Back to ApplePieHunter's Profile ApplePieHunter's Profile

Welcome to “The Astrocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure”, the first anime to be written, animated, and produced by ChatGPT! We’re witnessing a truly breathtaking milestone in the AI industry with-... Wait… what? What did you say? What do you mean by “this show was made by actual people”? How the hell was this approved by a human with any common sense?! Well, I’m not sure what was going through the executives’ brains when they pushed this show out the door, but I’ll tell you what was going through mine when I watched this mind-numbing experience.


THE FANTASY CHECKLIST OF FAILURES - Things don’t happen because they make sense; ... they happen because it’s what Isakei stories require.

Although I only wanted to grab your attention with my cheesy ChatGPT joke, there was still some truth behind the humor. After just a few episodes of “The Astrocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure”, my overall impression of the show is that this is just a mash-up of every generic Isakei storyline imaginable. Just think of the day-to-day life of the MC from the last boring Isakei you watched. Were they a part of the Adventurer’s Guild with an arbitrary ranking system? Did they attend a royal magic academy that was clearly below their power level? Or maybe some business endeavors by using their knowledge of modern life? Whatever you were thinking of, I would put 10 to 1 odds this show has it incorporated into the story.

This “inclusive” style of storytelling led to 2 disastrous consequences. The first, and most obvious one, is that the pacing was horrible. Because we jump from one setting/goal to the next at seemingly random moments, we never get any interesting build-up, climax, or resolution. Plot events just hit you faster than the notes in your favorite weeb rhythm game. For one particular episode, we got to see a new villain introduced, an exposition dump about the world, a tragic flashback, a training arc, and 2 new allies appear all in the span of 23 minutes. Even the most diehard Isakei fans were left in confusion for the rest of that week after that doozy.

The second, less noticeable result, is that we don’t care about the MC at all. The dude has almost no obstacles, driving motivations, or goals in mind. The one thing the MC really wanted to accomplish, he got with little to no effort. The rest of the stuff he does is simply because someone else randomly dragged him into it or forced it on him. In short, there is nothing relatable or engaging about Cain because he doesn’t have any personal journey. I ended up having a stronger emotional attachment to a little ant that took a dangerous trip across my desk while I was watching the finale. Woah, look at him go! How did he even get in my room? Oh, wait… what’s happening with Cain again?


EMPTIER THAN MY LOVE LIFE - These characters are so painfully shallow and boring to watch that I can’t even remember their names.

“Wow! An Isakei that has hollow, stereotypical characters? You must be new to the medium, ApplePieHunter.”

Well, I wouldn’t call myself a diehard enjoyer that’s been around since the 90s, but I’ve seen quite a few bad animes here and there. Nonetheless, “The Astrocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure” definitely ranks high for some of the worst characters I’ve ever seen in a show. If you couldn’t already guess, all the side characters are pretty worthless for interesting character development. The MC does get some character development if you call training arcs and random power jumps development, but everyone else is degraded to just existing.

But I think the worst part is that almost none, if any of them, are entertaining. Little lolis that fall head-over-heels for the far too old MC. A trophy girl with an attachment issue so bad that even Ecchi fans can’t overlook it. A sister that radiates “Sweet Home Alabama” vibes. Nobles are assholes because they’re noble. Airheaded adventurers who exist just to power-scale the MC. All the cliches, stereotypes, and tropes are thrown in with zero changes. Not even a little bit of self-awareness or exaggeration in the show. The jokes, dialogue, and interactions are more reused than a basement dweller’s cumsock, which makes everything so flat and boring.

I want to be clear here. Having a bunch of cliches doesn’t automatically equate to a bad anime. Having a bunch of cliches with no discernible personality or interesting humor is the real crime. And good god is this anime fucking guilty of it.


CAN I TURN OFF MY BRAIN AND STILL ENJOY IT? - Short answer: no. Long answer: noooooooooooooo.

I’ve always wondered why people, including myself, continue to watch these pump-and-dump garbage anime. Personally, I like to see bad anime because it makes me appreciate the good stuff even more. And besides, there can still be a genuine passion or valuable lesson found in even the lowest-ranking shows. However, the truth for most of us is that it’s nice to shut down our critical thinking skills and just… consume. Getting those small bursts of dopamine from the flashy magic spells, random fight scenes, and corny comedy.

Unfortunately, I can’t even recommend “The Astrocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure” for such a simple purpose. The magic is completely unappealing, using lackluster spells and recycled visual effects. The fight scenes are either poorly animated, extremely forgettable, or both. And reiterating my earlier point on shallow characters, the comedy is almost as bad as Amy Schumer’s Netflix stand-up.

I think the saddest part is that nothing is dramatic or remotely impactful. It feels like this show is catering to people with attention spans worse than the neighborhood kid with ADHD. Remember how I said that the story constantly jumps from place to place? Well, the same problem afflicts the anime on a scene level. Even now, I’m seriously having a hard time recalling any event that wouldn’t fit within a YouTube Short. It’s like like the creators were aware that nothing they have to offer can be compelling for longer than 60 seconds, so they just quickly cut to the next meaningless and mediocre thing.


