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In short:
Are you tired of the overdone villainess story trend of the "shitty husband/boyfriend/fiancé that's dumb, useless and pathetic" ? Read this.
Do you like a shitty husband being dumb, useless and pathetic for some cathartic purposes that's so common to come across in this genre ? Don't read this.

I will say it right here, the webtoon isn't revolutionary. Like most webtoons of the genre, it's covered in hypocrisy where the antagonist doing something is wrong, but when the protagonist, or the "good" love interest, does the exact same thing, it's magically ok or girl boss power. Like most webtoons of the genre, the visuals are ... uninspired, most main characters being interchangeable with characters of other franchises due to little variety in haircuts, faces and clothes (though at least the shitty husband, having darker skin, stands somewhat out). Like most webtoons of the genre, the love interests are paper thin, falling in love with the protagonist just because the plot says so, without having any depth or any agency aside from their raging shallow love for the protagonist. Like most webtoons of the genre, several side and background characters love the protagonist because "she's amazing and badass", representing how the audience should feel about our protagonist, instead of being written as actual characters.

But if you're a fan of the genre, none of this should rebuke you.

And yet, I ended up binging the chapters that came out so far, because, among all those stereotypical flaws plaguing the genre, this webtoon achieves to stand out simply by making the shitty husband not dumb, useless and pathetic. He actually can counter our protagonist in ways that create conflict and obstacles for her to overcome. Something too many webtoons of the genre don't have, as most webtoons of the genre focus on making their protagonist as successful as possible with as little obstacles as possible for the sake of self-insert(ism) and catharsis.

Another good point I can mention is the pacing as no arcs are padded or lack development.

By chapter 74, most love interests aren't fleshed out, but may become eventually interesting at some point as every single one of them seem to have the same obsessive and possessive traits that could end up biting the protagonist in the rear. The exception is the shitty husband, and while he's indeed shitty, he actually IS a character that stands on his own as much as the protagonist, which is a nice change of pace. The female rival also seems to be taking an unconventional path, but I won't say more to avoid spoilers. If this indeed ends up doing something different than in the vast majority of cases, then hopefully, the other love interests will eventually become more than your usual basic paper thin "character".

Overall, whether you could find this webtoon interesting or not solely relies on how you would feel about reading a webtoon that focuses on the relationship between the protagonist and a shitty husband that is written as a character rather than as a joke, as so far most arcs focused on them.

Romance is hard to write. In fact, more often than not, romance is the worst aspect of a fiction. More often than not, romance will be so bad it will actively lower the quality of a piece. And this is the kind of manhwa undergoing this.

The writer isn't incompetent, be it in art or storytelling, if it wasn't for the romance, I'd have rated it an 8. The problem is that it has romance, and that the romance becomes the core of all of this.

So what is the problem with the romance ? Well, it is essentially blissfully unaware that it is writing an abusive ... relationship. I have no problems reading romanticized toxic relationships, it can be very entertaining. On the condition that there is self-awareness by the creators that there is toxicity at play. And for every word spouted by a character to point out there's something wrong going on, thousands other words will be used to essentially make you understand that all of the abuse "is ok as long as there's love involved". Which is...you know...101 abuser/abusee at play. Now, I won't spoil what happens for me to say that, but just to give some documented behaviours about abuse victims that love interest presents:

-isolates you, or encourages to stay at home
-controls where you go, who you interact with
-reduce at maximum the time you spend with other people if the abuser isn't around
-possessiveness
-emotional manipulation
-makes you feel guilty
-exploits past (real or not) traumas as the scapegoat for their bad behaviour
-removes your agency
-molds you into being dependent on them
-no is commonly an invalid answer
-uses money and gifts to 'make up' instead of actively changing
-apologizes yet doesn't change
-uses past trauma against you, for example, by turning a less extreme abuse as acceptable, or other minimizing the abuse tactics
-sabotages your platonic relationships
and of course:
-but I'm doing all of this because I love you :( (insert sad violins)

The saddest thing is that all I noted could have made this a great piece about abuse and how hard getting out of it can be, be it because you aren't able to pick on the red flags as there's so much emotional and psychological damage at play, and that, yes, an abusive relationship isn't exclusively made of abuse, there is, very commonly, moments of tenderness too, which also plays into why it's such a hard situation to be in...but it's not the case. This manhwa was just a frustration of missed opportunities.

Now a lot of romance readers won't particularly be disturbed by unaware toxic relationships, BL is hardly the sole sub-genre to suffer from it. So if you're one of them, you'll most probably really enjoy reading this. If you aren't however, your enjoyment of this will probably sour the more you read it.

To be honest, there are other aspects I could have brought up in this review, even on the topic of romance still, but they're so minors in comparison that it'd just make this unnecessarily longer. All I can hope for is for the writer to someday realize what they were writing and improve, even if the odds are slim.

 In short : For people wanting to stare at good looking guys exclusively.

I’m a straight woman.

There, now that this is settled, I can delve in this review without people crying at me that I’m voting it down unfairly because I’m a straight man or something.

First of all, I’d like to point out that I do wish for more equality in terms of fanservice, however, it isn’t at whatever the price. And this short Anime is a perfect example of that.


Story :
...
And actually I shouldn’t have this category to begin with. Because….it actually fails at delivering the most elemental point of a fiction : a story. I know that’ll be confusing for most, since in the vulgar sense of the term, it is, but in the narratological sense there isn’t. Now, I won’t make a narratology course, but let’s just summaries by saying that there’s a need for a beginning, a middle and an end which are all tightly connected to each other. Connected being the key word of my sentence since the events presented in this show are random events following each other.

Despite that overly catastrophic aspect, I can redeem itself on one aspect : there’s a regular complain lately toward otome games that they take too much time to get the juicy stuff started (in short, they are complaining about the presence of development), so if the producers of this short anime were aware of it, they might have answered those wishes. So while it can be praised for that, it won’t change that the result is a storyless anime.

