Re:Zero Season 3 adapts Arc 5 (Stars that Engrave History) from the light novel. As someone who has already read the source material, I knew that this season would not be as great as the last two seasons, however, that doesn't mean that this arc is bad at all. It in fact has more depth and narrative exposition, actually has more plot progression alongside showcasing character development and writing than most anime that has come out in the last 2 years.

Season 3 of Re:Zero delivers an engaging mix of action, character development, and worldbuilding, bringing the five royal candidate factions together to face off against four Sin Archbishops in a thrilling war arc. While Season 1 laid the groundwork of the world and its dangers, and Season 2 delved into character-driven storytelling, Arc 5 strikes a balance, offering an entertaining narrative while spotlighting supporting characters. Subaru remains the heart of the story, continuing his extraordinary growth. In Season 1, he reached his lowest point with a speech showcasing self-hatred; Season 2 marked his path to self-love. By Season 3, his development is showcased in a war speech that motivates a city, highlighting his newfound self-worth and courage to rely on others. The Van Astrea family continues to showcase how the weak relationships they have, which quite literally broke towards the end of the arc, and gives more of an insight to Reinhard's character. The groundwork for him is steadily being laid, is being the strongest a curse for Reinhard? How far is he willing to take his role as the "Sword Saint" before he spirals into something he doesn't want to be. I hope his character will be touched upon more in the future. The battle with the title of the Sword Saint is furthermore shown in Theresia van Astrea's backstory, in my opinion, one of the strongest backstory in the anime. Her innocent nature didn't want her to pick up the sword, until she was quite literally forced to, but was then taken from by Wilhelm who believes that someone like her has no reason to hold a weapon. We furthermore find out the truth behind her death which was actually caused by the mysterious character, Pandora. Other characters such as Priscilla and Aldeberan were given their time to shine, and the basis for their characters are starting to develop too. Priscilla has some ties to characters that were important in the past that we don't know about, but more importantly, we finally get to see how overpowered she really is (I love Priscilla). Al on the other hand continues to be a badass dark souls protagonists and gives few hints to what his ability is, which seems to be some form of Subaru's return by death. The entire cast of characters this season was honestly elevated.

The Sin Archbishops, Regulus, Capella, Sirius, Roy, and Ley, were interesting with fascinating dialogues rooted in their sins. I love every single one of these antagonists. They were definitely the most entertaining parts of the season. Capella's twisted view on love and humans make her the most evil one of them yet. Her desire to experiment with humans just to prove that even that they are the same people on the inside, turning them into flies or demi-beasts proves her point that love is only based on appearance. Is she right or wrong? Sirius is one of the most interesting antagonists when it comes to her character design. A striking resemblance to Emilia's foster parent, Fortuna, and her love for Betelguese, she quite literally may be Fortuna herself. Though, she wasn't the best-written antagonist of the lot, her authority makes up for it. It is a power that I have never seen done in anime, where connecting the mind and emotions of one person to the rest of the civilians and using that to instantly kill everyone is a very unique ability and a refresher from the bullshit I have been seeing from antagonists recently. REGULUS CORNEAS, THE GOAT OF SEASON 3. I can honestly go all day on why I love this character so much as an antagonist. His fight with Reinhard is quite literally an unstoppable force vs an immovable object. His greed is shown through his character perfectly, he wants it all, yet he has no right to have it all. A perfect contradiction to his dialogue of how everything is a violation of his rights. Every single scene he was in was so damn interesting, his crash-outs are geniunely the best thing to listen to. I love Regulus so much, rest in peace King.
Gluttony proves to be the most dangerous archbishop however. His authority to remove people's memories, names and literally their entire existence is so dangerous. Furthermore, he can mimic the memories he has eaten, such as their movesets, their dialogue and their voice to perfection. These cockroach looking as duo took the name OF MY GLORIOUS KING JULIUS. I was so sad when that happened, Julius is my favourite side character of the cast and seeing him towards the end of the season genuinely made my heart shatter. But mark my words, my glorious king will not falter. Gluttony's authority to steal memories has so much potential to create such an amazing story in the future, because, who exactly are you without your memories? Who are you if no one even remembers you?

