I'd like to make a colourful and organized profile, but it requires too much effort- so I'm just going to write plain text. So hello, I'm a random Italian guy, I started watching anime some years ago, my first being Attack on Titan. Through the years, my taste has changed a lot. I don't like being categorised, so I'm not "pretentious" or anything, I just have my own taste. As for MAL, I mainly use it to update my list to feel complete. As for now, there are no scores in my list- it's mainly because when you see plenty of series, it becomes really hard to rank them with the same scores. There are way too many influences when rating, so it's really difficult, at least for me. I also use MAL to talk with people sometimes, even though I'm not too talkative recently. I'm not really active on the MAL forum because I just don't feel like doing so, I'm not interested, I just answer random questions that pop up on my home page. Sometimes I write reviews, there are not many because I only write when I'm actually inspired. Moreover, I don't watch seasonal anime regularly since I don't want to force myself and I don't have the strength to fully watch bad anime anymore, I can't be a pretentious elitist master anymore :(
Also, the review system sucks. It doesn't make sense that you can write reviews from the very first moment the series ends. That makes MAL users, including me, feel like they have to hurry up and post their review as soon as possible to win the race. It would be better if they put something like a couple hours to give everyone time to watch the last episode before giving the review possibility. And it's not like you can wait to post the review- no! If you're not fast enough and you're not a known "reviewer" your review will be on the bottom and forgotten. I'm writing this because they removed my cool and fair Nagatoro-san review because I posted it some minutes before the actual "end"- the funny thing is that they removed it one whole day after I released it, huh. Whatever... If you want to read it here it is:
(I don't read the manga so I don't care about comparisons)
I started watching "Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" out of pure boredom and curiosity. I was randomly browsing on the internet, saw this was being released and I said to myself "why not?" and I gave it a shot. And to be honest, the outcome isn't bad.
"Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" talks about Naoto, a typical shy and isolated schooler that's bullied and made fun of constantly. But one day- he meets a fancy girl, called Nagatoro... and seeing that he's being made fun of by her friends too... she feels pity and decides to--- make fun of him.
Naoto is initially really annoyed by her, but as days go by he starts to realise that these are teasings of a different kind, they aren't straight out disrespectful. And since this isn't a trivial relationship, both will become more mature and learn more about themselves.
The humour this anime offers consists of:
- "hahaha wee woo senpai you virgin haahaha woo woo"
- "hahaaaa you pervvv you weirdoooo what a creep haahaaaaaa"
- *something awkward happens* - "oh darnnnnn senpai you ABSOLUTE creep"
It sounds pretty trite- and it kind of is, but "Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" still proves to be an enjoyable watch through its awkwardness. It's that type of embarassment that makes you say "Oh God, this is so embarassing I have to stop this episode for some seconds, I don't even want to continue it". For example, when I used to watch Doraemon on TV when I was a kid and the unavoidable Shizuka bath scene would appear. I would feel exactly like that: "it's so dumb and awkward, give me a break, but it's funny".
Of course, this heavily depends on what you personally think it's funny. As for me, I appreciate it because it's straight-forward, it doesn't overwhelm the viewer with overthought jokes and gags, it just does its thing and manages to do it well.
Also, another thing I appreciate is the fact that this anime doesn't have the "too serious moments" some other comedy series have. It's just comedic, and while doing that, it's still able to make the viewer grow fond of the characters.
The art style is pretty good. It's nothing revolutionary, but it works and that's all that's necessary in my opinion. As for the sound, this is a comedy anime, so it doesn't have an emotional and memorable OST, but it doesn't need to.
All in all, I don't quite regret watching Nagatoro-san, it's not the masterpiece that will change your life, but not every anime needs to be impactful and resonate with feelings. "Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san" succeeds in what it's trying to do and that's why I think it's worthwhile.
6/10
I'm not going to bother reuploading it, it just isn't worth it anymore, it would be forgotten in the depths of the MAL page.
Another thing I don't understand about reviews on MAL is the fact that negative troll reviews are INSTANTLY removed, but positive troll reviews are completely okay. For example... the Hametsu no Mars page is FULL of troll 10/10s... whereas I had an epic troll account called "animegod666" and there my funny 1/10 Berserk, Mushishi, Cowboy Bebop... reviews would be removed in some hours. I don't really understand why. Are mods worried about hardcore fans crying for a bad score? I don't know. Writing moonshine takes effort too.
Now let's complain about AniList. Some people prefer its style and because they can put 97/100 instead of 10/10 on Kaguya-sama, however I still prefer the MAL design because it looks more clean and organised, plus I think that ten scores are good enough. What I want to talk about, though, is their review system. On AniList, you can dislike a review - and I wouldn't be against it - but the way people do that isn't the way it is supposed to be. A dislike button would be necessary when you feel that the review is badly written or things like that. But most people just press dislike when they see a rating that's different from what they think. My review for Kaguya-sama season 2 on there has like 250 dislikes, funny, isn't it? Also, my Nagatoro-san review there has already 50% dislikes... uh. At least you could let me know what isn't right about it! Also, why the hell do you have to write at least a certain number of letters? If a show is simple, there is no point in stretching and writing more than needed.
