Leo Rates Anime

A coming-of-age suspense set in an isolated utopian village of espers where some children mysteriously disappear. Featuring a lot of scary realism, strange culture, and goblin-like monsters. It's Houseki no Kuni , but with a far stronger anthropological approach. The setting is also slightly similar to Ergo Proxy . Also similar to: Madoka Magica . 25 episode conclusive adaptation of a novel. 10/10★ - Horror disguised as a child's play. Strengths: world-building, mystery, pragmatism. This anime is scary. It looks like fun: children, school, super-powers. But every shot has a dark tone on it that anticipates some monster jumping out and devouring everybody. It's frightening. The environment this anime creates makes your heart forget its beat. At first glance, it's just another school anime. Except it's a school for children that can do psychokinesis. It looks weird, exotic. But ultimately it's just a bunch of children living in a different, fictional...

A slugfest story of an underground boxer, no-ID, no-name, not-civilian, from the slums who wants to win a robotic arms boxing tournament in the sci-fi city that anyone may enter, proper civilians only, and show everybody what's the real deal about boxing. It's like Redline , but with boxing instead of racing, with a touch of Cowboy Bepop . The fights aren't as good as those in Hajime no Ippo , it seems to focus more on the journey. Also, Megalo Box commemorates the 50 year anniversary of Ashita no Joe , so it's probably like a sci-fi spin-off of that. 13 episode anime original. 8/10★ - A cool story with a boxer. Strengths: hype, artwork, soundtracks, rap, grittiness. Weakness: boxing. A boxing anime that gets you worked up, with gorgeous art, music, and some pretty dark plot. Enjoyable from start to end. But ironically, despite great-looking, the fights don't feel that special. Like virtually every sports anime since ever, it's the tale of the und...

A bloody battle school harem  featuring freedom-loving guy transferring into an all-girls school where man-haters armed with police batons and even actual swords "correct" the male delinquents into... crossdressers? Also he needs to collect five seals from the top five swords to be allowed to leave school grounds. It's like Prison School , but less about female anatomy and more about the girls and sword-fighting styles. 12 episode arc-conclusive partial adaptation of a manga. 10/10★ - A refreshing take on a detestable genre. Strengths: the main character, the girls, the fights, the pacing, well, everything. Full of curious surprises: a competent MC, blades that actually draw blood, characters with very thick traits, a mysterious plot. A great mix of action, comedy and sad backstories. What do people want in a battle school harem ? Is it the battles that are actual fights and people actually end up in the infirmary? It's got it. Is it the weird school wit...

An edgy story about "hope," "despair," a bunch of girls, an emotionless transfer student the main character saw once in a dream, and a creepy cat with contracts that grant one single wish like a lamp genie in exchange for you to become a magical girl and fight witches. Mix Persona 4 with Houseki no Kuni , replace the fun with long-winded bad sci-fi explanations from Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei , narrate it like Bakemonogatari , add some magical girls in it, then you have this anime. Also similar to: Shinsekai Yori . 12 episode anime original. 2/10★ - Too much talking and overly dramatic. Weaknesses: weird artwork makes fight scenes artsy but sub-par, whole cast is dumb as a rock, way too much exposition. Frustrating. Entirely based on little girls' feelings, rejects logic. Forcibly paced at a crawl, lots of explaining its magical girl system and characters avoiding saying important stuff. Just like in Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei , no matter how m...

The feels-filled period melodrama of an emotionless ex-child-soldier amputee girl trying to understand the meaning of love. A Jormungand  that doesn't deal with arms but with feelings, or a single-player Mahoutsukai no Yome . 13 episode conclusive light novel adaptation. Plus one OVA, set somewhere in the middle of the 13 episodes. 10/10★ - It made me feel human. Strengths: character development, extraordinarily detailed, excellent scene-writing, artwork and soundtrack. Weakness: a few child vs. soldiers battles feel ridiculous; can be off-putting, but not the focus of the anime and mainly used as a plot device. A heart-wrenching no-emotions PTSD child story that stands out for its dedication to character instead of world or plot; brings out every slight emotional change with mesmerizing attention to detail. Many anime deal with sad traumatized child victims you'd want to protect, but often fail to make you attached to them, distracting you with other stuff ins...

A experimental device allows scientists to enter a patient's dream, so they can better understand their subconscious and help cure anxiety, etc. But a villain stole it, and is using it to make people go crazy. If he isn't stopped, the device will be deemed dangerous and its future development put at risk. A bit of  Paranoia Agent , a bit of Ghost in the Shell , but mostly its own thing. Movie, 90 minutes, anime original. 8/10★ - Wha... what in the world did I just watch?! Strengths: dialogue, characters. Weakness: bad science fiction. A bewildering parade of suspense and twists. The artwork captures well the psyche of the characters, whose exchanges are great to watch. It'd be perfect if only the science were better. Like many of the psychological genre, Paprika builds up tension and psychosis as time goes by, things just get crazier and crazier. Both music and art display the nonsensical maniacal euphoria, the disconnect from reality,  with incredible auth...

Five giant mecha-girls are piloted by ten orphan children grouped as boy-girl "partners" who are raised as the only weapon against bio-robotic blue-bleeding monsters, defending their dome-utopia city they mayn't visit that moves around the barren planet. The main character can't pilot a mecha, then he meets a weird girl whose partners keep dying. A new rendition of KADO: The Right Answer , made in collaboration with studio Trigger. 24 episode conclusive anime original. 1/10★ - A joke, lamentable and rather disgusting. Strengths: edgy plot, trash waifus, sexual innuendos everywhere. Weaknesses: you'll feel disappointed no matter what you like in anime. What people like and dislike about it varies: the sci-fi plot, the developed characters, the shipping, the cringey fanservice, the great action with mecha-battles, but there's one factor in common: they're all left unsatisfied by the end. It baits you, then slaps you in the face like a lame prank. ...

An epic mecha adventure of an orphan boy living in a poor underground village who has never seen the surface and his trusty gutsy katana-gang-bro; one day a huge mecha-with-face destroys the cave ceiling whilst fighting a sniper-gun-girl, they find a smaller mecha-with-face, and the non-stop series of mecha battles begin. It's  Kill la Kill , but with mechas instead of almost-naked girls. 27 episode conclusive anime original. Warning: the two movies are summaries with the pacing destroyed, avoid them at all cost, they add very little to the TV anime and spoil the whole story. 10/10★ - The most shounen anime ever. Strengths: blows every expectation out of the water. Great character development. At one point, combines eyegasm with eargasm for what's to be known as the legendary audiovisualgasm. It'll give you a chill in the spine from pure euphoria and awe to its otherworldly levels of epic... in the first episode. And that's gonna happen in dozens of episo...