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This ain't half bad and shows some premise but it ultimately feels like just the opening half to a full series which we'll probably never get (so be prepared for it to be inconclusive or picking up the manga (which has also been on hiatus since 2023 :/)).

If you take this for what it is - a Squid Game Reality TV / game show, it has some decent entertainment value in regards to how people behave with this amount of money involved but I also did go very heavy on the skip +10s button (especially in the first half).
There also have been a lot of first person accounts of the show popping up, including rigging accusations, which I sort off get but the behind the scenes bonus actually highlights that they've put in a lot of effort to accommodate for the insane amount of people on camera. Editing obviously can do a lot too (like the first game in reality supposedly taking more than 7 hours to complete).
Take it or leave it imho.

In hindsight this show masks the Netflix formula quite well and made me feel quite duped for watching all of it with it's non-conclusion... As indicated by the main cast this is more of a young adult type of show but it's OK for what is is in earlier episodes. As the show progresses it starts to loose the balance between the "mysteries" they've setup and the drama and sometimes quite pointless and lame stories the club tells themselves (which brings pretty much all progression to halt).

DDD turned out to be quite a compelling show to watch, too bad that it's focus on ballet greatly reduces it's potential audience.
While only being 11 episodes long and not entirely sticking the landing the Goudai family drama is a bit too psychotic/animeish (season 2 never) it still felt like there was quite some progress in our main character's journey and explores some interesting themes along the way and certainly tackles preconceptions people have about ballet dancers or how that relates to masculinity. In addition to that the show is also refreshingly realistic in it's portrayal of adolescence.
MAPPA did an amazing job at packaging this up in fantastic visuals, animation and score.
Certainly recommended!

I feel like Archive 81 is a show the Netflix content algorithm would spew out. It's seemingly a collage of various interests and styles without really having something holding it together (we got podcasts, a guy alone in the woods inside a modernist house, the mysterious groundkeeper, big corporation coverups, secret research labs, two churches on the same grounds, secret cults, ominous sounds and voices, demons, medieval witchcraft, possessions, religion, alternate dimensions, reality bending and betcha the true crime sells). As to be expected the pace is quite slow thanks to the very gimmicky "found footage" tie in and not made more interesting by dull performances - the show really becomes way too meta in the video watching segments. I'll probably just read the spoilers rather than finishing it...

I was behind on episodes but really I would have been better off dropping it at this point. This features very little of the sport outside of training and narration and can't balance that out with a good team dynamic either. While the initial memory loss of the main character was already a bit gimmicky, they pull it again later on and which brings to light just how psychotic some of the people in this show are.

Sadly this show was quite the disappointment. While it started out generic at best they decided to open up the scale of this and thereby turning this in a boring slog with a bland roster of characters. Can't say I was a big fan of the individual powers either since they all felt very samey (and MC-kun obviously getting the most OP one of the bunch) but what really put the nail in the coffin for me was the visuals/direction. Being a joint production between three mainly assistance focused studios it held up for the first couple of episodes but got quite jarring after the midpoint. 3D and 2D animation get mixed quite noticeable, stylization went missing, models turn very basic and there are constant swirling zoomins and tracking shots to distract from the lack of animation.

Not gonna lie... I didn't want to watch the show merely on the expectation of getting another 90s slasher turned into a mystery series/teenage drama but I still clicked the trailer and then I saw it: :clown: :clown::clown: - yes! A clown emoji convinced me to give this one a go regardless (on which was delivered on multiple times). While it sort of was what I expected with plenty of flaws it was ultimately kinda "watchable". Still wouldn't recommend it however as there are entire episodes were pretty much nothing happens and the ending was very unsatisfying --> it was all quite unearned with more dumb stuff piling ontop of the characters all behaving different from how they were portrayed before.

Can't say I really liked any sketch whole so far... There is also a heavy emphasis on political topics but instead of packing their messaging into the gags their "humor" mostly boils down to sarcastically spelling out their exact stance on it - especially tiresome if that happens multiple times each short episode.

