Katanagatari

So let me go ahead and start with this. This is now my absolute favorite anime. There are so many incredible ones out there, but this one managed to completely take the cake. This series of 12 episodes came out in 2010. Each episode is about 45 minutes long which is a bit odd for most animes. There is no English dub for this anime.

The story follows Shichika and Togame. Togame comes to a remote island to find the heir to the fabled swordless swordsman technique. This technique uses extreme speed and using the weaknesses of others, or others equipment to your own advantage. Shichika falls for her and decided to become her sword in her quest to collect the 12 deviant blades created by Kiki Shikizaki that are imbued with incredible powers. But she gives him 3 rules he must follow.

1. Protect her.

2. Don't break any of the swords.

3. Protect yourself.

Now while that may seem simplistic in nature, it proves to be somewhat difficult as there are certain fights where it would have been much easier on Shichika if her were allowed to break the sword. 

Each episode is a different sword. But along side the fights there is a back story that grows and grows until the last 2 episodes to completely alter everything you thought. Now one of the things that separate this show from so many other animes of similar fashions is that our hero doesn't win through pure determination. There are so many that have this element; Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Bleach, Gurren Lagann, One Piece, and so many more. But with this one our hero is already very powerful. His main struggles are in how not to break the swords, as well as not getting hurt himself. 

Now the animation isn't great, but it works just fine for how they do everything. But the most amazing thing about this show is the fights. They are both impressive on how they create a full understanding of the incredible characters, but it is also just entertaining. I came upon the show because I watched a youtube video on the most amazing anime fights and the final battle of the show absolutely qualifies under this dynamic.

Without trying to give anything away or give spoilers, the final episode is so incredible that words honestly fail me. The episode is a roller coaster of emotion. There is despair, hope, satisfaction, sadness, and pure awe.

This show earns itself a score of 11 out of 11. It lost some points on the animation, but easily got them back for the sure awe of the show. I highly recommend this anime to any and everyone who is interested in anime, or even just good shows. 

BoJack Horseman

This netflix original series had season 1 come out in 2014, and season 2 in 2015. The show has been renewed for a third season to come out sometime in 2016. But for now we just have the first 2 seasons to review. Each season has 12 episodes for a total of 24 (with a Christmas special). Each episode is 24 minutes or so.

The series follows BoJack Horseman. An anthropomorphic horse which was a 90s family sitcom star. Now however he is a washed up drunk trying to figure things out. Season 1 starts with BoJack attempting to write a memoir about his life. He soon hires a ghost writer, who is someone who listens to the stories of your life, then writes the book for you. But remains anonymous on the book itself generally. He quickly falls in love with her, only to find that she is dating the person he hates the most, Mr. Peanutbutter. Who was another 90s family sitcom star on a show quite similar to BoJack's. 

The show touches on some political issues as well as some basic hollywood ones. One of the biggest being how child stars end up becoming drug addicted crazy sluts. Others include the ridiculousness of actors agents and the cult that is Improv. 

The second season starts with the ending, Then goes back to show how it all happened and fits together. Like how a full sized boat ends up in his swimming pool and more. This is rather confusing when watching it for the first time because it takes a few minutes to realize that its all a flashforward. It just has the feeling like I am missing so much of the story right now. But then you get to the second episode that you finally realize what it all was.

Then there is season three. Be prepared for a horribly depressing season. Everything turns out to be Bojack's fault. But there is a season long joke that is ridiculous and funny. 

The shows animation is rudimentary, but it often has entertaining things in the background. As well as basic jokes and scenes that shows more anthropomorphic animals and how even though they are humanoid, they still are the animal. 

The show was simplistic, but still enjoyable. In the end it only receives a 7 out of 11. Still good enough to watch though.

Fate/Stay Night(Series)

We will start with the first of these 3 that came out Fate/Stay Night. It came out in 2006 with 24 episodes each being 22 minutes. After that came Fate/Zero which is a prequel to the first one. It came out in 2011 with 25 episodes, again them being about 22 minutes long. Finally we will look at Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works]. This remake of the original Fate Stay Night came out in 2014 with its second season in 2015. The first season had twelve 22 minute episodes and a 47 minute prequel. The second season has thirteen 22 minute episodes.