That said, that “praise” itself could be questioned : those complainers clearly have no idea how writing works, is listening to them a good idea ? Sure, there’s a need to listen to your audience, however, it should be avoided to do it at all cost, there’s a need of balance, of making the difference between the pertinent complains and the others. Sadly enough, if they indeed did it with that in mind, they listened to the wrong people.

Though, who knows ? Quality and success are two things, so maybe it did pay off in the end ?


Characters :

If there isn’t an actual story, there are, at least, characters. Well, they are stereotypes and never delve into anything else. I’d even call them a melting pot, or a 3-in-1, even if it isn’t accurate, why ?

Oh I don’t know…  younger, middle , adult  blond, brown, black  cheerfully childishly cute, the main love interest that you know is going to end with the heroine, nice looking guy that actually is sadistic/arrogant  uncommon job, athletic, geek

You got the picture…they try to touch such a large set of tastes to that they become…well, pretty much nothing. Because you can buy all the colours available in a shop, randomly throwing them at the canvas won’t magically turn it into a painting. You need to actually do something out of it.

In its defence though, and this time it isn’t one I shall question : it is a very short show, and even if it had tried to do something decent, it’d have been hard to achieve it. So I can see in a way why coming up with a set of broad tastes was more their focus.


Art :

When it could have been good at the very least on that aspect, because…truth be told, it’s probably the bishies they only cared about in their production, it is inconsistent. When they are close, most of the time, there’s no issue, when they aren’t, the difference in details is striking to the point of looking amateurish at times.

Well, at the very least, the frames are ok, I didn’t notice baffling misses.

Can’t say the same regarding the colouring. More specifically, the rainbow + blur at the edges effect. I suppose its aim is to make it look “prettier”, but it just unnecessarily dirties the image and it isn’t without reminding me of the filter I put on my very first AMVs when I was twelve years old. Needless to say I realized the amateurishness of such a procedure. The image needs to remain clean and without unnecessary adds.

And most importantly of all : this is a xViewer anime. The “camera” is supposed to be “you”. The “camera” in this is the worst a xViewer show can have because...while it sets it as “you” early on, it’ll randomly move, zoom, jump cut, dezoom, float in the middle of thin air, etc. Oh, no, no, it’s not you having superpowers or something, it’s just that the camera switches from “default” to “you” at random. It can even totally forget “you” (what happened in that bathroom ? did “I” faint ? did “I” leave ? finish your event properly, dammit ! D8< ), basically, it fails at sticking at its most basic element as well. Which begs the question : why choosing that approach when you’re failing at sticking to it for four minutes ?


Sound :

The only thing I’d say is that one must be ready of the awkward silences (no sound effect or music) as this is a xViewer anime, so I might encourage you to talk at your computer, even if just for mockery purposes. There’s nothing worth mentioning aside from that.


Overall :

This is anything but a decent show, and I admit that if I hadn’t mocked the stereotypical dialogues I’d probably have dropped it soon as when I watched it normally I got bored after two minutes. (that’s…quite an achievement I think ?)

In short : ‘For people into young/old people relationships. Who doesn’t mind what is considered as incest in some countries.’

PS : Yes, the law regarding adopted children varies from one country to another, some perceive it as incest, some don’t – just pointing out since I’ve seen both sides being claimed as some sort of absolute truth – in case of Japanese law, it isn’t considered as incest, so the product itself isn’t incest, but it is perfectly normal that for inhabitants of other countries it is perceived as such.

PPS : No, the rating has nothing to do with it being male on male or ... young/old, I was fully aware what I was getting into from the title to the poster to the synopsis ; my reason for trying it out was because I was positively surprised to see such an Anime with such a high rating on MAL, so I was really curious to try it out. You’re curious to know why then ? Welp, let’s keep it short, shall we ?


Art :

First of all, let’s start with the only quality of this show : its art. The art is consistent for the most part, except episodes 8 and 9 where there’s a perceptible drop, but it is never dramatic. One complaint I’d formulate, though, is the overuse of “sparkles” or “stars” to emphasis the “prettiness” of a scene, it’s so used it becomes funny after a while. Overusing anything tends to have that effect.


Soundtrack :

While it isn’t bad, there’s one soundtrack for one tone and with a constant tone shift, you end up hearing the same soundtracks several times per episodes, to the point it can sound redundant and lose all its charm, or even become tiring.


Characters :

With only 10 episodes and the show being closer to a resume of the manga rather than a proper show, most characters remain stereotyped and aren’t particularly explored. They may have more or less strong traits, but it never goes further. The same can be stated for the two protagonists. While it is obvious they are supposed to evolve over the years, the nature of the show makes it rather hard. While there’s no distinct evolution regarding Haru, Ren gets through slight changes, but it is hard to pin point a proper process with the writing constantly jumping from one thing to another and its numerous ellipses.


Story :

When the first episode of a show feels like the equivalent of an entire season, you can already foresee that the rest of the show will be a marathon in terms of pacing. And that’s not a compliment. I understand 10 episodes isn’t much and they wanted to cover as much of the manga as possible – apparently the pacing is slower and it takes time to develop its elements – but a show isn’t supposed to be a resume of another medium, it has to stand as its own.

The plot points are so quick one after the other, the ellipses so numerous, that there’s little time left for elements to sink in and the tone shifts are so severe you go from one extreme to another and the positive as the negative feel overdone. (and here I speak of the story, not a character being overdramatic, which is fundamentally different) Good writing consists of ups and downs, yes, but repeatedly being on the extreme and too close to one or another is misunderstanding that basic concept.

Lastly – yes, I did say I’d keep it short – but the last episode is problematic. Its cliffhanger is immediately shattered by the aftercredits. ….Do the people who wrote this know how a cliffhanger works ? Hahaha, there was 0 reason for the narrative closure to feature that element if it’s broken in an epilogue (it’s too consequent to call it a simple extra). ^^’


Entertainment :

I was amused at times, though, since it’s a theme that makes me uncomfortable outside pornography I was more than once off-put, especially in the forelast episode. I liked most characters, though considering the way females are portrayed more than once I question the unwanted potential reading that can be done. Well, at least I hope it’s unwanted.

