| Hyper Police - Sort of a supernatural meld of You're Under Arrest and Yu Yu Hakusho. Not as well done as either of those, but still pretty good. Funny moments, sad moments, and WTF moments, so pretty much standard fare for the late '90s. Probably won't wind up on my re-watch list, but still good enough to earn a solid 7/10. Edit Nisemonogatari - Been working my way through the chain of the Monogatari series and having finished the fourth of them them, I'm no less confused than I was after finishing the first one. The artwork and acting is good, but so far the original FLCL makes more sense than these series do. Not weird enough to drop, but definitely enough to leave me scratching my head trying to figure out what just happened. Maybe after I finish more of them... |
OrlahEhontasJan 19, 2022 5:56 PM
  |
| Ano Natsu de Matteru typical fantasy for schoolchildren or plain rom-com with a girl from childhood always loses. They couldn't decide what they were doing, neither could I. Contains a lot of common mistakes so as example how not to do it might be useful. Because I like almost every anime and this one wasn't annoying I give 5/10 no, I'm not as generous, only 4/10 Gate isekai pretending to be sci-fi. Unclear rules of the world even for residents, uninteresting characters. The story itself makes no sense. medieval people find a portal, break through there with an army, get feedback, return back to receive motto from higher powers (in this case japan) s1: 4/10, s2: 2/10 Brigadoon Let's be honest, I didn't expect anything special and got exactly that. The first part is OK, usual tragedy, then fillers, then happy ending, then another happy ending, because they remembered the girl who got lost in the script and then the last happy ending. 5/10 Kageki Shoujo sport-drama idols in the playhouse theoretically it's about training in a drama school, but, guys, let's imagine a baseball sports school where, by the end of the year, the students realize that grabbing the bat with two hands it much more useful than with only one hand. Also they couldn't integrate character's presentation to the story so we have a personal episode for each significant character. Outside of this special episode the character is plain and inconsistent. Standard patterns for the idol genre. Otherwise, among the cast providing fan-service, the main character is a very interesting child prodigy with an unusual and even unexpected vision of the world. Between flashbacks and side-stories her story is difficult to follow, but worth it. 7/10 |
jdvzJan 20, 2022 2:43 AM
|
 |
| Cowboy Bebop: The Movie- Knockin' on Heaven's Door (2001) - it's been years since I watched the tv series so thought I'd check the movie off my list and am so glad I picked this film to watch today. It was everything I was expecting and more; superb animation, groovy music (although not quite as good as the OST for the original tv series) and plenty of action and sakuga. Plus we got to hang out with the crew of the Bebop for a while, in all their awkward, dysfunctional glory. The story felt like one of the more action packed episodes from the series but drawn out and with greater attention to detail for the animation, especially background, fight scenes and character details. The story wasn't amazing, but it provided the framework for a really great movie experience. Just scrapes a 9/10. |
23feanorJan 22, 2022 7:22 AM
 |
inim said: Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight (Revue Starlight, 2018) Aspiring actresses compete to become top of their acting school class. One pairings' relation and emotions are explored each episode. Heavy on dialog and surreal images, this was (correctly) called "Utena light". Spectacular sword fights, with 9 main chars stereotypes are needed. This is a straining watch, as in blink-and-you-will-miss-it and walls of text. The director worked in multiple projects under Ikuhara, so the similarities in style are no coincidence. I'm happy that such a a show got funded, thus a generous rating. (7/10)[/list] This is one I've been considering watching for a while, good to know it's worth the time. I'll add it to my ptw list. 23feanor said: Cowboy Bebop: The Movie- Knockin' on Heaven's Door (2001) - it's been years since I watched the tv series so thought I'd check the movie off my list and am so glad I picked this film to watch today. It was everything I was expecting and more; superb animation, groovy music (although not quite as good as the OST for the original tv series) and plenty of action and sakuga. Plus we got to hang out with the crew of the Bebop for a while, in all their awkward, dysfunctional glory. The story felt like one of the more action packed episodes from the series but drawn out and with greater attention to detail for the animation, especially background, fight scenes and character details. The story wasn't amazing, but it provided the framework for a really great movie experience. Just scrapes a 9/10. Love this movie. One of a very small subset of movies expanding on an anime series that I count among my favorites, and the only one of those that builds on the series in media res. |
 |
| Place to Place & Special (2012) - based on a 4-koma manga, this show has a cgdct format but with male characters and romance. Loads of fluffy (neko related fluffy), heart warming fun and interaction between a mixed group of friends, never becoming serious or too taxing emotionally to watch. Each episode is split into 2 sketches with lots of graphics for the in-between scenes. Character design reminded me of Lucky Star but with better animation and backgrounds. Unobtrusive OST that didn't stand out but added nicely to the chill vibe of the show. I was especially impressed by the male main character Io, he's popular and well liked, but kind and amiable. He knows how women's hearts work but never takes advantage, and is still shy when it comes down to his feelings, a well crafted male lead and love interest. Some light fun with friends plus bonus fluffy and wholesome crushes, had me chuckling most episodes. Hard to score this show, it sits between a high 6/10 and a low 7/10, but in quality and enjoyment most closely reminds me of Yuyushiki and Minami-ke S4, so just scrapes a very low 7/10. Gunbuster (1988) - a punchy mecha OVA that managed to combine a whole lot within it's relatively short 6 episode run time. We had comedy at a girls school, a space trip, action packed battles, romance and tragedy and at the core of the show an underdog that comes good to save earth from an alien invader. I noticed this show had a tendency to use real world science, or the best possible educated guess (excluding distances and speed), rather than fanciful science fiction and it gave the the story a gravity and depth, particularly the focus on how travelling in space would affect different peoples' perception of time and when separated their lives would be inextricably split. Some dated looking character designs but lovely colourful and detailed animation. Stunning OST, with epic string pieces during some of the battles, although this sometimes clashed with the 80's J-Pop sound. An impressive mecha anime that packed a lot into a short run time, this show borders on the high 7 or low 8/10 for me, but I've given it an 8/10 as it was a rollercoaster of a watching experience, hooked me from start to finish. Fruits Basket 2nd Season (2020) - a continuation from the first season focused on expanding the large cast of characters and their back stories. Same diligent, thoughtful approach to character development and growth, same good animation and OST. Same score as S1 for me, a solid 8/10. Everything is in place now for an epic final season. Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House (2021) - a thoughtful and educational series that only aired once a month following two girls as they enter a Maiko house as apprentice geisha, one as a cook and the other a maiko (entry level geisha). I learnt a lot about both the culture of modern geisha and their origins, as well as lots about cooking from all regions of Japan watching this show. Animation was lovely, watercolours and picturesque Kyoto cityscapes feature prominently. Bubbly OST with warm piano melodies, with a distinct Japanese sound, helps engender the show with a sense of fun and community as we observe the lives of the girls in the Maiko House. Lovely character and food design also. A solid 7/10. Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 2nd Season (1994) - an OVA that continues where the first season left off with Tenchi sharing his home with a group of women from around the galaxy. I really like this older type of harem show that doesn't focus on the romance or fan service (although there is mild nudity during bath scenes), but on the fun time spent between a group of people. A lovely traditional pastural Japanese setting lends this show a calming atmosphere. Distinctive character design (especially funny reaction faces) with above average animation give the show an imaginative sci-fi look. Good OST with plenty of insert songs and a great dub cast cement this winning sci-fi harem comedy formula. A very high 7/10. |
23feanorJan 28, 2022 8:29 AM
|
|
inimJan 28, 2022 1:45 PM
| |
23feanor said: Gunbuster (1988) - a punchy mecha OVA that managed to combine a whole lot within it's relatively short 6 episode run time. We had comedy at a girls school, a space trip, action packed battles, romance and tragedy and at the core of the show an underdog that comes good to save earth from an alien invader. I noticed this show had a tendency to use real world science, or the best possible educated guess (excluding distances and speed), rather than fanciful science fiction and it gave the the story a gravity and depth, particularly the focus on how travelling in space would affect different peoples' perception of time and when separated their lives would be inextricably split. Some dated looking character designs but lovely colourful and detailed animation. Stunning OST, with epic string pieces during some of the battles, although this sometimes clashed with the 80's J-Pop sound. An impressive mecha anime that packed a lot into a short run time, this show borders on the high 7 or low 8/10 for me, but I've given it an 8/10 as it was a rollercoaster of a watching experience, hooked me from start to finish. If you plan on watching the sequel, Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster Gunbuster 2, be prepared for head scratching. The science isn't as "rigorously" followed as the first one. Worth watching, but doesn't quite measure up to the first OAV. I gave Gunbuster an 8.5 and Diebuster a 7.5 on AniDb and both an 8 here. 23feanor said: Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki 2nd Season (1994) - an OVA that continues where the first season left off with Tenchi sharing his home with a group of women from around the galaxy. I really like this older type of harem show that doesn't focus on the romance or fan service (although there is mild nudity during bath scenes), but on the fun time spent between a group of people. A lovely traditional pastural Japanese setting lends this show a calming atmosphere. Distinctive character design (especially funny reaction faces) with above average animation give the show an imaginative sci-fi look. Good OST with plenty of insert songs and a great dub cast cement this winning sci-fi harem comedy formula. A very high 7/10. Again, be prepared for head scratching when you watch the sequel, Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season. At least you will have an advantage if and when you watch it. You will be able to binge it. I watched it when it first came out and had to wait until the fan-subbing group was done with each episode and spent most of my time going "HUH?!?" and "WTF is going on?!?" Later watched it in one run and it made more sense. Not a lot more sense (think there is some backstory in the manga that doesn't make it to the OAVs and I don't do manga), but it made a little more sense in a single sitting/run. |