So as I said we will start with Fate/Stay Night. This is the worst of the 3 I am reviewing now. There were still some parts that were entertaining, but the ending was disappointing and had this whole lead up that was simply illogical and annoying.

The Holy Grail is a magical device that can grant any wish. But it only appears every so often and when it does it chooses 7 people that it believes to be worthy (yes it is sentient). These 7 people are given/summon servants that are legendary heroes from any time period. These servants serve their master either because they share similar ideals/wishes or because their master has 3 command seals that force the servant to do whatever they want against the servants will. This can include killing innocence or stealing something, or even to kill themself. The 7 servants fall into one of the 7 basic classes; Saber, Lancer, Assassin, Rider(as in a cavalry or chariot, etc.), Archer, Caster(mage), and Berserker. These classes are only a basic guideline for the historical heroes. For example archer can wield swords, rider can have physical weapons and almost never use their vehicle of choice. 

This show follows Shiro, a teenage boy who accidentally(or unknowingly set up) to become a master. He gains the servant Saber who just happens to be King Arthur(though female, so King Arturia Pendragon). Together they fight others and make deals to work alongside others. Eventually either they or other masters and servants defeat each other and Shiro ends up "collecting" various girls into his mostly empty house. This subsequently turns the show into your average harem anime where multiple girls are around/in love with one teenage boy who doesn't fully understand what love is about, and who he loves in return.

The animation is only okay, especially because it came out in 2006. And at that time there was better animation available. The fights are nice some of the time, but they are far from awe-inspiring. There are some filler episodes that aren't about the Holy Grail War at all. Now I have enjoyed some shows that are harem based or love story based, but I expected this to be exciting fights and intriguing story arches(though this may be because I started with Fate/Zero accidentally). Either way my expectations were dashed within the show.

This is the first of the series that I ended up watching. And 2 episodes in I knew I was going to watch the whole series. This prequel takes place 10 years before the Stay Night series. The whole thing leads up to main series quite well. The animation was great for the series and the fights were exciting and unexpected. There were times where I had no idea how each moment, and especially how each fight would end. The masters varied in skill, tactics, and purpose to such a large degree that I had no idea who would win until near the end. 

For the first half of the series it was difficult to actually specify who it followed. This is because the show followed pretty much each master and servant almost equally. Additionally the show mentioned who many of the heroes were in life. Which if you know your history casts some fascinating lights on how the writers decided to use them and their choices. Again we have King Arturia, but we also get Gilgamesh, and Alexander the Great, as well as Blue Beard. 

This series has a lot of intrigue and diabolical and even downright terrifying tactics that people use to succeed in their goals. These include blowing up an entire building just to flush out an enemy, cutting of a persons hand to remove their command seals, murdering children and people just for the fun of it, becoming infested with various terrifying insects that breed inside your flesh to protect another from the same fate, and so much more.

This series is an absolutely incredible remake of the original Fate/Stay Night series. The beginning is pretty much the same, but soon shifts into a brand new series with a different and far better ending. The animation for this one implements 3D elements which make the fight scenes completely awe-inspiring. There were times where I was completely stunned by the intensity of what was being shown. 

This series took the elements set up from Zero and the original Stay Night to create a new show that became logical and impressively twisting. This one also goes into the dynamic of a hero coming from any time period, which isn't only segregated to the past but the future as well. This series also goes more into the depths of struggle. This series uses the common motif in anime's of the seemingly insignificant person who through nothing but their own determination and spirit overcome great odds. 

This show also goes far more into the other character's and their personal lives, as well as their desire from the Holy Grail. We see some more of the connections between the people from the previous war and this one. This includes some being the children of previous masters, the differences in magical power in some individuals to others. And exactly what can occur if someone is an incredibly powerful witch.

This one is the most impressive of these 3 because it it actually utilized the command seals that every master is given. While I like the storyline of Fate/Zero the most, they only use these seals a few times, even though they constantly speak of the importance and power they give. But only a few are ever actually used.

