Back to Jhale's Profile Jhale's Profile

This anime has a bad reputation, but it feels like nobody who complains even watched the show, or at least they did not bother to pay attention.

While I did drop the show, it was because of a specific reason that I skimmed future episodes to ensure was the case....

The story starts out with themes that I consider to be very interesting. First, the show starts off immediately with demons of seduction. They talk just like a succubus - saying they will drain a person's life energy for the ultimate pleasure. There is a lot of nudity to support this theme too. The main character is ... getting attacked by a worm-like demon who first undresses before revealing their horrific real form. Before they can consume his life energy, the man is saved by the heroine who is a trained fighter. One thing I will say is that this scene is shot and paced somewhat poorly because it is not apparent that the main character is the one involved in this event.

Later on, they encounter a demon at school. It has a pretty nice design and it comes across as scary, having seemingly murdered a student. Then there just happens to be the same type of demon but they are proven to be innocent. The combat and events in this time are pretty top notch. Then the cat/tiger demon shoots a lightning which has a succubus ability of draining life energy while giving pleasure and I realize how cool of a concept this could be. In the following episode, there is another demon that uses sexual energy in an interesting way, but at the same time disturbing and not at all sexy in my opinion. So this really impressed me - making the anime feel like it dealt with sexual energy in a somewhat mature way.

HOWEVER, this is why I dropped the series! Only two episodes had this concept. They decided to entirely ditch the concept of sexual life draining and instead just focus on kissing and surprising... they decided to exchange the sexual stuff with extreme amounts of gore. I honestly felt less comfortable with the gory elements of the rest of the episodes, while it also made the story a lot more straightforward in dealing with demons (youkai) and magic. They also have the main character just function as a battery through kissing, which becomes very weak and predictable without the sexual energy theme also being present.

There is also another aspect of the series that is really cool. If the demons are known by name, they can fully be destroyed by the demon slayers. However, the first person who speaks a demon's true name can also command them, somewhat like a slave. In execution though, the main character befriends a "cat" demon but she still has a lot of free will so the theme is not kept together as strongly as it is supposed to be. But she is very loyally protective of him, so it does not really matter. In fact, somehow she is possibly the most useful character, while also being maybe the least interesting.

Sadly, this aspect is basically thrown out the window after the FIRST episode. They get the cat girl and then never recruit anyone again (I think). Additionally, most of the demons that follow do not show any humanoid form so you can easily tell that they would not be recruitable. Lastly, the demon slayers state that knowing the name is really important to their job... yet they never actually use the names to fully eradicate demons and instead recklessly go ahead and slaughter them so they could come back some time in the future (not shown). And YET, the demon slayers keep asking the main character to tell the name of the demons, which they somehow never discovered is reliant on his touch and the one person who analyzed this decides to just leave it for the others to figure out, yet they never do!!!

So the themes of this story are presented pretty unfaithfully... But I think it is still an entertaining show if you are willing to ignore all that, and the demon designs often remain interesting, which is more than I can say about almost any show that would be considered better.

Now for the characters - in the first two episodes, they feel quite realistic and polished. In the third episode it feels the same way... but the new character introduced, the heroine's sister, creates a scenario where things start to get a lot more simplified and she ends up being possibly the most simple minded character, after having a very impressive introduction. She started off as someone who knows when to be quiet without necessarily being respectful. She also swore to be an enemy to her sister in order to "take the throne" basically. But because the main guy is so important, she just ends up hungering for her kiss. And it basically becomes a really dumb love triangle where she just never gets a kiss for one reason or another. At least, that's where it seemed to be going from what I watched.

As for the sound, the opening and ending were underwhelming, but it is always hard for me to notice the sound design for a show if the music and sounds are not loud. Maybe I just need to turn my volume up. I think the voice acting was pretty strong though.

So yeah, my total score is about a 5 or 6. I think this is just an average show, only made worse by the fact that it was more promising in the beginning. Also, there is censoring of breasts and genitals... but they also have an ending which is really risque and I feel overall the censoring does not detract much from how sexual they want the scenes to be. I did find that they actually do some pretty interesting forms of censoring nudity though.... One episode I was skimming through, I saw a brilliant light, and yet it turned out to be censoring of the breasts of the cat girl. Pretty funny stuff. They should have given that to her as a power or something.

Goblin Slayer is an anime based on a light novel. I haven't read the light novel, but I probably will try to find out how after this review. Like many light novels, it does things on the risque side, but I feel like Goblin Slayer is more mature than most of these light novel adaptations.