FINAL VERDICT - Was this made by the TikTok algorithm or a ChatGPT mash-up? Who cares, just stay away from it, please.

There once was this really famous activist. His name was something like MKL or APH or whatever. He had this really cool speech that went… “I have a dream that one day Japan will stop making shitty Isakei shows and bring back high quality animanga.”

Admit it, we’ve all daydreamed in class about becoming ultra-powerful beings blessed with unstoppable magic. We’ve had the fantasy about saving our school from terrorists, becoming a shadowy vigilante that everyone fears, or maybe just dunking on arrogant villains. So it’s only fair when our MC, Cid Kagenou, has these dreams too, right? But wait a second… they’re not dreams? You’re telling me that Cid is living out the teenage male fantasy, and I get to watch it all play out as a comedy show? Well, sign me up!

DELUSIONS OF THE CHUUNIBYOU - Living out the highs and the lows of “special” middle schoolers.

At heart, ... “The Eminence in Shadow” is a satire of the Japanese “chuunibyou” stereotype. For those who aren’t familiar with this term, it is essentially when a young child believes themselves to be extraordinarily special due to supernatural powers, blessings, fate, or some other fantasy element. It can manifest itself in a lot of ways, and with our MC, it’s the pursuit to break human limits by unlocking magic.

However, satire is, by definition, something that pokes fun at itself or the thing it is embodying. And “The Eminence in Shadow” takes this to heart by crafting a show entirely out of the ideal chuunibyou story. The anime is not afraid to use the absurdity of teenage boys’ fantasies as the foundation for the actual show. From the classic “MC OP” tropes to the subtle irrationalities of being Isakei’ed, this anime will happily utilize all of them as if it’s just a standard element of storytelling. But it does so in a way where it’s clear that craziness is king and rationality is a thing of the past. The end result of this mentality is fantastic. More frequently than not, I found myself laughing at the inane world seemingly pulled straight out of an 8th-grader’s journal.

Nonetheless, comedy is entirely subjective, and the issue of being unable to please everyone still arises. Although it fits the theme of the show, I personally found the fan service, ecchi jokes, and harem tropes to be pretty cringe at times. Of course, I know not everyone will share this opinion. But my point is that when you’re watching something that embraces the good and the bad of a cliche in anime, chances are you will find a couple of things that aren’t to your liking. Despite that, this anime does a good job of balancing the entertainment evenly among the elements of chuuni fantasy; so you can easily get through what you don’t like and have plenty of what you do like.

PUSHING PARODY TOO FAR - Ironically, the show’s greatest strength also ends up being its greatest weakness.

There is one problem that plagues every parody anime to exist, getting mileage out of your jokes. No matter how much you change the context, delivery, or timing for the punchline, repeating the same few jokes over and over again will give you less value each time. Most shows fix this in one of two ways: making fun of entirely new things or slowly veering off parody and becoming a unique interpretation of the thing you initially mocked. “The Eminence in Shadow” went for the latter… or, at least I think it was trying to…

You see, there are some moments where it seems the show is preparing to take off on an actual adventure. We see a tame character become personally motivated to hunt down the organizations pulling the strings. We discover horrifying secrets that plague the kingdom’s history. We find out that the darkness of this world goes a lot deeper than we thought. Yes, they may be more generic elements in a chuunibyou fantasy, but every time I saw them I got excited because I thought the anime was attempting to evolve into something more than just a chuuni shitpost. But each and every time I was disappointed as “The Eminence in Shadow” would immediately go back to what has been doing since the start.

Specifically, I’m trying to express my disappointment over the anime’s lack of ambition. Almost every arc seemed like the introductory set-up to pushing a large story, but this large story would then be set aside indefinitely as the anime retreats to the safety of satire. The MC never gets personally invested in the horrors he sees, Shadow Garden carry on with their plans effortlessly, and future encounters continue to happen by chance rather than Shadow actively hunting enemies down. Only the side characters are truly concerned with the state of the world, but they’re so one-dimensional and emotionally detached from the main cast that following their story becomes burdensome rather than interesting.

MAKING FIGHTS FUN AGAIN - A fight can go beyond flashy moves and high-budget animation to be good.

There is one more positive I wish to point out though, and that’s how incredibly enjoyable the fight scenes are. This point is particularly surprising since any competent viewer can predict the result of a match-up before it actually happens. Nonetheless, the weeks where I had to wait out cliffhangers before seeing the fight itself were complete agony. So why was I so excited to see something so predictable?

The answer lies not in the fight choreography, but rather, in the character dynamics. Similar to Overlord, “The Eminence in Shadow” takes the approach of having the characters themselves make the fights entertaining rather than the moves they use. Fight scenes are a rare excuse for the MC’s true persona to step out of the shadow (pun intended) and let loose. This allows the viewers to enjoy the witty banter, arrogant attitude, and charming personality of Shadow for a few minutes. It also gives us satisfaction watching villains learn the hard way that there is always a bigger fish in the sea.

Overpowered MCs may not be to everyone’s tastes, but I think every anime enjoyer can agree that having a winning personality will always be fun to watch. This is the key idea that the show’s fights are born from, and it works incredibly well when built up properly and used sparingly.