OrlahEhontasJan 29, 2022 11:41 AM
| |
| Penguindrum (2011) - a surreal show with many fantastical elements. At it's core the story follows a family of 3, Kanbe, Shouma and Himari and their daily struggles after the death of their parents in the Tokyo 95 subway bombing. As the story progresses more people connected with this terrorist incident become involved and a web of lies, deceit, despair and tragedy with a touch of the supernatural are entwined. This show has sensational cinematography and music. It takes inspiration from a number of sources including studio Shaft-esque visuals, reminding me heavily of Monogatari series and Negima!? with stencil type backgrounds and colour choice. Another influence I saw was from Studio shaft director Shinbou in the camera angles and shot composition used to add a sexual element (leading the eye without showing anything directly), without being gratuitous fan service, reminiscent of his work on Pani Poni Dash. The director, Ikuhara, creator of Utena, brings many of his trademark styles including heavy use of symbolism and colour, gorgeous character design with a shoujo flare (especially for the males) and a use of shoujo tropes within the story to explain plot lines. The OST was heavenly and not solely the ED's or insert songs, which instantly stuck a chord. The clever use of sound design made this a delight to watch and listen to. The animation was colourful and detailed, both characters and background settings and a strong point for the show, particularly the scenes in surreal supernatural places. The story was gripping and touched on a wide range of emotional points for the characters; joy, infatuation/love/desire, despair, family bonds, loneliness as well as commenting on societal injustice in the form of nepotism and concentration of power in elite ruling families. All this was pulled together in a powerful, fantastical and spectacular tale, and for me deserving of a low 9/10. |
23feanorJan 31, 2022 11:16 PM
|
23feanor said: There's a meme for that ...Penguindrum (2011) - a surreal show with many fantastical elements. [...] The director, Ikuhara, creator of Utena, brings many of his trademark styles including heavy use of symbolism and colour, gorgeous character design with a shoujo flare (especially for the males) and a use of shoujo tropes within the story to explain plot lines. I've come to a similar rating (8/10 here), btw, lesser than Utena despite better production values. Still his 2nd best show. Now that you are addicted, Lesbian Bear Storm is next ;) |
inimJan 31, 2022 1:26 PM
| |
| @inim although i scored Utena and Penguindrum the same i got quite different experiences, but as the meme suggests there are many similar traits in both shows from Ikuhara. You sold me on Lesbian Bear Storm a while ago but may bump it up my priority ranking after listening to that lovely OP. The OST for Penguindrum and in particular some of the ED's in the second half were soul piercing music for me; Gray Wednesday I couldn't stop listening to. |
|
| The World God Only Knows II (2011) - the second season of one of the best harem concept anime I've seen. Our protagonist, Keima, an elite dating sim nerd, helps a loveable demon Elsie to capture lost souls by applying his knowledge of girl's hearts in the many dating sims he's played. However, real life women are often very different to scripted games. This show has a decent hook with it's premise and the second season was able to start strongly not having to introduce the initial details and backstory. Although dating sims are heavily referenced the romance showed surprising depth and poignancy at times. It's very interesting to see real life romance deconstructed and broken down into it's constituent parts (from the eyes of an observer), however there's also that x factor or spark that isn't so easy to quantify and the show manages to get you to care about all of the girls Keima has to conquer to save their souls. The show is able to competently explain and differentiate between real life romance and the romance depicted in dating sims and works of fiction, almost meta given that this anime is a work of fiction itself. This show reminded me of Tsurezure Children in the way it showed actual romance, and how feelings can't always be easily categorised. Decent animation with lots of slapstick comedy and above average OST with super romantic violin melody played at key moments (not quite as good as the music box OST from My First Girlfriend is a Gal, but close). Very watchable with fun, engaging characters and a decent premise, as high as a 7/10 can be, without being an 8. Looking forward to the 3rd and final season. |
23feanorFeb 4, 2022 6:33 AM
|
| Just finished MAD BULL 34 for the first time. Somehow I missed this 4 part OVA series back in the early 90s when it came out. Must have just got over shadowed by RIDING BEAN, Gunsmith Cats, Angel Cop, Ghost in the Shell, Bubblegum Crisis & Crash, and stuff. I enjoyed it. |
| Komi-san wa Comyushou desu slice of life with the girl who can't speak. Oops, I spoil the only joke. God bless Watanabe Ayumu who made mediocre anime from the terrible source and this is not a joke. (5/10) Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san food porn. Very boring, but there are two or three good recipes. (4/10) Full Moon wo Sagashite drama. I said drama but for me it was fightng. I fought with my suspension of disbelief. I can't trust it's the voice of a twelve year old girl when she sings. Especially because of the transformation to the sixteen year old body. I must trust that the voice is not a part of the transformation, but I can't. OK, I kinda almost convinced myself, but she released a CD. Not sure it's a normal to release one song CD, so I figured they've written another songs. I tried a lot to believe, but then they started to write their second song. What a waste. And the gig with one song, is it OK? I thought it something like an american idol gig with a lot of singers. But they clearly show that Madoka for warming and Full Moon is the first star. God, Madoka's the only song is Full Moon's second single. It ruins my mood. Otherwise the story is OK, background character as always in this kind of anime (means almost invisible), the plot is very predictable. Not my genre. (5/10) |
jdvz said: Suspension of disbelief is indeed needed to enjoy that show. More so than for an average anime because it clearly says "for young teens" (as in below 12) on the tin. It's a fairy tale about a girl, her supernatural / magical girl helpers, and the music industry. I'd argue that for that target group it's rather realistic, but of course it's still for children so everything needs to be simplified and made easier than it would in the real world. I'd argue nothing they show is completely unrealistic, yet achieving it all in less than a year without major setbacks is not. Similar for Mitsuki's rival Madoka: she's a personification of a concept, the vile competitiveness of the music and entertainment industry. Just like in fairy tales the "evil step mother" is a personification of social rejection. Everything in the show must be taken with that grain of salt to enjoy. Full Moon wo Sagashite drama. I said drama but for me it was fightng. I fought with my suspension of disbelief. I can't trust it's the voice of a twelve year old girl when she sings. Especially because of the transformation to the sixteen year old body. I must trust that the voice is not a part of the transformation, but I can't. OK, I kinda almost convinced myself, but she released a CD. Not sure it's a normal to release one song CD, so I figured they've written another songs. I tried a lot to believe, but then they started to write their second song. What a waste. And the gig with one song, is it OK? I thought it something like an american idol gig with a lot of singers. But they clearly show that Madoka for warming and Full Moon is the first star. God, Madoka's the only song is Full Moon's second single. It ruins my mood. Otherwise the story is OK, background character as always in this kind of anime (means almost invisible), the plot is very predictable. Not my genre. (5/10) I've followed the career of idol band Babymetal very closely (which started for them at ages 12, roughly), and the idol industry does the same things the Western music industry does. The difference is that they are more honest about it. An idol is expected to be "raw material" for the company producing them (also personified in a single person in the show). Of course there are dozens of professionals behind any idol, doing all the real work including writing songs. 30 minute shows with just a handful of songs, full playback and cheap production values are the norm or beginners, Babymetal did unspeakably cheap stuff early on. The Western ideal is that of a genius artist with inspiration and creative talent, but 9 in 10 probably are not different from idols. The Japanese just have less shame talking about it, maybe part of their group think vs. our individualism. As for the songs, in FMwS the rather unique thing is that the voice actress was picked for her singing skills. Myco only made this one show, she is a musician turned VA and not one of the many VAs turned musician. That makes the songs as good as they are, of course out of reach for a real 12/16 year old girl. It's literally magic :) Long story short, it feels as if we watched the same show. The difference is suspension of disbelief, something I did right in episode 1. I can feel your pain if you didn't do that, there is a lot of "childish realism" and "fairy tale logic" going on. EDIT (example): Babymetal 1st video, at that point they were nothing but dancers and winners of local singing contestst: https://youtu.be/cirhQ8iLdbw At their peak, with some of the best rock musicians of Japan, real live singing and so on: https://youtu.be/zTEYUFgLveY |
inimFeb 5, 2022 7:05 AM
| |
| Hunter x Hunter Movie 1: Phantom Rouge (2013) - a self contained film set sometime before the Chimera arc. Gon and Killua have to help Kurapika after he runs into someone from his past. This leads Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio to a confrontation with an old member of the Phantom Troupe. Decent action, lots of good Gon and Killua moments, felt like an arc from the series compressed into a film with high production values. HxH always had great world building, soundtrack and animation and this show cased the best of each. The main villain felt a bit forced, with puppet power ren, essentially enabling the film to bring back the best hits from the deceased and distant villains list. It was nice to see the world and characters from HxH 2011 again, I'd dearly love to see a sequel series one day in my life time. Good shounen film, a high 7/10. |
|