Story - Goblin Slayer is a rather typical fantasy world, but pretty detailed in what it focuses on. I love a fantasy story that goes through things slowly with new details that other fantasy works have not expressed before and Goblin Slayer does not stop doing this unlike most anime which ... will discard a chunk of its depth after the first few episodes.

The focus in this story and its entertainment seems centrally about strategic decisions in hunting and survival. It is one of those anime that is busy explaining a lot of things, but it won't explain action sequences in fine detail like Naruto or something.

The main character is Onna Shinkan, a young priestess who is apparently considered an adult at age 15. She decides to start the story by joining a small group of adventurers. We are not given much background into her decision, but this could be assumed to mean that it is normal for people to become adventurers without much of a second thought. Yet goblins are underestimated in this world. People are given reasons to expect goblins to be less threatening as they are to the extent that the youngest adventurers don't fear going on goblin nest quests.

The first episode basically is meant to contrast a beginner's experience with goblins to an expert's. Not too unexpected, but presentation goes a long way. But the good thing about the main character is that she is not one to underestimate things, making for a good learner, which is why she works so well with the character of the goblin slayer.

Overall, this is feels more like an event driven story even though the characters are hard to ignore.

Unfortunately, as is indicated by the opening, there are more characters than just the heroine and slayer. I would think that one extra hero would be all right, but instead we have three out of nowhere. This is my main gripe with the show so far, but the world is still better built because of them.

Another odd and potentially negative part is that there is an episode that focuses on two beginner adventures half the time, just to give some un-needed world building and padding out the episode. Episode 7 also ends with some ridiculous padding, but I guess I don't care about this too much so far.

Art - The art design by itself is pretty simple, but the production is great. Simple designs don't detract much in a more grounded story anyway. There are digital effects and maybe 3D models in some places, but it felt like I was watching a much more pure production like 90's anime, but with cleaner art. A lot of female characters besides the priestess have really big breasts, which is a little bit annoying, but I can forgive it since characters are not all that important in this anime.

Sound - In my opinion, the opening and ending themes are very solid. There is a folksy song that tends to play at the beginning of episodes that I find annoying however.

As for sound effects, it is quite well done. It is a more horrific story after all so sounds are more central than in other anime.

Characters - As I mentioned earlier, the goblin slayer and the priestess have great chemistry as central characters. There is a proper balance of fragility and a super powerful guardian, but the priestess is allowed to be useful most of the times which is better than the vast majority of anime. Most of the show feels more secure because the priestess exists despite Goblin Slayer being the one who is keeping her alive. She is also one of the few female protagonists who really serves as a person anyone connects to better than those stupid brown/black haired male protagonists. I really love having her and Goblin Slayer in the story.

Goblin Slayer is a Vash the Stampede/Rurouni Kenshin kind of figure. He is very fixed on his morals, not too talkative and lives a humble life, but he also has insane skill and power that allows him to exist the way he does. But unlike those two protagonists, Goblin Slayer is shown to have serious limits. He actually seems to consider his priestess a valuable resource in battle, using her powers to end fights far more quickly. But he also is hesitant to keep anyone around with him until he develops more. The story really seems to start in the most significant part of his character development, which is good.

As for the rest of the party, they are introduced around episode 4. They seem like they should be strong considering they are the same rank as people who can slay dragons, but they are pretty pathetic against goblins. They also are characterized pretty poorly and do more to just bring out reasons to flesh out the world. However, they still allow for the story to be entertaining and move forward at a more sustainable pace so they are pretty useful in a meta way.

However, I feel like many female characters are a little too under-developed. The elven girl just doesn't seem to have anything going for her and seems to have a bit of a fluid, unfixed personality. The girl that Goblin Slayer knows is not explained very clearly besides as being someone waiting for him to come home. The quest clerk is a bit of an exception since she does not have to have a personality, but she is actually quite humanized and you learn a little about how her job works.

There is a witch simply called Majo who feels TOO mysterious and ends up basically having a few pretty minor interactions with the story despite appearing to be important. The most notable thing about her is just her voice acting, which is very odd and would likely be written with many ellipses....

Enjoyment - This is primarily an action anime that should be enjoyable to fans of old-fashioned shounen/seinen. I think it is mostly consistently entertaining, but episodes 4 and 5 felt pretty underwhelming which was almost enough for me to start disliking the show before episode 7 showed me there was still a lot of good scenes to be had.

