summer '19 review
SUMMER '19 round up
here we go, another long ass write up with a corresponding video which wont be updated until a bit later, and is currently, much longer than any normal video should be. it's a full length movie, except with just me tbh. beware, spoilers and shit but i try to label them so dont @ me.
Finished
Given -
this is a fantastic show - literally with none of the hang ups that come with your typical BL/yaoi shows which are all predatory and awful and toxic - no, this is fantastic, mutual, consensual beautiful high school romances and i literally could not recommend this enough.
gay panic? yes. beautiful boys i want to protect? yes. hilarious relatable relationships? yes. great music? yes.
this isn't stupidly tragic like BL is, it's tumultuous, it's painful and it's real.
mafuyu, gets pulled into a band because he wants to learn guitar after it's given to him after his (ex)'s boyfriend's death. eventually he meets uenoyama kun, a guitar prodigy in this school, and joins his band, with ahikito and haruki.
the show goes through mafuyu being invited to uenoyama's band, and eventually the relationship that blossoms between the two, haruki's gay panic crush on akihito and akihito and his unexplainable relationship with his ex, ugetsu who he still lives with despite their toxic and complicated relationship.
this show does everything very well, especially because the source material / manga is just in itself, really well written and really lovely, and they add voices and songs to it which makes it, even better because it is a band/music anime after all. my only gripe, the manga style looks better and makes the boys look way cooler, but on the other hand, the instruments and all the music are just spot on and really make the show amazing (except i wasn't super sold on mafuyu's singing until the big song but yknow whatever, it's fine). the manga is also great.
i really like this, to the point where like, i genuinely don't have any other problem with the show at all - and there's a bonus OVA coming out later to adapt the rest of the manga (since there isn't enough for another season) so i really rec this. it's really too bad that people are put off by the BL tag, this is one of the best shows about relationships and character growth i've seen, which is rare enough, and more so because it's a BL as well.
i stan this show, check it out.
Star Myu 3-
Welcome to the wild wild party. What to even say about this? It's the third season, of a pretty much, garbage show, with boring one dimensional characters, mediocre animation, decent song and 'dance' but somehow, a massive franchise backing up this weird original anime.
If Love Live had been made into a slightly lower quality, boys idol show, this would be the show.
Having watched the first episode and been completely underwhelmed on the most part, it genuinely baffles me that this show managed to get the attention/commercial success that it seems to be getting - a good example of a show that completely baffled me was K, which I prefer over StarMyu, but let's be honest, the first season had no idea what it wanted to be, completely unsteady plot yet it kept getting hoards of merchandise and pop up stores to the point where, they have real musicals, movies and continuous adaptations despite little to no interested from r/anime and the general English sub crowd - and here we are, at the third season that literally nobody asked for but it just keeps going and no you cannot get off this rollercoaster.
What DOES this show actually give you then? I'll tell you. A ridiculously huge cast which you probably couldn't give a shit about, and the only ability you can tell them apart is from their spam pasted tag lines (eg. boar, you're guilty.... etc), absolutely zero character development, and little to zero importance in what they're trying to fight for - basically the first season gives the main 5 boys some development, and then when the third season comes, you literally don't give a shit about the other four in the group because they're wrapped up in some student council asshattery because the president is having a lovers quarrel with his vice president who essentially runs everything, and is wiling to throw people under the bus to make the school look good vs. letting everyone have a go because #equality.
so while the main gang try to demonstrate that they're like, obviously good enough for the performance - and as they always do, it's only good if you do it together/the power of friendship/i just want to see everyone smile "minna!" cliches, and so they spend a good 8 episodes trying to convince the Student Council that theyre good enough for MAIN STAGE of their little school open day - also everytime they say 'musical', its literally just sort of a overglorified song and dance live performance, do not be confused - and then FINALLY when they convince everyone to get on their side, some whole shit show goes down with the Vice prez and the prez and they get in some heated? stupid ? song and dance about their repressed emotions. In the end, it ramps up to the VP having a sort of psychotic breakdown, locking the ex-president in the clock tower, who manages escape with ? magic flying feet ? and everyone trying not to get involved and just aggressively changing plans like, every single episode
You don't care for these characters, none of them have personalities, they're just, plot devices and actions and ideas that lead towards manufactured drama and a good old song and dance - and while i can't say viscerally angry at this show, it'd honestly be stupid to be, but that's literally because i've already forgotten everything about the show in the span of two weeks.
this is a fantastic show - literally with none of the hang ups that come with your typical BL/yaoi shows which are all predatory and awful and toxic - no, this is fantastic, mutual, consensual beautiful high school romances and i literally could not recommend this enough.
gay panic? yes. beautiful boys i want to protect? yes. hilarious relatable relationships? yes. great music? yes.
this isn't stupidly tragic like BL is, it's tumultuous, it's painful and it's real.
mafuyu, gets pulled into a band because he wants to learn guitar after it's given to him after his (ex)'s boyfriend's death. eventually he meets uenoyama kun, a guitar prodigy in this school, and joins his band, with ahikito and haruki.
the show goes through mafuyu being invited to uenoyama's band, and eventually the relationship that blossoms between the two, haruki's gay panic crush on akihito and akihito and his unexplainable relationship with his ex, ugetsu who he still lives with despite their toxic and complicated relationship.
this show does everything very well, especially because the source material / manga is just in itself, really well written and really lovely, and they add voices and songs to it which makes it, even better because it is a band/music anime after all. my only gripe, the manga style looks better and makes the boys look way cooler, but on the other hand, the instruments and all the music are just spot on and really make the show amazing (except i wasn't super sold on mafuyu's singing until the big song but yknow whatever, it's fine). the manga is also great.
i really like this, to the point where like, i genuinely don't have any other problem with the show at all - and there's a bonus OVA coming out later to adapt the rest of the manga (since there isn't enough for another season) so i really rec this. it's really too bad that people are put off by the BL tag, this is one of the best shows about relationships and character growth i've seen, which is rare enough, and more so because it's a BL as well.
i stan this show, check it out.
Star Myu 3-
Welcome to the wild wild party. What to even say about this? It's the third season, of a pretty much, garbage show, with boring one dimensional characters, mediocre animation, decent song and 'dance' but somehow, a massive franchise backing up this weird original anime.
If Love Live had been made into a slightly lower quality, boys idol show, this would be the show.
Having watched the first episode and been completely underwhelmed on the most part, it genuinely baffles me that this show managed to get the attention/commercial success that it seems to be getting - a good example of a show that completely baffled me was K, which I prefer over StarMyu, but let's be honest, the first season had no idea what it wanted to be, completely unsteady plot yet it kept getting hoards of merchandise and pop up stores to the point where, they have real musicals, movies and continuous adaptations despite little to no interested from r/anime and the general English sub crowd - and here we are, at the third season that literally nobody asked for but it just keeps going and no you cannot get off this rollercoaster.
What DOES this show actually give you then? I'll tell you. A ridiculously huge cast which you probably couldn't give a shit about, and the only ability you can tell them apart is from their spam pasted tag lines (eg. boar, you're guilty.... etc), absolutely zero character development, and little to zero importance in what they're trying to fight for - basically the first season gives the main 5 boys some development, and then when the third season comes, you literally don't give a shit about the other four in the group because they're wrapped up in some student council asshattery because the president is having a lovers quarrel with his vice president who essentially runs everything, and is wiling to throw people under the bus to make the school look good vs. letting everyone have a go because #equality.
so while the main gang try to demonstrate that they're like, obviously good enough for the performance - and as they always do, it's only good if you do it together/the power of friendship/i just want to see everyone smile "minna!" cliches, and so they spend a good 8 episodes trying to convince the Student Council that theyre good enough for MAIN STAGE of their little school open day - also everytime they say 'musical', its literally just sort of a overglorified song and dance live performance, do not be confused - and then FINALLY when they convince everyone to get on their side, some whole shit show goes down with the Vice prez and the prez and they get in some heated? stupid ? song and dance about their repressed emotions. In the end, it ramps up to the VP having a sort of psychotic breakdown, locking the ex-president in the clock tower, who manages escape with ? magic flying feet ? and everyone trying not to get involved and just aggressively changing plans like, every single episode
You don't care for these characters, none of them have personalities, they're just, plot devices and actions and ideas that lead towards manufactured drama and a good old song and dance - and while i can't say viscerally angry at this show, it'd honestly be stupid to be, but that's literally because i've already forgotten everything about the show in the span of two weeks.
