CLANNAD AFTER STORY

Clannad After Story ( Roopayan Ghosh )

Clannad After Story
Number of episodes-22+2OVA
Genre- Drama/Romance/Fantasy/Slice of Life
Rating:- Art and Animation-9/10, Music-9.5/10, Story-10/10, Characters-10/10, Enjoyment-9.5/10(48/50)

Well this has been reviewed too many times in forums and too many good things (and a few bad ones) have been said about it. I dont know why of all these days a sudden urge came to me to review it(Its surprising I haven't done it before), but let me whet that urge. And yes I am not reviewing Season 1 just season 2. I am not a fan of season 1, for some odd reason, and started season 2 before even going halfway through season 1. While it did not deter me from enjoying the anime, it made me watch season 1 later and ended up clearing some things which unless you watch season 1 you will never get.

I will not spend much time in explaining my ratings, just that the art and animation are typical KyoAni and yet one of their best in 24 episode anime. Maeda Jun's music grows on you as you listen. I have to admit initially when I first heard the music I wasnt captivated but then I heard the OSTs as standalones it was a surreal calming experience. The voice acting of different characters were up o the mark, they portrayed the emotions of the characters clearly enough but still there is always room for improvement.

Which brings me to the story. The storyline is dramatic and often people complain overly melodramatic. So let us break the anime up into arcs. The anime starts cheerfully yet almost each episode has some melancholy in it. Sunohara's character gets some much need exposure and until graduation the few characters which lacked proper exposure in Clannad gets their time. Specially that story of the cat is one of my favourites in AS. It is so simple yet hits you right in the kokoro. I am not a pet lover at all but that did not prevent me from having a melancholic smile on my face when the episode ended. Yes the first half of CAS will ensure you have a mix of sadness and happiness and you will not ever be able to imagine what will hit you later.

The tragedy which strikes though isnt really surprising. We all knew Nagisa(the female protag) was ill and I think at the back of the mind each of the viewer gets prepared for the worst. But what makes the anime brilliant is how they portray the lives of the characters around her. Her parents, her husband and her friends. But in this arc the single greatest episode according to me is probably the interaction between the protagonist his grandma and his father. So much emotions was bundled in that episode that it almost threatens to overshadow the main flow of the story. But then you are not spared, more tragedy strikes and everything seems almost hopeless.

There is a parallel story in a parallel world shown in each episode. And I am sure most of you will be left wondering whats going on. And near the end it becomes clear. This anime was never an ordinary slice of life. It never intended to be in the first place. It was always a fantasy slice of life. From season 1. The legend of the town starts to make sense and we get to know about Nagisa's past as well. And then the miracle happens. It is here that the fandom gets split. Some people say the miracle was not needed, while others say it was beautiful. I will leave that opinion to the viewer. If you want my personal opinion I would say that the authors had planned for this from the start, they weren't intending to make a sad anime, they were intending to make an anime tinged with melancholy yet will bring a smile on your face. They wanted to make a fairytale ending. And that ending will never demean what was shown before. Because the previous episodes hit your emotions the way they intend to, they teach you the importance of bonds and family, they teach you the sadness of losing your loved ones and what they teach you most is to treasure the people close to you, because you never know what the future holds. The hero got a second chance at life, it is almost as if the authors are telling you, “Well, we hope after seeing this anime you see the people around you differently, this is your second chance. We hope you are a little bit wiser about your outlook towards life”, just like the protagonist was told.

So why did I suddenly have the urge to review it. Oh I remember now, I saw a news that a family went for a trip to Kashmir, their car got caught in an avalanche and fell into an abyss. The wife and son were dead. The father was fighting for his life at the hospital. Somehow this reminded me of Clannad after story. Yes in real life there are no miracles, no fairy tale ending. But reality is so boring aint it?

HYOUKA

HYOUKA REVIEW ( ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime review:- 
Anime:- Hyouka
Number of Episodes:- 22
Genre:- Mystery/School/Romance
Rating :- Animation and Artwork:- 9/10, Music- 8/10, Story :- 7/10, Characters:- 7/10, Enjoyment -8/10(39/50)

This is the second mystery anime I watched after Gosick. While it does not repeat a very important mistake Gosick made, is it really very good? Undoubtedly its a nice addition to the mystery genre but it has its own flaws.

For starters the animation is gorgeous. Artwork is typical moe artwork of kyoani. And I have a bone to pick with this kind of artwork. The faces are still fine by the feet of people in this kind of artwork always point inwards rater than outwards and I find that really irritating. Also the multicolored eyes. It looks nice and all but they return to haunt you and its not a nice haunting. Anyway the 1st opening and 1st ED are really nice, not only as a song but the visuals as well. The later ones don't reach that heights. The in anime music is also nothing spectacular, just fine. The voice acting of Chitanda one of the MC s is irritating but that just essentially brings out her character so it gets full points for that. Houtaro the other MC's voice acting is fine, the male supporting actor has a really nice voice acting while the other ones are just average. Well basically it means you will not remember almost anything out of this anime except the japanese version of “I'm curious”.

