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It's been a while since I wrote a review but I believe this anime deserves one for being so controversial. This is sppoiler free.
Short conclusion if you don't have time to read my review and to answer the question should I watch this anime: you should if you don't give a crap about isekai stuff where you fight monsters. Hence I would recommend it but let me explain.

I watched 5 episodes and was about to drop this shit show but I gave myself one last episode to make up my mind. Episode 6 is a turnabout.
The protagonist was overpowered from the first episode and this ... is no spoiler. Everytime he is in the Otherworld, he destroys anything he encounters with ease. And he got himself a cute pup, which is actually a demon wolf level 300, a Black Fenrir. This is the smartest dog ever that can understand human language, I'm not kidding you. At this point I thought this anime had nothing to offer. The weapons are cringe and the level system makes no sense with monsters being level 300+. Protagonist is level 250 now but could kill them with OP weapons at level 1. This is a boring world where money making is easy and any achievement becomes meaningless. Problem is the real world was just as boring before episode 6. Protagonist is tall, handsome, rich and extremely well liked by everyone.

And that's where episode 6 makes it interesting: the protagonist found out some texts about a sage who had the same life with godlike powers. And then it dawn on him: so you have powers and all, it's all great... but do you have any friends? You see, the most interesting thing about this anime is actually how he deals with his normal life now that he's some kind of virgin Gigachad. From being a loser with a crap job, no friends, not even family support except for grandpa who died too early, do you take revenge on those who hurt you? Do you take advantage of people with your newfound gifts? Or do you just try to fit in when you never could?

I can understand how people think this is garbage but I think the school life makes it worth it. Imagine using magic skills just to grab some toys in an arcade crane machine when you can sign up for the UFC and destroy the current champion. As long as the protagonist doesn't become some kind of arrogant prick dating all the girls he can find, it remains watchable.

Days is among one of the best sports manga that have been published and I'll do my best to explain why. I am not a big football fan but I do know the game and I really enjoy related manga. Area no Kishi and Ao Ashi are also great reads.

This manga finished end of January. I read it mostly in Japanese since English chapters are slow to come. Intermediate level is enough to understand all dialogues.

The story starts without anything spectacular with the protagonist Tsukamoto Tsukushi, weak nice guy, no skills, nothing outstanding. In contrast, deuteragonist Kazama Jin (gotta have something to do with the ... author being a fan of the Iron Fist Tournament I presume) is a genius, good looking and talented at everything he does. The story starts nicely by introducing them and how they got to be great friends at Seiseki (their high school) and how a ghost like Tsukamoto started to change day by day, thanks to his friends and his "addiction" to football.

Now the art is rather good, mostly on the realistic side but sometimes it's not up to par. It seems more cartoonish in the beginning but then gets more detailed and despite the myriads of characters popping up, it is still possible to distinguish them without giving strange hair colour. And this is great in my book.

As for the characters, that's the soul of this manga. We have Tsukamoto the weak guy with a power boost cause it's a shonen manga but his evolution is nothing crazy like his father's genetics allow him to have superpowers on the field. No, the guy is definitely hardworking, faces many hurdles, becomes disenheartened and then gets back up again cause that's how you move forward. Going the distance. Kazama on the other hand is a genius and have less issues on the skills side. But nobody's perfect. Like family. Then we have Mizuki, the good looking Seiseki football team captain. The guy is an idiot, can't speak for himself and only started playing football in high school as a sub. Turns out he's a beast, genetically gifted, a powerhouse on the field and already recruited by Kashima Antlers to join them after graduation. But that's not all, there are many beasts in Seiseki: Usui a center back genius who's the vice captain, Kimishita a midfielder with supreme accuracy for freekicks or even Inohara the fearless goalkeeper. But that's only for Seiseki. Then you have other schools, Saku high which is kind of a nemesis to Seiseki, Ryouzan, Seikan... and they all have at least one beast in their team, national level pro football beast. Can't have it too easy for Seiseki.