inim said: I know it's a fairy tail and I don't mind everything you mentioned. Suspension of disbelief is indeed needed to enjoy that show. More so than for an average anime because it clearly says "for young teens" (as in below 12) on the tin. It's a fairy tale about a girl, her supernatural / magical girl helpers, and the music industry. I'd argue that for that target group it's rather realistic, but of course it's still for children so everything needs to be simplified and made easier than it would in the real world. I'd argue nothing they show is completely unrealistic, yet achieving it all in less than a year without major setbacks is not. Similar for Mitsuki's rival Madoka: she's a personification of a concept, the vile competitiveness of the music and entertainment industry. Just like in fairy tales the "evil step mother" is a personification of social rejection. Everything in the show must be taken with that grain of salt to enjoy. Idol anime is my genre and I understand the rules. I have no objections against Madoka, even if her personality is not good. Usually I have no problem, but I definitely see a misconception here. I think the main problem is a miscast. Myco is a good singer, but she doesn't sound as twelve year old girl. Because as soon as she starts singing I have a question: is this voice a real Mitsuki voice or result of transformation. With another plain but suitable actress it would not be a problem. And because of this problem I'm feeling something wrong and can't stand one single cd and two song gig. Nevertheless I enjoyed, for me it's not something special, but interesting. Otherwise I'd drop it. (But frankly speaking even if I set two from ten it doesn't mean I had no pleasure) To be honest I realized that I wouldn't like it before start. It's not my type, because I like large casts story, it's not something usual for anime from the start of the century. My goal was to understand how they did it before, if you understand. inim said: I've followed the career of idol band Babymetal very closely (which started for them at ages 12, roughly), and the idol industry does the same things the Western music industry does. The difference is that they are more honest about it. An idol is expected to be "raw material" for the company producing them (also personified in a single person in the show). Of course there are dozens of professionals behind any idol, doing all the real work including writing songs. 30 minute shows with just a handful of songs, full playback and cheap production values are the norm or beginners, Babymetal did unspeakably cheap stuff early on. The Western ideal is that of a genius artist with inspiration and creative talent, but 9 in 10 probably are not different from idols. The Japanese just have less shame talking about it, maybe part of their group think vs. our individualism. I made my investigation in japanese idol culture and can say I don't like it (not a band or idoru anime, but real idol culture). Yamakan tried to show this in the Wake Up Girls. But I had a ticket to the Babymetal gig (but wasn't there because of another gig in the same date) inim said: As for the songs, in FMwS the rather unique thing is that the voice actress was picked for her singing skills. Myco only made this one show, she is a musician turned VA and not one of the many VAs turned musician. That makes the songs as good as they are, of course out of reach for a real 12/16 year old girl. It's literally magic :) Long story short, it feels as if we watched the same show. The difference is suspension of disbelief, something I did right in episode 1. I can feel your pain if you didn't do that, there is a lot of "childish realism" and "fairy tale logic" going on. No pain. When I write a long essay about something it doesn't mean I have butthurt (but sometimes it is). Vice versa usually I have a lot of impressions about everything I've watched, but can't put into words. I write a lot about disappointing idol anime or about something you mentioned recently. I wanted to write more about Komi-san, because manga is harmful and remind me the first arc of Koe no Katachi if it would be a comedy. Why not, deaf girl appeared in the school and everyone have fun. Also why is she 'can't communicate'? She has no problem with writing, but can't speak. But I can't understand what is the reason of this manga popularity. Even Komi-san is not an interesting person. |
filifjonkan said: I have taken a stroll along the darker side of the anime-series for a while now. I have watched Cross Ange, Elfen Lied and Paranoia Agent. And to that list, I can now add Puella Madoka, a very dark series up there among other dark and classical series. A dialogue series as it may be, it caught and kept my interest for the whole 12-episodes series. I can highly recommend to watch it. While it's not a series, but it's dark. Disturbingly dark. Check out the movie Shoujo Tsubaki aka Midori. The creator had to have had a very twisted mind when he wrote it |
| |
Kuri-cha said: But way more than that is the difficulty I have rating certain shows. I suck at (and hate) tacking a number to anime/manga that have mixed results. Like, season 1 of the Soul Eater anime or the Grace Field arc of The Promised Neverland manga were phenomenal for me, and I’d recommend them in a heartbeat, but my feelings for what followed in each are… lukewarm at the very best. This is one of the reasons I prefer to do my tracking on AniDB. Their database is frequently more up to date and mostly lists the episodes individually (at least I haven't found one that didn't do so). Plus, if you want to, you are able to rate the individual episodes on a scale of 1-10 with the option to do it in half steps if you want. Or if you just want to rate the series as a whole, you can do that too. If you do your viewing via streaming or with pre-recorded media, such as VHS or DVD, you will have to mark it manually, but they have a number of different tracking software that work quite well (most of the time) with the majority of the fan-subbed anime. Most of their trackers work off the CRC of the files, rather than the file name like MAL, so not only are you able to track the anime, you are able to track which subbing groups are better than others. Their forums are like here and there are clubs as well, but for chatting I prefer here. They tend to be a tad snobbish over there, I feel. |
| |
| @Kuri-cha @OrlahEhontas funny enough, for me having this review board where I can expand on my thoughts and give shows a slightly more refined score (ie low, mid/solid or high for any numerical score) is very helpful. I always find it hard on those borderline shows, a high 7 or a low 8 and it's very hard to describe why some make it into an 8 and others don't, but at least i have somewhere i can jot down my thoughts. This is very useful as time goes by and I can look back and see how i scored a show from a year ago. I just don't have the time or energy to set up a new anime a/c on AniDB even thought the scoring system is better. |
|
| Hi minna-san. I recently finished Monoke, XXHolic and Nana . None of them fully satisfied at the final but I was fascinated by the extraordinary animation illustrations and the originality of the stories. I am open to your suggestions for anime in these styles whose drawings smell old and are autonomous.  |
umie_dakaraFeb 7, 2022 2:34 AM
|
| Fruits Basket: The Final (2021) - a final season that delivered handsomely on all the character development from the first two seasons. Powerful, heart felt and emotional. It felt to me as if the first two seasons set up everything, like a set of dominoes, and during the final season we got to admire the spectacle of the dominoes come crashing down one after the other. There was a slight pacing issue for a couple of the side characters, but all the main story lines were resolved in a very gratifying manner. The romance, which has bubbled along for the first two seasons came into it's own this final season and was so well written, not the usual shoujo fare of dramatic confessions (it did have these later), beating rivals, but simply people finally able to say to the person they love how they feel, and not because they have been unable to communicate, or been misunderstood as is so often the case with shoujo and shounen romance. Real love depicted with empathy and feeling. The choice of the zodiac myth was inspired for this author, they used it to augment already frayed and unhealthy interpersonal relationships and this was the main crux of the show (I don't want to elaborate in case of spoiling). The author explored all manner of various main and secondary cast members and their relationships (family, friendship and bonds, romance) in such a manner that I couldn't look away and found myself absorbed by this show for it's entire duration. The animation was consistently decent throughout all 3 seasons, not amazing but it did it's job, allowing comedic moments with chiibi versions of the characters as well as gorgeous, sweeping landscapes to sit side by side. The OST and ED/OP were a real strong point for FruBa, delicate piano and violin pieces gave depth and poignancy where needed to devastating effect in this final season with it's emotional climax. Overall a superb franchise. I can see why it's fans are so fond of this adaption and would highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. I can't wait for the prequel movie. A solid 9/10. |
23feanorFeb 7, 2022 2:37 AM
|
| The Squid Girl (2010) - a comedy show about a squid girl who decides to invade the land and conquer humans due to our pollution of the ocean. Squid Girl first meets the inhabitants of a beach cafe and decides this will be a good starting point for her invasion and never leaves. Each episode comprises 3 stories. Lots of slap stick and parody of the usual anime tropes. Light and breezy fun, with added squid and sea related jokes and puns. A mid to high 6/10. Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (2021) - this was a strange mix of SoL, romance and fantasy adventure. The show begins with two parallel stories, the first involving the main character Red, who leaves the heroes party to begin a slow life in the boonies. The secondary plot shows small portions of the heroes party after Red leaves and their progress fighting against the demon lord. The first few episodes are mainly SoL, with Red finding his place in Zoltan, an out of the way trading village. Next few episodes see an old comrade in arms of Red's arrive, Rit, who decided to quit her kingdom for a simple life, and for Red. The romance portion of the show was really well done, in a similar manner to Tonikawa, pure wholesome romance with actual affection and very little fan service just for the sake of it (for example we see Rit and Red get a double bed and witness the first night where they lie and talk, but nothing else, they decide to leave naughty business for the next night, which happens off screen). The final portion of the show sees both story lines come together as Rit and Red are swept up in the actions of the heroes party for a decent action packed final couple of episodes. Decent animation and art style for the fantasy world, particularly the SoL episodes and passable action scenes. This show managed to get a lot into it's run time and it never felt too forced or rushed. I'd also point out this is not an isekai, just a straight fantasy, although there are some unexplained RPG elements that don't make much sense to anime only viewers, but i get what's going on. Light OST for the fantasy vibe worked fine, real stars were the OP and ED, a Japanese folk sound. Overall a well constructed mix of fantasy, romance and SoL, some of my favourite genres, a mid to high 7/10. Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb (2012) - the 4th and final season of Hidamari Sketch. This felt like a farewell final season, with reoccurring characters making a final appearances and the girls saying farewell to each other as the seniors Hiro and Sae graduate. Not quite as strong and imaginative as the 2nd season but full of artsy fun and cozy kotasu chats that give you that warm fuzzy feeling this franchise does so well. Still quite a few nude bath scenes, but done without nipples. You can see director Shinbou's camera angles at work leading the eye in the bath scenes, which are one of the only things i don't think work in Hidamari. Animation, art style and OST exactly the same as previous seasons. I'd been saving this final season and it's hard to say farewell to these characters I've grown so fond of, especially the flamboyant teacher with the squeaky shoes Yoshinoya-sensei. Only one OVA left, sob sob. A mid 8/10. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010) - whenever I expressed my lukewarm opinion of the Haruhi series people would always tell me to watch the movie and that it redeems the series, especially that god awful endless eight debacle. So i sat down and watched this movie, and to my delight all the elements i actually liked from the first season were present again in a compelling story with good twists. I've always found Nagato much more interesting than Haruhi (who i find very annoying), so really liked that she was a large part of the movie. A solid conclusive ending that addresses many of the failures of the series, notably Kyon's annoying reluctance and his feelings for Haruhi, which were hinted at the beginning of the first season and then never mentioned again. KyoAni brought their A game with the movie quality animation and a subtle OST rounded off a very good film. Have added the Nagato alternate version as I wouldn't mind seeing more of her some day. A low 8/10. |
