Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War (Season 1)

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War has been all over the internet when its first two seasons were airing, and was one of the first anime to catch my eye. I'm glad I checked it, because it's a incredibly funny series with great characters and a ton of heart.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War has a simple premise. Kaguya and Miyuki both have crushes on each other, but they're too prideful to actually admit it. So, they spend most of their high school days running the Student Council while playing tactical games of war to bait each other into confessing, while the secretary unknowingly intervenes. It's a great example of a simple concept executed brilliantly, mostly because of how seriously everything is played out. Kaguya and Miyuki have these dramatic monologues as if their "battles" are some sort of epic battle sequence, the score is booming, and there's a deep voiced narration going on in the background, even though it's really just a bunch of dumb teenagers being stupid. The show is jam-packed with hilarious irony like this that drives a lot of its humor, and most of the sketches end on these truly genius punchlines that nearly always makes me doubled over in laughter. 

However, most of the comedy probably wouldn't land as well if it weren't for the great characters. The show's entire cast is enjoyable to watch together, especially Kaguya and Miyuki who have a ton of chemistry with each other. It's not just them though, Chika is a hilarious agent of chaos, Hayasaka's snark is great, and I love the high school couple that repeatedly asks Kaguya and Miyuki for advice. The only character that falls flat for me right now is Ishigami, but even he starts to warm up to me in the later episodes. Even with the focus on comedy, this anime also packs in a ton of heartwarming and emotional moments that rank as some of my favorite scenes in the season. Another thing that's worth noting is Kaguya-sama's structure. As an adaptation of a manga, each episode is divided into a bunch of sketches depicting one of said manga's chapters. While this structure ends up making some episodes feel a little disjointed, most of the sketches are incredibly entertaining on their own merits. There's also a great sense of continuity with plot threads that reappear throughout the season, and a strong ending that brings all of the characters and threads together on a heartfelt note.

Presentation wise, Kaguya-Sama fares really well. The animation is great, it's fluid and expressive, and the hilariously dramatic shots do a great job at helping the comedy land. There are also plenty of scenes that go above and beyond with the animation, particularly Chika's iconic dance in Episode 3. It didn't need to be that intricate and fluid, but it ended up being one of the show's most memorable scenes. The voice acting is also pretty good too, especially from Kaguya's voice actress who perfectly toes the line between calculating and utterly adorkable. But the real star of the show is the narrator who says some of the silliest things in the most serious voice, it just fits the show perfectly. The music is also pretty solid, jumping between incredibly dramatic and hilariously derpy (not quite unlike Konosuba's music). It works really well for the show.

While most of the episodes are entertaining at the least, these are the highlights:

Episode 4: This episode was the first to have an overarching storyline between the sketches about the Student Council preparing for a party with a sister academy in France. It's a great blend between humor and drama, between scenes like Chika's beat-boxing and Kaguya accidentally calling Miyuki's father, and the surprisingly heart-warming ending which has Kaguya defend Miyuki from insults.

Episode 9: Similarly to Episode 4, this episode has an overarching story, this time about Kaguya accidentally getting herself sick during a rainstorm. All three sketches here are great, from Kaguya frantically trying to bait Miyuki, to Chika cheating during a card game, to sick Kaguya in general.

Episode 11: The summer vacation arc that ends off the season is a pretty great final storyline, and this episode does a good job of leading you to think it's going to be super lighthearted and goofy until it isn't. The first two sketches are hilarious, especially that bizarre ramen shop sequence. However, the episode then takes a far more dramatic shift as Miyuki and Kaguya are unable to see each other, and then we learn about Kaguya's family and ouch, that hurt.

Episode 12: "I Can't Hear The Fireworks" is easily the best sketch of the season. It's dramatic and heartwarming, and I love how Kaguya's friends team up to try and help her see the fireworks. It ties up a lot of the threads and running gags as well, like the Ramen King sketch, and Kaguya's reunion with Miyuki was incredibly sweet. I also like how the final segment of the episode was a bit more lighthearted, serving as a bit of a palette cleanser.

Overall, the first season of Kaguya-Sama is pretty great. It has strong humor, a likable cast, and an emotional finale. Not all of the sketches land entirely, but more often than not, this anime was a joy to watch.

4/5 Stars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 7)

Rebooting or reviving a TV show is a difficult task, but the belated final season of Clone Wars made it feel like the show never left. This season ended with easily the best arc in the series and one of the best stretches of episodes in TV history, but the road there was a bit more uneven.

The Bad Batch Arc: So I never actually saw this arc prior to watching The Bad Batch series, so it's nice that I finally get to see their introduction, and it's pretty good, if a bit standard. I think the highlight of this arc is that it shows us where Rex is prior to the Siege Of Mandalore, along with introducing the titular batch, of course. Clone Force 99 is generally pretty close to their characterizations in their spinoff series, but I can still see the problem where certain characters (Wrecker and Tech) seem a bit stereotypical. The Bad Batch (the episode) is a fine introduction to the team, which means it has a lot of exposition in it, but I can only imagine how shocking it must have been to learn Echo was alive. A Distant Echo is an improvement, as Rex's motivation to rescue Echo adds a compelling hook to the arc, and the rescue mission throughout the episode is super tense and exciting. On The Wings Of Keeradaks had a tense opening where the cast narrowly escapes the base, but the main storyline about saving a village was pretty dull. Unfinished Business, on the other hand, was a massively bombastic end to the arc with tons of amazing action. The ending where Echo joins Clone Force 99 is also an incredibly sweet moment of set-up for the spinoffs series itself. Overall, the Bad Batch arc has a solid emotional hook and does a solid job of introducing the titular team, but as a whole, I think it's a pretty standard arc.

3/5 Stars

Ahsoka's Journey Arc: So I've heard stories about how "bad" this arc is (it has the lowest scores on IMDb), but I honestly think the hate's a bit overblown. It's definitely slow-paced and probably didn't need to be four episodes long, but it's nowhere near the worst arc of the show. What about the Gungan General? Senate Spy? The D-Squad? There are some good ideas in this arc, I like that Ahsoka spends time with people who don't like the Jedi to get a different perspective, but it definitely could've been a bit shorter. Gone With A Trace is pretty low-key as Ahsoka meets the Martez sisters. Nothing really happens here, but there's a cute slice of life vibe to it as there aren't too many conflicts in this one. Deal No Deal was easily the weakest of the arc as while I found Gone With A Trace to be kinda cute, this episode didn't quite have anything good happening until the final few seconds (though I did like the Anakin scene). Dangerous Debt was a tiny bit better, as we finally learn the Martez sisters' backstories (seriously, why did it take three episodes?!) and we finally got some action and excitement even if nothing really changed by the episode's end. Together Alone was the only truly great episode of the arc, with a pretty great final battle and the long-awaited scene of Ahsoka revealing she was a Jedi. The real highlight, though was the set up for the Siege Of Mandalore with Maul and Bo-Katan, which was really great stuff. Overall, this arc was fine. It was way too drawn out and didn't really get good until the final episode, but it was a cute reintroduction to Ahsoka that does a solid job of setting up for the much better final arc. Not quite the travesty the internet claims it is, but not all that amazing either.

2/5 Stars

Siege Of Mandalore Arc: Where do I even begin with this arc? This is hands down the best arc in the series, it's some of the best television I've ever seen, and probably the second best Star Wars content outside of Empire Strikes Back. It's action-packed, dramatic, and a damn near perfect ending to the series. Even with how hit and miss The Clone Wars, even with its weak plot, rough start, and repetitive storylines, there aren't many series that have ended as pitch perfectly as this, so I'm going to go through every single episode of the arc in detail, there's just too much to say.

Old Friends Not Forgotten is the weakest episode of the story arc due to mostly being set-up, but in another arc, it would probably be one of the best, if not the best, episodes. The opening is a great reintroduction to Anakin and Obi-Wan, and the episode does a good job of bringing together Rex and Ahsoka for the big final arc. That's what I really like about this season's structure, it tightens the focus to the two major characters who were introduced in the movie that started it all. This is also just a really emotional start to the arc as we get a lot of the major goodbyes prior to Revenge Of The Sith. This is the last time Ahsoka will see Anakin and Obi-Wan in person even if she might not know that, and that makes her final conversations with them all the more heartwrenching and poignant.

The Phantom Apprentice is easily my favorite episode of the series. It's the climax of the titular siege and is pretty much just one action scene after the next, all of which are great. Bo-Katan gets a pretty badass jetpack fight in an elevator shaft, the Clones get a massive outdoor war, and best of all, Ahsoka gets a lightsaber fight with Darth Maul. This fight is just amazing, the use of motion capture makes it feel so natural and weighty, the choreography is intricate, and the fight manages to evolve throughout and rise in stakes. The Phantom Apprentice is just pure, unbridled Star Wars fun and it absolutely made me feel like a kid again the first time I saw it. I'm sure that if I saw it as a kid, I'd think this episode was the coolest thing ever.

Shattered is tense as hell, showing what exactly happens to Ahsoka and Rex once Order 66 begins. There's this feeling of dread building throughout the arc as the events of Revenge Of The Sith seem to happen in the background, slowly building towards the infamous order. It makes the first half of this episode feel incredibly nail-biting, until we get to the now iconic scene where Rex turns on Ahsoka. The rest of the episode isn't as compelling as the first half, but it ends on a great note as Ahsoka manages to get Rex's inhibitor chip removed. 

Victory And Death is a great finale for the series, both action-packed and somber in equal measures. On one hand, we get a fun pseudo teamup between Ahsoka and Maul, a massive final battle in a crumbling ship, some final goofy droid hijinks to end off the series, and even a hallway sequence where Maul gets to pretty much destroy a ton of Clones in his path. On the other hand, the aforementioned droids and a lot of the Clones end up dying, Rex is forced to reckon with killing his own brothers, and it ends on a very sad note as Darth Vader is left thinking Ahsoka died. I love how the series ends with re-exploring the themes that were established in the very first episode about the Clones' free will, and the emotional moments throughout the episode just hit so hard. As a whole, this Siege Of Mandalore arc is phenomenal, it juggles everything I love about the series and Star Wars as a whole. The fight scenes are great, the drama is impactful, and it ends this enjoyable but imperfect series on a perfect note.