Story 4: My Hero Academia is a story about superheroes learning at an academia. Except it isn't. It starts that way, but it isn't that way. Deku works so hard just to go to a school we don't get to pay attention to. People say it is just a typical shounen, but a typical shounen would have tried to flesh out the school life a little. When you have such a unique school setting for once, you decide to just blow it. It's so stupid. The story is very, very character focused and overly convenient. You go from entrance exams to showing off a really ... powerful set of villains and how the fledgling heroes act in a crisis almost immediately, right when we were just feeling like it would possibly be a more developed world.

Art 9: There are a ton of character designs, which is amazing to me. There are some exceptionally cute character designs, which is not something that I have said about any anime before. It also doesn't shy away from mixing big muscle and a slightly more Western style with the typical skinny young anime heroes aesthetic. There is nothing really lacking, but it isn't artistic enough to warrant a 10.

Sound 8: I don't remember much of the sound, but I have a feeling the soundtrack isn't a weak point. I'm not at all a fan of the opening theme, but the ending isn't too bad. Usually I don't factor in openings or endings into the sound department too much though since they aren't made by the team behind the anime usually.

Character 6: Characters SHOULD be higher, but I still feel like the only ones they really care about are the biggest protagonists. Even with trying to give a lot of characters a little time to develop, it is done in such unnatural form that it doesn't feel nice. The only exception in this arc was Iida, who really got to show what they were like at heart. All Might is annoying character. While it might seem deep to give such a strong character a weakness, it just feels like an excuse for weak writing and a reason to have a slightly unnecessary tutor character like in Naruto or Reborn!. Yes it may have been the start of the story and a central plot point, but it doesn't work well in the long run and All Might basically just proves that the time limit he placed on himself might mean nothing at all, which makes things feel extra fake. Maybe once the injury is explained, we can understand his reasoning because i don't get why it would hinder him so much.
The main character Midoriya, nicknamed Deku, is really a solid shounen protagonist since he is truly thoughtful, studious and passionate and gets to where he is at the beginning by pure hard work. But how his power develops is very, very shaky because we don't get to see him train the power directly. His rival is very well presented, has a great character design and you can really feel that he has deeper motivations in everything that will probably develop further even if other developments were dropped.
One character I absolutely hated was that baby. There is no reason why he exists. His personality is bad and quirk is useless so it doesn't make sense that he got into the Academy with the highest standards. Additionally, Sui's reaction to him is terrible.

Enjoyment 3: I was able to watch 26 episodes of Hero Academia, which is more than I can say for basically all of the few anime I get around to trying. But that may have just been because I was curious about the world since I was in an RP discord server and wondering what made the world stand out. Still, I was not excited past the first two episodes. There wasn't too much that caught my attention after they got to the exams and school, except Deku's rivalry and showing off new character skills, which is just too flat for me. There was also the feeling that the plot wasn't properly explored at all by skipping to a major fight so quickly in place of what could have been a very interesting event (learning how to rescue people in natural disasters or something like that).

Aggressive Restsuko (or Aggretsuko, as Netflix has named it) is one of my top 3 favorite animes and it felt like it came out of nowhere. I have a pretty strong distaste for anime and manga that deals with music, no matter how highly it is recommended. However, I had read an article about Retsuko maybe two years ago and it sounded like an amazing move from the company that made Hello Kitty. Unfortunately, I didn't realize there was anything but a character until I saw this on Netflix.

Story 9 - Aggretsuko is about Retsuko, an overly hard working office girl who seems to carry ... the weight of the whole office on her shoulders. Her boss named Tone is a nightmare to her and many others in spite of how hard she works. The abusiveness of this boss is shown in a rather subtle way however, so it avoids being a story where there is excessive sorrow. Retsuko also has the power of death metal to vent her frustrations.

Retsuko's venting death metal seems like it could be something that could turn viewers off. It seems really stupid because the lyrics are pretty trash and the musical parts are short too.... But the way the music is presented feels like it only does the production favors, when you think about it. Retsuko should not be a fully sorrowful character and this venting is actually pretty funny with how simple and silly it is, although it is also helpful for character development increasingly throughout the story. It adds a lot of charm when it feels like it could ruin the show (and perhaps it does for some intolerant people).

The third piece to this story is perhaps my favorite. This story feels like it really is speaking to the modern generation perfectly. It gives some smart tips on how to live life, although less mature people would probably not respect these tips too much. It also shows us that the seemingly perfect people in life have to work hard to find the goodness in life and that those who are at the top can be important to those who are oppressed at the bottom rung.

Art 9 - This is a pretty well animated show and it looks really cute with both animations and character designs. Most of the character designs are pretty impressive. The personality of each character is very well expressed and it is one of the few cases where I feel like the animation added to a show outside of combat. I might only subtract a point because I don't like how the death metal form of Retsuko looks.