Hyouka has an episodic plot and it stays true to it till the end making it a better anime than Gosick in this aspect. Each mystery is in an ordinary setting and the reasoning is thoroughly explained and easily follow-able, which makes you feel you could have got it if you have tried a bit harder. Some of the mysteries are really easy while some are seriously interesting. Its a mixed bag basically. And so as the characters. While the main MC shows tremendous development. The supporting cast shows development in only select episodes and that is a tad irritating. That will be a factor in these episodic anime so it cant be helped. But my irritation is at how little we got to know of the female lead character, her life was mainly known in 2-3 episodes with the last episode giving the most exposition and there was really little to no development in her character. The way she was initially was the way she remained at the end of the anime. Except probably she fell in love. And that is another bone I have to pick. Its nice when hints of romance are shown but its really irritating when you don't have a season 2 and you cant quite pinpoint the romantic endings the anime as as there are only hints no definite answers. That s something I hate.

The last episode of the anime is deemed as a masterpiece by many, while I agree it is a masterpiece of situation animation, creating an open ended romantic story which originally was like a high school detective mystery doesn't earn brownie points. Yes there was a mystery even in the last episode but it was not really that relevant. The male MC still remained hesitant, while you can always find 101 reasons to support his actions, it doesn't mean you just end your anime like that. The female MC's life and wants are also hinted at but they are nearly not enough for a 22 episode anime. This would have been better off without the final two episodes. No romance is better than incomplete open ended romance in anime. Which means I have to deduct marks in coherence.

Well overall I cant say I didn't enjoy the anime, but I enjoyed Gosick more even if its a more flawed piece of work. Probably because it had a definite conclusion no matter how cliched it may be.

Final verdict:- Hyouka is a nice piece of animation. The moe artwork distracts a bit, and the incomplete romance leaves you wanting a non existent second season, but the mysteries are really interesting and are commonplace which makes you feel that incidents of this anime can happen around you and hence I give this one a thumbs up, not a big thumbs up but a decent one, i.e. it is a nice time killer. I would still prefer Gosick over this one though.

GO-SICK

GO-SICK REVIEW 

Anime:- Gosick
Genre:- Supernatural/Mystery/Romance
Number of Episodes:-24
Rating:- Animation and Artwork-7/10, Music:-7.5/10, Story-6/10,  Characters-5/10, Enjoyment-9/10(34.5/50)

To review Gosick is a really tough job. This anime has so many things going right for it and the fact that yet it fails to satisfy is what makes it so difficult. I would not go so far as to call this anime the anime of two halves but from the time the anime changed its ED it lost its charm. Let us talk about the positives first and then we will try to figure out where it went wrong.

The artwork is really nice for the setting in early 1900s. Its nice to see all those horse drawn carriages and the different dressing sense of people of that era. One thing striking is the Japanese still wore kimono in that era whereas the Europeans had a distinctly different dress sense. The animation is nice too, par for the course for a 2010 anime, nothing to spectacular but does its work.

The OP is really good, it has a light ring to it and sets you up nicely. But whats really good is the first ED. It has taken its place among my favourite EDs and perfectly matches with the tone of the show. Its really a shame that they had to change it and I didnt like the second ED as much. In anime music was nothing spectacular so I had to give an average score. The voice acting however was really average. It doesnt really bring out the characters and feels just vanishes into the countless ordinary voice acting of various anime you have watched. You dont remember much of the dialogues after you complete the anime, thats as much a fault of script as the voice acting.

The story had a tremendous amount of promise. It starts of episodic or 2-3 episodes together in a story. Initially it feels like a detective mystery anime. It would have been good if it had stayed so. But the author had other ideas, linking the female protagonist to a dark and oppressed past is okay if you have a good story to back it up. The author actually tried to. Linking the world wars to the main story line was a wonderful idea. Some of the cases had WW I linked with it too. An oppressed mother was also there to support the story to boot, with a travelling magician helping her and stuff. “The eternal love of the mother for her child with her making the final sacrifice to save her child” idea was there as well. There was a nice little romance between the main characters. The cases were presented in a way in which the viewer can solve them if he thought hard enough all the clues were there. So you could think with the show. I mean all this essentially is the formula for a really great show and for the firSt 13 episodes I could not understand how it can go wrong. Well, for the last 13 episodes too I could not understand how it went wrong but I will try my best to figure out.

The story lost its thrilling nature after episode 13. Episode 17 pissed me off. And yet there were flashes of previous brilliance scattered here and there in some of the episodes. The thing is there are two ways to make someone look intelligent. Make him/her unbelievably intelligent and get an almost equally intelligent antagonist, or make him/her decently intelligent and surround him/her with dumb characters. Sadly Gosick does the latter. The male protagonist is as dumb and cheesy as they come. The ending dialogue of the anime is as cheesy as they come. These were two big flaws in the anime. Then, trying to mix up supernatural and logic leads to disastrous effects most of the time. Gosick is a living proof. Also initially starting off with an episodic tone and trying to “increase” the number of episodes involved in those small stories is a nice idea but here they faltered somehow. They made terrible use of the characters they created. There is almost little to no character development of any of them, which results in little to no empathy at their deaths. The only good part was the mother-daughter bonding and the rest somehow left very little mark though all the ingredients were there. So in the end the problem with this one would be wasting the potential of a great cast of characters, losing the thrilling nature of the first half by trying too much which draws the viewer and cheesy script writing. Yes that should do it.