5/5 Stars

Overall, this season was uneven for sure, but it was also deliberate. By focusing it around Ahsoka and Rex, this final season's slow start also worked as a buildup to the best arc in the show's history. Thus, it's an excellent final season to the series, if anything because of how good the Siege Of Mandalore is.

4/5 Stars

My ranking of the Clone Wars seasons is:

4 > 5 > 7 > 2 > 3 > 6 > 1

My ranking of the Clone Wars finales is:

7 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 2 > 1 > 3

Favorite Episode: The Phantom Apprentice

Teen Titans (Season 5)

Nowadays, Teen Titans is known as one of those shows that ended prematurely on an unsatisfying cliffhanger. And while I'd love a Season 6 (Starfire hasn't gotten her season yet!), I actually think this season works pretty well as the big finale to the series as well as one of the show's better seasons.

It would be hard to top the world-ending stakes of Season 4, so this season's main storyline goes all in on the superhero action. Nearly every episode this season introduces a bunch of new superheroes as the Titans travel the world to recruit people to defeat the main antagonist of the season, a conglomerate of all of the villains from series past. This overarching conflict may not be as personal or dark as something like the Slade or Trigon arcs, but having all of the show's heroes get together and fight all of the show's villains just feels so climactic and spectacular, a love letter to DC that perfectly fits a final season. Even more, since nearly every episode fits the story arc, it means that this is probably the show's most consistent season. There aren't any hit or miss standalones this time around, and as a result, there aren't really any episodes I dislike. Beast Boy also gets a pretty great character arc this season as he deals with his past in the Doom Patrol and proves himself as a leader. The whole season has this overarching theme about the characters proving themselves that I thought was really cool.

However, the heavy focus on superheroes other than the Titans is definitely noticeable, with multiple episodes where the show's central cast doesn't even appear, sometimes with the exception of a single character. While I definitely admire the world building here, and some of the side characters like Jinx, Kid Flash, and most of the Titans East are definitely likable, it also means that we just don't get to spend as much time with characters like Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire. In addition, while the lack of standalone episodes means we don't get too many bad episodes, it also means we don't get many experimental gems (outside of Revved Up and Go!) that we'd get in some of the other seasons. Episodes like Mad Mod, Haunted, and Don't Touch That Dial are pretty much nonexistent here, which does remove a bit of the charm. As for the finale, I kinda liked it and I wouldn't call it an underwhelming cliffhanger. It's a somber and thematic episode that resolves Beast Boy's character arc, probably one of the highest points of the season, but I'll elaborate more on it later.

There were a lot of great episodes in Season 5, especially near the end:

For Real/Lightspeed: I'm clumping these episodes together since they both faced a few similarities, each focusing on a different team than the Titans as they try to prove themselves as either heroes or villains. For Real is hysterical as the Control Freak finds a new enemy in the Titans East who realize that no one knows who they are. Lightspeed focuses on HIVE as they fight with Kid Flash, who's trying to convince Jinx to turn good. Both episodes are a ton of fun and nice changes of pace, and it helps that Lightspeed onwards is a pretty much flawless streak of episodes.

Go!: It's always cool to see how the gang gets together in the first place (Firefly did this really well), and this episode does it especially well. The attention to detail in Go! is just so good, I love how Robin is still using some of Batman's weapons, Beast Boy is still wearing his Doom Patrol outfit, and Cyborg is still keeping his robotic body hidden. It was fascinating to see the team unite to fight and eventually save Starfire, and all of their dynamics developed incredibly naturally throughout the episode. Oh, and shy Raven is adorable.

Calling All Titans: This episode signals the first half of the big final battle with the Brotherhood Of Evil, and it's pretty great. It starts off fairly lighthearted as we get to meet a bunch new heroes that just got recruited, only for them to nearly all get picked off by the Brotherhood in a pretty devastating second half. The ending is a great cliffhanger as only Beast Boy and a few remaining heroes are left...

Titans Together: What a massive final battle! Titans Together did an amazing job with feeling like both the climax of Beast Boy's arc and the climactic final battle of the whole series. It was really cool to see Beast Boy use his knowledge from the Doom Patrol to fight the Brotherhood, and the big Endgame-esque finale with all of the heroes fighting all of the villains was just so amazingly epic.

Things Change: Okay, time for my paragraph on why this finale is great. On a presentation level, I love how different this episode feels. The more orchestral score and long shots create this somewhat surreal tone that perfectly fits the episode. The visuals are just so good, especially that traffic light shot when Beast Boy was talking to Terra. I also like the themes this finale is going for. The obvious one is the fact that things change. Sometimes your favorite store closes, sometimes your friend wants nothing to do with you, and yes, sometimes your favorite show ends. It's not the only theme this episode is dealing with though, it touches on Beast Boy's arc about dealing with his past, along with how important he is to the Titans. As for Terra, I didn't really feel like it was all that unsatisfying. When you think about it, Terra was freed when Raven reverted the world back to normal in The End. Whether or not she remembers being a Titan, it's obvious that she wants to lead a normal life, and I like that Beast Boy ends up accepting it. There's so much more to unpack here, but this paragraph is as long enough as it is. So yeah, I thought this was a great finale even if I get why a lot of people didn't. As a fan of ambiguous and theme-heavy series finales, this was right up my alley. It's mature, thought-provoking, and emotional, and I'm glad the show runners took a risk by ending the show with this one.

Overall, Season 5 worked as a final season for me. Its main storyline was a bit uneven, but between the massive roster of villains, incredibly strong latter half, and dramatic final episode, I'd definitely call this one of the better seasons of the series.

4/5 Stars

My ranking of the Teen Titans seasons is:

4 > 5 > 2 > 3 > 1

My ranking of the Teen Titans finales is:

4 > 2 > 1 > 5 > 3

Favorite Episode: Haunted

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 6)

Season 6 of The Clone Wars was an interesting one for me because I never actually finished it as a kid. I watched up to The Disappeared but I kinda just gave up since I didn't wanna watch a two-parter about Jar Jar Binks. Now, I want to give this season a full chance. Is it going to be better than I remembered? And was I being too harsh on that Jar Jar Binks episode?

Clone Protocol 99 Arc: This arc was a pretty strong start to the season. It's another clone focused storyline, but this time it's about Order 66. The Unknown starts the arc with a pretty genius premise: What if Order 66 activated early and resulted in a Jedi's death. The first few minutes are a dark and intriguing examination into a clone's psyche after Order 66 is activated, but otherwise, this is a lot of set-up. Conspiracy ended on a pretty shocking note by killing off the presumed main character Tup halfway through the arc, making Fives the actual protagonist. Shaak Ti also appears for the first time since early Season 3. It's probably my second favorite episode of the arc, though I felt the medical droid AZI-3 was a bit annoying. Fugitive was fun and all, but it felt kind of annoying to get another "fugitive" episode so soon after the last one (the final arc of Season 5 had a similar storyline). However, it's still an action-packed episode that ends with Fives learning about the inhibitor chips and telling Shaak Ti. Orders is a strong and heartbreaking ending to the arc, with Fives unable to reveal Order 66 and ultimately being the last of the Domino Squad to (supposedly) die. It was a bit frustrating to see things end so badly, but I know that was the point of the episode. Overall, this was a really solid arc for its set-up of Order 66, heartbreaking ending, and dark tone, even if it boasted a lot of similarities with Season 5's fugitive arc.

4/5 Stars

Rush Clovis Arc: Senate Spy was one of the few episodes/arcs of the series that I gave a 1/5 stars. I hated Clovis, but more importantly, I hated Anakin's jealousy attitude towards Clovis. So I was not excited to get a three-episode-long arc about exactly that, though it didn't reach the lows that Senate Spy did. An Old Friend was easily my favorite of the arc entirely because of Embo, a cool bounty hunter who finally got an episode to himself. The rest of the episode (and most of the arc) was pretty standard Early Season 3 fare, but that final chase in the snow was just so good. The Rise Of Clovis, on the other hand, was pretty much built entirely around the rivalry between Anakin and Clovis, and they both suck! By the halfway point where Clovis tries to kiss Padme and Anakin starts beating him up, I just completely checked out. It just felt so melodramatic, and while I get how the show wants to show Anakin and Padme falling apart as he goes closer to the dark side, their relationship isn't all that strained at the start of RoTS, so it feels kinda forced. Crisis At The Heart at least ends the arc with a more action-packed episode that mostly wraps up the story and gives Clovis a solid exit, and it doesn't have any scenes as bad as that fight in the previous episode. Overall, I didn't like this arc all that much. The Embo episode gives it an extra star, but otherwise, it feels like these episodes were ripped right out of early Season 3. It was either focused around dull economic discussions or a frustrating rivalry that I just couldn't get into. 

2/5 Stars

The Disappeared Arc: I was dreading this two-parter when I was younger, a storyline about Jar Jar Binks and Mace Windu sounded like the worst thing ever, especially since I didn't quite like either characters. Jar Jar was annoying and Mace was a jerk to Ahsoka. However, upon actually seeing this episode, it's... not... the worst? I still think Shadow Warrior was the best Jar Jar episode, but this one had quite a bit going for it. Mace and Jar Jar had a solid dynamic, not unlike Jar Jar and C-3PO in Bombad Jedi, and the concept of an Indiana Jones homage felt perfect for Star Wars. We even got to see what happened to Talzin after she disappeared in Season 4. However, this didn't need to be two parts, especially since the second half was far less enjoyable than the Temple Of Doom-inspired first half. Like all of the Jar Jar arcs, there's only so much of him I can really take, and I absolutely did not need to know about his love life. So was I right to dread this one as a kid? Eh, not really. This wasn't a necessarily good episode, but there were some fun sequences here, and I'd say it was somewhat more entertaining than parts of the Clovis arc. The thing I regret most though is missing out on what comes next...

2/5 Stars

Yoda Arc: What the hell was wrong with me? How did I miss this storyline as a kid, it would have blown my mind! This is an entire arc focused around Yoda, and its goal is to address many of the force-related mysteries the franchise has been holding off on the answer to. There's tons of references, plot twists, cool fights, stunning visuals, and appearances from a large portion of the Jedi Council. Pretty much, if you find force lore fascinating, this arc is for you. The Lost Ones establishes the intriguing mystery about what happened to the enigmatic Jedi Sifo-Dyas. This episode jumps between a bunch of planets as the Jedi question people, even giving Palpatine's predecessor a surprise appearance as well. I also like how the Jedi finally start to learn more about the Separatist plans, along with that slick final battle with Dooku. Voices is where the arc begins proper, kickstarting with Yoda hearing Qui-Gon's voice. We finally get to learn about force ghosts, culminating in Yoda taking a trip to none other than Dagobah. The highlight of this episode is easily the scene where he gets visions in the cave, primarily because we get to see some RoTS scenes in the show's animation style. 