Joshikousei no Mudazukai (Wasteful Days of High School Girls)
Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo (O Maidens in Your Savage Season)
i liked this show - while it started out more like a 'spunky comedy', like Seitokai Yakuindomo or Shimoneta, it turned out to be a Mari Okada show, so you know it's going to be teenage melodrama. In the end, it felt real, gave a bit of nuance and realism and really captured the melodrama of what it was like to be in high school and figuring out feelings and relationships and sexuality. while it was far from 'the perfect show' to explore, it's definitely a notable mention and one that will definitely stay with me for a while.
shout out to my favorite storyline/character was definitely sonezaki, i empathize with her ace energy so much and i love her and how extra she was all the time.
this is like, a 90% less scummy but equally as dramatic version of kuzu no honkai. those who enjoyed kuzu no honkai's themes but also really liked tsuruzere children will love this.
If you want the extended edition of this review with all the in depth thoughts, check it out here.
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? (How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift?)
this show literally never dropped the ball on the comedy - and it's up there under danshi koukousei no nichijou for best high school comedy/slice of life I've had the pleasure of watching (notable mentions of other high school comedies include gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun, asobi asobase and sakamoto desu ga, and also more of SOL but Kimi to Boku as well.)
this is very much a character comedy - revolving around baka, robo and waka in their self aware, trope-y high school shenanigans, and is very close to my heart, much like Araburu was, about high school girls who just do not give a fuck and the chaos going on. If araburu was the romantic/melodrama section of my school life, the show's title, wasteful days of high school girls nails it, everytime we bludged in class and tried to come up with something cool at lunch, recess, thought about coming up with a club, drew each other in comics and had awful, scary sixteen's, this is it.
The show itself is pretty fun, focusing on each character and their crazy little whacky stories, and while it's not quite as insanely comedically focused like Asobi Asobase is -in which, every joke is a punchline effortlessly created for your own amusement - it is in itself a sort of, banal, laughter in the quiet moments of school time silliness. I personally really enjoyed this, because it was overall, very 'chill' and just gave me a good laugh at the end of a long day.
If you're also wondering, damn this review is pretty short hey - its because it's actually good and I don't feel like I need to build on it.
If you're also wondering, damn this review is pretty short hey - its because it's actually good and I don't feel like I need to build on it.
Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo (O Maidens in Your Savage Season)
i liked this show - while it started out more like a 'spunky comedy', like Seitokai Yakuindomo or Shimoneta, it turned out to be a Mari Okada show, so you know it's going to be teenage melodrama. In the end, it felt real, gave a bit of nuance and realism and really captured the melodrama of what it was like to be in high school and figuring out feelings and relationships and sexuality. while it was far from 'the perfect show' to explore, it's definitely a notable mention and one that will definitely stay with me for a while.
shout out to my favorite storyline/character was definitely sonezaki, i empathize with her ace energy so much and i love her and how extra she was all the time.
this is like, a 90% less scummy but equally as dramatic version of kuzu no honkai. those who enjoyed kuzu no honkai's themes but also really liked tsuruzere children will love this.
If you want the extended edition of this review with all the in depth thoughts, check it out here.
onegai muscle! How to even sum up this masterpiece of a show? honestly, the meme, NEET problems require NEET solutions comes to mind.
creating a fitness show that follows the comedic plot of Sakura Hibiki and Friends at the Silverman Gym is a great way of integrating comedy with real health goals - and I am all the more appreciative of the effort that goes into educating (think Cells at Work and how informative that is!) all the NEETs out there watching this show. For me: I absolutely love mixing up education and things I enjoy (re: waifu and my upcoming research paper) so this show nails it, doing work outs, eating healthy all packaged in a cute little girls at the gym and crazy fit muscle mania action - and the little after ED sections which allow you to work out with them is probably the most incentive I've had all year to do any sort of exercise, and let me tell you, those untouched weights in the cupboard under the staircase are getting a lot of action this season. the show itself is also suitably amusing, and super fun - basically the comedy works and so does its intention of getting people to work out and educate them at the same time. i'm super keen to see what else this trend brings, because i genuinely want this show to be much longer for my own selfish motivation.
Isekai Cheat Magician (Fantasy World Cheat Magician)
Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de ni Kai Kougeki no Okaa-san wa Suki Desuka (Do You Love Your Mom and Her Two-Hit Multi-Target Attacks?)
MAMA ISEKAI - and what a wild but low key anticlimactic ride this is.
Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (From Commonplace to World's Strongest)
The Isekai story of Hajime Nagumo, your boring Nice Guy to Edgy, Hot, OP MC. The show is a little Tate no Yuusha with the sort of, depressing, edgy, revenge vibes, where he becomes a ruthless, skilled killer with little remorse for other people except for cute girls he picks up along the way, except this time the Loli is the main girl. Weirdly enough, the tropes line up absurdly well with Konosuba, useless blue girl, masochist big titty girl, loli, except bonus merfolk girl in this show (and a classmate and loli teacher to come).
How is the anime? Absolute trash. I mourn for the poor author who had the LN mangled in this way, because they really Did Not do it justice at all. White Fox studio is not a bad studio, but I haven't heard much of Asread studio's shows at all. Hajime also apparently is very intimate with his vampire loli, and also prefers lolis (hence the loli teacher weakness) and a lot of people in the r/anime thread were Not Happy because of this lewd omittance. Personally I'd like to see a little more lewd in this show as well - Dumbbell in comparison has a lot more Lewd than this show which surprises me, despite the attempted panty shots and light masochism from one character.
But? The pacing of this show is absolutely insane, there's like a breakneck pacing to establish what happens, jumping around of the plot for their own desires, skipping over a ton of details and a few notable events, they spend around 5/6 episodes on the first big arc and one whole episode fighting ONE enemy, but in another episode they absolutely rush through a whole arc with just one episode - the result is a jumbled, incoherent mess of a show despite the somewhat steadier back half of episodes. There is no rhyme or reason to this, it just sort of happened that way and only slowly is getting some semblance of a normal show - but ep 10/11 is far too late to make it a good show, especially since DVDs are sold like, 1-3, 3-6, it just confuses me that they thought, these would be good enough to sell? I don't get it.
Is it a good show? No. It's appalling. If you are interested in the plot though, the manga is a little better because the pacing is better and so are the visuals, but the translations are slow so you're better off reading the LN for content.
Am I still going to watch it? Yeah of course I am. I'm isekai trash.
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka II (danmachi)
Well well well - we're here again.
I'm gonna admit, I lost a lot of interest during the first season - and the spin off which was absolutely butchered beyond recognition (Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria) which was basically.. turned from the perspective of Aiz Wallenstein the big shot to the weirdo elf ? girl who was like very erotically interested in Aiz, to the point where, Aiz just played the exact same role she did in the first season, as someone's object of affection. All the comments on r/anime showed me, there was a better story there, but it just vanished under the direction of whoever decided to adapt that little side story.
In fact, when I saw the second season come around, I thought, meh. who cares. i dont even care about this show, why the hell would I watch it, and then, oddly, I actually enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying the first season.
they really hit their stride after they move away from the aiz worship/fixation and fucking hestia (can you tell? im not a fan) and actually give bell and his new powers a chance to shine, he's still the focus of everyone, but they actually let him muck around and do some cool shit this time. after the disaster of OPM S2, JC Staff weren't too awful (imo) with this season.
the whole gist of the season is familia war, firstly they wage war with Apollo because, yeah he really wants Bell, and then they have this, raid the castle thing which is pretttyyy fun, there's some shit with lili who i ... couldnt give a shit about, welf, who i do like, and some random japanese inspired girl who i honest to god, still can't remember the name of, and theyve got a cool action scene where they sort of, work towards capture the flag? but like, defeating the main dude? thats the first half and spoiler alert, they win. then you've got, haruhime/ishtar arc which is, ishtar wants to wreck freya because she's never been as good as freya, and she basically runs the whole red light distract and tries to steal bell from under freya's nose which of course, goes about as well as you would imagine.