And now to these shows ratings. Fate/Stay Night earns a score of 6 out of 11 for its fall from potential greatness, and the terrible ending. Fate/Zero gets itself a 10 out of 11 for the incredible fights and awesome character plots. And finally Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works] gets itself a 10 out 11 as well. It could have gotten more if it had given more, or at least as much about Medusa as the original Stay Night gave her.

Prison School

Let me go ahead and start with wow. This anime series that came out very recently, starting just this last July and ending in September (and in case this is read in later years, this is 2015). It has a total of only 12 episode each being the anime average of 22 minutes. Additionally there is a live action version that should be starting on October 26 2015. I plan to watch it and review it separately when it concludes.

So this anime is intense. It is a highly sexual show which at times could be considered a softcore porno to a certain degree. There are multiple times throughout where they do upskirts and tits and more, however they place "lens flare" or white or black censor bars over them. There are uncensored editions of the series available online, however it can sometimes be difficult to find, and from what I understand many of these sites come with some nasty viruses. So search for them at your own risk. Though I would like to mention that the censorship doesn't actually take anything away from the series, and actually adds a little here and there as they comment on it a few times. Plus if you really want to look at animated asses, vaginas, and tits, there is plenty of hentai online for you to watch.

The show takes place at an all girl boarding school that only just started to let male students in. However they only let in 5. These 5 end up being "convicted" of the perversion of peeping on girls in the bath by the underground student council. There sentence is to spend 1 month in the student prison, which has been built in the courtyard like area in the middle of the school. They are then required to do physical labor to improve the school and help the other students. They are publicly humiliated and beaten. And they are constantly being treated violently, though they enjoy it to a certain degree if they think of it sexually. 

The show is a comedy, though it does go into some really awkward and disturbing things depending on your own beliefs and preferences. For example there is shitting your pants in public (no poop is actually shown). Being covered in piss, and being anally penetrated by more than one sharp object that leads to significant amounts of blood. There are also some psychological matters that are visible. And a whole lot of blood. Like a whole lot (which makes me that much more interested in seeing the live action version, because I am curious on how they plan to show/do that).

I often found myself saying "what the fuck." The animation was well done, and was entertaining. Though some of the topics and themes were not very peasant to endure through. In the end the show earns a score of 8 out of 11. 

SAO II

Sword Art Online II. I have previously rated SAO the first part, and now its time for the second. While this is technically season 2, I more consider it to be season 3 and 4. This is because the original was basically 2 separate stories, and this is similar in that same regard. SAO II came out with another 25 episodes in 2014. Each of these episodes being just like the first in that they were 24 minutes or so long.

The first part takes place in a new, mostly American VRMMORPG called Gun Gale Online (GGO). Unlike Sword Art and Alfheim, GGO has no magic, and for the most part the weapons you get are guns. This makes deaths much quicker and adds a certain element of dueling that can end in an instant. But someone going by the name Death Gun is somehow shooting people in the video game and they are dying in real life. So our hero Kirito joins the game to investigate the scenario. He makes a new friend/rival Sinon. We end up learning about her past and seeing Kirito's and his fellow ex-SAO members continue to live in the real world as well as in the virtual ones.

The second part at first is a side adventure within Norse Mythology and the idea of a video game having no true limitations on what could occur. After this adventure we see the life of Asuna and just how hard a life of riches can be. The responsibilities and stresses that can come with it. But mostly it is the meeting of a guild of players known as the Sleeping Knights. This small group wishes for her help to immortalize the impressive deed of defeating a floor boss with only their small numbers. They fight together and things about the people and the group are realized that bring into question the real world and some of the potential that virtual realities can truly have for people. Especially for people who may have certain disabilities or disadvantages in the physical world.

This second series is fascinating and quite well done. I think I still prefer the first part of the original, but in the end this second bit lived up to the path laid down by the original, and as I said it was more thought provoking. SAO II gets a 10 out of 11.

The IT Crowd

This wonderful British comes with 4 seasons with a total of 25 (+1special) episodes. These 25 minute show came out between 2006 and 2013.

