Zenshuu.

(Id give it an 8.5 but we only got whole stars) Zenshu had the pleasure of being miss-sold pre-release and then having its worst episodes being #2 and #3. (: Past that it kept getting better and better and played with its concept more. It isn't super complex but the characters really grow on you. I think some more care and tightening on certain aspects could really have elevated the show but as is I think they did a great Job! Fun animations the animation references are not needed to be understood to still find enjoyable, (I sure as didn't know em specifically). The charactersare definitely a flawed set, but they do have growth and charm to them. (some more than others though). It won't necessarily be to everyone's taste. I didn't like a certain character much till the end, and I'm Shure plenty didn't change their feelings on them. Zenshu did what it wanted to do but the miss-preconception of the show definitely hindered it for alot of its potential enjoyment from people/

Zenshu is, yet again, another otherly world series where our main character gets zapped to another world and things start to happen due to their appearance. It's nothing we haven't seen before. This series does, however, bring in some strong story elements that does make it worthy of the watch. Story & Characters: Zenshu introduces us to Natsuko Hirose, who is an animator for an animation studio. As is the norm with workplaces of this nature, they must meet very strict deadlines and Natsuko takes issue with anyone who tries to get help her, but only gets in her way, at least, inher view. She's a bit of a prodigy in terms of creating strong artworks and has had that talent since she was in her early teens. Zenshu does a very good job at portraying who she was as a child, and growing up, as they dedicated an episode to her past, something that I actually really appreciated. Much of what series wants to do is tell us who Natsuko is, and it does a tremendous job at portraying her character development from start to finish. She went from being self-centred to open and kind. Natsuko passes out one day while working on her storyboard, and zapped to "A Tale of Perishing", one of her very favourite stories when she was a kid. She loves it so much she memorized the whole series, and now, she gets to be a part of it. She meets Luke Braveheart, one of the nine legendary heroes, also known as the "Nine Soldiers" that are featured in the story. Luke is about as "Hero-like" as you can get, always putting the people's safety above his own, even at the detriment of his own health. It's a bit cookie-cutter, but he honours the hero name quite well. Much of the story watches his actions and his strength very much backs up his words. The main soldiers that we see are Unio, a mini unicorn who can transform to fly people to places and can use magical abilities, QJ, a mini flying robot and specializes in technology, and Memmeln, an elf who combined magic and bow-and-arrow skills to conquer her foes. All three are given some background info, and I thought they did a decent job with all of them. QJ's my favourite of the three, just because he knows nothing but happiness outside of battle. The story splits itself into three parts - the beginning, middle and end - fairly evenly. The beginning takes its time to make us acquainted with the Tale of Perishing world. We learn very quickly that Natsuko gains the ability to quickly draw, and bring whatever she draws, to life. These tend to be very powerful, and even knock her out for multiple days after using this ability. The story takes its time, sometimes too slowly in my opinion, for us to learn that not everything Natsuko knows about the story is actually true. This can be a bit of a turnoff for some audiences, though I'm glad I watched it through. Some of the stuff she draws is so weird, but grants us those few minutes of seeing how they interact with the world, and fight off the enemy monsters, known as Voids. The middle's goal is to build up our roster as we are introduced to other soldiers, as we get to know more about the world. Destiny is a dancer, who has a love for children. Her goal is to build an orphanage and even though I didn't think much of her as a character, I loved what they did with her in the finale. Justice was easily my favourite of the soldiers. He is basically a human-dragon hybrid that insists that he's good for nothing anymore, especially because he's lost his ability to fly. But time and time again he brings about good in the series and slowly becomes possibly the most lovable character in the entire series. A character that I didn't like, even with her limited screentime, was "Bird". It feels like she only served to annoy and even though she said her signature one line once, did we really need to hear it five more times within the next two episodes? After the middle is all said and done, the final act enters where things REALLY take a turn for the worst. And when it starts to turn, everything starts to crumble even more. This is easily the best part of the series. We can see what's going on the Tale of Perishing, and then they manage to make things worse and worse. It gets so dark during multiple instances and, while I thought the last ten minutes or so felt a little rushed, I thought they accomplished what they set out to do. We see a large problem, and we got our resolution. (Story: 8/10, Characters: 9/10) Art: MAPPA is in charge of the animation for this series, well known for other animating other beautiful works such as Attack on Titan and Takt Op. Destiny. They really do a good job here, bringing to life Natsuko's works, as well as the flashy animations from our action sequences. Nothing ever felt cheap and I was happy to see the series done well by the animation. (8/10) Sound: OST work was solid, along with an awesome OP in Zen by Band-Maid. But voice work is where the series shone. Madeleine Morris (Natsuko), well known for her work as Rudius in Jobless Reincarnation should basically feel at home with Natsuko. Young character, zapped to another world and gets to work their magic. She was fantastic here and does enough with her voice to make it at least a little different from when she voices a young male. Luci Christian (Unio), Alexis Tipton (Memmeln) and Dani Chambers (Destiny) are the other big names on this series, all performing very well. I'm not super familiar with Ryan Negrón (Luke), but I thought he was also exceptional. (9/10) Overall: Zenshu does a lot to make this series feel very different from the other Isekai series out there and I would say that it does feel like a bit of a unique experience. Pacing issues aside, I felt like the story always felt very engaging, even though our main villains were basically nameless husks that killed everything in sight. This series brought in fantastic characters and a story that always drove to the end. Any fan of the Isekai series should check this out, especially because our story ends after the credits roll. (8/10)