one thing i found absolutely fucking hilarious, is when they included a sort of sex positive aspect to haruhime's character who's been a prostitute, to the point where they make two whole episodes about how she sees herself as a used object, and can't be redeemed or saved because she's some. used good for men's pleasure and bell could never save her and you're like, damn he saves her anyway. nice. wow. no sex shaming, none of this weird virginal hangup - EXCEPT the twist is that she literally passed out when she saw a naked man and has never done anything, SO FUCKING JOKES ON YOU
to steal u/rationalinquisition's post -
danmachi: here's a powerful message about how sex work doesn't make you impure or any less of a worthwhile human
also danmachi: JK LOL
and just to top it all off, there's just a little comical segway for idiot ares to try to steal hestia to gain more power, and then they just have a last little episode which more, cements hestia and bell's relationship while aiz low key thirdwheels? intrudes? who knows. I did laugh at Ganesha, but that's about all I had in me to enjoy, because Hestia and this, strange forced, brigid conversation she has with karm just .. was so bizarre? if he's dying, are you supposed to be this blase? was she posessed by brigid or was she just emulating him for a last few moments before he died? was she being fake serene just for that moment, what was she playing at by being really dismissive when he laid on that death bed? why are they pushing for this weird love between bell and hestia? because she clearly wants to bone him, but he's reverent to her but they're what, pushing him to dick her down? ?? i don't know??
also, the whole premise of the first season yeah, was like, oh we want him to base his powers off as strong as his devotion towards aiz - either catching up or admiring her you can pick, but it was some sort of strong crush, or at least a strong feeling towards her, yet she completely vanishes most of the season, he never thinks oR mentions her again (so all that shit from s1 gets dropped) except for when the writers go, oh right yeah she's still part of this whoops lmao sorry yeah here's some gratuitous inserts but anyway he's sort of more his own person now. in some ways, i enjoy the deviation but in some ways, i can't help but feel like it's a completely different story - tbh this often happens with LN/Manga stories and arcs, because there has to be some sort of gradual building development rather than the stereotypical one plot, and conclusive falling action - it just keeps escalating, so that's more of a thing i have against the source material.
to conclude: the animation is reasonable, the music is okay, there's nothing inventive or new about this season but it is a good follow up to the first season if you were keen, it's much better than the garbage spin off which burnt my soul, and there's even a third season so if you like fantasy shounens, this is a great staple of the diet.
Cop Craft
Not even sure how I can blog about this show without boring myself to death.
It's a story about Yuko Yoshida who's part of the demon/dark clan and she meets Momo Chiyoda who's a magical girl and they have this relationship which is just 90% gay and 10% just stupid. r/anime decided that they loved this and the ratings for this on MAL shot up after the last episode but oh boy literally, i couldn't force myself to finish this show. i like comedy, and i like a good slice of life, and i love a good calming anime (flying witch, tanaka, kimi to boku) but this literally bored me to death.
the animation is cute, the voice actors are sweet, the music is... ? the story is.... a super sweet and promising premise, YET the whole series just circles around a series of events happening around yuko and momo, yuko finds out shes a demon and knows she has some sort of goal, momo is really powerful and yuko's entire goal the whole series is to defeat momo so that she can break the curse on her family - but that's just the 'goal'.
what ACTUALLY happens is that, yuko is pathetically weak and indecisive and incapable of generally, anything, her ancestor is just, slightly more amusing but also useless, and momo is just an apathetic, soft lesbian who just wants to protect yuko - which admittedly, super sweet yet ??
if you enjoy things along the lines of comic girls, anima yell, hitoribocchi no marumaru saikatsu, harukana recieve, you'll probably enjoy this one.
however: this is my angry rant and my own personal opinion.
nothing of note happens, it's just the same gags that happen, it's not particularly funny, or calming, or soft, it's just a series of kinda, sad and depressing events that happen without any sort of big reaction from any of the characters, to the point where i genuinely would say, it pains me while watching it. perhaps i am being harsh on this show- and perhaps i will eventually change my opinion and this post, but having finished it and sat through 12 fucking weeks of LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENING with something that COULD have been comforting or funny or fucking, anything, this literally made me glaze over. I could not watch this show on normal speed, because it was so deliriously pointless. i literally sat through every fucking episode waiting for something to at least LAUGH or find cute but genuinely, two flat characters void of any personality or common sense just go through the same motions -ill challenge you youre not my friend weh weh moral enemy haha idk - fucking spare me. i still sat through with it, but i wholly regret it and hate it with every fibre of my being. that said, hated it less than anima yell and hitoribocchi because i literally watched all of it, so that's something to write home about.
He takes on this super detective role in this show, but you can still see glimpses of the little nerdy idiot from Fate/Zero (kudos to the seiyuu for giving mature, yet at the best moments, comes back swinging with the stupid teen waver voice) when he's panicking or what not, and adult waver is a whole ass mood - chainsmoking, moody, sleepy and just can't be arsed with everyone's nonsense.
What about the actual show itself? Yeah it's solid. You signed up for mages and mysteries, and they give that in spades, each collection of episodes is a short mystery that Lord El Melloi ends up solving with his lil side kick saber-face Grey and a selection of other people, all the while he has intense, nostalgic, secret guilty sniffs of iskandar, and when he's faced with Faker/Hephastion's shadow who tells Waver that he'll never be good enough for Iskandar, it's really the shadow of their relationship that spurs and keeps Waver going, all the while he traipses around the world solving cool mysteries, meets fairies, creepy magicians and battles crazed dogs - also big shout out to Fate's unrelenting obsession with adapting Celtic/English mythology because for some strange reason, there's very little of this outside of Arthurian influences in Western media.
All in all - The animation is lovely, the OST is also by the amazing Yuki Kajiura (also the composer of KNY's OST) but honestly the great show with it's nice pacing, interesting mysteries and side cast for me is more the material that will finally get me ever closer to seeing Waver and Isakandar content again and that's all I wanted anyway.
most of you will know, i'm straight up isekai trash - i will watch isekais and their stupid boring OP repetitive plot structures over and over again with little regard for actual plot quality. why? I don't know, there's just something extremely captivating about OP enemies, a cute harem and just the sheer glee and enjoyment of watching someone not having to struggle, and a lot of isekais give a very 'stress free' viewing, you never have to worry about the plot because you know the MC is always going to win.
Yet - as one of our r/anime friends commented, this show is the most generic, uninspired isekai ever created. it's so incredibly straight laced and generic, that it's almost unique for being so boring and predictable - because it's so incredibly unremarkable. All the characters have virtually no characterisation, they're all just devices for the plot to move forward and act as the story needs them to. Why would x character suddenly do this? because of the plot. Our MC is almost infuriating - consistently calling himself a 'cheat', blaming himself when things obviously aren't his fault, forgiving everyone and is overall just a boring, 2D character in all aspects. He has no real emotions, besides to 'protect his friends and their smiles' and constantly undersells his own power - although we never even get a great gauge for his. Literally, the only interesting thing about this show is that, he has been transported into the other world with a female classmate - and there is a smidge of yuri baiting. While it's not great if you watch this seriously, it's great as background entertainment.
With underwhelming animation, almost cringe inducing scripts, mediocre character designs (seriously why shed your form and just, look exactly the same but with different colored hair?), music you end up tuning out, odds are, I won't remember this show in a few weeks time, and neither will you.
Maou Sama Retry (Demon Lord, Retry!)
Comparatively, the better isekai this season. Following the game dev of 'Infinity Game', the -imo pretty hot- MC Akira becomes 'Kunai Hakuto', except it's not HIS game, this is sort of, a parallel world similar to his game world except not really - think Log Horizon, or Overlord, but a little more deviation.
Someone in game channels him, and he can't really escape because his presence has granted someone's wish and he kinda goes along with it, until he finds a way out of there, or excels because he's a pleasantly OP dude. One fun thing, because he's the game developer, he has a few other characters which he can change into, cool backup NPCs (think Albedo) and some other cool hack-y things he can still do to alter with the game.
Although the animation for this show isn't the best, and there are so many things that could probably be improved, nothing pleases me more than the isekai genre excelling at what it does best, a thriving OP dude who's just figuring out how good he is at everything, with a healthy dash of comedy. It's not the funniest, it's not the most original, but there are some genuinely hilarious moments (especially when Zero comes out) and a relatively interesting plot line and some self-aware moments from the dry, and calm Kunai, so it's one I found myself enjoying.
I'd love to see a second season since the rest of his aids haven't been introduced and so many interesting world building ideas have been pushed out in favor of the plot, and due to the relative lack of translations for the source material, until something else comes out, this is solidly, amusing while I got to watch but won't be making an effort to sniff out because, there's really nothing out there even if I was super invested.
I'd love to see a second season since the rest of his aids haven't been introduced and so many interesting world building ideas have been pushed out in favor of the plot, and due to the relative lack of translations for the source material, until something else comes out, this is solidly, amusing while I got to watch but won't be making an effort to sniff out because, there's really nothing out there even if I was super invested.
MAMA ISEKAI - and what a wild but low key anticlimactic ride this is.
