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Classroom of the Elite


Story: 2/5

- At first interesting idea of a school that is based on the idea of wealth and
money being determint through money(but this is barly touched upon)

- certain things feel extremly forced

... - There are a lot of plotholes

- Two episodes are complete fanservice, while one is more like a filler episode
rather than being in the actual plot

- The last arc is kinda interesting

- "Read the light novel for more"-type, cause the goal is too far out of reach

- the title of the show makes no sense.

Characters 2/5

- main character Ayanokoji is the center of the show. The story is mostly told
through his Point of View and most of the important characters talk a
lot about him in the story

- he is a self insert main character, that utilizes machiavelistic tactics to get what he
wants. Other than that he has a lot of elements of a Gary Stue. He is good at
martial arts and always seems to be ahead of things, which reduces the tension in
the story by quite the large margin.

- Kushidas charaacter also has issues cause there is no explanation to the way she
acts.

- Horikita starts of strong, but becomes more unlikable as the season goes on. Also
her motivation makes her look weak.

- On the other hand Sakura feels like a generic character that you can find in every
harem anime too.

- antagonist characters like Katsuragi or Ryuuen are cliched to the point of being
laughable, with no deeper motivation at all

- Characters like Kouenji completly miss the point of what a comedic character is
supposed to look like in a more serious setting.

- Sudou is a generic troublemaker that mainly serves as a plot device to get the story
going, however there is barly any explanation of who he got through the entrance
exams or what a character like him does in an "elite" school.

- other than those most of the side characters barly get any screentime and are not
worth mentioning, the group dynamic of the characters is ok, yet predictable in a
lot of ways.



Soundtrack: 3/5

- Songs for the Opening and Ending are quite catchy. Yet the visuals for both are
heavily lackluster.

- For the Opening we have mostly style over substance. A lot of random philosophic
quotes paired with characters standing around in a well shot scene.

- The Ending on the other hand is just lazy consisting of two images were one is an
empty Classroom

- The rest of the soundtrack is mostly forgettable, yet it still is in some scenes
overbearing. The only scene were that worked for me was on Episode 8.

Visuals 3.5/5

- uncreative character designs

- female characters have too much fanservice, while male characters look mostly
generic or overdesigned

- There a lot of different backrounds and most of them are pretty solid. The lightning
effects are mostly good too and the animation is fluent.

- Some scenes and have specially colored lightning effects and they put a lot of effort
into making the eyes of the characters stand out.


Overall 2/5

Ok now to sum up all the things that I said up and give a last insight. First this show is NOT like Oregairu, yet it TRIES to be like it. However in doing that it completly misunderstands the core elements of it. You can see this the most in the main character of Ayanokoji. He is more of a Tatsuya Shiba from The Irregular at Magic High School than a Hikkigaya Hachiman. The difference is here that Ayanokoji feels like someone that is above the entire cast so far. On the other hand Hikkigaya stood out through his alternitive view points, which made him different from the rest of the cast.
Also through the entire show all the characaters felt more like they would come from a show like Asterisk War rather than Oregairu.
In terms of storytelling I like the way the setting is meant to be a "survival of the fittest" type. Yet the comedy and the huge amount of fanservice ruin the serious nature of it. In the end I think Classroom of the Elite is a pseudo-intellectual bait show for people that do not understand the basics of storytelling or characterization. It can be a good time if you can identify yourself with the power fantasy which is the shows MC. If you don't you will have a hard time liking the show and I would not recommend it. In the end Classroom of the Elite is my disappointment of the season,
that, after a solid start, got worse with each passing weak.

Sakura Quest

3/5 Story

- certain things are to convinient

- Original setting for a workplace show

- told through smaller arcs that are heavily focused around each of the main 5 girls at
first
...
- interesting themes like keeping things the way the are or how to improve a town
without it losing it's identity

- some episodes dragged a bit

- lack of a clear endgoal up until 2/3 into the show

- from small to bigger


4.5/5 Characters

- all of the 5 main girls feel relatable

- Yoshino has the most screentime, while the other 4 share all an equal amount of
screentime

- other characters with a lot of screentime were Sandal, Kadota and Riri's
grandmother. Allthough especially Kadota and Sandal were a bit comedic they also
had some serious moments.

- the characters have been done before in a similar fashion, however how they
executed their main
character troopes and how much time they invested in them makes them feel
unique

- most of the side characters are reocurring, which gives the show a felling of a
closed space, were
every character is to a certain extent important for the story.

- Favorite characters in the show were Maki and Riri, cause I liked the way their story
arcs were handled the most

4.5/5 Music

- the entire soundtrack including the Openings and endings for the show was made
by the band (K)NoW_NAME.