Well I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy the show but I hoped to enjoy it more.

Final Verdict:- Its a show that I would recommend if you like mystery which are solvable if you use your head, it wont mindfuck you but that's not a bad thing, also you might be left a little dissatisfied at the end with the show but you have to live with that. Its worth watching, its not a bad one.

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte review by Roopayan Ghosh

Charlotte- An incomprehensible potpourri of ideas or another of Maeda's masterpiece??

This isn't one of my normal reviews its more informal, there will be a tl;dr at the end though. 

SPOILERS may follow.

So when the show aired I heard a lot of opinions of the show, some people said it was brilliant while others said it was shit. I trusted the shiteportion of the crowd more because I personally knew their tastes and steered clear of it. But then I had to download the anime for somebody else and had it in my HDD, so I was like whats the big deal lets see this anime, lets see how bad it is.

Firstly the premise, the trailer of animax made me think its a superpower action supernatural anime, the protagonist was a retarded asshole and an anti-hero who fought against the good guys etc etc, like maybe Reversi in Bakuman/ Code Geass etc. After watching the first episode I was taken aback. It was nothing of that sort, rather it was more mellow and school life action romance ish. It was even funny at times. It wasn't dark, depressing and thought provoking as I thought it might have been.
Which incidentally is not something I hate, I always like this light hearted school anime with a little bit of romance and SoL in it. And unlike most of the people who were complaining about this region of the show, I actually liked it and probably would have ended up loving it if this continued for the entire season, but no Maeda had other ideas, he had to go back to his staple idea of deaths and making people cry.

However this death had a problem. The anime was too short for him. maeda generally requires an insane amount of time to build characters. he had that in Clannad so he could produce something like Afterstory, he has all the time he likes in VNs as well, but in 13 episode anime, his style fails completely. Sure he tried to create a nice happy character and killed it off to generate tears, but he was too early, it didn't have impact. I don't remember not crying in anime deaths, or something which I watched without batting an eye, but here I did, and I was surprised. Instantly it made me realize this show wasnt one of his good ones.

Then he did what he does best, showing how a loved one deals with the death of another one. He went to extremes here, but I don't really mind, but the lack of episodes showed here as well, while in his masterpiece afterstory he had 5-6 episodes to develop the pain and suffering and then bring it to a resolution, here he has one. And to combine all that emotion to one episode is just not possible. He tried his best but it didn't work out.

But the sad part he he didn't stop there, he got into the time travel business. While i wouldn't say he messed it up completely, but a feeling which Steins; gate took 20 episodes to build, cannot be built in 1 episode. he didnt set proper laws for time travel(which is very essential) and so this part of the anime falls below mediocrity. Also he put in an underwear shot which I found absolutely unnecessary(why would you strip an esper, duh? ) and some sudden invasion of new villains to drive the story. Then the protag does some stupid shit and a person dies again. This death was slightly more impactful since he had more episodes at his disposal, but by this time the anime was on its last lap so there was no time to let the effects of it sink inAbout the ending which people bash, i will not, because this wasn't an adventure anime. I am sure people wanted more stories, more interactions with the new challenges our protagonist would face but to be honest he was so Op at that time that it didn't matter.Well there were parts I actually liked as well. the protagonist's character development wasn't too shabby, though the female character development was a dirac delta function(search this term on wiki) and so was the romance. But maeda being maeda still gave me something to smile about in the romance. And then totally destroys the atmosphere by putting in cheezy ending line. "Our life starts from here". Seriously Maeda, that's the best you could come up with?? I put the screenshot I think should have ended it etc along with the pictures.
tl;dr:- I cant call it shit, I have seen worse anime than this and this is definitely better than your generic harems and esper stories like Tokyo ESP and stuff, but its definitely one of the worse Maeda works. he should stick to VN. the anime medium is too restrictive for him.

So ratings Art and Animation-7/10, Music-7/10, Story-3.5/10, characters-3.5/10, enjoyment-6/10(27/50) remember this is MAL scale and different from my previous scale of 7/10 as average. 

HANASAKU IROHA

HERE IS MR. ROOPAYAN GHOSH, MY GUEST WRITER FOR THE ANIME SECTION WITH HIS REVIEWS ONCE AGAIN

You can contact him at 

ROOPAYAN GHOSH

MAL rating-8.04/10

Genre:- Slice of Life/Romance(not yuri)/Comedy

Synopsis:-
After her single mother decides to run off with a boyfriend to dodge debt collectors, the young and energetic Ohana is sent to live with her grandmother. However, her grandmother is the strict owner of a hot springs inn and requires her to work at the inn to pay for her living expenses. Although Ohana is unhappy about this situation at first, she decides to make the best of her situation and work hard. Ohana's life is suddenly filled with fun, mischief, and drama!

tl;dr- A slice of life anime that ticks the right boxes, leaving you with a warm fuzzy feeling. If you need a healing anime and cannot really get into Aria and the likes because of less drama, this one just might be for you. It pulls your heartstrings in the first half and gives a memorable conclusion in the second. An anime that everyone should watch. Of course I cannot guarantee that you will like it or it is flawless, but then it will all depend on how much you focus on the flaws itself. Overall this is one of the better SoLs out there and the second best P.A. Works after Uchoten Kazoku.