Smarties cereal, (holding a gun in your hand)I wonder if its loaded (puts in mouth)(click click click) guess not, nude grandmother calenders, cakes filled with poo and knives in London, and so much more. This comedy takes place in the basement of a large corporate building. The IT department. These nerds are completely misunderstood and subsequently unappreciated. After all we don't care about the people who work our computers as long as they work.

And of course there are generally only 2 problems with computers. Either it needs to be turned off and on again, or its not plugged in. So much so that these pretty much become the catchphrase of the show and I believe that every single episode has someone say "Have you tried turning it on and off again?" at least once.

And of course then there is Jen, the woman who accidentally gets hired to the department when she knows nothing about computers. She becomes their relationship manager and plenty of jokes about the stupidity and genius of each other ensues.

Now some warning to those who are not familiar with British humor, and British television. It is very different from American TV. First off they can curse. There are a few episodes where they say Fuck. Also bathroom humor is completely allowed. Few times will you see American TV make jokes about poo (Scrubs excluded). They also prefer to make fun of the French instead of Indians (from India) like America does in the case of telephone tech support and whatnot. And lastly British humor utilizes quick and sudden things like a main character suddenly jumping out a 40 story window.

I really like this show, it is great if you need a quick or good laugh. The first season is personally the best, but that doesn't mean in any sense that the others are bad, its just the first is the best. The show gets an 10.5 out of 11.

666 Park Avenue

This series was unfortunately like so many others, canceled after only its first season in 2012-2013. As such, there are only 13 episodes. Each of these episodes is about 42 minutes long.

This show is mostly about 2 things. That is 2 things after the fact that the incredible Terry O'Quinn is on it. The first thing is the idea of high society meeting the dark arts and magic. The second is, what would you do if you could have exactly what you want? The show takes place in the apartment building called "The Drake," located on 999 Park Avenue. The two main characters become the managers of The Drake. They work with the other tenants and the owners to restore the beauty of this old building as they learn more and more of its secrets.Oh and I almost forgot to mention, Whoopi Goldberg. She's only in one episode, but she is incredible in that episode.

But here is the most interesting thing. People occasionally say "I would do/give anything to do/get ______." But what if the price was something you never would have expected to pay. Like cheating on your wife to write a hit broadway show. Or seducing a married man to regain the use of your legs. Or even your morals to be the most read reporter in the New York's most prestigious newspaper. Or more. Anything is a wide range of things, and maybe what we wanted isn't what we really expected.

Oh and a demon may be running everything. But then again maybe he is something else.

I loved the show, but like I mentioned. It was cancelled early, but it does have a bit of an ending. Just not the best of ones. The show gets a score of 9 out of 11.

Psych

121 episodes of Pineapples between 2006 and 2014. With musical episodes, unearthed dinosaurs, lots of childhood flashbacks, and as I said pineapples.

Shawn grew up with a heavily strict father who forced him to become an extremely observant individual. This leads him to lying to the police for 8 years about being a Psychic and having special powers that allow him to help the police solve case after case. All while he attempts to get the girl and while messing around with his best friend Gus' life. Gus of course allows all of this to happen, even while he "tries" to get out of it.

Shenanigans ensue in every episode, breaking into houses, breaking into museums, working a hundred different jobs, stealing police files, jumping from cars after being kidnapped, and so much more. Shawn comes up with endless ways to mess with Lassie and well pretty much everyone around him. Luckily everyone comes out all right in the end even though many of them end up in horrible situations because of his shenanigans. Of course some of the situations weren't completely his fault, like the serial killer Yang's obsession with Shawn.

This show is fantastic. Some ridiculous scenarios, but always with the same amount of hilarity and excitement. The show earns an 11 out of 11.

Battlestar Galactica

2004-2009 takes up a new look at the world originally created back in the 1970's. Mankind versus the machines that we created. This continuance of the story had 74 episode each being about 42 minutes long.

This series is far darker than the 1970's version, and is more intense. Combining all kinds of ideas and relationships together to show to what depths mankind is capable of. Showing us what could happen if we lose what "humanity" we have, as well as what we could achieve if we strive for a goal.