So why such enjoyment? Because it's not over the top as a football manga. Mizuki isn't crazy strong as to score by himself against any team. There's strategy in the story, and it's strategy developed by a girl, the manager Ubukata Chikako. She wanted to be a novelist and got criticised for her work, fell down and got right back up thanks to Tsukamoto's perseverance on the field. She's got real acumen for football and spends hours watching rival games to develop something for her team, unlike the real coach who's a bit useless on this front. So you have a fairly realistic story, a bit of drama but not too much, great characters and if you like football you will surely enjoy it. Another thing on Tsukamoto: the guy has no talent for shooting but somehow becomes a forward with his friend Kazama. Now that's interesting to me.

Thanks for reading.

P5A, is it worth the watch? Short answer: definitely. I will explain why in more details and give a bit of background as well for better justification and reasoning.

First of all, I will only write about the 26 episodes knowing there's a sequel. Also, I did not play the game, hence I'm no fanboy nor hater. But I did my share of reading and played other Atlus related games. Game elements will be used for explanations, not for comparison. You're in for a long read so bear with me if you can.

To begin with, I first had an interest in the Persona series from P3, ... but I didn't play the game, only watched the 4 movies. Then came P4A, which I skipped. In 2018, I watched P5A out of curiosity but honestly, I couldn't make much sense of everything, especially with the abrupt ending and even after watching the 2 specials for the ending. Then in 2020, I played P4 Golden. In 2021, I finished P5 Strikers. After that, I binge watched P5A 26+2 episodes to write this review. Everything makes sense now and is still fresh in my memory.

The story starts with a blast and a very stylish scene in a casino with a thief evading the police. Then he gets caught and there's a bad cop interrogation which will be the the main frame of the anime, where everything told by the arrested protagonist is actually the story. It's quite the neat setting but there's the issue of an "unreliable narrator" and it's difficult to judge from the start. Apart from that, the story is well played as you encounter more and more characters. This still requires some explanations even though the character Morgana explains everything well. In Persona 5, the heroes find the Palace of a Monarch by saying some keywords to a smartphone app at the correct location in the real world. The Monarch, is the "shadow" of an evildoer, usually a scumbag in society. In the Palace, you need to find the Treasure Room and then materialise the Treasure by sending a calling card to the scumbag in the real world. That person becomes particularly aware of their shadow with their wrongdoings listed on the calling card and the Treasure takes form. Then you go back into the Palace, find the Treasure Room with the Monarch defending his/her Treasure, battle, win and steal the Treasure. Rinse and repeat for all the scumbags encountered. This gives a whole meaning to "Phantom Thieves of the Heart", the group name for the heroes.

Chara development was on point in my opinion, the anime didn't spend too much time on the myriads of characters that are more or less important and this is good in my book knowing the 26+2 episodes format. In Persona, Tarot plays a huge part but it's quite oblivious in this anime and that's a drawback for me. Amamiya Ren (sweet name BTW), is the Fool Arcana as the protagonists in Persona 3 & 4. This Arcana is class 0 in Tarot card, the wild card, then you have "Chariot", "Lovers", "Emperor", "Magician"... If you watched Jojo Stardust Crusaders, you're familiar with them. In Persona, all the major Arcana are associated with a character which explains why you have so many minor characters like the classmate, the homeroom teacher, the fortune teller, the goth doctor and so on. Each time the protagonist interacts with them, he grows internally, which is part of his "rehabilitation" to live in society. Gotta say that I understood this only after playing the games though...

Some game elements that I didn't know at first as well, basically attack elements: Fire (Ann), Ice (Yusuke), Electricity (Ryuji), Wind (Morgana), Nuke (Makoto), Psi (Haru), Bless (???) and Curse (Ren with his first Persona). All-out attacks: when they all gang up on the enemies while the screen turns red and finish with a swag pose. This happened many times in the anime and I couldn't understand why until I played P4 but it's thanks to P5 Strikers that I know where all the stylish posing and catchphrases come from. Also the different Persona that Ren acquires, you know them if you play the game. As the Fool Arcana, Ren has more than one Persona and can fuse them to get more powerful ones.

Concerning the art, I am divided... On one hand the chara design is great, greater than the games. I find Haru more attractive in the anime than the game for example, and same goes for all characters. Stylish scenes and dialogue scenes are well drawn... But on the other hand, transition scenes, group scenes, battle scenes are not so great. It's either beautifully animated or sloppy, not much middle ground.