Animation and artwork-7.5/10(character atwork is great, use of palletes extraordinary, but it falls short of other P.A. Works in the background scenery. Some are badly drawn and blurred in 720p, filtering issues are there)

Sound- 9/10(Exemplary, could not skip the 2nd Op and ED for once, the insert songs and music greatly heighten the atmosphere, not one which I will download OSTs for, but it acted as a brilliant compliment to the anime)

Story and coherence- 7.5/10 (Doesnt divert much from the main storyline, though sometimes goes in random direction to develop a character, overall we can call it a meandering river with small rivulets, but most of the water flows together from source to sea)

Characters-7.5/10(4 characters obviously dont get equal development, but each is given time to develop. Even the weak link becomes completely different person in the beginning than in the end. Relationship development between two main characters are beautiful to watch, and the development of side characters top notch. I fell in love with all of them after the anime)

Enjoyment-9/10( Something that made me not skip episodes or drop in the middle to pick up later. Hooked from first episode, and kept me in the journey till the end)

(40.5/50=8/10)
Now that we are done with the ratings let me focus on some aspects of the anime.

The show initially may seem like just another cute girls doing cute things show. But no its much more than that. What I did not expect is the romantic angle to the show at all, because it wasnt mentioned anywhere. In fact the romance though subtle plays a very important part in the show, and the relationship between the lead female character and her lover reminded me of mine, so I could connect at a personal level. The lead character though is a bit absurd because she is unaware of sexual harrassment and such in the beginning and some weird things happen to her(nothing like sexual assualt and rape mind you, its actually funny), but looking at her age it is a bit too much far fetched.(But I know a few girls in real life at that age who really did not know anything about sex at that time). Anyway the lead character doesnt start off as somebody pampered and already has a strong character, so to see her molded into something better is a treat to watch. Plus the character interactions and dialogues are handled skilfully and the reactions seem totally realistic and believable.

The one big flaw however is the romance angle which might be argued is a bit too convenient setting and conclusion, but for my purpose its okay, no complaints I like it.

As with every slice of life there are plenty of quotes which will impact you. One particular thing which did for me was, this,

"Marriage is a promise not to let your spouse be alone, ever again. yes, even if one of you pass away first"

In today's world of divorces and marriage related violence(what am I saying marriage related violence was since forever) people need to relook at the original reason for marriage. Most of the people today see marriage in a completely different light, so reading this quote brought a smile to my face. Too many people nowadays forget about this. And yes, this show shows a beautiful relationship between husband and wife as well.

One thing that this anime does exceptionally well is using of screenplay to heighten the effect of an event. To show how an action simultaneously changes lives of two people, to use "movement" and "direction" as an allegory to their lives. And yes uses the fucking trains..

The ending episode, however deserves special mention. There was no miracles, yet there were many. The yakisoba guy was a badass(watch the anime to see what I mean). The setting was the bonbori festival, which made it all the more beautiful and P.A. Works could have delivererd better but they did just enough with the artwork. The OST used literally brings tears to your eyes and tears your heart off yet healing you at the same time. I dont know what the movie shows, but in my opinion this was the best ending this anime could get, it couldn't have been better.

The ending quote sums the anime up
" I am probably still a bud,
But thats why I stare up at the Sun so high.
I quench my thirst with water.
I am a bud that's trying to bloom."
~Ohana

ONE PUNCH MAN

HERE IS MR. ROOPAYAN GHOSH, MY GUEST WRITER FOR THE ANIME SECTION WITH HIS REVIEWS ONCE AGAIN
You can contact him at 
ROOPAYAN GHOSH

One Punch Man review

MAL rating-8.99/10

No of episodes -13(1season +2 OVAs)

One Punch Man, saviour of anime or just a creator of an idiotic fanbase?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So its over, the most anticipated anime of fall 2015. An anime which generated so much fanbase that it routinely got subreddits of the day and had a subtopic created in meme pages. But as experience teaches us, popularity does not automatically convert to quality but we also cant deny if we act as hipsters and start dishing out bad reviews just because they are popular, it makes us look like the fools. So where does One Punch Man stand really?

First of all the manga deals in a lot of themes, there are gags, there are subtle references to society, there are fights and there is "man of steel" esque destruction. It is a shounen action at heart and never tries to be something else. you will find over the top action, lots of dialogues in fights, lots of punches and kicks thrown, yeah, until the protagonist comes in.

Yeah One Punch Man is about this, it just shows the futility of the powerup times in dragonballz, the "deep philosophical talk" in between fights and even takes a jab on people talking in space. It is telling you, "look there are so many tropes in shounens, but you know what at the end of the day its all about one finishing move, one punch" and to do so they created an insaney op hero as a jab to all the OP badasses out there, and then giving a hilarious backstory of how he got his power. Which serves twofold, naive watchers and kids might try to follow his regimen and get fitter(of course some adult discussion is necessary so that the kid doesn't overwork himself), and this has actually happened in japan and secondly more seasoned watchers can understand this as a parody of all the various training regimes in different shounens.

