The reason I decided to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion (generally just called "Evangelion" or "Eva" in discussion) was because I had watched a video on YouTube that used a song from the show that I really liked. After seeing a few more things online about the show after that point, I looked into the show and saw it was only twenty-six standard-length episodes long, which surprised me since I knew so many of the most popular anime had hundreds of episodes. Due to its short length, popularity, and how highly people praised it, I decided to just watch the whole thing in about a week and a half.

Evangelion's plot revolves around the organization NERV using piloted mechs to stop alien creatures known as "angels" from starting a cataclysm on Earth as they had already done twice before. It stars Shinji Ikari, a 14-year-old boy and son of NERV's director who was summoned to become a pilot of one of these mechs, called an "EVA", which for some reason can only be piloted by 14-year-olds.

The fight scenes were probably the highlight of the show for me. They're not overly creative and only make up a small portion of the runtime, but I found them to be enjoyable partially due to the tension caused by them having a time limit. The EVAs are only usable for a few minutes at a time, which I suspect was partially due to budget reasons, but was something I liked nonetheless. The angel designs were generally pretty good, too, although I fail to remember quite a few of them. I will never forget Ramiel, though. He is just a giant octahedron, and also my favorite character.

Speaking of the characters, one of my biggest complaints about the show is its cast. I didn't really like any of the show's main characters. I either found them uninteresting or fairly unlikeable. Shinji ended up being my favorite of them. He often ran away and opposed his orders, and was called a coward by others, but given his past and current situation, his actions were understandable. He was alright, and probably the most grounded and reasonable character. Rei was slightly interesting to me because she's the only example I can think of for a character that I didn't like at first, started to like in the middle of the show, then disliked again by the end.

I really liked the show initially, the first few episodes were pretty strong and I didn't have anything against the characters yet. I felt the quality declining a bit throughout the next handful of episodes, but not significantly. The show's eighth episode was the turning point for my enjoyment. The episode is titled "Asuka Arrives". Take a wild guess what it was that caused this change of opinion.

Asuka is terrible. She acts horribly towards the people around her and never really gets reprimanded for what she does. They give her a tragic backstory in one of the final episodes I guess to try and justify her behavior, but I don't feel bad for her because of that. Whenever she failed I feel the show wanted me to be sympathetic, but I just found these moments satisfying, since she got what she deserved for her actions.

My big issue with the show is that despite initially presenting itself as a cool robot fighting show, a majority of its runtime is spent developing its characters and overarching plot, both of which aren't too great. I think the plot is fine, if a bit generic, but I didn't care about the characters enough for it to really leave an impact on me. A couple of the later episodes are actually really good: episodes 18, 19, and 21 specifically. These episodes continue things in interesting ways and have character moments that I was surprisingly invested in for the time. If the rest of the show's quality was as high as these episodes, I would have no trouble recommending it, but it's unfortunate that isn't the case.

Then there's the matter of the show's ending. Some people really like it, but the two finale episodes were definitely my least favorite in the entire show. While the show kind of got a conclusion in the third-to-last episode, it's a fairly underwhelming way to end it after what had come before it. The following episodes instead go into Shinji's mind and give introspective questions about the human psyche. I personally found them very boring, and the ending was supposed to be uplifting and encouraging, but I honestly just thought it was hilariously dumb.

It wasn't just me though: a lot of people didn't like the show's original ending, particularly when it was originally released. I remember reading several reasons for why the ending was the way that it was, but don't remember if an official reason was actually given. Either way, a movie released later that provided an alternate, more conclusive ending to the show, titled End of Evangelion. I don't know if I'd consider it the best thing to come out of the show, but I personally really liked the movie. It's extremely weird and borderline incomprehensible at points, but I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. The climax of the film is easily the highlight of the entire series. It's brutal and somewhat-depressing, but the visuals and music of the scene are phenomenal and made for a segment I will never forget.

All in all, I found Evangelion to be pretty mediocre. Many consider it revolutionary for the time and inspiration for so many shows that came after it. I can't comment on that specifically, but either way I don't find there to be that much reason to watch the show today. It's not bad, but its moments of greatness are few and far between. At least I can say the movie is great.