FINAL VERDICT - It doesn’t reach the same level as Isakei masterpieces, but “The Eminence in Shadow” still makes a good name for itself.

It’s hard to say what the future of this anime holds. With this show having more plotlines “on hold” than my Plan to Watch section on MAL, there could be potential for greatness or utter disaster. There is also the possibility that “The Eminence in Shadow” never becomes anything more than a satire, in which case I hope the jokes can hold until the end of its runtime. At the current moment though, it doesn’t stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kadokawa’s titular Isakeis, but nonetheless, I had a pretty enjoyable experience watching an edgy middle-schooler live out his dreams. So I look forward to seeing just how wild a chuuni’s fantasy can get in future seasons.

“Raven of the Inner Palace” was definitely one of the most surprising animes of the season. I went in with low expectations and a negative outlook but left feeling like I had an exhilarating trip through Chinese folklore. This is especially shocking considering I have a personal dislike of all things historical. Although I wouldn’t give “Raven of the Inner Palace” anime of the year or even the season, it ended up outclassing the majority of shows I’ve binged (and forgotten about) throughout 2022. So today, I want to talk about the 3 biggest features that make “Raven of the Inner Palace” stand out, and ... how these features come together to create a wonderful and unique historical experience that anyone can enjoy.


MYSTERIES AND SECRETS - A fantastic balance between the mystery of the Raven Consort and Shouxue.

One of my favorite aspects of this anime is how well-written the mystery behind the main character is. Shouxue, also known as the Raven Consort, is in a constant struggle between the responsibilities of her position and her human desire to live a fulfilling life. The thing is, we don’t initially know what the Raven Consort’s job really is and why it exists. Likewise, no one, not even Shouxue herself, is sure what her fulfilling life looks like since she never sought human desires until now.

In order to answer these questions, the show gives Shouxue a personal journey in the form of helping people around the inner palace. Whenever some new magical case or request is made, we see Shouxue learn more about others, establish relationships, engage in new activities, and, most importantly, make character-revealing choices. Her stance on important human aspects like love, death, friendship, and other topics is not just stated out loud in boring dialogue, but shown in tense, action-filled moments. This manner of character development lets us strongly connect with Shouxue and understand who she is, fundamentally, as a person. Likewise, these moments also develop, in a compelling manner, the mystery behind the Raven Consort. In particular, this mystery is built off Shouxue’s character development, allowing us to see how the two sides of her life clash and cause inner conflict.

So each week I would find myself tuning in to answer some of my burning questions. Who is Shouxue as a person? What exactly is the Raven Consort title and where did it come from? Why is Shouxue trapped by this role? Can she ever find a happy balance between her duties and her desires? And with each week, I was never disappointed in how I got those answers.


PLOTLINES - Interesting, but lacking ambition in key moments.

As stated before, “Raven of the Inner Palace” uses the day-to-day duties of the Raven Consort to explore the mystery surrounding Shouxue. These duties usually entail smaller mysteries and short stories that push the characters forward in their development. Although the stories around ancient Chinese folklore were interesting and well-told, I sometimes found myself disappointed by the lack of ambition in major plotlines.

Occasionally, Shouxue would be forced to deal with a problem that directly connects to her past or to her responsibilities as the Raven Consort. These personal stories have great potential to push the anime to grim places, exploring more controversial events seen in the darker side of humanity’s history. However, right before this push is made, we get our resolution too soon and avoid the real depth of the topic. In particular, I was disheartened by how quickly we “finished” the arc that had an antagonist directly related to Shouxue’s past, which had some serious morally dark topics.

While I don’t think this lack of ambition ruins or takes away from the show as a whole, I often found myself wondering what could have been if we had an extra episode or two dedicated to these personal plotlines. Maybe we will see these things brought up again if the anime gets a Season 2, but for now, I’m going to have to be satisfied with what was given.


ARTISTIC EXPRESSION - It goes to show that budget is always beaten by creativity.

Now I’m not 100% certain on this, but I’ve heard here and there that “Raven of the Inner Palace” had a lower budget than most animes of this year. If this is the case, then I applaud Bandai Namco for such an excellent visual and auditory adaption. Even if the budget was infinite, the creative choices made during adaption beat out any flashy and showy style that you just throw money at.

When telling the folklore and mini-stories, “Raven of the Inner Palace” employs historical theatrics that feels fitting for the era and tone. These theatrics do a better job of engrossing the audience in the story and time period than the standard filter screen flashback. Likewise, the color palette and musical choices give me the feeling of walking in a museum and learning about the history behind each display. It’s all so thematically appropriate that I could immerse and interest myself in a time period hundreds of years before my birth, something I never expected considering my rather negative bias towards media involving history.

But when it’s time for significant action and magic, I feel like I’m watching a show of high budget and quality. The visuals for Shouxue’s magic or a eunuch's swordplay are fluid and well-made. The music does an excellent job of amplifying the emotion of the scene. And finally, the show is not afraid to show blood as a way of reaching through the magic and grounding the audience back in the harsh reality.