- most of the soundtrack is playing subtile in the backround and is not overbearing

-exceptions being the insert songs playing in Ep.7 and Ep.11(Especially the "Dragon
Song" in Episode 11 was outstanding) while the one in Ep.7 perfectly amplified the
scene it was played in
too.

- Both Openings and Endings gave the right "feel"

- While the first Opening was more laid back and easy going the second one was
more energetic. Both of them were really upbeat.

- The Two Endings were much calmer than the Openings

- My favorite part of the music was the Ending "Baby's breath"

4/5 Visuals

- P.A Works trademark sytle

- because of that the characters look rather similar to the ones from Shirobako

- a lot of attention to detail, like constantly changing outfits for all of the main
characters.

- backrounds are well made and have some smaller highlights in between

- most of the backrounds are nature themed with few exceptions when there is a city
theme.


Overall: (4/5)

Sakura Quest was a show that is something that while watching it exists only under the rader. Sure you keep watching it every week, yet it never stands out. It is never the show you are looking forward to the most each week. After finishing it you will only realise that there is something missing going forward in your weekly schedule. At that point it hits you that the show you were watching for the 25 weeks was overall a great Slice of Life with a lot of fun and heartfelt moments. That was my feeling when finishing Sakura Quest. The best word to describe the show in my eyes is: HONEST. All of the personal character storys felt like they could happen to real people out there somewhere. Like getting frustrated after multiple rejections or finding out that the things you wanted to do the most as a child are not as easy and will burn you out over time. Besides some flaws like the plot being sometimes resolved in a too convinient way or that the show is rather aimlessly with a vague endgoal are set backs, but overall I enjoyed Sakura Quest quite a lot and can recommend it to any fan of workplace Slice of Life out there.

Re:Creators



Story 3.5/5

- Interesting and original idea for a setting and great execution of it

- most of the workings of the world are explained throughout the story

... - At first set up to be a battle of two different mindsets with a wildcard in between

- there were not that many fight scenes, however those that were in the show are
well choreographed in their different stages and are set up properly

- Complete Episodes dedicated to exposition and setups

- The Exposition delivery could drag at times with a lot of it being delivered through
monologues and dialogues instead of actions

- Funny and interesting recap episode that was more than just retelling the story till
that point

- Through the huge cast of characters, characterization took more of the forfront
than storytelling for a big part of the show

- Really well executed and logical ending that was satisfying to watch and tied up
most of the characters personal stories (rest will probably be handled in a later OVA
episode)

- in some parts the show was rather predictable

- some of the events that happen feel a bit forced

Characters 4.5/5

- A big cast that expands further as the show progresses

- Inspite of a big cast most of the character motivations are fleshed out and well
developed giving the viewer a clear image of what the characters want to achive
throughout the story and how they want to get there.

- A lot of emphasis on the relationship between the creators and their creations
(similar to the master and servant bounding in Fate, but without the masters
controlling the servants)

- There is a number of main characters and not one standout main character other
than Souta and, which is more used as a narating bystander compared to the other
characters.

- I think that one of Soutas main purposes in the story is to show the difference
between these godlike beings and ordinary humans.

- Besides Souta the most prominent character from the "Fantasy Worlds" was
Meteora. Which was responsible for most of the exposition in the show

- Other than those two Magane has a fairly important role in the story aswell

- The characters had a high variety in genres from which they appeared

- The over time added characters had tie-ins with the story before or were added to
further show the variety of character types that could appear

- I think there could have been more focus on Altairs character to higlight her
backstory and her mindset

Soundtrack 5/5

- Stellar soundtrack done by Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Kill la Kill, Aldonah
Zero, Guilty Crown etc.)

- A lot of the tracks that were played during the show had vocals, like the most
played song during battles "Layers", which was used quite often. Other songs that
stood out to me were "Brave the Ocean", "God of Ink" and "ABYSSwaltz" which
gave of a completly different vibe than the others.

- Rather similar to the soundtrack of Kill la Kill and Aldonah.Zero

- all both of the Ops were well directed. Both of them had great songs("gravityWALL"
and "sh0ut"), but I liked the visual storytelling and the subtile forshadowing in the
first OP more.


- The first ending was more laid back and casual, while the second Ending was
incredibly meta having all the characters watch their own creation in a chibi form.

Art/Animation 4/5

- The animation was done by studio TROYCA which exists since 2013 and it's other
works were Aldonah Zero(together with A1) and Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa
Shitai ga Umatteiru(which was the only other anime they have done before
Re:Creators)

- The character designs for all the characters from the "fantasy world" look amazing
and fitting for the characters. The human designs are more realistic, yet are also
easy to seperate(unlike Joker Game for example)

- The animation in the fights is a bit above mediocre for the most part with some
scenes that were a bit sketchy, yet most of the bigger action scenes looked good.

