Jeoffrey

I found this show hugely satisfying because this anime series has a lot of scenes which are really great and powerful on all levels. Whether it be the romantic subplots, the bromance, the melodrama, or the soundtrack, in each of these aspects I always found at least one interesting and entertaining moment that got me. I could certainly make a slight criticism, in that I would have personally preferred a bit more music because jazz is a genre I really like, and less of everything else. However, I guess that if they had done that, I would have missed out on a lot of the romantic moments, and also the totally realistic and interesting human dramas... In other words, for example, stuff like the ending of a plot line like Jun and Yuriko's touched my romantic heart. Plus, I found the very end of the anime series also beautifully satisfying... It is also because I have grown to like almost all the characters in this show, so even when they reached a low point and sometimes acted in a way that might have even made me dislike them, I still managed to root for them... Sure, (in my heart) Nodame Cantabile is still at the top of my list of best musical anime series, even so, this was also excellent. 9.1/10.

This is a nice story about how some things may change, but life still goes on regardless... Concerning the soundtrack and animation, it is quite good, and the narrative side is understated and quite endearing. However, it does not have much depth and is not as interesting as I had expected at times. The dramatic backdrop is rather hinted at (and if you do not know how it relates to a certain tragedy that happened in Japan, half of the message is lost) and it is so ordinary, human, sad - just like life. I personally found it was half an hour well spent, albeit only worth three stars. 6.3/10.

Personally, I think this is the best movie starring Vlasta Burian, and my favorite "movie for reminiscing" and whenever I see it on TV, I always watch it until the end and really enjoy it.

Rimmer alone makes it impossible not to love this series…

As a kid, I loved this TV show, and it made me interested in the human body, and it made me want to become a doctor for a while. I recently watched a few episodes again and found that even as an adult it is still really enjoyable. 10/10.

I am not too keen on complaining about this anime series, which I think is based on a pretty nice idea about "saving the otaku community". It also contains references to a very well-known anime series (Neon Genesis Evangelion) plus even lesser-known anime series (Is the Order a Rabbit?, Rozen Maiden, The Ryuo's Work is Never Done! etc.) in every episode. After all, it gently reminds me of other anime series that I have watched before, and I enjoyed speculating about what would be the next anime series to be referenced when watching each episode. Unfortunately, however, that was about the only thing I enjoyed! There were a lot of cute little girls, although not one of them pulled at my heartstrings. It is not just that I am probably going to forget their names after a few weeks (I may well have already forgotten them in fact), it is rather that I am going to forget these girls altogether. Neither the style of how the various manga/anime series were redeemed by the girls, nor the concept of the antagonists in the form of variously developed "viruses", nor the "main villain" impressed me either. Plus, it was mostly the same old same old, probably like Ash's encounter with the Team Rocket in Pokémon and (here we go yet again...), let us be honest here, it just gets pretty boring over time... I have never forgotten the anime series (that I have previously seen) referenced in this anime series, however, yet "Pastel Memories" will probably fade from my mind over time, and so when I compare this anime series to those that were mentioned in it and realize that the moment I guessed what they had in store for today's episode, my interest to keep watching it waned rapidly, I have to award it only something like 4.3/10.

I love Bungo Stray Dogs anime series and I really enjoyed the first two seasons. Now, I am about to watch the third season, and so when I noticed thanks to one of my favorite reviewers that the movie, which I must have missed last year, was out now, I just did not hesitate to get a hold of it and put it on. However, well, in all honesty, I have to say it was disappointing. For the first hour or so I was kind of bored, even though the anime’s creators introduced me to the plot with a nice flashback scene and quite an interesting narrative involving the backstories of both of the main male protagonists. At times I had trouble following everything as it rushed by at full throttle, and my attention sometimes wandered elsewhere during this time. Was it the movie’s fault? To tell you the truth, I just do not know, perhaps it was my own fault and I had unreasonable expectations... However, I am sure that it was only in the last half hour when everything got going because there were some interesting fight scenes that caught my attention in terms of cool action sequences, the animation had some originality, plus I was glued to the screen and it reminded me of why I love this anime series. It also reminded me of the originality of the productions coming out of the Bones animation studio. However, by that time it was pretty much too late, so in general, I think it is just a little better than average - 6/10.

I was expecting there to be a second season, however, I would not have put money on it to have been released so quickly after the first one. Even so, it would seem they needed to try and satisfy the audience with more exciting scenes full of the supposedly suspenseful atmosphere around gambling and especially the orgasmic climaxes from the main female protagonist and some of the other characters. The show has its own hardcore aficionados, so they had to invent another new storyline to keep them interested, and they also added some new characters to keep things from getting stale. The show’s supposed suspense from compulsive psychotic addiction to gambling is therefore interspersed with some slightly erotic sex scenes, where touches are occasionally exchanged, and you can feel some sexual chemistry going on... There are a lot of seemingly vicious and premeditated games, even though their workarounds are always much too sophisticated. Somewhere behind all of that is the main narrative - and this concerns the competition in general, which is about as interesting as any show with an average "tournament arc". Somehow, I thought the first season really worked, and even though it still manages to hold my attention, the second season wears thin. Plus, since I can say I still did not find it boring, I am going to award the second season the poorest of three stars I know and have - 4.5/10.

Just when it was getting interesting, it was over... On the other hand, considering that the beginning of the second season just did not grab my interest at all and I had to force myself to watch the other episodes at some point... On the whole, I did not find the first few episodes all that interesting, and I was wondering after the first season (that was just a low-rent imitation of Natsume's Book of Friends) when did this show turn into a shoujo anime series. In addition to that, I also wondered why there were so many new bishounen characters all of a sudden, and if the "Enforcer" and "Justice" (some people translated it as "Judge") are somehow important to the plot, and also where the whole plot was heading during the first few episodes. I just could not enjoy the show as the endearing storyline about helping demons and the pleasant feelings you get after performing a good deed or hearing a good short story completely disappeared during the first couple of episodes. So then I felt like I was stuck watching some weird drama forced to figure out things that I simply did not find interesting. About halfway through the season, though, there is a change, and there are some episodes where those initial things I liked so much about the show, like say, the things I thought were good about the aforementioned Natsume (even though the quality is still low-rent) come through again. Then there was a pleasant surprise when the anime’s creators introduced a new storyline about the Ashiya family and I was finally hooked. There may be something that resembles the "mystery surrounding Natsume Reiko" a bit, however, the execution is solid and the character Ashiya Sakae seems quite interesting. I can pretty easily guess where this narrative is heading now even though it does not seem that bad at all, and so even if I am just awarding the same rating as I did in the first season, I am now even a little (but really only a little) looking forward to future episodes. 5.5/10.

Personally speaking, I would rate this show as a slightly above average and enjoyable anime series with really good narratives and interesting characters. I thought the best character was obviously the main female protagonist Boogiepop. I really liked her, especially her monologues, because of the way her character was narrating - the style and also the tone of her voice. In other words, when Boogiepop was speaking, it was very pleasant to listen to and I could fully understand most of what I was listening to. There was a lot of philosophizing and discussion, and I cannot say it bothered me that much, both in terms of the amount of dialogue and the content, in fact, it was quite the opposite. The show was often interesting and the dialogue, like each of the narratives and the way they were interconnected, was quite carefully thought out. The action scenes, although rather sparse, had some momentum. It also had an atmosphere, so that there was suspense at times, which meant I found myself intrigued by what was going to happen next. The suspense while not perhaps extremely intense, although it was enough to stop me from getting bored... 6.9/10.