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It's possible this donghua gets more interesting as the series progresses, but after 3 episodes I can't really bring myself to continue it as a "action, adventure, fantasy" show. It is more of a comedy if anything, and the animation is somewhat painful to watch: they do a strange blurring during any kind of movement that I felt was hard to ignore and not in a good way. I found the initial ancient world to be much more interesting than the modern, current setting, and by episode 3 they're still dragging out the dynamic between the two MCs of "don't follow me, go away" -- ... I feel like this all could've been quickly wrapped up in a single episode at most and onto some actual plot points. What those plot points are, I don't know. I couldn't bring myself to stick it out any further to see if literally anything of substance happens in the series. The characters don't really have much depth or purpose yet, they just drift along kind of mindlessly repeating themselves. It is probably good for a more casual watch, not so much if you were interested in the ancient-mystery aspect or looking for a more serious plotline.

I should've stuck to the 3 episode rule. Instead, in desperate hopes the plot would develop into something deeper, or the supernatural aspect might ramp up enjoyably, I stuck it out till the end. Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon is one of the most bland, boring and one dimensional animes I have ever watched. It's hard for me to believe the rating isn't inflated by bots and this many people genuinely watched it and managed a 7+. Even as someone who enjoys female PoV romance and otomes as a guilty pleasure, this trash anime did nothing for me. There is no real development in the ... MCs relationship outside of "he bought me something nice" and "I like her because she is beautiful and I pity her past". If you watch one episode, you've watched them all. It is an endless cycle of "MC is abused by everyone, everyone is out to get the MC for no good reason, handsome man is nice to MC" -- rinse repeat. It doesn't even cut it as a slice of life. There is no real plot, no true motivations. In fact, the "motivations" they do give are shallow and constantly contradict the previous actions of the characters. The character "growth" is continuously overwritten and ignored, and everything resets back to this basic status quo.

Spoilers from here out where I'll kindly give you a play by play of the entire """plot""". (Though if you just watch episode 1, you can pretty much understand how the next 11 episodes are going to go).

At the start of the anime, we're lead to believe the reason the MC is abused is because she has no psychic powers, unlike the rest of her family. No one cares about her and no one is interested in her existence. In spite of this, she has a boy who is kind and loves her from another well off family. This family's head (the boy's father) decides to make a marriage proposal into the MC's family, in which he refuses to let his son marry her (despite his protests), because she is useless, powerless and he should marry the MC's evil sister instead. There is no real reasoning to this other than to make the MC lose her initial love interest and suffer more. As a result, the MC is married off into an even more prestigious family -- cue prince charming who is the most powerful and kind to her.

As soon as this happens, the head of the family who just refused to let MC marry his son, decides he suddenly NEEDS her in his family... because despite not having powers, MC has an extremely rare/sought after bloodline! This is not news to him, however, he just randomly decided that was how it had to be, and is now plotting to ruin MCs new marriage and force her to now marry his son. Of course, he could have had her marry him in the beginning, but the show is all about MC suffering even when it makes no logical sense for the other characters to inflict it.

The evil sister and step mother kidnap and abuse MC with the help of the head of the other family, and she is once again saved by prince charming and all is back to normal... or is it? No, in fact, despite absolutely no one caring about her or wanting anything to do with her, suddenly the entire world wants MC because of her specialu bloodlineu! Which, as a reminder, was at no point hidden from the world any more than it is now. At no point, until now, did her abusive family feel the need to use her special bloodline to profit themselves -- because, even though it goes against all logical or selfish motivations of everyone involved, it simply wouldn't have made MC suffer enough!

So, what exciting new way to torture the MC is coming next? Of course, there is only one true evil: a new menace in the story will give her nightmares for 3 episodes! Horrid! Unthinkable! A devastating crime. Thankfully, prince charming is there to sense it each time and talk to himself about it as she sleeps. But wait, could this be foreshadowing? Are her hidden powers awakening? Is something interesting to the plot about to develop? Could the anime be salvaged now, on episode 8?!

...Haha, of course not. All 12 episodes are the exact same, remember! Silly, hopeful viewer. As it turns out, the MCs missing, non-abusive side of the family were alive this whole time -- and also now suddenly need her out of no where, and to get between her marriage to prince charming! And its her specialu bloodlineu that is cursing her to have nightmares and abusing her this time! A supernatural enemy/monster that threatens the safety of all has also been revealed, but its so overshadowed by the MC having nightmares that it might as well return to non-existence. Her cousin (who earlier tried to seduce her away from prince charming) reveals the MC had supernatural abilities this whole time, and that she appeared as if she didn't was normal for their bloodline (something her mother didn't tell anyone when it might've saved her from a lifetime of abuse and neglect, because once again, MC must suffer!). Just kidding! A moment later, they say they didn't expect it either, but, despite having no contact with MC, it turns out they knew she was showing signs of development (the nightmares). Oops, almost got you! They minutes later reinforce no one in their family has the kind of supernatural ability the MC lacks that made her life so horrible, which would have included her mother, who again, just didn't tell everyone else this.. for some reason? Oh, wait a second! Her mother's side of the family knew the reason all along! Her mother sealed off MC's power as a child, since someone with her mother's ability was more likely to give birth to someone super strong! They claim they had no contact with MCs mother and shouldn't have known this, yet they do. But somehow.. they didn't think MC had an ability and left her to suffer for it? The plot has become so hamfisted and full of holes you'd have a better time hitting your head against a wall, really. I wish I had. Instead, I watched the remaining two episodes, because at this point I'm a seasoned masochist.

