Board 8 > Pyresword ranks his top 50 anime with quick writeups because he's bored

(+) Yeah! (+)

ah yeah okay so this does represent your favorites

NHK - one of the first (and only) anime i followed as it aired. i remember being super impressed by the first half and finding the second half inconsistent. great protags.

HXH - the unconventional storytelling leads to don't fantastic moments but also some awkwardness. ultimately it hits a fair bit more than it misses, though almost every pro is tempered with a nitpick

MHA - great concept, but when i realized just how kid-oriented it was and how little overarching plot it had, my interest waned (S4 or so?)

gankutsuou - one of my favorite anime of all time. love the visuals, the moodiness, the OP/ED. everything until the giant robots/ending

Last for tonight.

30. Ping Pong the Animation
Genres: Sports, Drama
Favorite Character: Wenge Kong

Ping Pong is one of those sports anime that could probably be more accurately described as a drama about players of the sport. I like that the show considers seriously a wide range of types of players in a down-to-earth way. There's players who love the sport, players who love competition, players who play because they're pressured to, and players who are sort of along for the ride. It's easy to understand who all of these are and what they want, and the show doesn't dance around the frustration the sport brings to these players as a result. The drama is interesting; the matches are exciting despite what the 1st sentence might suggest; and it's got that classic Masaaki Yuasa touch to bring a wonderful sense of thematic cohesion at the end. Great series.

One other comment: I don't know if this is still a thing nowadays, but the people meming on this show around when it was airing by posting still images of the show were doing it an absolute disservice. I consider this easily among the better looking shows out there personally, but it's something that only really becomes apparent in motion. The actual animation is just very expressive, and the visuals are used in thematically interesting ways that aren't obvious at a glance either.

29. Fate/Zero
Genres: Fantasy, Action, Thriller
Favorite Character: Rider (Iskandar)

Fate/Zero is ostensibly an action anime about historical heroes fighting epic magical battles with one another, but the real appeal isn't so much in the physical battles as in the philosophical clash of ideals that the story creates. That said, the battles look amazing as well--I still get chills watching the fully animated scene of Saber's noble phantasm. The characters are the selling point for me though--they're all extremely charismatic and firm in their way of life (at least the spirits anyway), but when they're forced into conflict they inevitably have these beliefs questioned and reaffirmed and it adds a lot of emotional weight to the fights that demand it. Also seeing Kiritsugu in action after hearing him spoken of as a near-legend in Fate/Stay Night was fantastic.

Rider one of the best anime characters ever, and his portrayal here makes me think I would have followed him to the ends of the Earth as well if I were part of his fictional world.

28. Sakura Quest
Genres: Drama, Slice-of-life
Favorite Character: Yoshino Koharu

I already talked about this a bit in Roba's topic a few months ago where I nominated this, so hopefully I don't rehash myself too much. Basically this is a slice-of-life series that has a strong cast of characters and great chemistry.

Something I've realized I value a lot as a theme in stories (I will mention it in multiple writeups) is the value of real communication, and that's what I think this anime is about to me. The town that's the setting of the series is in obvious decline and no one can agree about what to do about it, but that's because no one is really listening to anyone else. All it ends up taking though is one outsider who can convince everyone to honestly communicate with one another, and then everyone is able to become the best version of themselves, and the town is able to improve for the sake of all the residents. It's all just a very uplifting show to me. As I said earlier the cast is great; they all have their own individual arcs which feel meaningful; and it really feels by the end that you get a complete picture of all the varied personalities that make up the town. Lovely and very satisfying show for me.

I enjoyed the first half of Sakura Quest but felt like I had my fill so I stopped there.

Fate/Zero a classic

Tag

KommunistKoala posted...

I enjoyed the first half of Sakura Quest but felt like I had my fill so I stopped there.

The first half is the better half anyways overall tbh. It turns things around for the end but there's some slightly odd plotlines in the late-middle stretch that don't always land well.

Haven't seen a lot of these but glad Odd Taxi got a shoutout was a surprise that it ended up being as good as it was.

Also, like mostly everyone I started to lose interest in MHA around midway through season 4. Haven't been able to properly enjoy it since.

Gentle Criminal is the best character in MHA

Fate/Zero good times. Rider overrated tho imhotbqh.