Some things I didn't like about the season. Liliana Masquerade, I hated her in the web novel, and I still hate her in the anime. She is quite literally a shit stain on this arc's perfect cast of characters. Her appearance pisses me off, her singing pisses me off and the fact she got to kiss Priscilla pisses me off too. Her backstory is some of the weakest character writing I have seen from Tappei which I am really disappointed about. I am sure that Tappei wrote Vivy as a way to make up for this awful character that he has created. It is no surprise that any episode she was the main focus in, those episodes absolutely flopped. Though I don't really care about all too much, the cut content from the source material did lower the emotional impact for anime onlies on certain episodes. However, I loved all the episodes (except Liliana's ones). That being said, I think the anime does an amazing job at adapting this arc, I would go to say that the positives (animation, pacing, direction and soundtrack) heavily outweigh the cut content and fumbles that Whitefox did. I give a huge round of applause to Studio Whitefox, for creating an unforgettable season despite their circumstances.

Overall, while Re:Zero Season 3 doesn't quite reach the levels of the previous seasons, it still is a pretty damn good season. It has its flaws, but it also delivers some of the best fights in the anime too. This season did great for building up the cast for future arcs, and the ending of it perfectly ties into the next season. Great season, would watch again.

Prison School is a masterpiece covered with surreal comedy and fan service. Many people fail to look deep into the story and truly appreciate what the message of it is. I don't blame them, it is normal to be thrown of by the astounding art of the human body. But I am here to tell you what Prison School is truly about.

Set in a all-girls school, our main cast of 5 boys find themselves in prison due to their diabolical actions... is what you are forced to think what the story is about. The story is a critique on the world that we live in, it is a story about friendship, loyalty and betrayal. It is a story about the desire of freedom, and oppression. It is a story about the corruption within the system. It is a story about fighting against sexism. It is a story about inner conflict and finding an identity in a place that is against you. It is a story about masculinity and vulnerability. All of these are problems always arise in the modern world. Prison School constantly pushes these realistic themes throughout the manga, but what it does different is how it portrays them. Unlike other seinen that does it in a dark and gloomy setting, Prison School does it in an absurd and comical way. It massively succeeds in doing so, the amount of times I have laughed at the pure ridiculous and inane moments is more than I can remember. To portray such themes in this sort of way is something only a genius can do. Truly a masterclass in writing. Every single character was given attention to in this manga, not a single miss with their relevance to the story. The main antagonist was detestable and the main cast was loveable. Everything was perfect. The art is truly magnificent. The Takehiko Inoue of this genre. Absolutely out of this world, the attention to detail in every panel always provoked an emotion out of me. What sort of emotion is not your concern.

Prison School is a masterful blend of surreal comedy, fan service, and profound thematic exploration, skillfully critiquing societal issues like oppression, corruption, and sexism through an absurd yet compelling lens. Its genius lies in juxtaposing serious themes such as friendship, identity, and vulnerability with a comical, over-the-top narrative that consistently captivates and entertains. With stunning art, impeccable character development, and a flawless balance of humor and depth, Prison School is a bold and unforgettable work of storytelling brilliance.

Prison School is a misunderstood timeless masterpiece. 10/10.

Haikyu! - Haruichi Furudate and Production I.G (anime + manga) Review

What I value in stories are three aspects

• An enjoyable, interesting and cohesive story
• Great main character and side cast
• Themes, ideas and messages portrayed well

Haruichi Furudate do all three of these exceptionally well, especially when it comes to creating a great cast of characters. The story of Haikyu is nothing complex at all so if you are looking forward to something like that then I wouldn't recommend this for you. What you get with Haikyu is a story filled with many peaks, when you think the story has hit its best, it will simply better it in the next arc/match. It is a sports story about volleyball and it gets you invested so much that the emotional payoff hits every single time. It is a story about regrets, hope, despair, dreams, loss, fustration, freedom and most importantly, becoming strong and great. It offers such an amazing and inspirational story that it is hard to find any flaws within it.