On the same unwantedness…Haru’s attitude which can very easily be perceived as...abusive. No, I don’t think it was the aim of the show, I think it wanted to be fun, lighthearted and cute with “sometimes” a bit of drama, but the way he acted and made Ren believe his actions are normal, kept repeating them and pushed himself on him (metaphorically and literally) is….er, let’s just say that such a situation IRL would lead Haru in prison and that the kid or teenager would be taken in charge by a psychologist for probably a few years. Anything but a funny or positive situation. And that thought – while I knew this is a fiction not taking this consideration at all, backed up by the fact in the end of the day no one ever thinks of it as damaging for Ren – always lured in the back of my mind. Now, of course, it’s just this theme that I have issues with, it doesn’t mean others have to have it and I don’t mind all those not having it, after all there are other themes who don’t bother me at all, some form of incest, for example, when it’d bother others. To each their own, and as long as the difference between reality and fiction is kept, there’s no issue to withhold.

In short : If you love being a fan serviced by males, this show is for you. Not recommended as a sports anime.

Now, I know many things have been stated, from one extreme to another, as well of various shades in-between. I couldn’t bring myself to read each one of them and I’m sure most of what will be stated already have been, in one way or another, stated over and over. That shall not matter, I will repeat what has been said if necessary.

This pseudo-review also contains slight spoilers, so you’ve been warned.


Story :

Many things can be stated regarding the story and I’ll mainly ... focus on its issues as well as a bit of an extra.

First of all, let’s remind us this is a 12 episodes long show, and if it can be enough for some stories, this isn’t the case : the writing wasn’t able to develop itself within the accorded length. On one side, because there’s too much content and on another because a good portion is used for fanservice, taking away time that could have been allocated for other things.

For example, a better pacing. The erratic pacing is especially noticeable in the first episodes, and while it gets better after a while, the pacing is never fixed up and starts getting worse again in the last two episodes.

One of the things that plays against the pacing is the overuse of ellipses. While I can partially understand it due to the amount of content it wants to add and the limits of 12 episodes, it’s also true the show should have compromised, and it didn’t.

Another thing that plays against the pacing is the constant tonality switch, bad tonality switch. The show seems recalcitrant to let emotions sink in most of the time. More times than it should, it is too quickly replaced by action or humour, and in writing…that doesn’t work. As the saying says : “there’s a time for everything” and that includes the amount of time you allocate to one scene. To create a metaphor that is understandable for most : a well-written story, or episode for that matter, is like a roller coaster, parkoured with ups and downs ; a YoI episode could be summarized as falling during 23 min straight with some one-second stops every now and then. Which isn’t only bad in terms of writing, but also exhausting.

It’s the reason why, for example, when in the first episode hyperactive chibi-Yuri is supposed to represent Yuri purposely “overhyping” to deny/repress his real emotions, it doesn’t work. Because the humour or the action arrives too quickly afterward.

Ironically enough, the moments that are the “calmest” tend to be the sport sequences, which…for a something that was advertised as a sports anime, or would want to be a sports anime primarily, is surprising. There’s rarely built up or tension, both preferring to revolve around Yuri, Viktor and occasionally Yurio. In that aspect, as a sports anime, it is failing at one of its core.

Now, to get a bit “around” the show rather than the writing itself, I’d like to point something out : according to the writer of the show – whether or not you’re the type to put value in the creators words are up to you – the relationship is supposed to be open to interpretation. And, why not ? Written like that there’s no issue with it, right ? Well…usually…when you try to write something “open to interpretation”…you don’t have overt fanservice as a dominant trait of your show ; it’s “almost” contradictory. But I’ll keep most of my words regarding that in the “characters” section. I just shortly mentioned it here because in the end, that played against the story writing as well.


Now, I’d like to diverge from the pure writing and to come back to two events, the hug/kiss and lucky charms/engagement rings scenes.

First, a kiss or a hug ? Well, the first part of that scene possesses all the indication for a classical kiss scene, the only thing that opposes that reading is their body position once they are on the floor which wouldn’t allow a kiss to occur. Contradiction or a misleading scene ? Well, when you put it in the perspective of the whole show, it is neither of the two. Actually, the show repeatedly comes up with cover-ups, and this is scene simply is one of many. One endorsed by the almost immediate transition to another sequence, a complete absence of mentioning of it by anyone later on and its absence as a step stone in their relationship. And the latter is the biggest issue : relationships are made of steps stones. This step stone is denied, and instead, the kiss is turned to a pseudo-“interpretable” kiss/hug scene, a scene which is basically treated as none existent within the narrative.

As for the reason why it would possess cover ups to begin with, the answer is quite simple : they don’t want potential viewers who aren’t comfortable with homosexuality to drop their show, which is quite silly, actually, in the face of its fanservice.

But I’m not done with this kiss. Of course, I came across people justifying it as a form of censoring. And it could be, of course, a creative censoring from the writer herself, pressure from the producer or studio (which wouldn’t exactly be legal), but due to Japanese law ? That would be a fairly recent law then, to the point the English translation of it hasn’t yet been updated. Thus, this justification feels unlikely credible.
However, let’s admit for a second such a law existed, there would still be a question arising : “why Yuri on Ice ?” Because it isn’t tagged as yaoi ? Fair enough…if males kissing outside of yaoi tagged animes couldn’t be found up to 3 decades ago as well as in fairly modern shows. Making this claim as little credible as the one above.

To switch to the second part – and let’s be shorter - the exact same type of cover-up can be applied to the engagement rings (presentation, visuals, etc.) turning to “lucky charms” to cover it up (dialogues and humour). The only difference is that people acknowledge it – because, this time, it really worked as a step-stone - but just as a means to reinforce the cover-up : being asked whether or not they are engagement rings, for Viktor to joke about it and Yuri promptly denying it. And from then on, it is exclusively referred to as “lucky charms” to burry up the visuals that narrated otherwise. And it isn’t the oral endorsement of Vikturi as purely coach/apprentice – third biggest cover-up – throughout the show that makes it any better.