FINAL VERDICT - “Raven of the Inner Palace” is seemingly niche and unappealing, but it turns out to be surprisingly well-made and definitely worth the 3-4 hour watch.

Don’t make the same mistake I almost made! Put aside your preconceptions of historical shows and ancient storytelling so that you can give this anime a fair shot. It has such an enticing mystery with one of the most interesting main characters I’ve watched this season. It’s also a refreshing change from the overabundance of Isakeis and RomComs seen in the market, which I think should already be enough to convince most anime enjoyers to give it a shot.

Like most people that gave Part 1 a try, I quickly fell in love with “Spy x Family” and the Forgers. Although the author, Tatsuya Endo, says he was only trying to appeal to the mass market, I truly believe that “Spy x Family” had a story and characters that could become one-of-a-kind. However, comparatively speaking, I think Part 2 was a letdown when looking back at Part 1. There are some modifications the story makes that detract from Spy’s original charm. For this review, I’m going to look at changes in three key areas that I believe diminished the quality of “Spy x Family” ... from great to just good.


FAMILY GROWTH - You need pressure to make diamonds, otherwise you’re just left with nothing.

One of the most disappointing aspects of Part 2 was how much more laid back the Forgers’ lives were. And no, I don’t mean that every chapter should have chaotic terrorist attacks similar to the first three episodes. What I mean is that we don’t see each person’s double life/secret identity pressuring or influencing the family as much as in Part 1. In Part 1, we see how Loid struggles to complete his spy missions while maintaining a happy family. We see how Yor frequently loses control of her physical strength (a key part of her assassin job) and raises suspicion in doing so. We also see Anya making up lies to avoid being caught as an esper. But in Part 2, these difficulties are either non-existent or significantly turned down, which kinda ruins the whole fun behind the fake family. For Yor in particular, her whole assassin side job is never even portrayed as problematic or intrusive for her life as a mother and older sister.

However, there is a trade-off that does offer some compensation. Although I’m pretty disappointed at the lack of pressure from the hidden lives, this season does offer some interesting growth through interpersonal connections. There were a lot of well-made scenes that subtly show the trust Loid develops for his “fake” family, the motherly skills Yor has nurtured, and the love Anya has grown for her parents. It’s not really enough to justify ignoring other routes of character progression, but it does serve as a nice way of strengthening the already existing bonds.


OPERATION STRIX - It seems that everyone except Anya has forgotten the mission…?

Another gripe I had with this part was how Operation Strix, our main plotline, was put on the back burner until the finale. It really seems like everyone involved in Operation Strix has either forgotten or doesn’t care enough about the operation anymore. Loid has stopped making efforts to progress any methods of making contact with the Desmonds. Instead, he just hopes that Anya will get some Stellas by herself somehow. The entire WISE agency seems to take Loid’s reports at face value without offering assistance to make things quicker. And we’re getting no old or new characters that threaten the mission. All of this just creates a plotline that feels like it has no stakes or urgency, so I’ve grown to not care for it. I mean, why should I? It seems like Anya is the only one actually trying to complete it, so I guess I shouldn’t worry about it, right? (Edit: I want to clarify... I mean this is the case up until the last episode, not the entire season, where key actors of Operation Strix seem unconcerned with its progress.)

What we get instead is a lot of side stories to fill in our watch time. Some of these side stories are great! I particularly like the ones involving Loid’s spy life, like the first three episodes, as they usually bring the most action that can somehow connect back to the Forgers in some way. It’s not perfect (as I described in the earlier section), but it’s more than enough to satisfy me on those episodes. I just wish we could see more of Yor’s double life because I don’t think we’ve ever seen her assassinate someone except in Part 1 Episode 2.

However, some of these side stories are huge misses. They introduce new side characters that have (at the moment) absolutely no ties to Operation Strix or the Forgers. We then get this 10-15 minute long comedy routine that is funny, but not really why I watch “Spy x Family” in the first place. The ones that don’t use new characters often have no strong purpose related to world-building, character development, or plot progression. Again, it just feels like a comedy routine that comes off as filler rather than actual story content.


CARTOONISH ENTERTAINMENT - Works well as a Saturday morning cartoon, but nothing more.

Reiterating some earlier points, Part 2 has begun to fill like a Saturday morning cartoon with how many comedic side stories fill up the runtime. This is not inherently a bad thing, as comedy created from a unique premise has every right to be declared objectively good when done correctly. My problem is “Spy x Family” finding the balance between feeling like a cartoon and feeling like a story.

In Part 1, the majority of our efforts were dedicated to pushing a story. Of course, there were a lot of funny moments along the way, but the core of most episodes/chapters moved one of our two main plotlines: Operation Strix and becoming a real family. The ones that didn’t involve Operation Strix or building relationships between the Forgers would masterfully use the cartoon routine. The best example I can think of is Yuri meeting Loid. It felt like a refreshing step back from Operation Strix and Forger family secrets as we were served some hilarious new character interactions, all of which were possible through the anime’s unique concept. But after, we go back right back to one of our two big plotlines.