Sound: absolutely outstanding for many reasons. The voice acting is just great, all star cast and same as in-game I suppose. Music: I guess it's mostly from the game which received critical acclaim for that and I can totally understand why. Then you have 6 more songs by Meguro Shoji & Lyn: "Break in to break out", "Infinity", "Found a light", "Dark sun", "Autonomy" and lastly "It's too late". Music and insert songs for the battle scenes are just so well fitted, you feel so energised and ready for a fight.

So did I enjoy watching P5A? Not at first, truth be told. As someone who never played the game, many elements in the anime just slipped away from me. For example the many random characters interacting with Ren, I had no idea for what purpose and their respective Arcana was not even explicitly unveiled in the anime. I understood the battle mechanics but not the many gimmicks from the game like all-out attacks or even "baton pass". Attack elements were also absent which is not a problem but then you understand from the game why a fire Persona blasting a shadow is uneffective: because of element immunity... But there's no point to dwell on this and it wasn't that much of an obstacle for enjoyment. The ending was also abrupt and mindblowing for a first watch. The sequels did help though.

After listing most of the negative aspects I could think of, I still think P5A does a great job as an anime. Forget the game. Yes it's an adaptation, yes the content is not up to par with the game but that's beside the point. Persona games are rich with so much content, you can't cram a hundred plus hours of playing in an anime. So judging this as a standalone anime, I think P5A was well crafted and pacing was correct for the format, which means it was a bit fast. And it does a wonderful job to promote P5 the game or the Persona series. It's stylish, characters are great even though Ren is a bit faded (but I read that this was intentional) and the music is just too addictive. So yes, P5A is worth the watch. It's a success as promotional material for Atlus.

I hope this review helps you understand the anime or even get interested in the game. Personally I liked P5 Strikers and it made me want to rewatch this anime. And if it wasn't for P5A, I am not sure I would have played P4 Golden to get more involved in the Persona series to begin with.

(EDIT April 24th, 2019: Now that Route End is completed, I want to say that I am not changing anything to this review from May 3rd, 2018. Even with the ending and what I speculated about a rushed up story, I still think I am partially right.)

I wanted to give more exposure to this great manga, so here is the first review on MAL.

What makes it a great manga? First of all the art. The author seems to be relatively unknown (at least to me) but there is no doubt that he is quite talented. The characters look different from one another and it helps ... memorize their name. The thing is, this is a realistic setting so there is no character looking weird. Then why not a perfect mark? Because as outstanding as it can be, the faces are mostly the same which is why the author needs to add some details specific to each character: a mole, blonde hair, goatee, buzzcut, wrinkles, bangs... You could easily give a nickname to each character based on physical appearance. And some drawings look rough, it could be from aesthetic sense but still, it is uneven.

As a thriller story, the suspense is crucial therefore the more you read the more it should draw you in. I believe it is quite successful on that part. In fact, I cannot wait to read the next chapter as the story starts with a serial killer but then brings the drama of characters and even side characters. Flashbacks, drama, and tragedies cemented together by a horror that comes and goes. You would think this is about a serial killer and cops trying to catch the bad guy but it's not. The psyche of each character is much more interesting than an unknown killer with sporadic appearances. The keywords here are "barely fleshed out characters" and "a killer you don't care about".

So the story, art, and character development are all great. What makes it so enjoyable? Well, it's the fact that you've never read anything like ROUTE END before. I am fairly sure it is the first of its kind in terms of drama, psychology, and setting. Where do you find a manga where the protagonist is a cleaning specialist of the deceased? Apart from that, ROUTE END brings a type of storytelling in mangas that is similar to movies and this is very well done through beautiful transitions.

ROUTE END is imperfect but it gets better. I have only read 19 chapters before writing this review but so far so good and it fully deserves a 9, close to 10 with little room for perfection. Yet I worry about the quality of the story because right now it's very high standard which might not suit a bigger audience. Then there's the risk it gets canceled because it's a niche. While I can understand how publishers think, it's still annoying to complete a manga with a rushed up and unfinished story.