Except, I actually did get a lot out of the show, because...well, I'm not sure why exactly, but looking back at it and seeing references to it online is just so funny to me. I'm having a hard time even describing the feeling, and I've never had this kind of relationship with a show, especially not one I cared so little about while watching. I think the reason I'll attribute this to is that its fans act like obsessed maniacs online. I don't mean that in the usual sense, though; they don't harass people or make the show their entire lives, but every single thing said reads like the person that wrote it is completely insane.

The first thing I ever saw in a community dedicated to sharing posts about the show was an image someone drew of all the show's characters as cars, as you would see in the Pixar franchise. That essentially set the tone for the rest of the time I spent there. There was someone who asked what the point of the penguin character who is on screen for a total of around five minutes was. One commentor wrote an ironic essay on the importance of the character. The person immediately after commented nothing except the word "Pengin". Finally, I see parodies of the show on YouTube sometimes, and they're honestly hilarious. The people who write them are far better at making the characters likeable and entertaining than the original writers for the show.

Dragon Ball is one of the most recognizable anime franchises of all time, but the first time I watched an episode of it was about a month and a half ago, when my brother Alex started watching it. I found it entertaining and stuck around for a lot of the time he had it on, and I feel like from that I've seen enough of the show to give my opinion on it. Also, I watched Dragon Ball Z Kai, a condensed version of the original Dragon Ball Z that aimed to cut out most of the original show's filler, due to it being the only version of the show on the streaming services our family currently had access to.

The show is a lot longer than Evangelion, being over 150 episodes in length. It showcases the many adventures of Goku, a heroic, honorable fighter who always looks out for the planet and his friends. Each "arc" of the show puts him up against a new threat that challenges the safety of Earth, and often has him starting out weaker than them but training to become more powerful.

The characters, while lacking much depth or subtlety, are just very fun to be around, and this is easily my favorite set of characters between the three shows I watched. I liked almost every one of them, and while their strengths are not very distinct, their presence was simply enjoyable. Even the villains were usually pretty fun and entertaining.

My favorite character in the show was Vegeta, who starts off as a villain, but eventually switches sides while retaining his excessive arrogance and thoughts of being the strongest fighter in the world. His ego made him incredibly hilarious, especially because he keeps his pride despite never winning against a single major opponent in the entire series.

A majority of the show is spent on the battles, either characters talking or preparing for them or actively engaging with their enemies. This very much defines how I would sum up my opinion on the show. It's not complicated or emotional; Dragon Ball Z Kai is a turn-your-brain-off and watch kind of show. The fight scenes are very entertaining and it's a show I like having on in the background while I do other things or simply relax with my own thoughts. There's also very little tension, as nearly every time one of the "good guys" dies, they get brought back some time later. 

The biggest problem I had with the show was the pacing. It moves incredibly slow, and battles can span dozens of episodes. I find it funny how most shows would set a five minute timer and have it go off sooner than five minutes later. Here, there is a time where the villain states the planet will explode in five minutes, only to have that fight last for five episodes, or about two hours. The pacing wasn't a huge deal for me, as I mostly just skimmed around the show, but I still think it's something to note. It can get boring in the spans of time between fights.

Overall, Dragon Ball Z Kai is a simple but very fun show. Despite some notable pacing issues, it's incredibly entertaining at its best and I'd recommend watching at least a few episodes of it to get the gist.

This was the last of the three shows I watched, starting it in the middle of April. Despite that, this is by far the series I've had the most experience with due to the show being based on a game I first played in middle school. 

I should also probably mention that I absolutely despise this franchise. Its final game in particular is my personal least favorite game of all time. But this article is going to focus on the first show released, based on the first game in the series. Luckily, the first game is easily my favorite of the trilogy...or at least the one I dislike the least. Saying I like it would be a stretch, but it's a game I can appreciate for the things it does right.

The reason why I watched this show in the first place is for a video I'm making about the game for my YouTube channel, Semicolin. I don't know if the video will be out by the time this article releases, but it should be done within a week or so, so if you have interest in it, you can get a more detailed review from me there.

Danganronpa begins by introducing us to Makoto Naegi, an average high-schooler that was selected as a lucky winner of a contest for entry to Hope's Peak Academy, a school that is usually only an option for students who are extraordinarily talented in a particular field. However, upon entering the school's gates, Makoto soon passes out and wakes up alone in a classroom where all the windows are bolted shut and he is being monitored by a camera. He meets up with fourteen other students who share similar stories about their arrival. After getting a brief glimpse of what each character is like, their headmaster introduces themselves as a robotic toy bear called Monokuma.