- A highlight were some of the facical animations (for example Altair and Mamika),
which did a good job of transmitting the characters emotions.

- A high variety of different backgrounds and settings.


Overall 4/5

My score of this is show is a bit opininated. Nevertheless I really enjoyed Re:Creators for the most part. Yet I can see why people might dislike it. The dialogues are sometimes long and exposition heavy and the action scenes clearly take a backseat compared to character building. Also the supposed main character feels weak and uninvolved in most of the more dramatic scenes in the show. However I am someone that does not mind exposition when it leads to a fullfilling result in the end which Re:Creators delivered for me. Also I don't mind Souta's weak nature, cause that way he has room to grow over the course of the season. What impressed me the most about the show, was how well the inital concept was handled and how the author tied the authors into the story without deminishing the feeling of power and superiority from the Creations. Throughout the whole show most of the creations felt frightenigly strong and could cause mass destruction at any moment.
Also I liked the Slice of Life parts were the Creations from Fantasy/Sci-Fi genres explored our world and the games from which they originated from. The opposing views on their origin the unfairness that was brought with it. The realisation that everything they did up until that point was for someone elses entertainment and the way they dealt with that knowledge on one side. On the other side the thankfullness to their author that they created them with all their heart and effort. That their existence brings joy to many people and that they want to protect the things that are important to their author. Overll I really enjoyed Re:Creators and I hope for an OVA in the future to tie up the last remaining lose ends.

Keijo

For my rating system I did not use the 1-10 scale. I used the 1-5 "The Little Man" Scale. For more information check out my profile.

Story(4)

Although some may not agree with me giving this show so much points for its story, still I think this is reasonable considering the original concept of the show and the lack of big flaws it has. The humor that comes with the concept is also quite good.
For that concept we have the sport which is basically a form of Sumo on water, except the athletes can only use their Boobs and Butts.With that there comes the obvious fanservice. However, ... unlike other shows Keijo!!!!!!!! does not use the fanservice as a tacked on feature with Keijo!!!!!!!! the fanservice is a core element of the story and without it the show would not make sense. In that aspect the show is surprisingly self-aware of what it is.
It is also one of the few (other example would be Food Wars) shows that have a lot of fanservice but at the same time have no fantasy setting.
The storytelling itself is still a basic Shounen Sports anime type. We have a school(because there always need to be schools in anime for everything), training and afterwards matches with rivals.
Although the show has a lot of positives when it comes to storytelling, it also has some negatives for example, since the anime did not adapt the early chapters of the manga there is no real buildup for the relationship between Miyata and Nozomi.
The worldbuilding also could have been better if we could have gotten more infos about the Pro-Scene.
This adaptation is done by studio Xebecwhich also did the To Love Ru-Franchise and Love Hina, because of those they are quite experienced when it comes to adapting Ecchi source material.


Sound (2)

This is the second time I mention the name Hayato Matuo in my reviews. The first time it was for Drifters and there I praised the overall Soundtrack, this time I need to be a bit harsher.
First off the opening and the ending felt ok, but they were not memorable and that is also the biggest problem with the whole OST. There was not a single piece which I found outstanding. It was even worse, for most parts it not only was generic but it also felt too tame for a show like this. If it would have been more epic, it could have amplified the scale of the attacks a lot.
For the Seiyuu's since this was a more comedy orianted show there was not the biggest range of emotions to be displayed to begin with. However since some of the characters were showcased having an accent there was a certain knowledge about those accents requiered.



Animation(3):

For the animation there is to say that the quality was rather inconsistent. There were some battle scenes that really looked fantastic. However, not all the battle scenes had a high level of quality. Most of the scenes looked good, but could have been done better. Some of the movements also looked a bit clunky. This is necessarily due to a high amount of animated movements. The more details you add to those scenes the higher the cost of the end product. Maybe the studio did not want to invest too much money in this series and so cut some of the budget here. Which leads me to my next point. The animation for not so important scenes was, to be fair not too good. There were some inconsistencies like in one scene the bikini top is torn and in the next it isn't anymore and then it is again smaller stuff like that. Also, when there were not so important scenes, characters in the background were not well animated. Besides that the backgrounds were for most parts boring and could have been better with some more colors.
For my last point the character models looked good. They were standart and not to detailed, but I liked them.
Also some details for the attack moves they used thicker lines to highlight them I thought that was quite neat.