Anyway, it is more than time to proceed to the next section.



Art :

Ice-skating is an art, a sport. And this show tries to reciprocate that, but not where it should have been. It is a sports show, advertised as such, and my minimal expectation when coming to those is for their sports sequences to be decent.

And…the ice-skating sequences are for the most part, the lowest in quality. I do not possess any knowledge regarding ice-skating, so I’m unable to properly judge the performances of the various skaters, but such ignorance doesn’t prevent from perceiving the incredible amount of deformation as well as, too often for the show’s own good, each separate keyframe, leading to “stuttering” performances. The visuals of those sequences being too low in quality to transmit emotions through performances, it is unsurprising the show has each performance accompanied with inner monologues from the performer. A writing issue I shall come back to in the character section.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there was close to no budget given to the art department, there can be beautiful visuals, but you’ll have to look in a different direction. A direction called “fanservice”. Yes, the fanservicing interactions between Yuri and Viktor can be visually beautiful. And the difference with the rest, be it in colours, drawings or composition is striking enough you can easily see where the budget went.

Naturally, it isn’t a 100% truth, some backgrounds are, in their design, sometimes noteworthy, but this is in the first episodes as they eventually turn to be sometimes even lower in quality than the performances.

Another note is how sometimes the choreography doesn’t suit the song. Now, it’s just an assumption of mine, but when you perform ice-skating, the song you choose and the choreography created has to fit together and not appear disconnected (unless on artistic purpose, but that’s an exception this show neither acknowledge nor does it seem to follow). Positively enough, there is a few suiting choreographies.

A second note regarding the choreographies is their general lack of variety. From the protagonist, the rival and the others. They may be different between themselves, the various cast keeps repeating the same performances without any noticeable alteration or progression (which could have been interesting to see). Instead the show mainly relies on reused animations (that they won’t slightly modify so the lighting and colours fit in properly in the new background). Thus, the risk of getting tired of the repeated choreography is high. Not only that, but through the internal dialogues of the cast, it’s obvious they are supposed to be different each time, but with no visuals to back it up, it can’t properly work.

All in all, the contract, as a sports anime, is broken artwise as well. The budget for the visuals not being dedicated to the right sequences.


Soundtrack :

Regarding the soundtrack, it is varied in styles, beats and tones, which fits the “ice-skating” part featuring various skaters and styles, but it has to be noted a good portion of them aren’t music produced specifically for the show. And of course, since the characters keep using the same songs, there’s a risk for potential boredom.


Characters :

The fanservice is overt. Whether or not you find it something positive or negative, I will let you judge, but one thing is clear, it underlines most of the characters’ interactions and Yuri and Viktor are the most obvious examples. No…scratch that. Viktor. From right off the first episode, the show made it clear he’d be a fanservice provider, not because he’s flirty, but because of the way his attitude was portrayed, from visuals to dialogues : his physical closeness to Yuri, his nakedness, his teasing, his lines, they aren’t performed as coming from a person – none of them are innocent (or rarely) - but as fanservice.

That Viktor embodies fanservice isn’t an issue in itself, but will probably serve as a tolerance tester for many. It’s fully understandable why people wouldn’t stand fanservice “thrown in their faces”, whether or not you’re the marketed audience and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There can be a real issue, however, when the fanservice ruins the narrative.

And here we are in front of two equally possible outcomes regarding this specific show :

-yes, yes it is a case of ruining it, because it is a sport anime and the fanservice’s place in this show is way too big

-no, no it isn’t because, while it was targeted as a sports anime, the core of it is clearly Viktor and Yuri and their interactions are fanservicing in nature

It is debatable, especially since both perspectives need their respective reading of the show, but I shall avoid taking a step in one or another direction. What I can do instead is point out at a relation between the two : the bromance. Sports animes are nothing new and bromance – voluntarily or not – among them isn’t either. The main difference is that the “bromance” of YoI is too “extreme” to fit into that category, flirting with yaoi in its treatment and yet eventually avoiding it through so-called “interpretation”. And that, maybe, is a sincere achievement of Yuri on Ice : breaking down the usual “bromance” you’d expect in sports animes and going full force into the fanservice, hardly holding back.

But here I am, writing and writing, but not really talking about the characters. Well, Viktor is the fanservice provider, fine, is he more than that ? Well…yes…he’s as fleshed out in few minor details – that won’t have a huge impact on the grander scale - as stereotypical in his fanservicing, and if you’re familiar with yaoi, you’ll probably tag him as “seme”.

If one complaint had to be formulated regarding this character, it’d be toward an event that occurs in the last quarter of the show. His motivation to become Yuri’s coach. It basically is the equivalent of a “retcon”. It’s a contradiction to the first episodes, be it through the dialogues and attitude or the way the charas interacted, but from that moment on, everyone will suddenly act as if that always existed. An incoherence whose source most probably find itself in a last-minute add decision, as another fanservice. An incoherence that weakens the character of Viktor and even impacts the Vikturi relationship negatively.


Speaking of “Vikturi”, it is time to actually speak about Yuri ? The “obvious” “uke” of the pair in name as in attitude ? Well, whereas Viktor’s attitude never falls off the tree, the same cannot be stated for Yuri. His character isn’t written as a fanservice provider as Viktor does, he’s the “receiver” of the pair and yet, sometimes, he’ll fulfil the role of “giver”, when it contradicts his established traits. It’s not the only moments he’ll contradict his traits as a way to fulfil the fanservice, he does too as a “receiver”, but from the two positions, the latter is the least questionable.

And here I have a perfect transition for the next part, another hot debate : Yuri on Ice : gay or yaoi ? Well, if you think it as a “genre”, then…no it isn’t either of the two. The presence of romance between characters, regardless of the gender of the pairings, doesn’t de facto make a show a romance (genre), something you should be aware of if you came across a few fictions in your life.