Destiny isn't quite as fanservice-y as Voices and goes for a similar storyline to The Box and Monster, but it makes up with some really trippy visuals (I get a lot of Twilight Princess vibes from this one) and some cool sequences. It's a great examination of Yoda as a character, we learn a lot about him, especially the fact that he has a bit of a dark side. The trial of temptation sequence was also just haunting. Even with the Clone Wars having generally strong finales (2, 4, and 5 all had great endings), Sacrifice might be one of the show's strongest. There are just so many cool scenes here, we get to see the Sith's home planet, Bane makes a brief appearance, and we even get a (good) fight between Yoda and Sidious! The whole vision scene is really cool in the way it foreshadows a lot of Revenge Of The Sith, not unlike Buffy's Restless. But what I especially love is its hopeful ending. Yoda knows and has accepted that the Jedi may lose the Clone Wars, but he also has the hope that they'll win some other way. Overall, it's a shame I didn't see this arc until now because it's really good! The visuals are stunning, the action is fun, the references are numerous, and the force lore is fascinating. Despite its similarities, I might actually like this arc more than Mortis probably because of just how much of a love letter it feels like to Star Wars as a whole. 

5/5 Stars

Overall, Season 6 was definitely a step down from the last two. It had a good start and a great end, but it also had a weak middle section. It was nice to finally get to see the Yoda arc which rose up to become one of my favorites, but otherwise, this season was standard Clone Wars fare.

3/5 Stars

Teen Titans (Season 4)

So far all of the seasons of Teen Titans have focused on a particular character. Season 1 was Robin, 2 was Terra, 3 was Cyborg, and Season 4 is focused on Raven, the show's best character. What results is the show's darkest and most dramatic season yet, and probably its best.

There was always this mystery about just how powerful Raven truly is. Her powers never seemed all that concrete, so there was this possibility that she could be the most powerful of the Titans by a long shot. This season's main story arc is about a prophecy that Raven is meant to destroy the world, and how her father and a now alive Slade are trying to make it happen. I absolutely adore this storyline. It might not be as morally complex as Terra's arc, and it really just takes up three episodes, but each of those episodes are some of the best in the whole series. Raven's arc is dark and dramatic, Slade has pretty much upgraded from intimidating to downright terrifying, and the stakes of a potential end of the world are massive. It also gives a lot of context to why Raven has been so secretive these first three seasons, allowing for a lot of great character development as she starts to open up a bit more.

So Raven's arc is phenomenal, but what about the rest of the season? Well, it's pretty alright. The standalone episodes that take up the remaining episodes are as hit or miss as always, but I generally enjoyed a large portion of them. The highlights are down below, but the whole season was packed with variety. We got a fourth-wall break episode in Don't Touch That Dial, a martial arts episode in The Quest, an emotional time travel love story in Cyborg The Barbarian, a really well-written episode about racism in Troq, and even another FLCL homage in Employee Of The Month. I wouldn't say all of the standalones are great (Mother Mae Eye is pretty uneven), and none of them topped some of Season 3's best standalones like X and Haunted, but this was generally a pretty solid lineup that gave most of the cast time to shine. 

This season had some great episodes, these are my favorites:

Don't Touch That Dial: This episode was just hilarious, easily on part with Bunny Raven as far as sheer rapid humor goes. It's a cavalcade of fourth wall breaks and hilarious references, many of which got at least a chuckle out of me, and the fast pace keeps things entertaining and surprising throughout. I particularly loved the scene where Robin was literally telling the viewer to turn off the show, it was so original and fun.

Birthmark: When I said I wanted more episodes like Haunted, this was exactly what I meant. Slade's return was shocking and the mystery of what's going on with Raven's birthday was compelling throughout. The stakes kept raising throughout the episode and Slade just kept getting more and more brutal until we got to see the future where Raven destroys the world, and it's legitimately terrifying. And to think every episode in the arc is like this!

The Prophecy: While it wasn't as screwed up and inherently devastating as Birthmark, this was another strong entry in the Raven arc about her fear of telling the team the truth about her prophecy. We learn a bit more interesting context about Raven's past like the fact that Trigon is her father and that she's actually a portal for him, but the real highlight is actually getting to see Azarath for that brief moment where Raven reunites with her mom.

Stranded: This was a really cute episode, it's a nice blend of humor and character work as the team gets separated and stranded on an alien planet. All of the subplots are super entertaining here, from Robin and Starfire's romantic tension, to Cyborg and Beast Boy's hilarious dynamic, to especially Raven running into a bunch of adorable aliens. But what I love the most about this one is how it's pretty much entirely character driven which I something I love to see in this series.

The End: What a truly epic finale, a three-part episode where the Teen Titans fight to stop the literal end of the world. It's just so dark and dramatic, the titular apocalypse rivals Angel's Season 4 in terms of sheer terror and brutality, and even though the Titans are fighting impossible odds, seeing them win is immensely satisfying. There are just so many amazing moments here, from Slade teaming up with Robin after being betrayed by Trigon, to the Titans fighting their Nega versions, to Raven completely obliterating his own father. This is how you pull off an epic finale, and I doubt any Teen Titans episode will be able to top this one in scale.

Overall, Season 4 was an excellent season for the Teen Titans, with a compelling and dark main arc, plenty of varied and entertaining standalones, and a phenomenal final episode.

5/5 Stars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 5)

Season 5 was originally supposed to be the final season of Clone Wars, and was the point at which the show became entirely arc-driven with no standalone storylines. I'm actually split on the long story arcs because of how much they range in quality. If the story arc is good, you get four amazing episodes in rapid succession. If the story arc is weak, you get four bad episodes all in a row, and no season demonstrates this more than the show's fifth.

Onderon Arc: Did they seriously just give Ahsoka a love triangle?! Clone Wars has taken some really big risks for children's media in their depiction of war, yet they end up just falling for the same dull romantic tropes we've seen time and time again with Ahsoka and Lux. But fine, this is a four episode arc, there's a lot more than Ahsoka and Lux in this one. This arc focuses on a rebellion on Onderon, introducing Saw Gerrera who ends up being a very important character in later properties like Rogue One and The Bad Batch (though one I don't find super interesting). Add in more storylines about Anakin turning to the dark side and some interesting themes about rebellion/terrorism and you get an otherwise solid arc, if a bit unmemorable by the end of it. I don't think this one needed to be four episodes, they all ended up blurring together by the end. A War On Two Fronts was easily the weakest episode of the bunch, as it was both set-up and had probably the most annoying love triangle hijinks. Front Runners on the other hand was a pretty fun and action-packed siege with little to no romance whatsoever. The Soft War was pretty standard fare though with a tense storyline about stopping an execution. Tipping Points was easily the strongest episode of the arc, with a surprisingly affecting death scene, a great appearance for Hondo, and more tension between Ahsoka and Anakin. Overall, this arc was fine and had some neat ideas, though it was pretty dull and was held back by Lux once again.

3/5 Stars

Young Jedi Arc: This arc was actually really cool. We got Ahsoka in a pretty big role, Grievous and Hondo as the main villains, and a ton of cool lore about how the Younglings get their lightsabers. Even though the main cast was composed of children, they weren't super annoying and the variety of species (we even got a Wookie Jedi!) was welcome. The Gathering is a neat opening that shows in detail how the Young Jedi get their crystals, and it's jam-packed with interesting lore and stunning visuals. I also really liked Yoda's role in it as well, and the ending where all of the Younglings completely their challenges was pretty sick. This was easily my favorite of the arc. A Test Of Strength was a pretty tense episode about Ahsoka and the younglings getting attacked by Hondo's pirates, and there was some cool lore on how lightsabers are built. Bound For Rescue was the least interesting of the four, a rescue mission plot that the series has done far better than this, but it did have a pretty great subplot about Grievous launching a surprise attack on Obi-Wan. A Necessary Bond was a pretty solid finale to the arc with some fun action scenes with Grievous and an awesome teamup between Ahsoka and Hondo. Overall, I liked this arc, it was pretty cute and had an amazing first episode. 

4/5 Stars

D-Squad Arc: This might be the worst arc in the series, and I have a lot to say about it. This is an entire arc about a team of droids that gets stranded on a planet and has to escape, and it goes on for four episodes. I don't think I need to explain why you can't spend four episodes focusing on droids, right? Because most of them can't speak! The only characters that could speak for most of the arc were WAC and Gascon, who's were both so relentlessly annoying and talkative. Even the droids got annoyed with them by the second episode. I wouldn't be that mad if this was just the first episode Secret Weapons. It was a somewhat fun and goofy heist episode about droids, albeit with a slightly annoying set of protagonists. I didn't love it, but I would've been fine if it was a standalone to break up the pace. However, it didn't end there, and things just got worse from there.

A Sunny Day In The Void is an interesting concept, I tend to love TV episodes about nothing (Fly, The Chinese Restaurant, Restless), and a homage to THX 1138 could have been really cool. I'd love to see an existential episode like this about characters like Ahsoka, Rex, or even Yoda! But instead, it's two of the show's most annoying characters goofing off. It didn't have any interesting insights or anything, it's just filler, and I don't use that term lightly. Even episodes that are generally considered to be filler can have some value in character development or well-executed comedy, but this was a waste of time. It's my least favorite episode of the whole show. Missing In Action improves things a bit by introducing an amnesiac trooper, but he just feels like a poor man's Cut. And Point Of No Return is a fine ending with a dramatic finale, though it more just made me glad this arc came to an end. And just imagine what it must have felt like watching this arc week-in and week-out. Even as a kid, I didn't wanna have to put myself through a whole month of this! Outside of a few interesting ideas, this arc is just droids. It's four episodes of nearly nothing but droids. Let's just get to the good stuff now.