Another twist on your typical isekai - this time the MC isn't the OP one, it's his mom who comes with him. The whole game is rigged for moms to succeed and play with their kids, and MC is Not Happy. His mom is MILF material, she's slim, cute, basically perfect in every way and Masato MC kun is just out here trying to catch a break and live his best isekai life while his mom thwarts his life at every turn by being better than him, at everything. Also, no girls for him.
the show is solid, animation is fine, the plot is interesting enough based off the original LN material, the pacing is passable - most arcs to me were much longer than they should have been, but there's nothing awful about the show itself. also- would not be surprised at all if the author has some sort of MILF fetish.
the entire show goes kinda like - mom goes with masato into the MMMMMMPORG, and then they end up getting into cahoots with a few characters, one with an AWOL slag mom, one with a helicopter parent, but also a kid who really fucking hates her mom with like, no backstory as to why - also she has streaks on her hair like a tiger which really bothered me, but generally there's some sort of like, deep RIBELE - rebellion going on INSIDE the game, and the season only ever scratches at the secret of the Big Plot that will never happen in anime form.
the ending is also mostly unsatisfactory, the big thing about the big villian wanting to eradicate all moms from the world is kinda loosely explained around masato's own qualms, you never get your own life and you don't get to have the adventure you think you will when a parent is around - a whole lot of parents do not ever get parenting right, but the anime's solution is to wave that away, and all those initial problems are brushed away with a feel good speech from masato who says 'oh its okay this is oUR adventure' but then takes it back like, 2 minutes after he says it and wonders why he did, yet, the villain is eventually defeated?
it makes no sense, because this whole game is like, a big ass project by some unknown group of people and at no point do we find out how or why or what this thing is or what the intentions are for creating this adventure, which is probably touched upon sometime in the future but ... not any time soon. is this a problem with the source material? or the adaptation having to skim over things that they can't cover? dunno.
animation is fine, it's a bit loose in some areas but overall its a sort of mediocre
That said - What i do really appreciate about this show though, is that it really gives you a cool and kinda grateful insight of the variety of moms out there, and makes me grateful for my own. the support, strength and love that moms have for their kids, sometimes might not even be the best, and the show really doesn't shy away from that, but in the end they do allow some happiness for these characters. while IRL it probably doesn't work out so smooth, i think there's a really authentic truth that they put to the light, that your mother is a significant part of your life whether you like it or not, and you need to confront that - despite what the outcome will be. for that, i genuinely enjoy watching this show every week.
the show is solid, animation is fine, the plot is interesting enough based off the original LN material, the pacing is passable - most arcs to me were much longer than they should have been, but there's nothing awful about the show itself. also- would not be surprised at all if the author has some sort of MILF fetish.
the entire show goes kinda like - mom goes with masato into the MMMMMMPORG, and then they end up getting into cahoots with a few characters, one with an AWOL slag mom, one with a helicopter parent, but also a kid who really fucking hates her mom with like, no backstory as to why - also she has streaks on her hair like a tiger which really bothered me, but generally there's some sort of like, deep RIBELE - rebellion going on INSIDE the game, and the season only ever scratches at the secret of the Big Plot that will never happen in anime form.
the ending is also mostly unsatisfactory, the big thing about the big villian wanting to eradicate all moms from the world is kinda loosely explained around masato's own qualms, you never get your own life and you don't get to have the adventure you think you will when a parent is around - a whole lot of parents do not ever get parenting right, but the anime's solution is to wave that away, and all those initial problems are brushed away with a feel good speech from masato who says 'oh its okay this is oUR adventure' but then takes it back like, 2 minutes after he says it and wonders why he did, yet, the villain is eventually defeated?
it makes no sense, because this whole game is like, a big ass project by some unknown group of people and at no point do we find out how or why or what this thing is or what the intentions are for creating this adventure, which is probably touched upon sometime in the future but ... not any time soon. is this a problem with the source material? or the adaptation having to skim over things that they can't cover? dunno.
animation is fine, it's a bit loose in some areas but overall its a sort of mediocre
That said - What i do really appreciate about this show though, is that it really gives you a cool and kinda grateful insight of the variety of moms out there, and makes me grateful for my own. the support, strength and love that moms have for their kids, sometimes might not even be the best, and the show really doesn't shy away from that, but in the end they do allow some happiness for these characters. while IRL it probably doesn't work out so smooth, i think there's a really authentic truth that they put to the light, that your mother is a significant part of your life whether you like it or not, and you need to confront that - despite what the outcome will be. for that, i genuinely enjoy watching this show every week.
The Isekai story of Hajime Nagumo, your boring Nice Guy to Edgy, Hot, OP MC. The show is a little Tate no Yuusha with the sort of, depressing, edgy, revenge vibes, where he becomes a ruthless, skilled killer with little remorse for other people except for cute girls he picks up along the way, except this time the Loli is the main girl. Weirdly enough, the tropes line up absurdly well with Konosuba, useless blue girl, masochist big titty girl, loli, except bonus merfolk girl in this show (and a classmate and loli teacher to come).
How is the anime? Absolute trash. I mourn for the poor author who had the LN mangled in this way, because they really Did Not do it justice at all. White Fox studio is not a bad studio, but I haven't heard much of Asread studio's shows at all. Hajime also apparently is very intimate with his vampire loli, and also prefers lolis (hence the loli teacher weakness) and a lot of people in the r/anime thread were Not Happy because of this lewd omittance. Personally I'd like to see a little more lewd in this show as well - Dumbbell in comparison has a lot more Lewd than this show which surprises me, despite the attempted panty shots and light masochism from one character.
But? The pacing of this show is absolutely insane, there's like a breakneck pacing to establish what happens, jumping around of the plot for their own desires, skipping over a ton of details and a few notable events, they spend around 5/6 episodes on the first big arc and one whole episode fighting ONE enemy, but in another episode they absolutely rush through a whole arc with just one episode - the result is a jumbled, incoherent mess of a show despite the somewhat steadier back half of episodes. There is no rhyme or reason to this, it just sort of happened that way and only slowly is getting some semblance of a normal show - but ep 10/11 is far too late to make it a good show, especially since DVDs are sold like, 1-3, 3-6, it just confuses me that they thought, these would be good enough to sell? I don't get it.
Is it a good show? No. It's appalling. If you are interested in the plot though, the manga is a little better because the pacing is better and so are the visuals, but the translations are slow so you're better off reading the LN for content.
Am I still going to watch it? Yeah of course I am. I'm isekai trash.
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka II (danmachi)
Well well well - we're here again.
I'm gonna admit, I lost a lot of interest during the first season - and the spin off which was absolutely butchered beyond recognition (Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria) which was basically.. turned from the perspective of Aiz Wallenstein the big shot to the weirdo elf ? girl who was like very erotically interested in Aiz, to the point where, Aiz just played the exact same role she did in the first season, as someone's object of affection. All the comments on r/anime showed me, there was a better story there, but it just vanished under the direction of whoever decided to adapt that little side story.
In fact, when I saw the second season come around, I thought, meh. who cares. i dont even care about this show, why the hell would I watch it, and then, oddly, I actually enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying the first season.
they really hit their stride after they move away from the aiz worship/fixation and fucking hestia (can you tell? im not a fan) and actually give bell and his new powers a chance to shine, he's still the focus of everyone, but they actually let him muck around and do some cool shit this time. after the disaster of OPM S2, JC Staff weren't too awful (imo) with this season.
the whole gist of the season is familia war, firstly they wage war with Apollo because, yeah he really wants Bell, and then they have this, raid the castle thing which is pretttyyy fun, there's some shit with lili who i ... couldnt give a shit about, welf, who i do like, and some random japanese inspired girl who i honest to god, still can't remember the name of, and theyve got a cool action scene where they sort of, work towards capture the flag? but like, defeating the main dude? thats the first half and spoiler alert, they win. then you've got, haruhime/ishtar arc which is, ishtar wants to wreck freya because she's never been as good as freya, and she basically runs the whole red light distract and tries to steal bell from under freya's nose which of course, goes about as well as you would imagine.