The cast of Haikyu is it's biggest strength. I really appreciate how Furudate payed attention to every single player in this story, whether they were major or minor characters. I remember when watching the anime, team Karasuno defeats a team that had no hype built up for them and basically a nobody team, however the messages of defeat and frustration that are shown from the POV of these set of characters really meant something to the show: where there are winners, there will also be losers. I think the development with every major team players are done exceptionally well, each character finding their own reason to play this sport that they love. The main cast, Hinata, Kageyama, Tsukishima, Asahi, Sawamura, etc are some of the best main cast I have seen, their dynamics with each other are so enjoyable to watch, yet also so meaningful at the same time too. The development, dynamics, emotional resonance, depth and utmost care for nearly 30-40 characters is what makes this sports manga edge it over Slam Dunk for me. An absolute masterclass in character writing.

The messages from Haikyu are probably ones that I will integrate into my real life. "He who would climb a ladder must start from the bottom", this story is about growth and it is emphasised time and time again. Whether it was the difference between matches against Aoba Johsai, or the match against Shiratorizawa, or even the matches in the spring tournament, growth is shown in nearly every way possible. The series showcases the journey of several characters that improve themselves both on and off the volleyball court. However, the biggest message from Haikyu that resonated with me the most is finding joy in the journey. WInning is important, but what is more important is the enjoyment of the game and experiences gained along the way, and using these experiences to become even better. The last match in the spring tournament does this exceptionally well.

I also want to give praises to the panelling in Haikyu. I never knew how important paneling was until I read the manga, the ability to draw a volleyball match is a talent, but to give it life and intensity is something different. The direction of which the ball is heading towards is the core structure of the paneling, making it so easy to read and also making the reader so invested in it. I also want to praise Production I.G for their amazing animation used throughout the anime, the soundtrack elevated the experience and they do the intense eye frames so well.

Overall: If Slam Dunk is a masterclass at creating intense hype matches and Real is a masterclass that delves into the psyche of players, then Haikyu is a combination of both. It is a story that will resonate with me forever and it's utmost care for characters is exemplary.

This review will contain spoilers
When I first watched this anime, I honestly thought "damn, this is like any other shounen I've seen," however after a deep analysis on Hunter x Hunter, especially the Chimera Ant arc, I've come to realise that Hunter x Hunter is one of the greatest shows out there. Now you may argue that there is no reason to go that deep into an anime and to just enjoy it, but I think that judging an anime from its surface level is in fact very ignorant. Yoshihiro Togashi spent countless hours and many years to create this art form and it is foolish to ignore the ingenious details and clever thinking that was put into this story.

From the normal's point of view, the story line of the anime is that Gon Freecs is on a journey to find his father who left Gon to pursue his career of being a hunter. Thinking that this is all Hunter x Hunter is the same as saying "FMAB was just 2 brothers tryna get their bodies back," or "AoT is just the MC tryna get revenge on a different species." Hunter x Hunter is more than just Gon trying to find his father and this was mainly portrayed within the main characters of the show. Hunter x Hunter also cleverly shifts from a light-hearted theme to a very dark themed story. The anime starts off with the hunter exam, introducing Gon, the carefree, outgoing and kind boy and Killua, the tortured, depressed and shut in assassin. The huge difference between Gon and Killua is also illustrated from their character design, Gon has spiky hair, large eyes, always smiling and wearing a bright green outfit whereas Killua has his hair down, slanted and cold eyes, rarely smiling and wears a constant dark coloured outfit. Gon is seen as the light in the anime where Killua is seen as the darkness and its been represented many times that Gon was the light to Killua's darkness and it saved Killua multiple times throughout the story. This also solidifies Killua's amazing character development throughout the anime, from being a shut-in assassin who is controlled by his family to becoming a friendly and outgoing character who can think for himself. One may argue that Gon had no character development throughout the series even though he is the MC. These types of characters are called 'static characters' that don't change themselves but change the people around them this was successfully done with Killua. The anime proceeds to embody the friendship between Gon and Killua through the next few arcs until we get to the Chimera Ant arc.