1/5 Stars

Shadow Collective Arc: I mostly like to watch the show in airing order so I can view each season as their intended seasons, but this is an exception. It works way better if you wait until here to watch the premiere Revival, even if you don't get that instant resolution of Season 4's ending. Anyway, as for the arc itself, this is in my Top 3 in the series alongside Umbara and Siege Of Mandalore. It brings together Maul and Mandalore in this shocking, heart wrenching, and action-packed story arc that ends with one of the show's best episodes. On the opposite end of the spectrum as D-Squad, pretty much every episode here is good, resulting in one of the show's best stretches of episodes. Revival was a stellar beginning to the arc, with that phenomenal battle on Florrum. I was surprised at how much carnage there was in this one, from Gallia's death to Savage losing an arm to the pirates being attacked. My only gripe is the continuity issues that come with placing it at the start of the season along with how it doesn't quite seem to address Revenge's cliffhanger about Maul seemingly being prepared for a Jedi attack. Regardless, this is a really great episode and the fact that it's one of the weaker entries in the arc goes to show how amazing it is.

The next three episodes in the arc aired right after the D-Squad arc, and what a leap in quality! Eminence made the genius decision of bringing together Maul and the Death Watch, two of the show's best threads. It gave a bit of extra depth to Bo-Katan and Pre Vizsla, featured the bounty hunters one more time, and managed to span a bunch of planets like Mustafar, Nal Hutta, and Tatooine. However, it's also my least favorite of the arc as it was mostly table-setting for the next two episodes. Shades Of Reason was the episode with the big battle on Mandalore so it was generally pretty action-packed, but it was the final few minutes that was the real highlight. The duel between Maul and Vizsla is one of the best fights of the series, and the ending had Maul taking over Mandalore and Bo-Katan fleeing, signaling the start of her being more of an anti-hero/villain rather than a pure antagonist. And then there's The Lawless which is easily one of the best and most packed episodes in the series. I mean where do I even start with this one? The action's really good, we get a fun speeder chase and plenty of cool shootouts, but the high point is the amazing lightsaber fight between Maul and Savage and none other than Emperor Palpatine himself who actually gets a chance to show how powerful he really is. The Lawless is also very emotional, with heart-wrenching deaths for both Savage and Satine. The latter was especially gutting since I really liked Satine. There's character development for Bo-Katan, a tense confrontation between Obi-Wan and Maul, hilarious references to A New Hope, and more plot than you'd think you would be able to fit in an episode like this. It's exciting, intense, relentless, and action-packed as hell. The arc as a whole is great but The Lawless just solidified its place as one of the best in the series.

5/5 Stars

Rogue Jedi Arc: I'm... split on this arc, as while it's incredibly well-told, dramatic, has a lot of interesting commentary on the Jedi Council, and packs a phenomenal ending, I'm also just not a fan of these Fugitive-esque stories since they can be pretty frustrating to watch, and this one was no exception, especially after a second go. Still, as much as I hate to see Ahsoka go through all that strife, I can't deny this is a very good arc. Sabotage is a great first episode, though. I loved the opening with the buzz droids, the Jedi temple bombing was a surprising twist, and it was a lot of fun to see Anakin and Ahsoka as a sort of detective duo as they investigated the bombing. In The Jedi Who Knew Too Much, it was really hard to watch Ahsoka get framed like that, but we also learn a bit more about the bombing mystery and get a thrilling escape scene at the end. To Catch A Jedi brings back Ventress and has a great lightsaber fight near the end, but what I really liked from this episode is that Plo Koon was doubting if Ahsoka was really guilty. 

The Wrong Jedi was by far the best episode of this storyline for a myriad of reasons. It's tense, action-packed, and emotional, easily working as a potential series finale if the show hadn't gotten renewed. The action is great, we get some great lightsabers fights with Anakin as he tries to find the culprit, and the reveal of her as Barriss was great. But I think most people's favorite part of this one is how Ahsoka starts to realize just how flawed the Jedi Council is. They all pretty much unanimously try to have her killed only to immediately step back once she's revealed to not be the culprit, and justify themselves by claiming the Force willed this to happen. Yeah, I'd leave the Jedi too. And while Ahsoka's goodbye with Anakin was emotional, it also solidified her as my favorite character of the franchise. So while I may not have loved this storyline like many others, I can't deny that it's well-written and packs an amazing ending. 

5/5 Stars

Overall, I still enjoyed Season 5. It suffered a bit from the show's arc-driven structure and the D-Squad held it back a bit, but I enjoyed more arcs than I didn't, and its best storylines were some of the best the show has ever been. It's not as consistent or satisfying as Season 4, but another pretty solid season all things considered.

4/5 Stars

Teen Titans (Season 3)

After the iconic Terra arc and the (supposed) death of the show's greatest villain in Slade, Teen Titans had a lot to live up to. And while I don't quite think it lived up, this season had a lot to love in its own right.

The main arc of Season 3 revolves around Cyborg this time around and his fight with the villain Brother Blood, and it was kinda uneven. On one hand, I really like Cyborg and think he has a lot of potential for a great character arc. The struggle between his robot side and humanity has always been super compelling in wherever he appears, and it applies here too. However, Brother Blood is quite simply just not a good villain, especially not compared to Slade. Slade had an intimidating design and chilling voice performance, he demanded your attention whenever he was on screen. Brother Blood just isn't as compelling. He had a solid start in the premiere where he promises to restore Cyborg's body, but eventually, he kinda just lacked any interesting goal outside of fixing his school, and his fascination with Cyborg was nowhere near as compelling as Slade's interest in Robin. This season also introduces the first different team of superheroes in Titans East, which was actually pretty cool. It fleshes out the world a bit and lets us spend more time with some of the other superheroes. Bumblebee was particularly entertaining, especially her dynamic with Cyborg.

The Brother Blood arc is pretty weak and doesn't get too much focus this season, only being in three episodes (Deception, Wavelength, and Titans East). However, this season makes up for it with some surprisingly great standalone episodes, mostly because this season doesn't feel like it has to make all of them purely comedic. While we did get some fun and wacky stuff like Revolution and Bunny Raven, we also got much darker fare like X, The Beast Within, and especially Haunted. X and Haunted are especially great as they deal with the fallout of the events in Season 1 in ways that makes Robin a much more compelling character. However, something that I noticed about this season is just how much stronger the first half was than the second. The first few episodes gave us Deception, X, Haunted, and Spellbound pretty close together, all great if not amazing episodes. The second half generally had the weaker standalones of the season (The Beast Within was a mess and Revolution was a pretty weak successor to Mad Mod), with just one episode I really loved, Bunny Raven. Even the finale Titans East, while not bad, wasn't nearly as dramatic or satisfying as finales like Apprentice and Aftershock.

While the arc may not have been as good, this season still had some great episodes:

Deception: Despite my gripes with the story arc, this episode was pretty great. HIVE finally got some screen time after being absent since the premiere, and I love how the episode establishes the season's main villain and Cyborg's conflict at the same time. It also just has a lot of funny moments thanks to the Cyborg dummy.

X: This episode was just jam-packed with good ideas. I love how RedX ended up becoming an actual villain and how it forced Robin to reflect on his actions during Season 1, and it was great how they got to team up by the end. I also quite like how we never learn who RedX actually is, it's just such a fun thing to speculate about.

Haunted: This was easily the best episode yet, like there's no contest. It's dark, intense, and kinda screwed up. I love how it shows how the events of Apprentice did have an effect on Robin, and watching him beat himself up was just rough. This episode was jam-packed with amazing moments though, from Beast Boy's funny cold subplot, to Raven using astral projection, to Starfire having to shoot Robin, to the thought-provoking cliffhanger. Seriously, I want more dark episodes like this, Haunted was amazing! 

Bunny Raven (Or How To Make A Titanimal Disappear): Most of Raven's episodes have been pretty serious so far, so this was a cute change of pace. I don't think I need to explain why Bunny Raven is such a funny premise anyway, but frankly the whole episode is packed with inventive imagery and some of the sharpest comedy in the series. It definitely rivals Date With Destiny in terms of sheer funny factor.

Overall, Teen Titans' third season had a fairly weak arc and peaked pretty early on, but it made up for its weaknesses with a strong focal character and some of the best standalone episodes in the series.

3/5 Stars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Season 4)

After the massive jump in quality in Season 3, the rest of the series would end up having some really strong arcs. Season 4 is my favorite overall though, it definitely has some of the best storylines in the series.

The Battle Of Mon Cala Arc: This story arc feels like something out of some of the earlier seasons, though with much better animation. As a result, there isn't too much to unpack here, not much character work or deep themes, it's just a lot of fun and visually impressive underwater action, along with the chance to get to learn more about Admiral Ackbar's planet. All three episodes are pretty much the same. There's some fun action and a pretty standard storyline about a Mon Calamari who has to learn to lead, though I do like how genuinely devastating the ends of the first two episodes are. The Gungans appear in this arc as well, but only halfway through, and they're not too bad. It's weird that I don't have much else to say for a three-episode arc but it left so little of an impression. It's a decently fun set of episodes but nothing more, I think the action and massive amount of characters definitely saved it for more.

3/5 Stars

Shadow Warrior: Well, here's another Jar Jar episode, but wow, this was actually kinda dark? The premise of Jar Jar disguising himself as another person isn't super original (Bombad Jedi did it too), but it's actually kinda tense this time since he has to meet with Grievous. The Separatists are also super cold this episode, killing multiple Gungans, and kidnapping Anakin to use as a bargaining chip. It's really weird for me to say this was a dark episode about Gungans, but it genuinely was, with Tarpals' sacrifice in particular really getting me! If you told me yesterday that I'd feel for a Gungan, I would have laughed, but damn, poor Tarpals! Then again, there's only so much Gungan I can take, so while the story was good, you'd still have to sit through a lot of "meesa"s. Probably the best Jar Jar episode, though still on the weak side. 

2/5 Stars

C-3PO And R2-D2 Arc: Evil Plans wasn't that good so I was worried about these two episodes. Thankfully, I thought they were somewhat enjoyable, if still a bit stupid. Unlike Evil Plans which splits the duo up and mostly stays in the same location, the two episodes in this arc are much larger adventures where C-3PO and R2-D2 stay together. Mercy Mission is definitely the weaker of the two as it takes some time to really get going, but it lets the two droids use their strengths to do something good for the galaxy. Nomad Droids is way more entertaining though, a fast-paced planet-hopping adventure that leaves the two droids close to being wrecked more times than not. I'd even say that I genuinely loved that scene where the two nearly power off, it's oddly sad. But best of all, this is the end of the pretty meh stretch of episodes that starts off the season. From here on out, the quality jumps up pretty dramatically, and stays there.

