Zíza

It's not a bad story, it's interesting, but so terribly rushed, superficial, it just implies it. It doesn't go into depth like Japanese shows can sometimes. Then again, what can you expect from an eight episode format of approx. 25 minutes. But it's a shame. It works in the end as a good advertisement for a subject that is just getting off the ground. So it's no surprise that the series doesn't have much to offer either. Fortunately, Morikawa Aoi is a cute girl, nice to watch, and not too bad at acting either. Shirato Yu, on the other hand, has never grown on me, and this series is no exception. As a raspberry it's great, you'll devour it, it doesn't come across as completely stupid, you'll have fun, it has some hilarious scenes. The clichés are used rather gently, except for the one with the writer's trauma, but that is superficially and incompletely chased away until it is replaced by a bit of emptiness. You won't fall in love with the series, but you won't hate it either, so if you want a classic Japanese relationship drama that doesn't drag, definitely reach for this. A better 2 stars.

A beautifully animated probe into the lives of broken children. You make mistakes as a kid that can easily drag with you for years. It tortures you. And suddenly maybe there's a chance to deal with it – but do you have the right to? I really applaud that, because some people might wave a hand at bullying, it's just kid stuff, but this film shows in a very select and beautiful way that even that kind of "stupidity" can affect a lot of people for a long time. It subtly portrays how the fragile shell of a child can break at a moment's notice and how difficult it is to glue it back together, and that the broken cannot handle it on their own. In addition, it shows the contagiousness of brokenness. To put it more clearly – the psychology of the bullied, the bullies, and the bystanders is wonderfully portrayed. Not to mention that it was wrapped up in pleasing colors, subtle vibrancy, and fitting music. It fit my mood terribly well. I'm a little sad about the ending; it may have been too idyllic and far-fetched (almost faintly Murakami-esque) for me, but I'd still love to watch it again sometime. The next time I want something with human guilt. A strong 4 stars.

I'll probably have it half-watched forever. I like both actors, but somehow I couldn't fall for the charm of their characters, their surroundings, their work. I actually flick through an episode every now and then when I'm in the mood, but I absolutely don't enjoy it. At this point I'd give it a 2 stars, but until I watch it properly – and it's probably going to take a lot of prodding and a romantic mood – I'm not going to rate it. For me, it's a bland, boring story about a pretentious actress and a stodgy lawyer who find their way to each other. I understand that for fans of Goblin and their pairing, there is a certain satisfaction. Well, in the end, I wasn't impressed and I'm just sticking with 2 stars.

I didn't quite feel the need to compare it to the series, as I didn't remember it in detail. Although if I'd gone into the film with only a vague memory of the series, I'd have been pretty lost because it was confusing, weird, and generally quite misleading. But I watched the movie after reading all the available chapters of the prequel, and I was hooked. I was quite pleasantly surprised that the scenes were pretty faithful to the prequel, unlike the series. BUT, they come off a little differently, I've pieced them together in such a way that the most we can think of the main character anyway is that he's a pretty big manipulator and closet rapist. If I had just seen it that way, I'd rate the movie a little worse. As it is, it was a pretty interesting revival of a beloved character. A confusing, dark film where you won't be very clear on the motivations of the characters, let alone the story. The only thing I compared to the series was the chemistry between the leads. Here, it wasn't very good, just ordinary enough to roughly match what they're supposed to play. In the series, it was a different story, the two were a good match acting-wise and I felt like the actress in the series was able to get more out of Hae-jin Park. So I guess – if you don't know the show or the series, you'll be as lost as a forest bee and probably won't enjoy it much. If you know it, you probably won't be too excited either way, but if you like the prequel... why not, it'll make the wait for the next chapters shorter.

In the context of high school romantic comedies where one is sort of likable and the other is relationally or socially inept, this is rather below average. But it's a fact that Tsutsun was funny at times, not a typical outlier because he didn't get tossed around so easily. Still, it pretty much stuck to the same well-worn grooves, it didn't really bring anything new to the table, and because it didn't strike me as interesting, I didn't even enjoy the clichés. To add to that, I wasn't happy with the quality of the animation and dubbing, either, so for me an anime that I could skip with a clear conscience. Maybe it's enough to watch the live-action movie and save some time and maybe have more fun.