As others have pointed out, this one has to be commended for the presentation as well as some fantastic tunes. When it comes to the story however it doesn't really go very deep as the world building is lacking and Matsumoto is kinda annoying and the secret "hero" here. Still, some of the episodic entries were quite good so I'll give it to them.

Looks like some big brain already rated every upcoming anime a 1 but if anyone still wants to watch a fat cat eat then here is the official international broadcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDYIcTeXtXA

Dropping this as I can't see myself lasting through a 2 cour of this. According to some previews this was supposed to be great but the back-loaded magic academy stuff is uninteresting and the spider segments while having at least some personality are just the same thing every episode.

Shockingly low effort adaptation... The manga panels are serving 1:1 as the screenplay with little animation on screen and lots of poorly drawn models and details. Might as well not have adapted this.

While this is an easy show to watch due to quite fast pacing it sadly also seems to be very tonally misguided. A little gag here and there would be fine but sadly it's quite prevalent in the episodes so things are never as dire as they should be (also not supported by it's colorful presentation). Characterization is also moot with constant flip-flopping emotions or even goals for each of them (also noteable by each of them almost never overcoming their own fights and instead getting duked out by one another all the time). The world building also turned out out be quit lackluster as this whole space is frankly not believable for what they are going for... it's not expansive and plays out quite linear with the core scenario being left ultimately underdeveloped and instead expanded with mask related mumbo jumbo magic.
Technically this is also nothing to write home about with stiff animation, often boring indoor BGA and stock battle themes... at least they kept the gore.
I'm certainly watching the rest of the episodes when they release but mainly to see what's the explanation for all of this. I expected it to be much worse anyways.

To no one's surprise Jun Maeda has a formula he sticks to but that I don't think it translates well to single cour shows. I didn't get very invested in this but I can see why it solicited quite a few harsh criticisms. Frankly the show to me had just a few too many weird elements to take it seriously and the conclusion leaves me a bit uneasy, especially given Youta's general narcissistic narration.

The promo art is quite deceptive as this is not at all a traditional looking anime... even more so it's an atrocious mess. While I'm not at all opposed to 3DCG shows this one is in no way up to today's standards. The models look bad and so is the rigging, backgrounds are ugly and low res, the frame rate is choppy and it doesn't even take advantage of stuff 3D would bring (like delivering great action choreography). Putting 2D characters next to 3D ones should be forbidden by law.
Whoever picks those Crunchyroll exclusives has some really fat fingers apparently but not that I'm surprised considering their first funded project wasn't even an anime to begin with.

For me this turned out to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure. While the general logic and setup is somewhat flawed (alongside the weird interaction of the "Enemies of Humanity" threat), the actual manipulation and deductions making up the runtime are quite fun and you get the killer POV for most of these. Unfortunately this ends just after introducing a major point of conflict for Nana so you'll most likely have to read the manga for a proper resolution. RIP Michiru - hard to phantom why they would even leave someone with her powers on the island.

This is basically the same as Yamishibai except that it has "mysterious" Ninjas added who take care of the entities. There is a minuscule attempt made to connect them but really they just take away from the already short runtime making what would have been lame episodes of the main show even worse.

WARNING: Looks like the Higurashi New marketed as a remake was bait all along.
This is a sequel* to the original series https://trakt.tv/shows/when-they-cry-higurashi.
Since it's based on a visual novel with different routes repeating events are expected which is why they were able to mislead with the premiere but the second episode reveals a twist of the series and references being set after the events of Higurashi. They also changed the title from "New" to "Gou" 業...

*What exactly it is we cannot say for sure right now but you are definitely not getting a fresh start.

This is not really a good spoof of Miss Marple nor very funny but since it's so short it can suffice to fill some time. Plenty of guest appearances from the NBC comedy/SNL camp which should be indicative of whats going on.