No, what this question is referring to is rather the…depiction of the same sex romantic relationship. And if you think that means I perceive “Vikturi” as canonical, the answer is : no, it doesn’t imply that. Bromance doesn’t need any canonical romantic feelings. Romantic friendship doesn’t either. If anything, since the writer seems to lean toward “interpretation” and the show toward cover-ups, I shall lean toward “romantic friendship”, after all, I too can play with blurriness, but let’s get back to the subject.

So, yes, gay or yaoi ? Well, maybe it should be pointed out what I mean through those two terms as I’m sure for most it means the exact same thing. And well, technically it isn’t, as “yaoi” is an acronym for "no climax, no point, no meaning" which…”gay” isn’t, but I think most of you understood I was referring to those words in terms of homosexuality.

It is anything but rare among the manga/anime community to see people use the term “yaoi” to refer to real life homosexuality. And my issue with that is…yaoi, as a genre is anything but a faithful depiction of gay people, even less in terms of relationship. And Yuri on Ice fully resorts to codes typical of yaoi. Which is…unsurprising, really, its marketed audience are females, and Japanese writers are well aware “yaoi” sells much better than “gay” (which, I hope you understood, I use in the meaning of “realistic homosexual people/relationships) – it isn’t the dominant depiction in animes/mangas for nothing. And in itself it isn’t an issue, until the moment the readers/watchers assume those fantasized, unrealistic depictions are “correct” (the same goes regarding “yuri”). So, no, YoI isn’t gay, but it is fully embracing its yaoiness, and this from episode 1, whether or not they are canonical as a pairing doesn’t contradict the codes used. You can celebrate the show as bringing full fanservice in the sport anime genres, and “progressive” in its attempt to “mainstream” yaoi, but progressive regarding LGBT ? No, definitely not.

Ok, I write and write again, is there anything else I can still add regarding Viktor and Yuri before focusing on the rest ? Well, yes, because if their relationship is primarily coded as yaoi, reducing them exclusively to that would be reductive. Sports codes also define their relationship, and sometimes – even if it is a minority compared to the other two – they can be…”credible”, “casual”, the correct term escapes me, but they can interact like normal, real people would. In a way, it could be concluded that their relationship is a “mixture”. And if I had to form one complaint regarding them, it'd be the quasi inexistence of tension in the development of their relationship as well as the cover-ups regarding their relationship.

So what about the rest ? Well, let’s keep it short since there isn’t much left to state.

First of all, our second Yuri – the “love rival” ? – also known as Yurio. While all signs put him as Yuri’s rival, and if his competition with Yuri is the only sport-related tension provider of the entire show, those moments can be reduced to 2 maximum. Making his status as a rival a failure.

That aside, his role in the narrative…isn’t as important as to be expected, and considering the overall lack of tension of the show (the other charas not making up from it), something that could have been acceptable turns into an issue.

As for the others ? What could possibly be said ? Do they try to build them out ? Yes…by telling…by lots, lots, lots and almost exclusive telling, through inner monologues… If you are a little familiar regarding writing, you may have heard of the “show, don’t tell” rule. Well, these characters are “told” through and through. The characters each possess superficial traits that never get out of the superficiality spectrum and their arcs are rushly/briefly told without any type of development/exploration all while talking to themselves. And that’s not writing. That’s an attempt to make up for a lack of time because of the show’s focus on Vikturi. It’s a stigma from failing at making compromises. They should have focused on a few instead of going into every direction to obtain a convoluted result.

And I shall end this part by adding that the most unpleasant thing regarding those inner monologues is that they are successive and that their “arcs” can come out of nowhere.


Enjoyment :

Despite what one may think, I did enjoy the show. It was fun, despite all its issues. And I genuinely understand why it entertained so many people. Aside from the last two episodes, I was entertained as well. Annoyed, frustrated, felt like being slapped by the pacing and cover-ups and filled with headaches, but entertained.


Overall :
It feels like it would have worked more as an intimate Anime (which then would have to have less overt fanservice to not be too off). The “sport” tag seems to be yet another sort of cover-up regarding what the writer really wanted to do (I repeat, as a sports anime, this is a failure). Not that it means the ice-skating part should have been taken away altogether, but making it a setting rather than the core would have been better. Because the writer’s aim seems to have been the relationship between Yuri and Viktor, whether or not their relationship is canonically romantic.

And that’s my biggest issue with this show, it doesn’t concern the art, it doesn’t concern the story, it doesn’t even concern the characters – despite the numbers of issues being enough to rightfully question the quality of the show - but its lack of honesty. If it wanted to be sincerely an “interpretative show”, it would have relied on subtlety rather than overt fanservice. And if it wanted to be sincere regarding Vikturi, it wouldn’t have hidden in “interpretation”.

I am already aware this show will have another season, and I hope it will be able to improve itself by learning compromise and honesty.

In short : "Only recommendable to those caring only about eye candy."


Art :

It may be odd for some that I start with the art, but since this manga only possesses one redeemable quality, I decided to start with it right off the bat.
You got it, the art is good. Not outstanding, but good enough to visually satisfy various bishie types. And that’s basically it since landscapes and backgrounds are forgettable.

So could I state something negative regarding this short section ? Well, yes, the design of those said bishies are way too reminiscent of Hakuoki. In that regard, there’s a complete lack of inspiration of ... originality (though, the mangaka merely took the design of the source material). And that undermines the totality of the work.


Story :

19 chapters… 19 chapters where almost nothing happens. Is there any type of build up ? Development ? Bonding ? No. Oh, not that the mangaka isn’t trying, but it feels like the work of an amateur having no knowledge about writing and sloppily trying to get around what a story is supposed to be like, but ultimately failing at the execution/delivering. Now you could say : but maybe that’s it ? Maybe she WAS a newbie at that time ? Sadly enough, she had 25 other mangas behind her at that time. 25, and she’s worse than many newbies.

Another excuse that could be found is that this is based upon an otome game, but I have read otome adaptations before. I have seen others. Even if they are rarely noteworthy, I cannot recall one as low in terms of quality as this one.