2/5 Stars

Darkened World Of Umbara Arc: Ah, the famous Umbara arc. Yeah, I don't think I need to tell you that this one's pretty great. The main premise is that Rex and his squad are trying to retake the beautiful planet of Umbara, but they're being commanded by a clone-hating Jedi named Krell whose methods are cruel and brutal. I adore this arc, the visuals are striking, the clones are well-developed, the conflict moves the show into further morally grey territory, and the action is brutal and intense. Just like many of the best episodes in the series, it's an exploration of the major theme of the clones' free will. It's also a rare arc where each episode is better than the last.

Darkness On Umbara is a strong start that establishes an interesting contrast between Anakin and Krell's methods. The tension between Rex and Krell is compelling, the action is intense, and the scene where Krell threatens Fives with a lightsaber is shocking. The General is even better, with some interesting conversations between the Clones, some crazy fights against the Umbaran's badass mechanical weapons, and a dark ending that hammers home how reckless and flawed Krell's lead is. Apparently, this episode has the highest amount of casualties in the series? That makes a lot of sense if it's true.

Plan Of Descent is a bit of a breather compared to The General, with some pretty funny moments and a greater focus on the characters. Once again, the clones have some really interesting arguments, and the cliffhanger about Fives and Jesse getting court-martialed is excellent. And finally, the amazing Carnage Of Krell, an emotional, stunning, and thought-provoking finale. It really brings all of the themes to the forefront, from civil disobedience, to the toll of war. There are also a ton of great scenes, from the tense firing squad sequence to the reveal that the 501st were fighting clones and not Umbarans, to the final battle with Krell, to the somber ending. Also, wow, there are some brutal death scenes in this episode, Krell's brutality genuinely made me wince at some points. This whole arc is just one amazingly told story, one of the show's best.

5/5 Stars

The Slaves Of Zygerria Arc: Oh, I was dreading this one. I'm not a fan of this arc, but I wouldn't say it's bad. I generally like it when Clone Wars gets dark, but this one is just plain depressing, especially once the Jedi are forced to disguise as slavers. There is some really dark content in this arc, made worse by Anakin starting to turn even darker. Kidnapped is a solid first episode with some fun action and an interesting subplot about Anakin dealing with his old past as a slave, actually a really cool concept. Slaves Of The Republic is by far my least favorite, it's borderline torture porn for most of the cast, especially Obi-Wan, though it does have another neat instance of foreshadowing for Revenge Of The Sith. And then there's Escape From Kadavo, which is far more fun and satisfying, while still also having Anakin's haunting attitude while slaughtering the slavers in a similar scene to Attack Of The Clones. Overall, this arc is fine, it's just one I don't like to watch too often.

3/5 Stars

A Friend In Need: I'm not a fan of characters being force-fed love interests, and Lux might be one of the worst instances of this. I didn't complain about this in Heroes On Both Sides because he didn't appear too much, but it was just unavoidable here, I don't like that they made gave Ahsoka a love interest in Lux. They lack any sort of chemistry, and the fact that Ahsoka has managed to be consistently interesting without any romantic storylines just makes it feel unnatural. It's as if the show was just trying to fill a quota to give its protagonist a love interest regardless of whether or not he fit. But what about the episode? Well, Lux was annoying, but everything else was actually pretty cool. Death Watch is back, and Bo-Katan made her first appearance! I also liked how the show finally dealt with the droid stigma with the R2 subplot, given how early it was established, I'm surprised it was never an issue before. I also thought the final act had some great action, with a darksaber fight, a badass quadruple decapitation, and a fun speeder chase against Bo-Katan. I also just like that this episode is another step towards Ahsoka changing her viewpoints on the war. It's a shame, I feel like I could have loved this episode, but Lux's role just did not sit well with me at all.

3/5 Stars

Obi-Wan Undercover Arc: I really liked this arc, it's a lot of fun! It feels like the culmination of all the bounty hunter storylines in the series, from Boba Fett to Cad Bane, and it focuses on Obi-Wan to boot! Well... kinda... it definitely sucks that we don't get to hear Obi-Wan's distinct British voice for most of the arc, but that's just a minor quibble, the rest of it's great! I even like how we get the start of some of Palpatine's manipulations of Anakin. Deception is a pretty standard prison break storyline, but it brings the main cast of bounty hunters together and has a really tense opening. Friends And Enemies was my least favorite of the bunch, but Obi-Wan's plan was fun, and the finale where he had to face off with Anakin and Ahsoka was great. The Box was always one of my favorite episodes, it's similar to Monster but instead of mostly combat encounters, the challenges in this episode were these super fun and creative obstacle courses. I also thought the lineup of bounty hunters was cool (Embo's back!), and they all had great chemistry. Crisis On Naboo is a solid conclusion with a phenomenal Anakin/Dooku fight that sets up RoTS, but I do think it resolves things a bit too easily. Regardless, this is a great arc with a lot of entertaining action, neat characters, and great plot progression.

5/5 Stars

Darth Maul Returns Arc: This is easily one of my favorite arcs of the series. Not only is it big and climactic, but it's also varied, spanning multiple genres, locations, and casts. As a whole, it's everything a strong Clone Wars arc should be. Massacre is dark, like this episode legitimately traumatized me as a kid. The zombies, the Nightsisters being slaughtered, and most of all that voodoo doll sequence, this massive war between Dooku and Talzin was just so intense! There's a great Ventress/Grievous fight and a massive downer ending for Ventress. It hardly even feels like a kid's show at this point and while I might not have liked it back then, I live for this stuff nowadays! In contrast with the grim Massacre, Bounty is insanely fun even if it's probably not quite as good. I loved watching Asaaj Ventress be a bounty hunter and the fights on the train were a ton of fun, this one just wasn't as dramatic though. Brothers finally brings Maul back in spectacular fashion, even if it was mostly set up for the finale. Speaking of which, then there's Revenge, one of my favorite finales in the series. Maul is back at full force, Obi-Wan gets to team up with Ventress, and the sheer amount of potential it adds to Season 5 is just so exciting. I adored this arc, it's so varied and exciting, ending on a strong finale for the season.

5/5 Stars

Overall, this season has its rough bits, but it's definitely my favorite in the series. Between the Umbara arc, the Obi-Wan arc, and the Darth Maul arc, all of which I'd easily give a 5/5, I think this season just has the most good stuff, and even its weaker story arcs aren't nearly as weak as those in other seasons.

5/5 Stars

Teen Titans (Season 2)

Teen Titans's first season had a ton of potential, but the way it executed its story arc left a lot of room for improvement. Will its second season be any better? Oh, hell yeah.

The main story arc of Teen Titans' second season is about a girl named Terra who has the power to move the earth, but she's insecure about her powers. She first appears early on in the season and almost joins the team, but eventually runs away due to her insecurity and paranoia. She reappears soon after and joins the team, but she has been working for Slade who has manipulated her into joining. I actually really love the Terra arc, it's a massive improvement on the Slade arc from Season 1. Terra is a genuinely complex and fascinating character, and it shows in how much debate her role in this season has spawned. But what makes this season so compelling in the end is just how much of a tragedy it is, you can really see Terra become a great member of the Titans, but her actions ended up resulting in her death at the end of the season. I don't think this storyline is perfect, however. It feels a bit compressed in the length of a short thirteen-episode season as Terra jumps between good to bad to better to worse to redeemed. I also feel like some exploration of Terra's backstory could help the audience get a better sense of who she is and why she makes the decisions she makes. Despite my gripes, though, I still generally enjoyed this tragic storyline and found it to be a compelling improvement on Season 1's story arc.

But it's not just the arc itself that was an improvement, the structure of Season 2 is also far stronger this time around. Rather than just two episodes that focused on the story arc like in Season 1 (Masks and Apprentice), Terra's arc took up around half the season, resulting in a stronger balance between arc-driven episodes and standalone episodes. And while the standalone episodes were still a bit hit or miss, there were far more great ones like How Long Is Forever?, Date With Destiny, and Fear Itself. This season also bumped up the references like in the FLCL-inspired Transformation and the Mortal Kombat-inspired Winner Take All. As a whole, Season 2 was far more consistently strong and it balanced out its arc episodes better so that it generally felt like it was going somewhere. As for the non-Terra characters, they were still pretty great. Starfire is as enjoyable as ever, even moreso after How Long Is Forever? which solidified her as the glue that holds the team together. I still think that she's easily the best-written character in the series in terms of her dialogue, as her oh-so-slightly broken English makes even the simplest of exchanges hilarious. But this season also focused a lot more on Beast Boy and showed how inside his goofy exterior, he has some serious heart. I ended up really caring about his (and Raven's to a lesser extent) relationships with Terra, which made the end of the arc far more impactful.

As an improvement on Season 1, this season of Teen Titans had far more high points:

How Long Is Forever?: I wasn't sure about this one at first. AU episodes are always annoying for me since their events never end up with ramifications for the future. However, I ended up really liking this one. Not only does it show how Starfire is the heart of the group and how they'd split up if it weren't for her, but the Bad Future this episode shows is fascinating and heart-breaking. And that's not even bringing up the big reveal of Nightwing, which absolutely caught me off-guard (really goofy hair though).

Terra: Just expect me to put most of the major Terra episodes on here. This is a strong introduction to the character that did a great job of establishing the story arc for the season. Once again, I think more delving into Terra's past could have helped a bit, but I generally ended up loving how dramatic this one was.

Date With Destiny: This might be the funniest episode in the series, at least up to this point. While the concept is funny, Kitten could have been really annoying if it weren't for Tara Strong's hilariously hammy performance. She didn't need to go this hard, yet she did! Even more, Starfire's jealousy is a lot of fun too, and the animation is packed with funny gags (Kitten briefly turning into a cat girl left me in stitches). I also just really like Killer Moth, so it's cool to have an episode with him.

Betrayal: Terra's betrayal was just so painful, especially since it had to happen during a date with Beast Boy! It's a heartbreaking downer going into the finale, made even worse by the fact that Slade left Titans Tower pretty much destroyed (though it ends up suddenly fixed by the next episode). Also, that Hall Of Mirrors scene was so good.