23feanorFeb 14, 2022 12:46 AM
|
|
| |
| So I last month I decided I wanted to check out Black Clover and the easiest way was to subscribe to Funimation UK. So I did so for a month and it cost £5, so being a Yorkshireman I decided to get my moneys worth and watch as much as possible, a good idea at first.......... Black Clover: Shounen Jump Title where the MC lives in a world of magic but has none. He want's to become wizard king cos thats how these go and gets a grimore that gives him anti magic. A standard shounen, with some fun moments, good humour and a Chad called Yami. The manga-ka was clearly a big fan of the 'big three' but has a writing style similar to 'Hiro Mashima.' Not the best battle shounen, but pretty fun for entertainment, a high 6/10. Sakura Quest: The one work show by PA I somehow missed. Countryside girl moves to Tokyo to get away from the country, ends up finding it difficult to get a job until she is mistakenly offered a gig as Queen of the Kingdom of Chupakabura, a tourist spot in the countryside. It also happens to last a year and includes trying to bring more tourists into the area. PA Work original doing what they do best, a solid 7/10 Tales of Zesteria the Cross: Based on the game, which I've played. Unfotable visuals, based on a game from a the long running Tales of series. Human raised by spirits, becomes a 'Shepard' whose role it is to save the world with some of said spirits. Fun, good visuals, some twists on the game and some naive moments, a low 6/10. My Senpai is Annoying: Show from last season I missed. Small woman is annoyed by her massive supervisor at work, because he treats her like a kid at times. The guy is a man amougst men and she slowly seems to be falling for him, while he acts like her dad. There's another couple development amongst the workplace too, which is fun to watch too. A good comedy and heartwarming series, a low 7/10 Chobits: A 2002 series I've meant to watch for years. In a world where computers are actually robots, [Persocoms] from tiny keychain stuff toy types to full grown waifu, a countryboy comes to the city to go to college. He has zero knowledge of technology and can't afford even the cheapest persocom, but finds the ultimate waifu one in a pile of rubbish. This series has that vibe only shows from 2002-2006 had, from animation style, to music and effects, a high 7/10. Dimension W: In a world where fossil fuels have been replaced by energy from another dimension, [which is stored in coils], where the company in control is called New Tesla Energy, lives a lone man who stands against progress and still uses petrol cars...... wait is this the actual future....... The lone man's job is to deal with fake coils, until a robot that thinks it's a real girl end up in his life and he sets about solving the mystery of his past. A solid action sci-fi series which was a fun watch, a low 7/10 Restaurant to Another World: In another world a mysterious door opens once every seven days and beyond that door is...... a Japanese Western Restaurant. Series about fantasy world characters falling in love with Japanese food. A chill watch, a low 6/10 Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious: Isekai where a hero is brought forth by a goddess to save a world from a demon world. A not funny comedy [trying to be Konosuba] where the hero trains like mad before doing anything, which suddenly hits the brakes towards the end to get serious in an odd and frankly mismatched twist, 4/10 BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense: Fantasy series where a girl who knows little about games joins a mmo, maxes out her defence stats and keeps getting op abilities and breaking the system. She isn't even stuck in the game so it goes from overpowered lowstakes, to no stakes. Honestly this show is trash, 3/10 |
| “I just spent the last two years thinking that you guys knew more than me about life and I just found out that you guys are just as dumb as me.” “Duh-doy.” “Yeah, duh-doy.” |
| Usually I have a several reviews, but today I want to show you a hidden gem. And I can't hold it anymore, because I will watch rwby(offtopic) after. Gekidol Actidol Project genre: everything. Sci-fi detective in a slice-of-life setting about school idols, who plays in the theater with elements of horror, action, mahou shoujo and Ayanami Ren. And it's only for the first three episode. Small recap. Girls play in the theater, for a sake of profit they turn to idol (flashback, ecchi). Beign absolutely innovative they named themself gekidol. As a proof of something absolutely new they starts their old play (flashbacks, Alice died). They must gather three and a half thousand spectators, otherwise they will lose their theater and they did it without problems (yuri, flashbacks), Izumi got fired because she lost to a doll in kendo and Kaworu (don't ask me) disappears because of it. (flashhback). In an abandoned school they open a new theater and start a play from the source of the diary that explains everything I mentioned before, which was written by the time traveller Miki (aka Kaworu, aka Kyouko). Happy ending, Alice is alive Perfect 3/10 |
| Far as what I completed recently: Cagaster of an Insect Cage - 7/10 Post-apocalyptic anime about a mysterious disease that mutates humans into giant insects. Story's competent exploring its two main characters and more being fleshed out about them, including a shock twist with the female lead's origins. Nothing too groundbreaking with the plot and not a fan of much of the CG animation used. But was a decent time-killer. Domestic Girlfriend - 3/10 Just what I wanted to see? A literal dumpster fire. Bland and unlikeable characters, combined with trying to ride off the apparent shock value of its controversial premise, makes this a rather frustrating series to watch through. |
ggultra2764Feb 17, 2022 5:11 PM
| Kanamemo (2009) - a cgdct show with a distinct yuri flavour. We follow Kana who after the death of her grandma, and last remaining relative, finds a home and work at a newspaper, delivering papers. The setting of a newspaper was quite interesting tbh with the usual supporting cast of various female tropes, including the chief who's still in grade school, looks the spitting image of Renge from Non Non Biyori and acts like the only adult. Kanamemo has some of the best and worst yuri writing and characters all wrapped up in one show. One of the girls living and working at the newspaper is the typical onee-san type, Haruka, obsessed with two things, sake and young girls (aged 8-15 she specifies regularly). If she were a guy she'd be that fat otaku stereo type who idolises young girls and it's just as creepy when it's a girl. In every scene with Haruka she is completely over the top and it gets very annoying quickly. Then we have an open lesbian couple, Yuuki and Yume, who sleep in the same bed, kiss and cuddle in public and which the writers makes sure you know get up to naughty stuff in bed. But no one ever makes a derogatory or negative comment about the couple, or the fact it's not socially acceptable in modern Japan to flaunt a same sex relationship, or even really remarks on the couple in any way. Yuuki and Yume are sweet together and clearly very much a picture of young love The show has an ecchi tag but no idea why, there's imagined yuri fantasies and a couple of bath scenes, but they're so heavily censored i wouldn't call it fan service. Animation had a slightly slapdash feel, a bit rough around the edges but it gave the show added charm. The character designs are fairly bug eyed. Unremarkable OST but very catchy ED. High 6/10. Sister's Log: Moyako's Never-ending Monologue (2014) - a short 3 episode OVA about an older sister, Moyako, who is convinced her brother has an older sister complex, and believes he's a siscon. We get a view into Moyako's inner monologue and her obsession with her brother and her perception that he adores her (which all started when he mentioned marrying her when they were very young). Some pretty funny imagined fantasies and awkward situations, topped off with a good performance by the VA for Moyako. Nice animation to boot, a mid 6/10. Strawberry Marshmallow OVA (2007) - a 3 episode OVA continuing where the first season left off. Cute, rambunctious, shy and at times annoying group of girls, headed up by an older sister who manages and looks after them, despite her continuous smoking and lazying about. Theme of the OVA was finding utopian moments in the every day activities of our lives and with those closest to us. Good animation and OST, mid to high 6/10. |
23feanorFeb 20, 2022 11:13 PM
|
|
inimFeb 20, 2022 5:49 PM
| |
| Cardcaptor Sakura (1998) - this franchise is the epitome of a magical girl show and gets everything right. Like Slayers (fantasy), One Piece (adventure) or Hunter x Hunter (shounen battle), CCS hits all the right notes on story, magic, vibe, music and characters. It has all types of relationships seen from a child's perspective (a rose tinted perspective maybe), but touching upon a huge range of subjects from the more common anime fare of family, school, love interests and the supernatural, to the more unusual for a PG rated show of same sex crushes and teacher/student relations without missing a beat. Despite having watched plenty of anime, I have to admit that I had preconceived ideas about CCS and that it looked childish and that romance with 11/12 year olds couldn't be worth my time. Oh how I was wrong. Some of the romance, especially later on, is lovingly and thoughtfully laid before the audience in such a way that I wonder why all writers can't deal with the subject with such emotion and tact. Moments like Sakura's confession to Yuktio and his considered response, along with her acceptance, were genuinely touching and shining template for how young love, even a crush or infatuation, can be conveyed without overblown melodrama or relying on exaggerated reactions or the usual tropes we've all seen so many times before. I don't think I've ever shipped two guys whilst watching a show, so CCS has been a first, with the tender loving relationship between Yukito and Touya, something I wasn't expecting. They seemed to fit together so well and written without a trace of the relationship being anything other than pure, compared to the often debauched and unhealthy male relationships in a lot of yaoi (not that I've seen much to be fair, although unhealthy relations abound in a lot of anime, not just yaoi). One aspect I admired was the voice acting. I discovered that Sakura was voiced by an 11 year old and I was surprised at just how big a difference this made in subtle ways. Something I noticed was reactions to situations and how voicing the reaction can frame the connotations of the interaction. For example, Tomoya often records Sakura's exploits on her video camera and Sakura is always embarrassed by this. The reaction to this attention is genuine bafflement mixed with embarrassment, however, when