one thing i found absolutely fucking hilarious, is when they included a sort of sex positive aspect to haruhime's character who's been a prostitute, to the point where they make two whole episodes about how she sees herself as a used object, and can't be redeemed or saved because she's some. used good for men's pleasure and bell could never save her and you're like, damn he saves her anyway. nice. wow. no sex shaming, none of this weird virginal hangup - EXCEPT the twist is that she literally passed out when she saw a naked man and has never done anything, SO FUCKING JOKES ON YOU
to steal u/rationalinquisition's post -
danmachi: here's a powerful message about how sex work doesn't make you impure or any less of a worthwhile human
also danmachi: JK LOL
and just to top it all off, there's just a little comical segway for idiot ares to try to steal hestia to gain more power, and then they just have a last little episode which more, cements hestia and bell's relationship while aiz low key thirdwheels? intrudes? who knows. I did laugh at Ganesha, but that's about all I had in me to enjoy, because Hestia and this, strange forced, brigid conversation she has with karm just .. was so bizarre? if he's dying, are you supposed to be this blase? was she posessed by brigid or was she just emulating him for a last few moments before he died? was she being fake serene just for that moment, what was she playing at by being really dismissive when he laid on that death bed? why are they pushing for this weird love between bell and hestia? because she clearly wants to bone him, but he's reverent to her but they're what, pushing him to dick her down? ?? i don't know??
also, the whole premise of the first season yeah, was like, oh we want him to base his powers off as strong as his devotion towards aiz - either catching up or admiring her you can pick, but it was some sort of strong crush, or at least a strong feeling towards her, yet she completely vanishes most of the season, he never thinks oR mentions her again (so all that shit from s1 gets dropped) except for when the writers go, oh right yeah she's still part of this whoops lmao sorry yeah here's some gratuitous inserts but anyway he's sort of more his own person now. in some ways, i enjoy the deviation but in some ways, i can't help but feel like it's a completely different story - tbh this often happens with LN/Manga stories and arcs, because there has to be some sort of gradual building development rather than the stereotypical one plot, and conclusive falling action - it just keeps escalating, so that's more of a thing i have against the source material.
to conclude: the animation is reasonable, the music is okay, there's nothing inventive or new about this season but it is a good follow up to the first season if you were keen, it's much better than the garbage spin off which burnt my soul, and there's even a third season so if you like fantasy shounens, this is a great staple of the diet.
Cop Craft
This was recommended to me from my friend who really likes Tilarna, but I'm afraid this show for me is just a bit dry. The animation is a bit meh, the music is alright, and the overall show reminds me a lot of last season's midnight occult civil servants / mayonaka no okaruto koumuin, which was a sort of, mystery, government, magic, and action driven show - there's always something happening and the characters are sort of established along the way.
for example, the main character, kei matoba is a cop and in the opening scene, his partner gets killed in action and he gets teamed up with a rookie alien/semanian called Tilarna Exedilca (insert alternate middle names here) and they slowly get to know each other while on the case, while the whole arc of the anime basically revolves around some whack magic and alien interaction in this corrupt, sleazy bustling city with a mishmash of mafia/drug/prostitution/'bad things' going on, with this one dude called Zelada who controls the dead who basically is out to ruin their lives and that.
firstly - i guess this is some sort of bias disclosure - i've never been super interested in action/cop genre, i liked midnight servants because the characters were engaging and so were the backstories, but i genuinely don't know what to say about this, because at no point was i actually invested in kei, our MC, neither was I that interested in Tilarna (I find her character boring), and the most invested I was, was in the weird priest drug dealer who ran a strip club and the gay policeman who would go undercover as a macho pussy magnet. the tropes are straight laced, the wronged cop, his medical examiner ex who works at the mortuary (think molly hooper from sherlock who is conveniently there for every case they need), his straight laced quirky alien loli knight who just kinda functions as the oblivious small but angry justice server, and That One Bad Guy who happens to have ruined all of their lives, and the rotation of really insignificant characters who never show up again.
While i wont admit to having watched CSI, I can only imagine it's very similar to what CSI is, just random cases around the main cast who are sort of important but not very because you're only in it for the action, and wanting to know what happens, but I confess, I care very little for plot and will gladly sit around 90 years for a slice of life show with a table of characters who do nothing but talk and make jokes. This wasn't my cup of tea, and probably will never be, but I have seen a few people praising it so maybe this could be up your alley if you enjoy buddy cop genres.
for example, the main character, kei matoba is a cop and in the opening scene, his partner gets killed in action and he gets teamed up with a rookie alien/semanian called Tilarna Exedilca (insert alternate middle names here) and they slowly get to know each other while on the case, while the whole arc of the anime basically revolves around some whack magic and alien interaction in this corrupt, sleazy bustling city with a mishmash of mafia/drug/prostitution/'bad things' going on, with this one dude called Zelada who controls the dead who basically is out to ruin their lives and that.
firstly - i guess this is some sort of bias disclosure - i've never been super interested in action/cop genre, i liked midnight servants because the characters were engaging and so were the backstories, but i genuinely don't know what to say about this, because at no point was i actually invested in kei, our MC, neither was I that interested in Tilarna (I find her character boring), and the most invested I was, was in the weird priest drug dealer who ran a strip club and the gay policeman who would go undercover as a macho pussy magnet. the tropes are straight laced, the wronged cop, his medical examiner ex who works at the mortuary (think molly hooper from sherlock who is conveniently there for every case they need), his straight laced quirky alien loli knight who just kinda functions as the oblivious small but angry justice server, and That One Bad Guy who happens to have ruined all of their lives, and the rotation of really insignificant characters who never show up again.
While i wont admit to having watched CSI, I can only imagine it's very similar to what CSI is, just random cases around the main cast who are sort of important but not very because you're only in it for the action, and wanting to know what happens, but I confess, I care very little for plot and will gladly sit around 90 years for a slice of life show with a table of characters who do nothing but talk and make jokes. This wasn't my cup of tea, and probably will never be, but I have seen a few people praising it so maybe this could be up your alley if you enjoy buddy cop genres.
Machikado Mazoku/Demon Girl Next Door -
Not even sure how I can blog about this show without boring myself to death.
It's a story about Yuko Yoshida who's part of the demon/dark clan and she meets Momo Chiyoda who's a magical girl and they have this relationship which is just 90% gay and 10% just stupid. r/anime decided that they loved this and the ratings for this on MAL shot up after the last episode but oh boy literally, i couldn't force myself to finish this show. i like comedy, and i like a good slice of life, and i love a good calming anime (flying witch, tanaka, kimi to boku) but this literally bored me to death.
the animation is cute, the voice actors are sweet, the music is... ? the story is.... a super sweet and promising premise, YET the whole series just circles around a series of events happening around yuko and momo, yuko finds out shes a demon and knows she has some sort of goal, momo is really powerful and yuko's entire goal the whole series is to defeat momo so that she can break the curse on her family - but that's just the 'goal'.
what ACTUALLY happens is that, yuko is pathetically weak and indecisive and incapable of generally, anything, her ancestor is just, slightly more amusing but also useless, and momo is just an apathetic, soft lesbian who just wants to protect yuko - which admittedly, super sweet yet ??
if you enjoy things along the lines of comic girls, anima yell, hitoribocchi no marumaru saikatsu, harukana recieve, you'll probably enjoy this one.
however: this is my angry rant and my own personal opinion.
nothing of note happens, it's just the same gags that happen, it's not particularly funny, or calming, or soft, it's just a series of kinda, sad and depressing events that happen without any sort of big reaction from any of the characters, to the point where i genuinely would say, it pains me while watching it. perhaps i am being harsh on this show- and perhaps i will eventually change my opinion and this post, but having finished it and sat through 12 fucking weeks of LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENING with something that COULD have been comforting or funny or fucking, anything, this literally made me glaze over. I could not watch this show on normal speed, because it was so deliriously pointless. i literally sat through every fucking episode waiting for something to at least LAUGH or find cute but genuinely, two flat characters void of any personality or common sense just go through the same motions -ill challenge you youre not my friend weh weh moral enemy haha idk - fucking spare me. i still sat through with it, but i wholly regret it and hate it with every fibre of my being. that said, hated it less than anima yell and hitoribocchi because i literally watched all of it, so that's something to write home about.
Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note
From the ever popular series, Fate, the beautiful nerdy idiot Waver Velvet is Sherlock Holmes - I mean, LORD El-Melloi II in the case note files. Following off from the vague events in Fate/Zero, I won't even begin to pretend I understand any of the multiple, way more than is necessary, amount of universes in this series nor do I have any idea of the popular game Fate/Grand Order which is also a story in itself - but I can tell you a few simple things. From Fate/Zero, I absolutely love the original cast and desperately will protect Rider/Iskandar and Waver, and also have a super soft spot for Emiya's little cooking fantasy, something fate/apocrypha waifu astolofo and something something illya magical girl something something.