Sound 9 - The music, although really short, is pretty strong metal. There is also no annoying music that I remember, except for a song on the second to last episode sadly, but retrospect, that probably was meant to add depth in how music is about expression first here, rather than making a song sound nice.

However, I must point out that the English voice acting was really great. In addition to how the animations added to characters, the voice actors also did an exceptional job in raising the bar.

Character 10 - This story was mostly built for the characters and while Retsuko delivers better than I expected, the other characters in this story are also really heartfelt. Most of the characters in the show get important development in clever ways and I also really liked Retsuko's non-work friend. Character dynamics are everywhere and feel very realistic and meaningful. No character really feels wasted, except maybe the jar lady.

Enjoyment 10 - This show is great enjoyment for those who deal with a lot of stress in life. It is also great for those who are feeling lost. It works well for a cute story as well. I often feel the need for shows that address those themes. Additionally, each episode is a great idea or a setup for a great idea. And even though the episodes are half length, I felt like the show was very fulfilling and I watched in three sittings because of how deep and valuable each episode felt. The metal songs were actually a fun part on most episodes that I was anticipating. I also loved every character so there was always something to look forward to.

Little Witch Academia is easily the best anime I have seen and I have seen a lot. Some of the reasons are quite subtle and people might not see the charm.

In my opinion, Little Witch Academia is a magical girl show without any disappointments. Even the smallest of scenes avoid falling into disappointing cliche results. They made this entire show optimistic and positive and I think it is really powerful with the lessons they deliver.

During pretty much every episode, I felt like crying near the end. Everything really comes together in each episode and what seems like it would be a bad episode ends up ... being something special that imparts a lesson on the viewer. Even the main character and her development of her power deliberately teaches the viewer through the lessons/magic words that she learns.

I would say that not one of the episodes would count as filler, but that isn't too surprising considering this was a show made without source material besides the movies. Each of the people Akko meets is charming and refreshing in their own way. Every character that Akko grows to care about is impressive and important in Akko's adventure. Even the character who didn't get enough to do (and the creator themselves said they wish more had been done with her) Jasminka, left a strong impression on me as she seemed capable in just about every situation she found herself in despite looking like someone who isn't paying much attention to anything.

For the mood of the show, much of the opening and ending themes are perfect. The first opening felt really cheesy at first, but it ended up being something that opened my heart to the show's pure optimism. The first ending is one of my favorites in anime... The second opening is really cliche in animations, but it is still such a good song and it really was important in marking the tone shift that happened.

Speaking of the second part of the show, I think that they came up with the best possible plot twists and directions for things to go. I had no suspicion that the situation would be the way that it was, but it also fleshed out the characters and plot progression very well and made the show feel undeniably perfect.

It is amazing that this show also manages to feel relevant politically, even showing us a powerful solution to problems like fascism.

And the characters who were the most powerful (Diana and Andrew) were depicted in a realistic way that I was very happy about. In fact, all of the characters in Little Witch Academia felt very real to me, which is part of why every episode makes me cry a bit and why Akko's small successes are so rewarding.

Overall, this is a definite 10/10, maybe even 11/10!

Watch this show if you want an anime that is meaningful and educational and helps you mature.

Story: The story is mostly amazing, but it is also character-centric to a high degree. The reason I say "mostly" amazing is because of its male characters having tons of powerful scenes, but the non-amazing parts of the story are terrible as they deal with the female characters. This anime comes off as very sexist. None of the girls really pose a good fight to anyone and they are all put into serving roles 95% of the time while having minimal personality. I mostly remember them moaning, crying or calling out the male character names. They are basically objects and servants or non-existent. It never ... makes sense to have physically weak female characters in a world where super powers exist and while there are many, MANY shows that have managed to do it anyway. Even so, S-cry-ed is a tough act to follow when it comes to hatred of women. The female characters mostly do healing or nothing, even if they can fight. They are mostly defined by patience or faith, despite having abilities which should allow them to be more meaningful to the fate of anything.

Art: The art designs in this show are really good, in my opinion. Kazuma has a legendary character design, but other characters in the series have equally great designs. The fight scenes just look incredible most of the time.

Sound: Very solid. I like the ending theme more than the opening, but the soundtrack in the show itself really works, if I recall correctly.

