Clannad | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Potent Life Encompassing Story of Youth, Innocence, Love, Loss & Romance 
Clannad (47 Episodes 2 Ova's Two Seasons)8.78 out of ten

Angst, heartbreak, regret, innocence, teardrops, youth.. This is Clannad. A potent part of the Kyoto and Key holy trinity and arguably the best out of the three. While I like many others continue to follow Kyoto animation as well as Key, I feel that Clannad really became a foundational staple for both both parties marking a fine eye point in both their catalogues regarding the shared success and critical reception of Clannad. As when most of us think about the absolute best works from Kyo Ani & Key, a lot of us look back at Kyo Ani & Key's partnership in the early to mid 2000's as the most fond, where the stars seemingly alined and where the majority people would tip their hat in respect to both the visual novel and anime medium in what they are both capable of in terms of telling a story.

Jun Maeda
[Lead Scenario Writer &]
[Music Composition]

While not the first project of the Kyo Ani/Key relationship, there's no doubt in mind that it was the most significant, being that it was the culmination and the fruits of their labour that would mark the end of the Kyo Ani x Key saga and would begin Kyoto Animation's new beginning of carving their path into becoming the most beloved & respected animation force in the industry today. Being that one of the three main scenario writers for Clannad Jun Maeda felt as if his work on Key's last project "Air" was difficult for some viewers to understand, feeling a duty to write Clannad so it'd be easier to understand & receive, in that he championed the creative process behind Clannad's scenario as the most ambitious of his work.

"Clannad is a wall I can never cross again" Jun Maeda [October 11, 2007 Degeki G's Magazine]

In my mind Clannad was the most honest and life encompassing story of the three, & while it has more than it's fair share of going through the motions of established cliche's and narrative loops that concerns the Moe/Slice of life genre in general, what separates Clannad from most of it's peers and predecessors is that the story goes through the natural succession beyond the closet of a story set strictly in a high school setting. As Clannad is Tomoya's life encompassing story of love, joy, regret and tragedy, with beautiful mix of setting and character driven story that's equally atmospheric as it is goofy and sweet. It's a patient family soap opera that sets the stage for it's climatic moments early on through it's details and composition of the individual stages of the story, in how they connect and empower one another. As Jun Maeda & Fumuhiko Shimo we're able to bring the story to a full circle while maintaining a subliminal progression and tempo, having each moment resonate while keeping in mind the composition of the emotional flow, dynamic and flavour of the series throughout the span of 47 episodes. As Clannad is arguably the Pinnacle of the Nakige genre.

One Punch Man | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Dry Comedy & Absurdity in It's Pornographic Action
One Punch Man (12 Episodes Single Season 6 OVA's 1 OAD) 7.9 out of 10 Stars


While almost being in the midst of One Punch Man's second season, which has been reported to be slated until 2019 & to be produced by J.C Staff (a different studio none the less) I'd really like to follow up on my Death Parade revisit and harken back to my ongoing process of reviewing Madhouse's back catalogue and the history of the animation giant. In my Death Parade review it houses a lot of detailed & important information on the studio summarizing some of their history and the legacy they've left over the past 10-20 years, and it goes without saying that I highly recommend you guys check it out. In that it offers so much contextual information that'd be important to understand the production aspects behind this series as well, which I don't want to go on repeating once again.

Shingo Natsume
[Director]

Behind all the hype and buzz over One Punch man, which I'm also also partly guilty of as well, is a very humbling story behind the scene's both from a production and author's standpoint. In that One Punch Man originally was an amateur webcomic from the pseudonym "One" which quickly blew up overnight garnering millions of hits, and not because of the skill and nuance shown in "One's" illustrations, as they're awfully crude and somewhat funny, but because of the absurdity and imagination he was able to pour into its text. It's really that keen sense of idiosyncratic and witty humour that sparked both the populace and it's culture, alongside others in the industry such as Shingo Natsume and Murata Yuusuke along with those over at JUMP now that his manga is being revised to be serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump. Which I imagine most saw so much creative opportunity within the insanity of One Punch man's story, later on becoming an artistic and creative endeavour showcasing the awe inspiring freelance talents and industry veterans that Shingo Natsume was able to gather under one banner. It's really an awe inspiring story of how success can be found  just about anywhere, as I find it really strengthens the sense of independent entrepreneurship and if you build the land of dreams, people will come.

As I find that One Punch Man's ridiculous story of success, is also a testament to the story of Saitama itself. Being able to craft humour and gags from contradicting expectations and poking some fun at the modern cliche's we see in about every battle manga or comic book, with a dead simple character such as Saitama who's just as unassuming as his actual physical ability is deceiving. Really contrasting the original roots of the story and it's humble beginnings, to it's confounding story of success.