Well then, what happens in these final episodes? Her new family holds her hostage from seeing prince charming, but it turns out they actually loved her all along... suddenly! And it was the emperor who really wants her to be stuck hostage with them! If they let her go see prince charming, the emperor will ruin her family and everyone else... for... reasons. In this time, prince charming is attacked by the monsters and now the only one who can save him is MC, with her new found ability. Despite their previous selfish behavior and the threat of the emperor, her family suddenly is perfectly ok with her going to see him, because even though they didn't care about her, her entire life, they are family now! It is like the show is being written sentence by sentence with 0 consideration of what was just said or what just happened and these last handful of eps ramp that up to 100. I am unsure if the writers are experiencing Alzheimers or are hoping the viewers are. It is like a rollercoaster ride of face slaps and whip lash with even less entertainment value.

We wrap up with a nightmare-ish dreamscape where, while faced with an enemy that could kill everyone that he's tasked to defend against, all prince charming can think of is apologizing to MC for raising his voice while concerned. MC whines and cries while facing some alter ego of her own deep seated self loathing and insecurity. At this point in, if you're like me, you're so tired of this repeat theme that you watch it at 2x the speed (it takes up over half of the last episode). It's randomly revealed the evil monsters from earlier were being manipulated by the emperor himself, and he too wants to get rid of MC and prince charming, as they are suddenly a threat to him (ignoring prince charming being a loyal commander under him trained to kill these evil monsters, I guess - what show would we be watching if there was a reasonable motivation to be had here?). The MC handles this in a 10 second sequence within the dream, the couple makes up, no one outside of the dreamscape cares or remembers any of the rules or deals that happened over the last few eps, and everyone lives happily ever after. Except for me, who is left writing this review and questioning her life choices. I wish I could tell you why I'm giving this a 3/10 instead of a 1/10. I can't. It was a horrible show from start to finish.

Mononoke the TV series, along with the joining episodes of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales, has been, since the late 2000s, my favorite show of all time. It's held a special place in my heart like none other. When I saw a movie was coming, I can't even begin to explain the joy and excitement that overtook me; the painstaking moments of waiting and checking to see if it'd been released yet. I thought, no I *KNEW*, I would love this... Unfortunately, I'd been quite wrong. My adoration for Kusuriuri-san and this series has kept my rating high, but the movie itself, although beautiful, falls short. ... It is hard to put my finger on, but the art, despite colorful and full of promise, is simply missing some key element of depth or "SOUL" the tv series had. In all its vibrancy, it is somehow still bland. The pacing of the animation is almost painful to watch at times - frequently flickering around from scene to scene at such a rate that you never really appreciate any one thing. The colors, which were once a great selling point, due to the aforementioned repetitive and fast movement, began to do nothing more than hurt my eyes. Kusuriuri-san himself seems to lack a certain elegance and refinement in the movie, and he feels as if a completely different character, from speech to mannerisms - not even considering the change in attire/appearance, which alone I'd consider an aesthetic downgrade. Was it silly for me to want for a movie that was a continuation of the show's original vibe, beauty, excellency, after so long? Maybe so. But as a die hard fan of what it has been all of these years, I simply cannot love what this movie is. I am sure there are many who will disagree, but this feels too much like it was heavy-handedly pushed in a weird and modern direction that completely disregards what made Mononoke so beautiful in the first place. It feels rushed. It doesn't feel like it was made with care. Sorry.

Edit: Though I still feel the movie felt 'weak' compared to the tv series, it appears the Kusuriuri-san in the movies is not the same character as in the tv series - which explains quite a bit (I was not aware of this while writing my review).

After the first couple of episodes, I wasn't sure I'd like this show. I kind of trudged my feet along, not really feeling much for the main character. Boy, was that first impression ever wrong. My biggest complaint is that there are only going to be 10 episodes to this season, and it feels like its only getting started. The show has an interesting, sometimes surreal sense of world building that reminds me of the sort of mystical and curious feeling that I loved in the first season of Tower of God. It doesn't assume you are stupid and spoon feed you fact after fact ... of the world, it boldly introduces the concepts and runs with them as if you, yourself are born of this world and privy to the nuances of it's reality. Over time you start to better understand the mechanics of it all, and I have to say, I've fallen in love with them. It feels deeply imaginative and like having a wonderful dream you simply do not wish to wake up from. Were that not enough, it has a ever present sense of mystery that pulls you along - with questions and background happenings that slowly unfold before you, never thrown in your face and instead ebbing along in the back of your mind, building intrigue. I dare say this may be my favorite show of the season.