An absolute love letter to the cheesiest corniest most beloved beautiful story telling tropes and beats in all of anime. One of the best anime original anime I've ever seen and one of the best anime I've seen in a good while. Solid 9/10. It would have been a 10/10 Masterpiece it played the story too safe. It was predictable a lot of the time and very by the book. You could follow the three arc structure it had going episode by episode which while could be intentional seeing how the show was based on a movie within the story. If that was the casethen bravo for such meta storytelling. An absolute love letter to the cheesiest corniest most beloved beautiful story telling tropes and beats in all of anime. The characters were phenomenal. Some more than others. Memmeln felt very under utilized despite having her own personal tragedy and character growth but it was so short and felt like too easy of a change for someone with such deep seated anxiety and issues. The Bird Director was probably the biggest disappointment. She was neither an ally or an enemy. Just a random inclusion despite being such a significant figure when it came to "A Tale of Perishing". Her inclusion had a lot of potential as an antagonist but it never went anywhere and frankly if was removed all together nothing would change. Luke, Unio, Justice, and of course our heroine Natsuko win the gold star for not only being just great characters but each having their own well rounded character arcs and development. This show was not carried by the plot or the references to other anime, but these characters. Shifting to the plot, it was very by the book. A character like Natsuko struggling with pressure that came with success and her own shortcomings sent to a world where she is given god like powers and omnipotence as she struggles to use said powers and knowledge to change a fate written in stone. She did everything she was supposed to do for a character. She struggled, grew, evolved, and in the end over came her short comings established in the first episodes. It was well executed, handled, and animated with incredible skill and grace. It was also safe. Nothing really stood out about her character or the story as a whole. The anime reference and easter eggs were a nice touch for any anime fans but overall the plot was standard, safe, and predictable. Everything from beginning to the last scene was exactly what one would expect from a series like this. It was amazing, beautiful, and exciting to watch as well. In a lot of ways, Zenshu's predictability is part of its charm. It truly is a love letter to the 3 arc structure of story telling and all those movies, shows, and stories that follow it. It was not trying to rewrite the rules because it was celebrating them. This series is a celebration of anime and animation.

We all know the success MAPPA have had with adapting beloved shonen jump titles in recent years. From CSM, to JJK and even Vinland Saga on the seinen side of things, they’ve been on an insane run. Their anime originals on the other hand have been a bit.. well bad. Zenshu breaks the mould and is in my opinion, not just one of their best originals, but one of their best ever projects in general. They might have misled us initially into thinking this was going to be a show about making anime, but I fell in love with this fantasy world, the characters, theromance, the production values, it was all perfect and Luke and Natsuko quickly became one of the best parts of this season to me. Their haters to lovers relationship was so satisfying to watch play out, they felt like soulmates and completed each other so much. I think for many of us, their relationship and Natsuko’s personal development were the best parts of the show and just made this an incredible watch. If you like girl bosses, romance and self improvement stories, Zenshu’s a must watch. One of the best shows of winter 2025. The funny thing about it is that Zenshu was very much one of those shows that everything came down to the finale for me. It was either going to be a 10 or a 7 depending on how MAPPA wrapped things up with Luke and Natsuko and the big battle and I am very glad to report they did an excellent job. There’s a few minor things I’d have tweaked in the finale, but other than that this was an extremely solid anime original story that was consistent in its messages and themes, stayed on track, had great character development, awesome fights, a unique fighting mechanic and a loveable main character. Total contrast to some of their other anime original works, especially the disaster that was Bucchigiri. I loved this series though, we all expected this to be a shirobako style anime where we followed an anime director throughout the process of creating an anime, but instead we followed an anime director INSIDE an anime and got to see her grow and open up to others and the world. Natsuko’s character development is very satisfying. She starts off as a really aloof and frankly rude and disrespectful person who looks down on others. Thanks to being in her favourite anime and going on adventures to save the world she realizes the importance of teamwork and relying on others, something she really lacked back on earth. She’s someone who never viewed others as actual people, just tools to get the job done. The near death experiences she has in the anime’s world really help shape her into a better person and it’s so satisfying . It doesn’t happen overnight, but each episode we see bits and pieces coming together and that’s all you can ask for! The cast were amazing in this. They’re the main reason the show is as good as it is. MAPPA, in 12 short episodes, manage to create this family dynamic that makes this such a cozy watch. Every single member of the cast is lovable and you just want to see them succeed. It almost feels like this was a long running adventure shonen series with how attached to the cast I got. The banter, the disagreements and the makeups were all so endearing. Natsuko and the nine soldiers might have bickered a lot, but they always made up and pushed forward at the end of the day like a family. Further to that, the relationship between Natsuko and Luke was my favourite part of the show and it was so well done. I’m a massive haters to lovers romance trope fan and this was one of the best ones. The two of them slowly realizing how they feel culminating in those last few episodes was amazing. They both ended up being exactly what the other was missing in their life. Natsuko couldn’t take her work to the next level because she’d never known a first love and Luke couldn’t move forward because he was caught up on the pain of his fallen comrades and didn’t really have anyone who he could truly share that burden with. The term soulmates gets thrown around a lot, but Luke and Natsuko truly were soulmates! Now it’s MAPPA so you know we have to discuss the production quality. The show looked amazing. Designs, the fights, Natsuko’s drawing animation(even if it was reused) were all amazing. It seems like MAPPA made it a point of emphasis to put their A-team on this and it worked out very well. The final few episodes had some gorgeous animation and combined with the simple, but well written story made for an amazing experience. I had Zenshu as one of the best anime of the season ever since the first episode and it not only stayed that way, but only got better as I learned more about Natsuko and the other characters and as the romance developed. Things ended up being a little predictable in terms of the ending, but that’s not a bad thing because it’s exactly the sort of story I hoped for. If you like boss girlies, romance and some really unique action, Zenshu is a no brainer. One of the best shows of the year so far and I’m going to miss it so much. Luke and Natsuko, we will never forget you. Zenshu gets 10 drawing pencils out of 10.

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