The series starts with a massive Cylon invasion that almost entirely wipes out the human race leaving only a few thousand survivors. They flee in hopes of finding the fabled "Earth" from their religious texts. But everyone has their secrets and burdens to bear, and on a relatively small ship, none of their secrets will remain that way for long. But here is the biggest twist, the robot-like Cylons have been developing a new race of Cylons. Humonoid Cylons that are almost indistinguishable from normal humans, even on the inside. These new Cylons are how the humans were defeated, and anyone in the fleet could be one, or as we find out later 12 are, or at least there are 12 Cylon/human models.

The series goes over multiple current events like the argument over abortion, or how we should treat our enemies, and even racial tensions. The one that I was most impressed with was the idea of allotted places in life. Someone who is born to a poor family is likely to remain relatively poor their entire life. The children of farmers are likely to be farmers themselves and so on.

The ending even leads to ideas of the origin of mankind as a whole which was rather interesting. For the most part I really liked the show, but I did have one rather major problem with the show and that was the whole Starbuck thing within the last season, but I don't want to give any spoilers away so I will just leave it at that.

The show gets a 9 out of 11. While I liked the idea of how they ended the series, I thought they could have led up to it better.

Aika

So this is actually a 3 part review. They are all pretty much based on the same character of Aika, and take place in the same apocalyptic water covered planet. All three are secret agent type shows (though Aika isnt actually an agent). And all of them are super Ecchi. Ecchi of course are animes that show sexual fantasy, or sometimes known as Fan Service. Now when I say that this is a super Ecchi, I mean that the entire show is all about this. Every villain is either a scantily woman, or a crazy guy attempting to create his own Harem. And just about every female character (and there are a lot) wear short skirts or sexy lingerie. And the "camera" angle is almost always low so that you get hundreds of upskirt shots. Also these allow for tits to be shown unlike some other Ecchi's.

The first is Agent Aika. This one has 7 episodes each being about 25-29 minutes long. This series came out in 1997-1999. And it has an english dub.

The second is AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission, which has 3 episodes each also being 25 minutes long. This series has the same Aika of the first one, but one shows her when she was 16 years old. This came out in 2007. This one also has an english dub.

The third is AIKa: Zero. This last one also has only 3 episodes and again they are each about 25 minutes long. This final part came out in 2009 and shows the Aika when she was 19 years old. This is the only one of the three without an english dub.

We shall start with Agent Aika. This is the story of Aika as an adult who salvages objects from the ocean floor for those who will pay for them. As all of Tokyo and more of the world is now deep in the oceans this job has gained quite a bit of competition. She gets hired for a job and ends in a whole conspiracy of world destruction, followed by rebirth and repopulation with a ship full of beautiful women. Aika and her friends must fight them to stop their nefarious plans. But wait, Aika also has a that super piece of clothing that is really a metaloid being that changes the very chemistry of her body. It strips her down then barely wraps itself around her private parts. It then gives her strength and agility beyond the norm. She uses this to aid her and even save her life at times. But wait there is still more. The Harem organization continues fighting Aika, even after their original goal was thwarted. 

This high school aged Aika wants adventure, and loves submarines. She gets her scavenging licence and then makes some new friends (rich friends that is) who also want adventure. They set off on a quest to find out the meaning of a secret code butterfly tattoo that leads them to fighting mind-controlled classmates and clones. And their teacher turns out to be a bikini-clad bad guy behind a lot of this whole thing. Unlike the first series the men don's seem to be as affected in this one by the sexuality all around them. But this may be due to the fact that because most of the girls are 16 or so, it would be too perverted to do so.

Finally we see a 19 year old Aika. This one starts with a school conspiracy and weird glowing tentacles that seem to take possession of beautiful young girls. This one also has quite a few lesbian jokes and insinuations. Aliens and a whole bunch of penetration jokes. This one tells the tale of how Aika fights to discover the truth of a high school conspiracy and save her friends. 

Honestly these were rather boring series. I only finished them because of how short they were. The only one with a real semblance of a somewhat good story arc was the first, but the dialog was terrible. The last one had the best video quality and dialog, but has a rather stupid storyline. The middle one Was kinda just between the two in all regards. It wasn't the worst at anything, but it wasn't the best at anything either. 