As for MHA, yeah I feel it's pretty up and down but more down than up. I actually liked the recent (anime recent) Punished Deku Arc but oh well. Don't think it's as good as - for another shounen comparison, and one I mentioned earlier - Bleach.

Rider is the only reason to watch F/Z

Thorn posted...

I actually liked the recent (anime recent) Punished Deku Arc

This was the one that basically made me quit the series.

I don't have a problem with Deku's arc itself (not that I love it either), but turning the story into a big war setting really just kills what made the series special to me. This also applies a bit to the 2 preceding arcs but that there's at least some really satisfying character moments going on there.

I agree with your part in spoilers, yeah. I meant specifically Deku and what it meant for him/how it changed the tone.

I might give that Ping Pong show a try.

Fate/Zero is the only fate show I've tried. I honestly didn't enjoy it that much and struggled to get through it. That said Rider/Iskandar was far and away the best part.

Some real happy, positive, and uplifting shows to round out the first half of the list /s

27. Devilman: Crybaby
Genres: Horror/Supernatural, Action
Favorite Character: Akira Fudou

Watching this show is certainly an experience. I guess it makes sense to start by saying that this show has an incredible sense of style. The show just has this very cool aura about it. It's one of the most visceral anime I've seen, but the violence is depicted in this high-octane way that really adds to the almost rave-like atmosphere the show gives off at times. And yet in spite(?) of this there's a real emotional heart to the show, which is as much about trying to connect with others as it is about the cool gore and violence. The story is one of the strongest in anime, and there's a real sense of tragedy and hopelessness as the series trudges on--a feeling the relentlessness of the violence only adds to. I cried multiple times in the final few episodes of this show, so I guess it lived up to its name. There's also some fantastic thematic commentary on the nature of humans and society, which is the sort of thing I eat up when done well.

26. Shiki
Genres: Horror, Suspense, Thriller
Favorite Character: Toshio Ozaki

I feel like I've talked about this show a disproportionately large amount on board 8 before, so this one might not be such a surprise, but in any case here it is. Big picture this series is actually pretty similar to Devilman Crybaby and has similar strengths, except that it focuses on a conflict of humans against vampires instead of humans against demons. And once again this show has some really interesting thematic questions about how far humans are willing to go in order to protect themselves, and it's just a very harrowing story once everything starts coming to a boil. I think what makes me give the nudge to Shiki is that it does a great job with the idea of tragic antagonists. It's one of those shows where it's so easy to empathize with the "villains" and understand why they're doing what they're doing, that at end at the end of the day you can hardly tell who is supposed to be a hero and who is supposed to be villain, which is exactly the sort of ambiguous mess I like to experience with tragic stories like this.

Since I framed this writeup by comparing Shiki to Devilman Crybaby, I'll clarify that the style here is an isolated village horror vibe that is extremely different from Devilman, but is also itself quite cool imo.

One other separate thing to highlight--the beginning of Shiki when they are still setting things up is very slow-paced, but an absolute masterclass in suspense-building if you're willing to give it room to breathe, imo.

I love the original Devilman manga, and Crybaby's a pretty remarkable adaptation.

Devilman's ending is better than Shiki's IMO. Both shows are excellent in general though, and I'd have a tough time picking between them.

I liked Shiki from the start.

Shiki is good, so is Asobi Asobase. They're definitely both top 50 for me as well, but I skimmed over a lot of the middle of the list. Honestly, I don't know exactly where I would rank them. The idea of a "top 50" is so nebulous to me. Even though I've seen plenty of shows. It's just hard for my brain to rank such a large set of anime against each other outside of a 'no specific order' tier list.

Though I guess at that point you start ranking within the tiers and figure it out...

I mean it's all a bit arbitrary but that's basically what I did.

In case anyone was curious this was the process I used.

Phase 1: Go through my MAL and say yes/no to every anime to get a list of all the shows I thought had a chance.

Phase 2: Split those shows loosely into a 3-tier system where I started cutting shows from the bottom tier until I was left with a list of 60

Phase 3: Split the list of 60 randomly into 12 groups of 5 and rank those each from #1 to #5

Phase 4: Make an ordered list by choosing my favorite from among the #1's, then my favorite from among the remaining #1's and the #2 newly at the top of its group, etc

I gave it a final pass once that was done in case there was something that just felt wrong, but I think I only ended up moving like one show by one or two places.