Character: Like I said, female characters are terrible. Kazuma is a great character with deep manliness whereas his "sidekick" (I want to call her that) is boring and usually so one-dimensional that she can be characterized by calling out "Kasu-kun". She shows glimpses of a great character, but was never pushed far enough to make her seem like anything but a child archetype. Mimori is a character who seems like she could mean something, but is downright empty. Scheris' "Eternal Devote" is a phrase that has remained in my memory forever. I wish she was a good character, but she is also mostly empty and fails at everything despite being the most involved female character. None of Kazuma's real opponents are female.

Enjoyment: My enjoyment was low. Although the show was great, it was hard for me to really feel involved with it because the female characters were the ones I was invested in, but they never went anywhere meaningful for me.

Overall: 6 Fair. The show is really great if you are capable of ignoring its flaws. If I could, I would easily give it a score from 8-10.

Story: It is your generic shounen. Characters with a jargon name that have super powers. Here they are called "tags" because of the specially marked dog tags they wear. The story presents itself as if it was a fusion between Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Shamploo and Gungrave. Gungrave because "tags" need medicine to survive and there is a silent protagonist who is exceptionally skilled among his peers due to dedication. Samurai Champloo because of the black girl in the show who would best be described as a blank slate happening to live among two high-spirited, skillful warriors. Cowboy Bebop because of the emphasis on not following ... a serious plot and being more like a travel experience, minus the fact that the setting in this anime does not change much - it is a much more local aesthetic.

Take all of those attributes together and you basically get trash that looks good at first. The story seems like it could get interesting, but nothing is ever deep enough to catch your attention completely. Eventually you realize that the world is extremely generic because it runs just like any other gangster show with the fanfiction-level twist that there are super powers involved. The writing in general approaches fanfiction levels because it does not feel like it was making its own story. It seems to just be built out of empty templates of other animes and dramas that the people producing the work has seen. Even if Gangsta. probably was aiming for the generic angle, it slips too far away into fantasy to feel like its urban environment and the authentic experiences produced really matter at all when the story gets to its most important moments. It resembles a highly traditional good guys vs. bad guys narrative where stronger and stronger opponents are sent to them by a mysterious enemy and it is so poorly put together that it feels like that is the fake part of the anime and the buildup sections are the real thing.

Art: The two man characters have nice expressive designs. The third main character has a terribly bland design and she moves in a stiff way, which makes me easily realize how boring this show actually is. It sounds weird, but art can do something like that. There was a lolita character who is designed quite well.

Sound: Expertly done voices, especially the deaf guy and the lolita girl. The soundtrack is really daring and takes center stage throughout. The opening and ending themes are really good, but I am not sure if they are among the best. Sound effects are nothing I remember vividly, but I think they might have been exceptionally good at times.

Character: The only character I liked was the lolita girl. She is someone I can identify with. Maybe it is just because I am a lolita at heart would enjoy being with criminals. She also is very smart for her age and it is interesting to think of what she might do as a professor's assistant. Not to mention how forward she was with trying to help Miss Blankslate understand the world better.

Enjoyment: Not really enjoyable. The fight scenes were very typical. The scenes about getting requests for errands and things like that were decent at first, but the fact that the action itself was boring ruined that solid acting and cinematography.

Overall ------ 5 ----- Mediocre

Katekyo Hitman Reborn is one of the most poorly crafted shounen anime out there. Its main problem is pursuing more than 100 episodes.

Story - 3 - Tsuna is going to be a Mafia boss. Reborn is his tutor and he is going to turn Tsuna from a total wimp into an honorable god among thugs. Unfortunately, Tsuna is adorably pathetic and his love interest is too beautiful for him to tell her his true feelings.

Thankfully, Reborn is able to have Tsuna ask Kyoko out on his first day as tutor. Things were very promising.

In my opinion, the first arc of the show is actually the ... best. It does not focus seriously on fighting, but the small action scenes mixed into a largely comedic anime was really fun. We also had characters like Doctor Shaharl, who was an incredibly clever character and of all of these 200 and something episodes, he only appears in about 3 or 4. Bianca (the girl with the poison cooking) was pretty cool too, but she is pretty much retconned after the first arc.

Anyway, after the first 20 or so episodes, we have a small combat arc. It was pretty cool and I felt like it was cohesive with the episodes beforehand. There were still some flaws to this and it did not feel like this shounen action style was rewarding enough.

Then, somehow, the fans fell deathly in love with this action and instead of getting a unique shoujo-shounen show with occasional action, it became a shounen action series.

In my opinion, the only thing good that happened in the resulting arc was that interesting characters were introduced and they clashed well (personality-wise) with the main characters. But, this new arc took much longer than it should have (when compared with the previous action arc) and we feel nothing but coldness and impossible increases in and overcomings of danger.