So here are the scores. Agent Aika receives a 5.5 out of 11. AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission gets a 6.5 out of 11. And AIKa: Zero gets a 5.5 out of 11.

Deadman Wonderland

In this world of destroyed Tokyo there is a series of 12, 22 minute episodes that tell the story of a convicted child murderer. This series came out in Japan in 2011 and America in 2012.

Now as you may be able to gather from the picture, this is a violent series. The very first episode shows an ordinary middle school kid Ganta chatting with his friends before class. When suddenly there is a flying person out the window and everything goes red. Ganta awakens to see blood everywhere and all of his classmates dead. The man goes up to him and melts a crystal into his chest. Then Ganta is convicted of the slaughter of his entire class and is then sent to Deadman Wonderland. A prison/amusement park where the prisoners have to work to survive by performing for audiences and crowds of tourists. 

Ganta soon realizes how hard his life is, but further realizes that he wants to fight to survive. Then starts the supernatural stuff. Ganta is infected with a virus known as Branch of Sin that allows the infected to control their own blood and use it as a weapon. Each persons Branch of Sin is different, allowing for different types of weapons to manifest. Ganta's BoS is a gun like weapon while others are similar to a sword or whip or even as an explosive sphere. 

Ganta finally is entered into the hidden cell block G where all the inmates are forced to fight each other with their Branch of Sin. The loser either is dead, or plays a slot machine game where they lose a body part. The body part could be as small as a tooth (even small, they will remove this while you are awake without anesthesia), all the way up to a leg or an organ. Of course these battles are time sensitive no matter who you are as you are literally losing your own blood with each attack and defense.

I loved this series. It is violent with some sexuality that is there but not over the top (at least in my opinion). The series earns a solid 11 out of 11. It lost half a point on dialog, but earned it back with impressiveness.

Akame ga Kill

This series of 4 episodes came out in 2014, and should be coming out on adult swim in August 2015 later this year, with english dub. Each episode is 24 minutes or so.

This show is violent, spoiler alert, but people die. I wont tell you who, but be forewarned that characters do die. The show follows Tatsumi (the guy in the tan sweater in the photo above). He comes to the capital to earn enough riches to save his small village on the outskirts, unfortunately he quickly finds out that the capital is not all that he believed, especially not it the case of the people. Things occur that leads him to joining the elite team of Night Raid, a group of assassins that kill prominent members of the army and government. 

However thats not the most interesting part, that belongs to weapons they each carry. Imperial Arms. 1000 years ago the first emperor realized that he would not be able to live forever, so he endeavored to create 48 weapons of superior power to pass down the generations to keep his empire safe. These weapons were created using the rarest of elements and the energies of the rarest and most powerful "danger beasts." These Imperial Arms range in power as well as type. Some are swords or guns, others are armor or supply like objects. There are even a few organic ones that are in and of themselves alive. These Arms have incredible abilities like being able to cut anything in the world in half, or cursing the victim with death from only a single cut, or being able to summon those that have been killed by it, or even to create ice out of thin air. These Arms however have ended up on both sides of the fight over the years and now Night Raid must fight the Jaegers of the empire for control. And it is important to know that because of the power of the Imperial Arms, if two people each with one fights against each other, it is pretty much guaranteed that at least one of them will die.

I enjoyed the series, though I thought that some of the fights were a bit short, however that may be from my own history or watching things like Dragonball Z where the shortest fights were 10 episodes long. But here I thought that some of the fights ended too soon, sometimes making it feel somewhat anti-climatic. But in the end the series gets a 10 out of 11.

Law & Order Criminal Intent

This show came out in 2001 and lasted 10 seasons. Now this isn't the first Law & Order to come out, and there have been others after. However this is my favorite of the lot. The series had a total of 195 episodes each  being about 42 minutes or so.

Now let me start off by saying that the series does change its cast every so often. This being due to a variety of circumstances, but in the end the only 2 that stay for pretty much the entire thing are Detective Alexandra Eames, and Detective Robert Goren (The two in the center shown above). The series starts out with the first 4 seasons or so having half about the cops finding the criminal, then charging them. But the other half being filled with the law side of attempting to prosecute them. This ends up showing a side that a lot of other cop shows don't. Which adds it own set of intrigue to it. Unfortunately they dropped the courtroom side of things after the 4th season and they refocused on the cops side more. 