Aftershock: This finale was amazing, maybe even better than the first because it actually had ramifications on the future of the show, with Slade and Terra both presumably dead by the end of it. It's also just a climactic finale that brings together a bunch of old villains, packs in the personal final battle with Terra along with her redemption, and has some really great action scenes like the mud fight.

Overall, Season 2 of Teen Titans was a massive improvement on the first, with a stronger story arc, a complex main character, and a better balance between arc and standalone episodes. It didn't execute Terra's storyline as well as it could've, but as a whole, this was a very tight and enjoyable season.

4/5 Stars

She-Ra: Princesses Of Power (Season 5)

She-Ra's first three seasons were pretty great, and the fourth season was amazing, but it's the fifth and final season that would definitely qualify it as one of my favorite animated shows out there.

The final season of She-Ra has a much larger scale than all the seasons before it. It's not just relegated to Etheria this time, it's a massive galaxy-spanning battle with Horde Prime, who's attempting to take over Etheria through mind-control. It just feels so grand and climactic compared to everything that has come before it in the series, from the first half which has the main team travel to space to rescue Catra and Glimmer, to the dramatic second half which has the remaining members of the alliance forced to fight their mind-controlled friends. Horde Prime is a strong and intimidating villain, and given the show's generally weak action, I like how the battle between him and Adora/She-Ra is more emotional and mental than physical and violent. Horde Prime wasn't necessarily trying to kill She-Ra rather than break her, and that makes him a really good villain.

But everyone knows that's not the best part of the season, it's the way all of the character arcs get resolved! Obviously the highlight is Adora and Catra, particularly the latter's redemption arc. I'll go more in depth on the redemption later, but it was a lot of fun to see her join the main group and develop a bit of a rapport with them. And that's not even mentioning her romance with Adora which was just amazing, and probably the most groundbreaking thing this series did. Korra just implied a female relationship and Adventure Time had a last minute kiss, but in She-Ra, the kiss between Adora and Catra was pretty much the climactic moment of the whole series. There's more than just Adora and Catra, though. The whole season is packed with satisfying payoffs, from Entrapta readjusting to the Princess Alliance, to Shadow Weaver's low-key kinda selfish sacrifice, to Glimmer finally reuniting with her father Micah again. Even with the mind control plotline, I feel like the whole cast got their time to shine, and even Swift Wind wasn't too bad since his jokes were at a bit of a minimum. She-Ra's greatest strength has always been the characters, and they're at their absolute best here.

Catra Segment: Easily the best part of Catra's character arc, the redemption. The first three episodes have Catra spending a lot of time alone on Horde Prime's ship, thinking through the fact that it's pretty much her fault she got into this mess. However, Glimmer's there too, another character who feels guilty for her past actions, so Catra gets someone to connect with for the first time in a while. So, Catra saves Glimmer and sends her to Adora, feeling that if no one cares about her anymore, she might as well do one final selfless task. And then Adora goes to rescue Catra and reveals that she still cares. Throughout the rest of Season 5, Catra struggles to adjust to Adora's team, many of whom take a few episodes to trust her. However, as she does, she starts to develop a support group, which is exactly the thing she needs. And even better, she starts to treat people a little bit better as well, particularly Adora, who she helps deal with her self-sacrifice issue. And by the end of the series, Catra has saved the world, she has a massive support group of friends, and is dating the person she cares about most, Adora. Catra may not have fully redeemed herself for everything she's done, but she has broken the cycle of abuse that Shadow Weaver started. It's a great first step for the character, but seriously, she still needs some serious therapy after all that.

Most of the episodes this season are excellent, but these are my favorite:

Corridors: This was easily my favorite episode in the series, particularly because of Catra. I love the way the maze-like hallways are used to symbolize her decision to save Glimmer, and the scene where she sacrifices herself to do so while still letting in one last apology to Adora is so powerful it legitimately made me tear up. Even outside of that, the subplot on Adora's ship added some much needed levity.

Save The Cat: I generally preferred Corridors for making me way more emotional, but this episode was also just great. The battle between Adora and mind-controlled Catra was heartbreaking and brought the tension between them to an absolute head, She-Ra's new costume reveal was awesome and far-and-away better than the original, and we even get introduced to Wrong Hordak, the source of a lot of the humor for this season.

Perils Of Peekablue: I loved this episode, it focuses a lot on some of the best side characters like Scorpia, Mermista, and Double Trouble as they try to send a message to She-Ra. There's a fun espionage bend to most of the episode, with a lot of goofy hijinks like Scorpia's amazing singing, but it also has a dark ending which leaves Scorpia and Mermista chipped. This episode also has the hilarious scene where Catra messes with Adora by sitting on her lap, kickstarting this season's amazing trend of adorably gay scenes between the two from here on out.

Shot In The Dark: This episode is the perfect example of why I like "filler" episodes. In the grand scheme of things, this was just a detour to introduce Melog and get the team onto Etheria, but it also had a ton of fun character building. The interactions between Catra, Bow, and Glimmer were just so entertaining, and did wonders to help her fit in the group a bit more. I just really like the humor in this one, it was just an absolutely joy to watch before things start to become serious again.

Failsafe: This was a strong penultimate episode that did a great job at setting up the finale and exploring Adora's own fatal flaw, her willingness to sacrifice herself. Even if Catra was generally worse, it was definitely worth discussing how Adora can alienate the people who care about her by constantly throwing herself into danger. But then again, the real best scene is "Did you just jump into fire for me?".

Heart: What an amazing final episode for the show, easily one of the strongest animated series finales out there (I might actually like it more than A:tLA's, just barely though). Obviously the highlight is the big kiss between Adora and Catra, but there are just so many amazing payoffs here. Bow and Glimmer end up together, Shadow Weaver sacrifices herself, Hordak turns on Horde Prime, it's just so climactic and satisfying. And even with how many characters redeem themselves, I'm glad that the show decided to just kill off Horde Prime, he deserved it.

Overall, Season 5 was an amazing final season, with a compelling conflict, great character resolutions, and a perfect ending for one of my favorite characters of all time.

5/5 Stars

My ranking of the She-Ra seasons is:

5 > 4 > 3 > 1 > 2

My ranking of the She-Ra finales is:

4 > 5 > 3 > 1 > 2

Favorite Episode: Corridors

Teen Titans (Season 1)

I've always thought the Teen Titans were a really cool team, and it has some of my favorite superheroes (Raven, in particular), yet I've never actually seen the series that popularized the team to begin with (I'm not watching Go, don't worry). So far, I'd say it's alright, but it still has a lot of room to grow.

Teen Titans is a show about the titular superhero team, with this season being about their battle with Deathstroke (known in this show as Slade because they won't say the word "die" for some reason). I really like Slade, he's a cool and intimidating villain with a pretty interesting plan in the season finale. However, the fact that we don't learn what Slade's plan is until the end of the season makes it feels a bit aimless at times, especially in the mostly episodic first half. The first few episodes pretty much just has the central team fight a random villain without much meat to the story. And while the latter half does have some pretty good episodes along with a few more episodes dealing with the Slade arc and a strong finale, even it had some pretty weak standalones like Deep Six and Car Trouble. Teen Titans has its strong points, particularly when it focuses on its characters like in Nevermore or when it focuses on its central arc like in Masks, but that's about half of the season. The rest is pretty standard villain-of-the-week fare.

The thing that definitely got me to stick with the show even in its rough start was definitely the characters. I really like the whole cast of Teen Titans, each member of the team has their own cool powers and enjoyable personalities, along with some great chemistry right from the start. Raven has always been my favorite of the team, partially because of her cool design and powers and partially because I like edgy and aloof characters, but I do like everyone. Cyborg and Beast Boy also get a lot of great material, but I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed Starfire. It made me realize how much I enjoy alien/robot characters adjusting to humanity (Penny from RWBY is another good example), and her dialogue was easily the most consistently funny out of the team. The animation was also pretty good, especially the energetic and expressive characters. It's not perfect, I think the characters and background don't mesh together the best, but it's also stylish and fun to watch. And between the painted backgrounds, the FLCL-like characters, and the eclectic music, I get some serious early 2000s vibes from this show's presentation that I quite like.

Despite the rough start, there are some pretty good episodes in this season especially in the second half:

Switched: I'm not a big fan of body swap episodes, but this was a lot of fun, especially since it focused on two of my favorite characters. Raven and Starfire struggling to use each other's powers was neat, especially with how they had to learn to understand each other despite their polar opposite personalities, and it was cool to see some of the Teen Titans be antagonists this time.

Mad Mod: The animation in this show is weird sometimes. Actually, it's weird a lot of the time, but doubly so in this episode. There's no character work here nor any Slade progress, but this bizarre episode was just a joy to watch from the inventive illusions to the bonkers chase scene to the random Japanese vocal track by Puffy AmiYumi?! Seriously, could this show get more early 2000s? Anyway, this episode was just so random and strange, but it ended up being the most memorable episode of the season for me.

Apprentice: While most of the season felt a bit aimless, this finale put all of the pieces into place. The reveal that Slade wanted Robin to be his apprentice put his actions into context, and the higher stakes and intensity really made this two-parter feel like the climactic ending the season deserved. The final battle with Slade was great, the moody atmosphere was chilling, and everything was resolved in a satisfying manner. Also, the Batman references left me stunned.

Overall, Teen Titans has a likable main cast, a stylish animation style, and a solid central arc, but its abundance of dull and basic villain-of-the-week episodes drag down a large portion of the season.

2/5 Stars

Konosuba (Season 2)

Konosuba's first season was pretty fun with a charming cast and great humor, but it had a pretty basic plot. But with a second season, there's a chance it could be even better!

Season 2 has pretty much given up on the Devil King plotline, which I actually think is great. Given how generic and standard it was in Season 1, I think having this season focus more on a variety of character-centric subplots worked wonders. Megumin gets a rival named YunYun (who's actually a super enjoyable character to watch), Kazuma is dealing with the consequences of Season 1's finale and has to pay a massive debt, Darkness's family gets more development as she deals with an arranged marriage, Wiz has another Devil King commander join her shop, and best of all, Aqua meets her cult. I especially love how the cast (plus Wiz) actually leaves town for the last few episodes, it leads to an interesting change of scene. I found myself enjoying most of these storylines as they give each character their time to shine while allowing the comedy to take the forefront. Speaking of which... 

