The first part of My Hero Academia Season 4 was extraordinary.

The darkest storyline yet with some truly harrowing scenes thanks to the dynamics of the league of villains and Overhaul.

It was action packed and I couldn’t stop watching until the end. If you were expecting this to keep up in Season 4 – Part 2, it has a different pace and tone.

This half of the season kicks off by tying off the loose ends from Part 1.

Once these are done we head back to UA to see the students that failed their Provisional Hero License having a second crack at it. This is what we will get a lot of in the season, more of our development time with the characters.

The bulk of the season is based around the school having their festival. Usually this involves multiple schools but due to the risks caused by the league of villains they decide to keep it to classes in the school.

As such class 1-A tries to put on something that will entertain the other classes to make up for bringing all that stress to the school.

Alongside this plot we have a new villain team by Gentle Criminal and his sidekick La Brava. These two commit non-violent crimes to build a social media following and device to interrupt the UA festival to boost their subscriber count.

Then we have the development of Eri who is perpetually sad thanks to her time at the hand of Overhaul, because you know, he was a dick. Mirio and Midoria try to bring some light to her life as they don’t want her to go down a dark path, so they decide to take her to the school festival.

So what we wind up with is a handful of side stories that all hit at this one event. It makes the story enjoyable and likely super important for the next series.

It is tough after watching the awesome that was Part 1 to slow it down, but we do get a lot of time developing aspects of our lesser characters like Kyoko who definitely deserves the screen time.

The limited edition package is awesome. The box is made to have space for the Part 1 Blu-Ray, the Part 2 Blu-Ray and a hardcover art book that sits in the middle. In the place where you will put Part 2 is a removable box which contains some awesome art cards, a 48-page keyframe collection, some stickers, guitar picks, and a 3” todoroki acrylic keychain.

It is a cool collection of stuff for any MHA fan.

Season 4 Part 2 might not be as strong as Part 1 but it still does a great job of giving us some more class time, a new short villain story, evolving Eri’s character while spending a lot more time developing their relationship with Midoriya and Mirio.

I suspect this relationship is gonna be important soon.

The post My Hero Academia Season 4 – Part 2 (Anime) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Your Lie in April is an anime series based on the manga of the same name and follows KouseiArima, a young piano prodigy who, at one time, dominated the competitive classical music scene, until the death of his mother caused him to suffer a mental breakdown, leading to him losing the ability to hear the music he played.

From that moment on, Kousei’s world is remarkably dull as he goes through the motions of high school with an absent father and a life that sorely lacks colour. That is, until he meets Kaori, a happy, free spirited violinist who takes it upon herself to ignite the musical fire laying dormant within Kousei and to inspire him to return to playing classical music on stage.

This anime is unlike most romantic dramas I’ve seen in the past. Heavily focused on the ideas of post-traumatic stress and tragedy, Your Lie In April illustrates the idea of love both destroying us and saving us. Kousei’s love for his mother and the hatred he feels for his mother’s cruel and harsh methods of training him in the art of playing the piano, causes his struggle to return to the classical music world. Being unable to hear his own music causes him a great deal of stress and the resolution to live a rather boring life. Meeting Kaori, however, sparks a change within him as the desire to play the piano returns, as do the bright colours of his world.

Much like other slice of life, high school drama anime, Your Lie In April is slow to begin with, developing the world in which the characters exist. While it’s easy to get disillusioned by the slow pace, this anime is one that is made to hook you and ignite feelings within you.

What truly enchanted me about this anime is the music and the colour pallet. Bright, attractive and so full of life, this anime’s visuals simply caught my eye and drew me in. What really hooked me though, was the soundtrack. The music in this anime is brilliantly peaceful and beautiful, so much so that I found myself humming some of the pieces from time to time. These additions to the story add a sense of liveliness and beauty to what really is a dramatic anime. With such spectacular vigour, the visuals and soundtrack of the series creates an odd sense of fantasy and moves away from Kousei’s pain and focuses more on healing.

Character wise, I loved the way each character grew and matured throughout the series. It is this character development that made the slow pace tolerable. Kousei started off as a character that I just couldn’t find myself to like initially, but his slow progression back into classical music and the wonder in his eyes whenever Kaori was around made him more likable. As for Kaori, her lust for life and carefree attitude really spoke volumes about her attitude towards making the most of every moment, though the reason and her motivation behind this got to me in the end.

An anime that is masterfully made with such beauty and a story that’s truly bittersweet, You Lie In April will have you re-examining your own priorities in life. Just be sure to have a box of tissues in hand when watching this.