similar situations are usually voiced in anime (English or Japanese) we hear an over reaction as if the subject is aware of the adult implications that we as the audience label such attention put on one girl by another girl. This thought process is absent in the voicing of an innocent 11 year VA and it comes through in her performance, adding something that is often missing; genuine innocent youthful behaviour. Most magical girl shows use the transformation sequence as a time saving device, pretty and useful but only using one transformation over and over again each and every episode. However, Clamp go above and beyond, having Sakura in a different outfit every time she transforms. It's as if they're saying "here's how it's done properly" to the anime industry and their creative talent oozes out in all the small details. One of the small ways which set this show apart from other magical girl franchises. The supernatural element of the show, the Clow Cards (later Sakura Cards) were masterfully employed with ingenious magical mischief and mayhem introduced for Sakura and her friends to solve each episode. Every day items, people and places were used, but it never felt boring. A lot of anime rely on far away magical places or people, or escalating shounen fights to keep the audience entertained, but Clamp turn the everyday into something special. The animation knows what it does well and concentrates its resources on the transformations, magic and fight scenes, at the expense of noodle arms/legs in many shots for the characters. Nice backgrounds and colour palette. OST and sound design is solid, as expected from a longer running show from a big studio, from catchy tunes, to beautiful vocal insert songs and sound effects during fights and comedic moments. I wish that my younger self could have seen a show like this when I was a kid, I would have loved it. I can't say enough good things about this show, if you haven't seen it (and don't mind stories aimed primarily at children but with some more adult themes woven in) then try it. I started CCS on a whim but was quickly won over by it's charm. A very high 8/10. Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 1 (1998) - this film takes place during the Clow Card arc and brings Sakura and co to Hong Kong for action and magic. As expected of a film production, the animation was more crisp than the tv series and looked really good, especially the magical fight scenes over the Hong Kong skyline and inside a water temple. The English dub was awful. The entry on mal has the same VA as the tv series listed but it was a completely different set of inferior VA (unless there are 2 versions of the English dub that I'm unaware of, ie a 2nd 4kidz version that i was watching), and they changed the names of some characters; Tomoya became Madison, Touya became Tori and Yukito became Julian, ughhh, so I switched to the sub version after 10 mins. Low to mid 7/10. xxxHOLIC (2006) - a supernatural series from Clamp which follows Watanuki, a young highschool guy who is able to see spirits and is constantly bothered by them as they are often attracted to him. He finds himself working in a supernatural shop that grants wishes, for a price, run by the enigmatic Yuuko, who promises to help Watanuki with his affinity for the supernatural. The story is episodic along along the lines of shows like Natsume's Book of Friends and Monogatari series, with Watanuki and Yuuko helping customers who have various strange supernatural occurrences. For me Yuuko was the star attraction of this show. She's a sultry vixen who wields her sexuality, allure and beauty like a master swordsman would a fine blade. She is the a very powerful witch, who knows her own mind and displays uncanny wisdom, with a touch of mischief, frivolity and melancholy about her. She enjoys drinking heavily and smoking; combined together, she makes the picture of an alluring lady to a young teenager, unattainable but achingly beautiful and not just in her looks. And to top it off she was voiced by Colleen Clikenbeard, whose husky voice captivates me. And she's a witch with a cool dress sense, always in something stylish. The animation was pretty simple, especially the character designs, which were blocky and elongated, in the Clamp style, with little or no shading or highlighting. That is except Yuuko, who still had the elongated body but intricate and lavish clothes. The OST was often slow and sonorous and helped to create a good supernatural and eery vibe, with lots of piano and string pieces. Clamp know how to tug on the heart strings and this series dealt with more adult themes of tragedy, death, deceit and betrayal to mostly good effect. Some of the stories just felt weird, creepy and twisted, whereas others offered genuine insight into the human condition and the nature of our time here together, and were very moving. This was contrasted with Watanuki and his classmate Doumeki, and his crush Himiwari, whose interactions were mostly comedic in nature and used to lighten the tone of the show, along with Yuuko herself. This mix sometimes worked but not always and Watanuki's awkward nature towards Doumeki was rather annoying and unbelievable at times. I enjoyed this series a lot, mostly because of Yuuko, and thus found it difficult to score. It isn't quite as good a supernatural story as Natsume's Book of Friends, but close so scored it a very high 7/10. Run with the Wind (2018) - a sports anime based on a university dorm of 10 guys that band together to run a famous college race, the Hakone Ekiden, a 10 stage race. The show has good camaraderie and moderately realistic training and goals for the team, plus a good mix of interpersonal drama and tension sprinkled in. Good animation and backgrounds, the main attraction for me was the OST, which elevated the impact of the show. I haven't seen many sports anime so don't have much to compare this show with, however, it didn't reach the heights of Haikyuu for me and felt more like a sports anime mixed with drama and SoL moments. The bond between the 10 guys running together as a team, how they come together and the obstacles they faced were the core element of the show. Overall, i enjoyed this show but i felt it didn't capitalise on the early promise it showed during the first portion of the show. A high 7/10. Edens Zero (2021) - a new sci-fi space adventure from the author of Fairy Tail. Edens Zero (EZ) has many of the trademark aspects of Fairy Tail and it's characters (ie, shounen battle formula, adventure and theme of friends together) but set in space instead of a magical world. Our lead characters are Shiki, a boy brought up by robots, who is the off spring of the demon lord (not an actual demon lord, but a robot demon lord, confusing, I know) with ether power. And his buxom female companion is Rebecca, a b-cuber (clearly Hiro Mashima [HM] is cashing in on the current trend of v-tubers and twitch streamers) whose best friend is none other than Happy, a cat character from FT (who is the best friend of FT lead character, Natsu Dragneel). They join a group of androids and together journey through the Sakura cosmos (yes there are floating cherry blossom petals in space) looking for adventure. Doesn't get more shounen than that. Sadly it doesn't have the charm of FT and although in some areas of the over arching story writing, HM seems to have learnt from the many flaws in FT's story, he still relies on gratuitous fan service and terrible villains. We see one villain collect naked women to turn into furniture, making them submit mind, body and soul first, the literal definition of the mind-control or mind-break hentai tag (clearly intentional). Another villain has a paralysing weapon, that he delights in telling people, he uses to subdue pretty girls and then torture and violate them. FT was known for it's vivacious and sexy character designs and fan service, but not to this blatant extent. It's a bit hard to judge this show completely, as it's only the first portion (25 episodes) of what will end up being a long running shounen, like FT, DBZ or Black Clover. When i started similar longer running shounen shows such as Black Clover, DBZ, Hunter x Hunter 2011 or One Piece, i certainly wasn't invested or won over within 25 episodes, but over time grew to enjoy each of them. So I'm going to keep an open mind and see where EZ goes and how it develops, as manga readers have said later story arcs get significantly better, well they can't get much worse tbh. HM has laid some good foundations for an epic space adventure, with some inventive twists so far, so I can tell he is working at improving his underlying story and plot, something FT often failed at. Despite bashing HM and EZ, i loved some of FT's arcs, it's world building, magic systems, villains, aesthetic and actually re-watched some of it last year. FT has great magic shounen fights and engaging characters, so if Hiro Mashima can bring the same level of care to his new work, whilst improving upon his failings (namely the big picture and wider story structure, not just the immediate fights and villains our crew face) then this could become a moderately decent space adventure. Poor modern digital animation (compared to FT anyway), with some nice rare still images and the occasional grand space background. Character design is the same as FT, so if you liked them you'll like these characters. Loads of FT rip offs, from names to characters, HM dropping them into the story with a wink and a nudge to the audience, often falls flat on its face. One other interesting observation I had comparing EZ and FT concerns the OST. FT has a great theme song, that plays during pivotal fight and emotional climax scenes. EZ doesn't have one, in fact the OST can't make up it's mind whether to use rock or electronic sounds and it made a big difference to my enjoyment whilst watching. This show just had enough to keep me interested, and I loved FT, so will watch the next season when it eventually airs in the hope it gets better, but poor so far compared to FT. A mid 6/10. Minna Agechau (1987) - I often hear people in mal forums complain about anitubers, but I have to give credit where it's due. Recently I've watched a few anituber videos that have convinced me to pick up series (or pick them up sooner) and every time I've been glad I did. I came across a video by hazel on the OVA Minna Agechau and how it caused a commotion and was cancelled when it was due to first be released in the USA in 1991. It convinced me to pick up this saucy OVA. The other instance I had recently with an anitubers recommendation was Phenom Sage and his delightful video on Idolmaster, I'm only 5 episodes in so far but, his enthusiastic praise for the series appears well deserved. hazel has also done a great analysis video on the 1995 Tenchi Muyou tv series, which I wasn't sure about after only catching the OVA's so far. So Minna Agechau is in your face saucy from the get go, where we see our MC, Rokuro ejaculating onto his own face. Our main female lead, Yuno, sees this from an opposite block of flats through binoculars and goes to offer herself to him, as you do. We then follow Rokuro and Yuno as they deal with her rich and crazy family in the form of her mothers vaginal strengthening lessons, Yuno's quest for an orgasm and her grandmothers personal army trying to keep them apart. This OVA made me cringe and chuckle in equal parts, saucy humour but I liked it. Animation was neat and detailed with good OST including insert song. Older style character designs, but overall a nice aesthetic. A high 6/10. I enjoy older OVA series so any recommendations welcome. I've already picked up a few from @inim like Gall Force franchise, Vampire Princess Miyu from @OrlahEhontas and have added Dominion Tank Police Force, but there are so many out there not sure where to look. |
23feanorMar 4, 2022 6:40 AM