The series starts out not telling us much about the characters individual lives. And honestly they barely tell us much about anyone by the end except Goren. All kinds of stuff happens to him. Schizophrenic mother, drug addict brother, daddy-issued crazy childhood friend, super crazy and yet insanely awesome mentor (played by the incredible John Glover), a sociopathic grifting nemesis, a mostly useless nephew, a potential serial rapist/murderer father, and more. 

What the series lacks in personal characterizations, it makes up for in intelligent and interesting dialog and fascinating bad guys and scenarios for the characters to fight through. Some are predictable, and others are obvious. But it still has some unknowns.

I liked the show, but there were some problems therein. Especially the episodes with Jeff Goldblum, and I say that even though I very much like him as an actor. Law & Order Criminal Intent gets a score of 8.5 out of 11.

Tokyo Ghoul

This anime is violent, bloody, occasionally sexual, thrilling and most of all intense. This series is very recent having had its second season come out in early 2015. There are a total of 24 episodes.

The series revolves around Keneki. A young man who goes on a date with the beautiful Rize in the first episode, only to find that she is in reality a Ghoul. Or a being of incredible strength and supernatural abilities, that also just happens to consume humans. And on top of all that Rize is a little different than other ghouls, she doesn't eat for her own survival. She eats for the sheer pleasure of seeing the light drain from her victims eyes as she guts them alive and feasts upon their flesh. Unfortunately for her there is an "accident" during her pleasure time and she gets killed, at the hospital her organs are scooped out and placed into Keneki to keep him alive. And now he is a half human, half ghoul.

The first season is mostly about his struggle in dealing with his new found abilities, but more importantly his new found tastes and hunger. For ghouls cannot eat normal human food, they must consume human flesh to survive. Human food is somewhat like a poison to them if fully digested. So he hungers for blood but continues to refuse to eat on the lines of his morals. But he struggles through, he joins a group of ghouls who only eat flesh of those who are already dead, and work to help out and support other ghouls in trouble. But they must always be vigilant because there is a police-like organization CCG who hunt down and eliminate ghouls. This first season ends with a gigantic change awakening in Keneki which leads him to allowing his violent side to emerge.

The second season deals more with this new violent Keneki and the new organization he joins called Aogiri Tree. A group of ghouls bent on surviving and destroying those who might be a threat to them. All of this leads to some interesting characters and discoveries. One of which is that the CCG find out about his original group who helped in at the beginning and the war that ensues from this discovery. Keneki is constantly battling with himself and his urges, as well as with Rize who is now often present in his mind, and tends to represent his ghoul side. 

I really enjoyed the series. Sometimes I think we all need to watch some gory violence to satisfy our internal angers and struggles, and this show definitely provided that. That being said, I thought the end of the series was a bit weak. It doesn't end with that final blaze of glory I was hoping for. Now there is the potential that a third season may occur. However from what I have been able to find at this point in time, they are not planning to do so yet. In the end I give the series a 9.5 out of 11. A good show to watch if you want to see some blood.

Roseanne

Roseanne was a rather important show in that the two main characters/actors were overweight. Even today we don't see many tv shows with overweight main characters. Side characters and background characters tend to be okay, but rarely the main ones. The show started in 1988 and ended in 1997 with a total of 221 episodes over 9 seasons.

The show starts off pretty simple with a mom and dad struggling to get by. They have 3 kids, 2 girls and 1 boy. The aunt also is around pretty much all the time. As the seasons progress the daughters get boyfriends (who are brothers) Eventually stupid mistakes are made, but the family fights through it all. Some characters are introduced as side-characters that eventually become a lot stronger parts of the story as a whole. 

The biggest part of this show is the sexuality. The characters talk about sex a lot. Especially once the kids grow up enough to become sexually active themselves. Later in the series, pretty much every female character gets pregnant and have babies all over again. 