However as you can already imagine, you know from beforehand how each fight will end, you know whatever be the opponent he is going to kill him by one punch, and that no matter how you look at it will reduce the thrill of the anime. But the anime intends to be that. Its almost as if it is telling you "I am not you standard shounen with great fistfights, so if you expect sudden twists, you better drop me, I aint for you". But then in-spite of this the anime hooks a large section of the watchers, even watchers which are calling this one a shit anime. Why is that? it is because "one punch Man" isn't about One Punch Man, it isnt about Saitama killing villains, its not how whether he can recreate a big bang with his punch, its about something else. but to show that something else the author needed to put the obvious story-line in the way he did, and at the end, that cannot count as positive, even when I understand what his intention was.

One punch Man is about Saitama getting recognition he deserves, you root for him, want him to show the others how good he is , but then suddenly you find someone else to root for, a hero with no powers, trying his hardest, because "its not about winning and losing its about whether you stand up to somebody", and OPM delivered this to perfection in 1 line better than any other shounens have done in 200 episodes. And as more and more heroes get introduced, starting from the tsundere loli to the ninja and the martial artist, you tend to harbour some affectionate feeling for some of them as well(the names are sometimes hilarious as well Puri puri prisoner) and hate when they don't recognize saitama. this anime makes you either love/hate the characters, and unless its indifference that's pretty much a job well done for an anime.

And then in the final episode, MADhouse delivered one of its finest animation masterpieces. It elevated the manga by linking some stuff with the very first episode itself, created such fluidity in animation without much CGs that ufotable will be proud of them and used the correct soundtracks at the correct moment to create an epic final battle, a battle which lasted more than one punch. It is very rare for the anime transition from manga to be so brilliant even during the gags, but this last episode exceeded all expectations. When I read the manga , because the story wasn't that interesting(already said why), I wasn't really sure about the anime, but based MADhouse took that and created an anime which will rank among its best animated works for years to come(yeah you can fuck off hipsters, I have seen people saying the animation was bad trust me, either they are idiots or don't know English).

Oh yes one last thing, episode 12 actually makes you feel for the hero and villain both, in a way very different from any other anime out there.And the screenshot you will find everywhere is actually a great depiction of how it is very lonely at the top. One came searching for a fight of a lifetime and got it, while the other at least had some enjoyment but still couldn't use his full potential. The last gag after credits was genius as well.

But as with all half decent anime, the problem was a cancerous fanbase which increased exponentially given the nature of the anime. the anime was fun, there were fights and OP characters with great animation and blood pumping music. Goku and Superman vs Saiatama posts flooded the groups and memes flooded the pages which resulted in antagonism towards the anime by a certain section. But is a cancerous fanbase the right parameter to judge how good an anime is? because then you are judging an anime not by the anime itself buy by the people who watch it, which is preposterous. I urge all the people to ignore all the OPM posts and judge the anime just as itself without the fanbase and you will see that even if it has created such a fanbase, it is still a damn good shounen, which makes you feel without melodrama and gets your blood pumping without shouting for one episode.

So in the end what is the answer to my original question. Saviour of anime? No. "Just a creator of cancerous fanbase? No. this is an anime which made the world look up again. This is an anime which taught the world there are anime beyond DBZ. This is an anime which made the common mass who only watched DBZ look up and see how "compactly" an idea can be presented.

This is an anime which finally started putting the wheels in motion, so that the world can now move on from Dragonballz and realize even in that genre, even with just fistfights and no psychological battles, you can make a good anime and probably the anime which will inspire many more to actually delve more into the medium as such. And thats why probably it is a "New Wave" in the world of anime, even if it is not a saviour.

actual rating- MADHOUSE/10 

If you still want ratings then out of 10. 

Story-7,

Characters-7, 

Art and animation-9, 

Sound-9, 

Enjoyment-9(41/50)

Genre:-Action/Comedy(parody)

FATE/ZERO

This is gonna be my longest review ever, so you are forewarned.

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime Review:-

Anime:- Fate/Zero

Number of episodes-25

Genre:- Action/Seinen

Rating:- Animation-10, Music-10, Story-10, Characters-10, Enjoyment-9.5(49.5/50)

You guessed it, I am a fate fanboy. Before you start judging this review by that, you read it fully first.

There are anime which you have to watch once in your life. You might love, you might hate it, but you cannot simply ignore it for the sheer presence it has. This is one such anime. If someone asks you the following, “I will watch only 3 anime. What 3 I should watch?” This type of question have been asked in Quorra and the most common answers encompass Dragonballz, Naruto and One Piece. For me this answer is probably the worst answer you could give. Somebody wants to watch only 3 anime, you are giving him 3 battle type shounenes, its like someone coming to your house for only 3 days ever and you are treating them with plain rice! Thats blasphemy. Yeah by now you must have guessed that I will put Fate/Zero on that list. The other two? Well, lets save it for some other day.

