Warning: SPOILERS Initially I watched this show in dub and I can say it definitely hindered my enjoyment and immersion in this show. None of the voice acting was that great and the monologuing was almost unbearable. If you ever try to watch this please do it in the sub. Plot: This anime is essentially one giant tournament arc and the power system compliments it surprisingly well. The powers as bizarre as they are keep you entertained with the unique ways some of the characters use them. The main issue with it I had though was how they kept adding different parts to it seemingly randomly to help Ueki grow stronger. These different parts being the sacred weapons and the level 2 sort of just appear randomly with no foreshadowing or mentioning whatsoever. Characters: This category is the primary factor to why I enjoyed this anime so much. Although at the beginning theres nothing great about the characters. Ai was just an annoying girl who screamed and Ueki was just boring. After Ueki got squashed by Robert in around episode 7 was where the shine of this anime first started surfacing. We got to see the first glimpse of Uekis sense of righteousness that he embodies. Mr. Ks influence from his righteous act of saving Ueki really hit him to allow for the start of his development and character progression. Ueki is a great main character that encapsulates the themes of the show marvelously. Righteousness is the main theme presented in this show and Ueki perfectly embodies it. As Mr. K says I cant tolerate people who fall below my own standard of righteousness. Ive observed a lot of people since I first came here but none of them possess the righteousness I was seeking. I was beginning to lose interest in this realm... thinking of going back to the Celestial world. Then I met him... Ueki possesses the sense of decency that I discovered was extremely rare in this world... And his righteousness was true. In Uekis battle with OnimonEp.8 he shuns Onimon for having to rely on the talent of blank to protect his village Onimon replies asking what he would do with it. Ueki doesnt know and hasnt thought about it Then why are you in these battles in the first place? Ueki says To protect the talent of blank from evil... Thats what Mr. K wanted... Thats our righteousness. He is only doing it out of his righteousness because thats just what he represents. Over the course of the show his righteousness only grows with the rest of the cast. All of the main cast get a decent amount of depth and development. Even the antagonists like Robert and Hanon effectively serve their narrative and thematic purposes. Thematic being how righteousness is stronger than evil. The majority of the smaller antagonists also get smaller backstories to understand why theyre in this tournament in the first place and you can see the variation with each story and the dynamics of all the opposing teams are slightly different in their own ways. The only thing I think wasnt used to its potential was Ueki and Moris dynamic. Dont get me wrong it wasnt bad but it just wasnt used to its potential. We dont really get to see either why Ai followed Ueki so much. No backstory to their friendship nothing. I really think that Ai was the weakest in the main cast despite having the 2nd most screen time. At the end of the show they did add on it a bit by displaying the trust she had for Ueki but they couldve definitely capitalized off of it more. Music/animation: Lets start with the animation first. This anime was released in 2005 so you do see the black bars on the sides but the animation wasnt bad. You can easily see whats going on at all times and I never had any issues watching it at all. There wasnt a moment where it looked clunky either it showed what it needed and thats it. With this entire anime being a tournament arc youd expect the fights to be dull since this anime is relatively old but its actually the opposite. The fights are always thrilling to watch. The climaxes of Uekis fights are always exciting because he barely ever wins off of sheer brute force. Ueki uses his powers very smartly to win and winning by simply outsmarting the opponent adds to the thrill of the fight. Its not even just Ueki Sano and Rinko had some great fights where they only won through smarts. Even with this anime releasing around 2005 with not the greatest graphics it still holds up today because its still easy to tell whats going on the unpredictability of the fights and the music is still great when it plays at the end of a fight. The soundtracks are great and always adds to the fight scenes and emotional moments. Inconsistencies: While I do love this anime there have been a select few parts that either dont make sense or just dont work out. For one the jokes. This one only applies to the start of the series because the jokes were too heavily reliant on the cringe factor of them and they werent funny at all. The most prominent one Im thinking of was when Ueki was on the subway and he was just randomly dancing because he heard music and his body just couldnt stop because he had the power to dance. The second inconsistency I spotted was a bit more of a problem that ate away at me. That was when Ueki fought Robert for the 2nd time he said that his Level 2 was being able to use multiple sacred weapons at once. But many episodes later he said that he never unlocked his level 2 and that he really needed to keep training for it. Despite that I cant think of any more besides just those 2. Overall: This anime is character based and doesnt take itself too seriously and with that I love it. The themes are executed well through multiple characters and dynamics.