I've kept an ongoing anime ranking since I started watching, but that ranking method is surprisingly close to how I figured out my top 100 anime characters! I even did the whole "split them into smaller groups, rank groups, start choosing from top of groups" thing. It's a good system.

As for recent write-ups, I wasn't a fan of Devilman, but Shiki is indeed great.

Mobilezoid posted...

I've kept an ongoing anime ranking since I started watching

I actually did this for a while also but gave up at some point, and it's now like 5 years out of date.

I did that for a year or two as well. I found it to be kinda pointless after a year or two, and just using MAL works at least as well.

If I were to make a list like this, I'd just take my 10s on MAL and rank them, though I have a lot of those so it'd still take a while. I also have a propensity to rank things I'm nostalgic for higher, which makes it extra tough...

I could make a top 10 by ranking my 10's...

Interestingly it wouldn't even be the same 10 shows I have at the top of this ranking.

I wonder why that is.

It's nearly identical. The short version is that one of my 10's is for an individual season of a show with other seasons that I did not give a 10 to, and my overall opinion is slightly lower. (It's still in the top 15, so not like that much lower...)

More anime. If I'm feeling up to it I might do 2 more tonight so that I can start with the top 20 tomorrow. Idk we'll see.

25. The Tatami Galaxy
Genres: Psychological, Surrealism, Mystery
Favorite Character: Watashi (ie. the nameless protagonist)

Another wild show that I'm not really sure how to talk about because this show is such a unique experience. The setup of the anime is that each episode depicts a different college life the protagonist could have had depending on which club he joins in his freshman year. It's a bit cluttered and chaotic and hard to understand how it fits together, but thankfully it's got the incredibly talented hand of Masaaki Yuasa (for the 3rd time in 6 placements...) at the directing helm to oversee everything. The style is the best kind of crazy; the characters are very appealing; and the ending ties everything together thematically in a way that's fantastically satisfying.

24. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Genres: Time Travel, Sci-fi, Drama, Romance
Favorite Character: Makoto Konno

Another movie! and a pretty cleverly written one, in my opinion. What sticks out to me here is that this movie uses time travel seriously in a way that's a bit out of the ordinary. Most often it feels like stories use time travel as a way to set up large-scale epic plots about struggling against fate and desperately trying to find a way to repeat the time loop to undo a horrific future or whatever. In comparison Makoto more or less stumbles on the power and uses it in ways that are comparatively mundane and everyday in nature. Still, it's clear that the way she uses it influences her own character and the way the drama plays out, and it's really cool to see how things steadily change and eventually come to a head. It also helps a lot that the protagonist herself is just a very likeable and interesting character. Ultimately there are some things about the plot that are a bit odd, but still the overall experience was a great one with some fantastic emotional scenes.

23. Girls' Last Tour
Genres: Sci-fi, Adventure, Slice-of-life
Favorite Character: Chito

Girls' Last Tour...honestly I think this show is all about vibes for me. The show is about 2 friends wandering alone through the (nearly) lifeless and empty mechanical landscape of a dying world. The set design is fantastical and the soundtrack has this great ethereal quality about it. You end up getting this feeling of comfy companionship juxtaposed with the bleak hopelessness of the setting, but at the same time the world also has this sort of wonderland quality about it. Overall it makes for a very cool and unique experience. You also get some interesting commentary from the two leads about who the people who used to inhabit this world might have been, which adds a nice extra layer of meaning to the show.

pyresword posted...

I mean it's all a bit arbitrary but that's basically what I did.

In case anyone was curious this was the process I used.

Phase 1: Go through my MAL and say yes/no to every anime to get a list of all the shows I thought had a chance.

Phase 2: Split those shows loosely into a 3-tier system where I started cutting shows from the bottom tier until I was left with a list of 60

Phase 3: Split the list of 60 randomly into 12 groups of 5 and rank those each from #1 to #5

Phase 4: Make an ordered list by choosing my favorite from among the #1's, then my favorite from among the remaining #1's and the #2 newly at the top of its group, etc

I gave it a final pass once that was done in case there was something that just felt wrong, but I think I only ended up moving like one show by one or two places.

this is exactly how I imagine I would do it, yeah.