But anyway, let’s go to the core of the subject. I did say almost nothing happens but she tries, right ? Well, this can be mainly perceived in the first chapter and during the forelast arc ; basically the only moments where something does happen. Though, it doesn’t really matter in the end and it is resolved too easily to be satisfying in terms of writing.

The rest is…hollow…even hollower I mean. Most are spent to try having the heroine and one male getting closer, and they do. Somehow, because the key points that should lead to that are inexistent or at best ghostly “figures”. They bond because they have to and that’s literally everything there is to it. And, yes, you can find that in many otome adaptations, but at least most of them do have key points.

Those not dedicated to bonding try to flesh out the characters – through background - but not only do they feel off and only rarely lead to something, they horribly lack of key points as well.

You can also add various plotholes, a rushed second half, abandoned threads and its load of conveniences on the plate. I do not know how good the original game was, but if it was similar, it should have been the mangaka’s duty to fix its issues up.


Characters :

Naturally, the issues present in the story can also be found regarding the characters, so I shall try avoiding repeating myself too much.

Let me add that as much as I’m aware that the female lead is usually bland to supposedly help the females to put themselves in her shoes, this lead’s blandness is particularly tiring. Despite not possessing many traits, she’s still able to act questionably – read “borderly” incoherent” enough that I raised my eyebrows in every issues. She also possesses the unique ability to trip on thin air regularly those to trigger “events” and if it mainly summaries to “are you ok ?” and poor girl being helped to stand up again or having to choose whose hand she’s going to take – such tension ! – it is to my utter surprise none came up with the idea of bringing her to a doctor as I’d almost suspect this woman to suffer from neurological disorder. Now, I do understand that being taken care of by a good-looking guy can be appealing to some, but as this example showed you, not only is it repetitive, it isn’t even trying to be interesting and arguably makes the assumption a woman unable to as close as walk properly is a good avatar for the audience ; it’s, of course, only personal, but I do not wish to identify with someone failing at walking, hot guys or not.

(oh and she knows archery…but do not worry, it’ll only serve at the very end, there are no attempts to make her active otherwise)

As for the others, I’ll keep it short : The main antagonist seems to have a story with the girl’s ancestor and if it’s briefly touched upon it is never really explored. That aside, he’s as shallow as every male (one has a friendship with another friend and the manga tries to develop on that, but you know it doesn’t work for the reasons already mentioned ; another comes from the same place as the heroine, and that’s simply forgotten and…that’s almost literally it ; “almost” because if it tried with the others I already forgot about it), his traits so loose and rare that he and the other males can’t even fit into the “stereotype” box at this point. And that’s to say something because you have ghostly stereotypes and the other males are…there….some of them are even more transparent than some antagonists (which are as poorly treated as the rest, of course). Which is an achievement on its own, I guess ?

All in all, they are literally reduced to eye candy. The vain attempts to make it “more” fail to deliver and only reinforce the impression this manga is literally relying on bishies and strictly that to sell itself. Which is kind of insulting… Oh, if it was pure fanservice, I wouldn’t half as mind, but, you see, it’s offending because it does try being more. But the trials seem closer to lies or poor cover ups than sincere attempts to do “something” with the base material. And that is probably the biggest issue of all this.


Enjoyment :

I won’t lie, some of the males suit my tastes and some drawings were nice to look at… And that’s where my enjoyment stops. Well, if you can call that “enjoyment”, it didn’t exactly counter the constant annoyance during the first half, the sighing, the facepalms, the rolling. The second half ? Eh…I just gave up. I felt hollow, which is a second achievement to add with my short-tempered nature.


Overall :

A really bad manga, mainly because the mangaka doesn’t seem to know even the basics of writing. Really, I wouldn’t recommend it to those who played the game, or people liking these types of stories in general. Only one type of people could enjoy this : if you want eye candy before anything else, you’ll be satisfied, but if you even as close as care for the rest… Yeah…avoid it…

"For people used to "older" fictions in general."

Story :

"Laughing Target" is an adaptation of a one-shot written by Rumiko Takahashi. I have read the manga years ago, but my memories of it are rather vague, the only thing I can say is that the Anime is toned down in violence and gore, in comparision. But it has to be confirmed as it could just be my imagination.

For the story itself, I have two three things to say that appear odd and convenient to me (like the protagonist going to read a book with photographies in the middle of the night). But overall, I wasn't ... too particularly bothered.

Overall, I appreciated the "old story telling style". As a work of the 80th, it didn't follow the now modern trend of "telling", prefering to "show" iinstead. That lack of "holding hands" (which has become too common it seems), though, could be an issue for people not used to it. For example, not realizing that the 2-3 first minutes basically "shows" you how one chara is possessed, or "showing" you what the ghosts (introduced in the same 2-3 minutes) represent and are. Now, it should be pretty self-explanatory, it isn't like it is even trying to be subtle about it, but some people seem to need to be told everything through words nontheless.

In an era where "horror" mainly rhymes with jumpscares and gore, watching an old style horror felt really good. It might not be for everyone though.

As a last warning though, if you're familiar with Rumiko's work and expect something different, the answer is "no" ; it uses components you can find in most of her work, not only when it comes to story and characters, but also chara design.


Characters :

Another "old style" thing here, or rather "archaic" in comparision : some of you might be aware that, in terms of literature, "psychology" and "chara development" are at the same time recent and not an obligation. It solely depends of the aim of said work. You nailed it, this story possesses function-characters ; so it's useless to expect any type of psychology or chara development.

My only real issue is that the chara design are too basic in the sense they could be mixed with other charas she created. And I shall continue on the art departement in the next part.


Art :

When it comes to the art and animation, they have aged. That's for sure ; and I had sometimes issues with it (though it's a personal issue and not a formal issue).

What is well done though, is the "filming" : the choices of colours, contrast, the angles chosen, they all serve their purpose well. The flashback scene is especially memorable, starting in white and black only and later on red taking over.


Sound :

Once again, the treatment of it might appear outdated to some as silence has a much bigger place in old animes (and visual fictions in general) for nowadays standards. The sounding is effective, overall, but the soundtracks are quite forgettable, they just do their job.