Anyways, enough ranting, time to talk about other things I like... I really like music and listen to very different kinds... I can switch from Joy Division to BLACKPINK in no time. My favourite genre is probably shoegaze (not MBV, they are overrated), I enjoy discovering new music, especially random Japanese bands. I also write stuff on Genius.com, the best site for lyrics. I like to be productive. last.fm profile if you want to know more about my epic music taste. I also have a RYM account but my scores are random and just 5/5 and 0.5/5. What's sad about music, as well as other art genres, is when an artist is forgotten or ignored. Putting a lot of effort into something just to have no actual recognition must be the worst feeling ever.
I also love languages and translations. I'm currently in an IT school I don't care about, so I'm not having special lessons. So I currently just know my main language (Italian) and English. I'm also learning Japanese. It's a really neat and interesting language, I hope I can manage to become good at it... What might stop me wouldn't be the actual difficulty, but the lack of will to carry on. I've been translating some things from one language to another... it's pretty funny and productive. I hope I will go to Japan someday.
I don't care about discussions of any kind anymore. They're pointless and take too much time just to reach nowhere. If both sides want to be proven right, why are they even arguing? One side wants to keep their opinion and the other side too. No worthwhile progress, just wasted time into meaningless words that won't be heard. Pathetic, isn't it? Also if you're wondering, I'm writing this whole essay in the about me section because I'm bored and I'm sad that they deleted my epic and fair review.
Back to ranting, the English language I see a lot of times online kind of worries me. No, it's not slang, it's just wrong and you're showing a wrong example to people. And what I don't understand the most is the need to simplify English, the simplest language in the world, mainly because you see it everywhere and its grammar is so easy. I know I seem very old-fashioned, but seeing badly conjugated verbs and stuff like that has always irritated me, heh. I'm seriously worried that people might take that awfully thought way of speaking as the actual language. I also hate the word "y'all", it's so unnecessary, but I see it everywhere.
- update: no really I'm not joking, why do so many people use y'all? The worst thing is that people see other people using it and thus they think it's cool-- just use you... or other words........ am I complaining too much? Perhaps.
The future is uncertain and the end is always near.
Despite the fact that I may seem like a very boring and unfriendly person- I'm actually really humble and nice to people, thus feel free to talk to me!
I forgot one thing. Don't play the remake version!! It looks so like a generic modern moege, very soulless design. Play the original even if you have to go through hell installing it https://ameblo.jp/yu-xpe5995/entry-12472220339.html
Ikr. I mean your username is alucard, can't be edgier than that. Also pretty obvious from your favorite anime you like psychological things. I'm more a slice-of-life guy, my choice for favorite Kon Satoshi film should tell enough. It's pretty much the same for visual novels.
I see. Parfait is surely better than Damekoi in that aspect, you should check that one out as well. The general consesus in the western community is that it's slightly weaker than Damekoi in terms of prose fluidity, and less polished being another WA2 prototype. I used to think so but now I agree with the japanese (EGS), it's the superior story. I may be a little biased because I used to work at a cafe myself. Parfait just hit too close to home. Rea and Rikako, but particularly Rea is my favorite Maruto heroine barring Setsuna. Her route is short but it checks all the boxes I look for in a charage. I don't really care about the other 4 heroines though (6 if you count the PS2 ver). If you're wondering, yeah, 2 good routes is enough for me to call something masterpiece, even though the rest is terrible. Those 2 routes have the most natural progression anyway, so they are the only "canon" story to me. The rest only serve as "what if" story. That's a mindset I always come with whenever I play galge and such. I only need to find one good thing to like and I'll ignore the bad part and treat it as non-canon. I'm a positive person :)
Parfait isn't as strong as Damekoi in terms of theming nor does it have any overarching plot. But when it comes to romance, few are as sweet as this. The routes are short and not so conclusive though, I like it that way. If you want to see lengthy love story that covers even post marriage life, you can read tone work's eroge.
I don't remember any scene from KnS1 now, it's been years since I read it. That's a fair point. You're gonna like KnS2 then. It's a huge improvement in nearly every aspect.
I see, you liking it might also have to do with your preference and taste for edgy and horror stuff, which I'm personally not a fan of. I'm just never impressed by those, no matter how good or mind-blowing they are. I may have to reread KnS2 though because I loved one of the important revelations concerning a certain character and it made me want to revisit the good old days in the prologue.
And wow, did I unintentionally suggest Kara no Shoujo to you haha. Aren't the ero scenes there very forced, random, and unnecessary? With how you react to Damekoi, how could you like this one?
I asked because I saw your vndb. Well, that's eroge for you. Unfortunately the traits you've just described also exist in most eroge, you'll encounter the same thing if you keep reading. You may even hate WA2 for what will happen in coda. But really? Damekoi lower than a 3 hours nukige?
I've seen too much bad stuff that even a gross one wouldn't make me budge. I'm here for Maruto's writing and he delivers it with style. That's the ONLY thing that matters when I'm reading few names like Maruto and Ou Jackson. They are so good on a micro level that the plot doesn't matter anymore. I think it's pretty much impossible to dislike their works unless you just simply don't like writing as an art in the first place.