Characters(3):

Here I need to state something in advance. Normally I would rather go and talk about character depth and layers of characterisation in this segment, but for this show I rated more on the fun that the different characters brought with them.
The characters in this show are the typical kind of quirky people you come across in anime. With that being said, the main character is quite realistic when it comes to her goals and why she wants to play Keijo.
For the other 3 characters of the main cast 2 of them felt in their own ways good, however the third was a bit to much of a comedic relief and had no other big function.
The cast of the supporting characters was also rather big growing from episode to episode. Most of them had one or two things going for them, but those things were a bit over-the top stylised so that they stood out of the masses and felt unique. With their quirky personalities there also came their special moves or their own techniques. All of those things made the supporting cast really fun and I liked most of them. Sure they were as far away from being realistic as possible however that does not mean they were not entertaining.


Enjoyment (4):

Keijo is fun. That is the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about this show. It oozes with creativity in its setting it's specific over-the-top attacks it's diffrent lands and all types of strategic advantages they use.
The cast and the storytelling were, on the other, side not the most original or layered examples in recent history, but both served it's purpose. The characters were for the most part likable, (some where even a bit memorable) and the story even though it was cliched was uplifted by the sheer ridiculousness of the concept. Overall I really enjoyed the show and would hope for a second season.(Eventhough they caught up to the source material and since the manga is a monthly release there will be no second season anytime soon.)

Drifters

For my rating system I did not use the 1-10 scale. I used the 1-5 "The Little Man" Scale. For more information check out my profile.

Story: (2)

So starting off with the weakest part of the whole thing, which is namely the story. For the structure we have a basic plot-driven adventure story. It is told through around 3-4 different arcs. The storytelling itself is rather straightforward explaining a lot of stuff through exposition. It also uses a technique of an increasing scale for the fights. Starting off with a small village and going bigger with each fight. The pacing of the story did not feel ... rushed however I would say it was certainly fast paced.
Everything up until now sounds rather basic so why the bad rating ?
The biggest flaw that this show has is it's world-building. It fails on a basic level to make the world around the characters look interesting and at the same time it feels completely uninspired. I mean the author uses the 2001st iteration of Dwarven blacksmiths/fighters and Elven archers. Then we have again goblins dragons and wyverns(cool) and humans. Oh and we have this one good organisation, which is shallow, has no background other that they fight the bad guys and has no reason to be in the story at all, up until this point.
The second big problem this show has is that it has so much stuff that is either not explained properly or is straight up a plot-hole. Like all the people that come into the Drifters world are at death's door, like Toyohisa was losing a lot of blood and needed instant medical treatment when he came to the new world. So do some Drifters just die when they come to the New World because they were fatally wounded/poisoned in the old world ?
Or why do the "deities" pick Drifters/Ends where they don't even know, if they fight for their cause ?
Maybe the story will improve in the second Season, but the problem I already see is that the problems are already in the build-up and so it will be rough to fix some of the stuff.
There were still 2 things I liked about the story. The first one was the "between" world. It was most of the time at the end of episode, so it did not interfere with the flow of the main story, because of that if felt more like an overarching sidestory.
The other thing was that the battles were rather fought with tactics than with deus-ex Machina writing.(I think this is more credited for the characters however).
This 2 points still couldn't outweigh the negatives of the story and that is why my rating is negative here.

Art: (5)

Let's start off with the elephant in the room.
The mangaka for this show is Kouta Hirano. He is the same guy that wrote the Hellsing manga so the artstyles for Drifters and Hellsing are nearly the same. However, other than Hellsing I don't know other anime that use a similar style so it's hard to compare it in that aspect.
Hirano not only uses a similar artstyle then in Hellsing he also uses the same stylistic tools. For example the eyes. They often made the character model or the face black, only leaving out the eyes, which were shining(red-Ends and blue-good guys)
The battle Animations were fluid, although not highly dynamic since the battles were mostly tactical.
What also was noticeable was that there were a lot of closeups of the characters.
For important scenes they also decided to slow down or stop the motion of the characters to give the scene a bigger impact.
For the character models of the main cast I think most of them looked fine(besides Yoichi he looked a bit to much like a girl.
For the backgrounds I think they were slightly above standard, but not great.
The last point I have is that they switched into a cartoonish sketch for the comedy segment, which was rather funny and an elegant way to save some money for animation.


Sound (4)

The opening for this show is a really well made electronic Rock&Roll Piece in English by the band Minutes til Midnight.
On the other side of the each episode, there was a more typical J-Rock ending song.
For the overall OST of the show I think it was rather good. It was unique, but nothing too spectacular. It was composed by Yasushi Ishii, who did the jazz-rock hybrid parts and Hayato Matsuo, who was responsible for the orchestral parts.
The voice actors did also a good job in my eyes, stand-outs for me were the ones of Yoichi and Nobunaga.
So in the end, I can say nothing negative about the soundtrack. I fit the show and gave it a cool feeling.