This show stands relatively well by itself, you don't really need a great amount of prewatching or knowledge about the other shows, but you should at least get the main gist of the story in Fate/Zero (the original as far as i'm concerned) which is, Waver Velvet stole his professor, Lord Kayneth El Melloi's relic so he could participate in something called the Holy Grail War (which was corrupted) and called upon Isakndar/Alexander the Great who he essentially, became .... the entire purpose of his life. Waver gets spared from the bloodbath of the war, Kayneth is not so lucky, and in this show, a relative of his, Reines, comes and threatened Waver to take on the role of Lord until it's her turn because .. idk i guess some sort of debt? Tbh Waver's entire life purpose right, is just to see Iskandar again and not to project on anyone's parade but this is genuinely the gayest shit. To paraphrase my friend, "yeah you must be gay as hell to have a NBR blonde loli, cute Artoria clone in a uniform and hood, and misc. students kneeling at the mercy of your cock - and all you do is sniff some dude's cape". He takes on this super detective role in this show, but you can still see glimpses of the little nerdy idiot from Fate/Zero (kudos to the seiyuu for giving mature, yet at the best moments, comes back swinging with the stupid teen waver voice) when he's panicking or what not, and adult waver is a whole ass mood - chainsmoking, moody, sleepy and just can't be arsed with everyone's nonsense.
What about the actual show itself? Yeah it's solid. You signed up for mages and mysteries, and they give that in spades, each collection of episodes is a short mystery that Lord El Melloi ends up solving with his lil side kick saber-face Grey and a selection of other people, all the while he has intense, nostalgic, secret guilty sniffs of iskandar, and when he's faced with Faker/Hephastion's shadow who tells Waver that he'll never be good enough for Iskandar, it's really the shadow of their relationship that spurs and keeps Waver going, all the while he traipses around the world solving cool mysteries, meets fairies, creepy magicians and battles crazed dogs - also big shout out to Fate's unrelenting obsession with adapting Celtic/English mythology because for some strange reason, there's very little of this outside of Arthurian influences in Western media.
All in all - The animation is lovely, the OST is also by the amazing Yuki Kajiura (also the composer of KNY's OST) but honestly the great show with it's nice pacing, interesting mysteries and side cast for me is more the material that will finally get me ever closer to seeing Waver and Isakandar content again and that's all I wanted anyway.
Kimetsu no Yaiba
Oh what's not to love about this show? Initially introduced to me as "a really good show", it wasn't quite enough to convince me of its goodness until I finally took the plunge, and I am absolutely glad I did.
The show follows Tanjiro Kamado's journey to turn his sister from demon to human after a tragedy/demon ate his whole family, and it's a brilliant dark fantasy.
The author clearly cares about their characters, and you can tell from the care, the vibrant personalities and charming interactions that they have with each other, and from the poignant and touching stories that each character has. This is definitely a darker twist on the supernatural, shinto inspired shows, like Natsume Yuujincho and Mushishi, focusing on the lives of the spirits who have been cursed by their lives in the living world - with soft moments interwoven in the fast paced, action heavy plot, a race against the cruel, capricious demons out for blood.
In comparison to the manga, Ufotable has given a lot of thought and consideration into this show, expanding small moments in the source material in well thought out, significant moments to link and lengthen story arcs and humanize all the characters - for example, the training arc was used mostly comedically in the manga to show Tanjiro's determination to improve, whereas they gave moments for each character to grow, moments with Nezuko and heartfelt goodbyes just to add to the anime's very thorough and thought out adaptation of the source material. Really, this is an example of where creative liberty works. Additionally, Ufotable has a magical tough with merging CGI animation with traditional animation, done in a way adds a beautiful dimension to the aesthetic of the show (especially with the infinity fortress and the temari ball scenes). To top it all off, they had an incredible OST, backed by the composer of Fate/Zero, Madoka Magica and Pandora Hearts (all three are great), and the whole OST holds threads of traditional Japanese elements, mixed with evocative orchestrations.
The anime definitely is a fitting adaptation of the manga, in the way that even if you have seen the manga, there's something very special and beautiful, a completely different viewing experience that you get from watching the anime all over again - and if you're keen for more KNY because you're a hardcore fan (as you should be), stay tuned for an OVA covering the Infinity Train arc - which I cannot wait for.
I would be as bold to even suggest this as a contender of AOTY.
The show follows Tanjiro Kamado's journey to turn his sister from demon to human after a tragedy/demon ate his whole family, and it's a brilliant dark fantasy.
The author clearly cares about their characters, and you can tell from the care, the vibrant personalities and charming interactions that they have with each other, and from the poignant and touching stories that each character has. This is definitely a darker twist on the supernatural, shinto inspired shows, like Natsume Yuujincho and Mushishi, focusing on the lives of the spirits who have been cursed by their lives in the living world - with soft moments interwoven in the fast paced, action heavy plot, a race against the cruel, capricious demons out for blood.
In comparison to the manga, Ufotable has given a lot of thought and consideration into this show, expanding small moments in the source material in well thought out, significant moments to link and lengthen story arcs and humanize all the characters - for example, the training arc was used mostly comedically in the manga to show Tanjiro's determination to improve, whereas they gave moments for each character to grow, moments with Nezuko and heartfelt goodbyes just to add to the anime's very thorough and thought out adaptation of the source material. Really, this is an example of where creative liberty works. Additionally, Ufotable has a magical tough with merging CGI animation with traditional animation, done in a way adds a beautiful dimension to the aesthetic of the show (especially with the infinity fortress and the temari ball scenes). To top it all off, they had an incredible OST, backed by the composer of Fate/Zero, Madoka Magica and Pandora Hearts (all three are great), and the whole OST holds threads of traditional Japanese elements, mixed with evocative orchestrations.
The anime definitely is a fitting adaptation of the manga, in the way that even if you have seen the manga, there's something very special and beautiful, a completely different viewing experience that you get from watching the anime all over again - and if you're keen for more KNY because you're a hardcore fan (as you should be), stay tuned for an OVA covering the Infinity Train arc - which I cannot wait for.
I would be as bold to even suggest this as a contender of AOTY.
Carole and Tuesday
This show is surprisingly straight laced, but what it lacks in plot complexity, it makes up in spades with music.
The show never takes any twists or turns with the story, it's so generic in fact, that i almost doubted myself a lot of times about what would happen (spoilers) like cybelle's lil stalkerish obsession, because i genuinely was like, oh i bet it's angela's manager it can't be THAT obvious mate, but it really was as predictable as it seems. little foreshadowing is just as obvious as you think it will be, and rarely does it surprise you at any point.
first half of the show is a pretty solidly done show, following the friendship of carole and tuesday, with some hard bangers and some hot hits, and the mars brightest segments are genuinely great, because it gives the show a chance to flex how good its music is - and let me tell you, it's fucking good music. thank you galactic mermaids. personally, i really like the indie, soft vibe of C/T's music, round & laundry is a straight up bop, hold me now is incredible, message in the wind is MY SHIT, whispering my love is also incredible, and someday i'll find my way home would be like, incredible sans the stupid sing along - i prefer the short version but i wish it had been another verse by them instead of the weird expansion they decided to do. also hate polly jean sorry. i also saw some people preferred angela's pop friendly hits but it's not my favorite. shout out to all the great songs though, some of my favorites were madison mcferrin as GGK, give you the world because the flora cover is The Absolute Shit, but also the biggest mention to the acapella goodness of FUCKING BULLSHIT the song.
second half? the show starts to slip a little. while they start to touch on some political issues, like freedom of speech, and wrongful imprisonment / bias against immigrants, using political propaganda to reinforce deportation and other sort of darker shit that seeks to criticise all that kinda stuff, it falls to the wayside when you have two main characters, who frankly, just don't give a shit? in fact, nobody really cares about the actual politics - valerie is just a puppet for jerry who's part of this bigger organization and everyone else are just, overglorified musicians as far as im concerned. this isn't to say their message isn't good, it's just, a very strange decision plot wise imo. it also surprised me when they made angela's song the ED, for the first half she's just posed as like, a foil to C&T, and then suddenly we're expected to care about her story and what she's doing because she has a weird stalker on the loose, and she's flourishing and succeeding while C&T are mostly tossed to the wayside, struggling without doing much at the recording studio to try to give themselves a boost up. most of the characters, feel like plot devices. they aren't really working towards a certain goal most of the time, they just react as the situation is given to them - and that's fine, but the characterization is a sad fizzle of a drenched candle.