I think I might be one of the few people who thought Tatami Galaxy was just 'okay'

Having watched Shiki recently, I don't think I like it quite as much as all you here but it's fun. I don't really care for the second half and ending as much, feel like it loses itself among its characters a bit. The beginning set up is real good though.

Devilman Crybaby is fantastic, that one nails it for me.

tatami galaxy was incomprehensible and hideous imo, though i read the LN it's based off and that makes me a lot more interested in giving it a second shot

Loved Tatami Galaxy, my favorite anime overall, can't sing its praises enough.

pyresword posted...

24. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Oh hey, there is one I have seen and really liked!

I love Girls Last Tour, and think the anime adapts what it covers (which is around 60-70% of the manga) better than the source material. If you liked the anime though, you should really check out the manga. IMO, it's a series that gets better as it goes, and the remaining chapters are the best part of the series.

I've never strictly ranked the anime I've watched. I just keep them in tiers.

22. Princess Mononoke
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Favorite Character: Ashitaka

Miyazaki has always been a bit hit-or-miss for me personally, but I definitely consider this to be one of his best films. I don't know if there's one particular area where this is the best movie ever or something, but it's one of those films that's just very very good across the board. The setting I think is probably the strongest point--the forest and the spirits give the whole film this ancient magical feeling, and the contrast with the human settlements that we see is very cool. The mixing/clashing of these two...factions(?) is obviously the central theme of the film, and I like that the movie shows how this can be both beautiful and terrifying depending on the circumstances. All the battle scenes are also great with some really breathtaking visuals, and they lend themselves to some great character moments as well.

21. Death Note
Genres: Thriller, Supernatural
Favorite Character: Light Yagami

One of the all-time great anime thrillers imo. Honestly I think I was hooked on this show from the moment L confronts Kira live on TV, and it felt like I was constantly on the edge of my seat all the way until the anime ended. The writing and especially the directing is incredible here. L and Light are constantly trying to one-up each other and they have this intellectual and philosophical rivalry going on, and there's a bunch of genuinely clever and unexpected twists in how the mindgames play out. The mix of direct and indirect confrontation really adds to the tension as well. And honestly who doesn't love a classic insane villain monologue from Light about becoming a god or whatever it is he aspires to? (I'm sure there are people that don't--I am not one of them)

It is true that the back half of this show isn't quite as strong as the front half, but I also don't think it's as much of a downgrade as the community likes to make it out. Some genuinely great moments all throughout the series.

Mononoke is awesome.

Not as high on Death Note.

Mononoke > Princess Mononoke

Princess is still good though

Princess Mononoke is good stuff. My favorite is probably Nausicaa... Although I own the manga omnibus and I still haven't gotten around to reading the entire thing yet, so maybe I'm not as big of a fan as I claim to be...

As for Death Note, it's a series I've come back to several times, and each time I watch or read it, I actually end up appreciating it even more. It's one of the few series where my score and ranking for the series has only increased over time. I'd definitely recommend the manga over the anime -- it handles the second half much better, and overall is densely packed with far more interesting details -- but both are still great.

MariaTaylor posted...

Princess Mononoke is good stuff. My favorite is probably Nausicaa...

I'm not alone!

Into the top 20!

Funny you all should mention Nausicaa...

20. Haikyuu!!
Genres: Sports, Sports, More Sports
Favorite Character: Tohru Oikawa

I was a bit late to the party with Haikyuu--I don't think I watched a single episode of the show until 2020 or something. Even still, the number of times I've come back to this series since then is suprising considering I nearly don't rewatch anime at all. This has basically everything one could want from a sports anime though. The matches are a nonstop thrill ride, and it's so easy to start with 1 episode and then suddenly you've watched 6 episodes. Especially for some of the incredibly hype multi-episode matches later in the series. The main characters are all fantastic with a diverse range of strengths and weaknesses and all have cool arcs about how they come into their own within the sport. The opposing teams have also got quite a diverse and entertaining cast. Just an all-around fantastic ride from start to finish that I basically consider the gold standard of its genre.

Tsukki fist pumping after blocking Ushijima and getting set point for Karasuno is peak anime change my mind.

19. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Favorite Character: Hachiman Hikigaya

Note: For some reason I have only seen the first 2 seasons of this show.
This show is just one of the best romcoms out there imo. The main cast has some really great chemistry. Yukino and Hachiman have some really witty dialogue scenes a bit reminiscent of...uh...a certain other anime that might be appearing on this list, and the upbeat Yui is the perfect 3rd piece to the puzzle when she is introduced. Hachiman's take-no-bs attitude is also hilarious and leads to some great comedic scenes. It's obvious that the story is building up to Hachiman realizing his extremely cynical worldview is a bit of a facade, but that doesn't make it any less satisfying to watch, and the growing attachments of the group of friends are great to watch. The climax of season 2 is probably one of my favorite anime scenes of all time.

I really need to watch season 3 of this at some point but I've just never gotten around to it because ???

18. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Genres: Fantasy, Adventure
Favorite Character: Nausicaa

This is an extremely similar movie to Princess Mononoke, so honestly you could say a lot of the same things here. Probably the reason I rank this one ahead is because I think Nausicaa is a stronger protagonist. It's a bit cheesy, but the scene at the beginning of her getting bit by the fox-squirrel and just standing there calming it down lives rent-free in my head. She's a very gentle figure but also firm in defending what she cares about and I love her for it. The story is also a bit more emotionally raw compared to Princess Mononoke which I think plays to my tastes a bit better. The setting is also a bit less magical and more oppressive, which ends up a bit of a wash in that they both have amazing settings that I like about equally.

MacArrowny posted...

Mononoke > Princess Mononoke

I've been meaning to watch Mononoke for a very long time but I've still never managed to get around to it :(

SNAFU S3 is good stuff. Maybe not quite as good as S2.

pyresword posted...

I've been meaning to watch Mononoke for a very long time but I've still never managed to get around to it :(

never too late ^_^

SNAFU likely in my top 10, haikyuu definitely in my top 10, good section

Season 3 of SNAFU is pretty good, although not as good as the first two

Still a great show overall

Never really got the love for Death Note. The entire thing was soured for me when Misora is basically turned into an idiot to allow her to be killed off. It was such a clear and dumb plot armor moment that I just couldn't take basically anything about the cat-and-mouse chase seriously because Light lost at the very start and was only propped up by the plot's willingness to make everyone around him stupid to perpetuate it and yet still pretend he was some genius.

So I was the rare person all for Near's bullshit as karma lol.

pyresword posted...

change my mind.

the only thing I would try to change your mind about is that Haikyuu is probably a top 5 anime, rather than top 20

Hell yeah Haikyuu and Nausicaa!

Hot take I thought Princess Mononoke was hot garbage.

Also I didn't like Snafu S3 although that's more my fault???!!! Didn't realize that I jumped straight into season 3 until I finished it and wondered why the fuck so much of it didn't make any sense. Highlight has gotta be that rap and Yui's heartbreak.

17. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Genres: Fantasy, Action, Adventure
Favorite Character: Roy Mustang

FMA Brotherhood is another one of those anime that's simply rock-solid at everything it sets out to do. The initial premise is great--immediately providing some great emotional content for the Elric brothers and a sense of weight to their adventure. The magic system is interesting and leads to some really entertaining fight sequences throughout the show. The plot is interesting and has enough mystery to keep viewers interested, while doing a great job ratcheting up the tension throughout the story. (At least within a particular arc--there are some lulls in transitioning from arc to arc sometimes) The characters are also all fantastic from both a design and a writing perspective. You've got emotionally compelling characters like Winry and Scar; awesome entertaining characters like Envy and Wrath; and characters who are all of the above like Ed and Mustang. Just an all-around great show from start to finish.

16. Bloom Into You
Genres: Romance, Yuri
Favorite Character: Yuu Koito

Note: I have read the manga for this series, which might influence my opinion. I thought the anime ending was fine even before having read the manga, but the incompleteness of the anime is a common complaint here, and my brain at this point is basically incapable of contextualizing the story as incomplete at all.

Easily one of my favorite romances of all time. The main characters are all wonderfully well-written. I really like that the writer is trying to tell a proper story about a romantic relationship itself. There's not really any external factors at play and there's not much of this will-they-won't-they nonsense. The drama in the show is all about the leads learning to understand their own needs and each other's needs, and communicating in order to meet those needs. And then the execution is done with care in a way that makes a very compelling story. There is Sayaka who I guess you could argue is a bit of an external factor, but she's handled well and is a great character and an absolute icon. 100% a fantastic addition to the cast.