Sora No Woto (Sound Of The Sky) | Q's Anime Review

A Tale Filled With Moe Comedy & Wonder, With Subliminal Moments
Sora No Woto (12 Episodes Single Seasons 2 Ova's) 7.96 out of 10 Stars

While often slandered as "Military K On!!", it's quite an oversight to assume Sora No Woto doesn't have it's own merit as it's own unique story, while some will carelessly draw parallels between how Rio & Kanata play brass instruments, along side plausibly similar character designs & the slice of life aspects each series has to call Sora No Woto a "Rip Off", that's really where the similarities end, as I find the comparison surface level and facile, paying little attention to the stark differences regarding the text. In that while K On! continued to be a text book example of a completely episodic comedy throughout it's span of 30 sum episodes, with everything plush & Kawai (Cute) - Sora No Woto on the other hand blossomed more so into a coming of age story, and at least made some attempt at a collective overarching narrative and theme, contrasting it's light hearted moments with prospect of war that threatens their peaceful way of life on the outskirts of Seize, however rosy and sentimental such a take on war that may be.

While somewhat of an average story with a glossed over and an idealized version of what war really means, what particularly strikes me are some of the more subliminal & quiet moments within the series along side occasional laughs that I find make it worth the watch. Not to mention it's a really beautifully rendered animated series for it's time.

Konosuba!! | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Vibrant & Unexpected Tale, With Shameless Humour & Spectacular Visuals
KonoSuba - Kono Subarashii (20 Episodes 2 Seasons 2 Ova's) 7.94 out of 10 Stars

Going into Konosuba season 2 I felt really positive and excited of where the first instalment left off and what was to come. Having a great jumpstart for Kazuma's unexpected journey, that began with shamelessly hilarious fun, and the awe of a visually brilliant adventure, with gorgeous animation to boot. Being adapted from the humble origins of Natsume Akatsuki's original web novel, quickly being revised into a light novel a year thereafter, and later on into a Manga, then into the anime we see today. We left the first season with a lot of hope and positivity, having characters such as Aqua and the rest of the dysfunctional rag tag team of adventurers finally triumph, and have their own moments and a sense of accomplishment. S1 started off with Kazuma's shut in life being quickly turned on it's head, quickly ensuing a most wacky and hilarious adventure to come. S1 was balanced with a great amount of comedic banter and innocent adventure, along with a great sense of timing with a nice amount of progress to end the first season.

Konosuba S2 finished airing just last March, but how did the last season fair?

The Monogatari Series | Q's Franchise Anime Review

An Impersonal, Mysteriously Dissonant & a Comical story, with unexpectedly Fragile & Tender moments

The Monogatari Series (3 seasons 74 episodes 12 Ova's + a  Film Trilogy) 8.74 out of ten


The Monogatari series is very loved anime here at RedQStudios, to me it's a series that's infinitely rewatchable & satisfyingly long . It's light heartedly comical, intuitively funny, and unexpectedly fragile, with tender moments. Also with subtly introduced mystery that's alluded to but not exactly defined. Instead of telling a story of happiness, I feel, it's a story of actually trying to find and fight for it, which to me really seems to what the first season Bakemonogatari (Monster story) was all about, and of course the tribulations and tumultuous events that occur in conflict with that goal. Which brings me to Hitagi Senjougahara, the signature Tsundere impostor that's the poster girl for this series. like Araragi I feel both of them are somehow really sort of damaged as human beings, and coming out of those experiences, it feels like they're searching for something and/or for happiness, and that's why I think Bakemonogatari made me feel this sense great sense of optimism and happiness, not only for this series of course, but for just life in general. I feel while this series has this sort of causal nature at times, there's these uncharacteristically familiar yet fresh and new feeling moments that are really touching. It teaches us how we morally, can be naive and in denial about the overwhelming proposition life really is. The way the Monogatari series does romance is really unexpected, it's hilarious, familiar, and yet fresh. Though thankfully, that really is just the tip of the iceberg and that is not all the Monogatari Series has to offer...

Chihayafuru | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Incredibly Fiery Drama, With Blazing Competitiveness & A Potent Warmth 
Chihayafuru (II seasons 48 episodes Ongoing) 9.07 out of ten stars (Full Review)

A poetry card game called Karuta played in a competitive manner, with exciting velocity, nuance and transient dynamism, we have Chihayafuru. See this is one of those anime you might just write off because it looks far too bubbly or gooey in terms of idealism and sentimentality. Fret not, this an Ace production from Madhouse, with a high gear sound track and beautiful animation, regarding both art style as well as production style/quality.