In Part 2, we get so many of these cartoon stand-ins that finally returning to a big plotline feels like an “oops! I forgot lmao” moment. If you want to use the comedy found in cartoons within your story, that’s perfectly fine. After all, this is Endo’s story, not mine. But don’t give us so much focus on big plotlines in Part 1, then swap this out for mostly cartoon routines in Part 2. Instead, sparingly use your cartoon entertainment as a way to dissolve tension and refresh the audience, not as a giant filler that takes up most of the season…


FINAL VERDICT - “Spy x Family” Part 2 is by no means a horrible season, but if you’re coming hot off the heels of Part 1… you might want to lower your expectations a bit.

I’m hoping that with this promising finale, Season 2 will start off strong and stay strong just like Season 1 Part 1. I’m still looking forward to the original story movie, which will hopefully fix upon Part 2’s mistakes to make a better delivery of side stories or cartoons. For now, I can only wait and see if “Spy x Family” will return to the former glory that sucked me in during Season 1.

With the more mixed reception of Season 1, “Uzaki Wants to Hang Out” tries to bring it back strong in Season 2 by changing the method in which it develops its main couple. There are a lot of important changes that fix what I believe were some of the biggest problems with Season 1, however, this anime still has a long way to go if it wants to reach masterpiece status. Let’s take a look at the two biggest improvements as well as one persistent flaw present in “Uzaki Wants to Hang Out” Season 2.


SIDE CHARACTERS - Started off very rough, but got much better ... with time.

One of my biggest issues with Season 1 was the side characters. Many of them had dislikable personalities and made questionable choices that ruined the quality of the show. Whether it was a pervert that just wanted to watch IRL sexual tension, a friend that kept setting up awkward encounters, or a mother that somehow misunderstood everything without ever thinking things through… it made their screen time a pain to watch. For the first few episodes, it seemed like things were heading in the same exact direction. But then, we got the light at the end of the tunnel.

One of the best decisions this season has made is focusing on the full introduction of the Uzaki family, some of the most entertaining side characters I’ve seen in RomCom this year. Each character has a realistic but likable persona (including a “reworked” Uzaki mother), making the dynamics between the family and Sakurai feel natural and entertaining. This is a welcome change to the previously mentioned side characters whose only goal seemed to be forcibly intervening with the main couple. On top of this, each family member has heavily interacted with Sakurai without Sakurai knowing who the other person is. This starts an interesting build-up toward Sakurai and the Uzaki family formally meeting each other, bringing the potential for funny “that was you???” moments.

In particular, I found the relationship between Fujio (Uzaki’s father) and Sakurai to be one of the funniest parts of the season. Neither knows just how closely connected they are to each other, so when they discuss private-life problems, it’s a lot more personal than they both think. This has a wonderful payoff towards the end of the season by creating a super funny situation that was worth the wait.


COUPLE CHEMISTRY - When you let things play out organically, you get a healthier dynamic.

Again, one of the biggest issues with Season 1 was how forced most moments between Uzaki and Sakurai felt. My personal entertainment was always at its peak when I was just watching the two of them interact naturally with each other. But whenever a side character tried to “speed things up” or introduce tension, the dynamic would feel stiff and awkward.

But with the change in side characters comes a change in main character interactions. Season 2 lets Uzaki and Sakurai just hang out like friends, which is kind of the whole premise of the show. Moments of romantic tension are developed naturally through the actions and personality of each character, making the whole relationship feel believable and strong. So when all this tension is brought up during the big finale, I’m left with the sense that this is what both characters truly want, not what the author, audience, or side characters demand.


RELATIONSHIP PROGRESS - A slow burn is fine, great even, but don’t get too repetitive.

If there is one criticism I want to remark on, it’s how repetitive some things can get when watching the romantic side of things. Again, I really appreciate the slow but natural development of progress in the relationship. However, there were a lot of times when Sakurai or Uzaki stumbled upon the same feelings created from the same situations seen before.

The best example I can think of is Sakurai calling Uzaki by her first name, Hana. We saw in Season 1 that Uzaki wanted Sakurai to use her given name as a way of demonstrating their closeness. Sakurai, feeling awkward about the whole idea, doesn’t really budge until Uzaki gets mad. This same exact situation is played out again in Season 2 when Sakurai calls other characters by their first name but not Hana. Sure, you could say this introduces Hana’s feelings of jealousy, but the core of the problem is still Sakurai feeling awkward about closing the gap between them.

And this recycling of previously explored developments is used again and again for multiple scenes. I feel like Japanese college friends do more than just bicker, play video games, and drink… so the author should find more unique ways to bring out progress in their relationship. It doesn’t have to be exclusive to this show or built off complete chance, but it shouldn’t be the same thing I saw a couple of episodes ago.


FINAL VERDICT - Worth a watch for any RomCom enjoyers, especially those seeking an organic, slow-burn relationship development.

“Uzaki Wants to Hang Out” is not perfect by any means, and I don’t think it could ever reach the level of greatness seen in legendary RomComs like “Kaguya: Love is War”. However, this season was well worth my time and I think it will be worth yours too. I recommend giving it a shot if you found the main characters entertaining enough in Season 1.