15. The Promised Neverland
Genres: Thriller, Suspense, Fantasy
Favorite Character: Emma

Note: I only watched season 1 of the anime and that is all I ever intend to watch. I've read a bit of the manga after where the anime 1st season ended and it was solid.

This show (season 1, anyway...) is an anime with a great premise and some incredibly good directing work. I don't have the technical knowledge to fully internalize and communicate what I'm trying to get at here. But, the show uses staging techniques and things like camera placement and motion in ways that I associate more with Western filmmaking than with anime, and they're used to incredible effect here to make some of the most tense and suspenseful scenes I can recall from anime. This is true even from a purely cinematic standpoint, but the fact that we also have a well-written high-stakes story definitely helps. The main conflict is also great. I love watching all the characters slowly try to implement their schemes, and watching everything come together in the final episodes is immensely satisfying. The final piece of the puzzle here is probably Emma--this could have ended up as "only" a high-stakes thrilling battle-of-wits, but her absolutely unwavering trust in her friends and in humanity adds an incredibly strong emotional core to the show.

quite the asterisk for Promised Neverland but season 1 was definitely fantastic

If I never watch a bad sequel I can pretend like it doesn't exist!

Bloom Into You is extremely good, for sure. I've also read the manga. It's not quite in my top favorites, but I've read a lot of similar stuff that is just better, so it's not exactly a mark against Bloom Into You, just that I've got a bit more high quality stuff to compare it to.

The Promised Neverland season 1 was adapted, like, almost perfectly. It hit that winning intersection of both being extremely high quality AND extremely popular. The studio had set up everything they needed for guaranteed success moving forward. They absolutely could have put in minimal effort, coasted with filler, done anything they wanted, and the franchise would have continued to sell -- likely growing in popularity -- for seasons to come.

Somehow, they managed to put in negative effort, and screw up season 2 SO BADLY, that all of this good faith instantly evaporated. Truly a marvel. Just not in a good way.

S2 of The Promised Neverland was probably the most disappointing anime experience I've had.

I'm going to be gone most of tomorrow, so I won't have much time for updates. I'll post these 2 now; then try to get 2 for tomorrow and do the top 10 over the weekend.

14. FLCL
Genres: Action, Sci-fi, Comedy, Surrealism
Favorite Character: Naota Nandaba

Note: I've only seen the original series and don't have much interest in whatever the recent sequels were, which I heard mixed things about anyways.

Watching FLCL is certainly an experience. I suppose I should start by saying that "coming-of-age" is one of my favorite story archetypes, and that is exactly what the show is at its core. It's a compelling story about a child coming to understand his place in the world and accept himself and his responsibilities. The way it actually goes about telling this story though is...unconventional, to say the least. The entire show plays out like a chaotic amalgamation of ideas spawned from the hyperative imagination of a child, which again is more or less the point. The visuals and the script are all over the place, and the thematic content of the show is basically all communicated through metaphor and allegory. The result is this high-energy, manic experience that just somehow works. Everything is fun; the thematic messages still ring clear and true; and the incredible soundtrack from The Pillows sits behind everything as a sort of anthem of the entire thing. An utterly wild experience that I don't know if it will ever be recreated.

13. Kaguya-sama: Love is War
Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Favorite Character: Kaguya Shinomiya

Kaguya-sama is a show that I was actually really slow to come around on. My first impression of this show was something like "ok this is another gimmicky romcom that might be fun for a bit but will grow stale by 12 episodes in". And the first 12 episodes didn't really do much to change that impression other than get me to concede that maybe it was a bit above average because I wasn't sick of it quite yet. But then the show produced more episodes and it continued to mix things up for a long time after that, and if anything the jokes were getting more clever. And then you realize that every episode and every skit is slowly giving more exposition and development to its cast, and that despite the somewhat gimmicky presentation it's still managed to construct an incredible cast of nuanced, multi-faceted characters. The result is that the the actual plot progression that has happened in more recent season has ended up as some of the most heartfelt content in anime, and even through all this the comedic elements of the show still manage to be a blast. Absolute top-notch content, and I honestly have trouble understanding how Aka Akasaka even managed to put this work together.