Characters:(3) for the first season only

The biggest problem so far is the lack of a second season where we get more character development. That's why a big portion of the cast feels not fully developed yet.
In this section there are still a lot more positives than for the story.
I especially liked, for example the pacing of the revelation what the black king's overall goal is.
It gave him a additional layer as the antagonist, because of that he felt not too generic.
The good characters also felt well-balanced in terms of strengths and flaws, for example on one hand Toyohisa is really strong, but on the other hand, he has a tendancy to rush in and his warriors honor is not always helpful.
A bit of a problem was the lack of backstory for some characters, since all the Drifters are historic figures it would have been nice to see more about their origins.
Favorite character so far is Nobunaga, because his strategic mindset, his opportunistic personality and his emotional connection to his own past. All those thing make him a well rounded and by far the best character.
On the other hand, my least favorite character so far would be Haruakira Abe No. For the amount of screentime he has, he is definitely too bland, his motivation is clear, but besides some small details we know little about him.
For the rest of the cast I think Toyohisa worked well as a leader, he acts smart when it comes to fighting and not just overpowers his enemies. However he lacked emotional depth.
Yoichis struggle with his past was also depicted quite nice in a subtle way.
Since half of the Ends had no real impact on the story so far its hard to write about them. However, from the 4 that already had some screentime two definitely need more development and the other two where writen nicely.


Enjoyment: (3)

This anime tries not just to be cool, but "really cool" and badass. However it still can't hide some of its weaknesses, even with its coolness.
What I definitely enjoyed the most about this show was the Soundtrack. It felt on point and at the same time unique to stand above the masses. Some tracks you can even listen to outside of the anime like "Chakra Destiny". Also the OP "Gospel of the Throttel" was quite good. The art was also unique with only Hellsing to compare it directly.
Still the show had some major flaws in the story which leave a sour taste. The characters were also hit and miss. Some were great, some others were pointless and bland.
I hope for the second season that they bring more character development and try to fix some issues with the plot although they cannot fix everything at this point.
However, I will still watch the second season when it comes out.

Soushin Shoujo Matoi


For my rating system I did not use the 1-10 scale. I used the 1-5 "The Little Man" Scale. For more information check out my profile.



Story: (2)
Let's start of with the weakest part of the show, which is the story. In general it is a basic light-hearted magic girl story. The main character just one day stumbles into this world of exorcism and needs to learn everything about it before fighting evil.(sound familiar ?)
In each episode they face new monsters to save themself or others, but rather than having a clear set end goal the show is more about the character interactions, their ... backstory or what they wish for. That is why I would argue that the show is rather character-driven.
One of the biggest problems that the show, in terms of story has is that in the early stage the writting fails massivly to engage the viewer into the story. At first it felt convoluted in some aspects and made next to no progress, also they made no effort to develop the main cast. That is why they were kinda awful at first.
A major factor that it felt convoluted was that there were two organisations introduced early on and both of them were for the most part of the show completly meanigless. One is a bit understandable since one of the main cast was with them, but the other one was completly pointless and felt tacked on.
There are also some things about the different dimensions which were poorly explained as well.
What you also should expect coming into this is your typical deus ex Machina Shoujo/Shounen type writing. So if you want some smart tactics to turn the tides of battles or a well thought out plan before engaging this will definitely not be your cup of tee.
The other thing that Shounen/Shoujo battle type writing is also present in here, which means that there is a clear cut between the good/bad characters. You will find next to no gray areas in this show.
The positive side of the story is that all loose ends are tied up and I found no majoy plot-holes.


Animation: (4)

The studio that is responsible for this Anime is White Fox and the art director in charge was Yoshito Takamine, who also made the art for Re:Zero Kara and Akame ga Kill. With that being said, you can probably imagine what type of quality the animation in this show has.
Let's start off with the battle scenes they look gorgeous. The attacks look stunning, especially the one from the main character. There are next to no flaws with that. The only nitpick I have is that they did nothing insanely great like rotation-shots or highly dynamic scenes. This results out of the fights being most of the time either ranged attacks or one-shot melee attacks.
Next are the backgrounds they have a consistently high standard and do not feel cheap. The only thing I wished for would be that they should have had more variety on the higher dimensions(besides the highest one which was fascinating to look at).
At last we come to the characters and how they looked. The thing I disliked the most about them is their faces. There are 2 different types of faces in this show, which is sometimes a bit strange.
Other than I really liked the costumes. They were unique for each character and they fit the personality of the character quite well.
For the design of the villains they were easy to differentiate too. However I think some of their designs looked too simple.