Edit: finished reading all chapters, the grade is fully deserved.

After reading 86 chapters, I believe it is time to write a review for ReLIFE. I gave 9 but subjectively I would without a second thought give this manga a 10. It is one of the most enjoyable I have ever read so far.

For those in high school or about to get there, it gives a preview of what happens after that. While the story is obviously culturally based in Japan, it does not change the fact that it is a very realistic approach on employment and social issues. Food for thoughts means good reading material ... value to me. It is very light hearted but sometimes a more serious tone is introduced which is really good for a change of pace. We are far from a RomCom in high school with a stupid protagonist who's popular will lots of beautiful girls and wants to get the girl.

The art is really outstanding and Yayoi Sou really has a talent for facial expressions, being also skilled at drawing chibi versions of her characters. The colouring is amazing and stands out a lot. Also each character has a defining colour which helps a lot during conversations to know who is talking.

It is very easy to relate to the characters and the protagonist Kaizaki Arata is really the strongest point. In a country like Japan where most people have to follow norms and be conformed, I find interesting how the protagonist has been sidelined by the society he lives in for being slightly different. I am sure everybody has been confronted to a situation where we had to decide whether to blend in or stand out, wanting to be the best and failing... the kind of hardships we face all the time not just in school or at work. For those who forgot about these experiences, ReLIFE is there for you. What Kaizaki Arata goes through for being a high schooler again can make you question yourself. If you don't, everything is going your way or you do not care that much about what will happen to you. Either way ReLIFE would still be an enjoyable read for the interactions between stupid, dense, smart, violent, cute, awkward... all completely different characters.

This review is mostly to show support for the talented Yayoi Sou. ReLIFE is really getting popular in Japan and the fourth tankobon is about to go on sale soon. It made me want to know more about the author's work and I discovered Yowamushi Resound because of it, but it is still relatively unknown outside Japan. I hope people are willing to give this manga a chance as I personally believe it is one of the best out there.

This review is about both seasons of Code Geass rather than just R2. There are spoilers so "SPOILERS ALERT". They are necessary to justify some stuff here. It's a long review but please read it till the end if you have the time. Anyway I expect from people who read this review that they watched all the episodes. If you still haven't seen them all, just beat yourself up and go do it now.

First of all, I liked watching Code Geass and the first season is really good at least until the middle of it. It had what it takes to appeal to a large ... audience. It's the kind of series really hard to make because you're trying to please all the fans and sometimes things get fucked up. But not in Code Geass. You have fast-paced mecha battles, slight humor to liven up the show, "complex" strategic battle, a large cast for guys and gals to pick a favorite and so on. Code Geass was one of the best anime of its year if not the best.

But then towards the end, someone realized that this anime had a very good cash machine potential ( I really don't know if that's what happened ) and tried to increase it. Way to go to fuck things up. So the first half of the season was really good but then you get developments and plot twists that make no sense. For example the Euphinator scene. Why would Lelouch joke about ordering his sister to kill "Elevens"? It felt so "not at all" natural. It's the same as joking about ordering her to suck his dadidudongo. You don't do that, not to your sister or anybody. Anyway let's just look past it since that scene got what it wanted, that is a HUGE twist of events.

As a whole, R1 had a lot of good stuff going on and became the kind of anime you expect a sequel. And so R2 came. I remember being so hyped about it that I watched most episodes twice. But that makes your mind go "What the fuck just happened" after the second viewing.

The first thing to mention that everyone must have observed is "PLOT HOLES". A classic example would be the Geass, the Lelouch Geass.
In the first season, you see Lelouch ordering a girl to draw crosses on a wall everyday to test the duration of his power. Okay... that's a good idea.
In R2 Lelouch lost his Geass and those who were geassed just weren't anymore as the cross drawing girl stopped doing her stuff ( There is the possibility she is fucking dead but who knows).
Again okay... that makes sense.
Then you have Suzaku detonate a Freya Bomb because of a R1 past Geass...
--> What the fuck just happened?
What about the chess games between Schneizel and Lelouch?
It was so retarded I didn't know how to react.
Plot holes are flaws but if you don't pay too much attention, it's not that bothering.
Let's just move on.