The voice acting is ok, neither outstanding nor bad.


Overall :

A nice horror OVA. No, really, that's all I have to say about it. But as I pointed out, it isn't for everyone, because of its age rather than the concept itself, which is quite amusing, in a way.

"A good prequel and a fairly good promotional adaptation."


Origin :

I came across an AMV with this Anime (last episode at that) and felt fairly attracted to it. The catching phrase "Will you kill someone you love because of love?" even more. But in my case....if I can't deny qualitywise it was overall good....I felt rather bored overall. ....Or maybe not that bored....after all, it was enough to make me wanna read the manga.


Story :

First of all, we start with a chaotic double episodes which aim is to throw you in the middle of the action. Literaly. Meaning there will be close to no presentation of ... anything going on. I have nothing against unconventional approaches, but spending 50 minutes with such a mentality is a dangerous path as it could be more prompt at turning people away than dragging them in. It tries misleading you concerning the main protagonists and I assume this "trap" is more or less effective depending of the personal experience of the watcher (well..aside the summary and the poster, of course)

Part of this double episodes will also reveal itself a tad troublesome later on. I specifically think of Kagura's expostion that, put in context, is incoherent with her emotional state. Yes, "badass" is a classic when it comes to expositions, but if it's to the price of coherence, I personally prefer to have a less "cool" one.

Once those two episodes passed, you go back in time to learn what led to this, with the real protagonists. These episodes, until episodes 8-9 are rather disconnected from each other and fairly light hearted despite a few darker elements ; what's good about the lightheartedness is that it doesn't commit the mistake to break the show's overall tone, even when it comes to the classical types of fanservices (you know....two close females have to be touchy touchy over each other in all "sisterlyhood" ; or the more comedical prone episode where they try making two charas get closer ; which....retrospectively didn't make much sense unless you go with the "ellipse"/disconnection theory). You could say it has a fast pace, if you take into consideration how Yomi's father quickly pass from "I intend to blabla" to, the next episode already, "make it sooner"...because the plot needs to go forward ! They could have just put that scene earlier to give from breath to the watcher, but that's my nitpicking side.

The last portion of episodes focus on the events directly connected with the first episodes and how it ends. There's one thing that bugged me in that part are the few "captain obvious" comments some characters will make upon watching two other charas fight each other and how useless the presence of another one is as he basically comes, saves and then leaves in all but five minutes. They could have just come up with a less artificial moment.

Overall though, the writing is good. And that's taking the context of this adaptation of course.

If you didn't know yet, this "adaptation" is actually a promotional Anime for the manga, a prequel to enlighten some charas and expand their background. I have no idea how well it does on that aspect, as I haven't read the manga yet, however, when watching this prequel, it seems they took a decision : focus on those who know the manga without making it too hermetical for newbies. This balance was achieved quite well. Sure, the universe isn't really out-built - because the readers should know it anyway - but, even if newbies wouldn't understand every references or details, they can still appreciate the Anime.


Characters :

I've spent several paragraphs on the story already, so I will keep this part short, as there isn't much to say anything. Overall, there's no blatant issue. The writing is good. You could feel there's a lack of development of some and it could be the case, but my ignorance of the manga couldn't make me say if there's indeed a lack or if it is part of the decision to focus on a restricted number of charas as the manga should be compensating said issue.

If I had one thing to complain is that sometimes their introduction could have been put earlier for a better flow and make some episodes less predictable as you end up knowing what a new introuction will lead to. It can also give of a feeling of having a pacing not entirely mastered, too fast in this case.


Art & Sound :

Animation and drawings are really good most of the time. From time to time there's a slight drop in backgrounds, including the last episode, but overall there's nothing to sneeze on. Except maybe the 3D monsters. To be honest, at first I wouldn't have complained about it, as it could have been done for contrast purpose, but upon seeing some monsters in 2D, I changed my mind and think they should have melt their 3D better with the 2D.

The soundtrack, sound design and voice acting are doing their job properly without it being particularly groundbreaking or anything. ...No...I really don't have anything to say about it.


Overall :

Whether or not you know the manga, this Anime remains grandly watchable. I would say, as it is a promotional Anime, to start with the manga first, but I am aware many Anime watchers barely read any mangas, so for those, they could still go with the Anime, even if, naturally, it will remain an incomplete experience. As for me, I shall go read the manga now.

In short : Higurashi fans, run away !!!

I've been a fan of this fiction for a long time : anime, manga, visual novels.... I love them all and am probably biased toward them, but I don't care. Little did I expect to one day come across something related to it that would be this horrifying. Because under this pretty design mimicking the Anime, this is very far away from the original material, in an awfully negative way.


Story :

Did you ever come across an original fiction that seemed like a fanfiction to you ? I did : The Knights of Emerald, Akame ga Kill, Zenbu ... Choudai, The Witcher (novels), Fire Tripper (OVA), etc. Oh, I stop you there, just because something is "fanfictionish" doesn't make it remotely bad, Knights of Emerald for example remained entertaining despite that. After all, some fanfictions are really well done. When it comes to this OVA, though, we're among the bad fanfictions.

To me, it looks like the product of a fan : he/she took his favourite elements of the show/manga/visual novels and tried to bring to life some of his/her phantasms. Even if it doesn't fit the Higurashi universe.

Do we have the implication of the virus ? Yes, right from the start it's thrown into our face without any type of introduction, which, I would have accepted if there had been a counterpart for making it right retroactively, but, nope, cross that. This OVA may be long, but it didn't have the time for that, instead, it took plenty of time showing us how absurdly epic Keiichi and Rena are. The others you ask ? Who cares !? Let's find an excuse to have them as little as possible on-screen. Show the build-up insanity from the villagers ? (because this time around it's their turn to become mad) Who cares ? Keiichi's parents are present....even if they aren't really important in the end, considering the lack of care Keiichi shows overall of their....disappearance.... Er....what happened during that ellipse ? (oh and they are very, very understanding parents, or incredbily irresponsible...I hesitate....) which matches Rena's reaction perfectly when it comes to her own loss.