Sound: (5)

Now we get into the good part. The music for this show is done by Katou Tatsuya his other works include the OSTs for Mirai Nikki, Free and Shokugeki no Souma.
The OST he created for this show is orchestral for the most part, yet it also has some pieces which are played on flute.
He also uses vocals on his soundtrack. Some are used in the form of a chorus and some are used as a solo, not as a language, but to add the sound of a human voice to his pieces.
One Track in particular is exceptionally well made, which is the one that plays after most fights shift in favor of the good side.
The OP/ED are not outstanding, yet I listened to both of them a couple of times.
The seiyuus did also a fine job in carrying the emotional weight that their respective roles had. I especially liked Shingo's Seiyuu. However I thought that one in particular was over-the-top cartoonish. The sound is definitely not the best one I heard yet, but it is really memorable and terrifically made.


Character: (4)

Have I mentioned that the show started of uninteresting yet ?
Well the weak start, on the side of the story, was like poison for the characters early on too.
At first sight the main cast consisted of an annoying-loudmouthed sidekick, a badass sidekick and our main character which ran around like a headless chicken for the first 4 Episodes.
However all of the 3 main cast members improved tremendously when each of them got their dedicated episodes to them. Especially the main heroine went from really cowardly over a phase of struggle and doubt to become someone capable accepting her fate. This is a rather standard development for most heroes/heroines, but I really want to point out that it was done well in this show. All of the characters had also clear and understandable motivations for what they did.
Besides the characters individually their relationships also grew a lot. For me personally the best depicted one, was between Matoi and her father Shigeo. It had layers and was well constructed from start to finish. From the awkward interactions to some stuff I won't spoil here, it was a really heartfelt story.
From the 6-7 supporting cast members there was only one character, which was, in my eyes, completely pointless and had no reason to be in the story at all. The rest had either and emotional weight or were crucial for the story progression.
A bit of a letdown in the character section were also the villains. Most of them had no real backstory, no motivation for what they did and were overall completely lackluster. In some regard it felt like that some of them were only there to be smashed.


Enjoyment:(4)

I had no expectations coming into this show, but it positively surprised me and exceeded my expectations, because I probably enjoyed it more than I should have.
Still the target audience was not my demographic, because of that I did not like the storytelling of too much black/white. I could have been layered better with some shades of gray.
It also started of rather generic for the first 4-5 Episodes. Which made me drop it for around 2 weeks.
However as the show progressed the characters grew more and more up to the point, where they started to become likable.
Also for the Animation White Fox brought their A-Game and put a lot of effort into most of the scenes. Besides that the OST is gorgeous and elevates the show with well timed orchestral pieces and a beautiful battle theme.
Overall I would say besides the weak story and the shallow antagonists the show had everything I hoped for and I enjoyed watching it.

New Game:

Hmm "What does the basic 10-30 year old male like ?". Videogames.
And "What do a lot of Anime Fans like ?". Cute Girls doing cute things.

Both of theses answers combined give us the idea for this show called New Game. It's a comedic Slice of Life workplace Anime with tons of moe elements attached to it. For that it feels kinda refreshing since most moe shows have some kind of school setting.
Besides the workplace they chose for this show is rather "unique" at this point since it hasn't been done that often. (a other example for a similiar enviorment would be Shirobako which is ... more serious though.).

DISCLAIMER : As a work of fiction this anime does not need to be realistic, if you look for something realistic you may not like this. This anime needs a certain amount of suspension of disbelief to work well.

So without further ado lets get into this review


Story:

It starts of with Aoba Suzukaze our main Protagonist. She just graduated High School and decides to work for a company that makes video games. There she meets new co-workers and learns under her idol Yagami Kou what it means to be a good character designer.
The story itself is presented here in a episodic pattern, which means that you can easilly skip one Episode and still enjoy the following one. That way there are no major twists or anything similiar you should look out for. Also The main focus of the story lies with the diffrent characters. All of those are well written and get varying amounts of screen time. While some of this screen time is spend to focus more on indvidual characters the whole cast is mostly seen in each episode. With that in mind the most screentime obviously goes to our main character Aoba. Which leads us to.......


Characters:

As I mentioned before the biggest part of the story revolves around the characters. This is also necessary since we have quiet the large cast. Besides the 2 Main characters which are Yagami and Aoba there are 7 minor characters where atleast 4-5 appear in every Episode. However it does not feel overloaded because of that, which is one of the biggest achievements of the show.

On one side this could have been due to some well known charactertyps like the hyper-energetic and easy to fluster character, the "big sister" character or the extremly shy and timid character. Despite these types, which are nothing new, its nice to see their interactions. Its also nice to see our Protagonist build relationships with all of these indivdually. So lets now focus more on our main characters.