The art is really good, a least for female viewers ( I'm not saying guys must hate it ). You can't go wrong with Clamp-style but seriously, sometimes you do...
I'm talking about the facial expressions. That's right, Lelouch may be a bishounen but I really think he should keep the Zero Mask on to prevent showing his shocked face. Another one would be the "Nina learned about Euphie's death's face". It must be the ugliest face I have ever seen in an anime, worse than any monster in a Tim Burton movie. And what about big round anime eyes becoming dot eyes? Too goddamn weird. Just look at Lelouch's contact lens and the size of his eye. Don't you think there is something wrong here?

Concerning the music, openings and endings are awesome. Really good choices, nothing to say here except they rocks.
The downside would be the themes. Why the hell do we always hear trumpets in Code Geass?

Characters are the biggest flaw in R2. Not only do they get shittier, they don't make sense. And here comes Kaname Ougi, the shittiest, most useless character in Code Geass history, worse than a Knight of Rounds yet with more screentime to fuck things up. How come this guy gets to be Prime Minister? In R1 he was so useless that his crew decided to take orders from a stranger.
In R2 he doesn't get any better and infects his crew with stupidity. He fell in love with Viletta who he took advantage of because she got amnesiac ( what a creepo... ), he wanted to leave the Black Knights because he realized he was a useless piece of shit, but when Lelouch was discovered as a former Britannian prince, he and his comrades went all batshit over his ass. It's like: "-Damned that former Britannian prince who saved our sorry asses multiple times, we can't let him live after he helped us get back our territory. -Yeah, we can't forgive him for what he's done, that is defending us from the Britannian Empire. If it weren't for him we would still be getting our asses kicked in our own country. -Totally, guys you are so right let's just trust this NOT former Britannian prince Schneizel who tried to kill us multiple times, if you think about it, it makes more sense since he wants to beat us into submission"...
Moreover, the pacing in R2 messed up so many things like character screentime for the Knights of Rounds or even Marianne. The remaining Knights'fight against Suzaku could be described by 3 screenshots: Suzaku&Lancelot, sword slashes, Suzaku&Lancelot...
I'm not gonna talk about Marianne, she's just too useless for the plot.

In conclusion, Code Geass is great but R2 is such a bad sequel I can't even give it a 5 because after viewing all those episodes I had a bitter aftertaste. It has a lot of qualities but fucked up too much on a lot of points to redeem itself. I gave it a 4 because it could be so much better with a planned R3. If you try to make it a cash machine at least try to make a good one.
Finally I'm not trying to underrate the show, I couldn't care less about its score.
I also don't give a shit about how many "helpful" "not helpful" I get on this review but I'd like to read about some opinions so give feedback if you want. By the way, trolls are welcome.

In this review of the last movie, I will leave out the art and sound parts because they are similar to the first and second one so instead of repeating myself, I will focus on the story and the characters.

As a conclusion to the film series, it did great. First mention would be the battle scenes. I stated in the second movie that Gundam should be more battle oriented (like developing the war aspect of the story). And that's what I got. Politics were kept to a minimum in this one and it was rather well done except the Hitler kudos (yeah Gihren Zabi, ... I'm talking about you). How come he is successful with his superior race speech? It's like a bad attempt at creating the ultimate villain but failing because he had no personnality.

Another thing that caught my attention was the "Newtype stuff". It seems to me like an equivalent of the Force in Star Wars (Gundam and Star Wars really got something in common). Newtypes are like Force users, some have a stronger affinity with the Newtype Force and start developing abilities (Like Amuro the chosen one). I didn't mind at first because it tied well with "Humans adapt to their environment". However, the possibility of a "Newtype afterlife"... it was weird (no spoilers here).

It should be taken into account that a compilation movie has to cut out minor plots like the relationship between supporting characters. I liked how Sayla Mass and Char displayed more background story but what bothered me was the relationship between supporting characters like Lieutenant Bright and Ensign Mirai or Frau Bow and Hayato (not spoilers). They made a weak drama impact and it was hard to understand because of its underdevelopment and the short time allowed.