What does the night mean to you? For the average person, the night is a time of nothingness, a time where you can’t do anything because everything is shut down, a time where one experiences the “free trial of death” we call sleep. But “Call of the Night” gives us an ironic twist to this question, and how it answers it through the characters, animation, and lively scenes are what make this anime an excellent addition to the Summer 2022 season.

NIGHTTIME ESCAPADES - Exploring a deep and powerful message that can be enjoyed by all.

To put on a show, you first have to set the ... stage. By using the unique atmosphere of Japan’s city nights, “Call of the Night” provides a perfect setting for our characters to explore how their thoughts, feelings, and self-imposed restrictions change during the late hours. To Nazuna, nighttime is when people’s raw emotions and instincts are at their height, giving her a good meal and a good time. To Yamori, the night is the only time when he doesn’t have to go through the motions and put up the mask; he can think, speak, and act for himself rather than for others. To Akira, the night is when she can see the fun and relaxed side of her friends, giving her a real chance to deepen precious bonds. To the vampires, the night is the time to live the carefree lifestyle they chose for themselves. For each and every character, the quiet city streets, lifeless public buildings, and calm environment provide something abstract, yet so special, that they end up choosing sleepless nights over busy days. You don’t need to call your high school Literature teacher to begin to understand just how liberating, alive, and addicting the nighttime is to the characters.

You could write a whole essay describing the symbolism, hidden messages, and complicated relationship found between characters and their environment… But, I think it’s way more entertaining to just grab some snacks, sit down, and watch it for yourself. And even if literary analysis is not your thing, don’t worry, there is still plenty left to enjoy.



ANIMATION AND SOUND - These days it’s rare to find an artistic style designed solely to elevate the show.

I absolutely love the animation and music in this anime. The creative and colorful backgrounds give the perfect vibe of exploring your youth under the stars. Characters are drawn in ways that make them appealing, mysterious, and intriguing; the opposite of the overload of cuteness that we see in most Romance animes. Even small details, like Nazuna’s reflection missing in mirrors, are treated with special attention. LIDENFILMS knew exactly what the fuck they were doing when they adapted “Call of the Night”, and they deserve some serious respect for their dedicated effort, regardless of your opinion on the show itself.

But don’t leave out the musical geniuses, Creepy Nuts. I’m so glad the manga was inspired by them rather than a random idol J-Pop group because holy shit do they make some crazy good songs. The intro is catchy and perfectly sets the mood for each night’s wild adventures. Insert songs and OSTs elevate scenes from great to remarkable with details being seared onto your brain. But of course, the most influential song, the outro, makes you want to get up and party with no fucking care in the world.



TONIGHT’S ADVENTURE - Each episode can be summarized in one word, “fun”.

I’m not going to elaborate much on this because you just need to experience it for yourself, but “Call of the Night” really is that much fun. Each crazy adventure, wild story, or eye-opening encounter is something that kept my attention all the way. While the show’s main storyline can feel slower than most fantasies and dramas, this is more than made up by the antics Ko Yamori finds himself in individual episodes.

With that being said, “Call of the Night” puts a lot less focus on the concepts of romance or vampires, and more on the realistic struggles or flaws each person harbors. So if you’re in it solely for quick, steamy romance or dramatic, over-the-top vampires, I don’t want you to turn away discouraged. Instead, give this show a try with an open mind, and you may just find yourself counting down the hours until the sun sets. After all, once the sun goes down, all the crazy people come out to play.

Like many of the degenerates reading this review, I saw an Ecchi tag slapped onto the poster of a demon succubus lady and went straight in for the fun times. While I won’t lie to you and pretend this show is not filled with pointless fan service, let’s be real with ourselves, the fan service is the only thing stopping this show from getting dropped by every anime enjoyer. And although I didn’t feel the need to wipe my memory after finishing the season, let’s dive into how incredibly lazy writing makes this show completely forgettable.


VERMEIL AND ALTO - Even while ignoring the creepy age ... gap, there’s still a lot wrong with these 2 characters.

It’s pretty clear that the meat on the bones of the show come from our 2 main characters, Vermeil the Demon and Alto Goldfield the Human. Vermeil begins this show with one purpose only, to provide lots of hot fan service for the average teenage boy. I’ve seen a lot of people describe her in different ways… some of them didn’t even bother with words as the tent pitched in their pants said enough. I don’t care much for reviewing Ecchi quality, so I’ll summarize her as a “big titty Ara Ara Onee-san” who pushes the show dangerously close to hentai territory. But the cool thing about Vermeil is that she does get some respectable character development in later episodes! A far cry from top-tier waifus like Rem, Zero-Two, Megumin, and others, but enough to keep me mildly interested.

Alto, on the other hand, wins the award for being the blandest MC this season. Love them or hate them, every other MC of Summer 2022 has at least some distinguishing traits that make them stick out. However, Alto Goldfield is the perfect example of the strong-willed young hero cliche. He always sticks to his principles, which conveniently, never really get challenged. His motivation to face obstacles consists entirely of wanting to be the best at magic (for god knows what reason). And, of course, his lack of self-confidence makes him completely oblivious to people’s feelings toward him. If that sentence didn’t give it away… yes, he has a childhood friend romantically interested in him and he has no fucking clue.