Yagami you could describe as a "boyish"-type of character. She is unorganised, a bit messy and sleeps under her desk when working overtime, while only wearing her top and panties. However on the other hand she is caring, especially for Aoba, shows a strong love for her work and is a absolute perfectionist. She also has a realy realy realy strong relationship with Tooyama.(don't imply anything here)

Aoba is talkitive and sometimes can be a bit disheartend, when she is criticised. However she is also a fast learner, always tries her best and wants to fulfill the expectations of Yagami.She also doesn't like when she is told that she looks small for her age. She still lives at home and is friends with Nene who she knows since kindergarden.

Both of which seem also not that special on the surface however they both have some underlying themes which elevate the anime above your typical generic mediocore moeblob SoL.
If its either growing into a leading position, despite not having the confidence to do so or trying to follow your idol and becoming good at what you do.
At last I still want to point out flaws I found even if they are minor. For me 1-2 characters are a bit underdeveloped. However since this is a SoL its not dramatic, also other shows(looking at you Mayoiga) did way worse in that regard.





Art/Animation/Sound:

The backround art for this show isn't to great we have most of the time similar backrounds, which are mainly in the office even if there are some alterations like the walkway to work or the train its mostly basic background design. The charcterdesigns however I realy liked, because they are memorable and easy to differentiate.(but maybe I just like them because I am somewhat tired of school uniforms). The Animation is above average as well with a decent amount of full body shots and some good motion work and facial expression.
For the Soundtrack the most parts aren't to memorable, however the Opening theme is outstanding because its quiet catchy and hooks you at the beginning of each episode. The ED isn't bad aswell.


Personal Enjoyment and Recommendations:

As you probably already guessed I realy enjoyed this show. The jokes are fitting and actually funny.
The setting is refreshing and the characters are realy likeable.
It still has some shortcomming.
I would have wished that it would have taken a bit more focus on game design itself. However maybe this would have caused it to be less fun, we will never know. Anyway for my recommendations:

I recommend this to:

people that like moe/Slice of life settings

people that like a sugar-coated workplace setting

people that like a character driven story

people that like episodic anime which are easy to follw

Ammaama to Inazuma




Story:

We start off with my biggest critique point of the show, which is the story. It begins with Kouhei Inuzuka. He is a teacher and lost a couple of months before the story started his wife, with which he had a pre-school daughter Tsumugi. Since his wife took care of most of Tsumugi's needs Kouhei is rather lost and doesn't know how to take care of a child. This starts at rather basic things like cooking. So one day Inuzuka takes Tsumugi out to the park where they met Kotori Iida one of Kouheis students. After a few events Kotori gives the two ... of them Kotori invites the two of them to come to her mothers restaurant. However when they arrive there Kotori is the only one there since her mom is quite the busy person. Since her mother isn't their Kotori wants to cook, but isn't as good as her mother. Still Sensei and Tsumugi are satisfied and Kouhei asks Kotori, if he could learn how t cook from her. She agrees and with being said, we have the setup for the plot.

After this point the story goes on in an episodic fashion. Something with Tsumugi happens at the start of the of the episode. Some episodes couple this with a bit of drama and then they cook afterwards.
While I don't mind episodic shows in general, the repetitiveness of the show really started to bore me at some point. They never changed the formula at the start and a huge part of the show was focused around the cooking.
This is in my eyes a double-edged sword. On one hand the food making process was definitely nice to see and also the realism they brought to it was nice. Another positive aspect of this was that they steadily increased the complexity of the dishes, which made it feel like there was a certain amount of growth in Kouhei's abilities. On the other hand the part where they cooked took always around half the episode which did not allow for more complex settings.

What I also missed was a clear red line in terms of development besides the cooking. Most of the development was done in early episodes and so the characters became a bit stale later on in the
show. Especially Kouhei could have had a lot more emotional development over the course of the show.


Characters:

This is one of the stronger points of the show. They did an excellent job at the start to make most of the characters relatable. They also had a lot of nice development in the first 3-4 Episodes to make the viewer grow attached to them. Also a strong point of the show is that they did not expand the cast to ridiculous numbers, but kept it to the minimum of the 3 main characters and 2 reappearing characters which were the best friends of Kotori and Kouhei.

With the 3 main characters we first of have Tsumugi which serves as the cute doll character. Believe me when I say she fits this role perfectly. At some points she is on a diabetes Type-II level of cute which is really good. Besides that, most of the episodes revolve around her and the things that she does or likes, for example stuff that happens at pre-school or vegetables she does not like. Overall Tsumugi is the main driving force of this show and Kouhei and Kotori play around her for the most part. Besides her cuteness she has the basic childish traits, but also has quite the dominant personality for a child. She is also outgoing and tries to help with the cooking and other things as best as she can. What I also wanted to mention is that her seiyuu did a good job in voicing her for a 11 year old.