in the end - heavy spoiling ahead- their resolution to the political situation is firstly, spencer just goes up to mumma valerie to tell her that jerry is a prick, and she fires him and resigns - so the hate against immigrants is 'solved' becuase nobody is there to ringlead it anymore. then, in order to accuse everyone else, C&T are the diverse combination of, immigrant and .. daughter of the conservative anti immigrant presidential candidate. so they decide to help ezikel and all the black men who were wrongfully imprisioned for speaking their minds through music, were to make a big song about Mothers (conveniently ignore that Tuesday has no mom.) and they record some sort of flash mob song that's broadcast about trying to make the world a better place (we are the world...) and everyone who watches it has like a miraculous change of heart. additionally, after all the antagonizing that angela had for C&T is tossed to the wayside after a suicidal breakdown and her parent's death, and she comes back.
but what happens then? what happened to skip and ezikel? what happened to angela after this - and what the fuck is tao doing? they're both somehow designer babies/somehow siblings, but he just leaves her there because he caused the arrest of some higher ups but he just vanishes, so all his obsession with c&t just goes nowhere. where's tuesdays dad? what about flora? she just shows up for an episode and fucks off. what about the love story between carole and roddy or tuesday and amer/ezikel? a lot of episodes bring drama in for one or two episodes just to pad in drama, and is never talked about again - eg AI video recording scam, ertegun going broke, ezikel love drama, cybelle being a crazed stalker. also one thing someone mentioned was, there was a super interesting point that they could have explored in regards to the AI/ human made music, especially in regards to tao/everyone vs C&T's music, yet that's never talked about again after the political drama. what happens as a consequence of those seven miraculous minutes?
we all knew that the whole story was based around that song/event called the seven miraculous minutes, but it's almost like an afterthought as the show ends. it's like the show has ended, just as we see the effects of their labour - and it's incredibly disappointing. by ending it with the seven miraculous minutes, they whipped up a little plot miracle of their own, resolving everything with a kiss and a pat on the bum, sending everyone home in the middle of the main course during a Big Meal that they invited everyone over for.
So if you ignore the fact that there's like, no good resolution to any of the problems that were raised and unresolved within one or two episodes, you can continue that story on ~inside your mind~ - and i swear to god that is actually what they gave us at the end of the show.
for a long investment after so many months - a good half a year - of watching this show, at no point did i ever expect amazing things from the plot, and i was pleasantly surprised when they decided to try to tackle some big issues, without any concrete, or satisfying resolution. however, if you turn around and see it as a message of hope towards people dealing with these things, asking them to make the better decisions, then maybe the show will come off as feel good as the ending seems to want us to feel. all that said, i'm more than happy to walk away from this show with some incredible songs and the sheer love i have for C&T's songs (i love the indie soft voice genre what can i say) and the super cute animation and solid presentation as a dainty, pretty, yet ultimately regretfully forgettable anime.
The show never takes any twists or turns with the story, it's so generic in fact, that i almost doubted myself a lot of times about what would happen (spoilers) like cybelle's lil stalkerish obsession, because i genuinely was like, oh i bet it's angela's manager it can't be THAT obvious mate, but it really was as predictable as it seems. little foreshadowing is just as obvious as you think it will be, and rarely does it surprise you at any point.
first half of the show is a pretty solidly done show, following the friendship of carole and tuesday, with some hard bangers and some hot hits, and the mars brightest segments are genuinely great, because it gives the show a chance to flex how good its music is - and let me tell you, it's fucking good music. thank you galactic mermaids. personally, i really like the indie, soft vibe of C/T's music, round & laundry is a straight up bop, hold me now is incredible, message in the wind is MY SHIT, whispering my love is also incredible, and someday i'll find my way home would be like, incredible sans the stupid sing along - i prefer the short version but i wish it had been another verse by them instead of the weird expansion they decided to do. also hate polly jean sorry. i also saw some people preferred angela's pop friendly hits but it's not my favorite. shout out to all the great songs though, some of my favorites were madison mcferrin as GGK, give you the world because the flora cover is The Absolute Shit, but also the biggest mention to the acapella goodness of FUCKING BULLSHIT the song.
second half? the show starts to slip a little. while they start to touch on some political issues, like freedom of speech, and wrongful imprisonment / bias against immigrants, using political propaganda to reinforce deportation and other sort of darker shit that seeks to criticise all that kinda stuff, it falls to the wayside when you have two main characters, who frankly, just don't give a shit? in fact, nobody really cares about the actual politics - valerie is just a puppet for jerry who's part of this bigger organization and everyone else are just, overglorified musicians as far as im concerned. this isn't to say their message isn't good, it's just, a very strange decision plot wise imo. it also surprised me when they made angela's song the ED, for the first half she's just posed as like, a foil to C&T, and then suddenly we're expected to care about her story and what she's doing because she has a weird stalker on the loose, and she's flourishing and succeeding while C&T are mostly tossed to the wayside, struggling without doing much at the recording studio to try to give themselves a boost up. most of the characters, feel like plot devices. they aren't really working towards a certain goal most of the time, they just react as the situation is given to them - and that's fine, but the characterization is a sad fizzle of a drenched candle.
in the end - heavy spoiling ahead- their resolution to the political situation is firstly, spencer just goes up to mumma valerie to tell her that jerry is a prick, and she fires him and resigns - so the hate against immigrants is 'solved' becuase nobody is there to ringlead it anymore. then, in order to accuse everyone else, C&T are the diverse combination of, immigrant and .. daughter of the conservative anti immigrant presidential candidate. so they decide to help ezikel and all the black men who were wrongfully imprisioned for speaking their minds through music, were to make a big song about Mothers (conveniently ignore that Tuesday has no mom.) and they record some sort of flash mob song that's broadcast about trying to make the world a better place (we are the world...) and everyone who watches it has like a miraculous change of heart. additionally, after all the antagonizing that angela had for C&T is tossed to the wayside after a suicidal breakdown and her parent's death, and she comes back.
but what happens then? what happened to skip and ezikel? what happened to angela after this - and what the fuck is tao doing? they're both somehow designer babies/somehow siblings, but he just leaves her there because he caused the arrest of some higher ups but he just vanishes, so all his obsession with c&t just goes nowhere. where's tuesdays dad? what about flora? she just shows up for an episode and fucks off. what about the love story between carole and roddy or tuesday and amer/ezikel? a lot of episodes bring drama in for one or two episodes just to pad in drama, and is never talked about again - eg AI video recording scam, ertegun going broke, ezikel love drama, cybelle being a crazed stalker. also one thing someone mentioned was, there was a super interesting point that they could have explored in regards to the AI/ human made music, especially in regards to tao/everyone vs C&T's music, yet that's never talked about again after the political drama. what happens as a consequence of those seven miraculous minutes?
we all knew that the whole story was based around that song/event called the seven miraculous minutes, but it's almost like an afterthought as the show ends. it's like the show has ended, just as we see the effects of their labour - and it's incredibly disappointing. by ending it with the seven miraculous minutes, they whipped up a little plot miracle of their own, resolving everything with a kiss and a pat on the bum, sending everyone home in the middle of the main course during a Big Meal that they invited everyone over for.
So if you ignore the fact that there's like, no good resolution to any of the problems that were raised and unresolved within one or two episodes, you can continue that story on ~inside your mind~ - and i swear to god that is actually what they gave us at the end of the show.
for a long investment after so many months - a good half a year - of watching this show, at no point did i ever expect amazing things from the plot, and i was pleasantly surprised when they decided to try to tackle some big issues, without any concrete, or satisfying resolution. however, if you turn around and see it as a message of hope towards people dealing with these things, asking them to make the better decisions, then maybe the show will come off as feel good as the ending seems to want us to feel. all that said, i'm more than happy to walk away from this show with some incredible songs and the sheer love i have for C&T's songs (i love the indie soft voice genre what can i say) and the super cute animation and solid presentation as a dainty, pretty, yet ultimately regretfully forgettable anime.
Not Finished
Fruits Basket -
While this is technically a finished season (two cour) is has been slated for a whole remake, it's a story about Tohru Honda stumbling across the Soma family which is cursed/possessed by spirits of the chinese zodiac.
To be perfectly frank, I won't be updating this until I get around to watching this in its entirety, because the story is way too heavy - much darker than i expect from shoujo stories, and the very few episodes i was watching i was tearing up like a waterfall.
that aside, it's great, i can see so much potential and care and love being put in each episode to make it as wonderful to merit its reputation during the 2010's, and much better than the first anime as well - which also had been made before the manga was finished so was a lot of anime original content that didn't really fit and was low key sanitized.
I highly recommend you watch it if you're interested in those early 2000's shoujos, like a darker ouran high school host club with a loveable young ingenue pure against the fucked up world with some dark moments and some genuinely heart wrenching occurrences.