Quite the lackluster package... thought I might finish this but nahhh. There isn't really any plot to go by as it is mostly just a collection of episodic stories around Magmell but those are all beats done before, and vastly more interesting too. There is no sense of exploration as the MC is pretty much invincible and he already knows a lot about the place leaving him mostly indifferent to everything unfolding. There is some attempts at comedy but it doesn't really hit nor is it consistent. Add to that bland character and creature design with just tolerable art and animation... Really not worth it.

Sadly this show does very little with the core concept of the Snowpiercer besides some early exposition about the carts and is instead more concerned about it's pointless crime case and drama and does so with extremely uncharismatic characters (except for the "antagonist"). Having now also proven that the action chops aren't there either and wanting to drag things even further out with a second season I'll gladly exit this ride and get frozen instead.

If this show has one major draw then it's the artstyle imho which I dig a lot. Problem is that while those crude versions of Fairy Tales would look great as a series of artworks it comes across kinda shallow and sometimes dumb when corporated into a full "story". Still, didn't hate it and would watch more of them as my leniency for 10 minute episodes is quite high anyways.

As current as they hit the current protests going on I cannot help but to feel bored. Very little supernatural is going on and the plot lines are hardly new. My core issue however is that I still don't get why this is unfolding. Why would the "bad" lady spend her years trying to incite a race war when she is already powerful enough to destroy the world as it is and for that to focus on this particular community (in the year 1938..)?

Peepoodo is a quite raunchy and explicit sex comedy that also tries to be educational to a certain degree by spoofing the format of kids shows (more by means of putting things out there rather than being particular in depth). While often entertaining the show sometimes tips the balance a tad bit too much towards crudeness, reminding you of the fact that this might as well be interpreted as beastiality porn...
Still, it's short and I feel like everyone who looks at this should easily be able to tell if they are going to dig it or not.

While being initially produced for the French Blackpills streaming service (which was at the time mobile online) they transitioned to their own website for FR & EN audio https://peepoodo.bobbypills.com/. Season Two has been crowdfunded.

I accidentally closed the tab after finishing writing something up for the show... can't be bothered to go in detail again.

This is basically a giant injoke as the Cody Heller got this produced and cast with a A-lister, taking on >her< name and dating a fictional version of >her< bodyfriend (also named after him ...Dan Harmon).
The setup - as outlandish as it sounds - makes sense as a way to allow the protagonist to process her insecurities/drama/trauma in wake of seeing her sex doll version... but it is made little use of and is instead quite superficial and often cartoonish (making her a bigger "dummy" than the doll in the process). Sure there is a (sort of) progression towards the logical conclusion of self-love but the ride is not worth it. And that ride - I kid you not - involves her setting up a date for the doll which is suddenly lusting after a 12 year old... Cody is kind enough to provide the lube for the occasion.

Thought this would be more interesting but it's basically just celebrities praising their staffers/collaborators and them talking about stuff with varying degrees of relevancy to their work (exceptions are sometimes involving artists themselves)... Adding in some occasional animation does not really elevate the material. It is also mostly related to artists I don't care about.

This turned out to be a lot better than expected. Forte and Olson work great with each other and while the home remodeling stuff is a bit goofy at times it somehow works in the cartel setting.

I was happy to learn that Quibi also gives horror a shot and if this would actually expand to 50 states it would be incredible - not that it seems realistic at the moment though (in part because of the platform but also because it is more expensive to produce)...
Like any anthology the ride is uneven and some of them actually felt too short but the production was on point so even the worst ones were at not flat-out bad

The Golden Arm (Michigan) - a bit underdeveloped backstory but good payoff with Evil Dead vibes.
America's Largest Ball of Twine (Kansas) - well done folk horror.
Scared Stiff (Oregon) - too short really...
Grey Cloud Island (Minnesota) - meh regular "modern-horror fare" with a twist that is obvious from the get go...
Destino (Florida) - Alejandro Brugués X Eduardo Sánchez collab which SHOULD have made use of the portrait mode the platform provides to do something cool but instead just plays the normal found footage stick :disappointed:.

Apparently this "pre-aired" so I hope it's going to get additional episodes soon... there were others announced in press before the release...