He soon tells them that they are being forced to spend the rest of their lives in the school, and are never allowed to step foot outside. But there is one way to escape…if one student were to murder another. After this occurs and a trial is held to find out who did it, the students will take a vote to see who they think the guilty party is. If they guess correctly, the person responsible for the murder is killed. If they guess wrong, the murderer escapes and everyone else is killed instead. It’s weird and morbid, but I genuinely really like the premise. The stakes are high, and I love the idea of having a finite cast that whittles down over time, where anyone can become the next victim.

And that's about the extent of what I like about the show. The number one thing I don't like about the show is the characters. Between Danganronpa and Evangelion, I don't know which cast is worse, but I definitely found the latter's poor characters to be less of an issue due to the things it has to distract me from them. Out of the 15 students, there were maybe two or three that I consider "acceptable". Also, I will be referring to the characters by their first names. The show refers to them by their last names, as is often done in Japan, but for whatever reason this wasn't the case in the games. I and most other people who experienced this franchise know and refer to these characters by their first names, so that's what I will be doing.

Makoto was mostly uninteresting and I really didn't care for him much here. He improved a little by the end, but his annoying sarcastic remarks were a constant negative for my enjoyment of the show. And yet he's still probably in my top five characters. The best character in the show is Sakura, an extremely large and muscular girl who prides herself as being the strongest human on Earth. She seems like someone who would be unintelligent and impulsive, but is shown to be very caring and usually unwilling to jump to conclusions. I'm not going to spoil it, but I think what they ended up doing with her character was really interesting and one of the best parts of both the show and the game. Byakuya was pretty much the only other character I liked. He is the sole heir to a multi-billion dollar corporation, and is exceptional in almost every way he can be. He serves as the foil to the main characters most of the time, usually refusing to cooperate with others and looking down on everyone else as being beneath him. He’s easy to hate, and it makes the moments where he’s vulnerable all the more satisfying.

My least favorite character in the show was Kyoko. She’s very important, and is the one most connected to the school’s mysteries, but I couldn’t stand her for much of the time she was there. She’s completely unemotional and very cold to those around her, despite being considered one of the show’s “heroes”. Worst of all, she takes actions that are sometimes to the detriment of others or are morally questionable, but is always treated like she’s in the right, as if she’s some sort of perfect character who can do no wrong.

It’s not just the cast being bad that upsets me, it’s the fact that every character I liked in the game is significantly worse here, with the sole exception of Sakura. Mondo was a tough biker guy with a heart of gold, but the show forgot to give him a heart of gold. Chihiro is barely even on-screen, and I was fine with Kiyotaka, but he is significantly less funny and endearing. Byakuya is probably one of the biggest offenders. I still consider him decent in the show, but he was so much better in the game. His pride was even more of a factor and he was constantly insulting the other characters in ways I consistently found hilarious. Even just the way his voice actor delivered some of the lines was funny to me.

In all honesty, Kyoko is still probably one of the better characters in the show. Her personality isn’t terrible and her backstory and relationship with the school is genuinely great. The reason why I consider her my least favorite is because of how much of a degradation it is from her game counterpart. In the game, Kyoko is the best character by far and genuinely might be one of my favorite characters in any game I’ve ever played. There she’s stoic, yet emotionally fragile, and just chooses to hide that fact for her own benefit. She also goes out of her way to comfort others and keep the group working together, and still makes a few poor decisions, but is generally shown to be in the wrong and these moments contribute to her character development that is mostly absent from the anime.

The trials felt a lot more rushed in the show and lacked a lot of suspense. The finale is also pretty awful, due to the focus it puts on the mostly-poor characters and how many of the twists aren't handled the best.

In this case, I would say there is no reason to watch this show. Usually, I can find something people would enjoy in even the worst pieces of media, but everything that Danganronpa The Animation does well is done better in the game its based on. Again, I don't even like the game that much, but if the concept is interesting enough to you that you want to see what is done with it, just play the game instead. You can basically make it nothing but a visual novel if you turn the difficulty settings to a minimum, anyway.

Or just play Ace Attorney instead. Those games are significantly funnier, better written, and more enjoyable overall for me. I love the characters, especially the fact that nearly every character's name is some kind of stupid pun (Luke Atmey and Manfred von Karma immediately come to mind). I can't reccomend the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy enough, and although I haven't played the games that followed them, I've heard they're still really great detective games.