The comedy is so good this time around, right from the very first episode, I can sense an improvement in the writing. The dialogue is fast-paced, the running gags are clever, and the episodes are much better and bringing disparate plot threads together in a funny manner. I liked Season 1, but this season made me burst out laughing way more often. The animation has faced a bit of a change this time. It's a bit more stiff around compared to Season 1 and Megumin's explosions don't look quite as good (trust me, that's very important), but it's also far more expressive and cartoonish, working really well for the comedic tone of the show. I'm surprised at how divisive it was, I think the goofier visuals fit the series to a tee and was way more enjoyable to watch. The visuals also play up the video game elements of the world a bit more, which was pretty cool. I also adore the new OP, it has a catchy theme and seeing the party do that dorky dance just gives me so much life.

Once again, most of the episodes were pretty funny, but these were my favorites:

Give Me Deliverance From This Judicial Injustice: Wow, this episode really doesn't forget anything. Kazuma's arrest uses pretty much every major plot element from the series, from small subplots like the magic sword, to big secrets like Darkness's real name and Wiz's past working for the Devil King, to Kazuma's perverted habits that he finally gets called out for. It gave me serious Chrono Trigger vibes just with a far more comedic bend. I also thought Aqua trying to free Kazuma from prison was absolutely hysterical.

A Friend For This Crimson Demon Girl: This was easily Megumin's best episode, from the introduction of Yunyun, to her getting a cat, to her hilarious fight with Kazuma in the latter half of the episode, and the way in which all of the disparate sketches and story elements blend in the final scene was just great.

Servitude For This Masked Knight: It's always fun when the party fights a big villain like Verdia, so this episode was great. Vanir's mustache-twirling attitude was super fun to watch, especially when he possesses Darkness and the two start to talk over each other, made even better with the amazing voice acting for both Darkness and Vanir. It also resolved pretty much everything from the first half of the season and left things on a oddly happy note for once?

Goodbye To This Irritating Living World: This episode was just a riot. It didn't really have a noteworthy plot or anything, though Kazuma dying again was pretty funny, it really just had a lot of my favorite jokes from the series. Like Kazuma hiding in his kokatsu, the katana sequence, Vanir working at Wiz's shop, "Chunchunmaru", and best of all, Aqua's beautifully animated freakout that might just be my favorite scene in the whole show.

God's Blessing On This Wonderful Party: This may have been an even better finale than the first! I was surprised at how intense the big battle with Hans was, it was fun, well-animated, and action-packed. Wiz being there made the conflict feel more personal and her letting loose was awesome, Megumin's massive explosion was insane, and Aqua landing the final blow was just so satisfying. And even if there wasn't a cliffhanger this time, the sweet ending did a good job of tying everything up.

Overall, I adored this season. The character-driven storylines were entertaining, the comedy was sharp and consistently phenomenal, and the animation, while a bit weaker than last season, was energetic and fit the show really well.

5/5 Stars

She-Ra: Princesses Of Power (Season 4)

Season 4 of She-Ra marks the point at which the show goes from good to great. It's dark, it's emotional, it's surprising, and it packs in a lot of great and compelling episodes throughout its short length.

Unlike the first two seasons, it really hard for me to nail down a main storyline, as Season 4 is far more character-driven than all of the others. There is the Heart Of Etheria and the mystery of what it does, but it balances alongside a ton of other more character-heavy subplots. I actually quite like this, especially for the darker penultimate season of the series, as character has always been She-Ra's greatest strength. And Season 4 gives new shades and depth to most of the characters. Entrapta and Scorpia rejoin the Princess alliance, Glimmer starts becoming desperate to destroy The Horde regardless of the methods used, Hordak and Catra start to conquer more and more kingdoms, and Light Hope and Mara's true natures are revealed. Needless to say, things have gotten really tense for most of the cast, with this season feeling like more of a tragedy between the constant switching of sides, the flawed decisions several members of the cast make, and the general downer ending. 

Season 4 has a bit of a weak first half to it, not getting really good until around Episode 6, but this first half does have a few fun experimental episodes like Protocol, and a strong minor antagonist in Double Trouble. I'd also like to give a moment to praise Double Trouble and just how important they are. Sure, it's not the best that one of the few instances of nonbinary representation is a shapeshifting alien, but I can't care too much, they're such a joy to watch and it gives me so much joy to see such an enjoyable enby on TV! It's a strong start and probably the second most groundbreaking thing this show has done for western animation (the most groundbreaking thing comes next season). I'd also like to bring up the one weak character in the whole series, Swift Wind. He's annoying, overly idealistic, and feels like he's made specifically to please children. I wanted to bring him up here because he has an entire episode focused on him this season in Boys Night Out, which is probably my least favorite in the whole show.

Catra Segment: During this season, Catra pretty much just falls further and further into despair. She's having nightmares about what she's done in Season 3, and is trying to just play up her villain role in the hopes that it'll make her happy, but it doesn't. No matter how many villages she conquers, nothing helps. And with Scorpia gone, Catra has a complete mental breakdown because she knows it's all her fault. And the Hordak begins to hate Catra too. And then Double Trouble systematically calls her out on all of her faults and for driving everyone away. And then she gets abducted. Catra's arc this season is really hard to watch because she just doesn't improve at all, she just keeps falling further and further into despair that's pretty much entirely of her own making, to the point where she just tells Glimmer to kill her in the finale. However, this is also why I think Catra's redemption arc works, because she will continue to be punished for her consequences through her mental state and losing everyone around her until she decides to change. To put in simply, Catra needs therapy.

This season has had some really great episodes, especially in its latter half:

Princess Scorpia: I don't think I mentioned this but I adore Scorpia. She's funny, a great foil for Catra, and her affably evil attitude made a shift to the Princess Alliance almost guaranteed. This episode reveals Scorpia's backstory and destiny to become a princess, and the end of the episode where she finally calls out Catra and leaves is just such an amazing moment.

Mer Mysteries: I'm a fan of episodes that seem unassuming at first only to be revealed to be much larger and darker. Most of this one is a fun whodunit that finally gives Mermista a lot of screentime, and we even get to see Double Trouble reveal themselves and interact with the main cast! However, the big twist that it was all a distraction so that Hordak could take over Mermista's home is a gut-wrenching and near permanent tone shift for the season (I said near because Boys Night Out is still a thing).

Hero: I didn't think much of Razz before this episode, but wow, did I end up feeling bad for her. Her dealing with Mara's death is heart wrenching, especially that memorable pie scene near the end. Hero is also a super important episode, though, as Mara's message reveals a ton of interesting lore about Etheria and Light Hope, along with the cool reveal that She-Ra doesn't need her sword... 

Fractures: This episode was just plain eventful. There's Scorpia finally joining the Alliance (after getting captured and pleading her case all episode), Catra going through a complete breakdown, Double Trouble's absolutely joyous interrogation scenes, and a compelling conflict between Glimmer and Adora that leaves them split up on different missions going into the last few episodes of the season.

Destiny: This is still one of the most bonkers season finales I've ever seen, like it drastically changes the direction of the series in so many ways and wraps up all of the story arcs in a single episode. Where do I even start with this one? Adora destroying the sword, Double Trouble's brutal calling out of Catra, the Catra/Hordak fight, Horde Prime's arrival and kidnapping, Scorpia gaining her powers, and that's not even all of it! Destiny is easily one of the show's best episodes, an absolutely stunning finale.

Overall, Season 4 is a big step-up from the first three. It's dramatic, character-focused, and has a phenomenal second half once it really gets going.

4/5 Stars

Invincible (Season 1)

MOST OF MY REVIEWS HAVE SPOILERS, BUT DUE TO THE FIRST EPISODE TWIST, I IMPLORE YOU TO WATCH THE SHOW BEFORE READING THIS REVIEW.

Invincible is a superhero show on Amazon Prime based on the comic of the same name, and it made a lot of buzz when it was airing. So, I thought I'd finally give it a watch, and I think it mostly lives up to the hype.

Invincible is a show about Mark, the son of a Superman-like hero named Omni Man, who gains his own powers and has to adjust to life as a superhero. Meanwhile, the Guardians Of The Globe (the show's version of the Justice League) has been killed by Omni-Man, so there's also a big subplot about everyone trying to figure out who did it. Generally, I found the Omni Man subplot a bit more compelling and interesting, but there's a charm to watching Mark learn how to use his powers that reminds me of the origin story movies from the 00s, like Spider Man and Iron Man. Both storylines manage to coalesce by the end of the season resulting in a phenomenal final episode. But even before then, I feel like the show juggles the background conspiracy and Mark's origin story pretty well, with the only storyline that falls short is the romance stuff, and I mean most of it. I think Debbie's relationship with Omni-Man is compelling and heartbreaking, but otherwise, subplots like the romance between Mark and Amber is kinda dull, especially around the middle of the season where it pretty much comes up all over the place.

The characters are all pretty great in this series. Obviously, Mark is the highlight and the star of the show, but Omni-Man is also fascinating to unpack. Most of the heroes and villains like Atom Eve, Robot, and Titan have well-defined personalities and cool powers, with their gimmicks used both for jokes and for genuinely cool fights. The high school kids are a bit weaker, but even though William fits the gay best friend trope to a tee, he does have some of the show's funniest moments and exudes serious Wallace Wells energy at times. Debbie is probably my favorite character, though. While Omni-Man's storyline is amazing, easily the most compelling part is his own wife learning the truth about him. Speaking of which, the animation is also pretty good, looking straight out of the comics the show is based on. The action scenes are especially impressive, they're fast-paced and exciting,  jumping between genuine combat and saving people. There's a lot of gore in this series, but it's mostly used when the show wants to shock or surprise the audience, rarely feeling overdone. I think Invincible does a good job of being an adult animated show that doesn't go to South Park levels of "maturity". My only gripe with the animation is the infrequent usage of CGI backgrounds that don't mesh too well with anything else, but it's not as distracting as it might be in a lot of anime with the same problem.

When Invincible is good, it's really good, particularly in these highlights:

It's About Time: If you've seen this series, you already know why this episode is a highlight. I'm a big fan of First Episode Twists and this might be one of the best. Most of it's a solid and well-written origin story for Mark, and then it hits you with a whammy of an ending that turns your preconceptions of the entire series upside down. It's shocking, it's gory, and it left me breathless, an amazing hook for the series.