The suspense and action are interspersed with funny or touching moments at such a great pace that your heart just has to pound, you have to root for them and you have to live it. I guess it can't be helped, but the second season of Haikyu!! was for me the best sports anime in the last eight years...? I really enjoyed it. Aside from avoiding the cliché of nonsensical leveling up beyond human strength, but keeping the development of the characters and their volleyball skills believable within human strength, I was so excited that the team here doesn't rely on one character, that it doesn't wait for some intervention from above, but all the points and wins are earned because the characters worked hard, wanted to get better, helped each other do so, and worked well together. It wasn't based on one character, it was based on everything and I'm glad no one was completely overlooked. Add to the great sports action some funny moments, great chemistry between the characters, and a soundtrack that fit it like a butt on a pot, and you have the second series of Haikyu!!. If you enjoy sports anime, definitely don't skip this one. If you like enthusiastic guys who put their whole soul into an activity, don't skip it. If you want to have a good time, don't skip it. The time spent on this anime is definitely worth it.

After all the praise I've read about Kuroko's Basketball, I was thinking how awesome this is going to be. But it wasn't. Kuroko was a pretty interesting character at first, and his partnership with Kagami was quite entertaining at first; it's just that even when Kagami was shining and Kuroko was a shadow, it just didn't sparkle much. It felt like a game where you progress from easier enemies to harder ones, leveling up and developing new techniques to defeat the enemy. I didn't feel any enjoyment from the game at all, although some of the characters claimed to enjoy basketball. I found it utterly moronic how former teammates kept appearing as time went on, I found this style terribly annoying. Add to that the constant chatter during the game, and I didn't really enjoy a single full game. Admittedly, some parts of the gameplay were fine, full of effects and emotion, but it got overdone early on. Unfortunately, Kuroko is not my cup of coffee. In the end, I wasn't even entertained anymore, I didn't care who wins; and that's kind of a bummer in a sports anime. A weak 3 stars. P.S.: It'll also be because I missed the joy of the game I felt with the Haikyu!! I saw before.

It's got exactly what you want a sports anime to have – suspense, sweat, blood, tears, a drive to constantly outdo each other, and a great team. It doesn't stand out in any genre, unless you count the fact that the boys play volleyball and pretty soon they form a nice team. Watching it, you think it's a shame he's not in high school anymore, because he would have wanted so badly to play sports like this, to give it his all and form strong bonds with his teammates. It's a well-paced series and it's not just the volleyball that drives the series, but the characters that complement each other perfectly. At the same time, they're also fun to be around and you get a kick out of the entire team. On the other hand, I wasn't that impressed with the matches. Sure, it was thrilling at times and I was curious to see what else they would come up with, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat and even though I wanted them to win, again, I wasn't totally into it. The matches couldn't completely absorb me. Still, definitely a very watchable sports anime that doesn't leave an aftertaste.

An almost too adult-minded main character, but that didn't detract from it at all, quite the contrary. Because this normal guy is followed by a normal girl, so it all comes across as very normal. Even all the problems are very real, they just have very unrealistic manifestations. To put it better: it's a very good anime with an episodic story and intelligent characters who act, really, truly, like people. I enjoyed the main character immensely and he was one of the most human characters in anime in the past few years. He was also humanized by the fact that he got along great with all the ladies and acted straight. I resisted watching it a bit because the poster features a lady in a bunny outfit, but (perhaps disappointingly for some) that's not what it's about, in fact it's not even a harem movie, even though there are so many ladies. It's just a terribly good story from the magical Kamakura. Funny, sweet, honest. It's impossible not to root for all the characters.

A decent send off to characters who started out together a decade ago. They were relatively inexperienced actors back then, so they were well suited to the roles of rookie doctors. In the third season they started to pass the scepter to a new generation, and it's awfully nice that the creators went down that route rather than keeping the five in the same stage and going nowhere. They've all grown up and started passing on their knowledge. I feel like the movie is the cherry on top of the series, to make it very clear where their lives and aspirations are going to go. On the other hand, I don't think this is quite enough for a feature film. Sure, we have poignant scenes and human drama again, but it feels a bit like the film doesn't have a climax. Even the tension that we might have felt in the special after the first season isn't really there. In the end, this isn't a film primarily about the doctors and their work, but about people and their lives, which is a difference from previous episodes in the Code Blue world, and I can't say I'm completely satisfied with it. Yes, I'm satisfied knowing what's next for the characters, how they've moved on over the past ten years, but I also watch Code Blue for the suspenseful medical cases and accidents. A decent send-off. Bye bye.