I also have something to say about the nudity in this film series. Really, what's the point? I know it's no more than two minutes but still, it felt out of place. What about giving more character depths instead? Though that's just a personal thought.

All in all, the third movie was really good. The story itself had a good conclusion, not some "to be continued bullshit". I didn't feel the necessity of watching the entire Anime to get a better understanding but it's true that some characters still need more scenes. I'm just nitpicking in this review because there wasn't any major flaw worth noticing.

Story: The story got a lot better from the first film. It was easier to understand what was going on. Moreover it had better drama. That was better because it didn't seem too forceful compared to the first movie.

Art: The animation was still as good. However I found it odd that some characters especially the female ones looked practically the same except for hairstyles (Hamon and Matilda). Not really a flaw but worth noticing.

Sound: Nothing much to say here, the sound effects and the battle themes were well done. I think the voice acting was great too except for the kids. In my opinion it ... didn't match them.

Character: Well, supporting characters got development, that's a plus. As a whole it was good but still there was too many mysteries going on (Sayla Mass didn't make sense to me even though I liked her character). The real drawback here is the kids playing as comic relief. Not that I hate children but they were unnecessary (as comic relief) in a war setting. It was better when they actually try to help instead of fooling around.

Enjoyment: It was fairly entertaining to me. More battles means less politics means less confusing or less boring. Nothing wrong with politics but it shouldn't be the main plot(I mean it should stay more battle-oriented). Otherwise watching Star Wars The Phantom Menace would be more appropriate.

Story: At first it seemed pretty messed up. I couldn't distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys but then innocents got killed so yeah. The story started slowly with a little display of conflicts, nothing wrong here. The problem is that it kept dragging on till the first hour and a half. I got sleepy there and had to take a break. However the "second part" got a lot better because the actions made more sense and some characters got development.
A mix of good and bad so 5.

Art: The art part was good for such an old movie, the chara design was great, ... no look-alike. That's a plus for me. However some scenes were weirdly drawn like one where Amuro puts a sad face but the way I see it, it looked like he was high on mushrooms with eyes gone white and staring at the wall like a broken robot. Not much to be considered a flaw but had to be noticed.
Good old stuff: 8.

Sound: The film had good music and the ending was great too. The main theme is a plus (the dvd menu theme). I give it a 8.

Character: Some guy need some development (Char: good introduction as the Akai Suisei but then fall into oblivion). Maybe I'm asking too much with just the first movie but then I'll see how it goes. The same goes for Sayla Mass. She seems like a strong female lead character but the only thing I know about her is that she hates cowardice. The main character Amuro is getting more interesting as he has some inner conflicts with war stuff but there's a chance he just turns out to be an ace pilot who's good at saying "Yes Sir!". A 6 for now might get better for the second movie.

Enjoyment: I couldn't watch this movie as a whole so no plus here. A 4 because it wasn't shitty yet nothing amazing.

Mod Edit: This review may contain spoilers.

Story: Secret love, unrequited love, love triangle... So yeah... The funny thing is that the ending is given away in the beginning. This can't even be considered spoilers to say that the main characters are going to end up together. Anybody who says otherwise is just too blind to realise this. Let's take the main points of the plot. First of all, one guy, one girl, each in love with each other's best friend. Two, those two try to support each other with their love interest. In order to do that, make them spend a lot of time together. ... Even make them live next to each other. Give them a social outcast aura and the result is: congratulations! you got yourself a very unoriginal couple. Now this is a shame because the idea is quite realistic, only too obvious which gives you no expectations. For all I know, Ryuuji and Taiga could hold hands, cuddle, hug, kiss, have sex, get married and act like there is some distance between. Awkward since there is absolutely none. From the beginning, they were already ridiculously close to each other by living next door but no, not close enough, need to live under the same roof. Even best friends don't do that ( yeah I know, room-mates or particular situation involving money but that wasn't one of them ) so it clearly gives you an idea of their relationship.

