gonna say the few things I love about the story: the humor was absolutely great. Overall, the show was fun because the pacing was consistently effective and not draggy. And that ending was TERRIFIC. Now for the negatives... I've already hinted some above. Number one is that the story gets boring, dark, & pretentious in the middle. I think this mostly relates to Ritsu's ordeal. The show begins on a positive note and the downturn was pretty sudden, so it wasn't really all that welcoming. Plus, I already mentioned my problem with Ritsu's ordeal so the OOC-ness of his actions was actually the one that made the downturn seems more awkward than natural. The number two point I wanted to rant about was Mob's power. Maybe it's One's (the mangaka) hobby to make the characters superpowers since he made One Punch Man too. But the nature of his power here made almost every fight predictable. Basically just wait until he goes on his 100% mode and "ah, he'll win this thing". But even when he's not in that mode, the fights on their own were pretty straight & boring. It's basically a showdown of power. The stronger psychic power you have, the higher chance you'll win and vice versa. There is no other formula involved and it's boring. That's why Reigen showing up near the end is a breath of fresh air because viewers were kept on their toes as to what will he bring to the table. Also, I'm personally a very big fan of the exorcism episodes so I'm not that sold when the show ended up treating the psychic powers only as mere superpowers. And I get it, if that's all I want, I should've watched Natsume Yuujinchou and not a fvcking battle shounen. But I think it's such a waste for the story to build such a background in the first place only to discard it in the end. Like... blackhole? Cloning oneself? Sharp katana? Idk man. This slowly becomes another superpower story.

[Animation & art: 8] Out of the bat, I think the art style was unique. But I think the best way to appreciate the animation is during the major fighting scenes because that's where the highlights are. The way the walls were broken into pieces, the way the characters move, etc. I have zero problems with the art and maybe the only reason I didn't give it a higher score than 8 is that there's nothing really revolutionary with it.

[Average: 8] solid 8

I just feel like writing something to negate the overall MAL rating of Devilman Crybaby because somehow, I think they deserve higher. So, I’ll just simply list what I think Devilman Crybaby did and didn’t do well in a form of bullet points.

What they did good:
1. Striking artwork. Beautiful shots & cinematography. Incredible colors. Unique animation.
2. Music is all catchy and unique. OP, ED, BGM, they’re all thematic and very original.
3. Again about sound, this time about the voice acting. The kids sound like they’re kids, unlike most animes who either shared the same seiyuu for the child & adult version or have a different ... adult seiyuu voiced the child version of the character.
4. Overall, plot is good. Great twist.
5. Great pacing. Great cliff-hangers. Doesn’t drag the story and didn’t bore me at all.
6. Great character designs, especially the protagonists and devils. The way they behave is very realistic (well except for Ryo).
7. The twist about the track and field’s coach.

What they did bad:
1. Drew some scenes too dark. Can’t see what’s happening at all.
2. In some scenes, it’s as if the animators are just too lazy to draw coz the artwork looked amateurish.
3. Nonsensical character drive and some illogical scenes/situations (the whole Akira’s parents ordeal, how the whole Japan just eat up Ryo’s every word, how people just ended up hugging each other after Akira protected some of the humans (the change was too dramatic and it was so sudden?), how did Miki’s cat???, etc).

I judged a show based on how fun, interesting, and engaging they are to me. When this was over, the only thing I felt was ‘wow. cool’ and not much negative, hence the 8.

[Overall enjoyment: 4] I was expecting the story to be more complex but it wasn't, had a hard time relating to the characters, there are many unanswered questions in the end too

[Sound: 8] no problem with the voice acting, credit songs, nor the songs used in the show, but they weren't very memorable

[Characters: 4] I don't really like the MC because he seemed undependable, uninteresting, and self-centered. The love interest was also too meek... I also found it annoying and weird that even though many robots seemed to be called to the cafe, the story only revolves around the same casts over and over. The ... MC's friend was the only character I found interesting.

[Plot: 5] the idea of owning an android isn't something new but the idea of the cafe was pretty interesting. Even so, the whole movie was underwhelming because it's pretty much uneventful. The only two twists and unique stories told in the movie were of the MC's friend + his childhood robot and the revelation of the lovers that always frequented the cafe. The rest of the movie was pretty boring...

[Animation & art: 8] the animation was really fluid and the overal art was quite pretty

[Average: 6] rounded from 5.4

[Enjoyment: 8]
Pretty awesome coz a mecha-hating person like me can still enjoy the anime. I binged a majority of this anime coz it was interesting and I wanna know what's next.

[Art: 9]
If compared to other animes from 1989, the animation is pretty crisp and refreshing. But there were Dragon Ball Z and Ranma coming out on that year too and I think they're almost as good, so I gave 9 for great but not 10 for masterpiece.

[Sound: 7]
Memorable OP, Subpar ED, but I love the futuristic/disco(?)-like OST. I appreciate that the kids sound like kids. Other VAs seem to be okay, but I don't notice ... anything groundbreaking.

[Story: 8]
Great story about war and conflict in the eye of an innocent, exuberant child. Filled with emotions, seamless story-telling, exciting without being extra. I just wished the whole thing is presented as a 2 hour-long movie ([27 min total - 5 min for OP & ED - 1 min recap] x 5 = ~120 min) so it will pack more punch. The plot is already seamless so I don't see the need to chop them into 6 different episodes.

[Characters: 8]
Very very good character relations (esp Al & Barnie). Al acts like a child that he is, but still packs so much emotion & wit. The story made me care about characters enough to feel for them.

[Average: 8] Solid 8