Urahara

Initially, this looked like it would be just another show full of nonsense with characters endlessly fighting against some strange aliens from outer space. At one point, I was in the mood to drop it, give it one star for the effort and properly have a go at the irritating mascot Fried Shrimp, which really wound me up. However, then came the first surprise, which I had not expected at all. It caught my attention as I did not really expect there to be a "plot twist" actually. However, quite surprisingly, the originality and creativity of the show started to come through, and I began to get really into it. I felt that the outcomes of the main protagonists were understandable. It is sometimes a futile job to create something that is original and is not simply a copy or repetition of someone else's work, and I myself, as a writer, also struggle with issues around creativity and plagiarism quite often. I sometimes wonder if my work makes sense, who I am doing it for, what I expect from it, etc. So actually, this whole subject matter has been quite close to my heart at times. Moreover, there was one more surprise at the very end, which made me quite happy. In other words, there was another unexpected "plot twist," and so the last fight scenes and the denouement, which again had too much of that stupid Fried Shrimp, did not really bother me anymore. The plot twist is why I cannot rate this production negatively, even though the show has a lot of shortcomings. I could write about how they are very obvious; however, I do not want to, because you can really see the show's originality and creativity (especially in the second half of the season). 5/10. (12/22/2017)