Animation:- Its Ufotable, period! Before the airing 2014 Fate/Stay Night, this was my favourite animation work of Ufotable. The battle sequence animation, the scenery, the special effects during special moves are so beautiful that it will take your breath away. This is an anime that can be watched just for a visual treat. In fact the choreography of the last battle and a 5 person battle royale is the best battle choreography I have seen. (Even considering the current series UBW)

Music:- Its Yuki Kaijura again. The OSTs are AWESOME!. The in battle music in unrealistically good, so much that it can give you goosebumps. All Openings are full of melody. All ending are full of “feels”. Thats exactly how I like them. Its perfect, just perfect. Specially ending of season 2 with the pictures in the background is so saddening that I had a lump in the throat(after I realized its significance)

Story:- It is a character driven plot. The basic premise is very simple, people competing to get an ultimate reward. However the twists are each person has their own motive, own ways to do things, and barring 1 person it is very difficult to judge who is right and who is wrong. The story starts slow, so you are forewarned. There are a huge amount of dalogues, which if you feel and understand will make you think it is a work of art, but if you are unable to feel them, then you might end up hating this anime. There have been complaints that the anime has tried to do too much, mixing up battles and philosophy into a khichdi that doesnt taste good. However taste of a person varies. You never know until you have tasted that khichdi whether it tastes good or not. I loved the way they mixed philosophy with an all out battle since I dont like watching either of them individually, mindless battles are a huge damper, and so are just dialogues(which is why I cannot bring myself to watch monogatari, the first few episodes are too dialogue based). So my advice to you is, see, wait patiently, and reach episode 18, after that its pure epicness!

Characters:- Brush up your mythology, since the elements used in this anime are from mythology and history together. Unless you know the exact mythology of each, you will not know how Urobutchi changed and used their character traits from the mythology to create the dialogues, and unless you do that you cannot enjoy this one. There is a 15 min long dialogue of kingship between three of the main characters in the anime, which in my opinion raised so many brilliant questions that it is worth quoting over and over again. Okay just a little spoiler, there are 7 servants who are the mythological and historical heroes and seven masters under whom they fight. The master's characters are fleshed out in detail as well. Almost each and every one of them. Special attention is of course towards the main character and his back story is so beautiful yet so horrible that in the end you will feel sorry for him.

Enjoyment:- This was an almost perfect 10 except for the fact that it started slow in the beginning. I had difficulty to continue. Also there have been complaints about unnecessary bloodshed in many case form one of the master-servant duo, but looking into legends that was the way the servant was. But then it could have been avoided. It can be a big turn off for some people. However be warned, you have to think while watching the anime, there has been a case in which I had suggested this anime to another person, and he was like, why did that guy become like this? There is no reason. Its stupid. Unfortunately, he did not look deep enough. Things like how a person becomes a terrorist is portrayed in the anime, and this is the absolute reality, a small spark can result in a forest fire, however unbelievable it may seem.

Verdict:- A must watch anime as I had said in the beginning of my review. Be prepared for a lot of dialogues and action accompanied by deep philosophy. (actually the interpretation of philosophy varies from person to person even, so I cannot guarantee anything.. )And here you will not have any arbitrary power up of characters, what you see is what you get. If a character seems strong, nobody can beat him, all the other characters have to accept their “fate”, they have no choice. So be prepared for heartbreaks.

GARGANTIA

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime:- Gargantia

Genre:- mecha/sci-fi

Number of Episodes-13+2 Specials+2 OVAs (1 to be released in 2015)

Rating :- Animation:-10, Music:-8, Story-9,Characters-8.5, Enjoyment-10(45.5/50)

This is probably the “lightest” work of the Urobutcher. But it is in no ways mediocre. It offers the mecha genre something new and fresh and was a very pleasing watch. Its a pity that it has so few episodes.

The animation is just drop dead gorgeous. The character drawing is impeccable. I was drooling at the girls in this anime. They are very beautifully drawn and the colours and accessories used are superb. They create an amazing ambience. The music was also pretty good, not great though, just about par for me. The opening song did not stick with me for very long. The story is where this movie scores above its peers. The first episode opens with the usual mecha fighting aliens and just when you though tis was another “that type” of mecha anime, the story turns turtle and focuses on repercussions of creating a supposedly perfect world, an utopia. There are fights but not that many mecha on mecha fights as we expect from mecha genre anime. And that is a good thing. Because these things get boring if used too frequently. The twists in the stories come at the perfect place to maintain the viewer's attention. The characters are well sketched, but they are not Urobutchi level. However they are better than your standard anime. The humane nature of humans is well developed. And yes, it is a very enjoyable anime.

Verdict:- This should be watched. If you only like mecha on mecha fighting while watching the mecha genre, this is not for you. But if you prefer to know how a human relationship with his machines and fellow humans can develop, this anime is for you. Its a wonderful ride, to say the least about it..