The Chimera Ant arc, by far one of the best and well thought out arcs in the history of anime, gives Hunter x Hunter the greatness it deserves. The chimera ants are a species that develop a taste for humans to sustain their race and for the healthy birth of the Ant King, Meruem. The main aspect to take from this arc is that Meruem is the mirrored version of the protagonist, Gon. Meruem is first introduced as a ruthless villain who immediately takes the life of his mother after birth. He cares for no one except himself and he will only devour hunters for food. His character then takes a huge turn after he meets the fragile and timid Komugi, a blind professional Gungi player. Her timid nature allowed Meruem to believe that maybe the ants and humans can live together in peace, a conclusion that none of the humans would've thought would happen. This gives Meruem a sense of humanity as he continues on his journey to find what it means to be human. He is later then confronted by Netero, the 13th Chairman of the Hunter Association where a battle breaks out. While the nameless Meruem tries to negotiate with Netero, Netero declines his offer and identifies him as non-human. The theme portrayed during this battle was that humans are selfish creatures and it is okay when they are at the top but as soon as another creature tries to get above or on the same level as them, they are simply shut down and recognised as weak. Netero believed that humans are superior than any other any other creatures, and at one point Meruem tried to take over humans which Netero disapproved of, however after meeting Komugi, he realised how wrong he was and that he wanted to live in peace. This made Netero a hypocrite and honestly the villain in this battle. Another aspect to take into account is Netero's backstory and how he trained his whole life to find the peace of mind but he quickly threw that away to protect the humanity he loved but in doing so, he tried to kill someone of lower rank and to stop natural change , hence his demon like appearance before his death.

On the other hand, Gon met Kite and was quick to befriend him when he found out he was Ging's disciple in the past. Kite was a strong and independent hunter who worked as a researcher to find out more about the Chimera Ants. In a sudden meeting between, Pitou, one of the royal guards of the king, and Kite, Gon and Killua, Pitou showed tremendous and terrifying Nen power, allowing Killua and Gon to escape while leaving everything to Kite. The result of the battle was shown by creating a scene where Pitou keeps Kite's beheaded head on her lap while she looks away with a smile on her face. However, Gon immediately thought that Kite wouldn't have lost and is still alive. After finding the dead body of Kite that is being controlled by Pitou, Gon thinks that he is still alive and focuses on becoming stronger to save Kite. In the 2nd meeting between Gon and Pitou, Gon is infuriated by her appearance and goes on to make death threats to Komugi, the person that Pitou was healing at the time and asked her to save Kite. Upon hearing that Kite is actually dead, Gon goes onto a mental breakdown where he starts to blame himself but as rage takes over him, he soon creates one of the best transformations in history. The setting of the place was very dark where only a couple of candles lit up the place. This transformation required Gon to throw away around 20 years of his life, transforming into an adult, essentially throwing away his humanity and becoming a cold person that was taken in by revenge. The once kind hearted Gon soon turned into a monster saying things such as:
"I don't care if this is the end. I'll use everything, to kill you Pitou."
The Chimera Ant arc was truly a masterpiece and it shows the parallel worlds between Gon and Meruem, where Meruem who once wanted to take over humanity slowly finds his way to become a human and Gon, the kind hearted child who threw away his humanity for revenge.

There are also many small details in this arc that make it even better such as Killua befriending Ikalgo, a chimera ant, protrays Killua's character development from becoming someone who had no intention to have friends to becoming someone who managed to make a bunch of friends.
There is also how Pitou and Youpi developed greatly by offering their lives to save the King but Pouf on the other hand had little no character development. This is because Pouf was already born as a butterfly and there is no need for a butterfly to develop any further.
There are many other aspects that make the Chimera Ant arc a masterpiece which I do not wish to talk about on this review.

One may argue that the chimera ant arc is the only good arc in the show and it doesn't make the whole anime good however I feel like the arcs that were in between the Hunter Exams and the Chimera Ant arc successfully developed the relationship between Gon and Killua. I also can't forget Kurapika's amazing Yorknew City arc and in my opinion was probably the best revenge arc I've seen in an anime. Hunter x Hunter also had many amazing fights such as Gon vs Hisoka and Kurapika vs Uvogin.

The ending of Hunter x Hunter was also very well done and the very last quote really stands out as it truly explains the whole anime in one sentence:

"You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Because that's where you'll find the things more important than what you want."

Overall, Hunter x Hunter was an enjoyable anime from start to finish and it created one of the best arcs in anime history, the Chimera Ant arc. Hunter x Hunter does have its flaws though such as too much narrating or some average moments in the show but putting that aside, Hunter x Hunter is a masterpiece in the making.