I took some break from watching new anime and rewatched FMA:B and Fate Zero. Sometimes rewatching helps you appreciate a masterpiece even better.
Finished Barakamon some time back. Its a Slice of Life show which stresses on finding meaning in simple things in life. It is tough to explain this show, tougher to explain why I loved it so much. The perspective and subtle message which Barakamon delivers is not something common with many popular anime, which are usually about more exciting things like being the best, good vs evil, power of friendship, love etc. Instead, Barakamon talks closer to reality, about taking a step back, and enjoying trivial everyday things while staying true to whatever you love to do. Its a 9/10 stuff for me.
Slice of Life fan or not, I recommend Barakamon to anyone looking for a simple 12 episode anime.
More recently (yesterday), finished Fate Stay Night Unlimited bladeworks. Having seen the past ubw movie, I had high expectations. The series is divided into two seasons (1 prologue + 12 ep + 13 ep). To state the most obvious point first, the animation is top notch, among the best ever done, as expected from ufotable.
I won't lie, S1 met my high expectations, It did a brilliant job in setting things up for the 2nd season to flourish upon. My expectations for S2 were now in lines of Fate Zero. Except that S2 turned out to be ****. The pacing was inconsistent. Important things were rushed in favour of dragging unnecessary parts. The story took too many convenient turns in order to end the way it wished to end. While I did like the more focus on Rin and Archer on this route, along with a less shitty shirou, it didn't manage to cover up my annoyance with S2. S1 was 9/10 for me and S2 was 6/10.