Also, Tsuna loses his berserk mode, which had made him into a fun character before. The progression of the plot makes it impossible for this characteristic theme to be brought back into the show.

After that, we were promised that we would get to the meat of the story where we would finally understand what the Famiglia was supposed to become and how Tsuna would have to develop into a real mafia boss. The only problem is that the whole arc is pure action with no substance, just some good strategy scenes, and characters we are not really able to care about.

The bad guy's motives are unexplained for so long that it is very hard to keep watching until the end when things finally get explained.

The odd part________________

Reborn had a lot of ruined charm. I think that if you were to watch the first 26 episodes and then maybe watch the Inheritance Succession Arc, you would have the best possible time with this show. If you choose to watch more episodes, you definitely will get absorbed into the show and if you actually think about it, a lot of the episodes are purely awful.

Art - 5 - Stale, stale, stale, stale. The main character's power manifests purely in fire and it does not manage to look impressive at any time despite the interesting concepts.

The multiple colors of flame look kind of nice, but there is a severe lack of animations at most times and a lot of off-screen action that makes battles annoying to follow.

Character designs are pretty interesting, but they get stale since the characters are not fun enough to keep their design feeling characteristic of their interesting traits.

The first four openings (maybe the 7th, too) look pretty good and some of the endings are really well done, but they do not improve the score by much.

Sound - 5 - The show's soundtrack is boring, boring, boring, boring. Listen to Dragon Ball Z American soundtrack. Despite it sounding so controversially peaceful and off-hand, you will like it more than this soundtrack. Reborn has about three songs play a huge amount and they will grate on you. The Rocky Balboa style theme was never good and they abused the hell out of it. Then, I think that there is another similar sounding song. Then, there is one of those stupid, slow jingles that are supposed to be used for uneasiness, coldness or mystery. None of the other music is interesting.

The ending themes to this anime are really engaging. It made me feel like each arc was getting better because of the interesting music. Ending 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 were easily among some of the best endings I know. The other endings are still really good (except 13) in my opinion.

The first, second, third and seventh opening are pretty great (3rd is best), but they rest are bland.

Character - 4 - Reborn remains too mysterious, Tsuna is static for extremely long periods of time.

The terrible thing about most of the remaining characters, they have extremely one-dimensional personality quirks (which seemed to begin to flesh out in the first arc and a small bit in the second) in which they have fake, pikachu-esque speech patterns. Tsuna is defined by how he gains and uses his new powers, but he never becomes a cool character, he just calms down and becomes less anxious and occasionally tries to keep his team in order. Yamamoto develops into a samurai, but that is all that he is. The rest of the group just becomes a tiny bit more powerful (until the boxes make them even stronger) and the secondary characters just become nurses, in essence.

Like I said in the story section, many of the cool characters in the beginning were dropped and the less interesting characters were the ones who became central. As others have mentioned - all of the girl characters are really weak. We are even met with this girl in the future who seems to have a lot of hidden power and teaches Tsuna and the team how to survive in the future (that survival part was the only good thing about the future arc), but only falls flat on her face and stays home at the base after her initial role is finished.

Haru and Kyoko are actually decent characters, despite being as true to the role of domestic housewife as humanly possible in a shounen (even despite an apocalypse setting). So, the big fault there is that they are relegated to slowing the plot down rather than being in important roles and moving things forward. Lambo gets only a slight bit of valuable development and his adult form was a nice, somewhat complex character, but Lambo generally feels like he is avoided at all costs, almost as much as Chrome (Miss Useless).

Enjoyment - 3 - I enjoyed the openings and especially the endings. I hated the action scenes. I longed for the neat characters to improve in a more remarkable way. Some of the one-dimensional characters work, but this show is just filled with disappointment and I feel like I was brainwashed into spending huge amounts of time being obsessed with a terrible show. I just really, really wanted these characters to be better than they were. It is all quite sad.

Overall - 3 - This is an anime which you probably should never watch past the first season, even if you do not enjoy that season very much. Of course, those who have time to kill should go straight ahead and kill it, even though it will be painful to do so.

I wish this manga was as good as it needed to be.

Story - 5: The story of "Seeking for Death" starts pretty good. It seems like when it comes to unconventional stories about romance (this one is actually anti-romance), they are usually mystery and science fiction and this manga is no exception. There are a lot of unexplained elements that really keep you on alert. The very fabric of reality seems to bend because of some videos that some person created. The characters must find out how to end everything by wading through a web of deceptions from all parties.