Having a boring protagonist is not always a problem, especially for Ecchi shows. But if you’re gonna make the main focus of the show be the relationship between the main characters, have some more complicated dynamics besides makeout scenes and steamy “mana sharing” that land Vermeil on the FBI watchlist.



THE WORLD OF MAGIC - Hey, author? You know you’re supposed to fill in the writing template… right?

Something that always bothers me in Fantasy shows is when the magic is never properly explained. I’m not asking for a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation, a 10-page essay, or 3 characters who provide narration over every fight. All I want is some fucking inkling of how magic in this world works. Because when I don’t understand how things work, I don’t understand just how hard it is for characters to make things work. If some elaborate fight scene against an OP villain happens, how am I supposed to know this person is OP besides “haha, funny colors go brrrrrrr”. If Alto and Vermeil pull off some revolutionary shit, its impact is never felt since the only indication I have are random background characters going “wow, that’s so cool” then never mentioning the event again.

Don’t even get me started on how little effort the show puts into the world itself. Its tier list of magic is basically ripped from “Mairimashita! Iruma-kun”, the other school and societies of magic are worthless to the story, and I’m under the strong impression that the Student Council has more power than some governments. Overall, the world our characters live in is so filled with holes that ignoring it is the better option than trying to understand it.



VILLAINS - It’s crazy how this show went 0/3 with its antagonists.

“Vermeil in Gold” has some terrible villains, and once again its lazy writing is to blame. Without spoiling anything, here is a quick summary of each antagonist Vermeil and Alto have directly taken on. Villain 1 has an inflated ego that doesn’t match their skill, resulting in them getting humbled pretty quickly. Villain 2 is supposed to be a surprise twist, but there are so many obvious signs that I was hoping it would be a “you thought they were a villain but they weren’t” moment. Sadly, I was disappointed. Villain 3 is the worst of the lot, with absolutely no reason for doing what they do besides being inexplicably mentally unstable and finding bad things fun.


FINAL VERDICT - Unless you came just for Ecchi, “Vermeil in Gold” won’t satisfy any of your anime cravings.

I would recommend trying out “Mairimashita! Iruma-kun” if you want a good show about a boy attending magic school, or watching “Muma no Machi Cornelica” if mommy succubus dominates little boy is the kick you get from “Vermeil in Gold”.

I will proudly admit that I really enjoyed the first season of KanoKari. I understand why most of the anime community dunked on it with memes and harsh reviews, however, I thought there was a lot of potential for a well-executed, character-driven story. So going into season 2, my expectations were set high and I was hoping for a RomCom that would blow critics away. Instead, what I got was a story that began tearing itself apart from the inside. So this review will dive into how KanoKari threw away all the potential it had in exchange for milking a money-making concept to near death.

STAKES ... - Set them high, then make them disappear.
The main conflict at KanoKari’s heart is having Kazuya overcome his low self-esteem and maidenless behavior in order to confess to a girl out of his league. What I really enjoyed about the finale of season 1 and the first half of season 2 is how they set a ticking time bomb for Kazuya to make this confession. We saw in season 1 that Chizuru is an actor hoping to make it big within the next year or so, which would mean Kazuya won’t be able to “date her” anymore. In season 2, we also turn up the heat with Ruka and Mami where both girls add far more tension to a fake relationship than any grandma or childhood friend could do. In a nutshell, all this pressure is screaming at Kazuya to wake the fuck up and make some actual progression.

The problem is, when Kazuya does finally come to his senses, the show suddenly removes all this pressure and even forces him to maintain this facade. In fact, the author uses the same excuse from season 1 to justify this odd development… keeping the grandmas happy. It’s such a huge step backward in character development when the character finally comes to the right conclusion, but suddenly the whole world is telling him to keep doing the dumb shit he is doing, so he now plays along and starts the whole cycle over again.

COMEDY - Down Bad + Maidenless + No Bitches + Seek Help
The comedy for season 2 was definitely a downgrade from season 1. In season 1, the audience is laughing with or at Kazuya when he acts like your average horny teenage boy or a cringy loser, but that’s because the punchlines are diverse and well-timed. This changes for the worse in season 2 when dirty jokes seem to be the only thing the show can make. Kazuya must have been more bricked up than a chimney because at one point he couldn’t stop seeing these girls as sex dolls wanting to do the hot, sexy SEX with him. Every 30 seconds was “look at her thighs/tits/ass/face/clothes, it’s like a walking fuck toy.” Do you get it, dear reader? Kazuya is REALLY horny, and the show makes it REALLY clear to you. On top of this, it was extraordinarily painful how bad Kazuya was at hiding this fact, even in public or during interpersonal sharing time, which gave me huge second-hand embarrassment.