I could rant and piss about this story for ages, make a fuss about close to every elements, but I should cool down a bit, so I won't. Let's just say it focuses on everything that matters the least and avoids sharing with us, viewers, the most important information ON-SCREEN. It could also pull the various elements in better ways. All in all, even though the story is easily understandable, it has many pieces missing to bring a decent continuity to the plot, you just have various fragments brought together with poorly done transitions.

I would like to add a word about the end however.... Is it me....or is it suggesting Mion, Keiichi, Rena and Satoko (and Rika) are the only surviving beings ? Or are living in a post-apocalyptic world with "zombies" killing each other and only them as "normal" humans ? .....Well, Adam will have three wives this time, how lucky !

To say a word about the dialogues....they mainly sound off or forced, like they weren't put in appropriately.


Characters :

Aside from the story, the characters are also very fanfictionish.... They look like the one of Higurashi, they share traits with the one of Higurashi, but everything feels off or incomplete.

Irie kills himself ? Ok, why not ? But you have to develop it, not throw it into our face.

Keiichi and Rena are perfectly ok from a second to another to kill people and have thorough FUN with it. Isn't there some middle path first ? Usually, between point A and point B there's something to develop. Oh and also, they are....ninjas ? Don't know, but they are really good at killing many opponents on their own, and yes, they tend to show these types of qualities in the "every day" life, but in case you didn't notice, these absurdly awesome moments are purposefully restricted to the "fun days", while the more psychologically hard moments make them more human....again for a reason. Something this OVA seems to have completely forgotten.

Mion ? Useless....with her weak self being specifically worked out so you're sure to get she won't be of any (real) use.

Satoko ? Damsel in distress, we know close to nothing about her, because telling us how this virus is behind every religions and everywhere in the world is much more important.

Hanyu ? She turned evil. Because it was decided so !

And to come back to Keiichi's parents, for once that they had a minimum of role to play, I do not understand the choice of avoiding to show us their face, it just increases the lack of empathy for them.

The only one I could praise, to some extent, is Rika, even if during the last part of it, she was also of.

All in all, none of them react as they would normally, even their "insane" self. There are in-betweens missing to justify said attitudes.


Art & Sound :

They are the best part of the show. Well, the soundtrack is mainly what we had already, but it still nice to hear them again. Nothing to say about those two elements all in all. The seiyuus did a good job, overall, but there was some lack of...."soul" ? "Heart", "implication", however you want to put that.


Overall :

....Wait ? I've just been told it was based on a short story written by Ryukishi07 ? ...................Without further information about it, it may be wiser to turn yourself toward that version, at worst, it'll be as bad as the anime, at best, it'll be better............................
Now I shall go back into my horrified corner again.

In short : For people who are unfamiliar with most keypoints of this genre and want to "study" them or for lovers of the genre.

Origin :

I was told this manga was really good and different from the usual one. I'm not exactly a fan of the genre, but I still wanted to try it out.... And....I had hoped for the first few pages....and then it crashed down....


Story :

As classical as it can get. What you have here is a sped up love story, a single chapter can contain more than one keypoint. The main issue with it is that they are way too close from ... one another, not letting enough "air" for the reader (or "space" for the story, there's a feeling of arcs almost overlaping on each other). Another issue is the lack of mastering when it comes to ellipses (especially troublesome when you want to write a fast paced story). You don't always know how much time passes, or it can lack coherence with the on-going events. Most of the time, instead of a clear box dedicated to it, you'll have to realize it through the strip, which can lead to temporary confusion. (That too plays a role in the feeling of arcs overlaping with each other)

The quickness of it makes a lot of situations as surreal as hilarious...and can also be extremly annoying. Most things feel unnatural and forced.

Surprisingly enough, this manga is also able to feel draggy. Without the heroine's (forced ?) denial and forgetting self (I don't know....she's able to forget something her love interest told her a single box ago....Alzheimer at that age, such a tragedy) I'd say the manga could have been closed in 5-6 chapters instead.

Lastly, I would add that it continues the traditional "woman is male's property" and "forced situations" patterns ; I know it pleases some people, and it's good for them, but it personally pisses me off. So if you're like me, short or not, it's better to keep far away from the manga. Patterns which are actually surprising if you actually see what type of chara the female should have been, but oh well....the strenght of fanservice ?


Characters :

I shall admit....the female protagonist is new to me as she bares some traits usually reserved for males and I think that's what pleased most readers, and also explains why I have been told it was "different". However, the potential was rapidly wasted and she falls in the classical romance heroine role and submission quite quickly.I also question her definition of "perfect" be it for males or females as I did not see it in either of the protagonists.

She isn't quite consistant overall, neither is her love intersest, but both could be amusing at times. Like....3-4 times throughout the eleven chapters.

Male protagonist also could have had an interesting potential, but, samewise, became as classical as it could get.

The others ? They are background characters, some portrayed as friends of the protagonists but, be it through design or dialogues, shallow and not even properly used.

I could mention the "rival" who was introduced as "bad omen" for the main pairing, but....he disappeared almost as soon as he appeared, I'm not even sure he lasted an entire chapter (too lazy to check, yup). Which is sad considering that aside the main charas he was the only characterized character--- no ! wait ! there was a teacher who---- well....he just disappeared, though he lasted a bit longer than the "riva"l.... Do I have to voice out the issue here ?


Art :

It is....nice ? It isn't my style, I must say, but it isn't bad, safe for some proportions issue here and there, but nothing dramatical. What bothers me more when it comes to the art is that the display of the boxes and strips on the pages are sometimes confusing.

And I would also add the lack of characterization of some characters, but that would be repeating myself, no ?


Overall :

I do like the idea of what this short manga could have been if it had exploited the specificity of the heroine correctly. But in the end this specificity seems to be nothing more than a bait-trait to attract readers with "fake originality".

I do not know the making conditions of this manga. Was it an ordered short story ? I'm wondering because it could explain the pacing, even if it wouldn't excuse most issues.