I actually don't have a favorite route in Damekoi, which is weird considering my high score. I always have at least 1 favorite chapter/route for every one of my highly-rated game but Damekoi gets away with that. My recent reread proved that Damekoi doesn't need that to have a high reread value. But you definitely need a certain mindset to appreciate it, though. I wouldn't recommend this to people your age because it might be offensive and not relatable at all.
I can easily ignore the bad part as if it's nonexistent if the good part is good enough. I think you might want to get used to that. Unlike anime/manga/LNs, VNs sometimes have "optional content" like h-scenes, side routes, side quest, all these things are often perfunctory. It's kinda annoying when the main girl's route is perfect but the side chicks' are half-assed. Or when the route is good but the h-scene is "skippable". I can get over all that now, but I'd prolly still mention it as my only pet peeve if someone asked.
Anyway, I was joking about that Himeo's ending. You don't need to tell me, lol. Of course I knew it the moment my friend told me. It's called a "bonus" or "extra" for a reason. No need to take it/react to it that seriously. It's meant to be taken as a meme. I can understand getting frustrated over the heroines' anticlimactic ending, but this one is clearly just Maruto messing around with his own work and having fun. This happens in other eroge too. That's why it's my favorite medium. It doesn't have any restriction, the writer has all the freedom in the world to make whatever the fuck they want.
That was likely. The music is good. Though listening to the original version of some old Leaf songs does feel weird to me. I don't know if it's Yonezawa's voice or the music or both, WA2 made those songs 100x better, almost feels like they turned into completely different songs. Routes OP for example, sung by Nakayama Arisa. It's nice, but compared to Setsuna's version it just feels soulless.
Both. But the one I finished was the ps3 ver. Definitely is a game from the 90's, for better and for worse. How Maruto was able to gather inspiration from it to make something that was that good is beyond me.
I played Mitoko last so I did not see the difference. Either way I don't really care about small details that require some sort of trick. You see I didn't even know there was bonus scene because I didn't use any guide for this. I'm not a fan of that kind of touch in eroge. You have no idea how frustrated I was playing Kara no Shoujo lol. But that one is a mystery vn so I don't feel right to criticize that part.
Hmm, I can not think of one. Being retro or having retro aesthetic doesn't make something nostalgic for me.
All Comments (718) Comments
Ikr. I mean your username is alucard, can't be edgier than that. Also pretty obvious from your favorite anime you like psychological things. I'm more a slice-of-life guy, my choice for favorite Kon Satoshi film should tell enough. It's pretty much the same for visual novels.
Parfait isn't as strong as Damekoi in terms of theming nor does it have any overarching plot. But when it comes to romance, few are as sweet as this. The routes are short and not so conclusive though, I like it that way. If you want to see lengthy love story that covers even post marriage life, you can read tone work's eroge.
I don't remember any scene from KnS1 now, it's been years since I read it. That's a fair point. You're gonna like KnS2 then. It's a huge improvement in nearly every aspect.
I see, you liking it might also have to do with your preference and taste for edgy and horror stuff, which I'm personally not a fan of. I'm just never impressed by those, no matter how good or mind-blowing they are. I may have to reread KnS2 though because I loved one of the important revelations concerning a certain character and it made me want to revisit the good old days in the prologue.
I've seen too much bad stuff that even a gross one wouldn't make me budge. I'm here for Maruto's writing and he delivers it with style. That's the ONLY thing that matters when I'm reading few names like Maruto and Ou Jackson. They are so good on a micro level that the plot doesn't matter anymore. I think it's pretty much impossible to dislike their works unless you just simply don't like writing as an art in the first place.
I actually don't have a favorite route in Damekoi, which is weird considering my high score. I always have at least 1 favorite chapter/route for every one of my highly-rated game but Damekoi gets away with that. My recent reread proved that Damekoi doesn't need that to have a high reread value. But you definitely need a certain mindset to appreciate it, though. I wouldn't recommend this to people your age because it might be offensive and not relatable at all.
I can easily ignore the bad part as if it's nonexistent if the good part is good enough. I think you might want to get used to that. Unlike anime/manga/LNs, VNs sometimes have "optional content" like h-scenes, side routes, side quest, all these things are often perfunctory. It's kinda annoying when the main girl's route is perfect but the side chicks' are half-assed. Or when the route is good but the h-scene is "skippable". I can get over all that now, but I'd prolly still mention it as my only pet peeve if someone asked.
Anyway, I was joking about that Himeo's ending. You don't need to tell me, lol. Of course I knew it the moment my friend told me. It's called a "bonus" or "extra" for a reason. No need to take it/react to it that seriously. It's meant to be taken as a meme. I can understand getting frustrated over the heroines' anticlimactic ending, but this one is clearly just Maruto messing around with his own work and having fun. This happens in other eroge too. That's why it's my favorite medium. It doesn't have any restriction, the writer has all the freedom in the world to make whatever the fuck they want.
Hmm, I can not think of one. Being retro or having retro aesthetic doesn't make something nostalgic for me.