GIRLS - Started okay, got worse with time.
One of the biggest questions and criticism this show got was “Why do any of these girls like Kazuya?” Just like a clickbait YouTube video, I watched to get my answer and ended up getting absolutely nothing. While you can make the argument that Chizuru likes Kazuya because he’s kind-hearted to her, a lot more would argue he is just a simp with no redeeming qualities. Kazuya also treats Ruka like garbage and yet she is still obsessed with him, even more so than she was in season 1. Even Mami is trying to wrap Kazuya around her finger again. But for the love of god, can this show explain why they all care about him??? What do 10/10 lookers find so attractive in an average or less-than-average guy who does nothing particularly significant? Fuck, I wish my dating life was that easy.

Overall, I felt like this season falls into the “what could have been” category of anime. While I will check out the third season, if it ever comes, I’m not looking forward to it based on what I hear about the manga. Unless you have a special attachment to one of these characters, I would think carefully about whether or not you want to continue watching KanoKari.

*Minor Spoilers Included*

For the past couple of years, every new season of broadcasted anime has brought us new Isakei shows. And within those seasons we have at least one incredibly disappointing adaption of this popular genre. But out of all the Isakeis I’ve watched in my life, this has to be the worst one to ever “grace my presence”. “My Isakei Life” fails at every aspect that makes an Isakei enjoyable, even as a guilty pleasure, and falls short in every fundamental part of storytelling. This review will briefly list and explain the worst parts of the show, and hopefully convince you to stay far ... away regardless of your preferences in anime.

PLOT - A good alternative to sleeping pills.
Generic, boring, predictable, and insulting to writers who actually give two fucks about the audience. It’s not even worth the effort of writing my criticisms in detail since the studio clearly never put in the effort themselves.

FANTASY ELEMENTS - If our plot needs it, then add all the bullshit!
The magic system in this world is so clearly crafted to make the MC busted and everyone else weak and helpless. The MC regularly breaks pre-established rules, such as going over the MP limit, just to launch a hail-mary attack on some random OP monster. Spells are either capable of wiping out all life within an area or more worthless than the Venezuelan currency. But the stupidest part is how Yuji acquired his power. He stumbled upon a shady shack in the woods, and just had his slimes read the books inside. Like, what? This has to be the laziest and most problematic explanation I’ve ever seen in my life.

CHARACTERS - Will Smith gave the mannequins in “I Am Legend” more personality.
The worst part of the show, by a mile, is how unbelievably bland the MC is. I’ve seen a garden spider put more thought into their web than the author did into Yuji. If you don’t believe me, just keep this comparison in mind… Princess Connect, a show that purposefully makes turns the MC into a blank template/self-insert, has given them more charm than Yuji. And in case you’re wondering, no, the side characters are not any better. All of them behave like quest-giving NPCs in your average subpar MMORPG.

God knows I could go on and on and on with how much displeasure this show has caused me. But it’s already taken 3 hours of my life I can never get back, and I don’t want to let it take anymore.

It’s a shame too since the fans of the manga insist it’s far better than this garbage. However, the anime adaption has left such a bad taste that I have zero interest in reading the source material.

*Spoiler Free Review*

“Aharen is Indecipherable” is best described as a show that grows on you as the season progresses. Like the MAL synopsis suggests, it’s a tranquil slice-of-life anime that explores a new friendship between two oddballs. The first episode does a nice job establishing these characters, their quirks that make them compatible, and the start of a wholesome friendship. However, the next 3 to 4 episodes are quite the rough experience…

Initially, it seemed like the anime had no idea what type of comedy it was aiming for. At first, we got a taste of overexaggerated stupidity by showing both MC’s having the physical and ... mental functionalities of a comatose zombie. Then it switches to pure awkwardness as it's clear that neither Raidou nor Aharen have any idea how to interact with each other. Most jokes bounce between these two styles of comedy for a while before eventually settling for a mild-mannered blend of both. The result of this blend works really well with the tone of the show in the second half. We end up getting enjoyable running gags, funny situations caused by harmless misunderstandings, and more natural interactions derived from a strong chemistry.

Side characters were another element of the show that were really hit or miss. I would say the majority of the cast have terribly bland personalities or cringy attitudes. The bland characters have absolutely no distinguishable characteristics to them. They only serve to progress the plot by conveniently creating a strange situation or introducing their own version of stale comedy when things are getting slow. The ones with cringy attitudes are just overused character types (e.g.: tsundere or siscon) that keep more bad than good traits. However, despite all these annoying characters, there are a couple that are gold. They introduce a fresh style of comedy and, sometimes, give us a different perspective on the shenanigans that our MC’s get into. Sadly, these characters aren’t used very often, but their presence has definitely made a couple episodes better than others.

The final thing I want to talk about is the second half of the season. I would argue that around episode 6 is where the anime finds its stride and sticks with it. It makes good use of comical situations in everyday life, keeps character personalities in-line with the tone of the show, and completely avoids cheap gags. That’s right, this show doesn’t resort to pointless fan service, overused sexual jokes, or dumb tropes that seriously need to die out already (e.g.: girl hits guy because of a misunderstanding).

Overall, I will say that “Aharen is Indecipherable” is an excellent show for relaxing and getting a few good laughs. While the start may not seem like much, I believe the quality of the show improves over time to deliver a unique and enjoyable Iyashikei themed anime. I will be expectantly waiting for a second season in hopes that I can see this relationship blossom one day.