Art: This part pisses me off, it is so bad. Taiga is supposed to be cute... it didn't do it for me.She looks like an underdeveloped child with a big head and permanent bed hair. Maybe it's just me but the chara design really need some work. However Ryuuji's face gets +1. Now if I just say this without evidence to back up my argument, it's just trolling. If possible, watch the fight scene between Taiga and Sumire. To avoid spoilers, well, watch it on mute and no subs... The animation is really sloppy here, whether it's the lighting, the background characters with the same face or simply character motions. The art is good only when everything is still. Sloppy sloppy sloppy.


Sound: Too bad I didn't pay much attention, but the openings and endings were nothing spectacular or catchy. When it comes to sound, I would say that music is more important than the voice acting since most of the time, the acting is flawless, it just comes to whether or not the seiyuu's voice is appropriate to the character. In Toradora, it's the usual. The usual being flawless performance. Now for the music, the comparison might be unfair but Toradora is nothing compared to say, Clannad. I chose Clannad because no matter the scene, sad, happy or epic, it's easy to remember the themes while Toradora produces music that you hear in elevators or supermarkets. Only one stands out: Lost my Pieces. But it's just one... Not enough.

Character: Ami saves the show a little with Minori not far behind but Taiga... Damn she pisses me off! Ryuuji is not bad but too weak to be important.
Ami and Minori had good scenes, good chara development. I didn't give a shit about Kitamura because he is a creepy smiling guy. Ryuuji had some changes but nothing significant. Taiga on the other hand, just got more and more annoying. She's not even a tsundere, the dere part is inexistant and replaced by retard state, otherwise she's just a plain spoiled bitch who needs to be left alone. That does it, she gets a -2 for being so unlikeable. Past the physical appearance which I don't even like one bit, she has nothing left except her execrable personnality. Now one way to sum up this show is that the side characters are more interesting than the main characters. When I say main, I mean Ryuuji and Taiga. Kitamura, Minori and Ami are side characters to me. While watching the show, I realised that I had no interest in whatever happens to Ryuuji and Taiga cause they already act like a couple. The side characters however make you want to know more about them. Creepy smiling dude Kitamura has a good reason for being like this while double face Ami and oddball Minori are kinda left out towards the end after much chara development. Bad idea. My main concern is how people perceive Taiga. She does things that makes you want to slap her really f*cking hard and shout what the f*ck is wrong with you? yet she is still described as being cute, lovely etc... That girl seriously has anger issues and they can't be justified by people calling you palmtop tiger, that's retarded. She's so rude it's not even funny. Now this might be spoilers but it sums up pretty much why I think her personality is the worst. In one scene, she learns about her unrequited love confessing to a certain girl who for specific reasons refuses to give a proper answer. This is because she's going away soon so she can't say yes yet doesn't want to lie to herself by saying no. What should Taiga do in this case? Well, nothing. For the simple reason that it doesn't concern her. Still, she goes out of her way to beat the crap out of that girl while insulting her and forcing her to say she hates the guy. I was thinking "WTF" the whole time. What gives her the right to beat someone up just because that person is a coward when it comes to love? If we had to beat up every person who is a coward because of love, we're doomed. Besides she's also overreacting and goes as far as insulting and hitting people for no reason. With Ryuuji, they represent the epitome of shallow people. Both of them have a crush on someone who's really popular. The reason surely is because they treat them differently from the rest of the class. If that's not being shallow. Take one guy who's a social outcast. Now take a girl who's really popular, kind, funny, pretty and easy to talk to. This one guy would probably fall in love with that girl if she goes to talk to him because he's probably thinking "she's so nice, she talks to me while the other bastards don't even look at me, maybe she cares about me" without realising that maybe she's just nice and talks to everybody. This describes Ryuuji and Taiga perfectly.

Enjoyment: I was really disappointed by Toradora. At first I thought it would have nice development with the introduction of Ami but I guess not. It was dull and slow. Once you feel like there's something going to happen just push the reset button because it has the same feeling. Got some funny scenes though. Unfortunately the show is barely realistic. You don't root for development of the relationship between the characters and their crush because there's no feeling, no background story. Things would've been simpler like this:
Ryuuji: I like Minori.
Taiga: Oh... I see. I like Kitamura.
Ryuuji: !!! What!? Ok. So...
Both: Wanna hang out sometimes?