To be perfectly frank, I won't be updating this until I get around to watching this in its entirety, because the story is way too heavy - much darker than i expect from shoujo stories, and the very few episodes i was watching i was tearing up like a waterfall.
that aside, it's great, i can see so much potential and care and love being put in each episode to make it as wonderful to merit its reputation during the 2010's, and much better than the first anime as well - which also had been made before the manga was finished so was a lot of anime original content that didn't really fit and was low key sanitized.
I highly recommend you watch it if you're interested in those early 2000's shoujos, like a darker ouran high school host club with a loveable young ingenue pure against the fucked up world with some dark moments and some genuinely heart wrenching occurrences.
Enen Shouboutai / Fire Force:
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, mostly bceause i'm not really sure if i love the manga - which is also done by the author of soul eater.
this was praised for having some really interesting animation, yet that's typically done during the first few episodes to interest anime only watches - and honestly interesting aspect rations and spinning cams do not make a show interesting, as i very sordidly admit after the letdown of Darling in the Franxx and Occultic;Nine and that general artistic direction. in fact, already at the halfway point and we've rarely seen the interesting animation after the initial episodes.
overall it's a decent show, there's nothing /wrong/ with it per se, and I do want to praise the interesting features of the characters tho, I really enjoy Shinra and the cast of characters around him and the great designs and I love a good superpowered cast. they're all recognizable (even if they aren't /good/) and so far there's no real pacing issues - and of course with kyoani at the helm it's bound to be good quality animation (and my thoughts go to the victims of the horrific arson attack, and to those who still have to work on a show that highlights the dangers and tragedies of fire).
overall, so far it's a good adaptation and if you're keen on like, alternate universes and superpowers and action and shounen, you'll like this. also there is a character which attracts fanservice, her sole job is to be lewd, so keep this away from kids.
How about the manga plot? SPOILER SPOILER
it reminds me a little bit of yakusoku no neverland a little - a big otherworld guarded by some not exactly good spirit, and uncovering a huge governmental secret and like, corruption that goes way down into the roots of their history, but till now, we're pretty far into the manga and they're only inching ever closer. they introduce a bunch of new people with powers, who are somehow linked to the divine adolla burst/sacred fire and they're part of some big like, face off? for me, i'm a little disappointed with the current plot line, but from what i can tell this is going to be a long haul ride so i've already strapped in ready for that 22 hour flight.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, mostly bceause i'm not really sure if i love the manga - which is also done by the author of soul eater.
this was praised for having some really interesting animation, yet that's typically done during the first few episodes to interest anime only watches - and honestly interesting aspect rations and spinning cams do not make a show interesting, as i very sordidly admit after the letdown of Darling in the Franxx and Occultic;Nine and that general artistic direction. in fact, already at the halfway point and we've rarely seen the interesting animation after the initial episodes.
overall it's a decent show, there's nothing /wrong/ with it per se, and I do want to praise the interesting features of the characters tho, I really enjoy Shinra and the cast of characters around him and the great designs and I love a good superpowered cast. they're all recognizable (even if they aren't /good/) and so far there's no real pacing issues - and of course with kyoani at the helm it's bound to be good quality animation (and my thoughts go to the victims of the horrific arson attack, and to those who still have to work on a show that highlights the dangers and tragedies of fire).
overall, so far it's a good adaptation and if you're keen on like, alternate universes and superpowers and action and shounen, you'll like this. also there is a character which attracts fanservice, her sole job is to be lewd, so keep this away from kids.
How about the manga plot? SPOILER SPOILER
it reminds me a little bit of yakusoku no neverland a little - a big otherworld guarded by some not exactly good spirit, and uncovering a huge governmental secret and like, corruption that goes way down into the roots of their history, but till now, we're pretty far into the manga and they're only inching ever closer. they introduce a bunch of new people with powers, who are somehow linked to the divine adolla burst/sacred fire and they're part of some big like, face off? for me, i'm a little disappointed with the current plot line, but from what i can tell this is going to be a long haul ride so i've already strapped in ready for that 22 hour flight.
Dr Stone
Disclaimer, i totally love this. what is this about?
senku is some sort of high school science prodigy, and something happens to the world in which the entire human population (probably animals too) get petrified - turned into stone.
however, senku is the first to be released and slowly they're trying to rebuild civilization. it's fun, at no point does the show pull out any tricks or curves with the initial goal, they're here to rebuild humanity off science and it's sort of like a lil game, you build from scratch until you acquire everything you need for modern life.
i love all the characters - asagiri ren is a personal favorite - and you get to watch them slowly succeed and go through a few difficulties here and there yet it's on the whole, a relatively fun and calm anime to kick back and watch because its a show that constantly overcomes the hurdles given to them with finesse, flamboyance and flair.
out of all of the shounens, i found myself really enjoying this most of all - and like i said, it's a fun, and super engaging show. with a dip into basic science as well, i can't help but think about all the kids who would become inspired by this and want to pursue science because of how accessible it is in this show, but also how lucky we are, to have overcome nightime, have a steady supply of food, medication and all the inventions we take for granted now.
10,0000% percent recommend.
senku is some sort of high school science prodigy, and something happens to the world in which the entire human population (probably animals too) get petrified - turned into stone.
however, senku is the first to be released and slowly they're trying to rebuild civilization. it's fun, at no point does the show pull out any tricks or curves with the initial goal, they're here to rebuild humanity off science and it's sort of like a lil game, you build from scratch until you acquire everything you need for modern life.
i love all the characters - asagiri ren is a personal favorite - and you get to watch them slowly succeed and go through a few difficulties here and there yet it's on the whole, a relatively fun and calm anime to kick back and watch because its a show that constantly overcomes the hurdles given to them with finesse, flamboyance and flair.
out of all of the shounens, i found myself really enjoying this most of all - and like i said, it's a fun, and super engaging show. with a dip into basic science as well, i can't help but think about all the kids who would become inspired by this and want to pursue science because of how accessible it is in this show, but also how lucky we are, to have overcome nightime, have a steady supply of food, medication and all the inventions we take for granted now.
10,0000% percent recommend.
Vinland Saga
Personally, I found this super difficult to watch, and I can't really explain why. Seinen isn't a super popular genre, so I haven't had a great amount of reference for what to expect from the genre, but it is more dense, wordier and a little more 'adult' in the themes than shounen media is (eg more violence, gore, sex). My favorite seinen is definitely Run with the Wind/Kaze no Tsuyoku Fuiteiru but the only other notable seinen would be Nande Koko ni Sensei ga, which.. is essentially just soft core porn, and Jagaaaan which I really enjoy but it's got a bit of sex, and a bit more violence.
This is a little bit of English/Europe/Viking history 1013AD jammed into a manga, so the anime is very much, a slow adaptation of the coming of age story of our main dude, Thorfinn.
when i say, coming of age, i genuinely mean, coming of age. there's no montage you can skip, it's not a 5 minute training recap, it's literally, going through the whole life story of war and battle during the middle ages and a dab and dash of political elements. personally, i've never been a fan of war movies, and only very lightly dabble in medieval times - i prefer ancient history, and even then, have never been interested in warfare.
the anime itself is a solid product, and there are great moments, but you can definitely tell it wasn't made to be targeted as light entertainment, but i assume the target audience just isn't me- but if you are a fan of the quasi historical, war genre shows, this is incredible.
here's also a movie length video version of this review.
This is a little bit of English/Europe/Viking history 1013AD jammed into a manga, so the anime is very much, a slow adaptation of the coming of age story of our main dude, Thorfinn.
when i say, coming of age, i genuinely mean, coming of age. there's no montage you can skip, it's not a 5 minute training recap, it's literally, going through the whole life story of war and battle during the middle ages and a dab and dash of political elements. personally, i've never been a fan of war movies, and only very lightly dabble in medieval times - i prefer ancient history, and even then, have never been interested in warfare.
the anime itself is a solid product, and there are great moments, but you can definitely tell it wasn't made to be targeted as light entertainment, but i assume the target audience just isn't me- but if you are a fan of the quasi historical, war genre shows, this is incredible.
here's also a movie length video version of this review.
Dropped
Kawaikereba Hentai Demo Suki Ni Natte Kuremasu ka?
honestly worst show i've never seen - animation was bad, and literally not funny at all. couldn't even get through one episode. something about kinks, something ahout a harem but you know its bad when you can't even remember anything about the first episode.
honestly worst show i've never seen - animation was bad, and literally not funny at all. couldn't even get through one episode. something about kinks, something ahout a harem but you know its bad when you can't even remember anything about the first episode.
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