KARA NO KYOUKAI

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime:- Kara no Kyoukai

No. of Episodes:- 7 movies+1 epilogue

Genre:- Supernatural/Thriller/Romance/Action

Rating:- Animation-9.4, Music-9.8,Story-8.9,Characters-9.2,Enjoyment-9.6(46.9/50)

(The decimal points are due to averaging out from seven movies. To know which movie is best and all read on)

This is probably one of the most philosophical works I have seen in an anime. And unlike Fate/Zero for which people complain it got confused midway to whether it wanted to be a philosophical or action anime, this had no intentions of being an action anime. It focuses on the supernatural and human psychology and openly brings out a lot of deep philosophy about various not-so-mundane aspects of human life.

The animation was one of the best I have seen. It peaked in the middle, movie 5 in which the fluidity of the action scenes reminded me of the well known “Unlimited Budget Works” anime airing fall 2014. The drawing of the characters are typical type-moon, the use of light and shadow also typical of the studio and it maintains a standard level throughout. The camera angles(if you can call them that), the choreography of the fight scenes are absolutely spot on. And well, about the music, honestly I have nothing to say. Yuki Kaijura at her very best. Movie 3-5 probably has the best soundtracks I have heard in anime, and keep on putting them in a loop and hearing them all day. The story is brilliant no doubt, but the layout is such that it will confuse people. The chronological order of events and the order of episodes do match. The order of events is roughly, 2,7,3,1,4,5,6, if I recall correctly and 5 being the most epic movie I have seen with almost a free human psychology lesson, novel-esque detective and supernatural elements and unbelievable music and fight scenes, it becomes a series that peaked in the middle. That is until you see the epilogue which is a “boring” half-hour talk on the origin of human character. Personally, I believe the epilogue of this series is one of the best works of the anime world with an entire episode built on nothing but the conversation between two persons. The characters are pretty well developed two. The female protagonist with all her faults is one of the most liked characters of mine. However I would have loved a bit more romantic development of the main male character.  And hell, my exams went bad because I watched this movie series, but it was almost an epic journey to rediscover what is “self” and what is the “other”, why do humans behave the way they do and so on and so I dont really regret it.

Verdict:- Be prepared for a lot of dialogues, but if you can get through them you are in for the ride of your life. Its got amazing action, it is thought provoking, it is exciting and it has Yuki Kaijura! What more do you want when you choose an anime. What are you waiting for? Jump in!

BAKUMAN

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime:- Bakuman

No. of Episodes- 25+25+25

Genre:- Shounen/Romance/Slice of Life

Rating:- Animation-9, Music-8.5,Story-9.5,Characters-9.5, Enjoyment-10(46.5/50)

If you look into my ratings carefully the only place where this anime loses out is in the music department. Everything else is just perfect. This is the only shounen that I have watched which manages to create such a tense atmosphere of battle without any fistfights and superpowers. It made me understand that so much can be done with the shounen genre if the authors have the right inspiration. (This goes for the anime itself and also one of the vital themes of the anime as a whole!)

The animation was spot on. Above par but definitely did not reach dizzying heights. The character sketching involved more “rounded” edges than sharp edges(specially the girls) and that is a welcome change. The artwork of the sceneries are good if not exceptional. Where this anime lacks is the music department. Somehow my favourite music came in an anime opening within the anime. That was a tad weird. That being said, I never felt any real lack of music, so I assume it must have been just good enough and a bit above par. The story is what Bakuman excels in. The tension created throughout season 2 and 3 ending at a beautifully orchestrated climax was a treat to watch. Season 1 was a tad slow and dragged a little. Just a little though and that brought down the ratings a bit. The characters are sketched out well. The various points in the life of a mangaka(which is the central theme here) are beautifully potrayed. What I liked was the attention to the side characters and not only the main characters. In a shounen running for 400 ep like Naruto, it is not such a difficult job to flesh out characters, but for a 75 ep anime, to flesh out 15 odd characters is no mean feat. And about enjoyment, this is the first 60+ episode anime I have marathoned since FMA:B(which incidentally is my favourite), so you can call this anime “unputdownable”

Verdict:- Absolute masterclass! The way it mixes shounen, slice of life and romance is brilliant. Some anime creates characters and stories which are worth remembering. This is one of them. A must watch!

STEINS GATE

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime:- Steins; Gate

No. of Episodes-24+1OVA+1 movie(Movie is not included in this review)

Genre:- Sci-fi/thriller/Romance/implicit harem

Rating:- Animation-9, Music-9.5, Story-10, Characters-10, Enjoyment-10(48.5/50)

It is the best time-travel anime out there. Period. It is arguably the finest work of science fiction in animation. It is my third favourite anime among all genres. It is a masterpiece. (However, even this anime pales n comparison to the VN of Steins; Gate, which is widely hailed as one of the greatest ever.)