It starts strong, has an interesting premise, hooks you with a bit of mystery and plenty of suspense, but it being 3 short episodes doesn't allow much of anything. It's completely stunted, plot/character relationships and development feel incredibly rushed, and I truly hated the last episode's outcome - even moreso for how rushed it was. Precious moments are wasted throughout the ovas recollecting on stuff to attempt to flesh out characters/their backgrounds, but it really doesn't work what-so-ever given how little time there is to truly tell anything. They should have done more show than tell in those instances. I honestly can't see what the ... point of a 3 ep ova was for this, I can imagine the source material is probably great but this just left me dissatisfied and I can't say that ending made me want to watch more - it had me feeling disappointed and frustrated, if anything. Really poor execution of the limited time, this deserved a full fleshed out season for sure.

A literal child, malnourished and with 0 training other than sparring using wooden swords with his childhood friend, single-handedly saves a king, defeats multiple assassins, an entire village rumored to be filled with murderous bandits, trained armies, battle-hardened war generals, etc. etc., all without getting much more than a few scratches. He also annoyingly yells and avoids letting others speak during pivotal plot progression points, somehow winning over the hearts of all while saying nothing much at all.

The mountain people concept, mountain king and their masks are cool and I'm hoping maybe things become a bit more fleshed out in later seasons? But that's really ... all that's holding this at a 5 and not substantially lower. It would actually HELP if this show had some kind of magic or wuxia-xianxia backing behind it, to try to explain the absurdity of the children's inexplicable skills. At the moment, however, I can't say I recommend it. I will continue to watch and see where it takes me, but so far this is a hard miss for me.

Initially I fell prey to the claims of plot holes and inconsistencies I'd heard echoed about this show. However, by the time the season wraps up, you start to understand that the "plot holes" are created by the subjective/limited viewpoint of the characters, and what we are really seeing is just their understanding/perspective, and not legitimate plot holes at all. It all starts to add up and give little bites and pieces of something deeper going on behind the scenes.

In the end, I actually binged all 13 EPs in a single night. There were twists I suspected and others I genuinely didn't see coming, ... only recognizing the subtle set up in retrospect. It's not a next level genius story, but it is very enjoyable, and I highly look forward to a SE2.

Bonus point: cats continually saved from tragedy

I rate this with extreme personal bias and zero objectivity, as I love Kengan Ashura and I've been waiting for this release for what seems like a lifetime. In all honesty, though, it definitely will need part 2 of the season to (hopefully) round things out. My sweet husbando Kaolan must have a sore back because he hard carried this season; in fact, I might argue you could watch the episode of his fight and the ass-end of ep 12 and you'd have not truly missed anything all that interesting by ignoring the rest. That said, I'd not take back bingeing it all in a ... single night purely for how much I love Kengan Ashura and the fighting tournament style.

Objectively: It was like 12 episodes of filler that really just rehashed things we'd already established in SE1. Still think the Kaolan fight ep is worth every other second, though.

I went in thinking I would like this, the visuals in the first episode especially gave me great hope... But visuals alone couldn't carry it, and by the end of episode 3, I knew I wouldn't be able to take the logical inconsistency and shallow character depth which they were trying to grow with a premise that really makes no sense. The way the show jumped from scene to scene was more confusing than dramatic or thrilling, and it left no real time for build up or attachment to the human characters before it too rapidly killed them off. The scene with the plane, for ... example, should have been a tear jerker emotional moment where you really feel for the hopelessness of it all, but it's barely a blink of a second, weirdly shown and comes in after something distinctly important already having happened as if it's some silly afterthought. The 'personality' they give the main character feels very 'off', her choices and thoughts don't really adhere to what they've laid out for us, and her conversations with the other AI just seem out of place for what they've set the standard of her character. Perhaps it gets better, perhaps later on these gaps are closed, perhaps there are others who can easily overlook such things and still enjoy this anime for everything else. I simply can't.

This was one of the worst shows I've attempted to watch and I have no idea how it got such positive reviews. Outside of the animation quality I can't think of one redeeming aspect of this poorly paced borefest. The character's reactions are nonsensical and any hope for it moving into an interesting plot via the initial 'mysteries' that are posed is just dropped on the floor, run over and spat on. If you're hoping for this to go anywhere promising after the first few episodes, you'll be sorely disappointed. Imagine the most obvious outcomes possible to the point it's like you're reading the storyline ... of someone's first fanfic.net post, force in some hamfisted anti-climatic monsters, destroy any interest or tension, and then watch in the desperate hope it'll redeem itself until you finally recognize "shit, this is it, they're serious", and then wish you had the power of the MC so you could unwatch this hot trash fire.