Short, non-spoiler reviews and hot takes of anime for the newly initiated weeb.
Now that the Rebuild of Evangelions’s own different story is rolling, the pacing is much more natural and you’ll be on the edge of your seat - or hiding behind it, I literally pulled a muscle in my neck recoiling in horror at the excellently animated action.
NGNL Zero is a strong prequel movie with a much heavier and more serious tone than the series. I was caught off guard and cried multiple times throughout. It's worth watching the series for this movie alone.
A beautifully animated coming of age vignette piece with a professional polish, but not very memorable at the end of the day.
A completely revamped and beautiful beginning to a different Evangelion story. It was so nice to see crisp HD updates and detail, with more focused storytelling with pieces of the fat trimmed out, but this first movie is mostly the same story you know.
This is the best anime movie from a TV series that I've seen. KyoAni's love for their craft is strongly felt here in a beautiful and emotional piece. All the good of Haruhi improved while trimming all eye-roll moments.
A family-friendly Disney/Ghibli vibe that's fun enough, though definitely has "for kids" goofiness in it, but goes a bit deeper emotionally than typical non-Pixar family movies.
An interesting, mysterious story that while gorgeously animated, feels more like a stand-out episode of a Sci-Fi TV series than a standalone movie.
A Classic D&D-style Adventure with the Goblin Slayer crew. Doesn't particularly add much to the series but brings in a new character and better animation.
If you, like me, finished the main series thinking "Well, I'm not really sure what happened, but there's another movie to wrap up those loose ends" then this won't be too satisfying. While some questions are answered, it creates more than those it answers. It does have one of the greatest fight scenes I've seen in animation.
With gorgeous enhanced visuals and artistic detail, Tamako Love Story dives a bit deeper into the human relationships presented in the series with a slightly more serious tone.
