Japan according to Julian

CHAINSAW MAN    " Denji has a simple dream—to live a happy and peaceful life, spending time with a girl he likes. This is a far cry from reality, however, as Denji is forced by the yakuza into killing devils in order to pay off his crushing debts. Using his pet devil Pochita as a weapon, he is ready to do anything for a bit of cash.      Unfortunately, he has outlived his usefulness and is murdered by a devil in contract with the yakuza. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Pochita merges with Denji's dead body and grants him the powers of a chainsaw devil. Now able to transform parts of his body into chainsaws, a revived Denji uses his new abilities to quickly and brutally dispatch his enemies. Catching the eye of the official devil hunters who arrive at the scene, he is offered work at the Public Safety Bureau as one of them. Now with the means to face even the toughest of enemies, Denji will stop at nothing to achieve his simple teenage dreams. " MAL's A...

Welcome to the N.H.K.  (Nihon Hikikomori Kyokai)        I just started this anime so I'm only one episode in. As far as I can tell this anime is about hikikomori. The main character has hikikomori and I assume the rest of the anime is about him overcoming this as well as a deeper insight into Japanese social norms and structures. So far this anime has been very random in the best way possible. It really captures the feeling of your mind racing and bouncing all over the place, overthinking everything, and going a little bit crazy. The animation keeps pace with its vibe and tone very well. The main character is also very relatable.   

 TORADORA      Toradora is a slice-of-life, romance anime. Its plot centers around Ryuuji Takasu and Taiga Aisaka. Ryuuji and Taiga both have crushes on each other's friends and are forced to help each other realize them. Along the way both characters learn to care for each other and develop romantic maturity. I love this show. It has a great opening and ending theme, great story, great characters, and good pacing. This is my second time watching the show and it's complex enough to where I'm just now realizing things it was trying to tell me the first time around.  8.5/10

  Fireworks   This movie was not great. The animation was awesome but the experience got bogged down by its meaningless and confusing plot. It's almost worth watching just for the shots and animation alone, but barely. The movie's plot is basically that the main character Norimichi likes this girl, Nazuna, who wants to run away from home, so he tries to run away with her. Norimichi also finds a glass firework shell that can turn back time when it catches the light just right, allowing them to groundhog day their way through the day. In the end none of it made any sense so I turned it off.  5/10