|
| @23feanor Just a few you might like: Aozora Shoujotai, Armitage III, both versions of Battle Athletes, the Burn-Up franchise, and the A-Ko franchise. Got more, but that's a start.☺ |
| |
23feanor said: Given your preference for comedy, ecchi and fantasy, you probably enjoy those. Also got a lot more, but let's keep it simple.I enjoy older OVA series so any recommendations welcome. I've already picked up a few from @inim like Gall Force franchise, Vampire Princess Miyu from @OrlahEhontas and have added Dominion Tank Police Force, but there are so many out there not sure where to look. https://myanimelist.net/anime/2196/Genmu_Senki_Leda - First isekai ever, and not the worst https://myanimelist.net/anime/4003/Dream_Hunter_Rem - Ass kicking 80s girl with amzaingly well written stories. First intended as hentai (first episode exists in two cuts), but sold so well they made it a regular franchise. https://myanimelist.net/anime/870/Dragon_Half - Over-sugared and hilarious. And then there's old comedy hentai genre (RIP), which by today's standards is not hentai anymore. There are some amazingly funny gems in that genre and it's worth to watch at least one to be "in the know". https://myanimelist.net/anime/5259/Rance__Sabaku_no_Guardian - Funniest tentacle rape scene ever made, I rarely laugh loud when watching shows. There I did. https://myanimelist.net/anime/1331/Dragon_Pink - Lesser version of Rance, still entertaining. https://myanimelist.net/anime/1558/Yarima_Queen (far more explicit than the above two, but ... "mkay, drugs are bad" grade crazy) |
| |
| @inim @OrlahEhontas thanks for the suggestions ^_^ Dragon Half (1993) - a short 2 episode fantasy OVA about a half human, half dragon girl called Mink, who wants to see her idol, Dick Saucer, sing at his concert. The king and his minions want Mink captured and killed for being part dragon, shenanigans ensue. Tongue in cheek parody with over the top slapstick humour. Animation was either deformed chiibi style or normal animation with gorgeous fantasy backgrounds you may expect to see on the dust jacket of a old fantasy novel. Low 6/10. |
23feanorMar 5, 2022 8:32 AM
|
23feanor said: Dragon Half (1993) - a short 2 episode fantasy OVA about a half human, half dragon girl called Mink, who wants to see her idol, Dick Saucer, sing at his concert. The king and his minions want Mink captured and killed for being part dragon, shenanigans ensue. Tongue in cheek parody with over the top slapstick humour. Animation was either deformed chiibi style or normal animation with gorgeous fantasy backgrounds you may expect to see on the dust jacket of a old fantasy novel. Low 6/10. Sadly, that is one of those OAVs that I've seen and thought had promise but for some reason was never taken to the end. Couple others were Elf Princess Rane and Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman. |
| |
| Arcane (2021) - so, this series isn't on mal, and I initially didn't pay it much attention when it dropped on Netflix a couple of months back. That is until I saw video after video praising this animated show based on the video game, League of Legends. My partner and I started watching a few weeks back and it is awesome, truly an amazing piece of entertainment. The animation, setting, OST, characters, story, Arcane hits the ground running in the first episode and never looks back. We began watching a month ago and since then have rationed ourselves to 2 episodes every Sunday. It's kept me hooked each week and may be the best piece of entertainment I've seen in the last year, anime or live action. The animation looks like cgi covered in a 2D skin and was stunning, game aesthetics in a tv series. The dystopian world with the mix of magic and tech, rich and poor succeeded in grabbing my attention and not letting go. Each episode was high octane action, but with characters you liked or hated, or admired. This show is a slam dunk 10/10, and it wasn't just me, my partner loved it every bit as much as I did. I can see why everyone that's seen it keeps talking about it. Can't recommend strongly enough. The writing and world building (an existing world from the game) were top notch. |
23feanorMar 7, 2022 3:24 AM
|
And looking at the cast and crew page, it has about as much chance of showing up here as Star Trek: Prodigy does. Not saying it isn't good (added it to my SideReel Tracker), but when I first started on this site MAL listed ThunderCats as an anime, so stranger things have happened.☺ Finished re-watching Aozora Shoujotai and enjoyed it just as much as I have the other 5-6 times I've watched it. Helps that there are usually 4-5 years between viewings so that it stays fresh.☺Cute girls flying mid- to high-tech (for the mid '90s) fighter jets and a vampire bat for a mascot. How can you go wrong? No combat missions (except in the MCs imagination) but some good exhibition flying visuals. Pretty typical fare for the '90s. Still a good solid 7/10 even after 5-6 viewings. inim said: https://myanimelist.net/anime/2196/Genmu_Senki_Leda - First isekai ever, and not the worst Minor quibble - Checking the isekai tag at AniDb, they list 4 other isekais that came out before that one. Mahou Shoujo Lalabel(technically a reverse isekai if I read the summary right), Seisenshi Dunbine(Aura Battler Dunbine), Choujikuu Seiki Orguss(Super Dimension Century Orguss) and God Mazinger. Haven't seen any of them, but a couple peaked my interest after reading the summaries. |
| |
|
| |
| @OrlahEhontas sorry I was a bit unclear about Arcane and mal, I meant that I was going to talk about Arcane even though it's not on mal, not "why is this show not on mal", kind of thing. It's such a good show I wanted somewhere to gush and recommend to others. I almost didn't pick it up and it ended up being the best show, anime or live action, I've seen in the last year, story is on par with Odd Taxi, that good. The iDOLM@STER (2011) - to date I've only seen idol adjacent shows like D4DJ and Lapis Re:Lights. An analysis video by Phenom Sage about Idolmaster brought this show to my attention last year, and his pure, unadulterated enthusiam for a show, and genre, he hadn't previously given any attention, piqued my interest. Then after watching Card Captor Sakura, another show I had preconceived notions about, I thought it might be past time to give a full-on idol show a chance. I wasn't disappointed. We follow the 12 girls, their producers, secretary and chief at 765 Productions as the girls get their idol careers up and running. I was impressed by just about everything this show offered, story, characters, animation and production. It was clearly lovingly produced and executed by A-1 studio, who often produce clean, smart animation and shows, but nothing with this all round high standard that I've seen. The story touches upon each girl at some point in the show, but it takes it's time and lets you get to know these girls. They are all easily recognisable and have a unique trait, but they come across as fleshed out people, rather than characters with tags attached to match a set stereotype (ie genki girl, shy girl, sexy girl etc). The show made me realise how tough it must be trying to coordinate a group of female teenagers and young adults, each with different personalities, backgrounds and personal reasons for becoming an idol. Each girl has her strengths but they work together, not just on their stage presence but as a group of friends and colleagues, together with their producers. They put me in mind of a net, each girl being a different thread, holding the whole piece together, so if one thread frays or breaks the others will hold together and help repair the break. The show made sure to showcase the background characters, who didn't always stand out most, but were the glue holding everyone together. The male producer was well written, he was caring and professional and never once did the show cheapen itself by delving into possible romantic liaisons as a plot device to create drama, despite half the girls having some sort of feelings for him. The story composition flowed as well as any for a large ensemble cast I've seen, including Fruits Basket, which had more time to flesh out it's story and large cast. Idolmaster took you on a whirlwind ride full of emotion, excitement and affection with a handful of truly top quality episodes. The first episode uses a cameraman to introduce the characters and setting (similar to Millennium Actress), a wedding episode has all the chaos and fun of a rom-com and Chihaya's episode about her brother bring all the feels of a full on drama. As you'd expect with an idol show, the music was a strong point for Idolmaster. There were a number of insert songs each episode, some longer and some very short as well as actual songs performed by groups and individuals. Not all the songs were good, but most were decent and some were terrific (Nemuri Hime by Chihaya Kisaragi). On top of that each ED was different and had episode themed animated stills. And the OST was as strong as the J-pop sound of the songs, with piano and violin bringing the mood and feeling when necessary. The main villain or rival idol production group were a bit flat and predictable, but that's my only real criticism of the show. After the opening episode I could feel myself being drawn into this show and wondering when I could watch the next episode. I felt myself, unwillingly to begin with, being drawn under the spell of the characters and their infectious charm and can see why the idol genre is so popular when produced with such passion as this show was. A polished production, Idolmaster drew me in and won me over, a low 9/10. If you're at all interested in this series I'd strongly recommend watching Phenom Sage's video on Idolmaster. He does a much better job at explaining why and how this show worked so well. Idolmaster has gone straight into my favourites and along with CCS, which I also saw recently, reminded me why I love being an anime fan and the range and depth that animated shows can deliver, when given a chance. Anime can surprise, delight and amaze in equal measure and I've been lucky in the shows I've picked up recently. I've added a couple of other top picks from the genre (Love Live:School Idol Project and Love Live: Superstar) to my ptw list. I believe we have a couple of idol fans in Later Years, so if there's any particularly noteworthy idol shows please let me know. Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower (2017) - a different route of Fate Stay Night/UBW where Sakura Mato is the main love interest and not worm food. I've always found the Fate characters a bit bland and one dimensional, but the story is another matter and always intriguing. This film version is no exception, in fact I think the different routes may lend themselves to a movie adaption better than tv series. Animation from studio utfotable was stunning, you can see them developing their style and aesthetic over time and constantly improving. Looking forward to picking up the new Demon Slayer series after watching this movie. Decent OST, rousing in places. Mid 7/10. xxxHOLiC The Movie: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005) - this film was essentially a feature length episode but with better animation. Same sexy Yuuko and same strong OST just takes this to a low 8/10. Garden of Words (2013) - a short film about two people who meet in strange circumstances during the rainy season and the impact they have on each other. Poignant and powerful with stunning animation, similar aesthetic to KyoAni and their film Tamako Love Market. Only my second Makoto Shinkai film, Your Name being the other, and I have to say I think this was better. It felt like a mood piece, where the visuals and dramatic piano OST combine perfectly to encapsulate the swirl of emotions of our main characters, echoed in the rainy and moody settings of the story, especially the weather. A very good short film, a mid 8/10. Kotaro Lives Alone (2022) - a SoL series from Netflix. We follow young Kotaro, a 4 year old at kindergarten who moves into an apartment complex and see his interactions with his neighbours as they react to this young kid living alone on their doorstep. This isn't a new idea, a young kid suddenly appears in a group of adults lives and radically changes their perspective on life, but this show did it very well. I initially thought it was supernatural in nature, such a mature kid living alone, but the truth is much harsher. This show has many punch in the gut moments, when the viewpoint of a child, so eloquently voiced, reaches into your soul and pinches you. For example, I had no idea that neglected children in Japan sometimes have to resort to eating tissues and household plants. This measure of last resort had never occurred to me, and wouldn't to most people who haven't experienced neglect and starvation. This show tackles some deep issues surrounding child neglect and domestic abuse but does it in a way that you can't look away, and Kotaro himself is adorable, as are his neighbours who all rise to the occasion and help out. A solid 8/10. Child of Kamiari Month (2021) - an animated film about a child, Kanna, who has recently lost her mother, only to later discover that she was an Idaten, and helped out with the yearly Izumo festival and meeting of the gods. Kanna goes on a supernatural adventure to deliver a precious cargo to the gods for their yearly meeting and learn about her recently deceased mother on the way. The supernatural adventure part of the film was ok, but the emotional parts felt a bit forced at times and tried too hard to hug on your heart strings (feels like this is aimed at children with repetitive themes of loss and acceptance). Animation was ok, nice at times but a long way from the gorgeous hand drawn anime of studio Ghibli, which this film will undoubtedly be compared to. A mid 6/10. Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Special (2022) - a special focused on Eris during the time in S2 when Rudy meets his dad again and they argue. We're introduced to a new character, Cliff the mage, who apparently has a larger role in the series later on. Cliff is mage like Rudy but comes from a poor background until he was plucked from obscurity by the church and given status and training as a mage for a faction of the church, who now aim to oppose the current pope. Extra word building, decent action, more Eris, same fantastic animation and OST, watching this special made me yearn for the next season. A high 8/10. |
23feanorMar 16, 2022 4:41 AM
|
| Air - This is one of those that I watched because everyone keeps recommending it to me. The best I can really say about it is "Visual Art's/Key" found a formula that worked for them and have finally beaten it to death". Formula is take one cute girl + assign an unknown deadly illness + find her someone to love her + kill her in the end = make everyone except cute girl (she's dead, remember?) miserable. After seeing Kanon, it's alternate (Kanon 2006) and the follow-on project (Clannad), you would think I had learned my lesson. Just goes to show even an old fart can screw up on occasion. Overall, the series was fair to middling in terms of story-line. All 3 of them. Yes, three. First arc is in modern times where we meet the cute girl, "love" interest, and "mother". Plus some additional characters to fill out the cast (or time, not sure which). The additional characters were interesting enough that I kept watching to see if they got filled out better. Sadly, they didn't. Second arc we go back in time (maybe? Never really determined if it was the past or different universe) and meet another cute girl (previous life maybe?) in trying circumstances, that never really get explained, that wind up killing her. Friends vow to keep her memory going. Third arc - back to modern times. "Love" interest has disappeared, and cute girl is now an amnesiac as well as ill. Where did he go? Sorry, they never really tell us, but we get an injured crow to replace him with (WTF?!?). Adoptive (sorta) mother has gone to girl's family to get custody and succeeds (YAY), only to have real father show up and wants custody after 10 years of ignorance (again, WTF?!?). "Mother" asks for 3 days to connect with girl. Things go downhill from there. Low 6.5/10:AniDB, 6/10:here And I hope I can remember not to watch anymore Visual Art's/Key anime. At least nothing based on a visual novel by them. Really nothing to recommend other than the soundtrack if you are looking for some relaxing tunes. |
| |
|
inimMar 18, 2022 10:08 AM
| |
| Worlds End Harem (2021) - the story takes place in a near future setting with advanced technology being more widespread and accessible. Our central MC, Reito, is put into a cold sleep to stave off his degenerative illness until a cure is found. When he wakes up he discovers an unfamiliar world populated by only women, and to be told he must copulate with as many of them as possible to secure the future of the human race. Any guys dream, so you'd think, but Reito has a sweetheart who he hopes is waiting for him. The story also follows another male, Shouta, who awakes from cold sleep to the same situation but takes a more measured approach to his new situation than Reito. Yes this sounds like a ploy to have lots of nude male fan service, and it is on the surface, but there is an under lying story (where did the virus originate, do the new world leaders have the best interests of the human species in mind, or do they simply want to upend centuries of a patriarchal society) that gets more interesting as the series progresses. Also fascinating to see how different guys deal with such an extreme situation and how their attitude changes over time with unlimited access to women and sex. Shouta's story line was the fan service one (he has a dedicated school setting where all the women vie for his affection), whereas Reito's story line was focused more on the world building and intrigue, and the one I preferred. Animation wasn't anything special, apart from the nude segments which made sure all the jiggly bits looked good. Better than I was expecting, a high 6/10. @inim you sold me on Boogiepop, a series I've heard about but never bothered looking into. Sounds like I'm not the only one that had issues with Space Dandy, i dropped S1, visuals were great but characters and story just felt wrong as you describe, it just didn't work for me. Non Non Biyori Nonstop OVA (2022) - the 13th episode of the last season and final farewell to this adorable show. This episode had a bit of everything, the girls, the countryside, the school and top of them all, Kaede (or Dagashi-ya to Renge) playing with baby Renge. Amazing photo-realistic animation that feels like a love letter to the countryside it shows, mixed with a soothing OST full of the recorder and slow string and piano create a perfect bucolic vibe, iyashikei anime at its best. I read in the comments that all the source material has been adapted for now and the final scene was one of a farewell, what an amazing franchise. Will miss these girls and their idyllic lives in the Japanese countryside. High 8/10. In the Land of Leadale (2022) - an isekai in the model of Overlord with a MC who remains in the game world after the servers have been turned off. In this instance the MC is a milf who has a bunch of grown up children spread over the game world who she hasn't seen for 200 years. The story was fairly fast paced with a number of events taking place each episode so it never felt stale or like the story was being dragged out. The MC, who was a bed ridden patient before she reincarnated into an RPG world, enjoys her new found freedom and wanders all around investigating and enjoying herself. Fun characters and character interaction, standard but nice animation and OST, high 6/10. |
23feanorMar 23, 2022 12:29 PM
|
| G.I.T.S.:SAC_2045 - I originally viewed this back in Oct '20, but forgot I had until today. One of these days they will get CGI animation to the point where it's a bit more realistic than it is in this series. Oh wait, they did in Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within. My bad... Can't even really blame it on the bank-roll of the studio, since this was backed by our friends at NetFlix. Hmm... Well, if you are looking for graphics that looks like they turned some teenager loose with a script and a copy of The Sims4 and told them to make a Ghost in the Shell series out of that, congrats. You found it! If not, at least stay for the story. If you're looking for a decent story, it's here. The overall story is pretty decent, if a little faded from use. It probably would have been better if the group that put this together had consulted with the original story creator, Masamune Shirow, but such is life. The action scenes are put together pretty well. If the story-line seems a bit confusing at first, it ties together later after re-introducing the characters and adding a couple new ones. Additionally, we get to find out what the Section 9 crew has been up to since the events in Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. Solid State Society and the state of the world as well. Hint: Not good... Gonna really have to wait for the sequel to come out this year to determine if the series will continue or get dropped into the black hole of obscurity. Final judgement, forgettable with a 5/10:AniDb - 5/10:MAL. The real killer to my rating is the poor use of CGI. Ghost in the Shell (1995) - went back and re-watched this for the umpteenth time, if for no other reason than to try and wash the above series out of my brain. Here we have everything that was missing from the above. Fascinating story-line, the independent development of an Artificial Intelligence that was created and exists outside of a computer mainframe. Good action with fairly believable sequences based on realistic expectations of technological advances. Admittedly, probably not in the next 5-10 years (or my lifetime), but someday, someday... Political motivations that read like tomorrow's headlines. Shirow had, by the time this was done, been refining his story telling to the point it is almost an art form. While I was watching this, I was struck by the number of similarities in production to one of my other favorites, Patlabor 2: The Movie so I went digging. Surprise (not really), the director, Oshii Mamoru, had done both of these along with Kawai Kenji doing the musical score for both. Now if I could just figure out who put the Basset Hound in both of them. ☺ Need to go revisit Patlabor 2 sometime soon... It still rates a 9/10:AniDb - 9/10:MAL score, even after all these years. |
| |