Now every show does some special stuff for their pilot, and for their finale (assuming they are allowed to finish the show and have a finale). Roseanne did some odd stuff for their final season which turned out to all be a lead up to the finale. This is some spoilers. Season 8 ends with the second daughters wedding then the dad played by John Goodman has a heart-attack. Season 9 starts with the family winning a $108 Million lottery. Season 9 is then just a series of adventures/fantasies/trips they take and do with the money or just imagine. In this season the dad almost cheats, and the Roseanne almost cheats, and all kinds of stuff like that. Honestly it was weird and didn't fully make sense. But in the last episode it turns out that all of that was just a fantasy of Roseanne as she writes novels to get by. It turns out that the dads heart-attack killed him, and Roseanne is struggling with depression from then on.

I liked the show, there was some good comic story-lines. But like many sitcoms they fell into the trap of babies everywhere. But they made it up at bit with the finale and last season. In the end I give it a 9 out of 11.

The Drew Carey Show

This show, as you may be able to guess is based mostly about Drew Carey. He is a low level executive stuck in the same position for years and years. The show started in 1995 and ended in 2004 with a total of 233 episodes.

The show has plenty of twists and turns with plenty of relationships for everyone at some point or another. But the main thing is Drew with his three best friends drink too much, hate their jobs, and enjoy various high jinks with each other. The show has some basic side characters which become main character for some seasons, then fall away back to side characters. There are some main characters who leave the show forever later in the series (mostly to start on the show Scrubs). 

Drew is constantly complaining about girl problems, but actually ends up having quite a few girlfriends, some of them fairly long-term ones throughout the series. These include 2 of the main female characters for the show. The only character who actually appears to be as lonely as he constantly professes is Lewis played by Ryan Styles. He ends up with only one serious girlfriend that lasts more than one episode, given she is a labrat kind of character for a drug company. 

The show has a whole bunch of side things, like dance numbers, music videos, episodes with mistakes in them as April Fools Day bonuses at the time that they were shown on tv, and improve episodes where they bring in a whole bunch of the actors from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and then they play some of those games on the show. Many of these are absolutely fantastic, and thoroughly hilarious. 

I enjoyed the show, though sometimes it was a bit repetitive and had some of the same plot lines. Plus the final season is completely different and often times kind of annoying. That last season changed the entire dynamic of the series by making a 2 year old suddenly an 8 year old. The relationship between Drew and Mimi is suddenly cohabitational. But I digress. 

In the end I must give The Drew Carey Show a total of 8 out of 11. There are some parts that are some of the funniest things on television, or the most clever. But others that are simply a show trying to be funny and sometimes failing miserably.

Leverage

Leverage is a modern day Robin Hood like show where the team steals from the big corporations, or corrupt business people, and give back to those that have been hurt by these richer people.

The show started back in 2008. The show continued until Christmas Day 2012, with a total of 77 episodes. Each episode is about 42 minutes long. The show is made up of 5 main characters. Our Hitter, Elliot Spencer (He's the guy in the vest), is also a retrieval specialist. The Hacker, Alec Hardison (The black guy). Grifter, Sophie Devereaux (not that is actually her name...also she is the brunette). Parker (The blonde) is our resident Thief. And finally our Mastermind, Nate Ford (the guy sitting down). 

All these characters were people who only worked alone as thieves and whatnot, taking things they wanted or were hired to take. Other than Nate Ford who was a Insurance Fraud Investigator. At some point or another he chased all of the other 4. 

This show is a perfect mix of comedy, action, intrigue, and bate-and-switches. There are plans that fail, others that go too easily and turn out that they had the wrong idea about who was the bad guy. There are certain lines/things that are used in most episodes. For example Elliot constantly talks about how certain haircuts, shoe prints, physical stance, gunshot sounds, the whoopa-whoopa of a helicopter are all very distinctive of a specific type of person or gun or whatnot. Ford ends up saying "Lets steal us a..." That dot-dot-dot could be mountain, a bank, an IRS building, a close encounter, or even a potato.

In the end I loved this show. It was a great show with impressive interactions between characters. They take down politicians, CEO's, coaches, insurance companies, and more. I enjoyed the playful nature behind much of these kinds of take downs. Especially those that take a significant turn in the middle. I give the show as a whole a 10 out of 11.