This absolutely radiates the childhood innocence of competitive play and it's magnetic allure, and the progressive nature to want to constantly improve and strive to be the best. We see interesting rivalries between a prodigy of an eternal grand master Arata and a dedicated guy with an iron wit Taichi. It also has characters biding their romantic feelings for each other, for those of you interested in a Romance sub plot...

Shirobako!! Stuff We Like!! Quick Review & Commentary

It's a new day, so lets start it off with Shirobako.
A Rosy, Robust & Jubilantly Exciting Anime Production 

Shirobako (24 Episodes Single Season)

Shirobako, an anime that gives us a somewhat rosy, but none the less solid and satisfying take on what goes on behind the scenes and the people responsible for making anime. Aoi Miyamori, our light bronze haired female lead takes the role of a production assistant and later a production manager, so we get a general oversight of characters she has to manage, keep track of an up to date with & with the problems that arise we get an introduction to each character in the studio, who they are, the details of their job and how that relates to the problem that needs to be fixed to meet deadlines. Also we get nice insight on 4 other of her friends that serve as additional main characters, though Aoi Miyamori seems to be our main gal for the majority of the show.

Seeing that Shirobako had heart warming moments within a group of friends busty with their daily lives with the spare time they had was very encouraging, Shirobako warranted more investment right off the bat. At Musashino animation, where pretty much all of our 5 main character eventual congregate to, is a anime production studio that contracts itself to produce anime while it airs, which is quite common since it's less expensive. This of course brings deadlines & that's where our problems lie, with the people involved and how Aoi Miyamori helps to understand these people & their problems, to eventual arrive at a solution.

Samurai Champloo | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Fusion Frenzy of styles and cultures, that's a warm and comical journey of desiring closure
Samurai Champloo (26 Episodes 2 Seasons) 8.35 out of ten

There's something that's to me that's so openly nostalgic about Samuria Champloo, it's something about it's relatively conservative film grammar, emphasizing diegetic continuity, in addition to a comical spin on it - With plenty of dry gags, jump cuts and a character first priority on scriptwriting. 13 years later, Shinichiro Watanabe's Samurai Champloo, while still decently popular, I feel is one of Watanabe's most slept on works along with Sakemichi No Appollon (Kids on The Slope), being that for a 2004 T.v animation, in terms of character animation & art direction, Samurai Champloo is a production at a fine eye point, the apex of it's era - A masterpiece given the time of production and circumstances. In other regards though, Champloo is an episodic classic, set in a comically idealized version of the Edo period within Japan, where characters such as Jin & Mugen are the last generation of the declining Age of The Samurai, where they randomly stumble into a restaurant & meet Fuu, a waitress - From there on, the dysfunctional bunch set out on a seemingly aimless and coincidental journey, in Fuu's search for a Samurai who smells of sunflowers, slowly realizing that Fuu's ambitions to find him are more dangerous and involved than they actually realize...

Konosuba!! Stuff We Like!! Quick Review & Commentary

A Vibrant, Magnetic And Jovial Treat For The Eyes 
 Konosuba (10 episodes Single season Ongoing) 8.4 out of ten stars

             Perhaps it's too early to review anime that will get another expected season, but what I plan to
to do is I plan to do an update instead and keep the old commentary and review and simply post another commentary upon what was added and developments made etc.. etc... After doing some long form commentary these past few days I'm a little tired, So I felt I would do a commentary on a short but ultra sweet series called Konosuba. A very new series that aired this spring I believe.

             Along with that the characters are rather young, so I don't mind going more into character analysis as their relationships with each other are very simple and straight forward, as this is a comedy/fantasy/adventure series with a dash of some splice of life moments. The animation is just great, Just the right, potent amount of saturation and wonderfully colourful environments, this anime just has such a vibrant place in my heart. Movement and action scenes are fluid as well...    

Jormungand | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Invective & Seductive, With Magnetic Excitement & Dynamic Action 
Jormungand (24 Episodes II Seasons) 8.35 out of ten stars


Jormungand is a fast paced, high octane anime, with lots of gun porn, bullets, blades & babes. Often times, I find myself stacked on all too many slice of life series now a days, so it's refreshing to take another look at Jormungand - An anime that's action driven, violent and always exciting. Back in the day, I only primarily watched anime series that were preferably more action driven and had enough urgency to demand that I watched episode after episode, since I feel back then, I had far less tolerance for a story just to "dawdle" around - Being that I pretty much prohibited myself from watching Moe Moe type anime. Though this has changed entirely, as more and more Slice of life/Moe anime keep getting released and pilling up in my room, Jormungand is an anime that'll give you that extra kick you need or perhaps are used to, such as more progressive titles such as Ghost in the shell S.A.C, Fate Stay Night UBW, or perhaps Samurai Champloo - All beloved titles here at RedQStudios and Jormungand is no exception...