The best part of the ... beginning of the manga is how even strangers become part of the escalating tension. Late into the story, it feels pretty good to learn that there was at least a tiny bit of reasoning behind why things happened.

This all would be good if the story was not filled with holes and ended on a far more meaningful note.

The weird thing is that the elements of mystery are done rather entertainingly and everything about the investigation is pretty thrilling. But in the end, it is still empty.

The weird thing is that the character's backstories are really good and really prevent this manga's plot from being utter crap.

One last negative thing to say is that characters will experience deadly situations without dying. Get a body part cut off? Stay in your room all day. She never goes to the hospital. Another time, everyone falls a far distance down onto a hard stone floor without being harmed in any way. What happens after that is more ridiculous and rushed, even if it is a slightly logical turn of events.

Art - 8: The art is amazing in how unique it is. Things like hair and feet seem disappointing at first, but there is a nice subliminal effect to that art that matches with the psychology basis of the story. Some things have a transparency aspect which adds to that more.

The shadowing is really vibrant and it makes the world feel colorful most of the time. There are a lot of dark scenes with a misty effect which must have taken a lot of skill.

The only art that really bothered me was when they were showing the insides of an old building and there were just unknown black marks on the stone tile and walls. Character art also suffered because of how the last main character looked. She looks too similar to the first girl we are introduced to and her design is just bland and stupid-looking.

Character - 3: The protagonist was hinted at being something interesting, but he is simply not attracted to anybody who is falling in love with him. Yet, stupidly enough, he is attracted to the girl named Riko, seemingly for no reason. At first, he goes from liking Riko to being attracted to a new girl. When she dies, he does not grieve the loss too much. He just focuses on the mysteries that killed her. Yet, he does not seem to be in love with anyone eventually. He values all of their lives simply because they are lives. Main character is pretty fake.

The women in the harem that develops are pretty much an expression of typically female negative relationship traits. They only want the main character because he will give them an advantage they feel is necessary to survive (for the most part). They want complete monogamy because they feel like life will be empty without the person they love and anybody else who gets involved will end up breaking them apart. If given one man to focus on, they would go after him competitively and violence escalates.

Two of them are completely chaotic and two are lawful.

What is good is that they approach the main character for very genuine reasons. They definitely feel like real people in their backstories, but these stories do not seem to apply to the actual characters. No logical path of character development is implemented. Despite having compelling backstories as a reason to have a sense of character, only the girls who die and have no real backstory had an actual personality. This is not saying that characters with empty emotions have no personality, it is just that even the empty emotions and possessiveness are not fixed personality traits on these characters. Once again, the characters seem fake.

Lastly, the villain has no real motive. Of course.

Enjoyment - 4: This manga is not fun to read. Large parts of this manga made me feel like I was just wasting my time, but the flashbacks and backstories and some of the psychological/philosophical ideas casually mentioned by minor characters were interesting enough for me to read the whole thing. It still did not feel like a good experience.

And, if you came looking for a Yandere, you will not likely be pleased. There is hardly enough psychological involvement in this manga. Characters are just thrown around without much meaning and no development. Therefore, the horror is pretty much a joke most of the time. And yes, the Yandere are somewhat terrifying in this manga, but it is hard to care if one kills another character. Plus, that only really happens in the first few chapters.

Overall - 4: If you are someone who wants mindless entertainment and are a sucker for first impressions, this manga is for you. Of course, you could read it for the few interesting ideas that it poses, but there are only two or three really interesting ideas in here.

Koharu no Hibi is one of my favorite mangas right now because it is one of the few mangas based on a stalker/yandere and it is perhaps the only one about a completely realistic relationship with one.

Story: 8 - Koharu no Hibi is the most vanilla manga I have ever read even though it is about such a controversial and sometimes disgusting (to some people) topic. The story revolves completely around romance and subtlety. A lot of the time, you will feel like the main character is reacting to something in an underwhelming or overwhelming way, but when you think about things, the turn ... of events and how they are dealt with is usually reasonable.

The biggest success with this manga is that it explores the ideation of a stalker and how romance would be with one in a realistic yet simplified light. Even better than that, most chapters introduce a new way to look at the relationship and understand the mind of a stalker. Some of the scenes are really beautiful even though everything is lighthearted and simple (almost like a children's manga).

Another interesting thing is that this book is considered Shoujo targeted for men (the magazine it was published in was for that demographic, but I think it got discontinued). It is definitely not as flowery in presentation or as emotionally sensitive with its protagonist as a normal Shoujo manga, but it definitely feels like reading Shoujo.