That Actually Hurt: This episode feels like it was targeted towards a lot of modern superhero movies, exploring how some superheroes are so focused on the larger stakes that they forget about the little guy, they forget about saving people. Titan is a super compelling and interesting character, and the near-slaughter by Battle Beast is nearly as shocking as devastating as that first episode twist.

We Need To Talk: Kickstarting the amazing two episodes that nearly end off the season, We Need To Talk has the mysteries start to be revealed, with everyone knowing Omni-Man is the killer (including Mark and Debbie) and Robot getting and revealing his new body, and Cecil throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Omni-Man to no avail. What other way could there be to kill Superman? His son, maybe?

Where I Really Come From: See, Marvel? This is how you end a superhero show! The final battle is shocking (the train scene), action-packed, climactic, and emotional, but this episode also makes time to resolve things for pretty much every single character. It doesn't feel rushed or watered down, it feels like everything this season has been building up to, the fight between Mark and Omni-Man was more than worth it. It's a great finale that ends this stellar first season the highest note possible.

Overall, Invincible's first season is a strong start for the series, a compelling superhero tale that explores the genre in interesting ways and builds to an amazing ending, even if it suffers from some weak romance subplots.

4/5 Stars

Konosuba (Season 1)

Ah, the Isekai. The concept of an average person being reincarnated in another world can be pretty fun, but it seems to sell well in Japan since there are a ton of anime and manga with this concept! And with every popular genre comes a parody of said genre. Konosuba is that parody, and it's pretty darn hilarious.

Konosuba starts out like your standard isekai, a shut-in named Kazuma dies and meets a goddess named Aqua who gives him the chance to travel to an RPG-like world and defeat a Demon King. The twist? Kazuma decides to bring Aqua along with him, and that's only the beginning of this show's subversive plot decisions. The main cast is composed of idiots who constantly belittle each other, no one in the "harem" actually seems to like each other, the characters have to perform manual labor and fetch quests to level up, and the amount of plot armor involved is pretty much zero. So yeah, this show doesn't take its premise seriously, and it results in a lot of great jokes. The writing is funny and the humor is great because it's mostly based on playing off tropes and character interactions, and it makes the anime entertaining even if the story is incredibly basic and pretty much forgotten outside of the first and last episodes. The structure of most of the episodes are also fairly disjointed feeling like more of a sketch comedy, so the anime's quality generally depends on how strong the humor is. Thankfully, as I mentioned before, the humor's pretty great.

But the real highlight about Konosuba is the cast of characters. I already mentioned this, this show's main cast aren't quite the best people. Kazuma is a jerk who insults everyone (especially Aqua) and suffers from having no strengths at all, Aqua is an idiot and a spoiled brat, Megumin is an overdramatic chuunibyou who put all of her stats into an explosion spell, and Darkness is masochistic... like really masochistic... and she has bad aim. But despite their flaws, these characters are incredibly entertaining and oddly lovable, still managing to be an absolute joy to watch whether it's interacting with the world around them or with each other. As much as they bicker and insult each other, there's also a surprisingly wholesome friendship that develops between the main cast. I already mentioned how this show parodies the concept of a harem (one of my least favorite anime tropes by the way), but it also has the unintended consequence of being oddly sweet to watch them just be friends, reluctant friends, but friends nonetheless. The side characters are also pretty enjoyable too, especially the absolutely adorable lich Wiz.

The presentation is also pretty great. The animation isn't necessarily the most fluid or detailed, but it makes up for it in sheer execution. The characters are expressive, the comedic timing of the animation is great, and the visuals are clean and colorful. My only gripe is with the fanservice, but that's more of a me thing. The voice acting is amazing, in both dubs. They both have star-studded casts who fit the roles pretty well. The JP dub has Rie Takahashi's iconic performance as Megumin and Ai Kayano (Menma) as Darkness. Meanwhile, the EN dub has Erica Mendez (Retsuko, Arle, Ryuko) as Megumin, Faye Mata (Astolfo, Petra) as Aqua, Patrick Seitz's (Dio, Scorpion) hysterical performance as Verdia, and one of my favorite voice actors, Cristina Vee (Shantae, Ladybug, Mio, Homura) who absolutely killed it as Darkness. The EN dub is my preferred choice, though, because it has this sort of abridged series vibe that makes the comedy hit that much harder, but they're both really good! The background music is also really good too, it's lighthearted and charming, feeling right out of a Nintendo game like Zelda or a JRPG like Dragon Quest. It gives me a lot of good vibes and is another instance of anime having great background music (seriously, I should write a blogpost about this).

Update: Okay, so after writing this review, I found out that the composer of Konosuba was actually a video game composer that made the music for the first few Monster Hunter games. Well, I guess that explains things then!

While most of the season's episodes are pretty funny, these are the highlights:

Explosion Magic For This Formidable Enemy: The first episode after the main cast was finished being established marked a solid jump in quality. The concept of this episode is one of my favorites. Megumin explodes a dullahan's house over and over again causing him to try to angrily storm the village until the cast annoys him into leaving. It's just as funny as it sounds, made even better by Seitz's amazing performance as Verdia.

A Conclusion To This Worthless Fight: Yay, more dullahan bullying! This episode had a lot of funny moments that utilized the whole cast, but the real highlight was actually Verdia himself, whose constant frustration with the group was just so funny. It was also great to see Aqua actually do something goddess-y for once, even if she flooded the town as a result.

Final Flame For This Over-The-Top Fortress: Despite this anime's general lack of plot, I feel like this finale is climactic and satisfying enough, using pretty much the entire cast in this big final battle against the Destroyer that the season had been subtly building up in the background. Add in some cute character moments, plenty of fun humor, some sweet payoffs, Wiz joining the team, and a goofy cliffhanger and you get probably the best episode of the season.

Overall, Konosuba is a hilarious isekai parody with great characters, top-notch voice acting, great comedic timing, and a charming presentation, even if its story isn't anything amazing.

4/5 Stars

She-Ra: Princesses Of Power (Seasons 2 & 3)

She-Ra's second and third seasons are a bit strange, as they were originally intended to be just one season that ended up being split in half. As a result, I can't really talk about one without talking about the other.

While Season 1 focused on assembling the titular princess team, Seasons 2-3 raise the stakes a little bit, or at least Season 3 does. Since Season 2 is only the first half of the intended season, it's mostly fairly episodic outside of the last two episodes. Anyway, the main plotline of this season is that Hordak is trying to build a portal to Horde Prime, while Adora is trying to find the ship of the previous She-Ra, Mara. As a whole, I don't think these main storylines are the most interesting, rather it's how the characters get involved. Shadow Weaver is given more depth and backstory as she switches sides, Adora learns she's part alien in a super cool plot twist, Catra becomes way more complex and morally grey as I'll explain later, Entrapta develops a cute friendship with Hordak, and even Glimmer's mom Angella gets some moments of her own. Frankly, the story doesn't become truly amazing until Season 4, but the character work in these two seasons are even more top-notch than before.

Season 2 is the lighter of the two seasons, mostly composed of a few light-hearted episodes with the exception of the last two. It's probably the funniest season of the series, with episodes like White Out and Roll With It being genuinely really hilarious. It ends on a weird note as the finale Reunion doesn't quite feel like one, though it's still a great episode with some really good representation and a tense double cliffhanger. Season 3 is one episode shorter and feels a bit stranger paced, mostly because it is intended to be the darker second half of a larger season, but I'd say it's generally the stronger half. It has a surprising premiere, a fun arc in the desert, and a tense final bunch of episodes that executes the concept of the "What If?" scenario better than most shows I've seen (looking at you, Mr Robot). Overall, both seasons are pretty solid and improve on Season 1 in their own ways, it's just a shame that they had to be split up.

Catra Segment: In Seasons 2 & 3, Catra starts to spiral out of control a bit, especially during the episode Light Spinner, which has Shadow Weaver use Catra to escape and get to Adora, another example of the abuse and neglect Catra has to deal with. In Once Upon A Time In The Waste, Catra gets to become a gang leader and is truly happy for once in her life, she's surrounded by people who respect her and doesn't have to be in the Horde anymore, only to fall back into her vengeful ways upon running into Adora again. The season ends with Catra completely hitting rock bottom, burning her bridges with Scorpia and Entrapta and nearly erasing reality itself, causing Adora to finally call her out for being a lost cause. Catra is pretty much irredeemable right now, but she's also facing her consequences right off the bat! Pretty much everyone absolutely despises her right now, even her ex-best friend. Catra fell into the same type of abuse that SW inflicted on her, and is absolutely alone as a result.

Both seasons have some pretty good episodes, with these being my favorites:

Roll With It: This one was just adorable. There's not overarching plot here, it's just the team making a plan to storm one of the Horde's fortress, each character brainstorming their own idea. The highlight is easily the hilarious homage to OG She-Ra, but the whole episode is just packed with cute exchanges, funny moments, and good vibes all around.

Light Spinner: Easily the darkest episode of Season 2 (really just the only dark episode of Season 2), Light Spinner goes in depth on Shadow Weaver's backstory and her original identity. But that's not the real emotional punch of the episode, rather it's her using Catra to escape, made even worse when we learn she's going to see Adora.

Moment Of Truth: This is easily the most intense episode of the season, a mad chase to stop Catra from activating the portal before she destroys reality, something that feels like it could be a season finale. This episode has Catra's worst act, sending Entrapta off to die and potentially destroying reality is gonna be a hard thing to come back from.

The Portal: I was worried when I learned the last two episodes of the season would be a "What If?" episode, as they tend to not have any ramifications on the overall story. Boy, was I wrong! The decision to not have this episode take place in a literal AU was a genius one, because dramatic scenes like Adora calling out Catra and Angella's heartbreaking sacrifice actually stuck. We also got to meet Micah, Mara, and Horde Prime himself, ending the season on a big cliffhanger.

Overall, Season 2/3 suffer a bit from being split up and its story isn't super compelling, but in terms of humor, drama, and character work, this is far and away an improvement on Season 1. And the show just keeps getting better...

Season 2: 3/5 Stars

Season 3: 4/5 Stars

3.5/5 Stars