| Slow Loop (2022) - a cgdct show about fly fishing and two girls whose parents remarry and they become sisters. It's cute, some accurate fishing information and nice locations, plus lots of wholesome family interaction between the main two girls and the small local fishing community and their families. Simple character design, nice backgrounds for the outdoor settings. Unless you're fan of fishing like me, then I'd suggest Diary of our Days at Breakwater, which was another cgdct fishing show and better than Slow Loop in all aspects, apart from the wholesome family SoL element. A high 6/10. Tenchi Muyo Universe (1995) - a tv series of the popular OVA series with same characters (including all new partner for Mihoshi called Kiyone who doesn't appear in the OVA). Although I had this tv series on my radar and ptw list, I hadn't given it much thought and was more interested in the OVA series. Then I watched another anituber video by hazel which convinced me to give it a try and I agree with her that the tv series is superior on all fronts to the OVA, except the animation quality. The story is broken into 3 parts, firstly a SoL portion where we're introduced to the different characters and how they all come to live with Tenchi like an extended family, including some escapades and the perennial bickering between Ryouko and Aeka over Tenchi, which is often the cause of any unfortunate situation the group find themselves in. The next portion is a space adventure as the gang go on the run and end up at various locations. The final portion of the show is an action packed sci-fi story along with the lines of the OVA, Tenchi learns about his family past and must confront an evil aggressor. The show had good pacing and bit of everything, although for a show with the harem and romance tags there really isn't much romance. Watching the first couple of OVA series I hadn't developed any particular attachment to either of the female leads vying for Tenchi's affection, Ryouko and Aeka, but the tv series gives more time to both and I really like Ryouko's character; bluff, brash and forthright, she's certainly a handful, but also fun and impulsive. But underneath all that she's lonely and can be vulnerable. Animation wasn't as good as the OVA, but character designs were nice (each character had a bunch of different clothing styles and looks as the series progressed), sci-fi and pastoral Japanese countryside settings looked good and generally visually appealing. The OST had the trademark 90's electro pop and synth sound. The English OP was one of those tracks that I never skipped and had a sound that told me I was going to enjoy what came next. Same VA cast for the English dub, which I love, especially the husky VA for Ryouko and the high pitched VA for Aeka. Really good series with that 90's nostalgic feel and a bit of everything from SoL, comedy, romance and sci-fi/space action, a very high 8/10. My Dress Up Darling (2022) - a SoL rom-com centered on Gojou, a quiet aspiring Hina doll maker who has a passion for his art, and Marin Kitagawa, an active cosplayer with a vivacious personality. These two team up to make cosplay outfits, despite Gojou never having had a close friend before. What unfolds is genuinely sweet romance with lead characters whose interactions carry the show. This show is compared to Komi-san, Nagatoro and Uzaki in that it has an instant waifu that every guy loves, however, the lead male in Gojou is every bit as interesting as Kitagawa. He's a quiet high schooler who is panifully aware of his lack of social experience, but is absorbed with his craft that stretches his ability as an artist. This personality trait and his enthusiasm and love of his work shines through and makes a deep impact on Kitagawa, who has no one close to share her passion of cosplay with. The two are a perfect match and despite their different social standing at school and temperament, get closer. Gojou and Kitagawa are every bit as cute, shy, awkward and authentic as Nasa and Tsukasa from Tonikawa, and they aren't even dating or together yet. The author knows how to write a touching story of two people linked together and it's apparent in every scene choice and the dialogue that frame our view of these two. Animation is lovely and soft OST tops off the vibe of the show nicely. There is a lot of fan service and skin shown. Marin is outgoing and confident in her herself in way most girls her age, or older, rarely are, but it makes her so endearing. She's an exhibitionist, but also shy and gets embarrassed, the so called 'gap' between her gyaru looks and her private self. Top show of this Spring 2022 season, a high 8/10. Quack Experimental Anime Excel Saga (1999) - a crazy parody show that has no real story but themed episodes. We follow Excel and Hyatt, two members of the Across organisation that is trying to take over the world, starting with one city. The only show that this reminds me of is Paniponi Dash with it's out of the box approach to story telling and engaging it's audience, however Excel Saga takes it to a new level with repeated appearances by the director and author. Nice background animation applied with various normal, distorted and exaggerated character designs and character reactions. Simple but bouncy OST. Strong performance by the english dub cast, particularly Excel, despite her VA changing half way through. It was hard to score this show, it wasn't as good as Paniponi Dash, but I gradually grew to really enjoy each very different episode, never knowing what might happen. Mad, unpredictable, yet still engaging. If you don't like unstructured shows full of nonsense, then steer clear of Excel Saga. Low 7/10. Princess Connect Re:Dive Season 2 (2022) - the second season of PriConne following the four Gourmet Guild members, Yuuki, Kokkoro, Pecorine and Karyl and their adventures in the fictional land of Landosol. The story started off light and breezy in the same vein as season 1 but an underlying story quickly took over and built to an amazing action packed conclusion. PriConne has the same director as Konosuba and it shows in places, the camaraderie of the main four leads and the over exaggerated reaction faces we see, however, this show managed to get a lot more drama and serious moments into the final portion of this show than I've ever seen in Konosuba. Great sound design for the battles and magic, similar epic feel to Megumin's 'explosion' from Konosuba. As I've been watching shows like Akebi Sailor's Uniform and Dress Up Darling this season, often lifted up as examples of good quality modern animation (admittedly both from one studio, Cloverworks), I've been wondering what my favourite style of modern digitally produced animation is. The answer is pretty close to what PriConne delivers (Mushoku Tensei is an obvious other). The visual aesthetic for this show is so vivid, full of colour and detail. Both background settings and character designs are equally appealing (Kokkoro went into my favourite character list when I saw season 1 and hasn't left, i adore her cute look with the flower in her hair, not to mention her 'meep' reaction face when something bad happens). I realise that having a mobile game as the source material gives the animators a slight advantage in terms of visually stunning character and world design, but the show production brought it to life as a show. Good OST with a solid theme piece that plays during crucial moments. Very high 8/10. Taisho Otome Fairytale (2022) - a SoL rom-com with a historical touch being set in the Taisho era. Tamahiko is a self proclaimed pessimist after being shunned and outcast by his father and rich, but cold, family merely for being involved in a car accident that killed his mother and left him crippled in his right arm. Tamahiko, at 17, is sent to live out his life in a distant villa on a mountain. His father arranges for him to have help in the form of an arranged bride, that the father bought in exchange for a debt he was owed. Yuzuki then arrives into Tamahiko's life and starts looking after, and reviving him, and the story follows the two of them as they get closer and fall in love. This show has a similar tone to Tonikawa or Horimiya with a more adult feel for the romance (despite the actual teenage age of the lead couple), but with more drama. Very cute and heart warming with a SoL feel for most of the show but with emotional and dramatic moments thrown in, especially in the final few episodes. Yuuki comes like a spring storm with her cheerful attitude, trusting nature and smiles and changes everyone she meets, particularly Tamihiko. Mix of animation styles, one with chibi forms mainly used for interactions between Yuzuki and Tamahiko, and for comedic effect, but a more detailed style with water colour effect was also used. This second more detailed style, with clearer lines, worked well with the historical setting. Lovely above average OST with a traditional Japanese sound employing string instruments, orchestral and vocal arrangements well. There were also a few beautiful Japanese folk songs inserted. OST was good enough that you could listen to it as a relaxing soundtrack without the anime. Very high 7/10. Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (2022) - an all round good isekai show centred around Tachibana and Jinguuji who get whisked off to another world by a goddess of love, who responds to Tachibana's drunken wish to become a beautiful woman when they arrive in the new world. On reading the synopsis before it aired i thought this would be a gender bender isekai and wrote it off. I sheepishly have to admit that the central pair of Tachibana and Jinguuji, who have a long complex relationship as two guys, is fucking hilarious and made me laugh every episode. It wasn't just them though, the whole show comes off as a neat, compact, self aware, well created package of a show, from the world building, the nutty characters (including a Kirito knock off), visuals and OST. A barrel of laughs, low 8/10. On the subject of isekai, I recently watched this video on the recent trend of decent, and most importantly different isekai that seem to be getting produced. I've always liked isekai as it has a core fantasy and magic appeal, however after years of cut and copy pastes (eg Isekai Cheat Magician, In Another World with my Smartphone, Wise Man's Grandchild) we've started to get a noticeable change in the types of isekai shows that are coming through to production. As the video elaborates, this is due to the origin of the source for most isekai, which used to all come from one website and has now shifted. Most anime fans are aware of the big isekai shows like Slime isekai, Mushoku Tensei, Re: Zero & Shield Hero, and we're still getting the same boring, bland isekai coming through (eg Hero with the Weakest Crest, Spirit Chronicles, Fruit of Evolution), but now we're getting a variety of types of isekai, such as Welcome to Demon School Iruma, Slime 300, Ascendance of a Bookworm, Faraway Paladin, Tsukimichi Moonlit Fantasy, Realist Hero, Dungeon of Black Company, Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent, Assassin isekai, Fabiniku. These all have unique hooks, aspects, worlds or characters that have made them infinitely more watchable than isekai from just a few years ago imho. Can't wait to see what we get in the next few years. |
23feanorMar 30, 2022 2:42 AM
|
| Due to the current group watch going on, i decided to watch the anime OAV that followed it. Puni Puni Poemi - This is what happens when you force-feed the writer and director lots of bad hallucinogens with a topping of amphetamines. Then force them to view massive quantities of mahou shoujo videos, with little or no regards to the recommended viewing audience ratings. This is a mistake. Truly bad things happen when you do the above. I am thankful that there were only two episodes as that was about as far as my attention span held up. There were some humorous moments in those two episodes, but they didn't connect with anything else going on at the moments they occurred. The story never really tied together and made little or no sense to me. The voice acting and some of the music were the only real saving graces to this OAV. 4/10: AniDb - 4/10: MAL No higher than 4/10 |
| |
More topics from this board
» Lupin Part 6 (2021) - Group Watch October 2025 ( 1 2 )23feanor - Sep 21 |
53 |
by whiteflame55
»»
Today, 7:29 AM |
|
» Future Boy Conan (1978) - October 2025 Group Watchwhiteflame55 - Today |
1 |
by 23feanor
»»
Today, 5:41 AM |
|
Sticky: » Interest Thread for a Group Watch ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )23feanor - Oct 26, 2020 |
333 |
by whiteflame55
»»
Today, 5:30 AM |
|
» Fantastic Children (2004) - September 2025 Group Watch ( 1 2 )23feanor - Aug 25 |
69 |
by 23feanor
»»
Sep 26, 3:35 AM |
|
Sticky: » New Member Introductions ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )Chelle - Oct 3, 2009 |
911 |
by Aoi_hana
»»
Sep 6, 1:12 AM |