The biggest thing that people might consider gross is that the main love interest is probably three or more years younger than the main character. She likely starts at the age of 13 or 12, while the main character is very tall and perhaps 15 or 16 years old. In Japan, I suppose that this stuff is sort of acceptable, but it kind of ruins a lot of the enjoyment you could get from this manga.

The climax of this manga is really fun. I think it succeeds in making Koharu a Yandere without doing what a Yandere would normally do. Also, it feels nice to see the ending, especially given how it unconventially approaches intimacy.

The biggest flaw of this manga is that there is a bit of fluff despite there not being many chapters. Some of the chapters might not feel meaningful at all except for the interesting, romantic, funny or sexy stalker quirk that shows up in every chapter.

Art: 7 - The drawings of Koharu no Hibi are simple most of the time, but the art that is shown is not terrible-looking and has consistent detail. There are a few, rare, well-drawn picturesque scenes to enjoy.

What I like about Koharu (the love interest) in design is that she is not drawn to be pretty. I hate how female protagonists usually look like in manga and it was nice to see such a human looking character. Oddly enough, there is no real reason that she looks more realistic and imperfect. Anyway, stalkers are known to be pretty ugly so that I think that this was an important detail for the author to have included.

The two male characters in the manga look almost the same and that is a bit annoying. Other people are not drawn very often after the manga progresses and I think that subtracted some of the strength in the environment. The other female characters however, are perfectly drawn, especially considering their roles in the story. One of the later characters looks slightly unique and very enticing and she really spiced up the story with her appearances.

However, there are a lot of terrible, terrible panels that almost make me forget about the good things in the art style. What I am talking about are the close-ups of Koharu, which usually look like the same drawing again and again. The technique used in drawing the eyes just looks really ugly and fake and weird and does not portray any emotion. Even though it sounds like that would make sense given who Koharu is, this is definitely just a bad taste in dramatic panels that happens very excessively at the beginning of the series. I am really, really glad that it starts to dwindle down in the later chapters.

Character: 8 - The characters are pretty well rounded. The main character provides the apprehension the story needs to avoid completely sexualizing the Yandere (or women in general) as manga usually does. This more down-to-Earth precedent is essential to Koharu no Hibi and I am really glad that the main character is who he is. Also, he is eased into love and he is pretty relatable in the common sense yet acceptance of the taboo inherent in most of us. He can talk to Koharu in a fatherly way that actually makes Koharu a productive member of society. It is a really cool dynamic that I would not mind being reused by another author.

Koharu is a really fun character, of course. She seems like she will be a static character, but she is actually receptive to the person who she loves (which makes her probably the sympathetic stalker in literature). Koharu will violate personal space and do unsanitary or ambiguously unsanitary things every day. She will become a total time sink for Senpai if he is not able to remedy her. The bento boxes she makes "Senpai" each day are made with her love and perhaps there is something lost in translation that makes it impossible to know what is being implied after the concept is introduced.

One will wonder whether or not this is exactly how a lot of stalkers act. I believe that stalkers really are this way, but I have never encountered one before. I really feel like they are villainized waaay too much. Just like in other crimes, stalking is simply under-reported for women because it is more acceptable. Men are usually dangerous stalkers, but I still think that some could be alike Koharu.

Natsuki really makes this manga wonderful. She is the common Shoujo manga character who pushes the main characters to love each other and uses the term "lovebird" all of the time. The fact that she is in a manga about stalkers would be enough, but she is not deterred by Koharu's actions, which makes it all very cute and fun to watch. I just love Natsuki so much because of how vital she is in changing Akira's (the main character) mind about falling in love with a stalker.

Natsuki's boyfriend is kind of funny. He is completely silent most of the time, but he usually says something to comedic effect. In spite of that, he is always serious and soft in presence, but he totally submits to or helps enforce Natsuiki's whims. It is really funny to see how Akira can not turn Natsuki down because of him.

The character who comes into the manga later on is a huge spoiler, but I will just say that she appears to be perfect fanservice at first, but then is taken in a really cool-minded, constructive direction.

Enjoyment: 9 - Oh my god, this is just my ideal dream world! The combination of everything is so beautiful. If only more characters and polyamory could have been introduced! This manga can be rather boring and lacking, but the good moments are just invaluable and I do not care about the faults that much.

Overall: 8 - I would love to buy some manga and support this author soon. This is yet another mangaka who has surprised me with the deep thought that can be given in examining the stalker/yandere relationship in real life. To support him would show that writing about such 'crazy' societal romances is a profitable, worthwhile choice.