The weakest point of this anime was animation, or was it? It had like a 1/100th the budget of the current Fate/Stay Night and still the animation produced was absolutely par. It was different from the usual colourful world of anime, instead of using colour this anime modulated brightness of light and created a surreal effect. This was one of the problems for me when I started the anime. I could not bear with the animation and put it on hold after 1 episode. I took it up this summer due to coaxing by various friends, and I felt like kicking myself for leaving this for an anime like Shakugan no Shana. The opening song, the ending song, the in-anime OSTs, the ending song of episode 23 are out of the world! It's music probably just falls short of the best out there like Guilty Crown, Fate/Zero etc, but still its an absolute treat for the ears. The moods are brought out beautifully by the music. Now coming to the story. Until I watched this anime, I believed science fiction was all brain no heart. Little did I know that this anime would take me on a “feel”-trip like no other. The time-travel technique is flawed obviously, but in reality we do not know how to time travel. If they gave a realistic picture they would have probably won all the prizes of the world. However barring the technique, the logic behind the time travel is unbelievably compact. This is coming from a theoretical physicist. I do not know whether they hired a scientist for the story, but concept of black holes and world lines intermingling with the story left me awe-stuck at the creativity. The characters of Steins; Gate are probably one of the best developed characters you will see in an anime. That is until you play the VN, after which you will think the anime never developed them properly. However as a standalone anime, this anime towers above the rest of its genre in character design and interactions. The detailing and backstories are so intense that it might make you teary-eyed. The ending resolution for me was perfect, however some people think the anime should have ended by ep 23. But I will leave it to you to decide. Enjoyment? Is that even a question? This anime has one of the greatest re-watch values if you can handle the “feels”.

Verdict:- The praise I have given should be enough to make you understand this is one of the best anime ever. And it seems that a large section of anime-lovers agRee with me. Check the forums, Steins; Gate will almost always be in top 10 if not top 5 of all time.

HAMATORA

(REVIEW BY ROOPAYAN GHOSH)

Anime:-  Hamatora, the animation and Re: Hamatora

No of episodes:-13+13

Genre:- Action/Comedy/Mystery/Shounen/Superpower

Rating:- Animation-9, Music-8.5, Story-8.5, Characters- 8, Enjoyment-10 (44/50)

This is a decent action anime, no doubt about it. But does it transcend the cliches and go on to become a great anime? May be not. But thats my opinion. Read on to know more.

The animation of Hamatora is very good in both the seasons. The screen freezes of the second season was to add a new dimension to the art. It greatly enhanced the appeal of the show. The fight scenes were well choreographed and pretty smooth. However as more and more anime are bringing in smooth animation, even a bit of flaw has to be penalized.(For. eg. These have to compete with the likes of Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works 2014, Shigatsu kimi wa uso in terms of animation. I can’t give this 10 then I have to give those an 11). The music is also just above par for action anime. It has just about the right music for the right scene. However none of the OSTs really have stuck with me after this long, the opening of second season has though, so I rate it a bit above my par score. The story was interesting, it was mysterious. The ending of season 1 was a total cliffhanger. I remember asking people will there be a second season, when they told me, it was already ongoing(I watched this around July) and I started to follow it. But does it live up to its own expectations. Probably not, the resolution was good, no doubt, maybe I was expecting too much hence wasnt satisfied. But the fact that I was expecting too much and wasnt satisfied denotes that this show was better in parts. Same goes for the characterization. They were a brilliant assortment of characters, like a brilliantly assorted ice-cream, but what can happen is then the some individual flavours lose out. This is what happened here. However all said and done it was a very enjoyable ride. The penultimate episode was almost like a rip off from the last episode Code Geass, I am glad they resolved the stuff differently than CG. Otherwise this would have been “just another action anime”.

Verdict:- A very good action anime which merits a watch for the action lovers. However you might/will find plotholes, but if you can overlook them you are in for a hell of a ride

PANDORA HEARTS

Well this is Roopayan Ghosh, an otaku like me who is going to write occasional anime reviews on my blog. Besides being an ardent anime fan, trust me on this one- he is a true genius. He is currently pursuing his masters from IIT Bombay in physics and he is really an awesome guy

Anime:- Pandora Hearts

Genre:- Action/Fantasy/Shounen(hints of romance)

No. of Episodes:-25

Rating:- Animation-9, Music-10, Story-9, Characters-8.5,Enjoyment-9(45.5/50)

I had 3 false starts with this anime. It was the fourth one that got me hooked completely. It is a pretty standard anime, but it punches above its weight due to the artwork and Yuki Kaijura!

The animation is pretty good. Some of it are a bit disturbing(Not as much as Madoka Magica though), but the mood of the story is excellently portrayed. The music, oh the music!. Its the best I have heard after GC and Angel Beats! This is probably the best of Yuki Kaijura I have heard. Fate/Zero was brilliant but, it had a good story so the music wasnot that much an integral part. But here it is almost as if the music carries the entire story.(Actually, literally it does but thats a different issue). The story is by no means bad though. It is highly intriguing and edge of the seat material. However, somehow I felt there was room for improvement. The characters are well sketched but somehow since they felt incompletely developed. They left an open ending, so I guess there is a manga where later there is more development. And after getting through to the 4 th episode I marathoned it in one go!

Verdict:- A great anime which can be watched for the opening song and background score itself.(Even while marathoning I never skipped the OP, it was that good,at the levels of FMAB Op 1 ) The story though incomplete has a satisfactory ending and its guaranteed to keep you hooked. This one should not be missed!