Kouhei, her father, is a more timid person in comparison. The loss of his wife really did affect him quite hard. So even after some time has passed, he still thinks a lot about her and what she would do in certain situations. His timid personality gives also the impression that he never wants to burden anyone. The biggest part that the death of his wife affect for him was however that he now needs to take care of Tsumugi and manage his job as a teacher at the same time. That is the reason why he is at first overwhelmed by the tasks at hand. However since he really cares a lot about the well being of Tsumugi he tries his hardest to manage everything and fill in the spot of his wife.


Kotori is one of Kouheis students at school and her mom has a small restaurant, but due to her mother being famous she rarly is in the restaurant and more on her TV show. That is the reason why Kotori is most of the time alone at home or in the restaurant and there are no customers. When she meets the Inuzukas for the first time she is really happy, because of their company and gladly accepts Kouheis question of learning to cook from her. This is because of the two she does not need to stay alone anymore when her mom is gone. From all the characters I liked her the most in the show, because of her kind and caring nature, besides that she was also quite funny. That includes her beeing scared of knives to the point of not even touching them.


Sound/Art/Animation:

The visuals are mediocre at best, there were some inconsistencies here and there. Also the locations was most of the time the restaurant so you had no impressive places to see and no stellar artwork. The character models were also generic. Compared to the visuals the Soundtrack was much better. Most of the OST was fitting and improved the scenes it was used in. If we look at the Opening and Ending I have to admit I liked the Ending more than the Opening. Sure the Opening was upbeat, catchy and colorful however, for me personally I liked the calmer approach of the Ending a lot more.





Overall Enjoyment/Conclusion:

With everything said now I did enjoy this show for most parts. The cooking parts looked realistic and the characters were likeable so it wasn't bad. However since this show is not the first of its kind I need to compare it to others. The first two shows that come to mind are obviously Usagi Drop and Barakamon. Compared to those two Amaama to Inazuma has a lot of issues, especially with the pacing. It becomes very repetitive after around the 5th Episode and every following episode seems interchangeable. So for me its like that. If you want to see an entertaining show you watch Barakamon, if you want a show with more character growth you watch Usagi Drop and if you have seen those two already you can watch this show. So Amaama to Inazuma is in the end not a waste of time, but also nothing special.

Amanchu!

A little disclaimer at first: This will be my first Anime review, so I know not everything will be that refined. Also English is not my native tongue so there will be some grammatical mistakes I think.


Why I want to Review this Anime ?

The reason I want to review this Anime in particular is that I think, it is one of the more overlooked Anime of this season. For a reference you can just look at the amount of Members it has compared to other shows. This and my second reason ( which you will find later on in my review) are what leads me ... to write a review.

Story:

As most iyashikei(healing) slice of Life Anime the story is not the main focus of the show.
There are no major twists or complicated Plot-Lines. Still there is a definitiv end goal for the show, for which most of the episodes build up to.
The story takes place in a real-world setting and plays in a coast village in Japan. The majority of the story revolves around scuba diving, in particular the diving club of the Yumegaoka high school.
Which leads us to.....

Characters:

In the show there are 5 major characters to consider. Of which there are our 2 main female leads and 3 more important side characters. The charakters are basically the "meat" of the story and should be one of the biggest selling points of the show.
Starting of with:

Hikari "Pikari" Kohinata:
She lives near the ocean with her grandmother and helps her from time to time in her small diving club as a guide. She is already an experienced diver since she grew up near the ocean and always loved it. Besides that she graduated middle-school and has entered the local high school. Here she meets our second lead character Fuutaba Ooki, which she later just refers to as Teko. She instantly likes her and tries to become friends with her. This suits her character quite well, because she has a really outgoing personality which can be quite overwhelming for others sometimes. At the start of the series she is the main driving force of story progression. She is also kind and one of the most cheerful and upbeat personalities I have seen recently. Still, she is also a goofball in most situation and often has some childlike behavior.

Fuutaba "Teko" Ooki:
At the beginning of the story she just moved into town after she transferred to the local high school.
Because of that she is scared at first of the new enviroment and what will happen to her. She is also sad that all of her former friends enrolled in a different high school than her. When she first meets Pikari she is quite reserved, because of her shy and timid nature.She is also easy to dishearten, but still hates to lose to others.
However with the help of Pikari she starts to warm up on her new enviroment and tries everything to go one day scuba diving with Pikari as her "buddy". Without spoiling anything at this point I can say that Teko is the character with the most development and my favorite charakcer of the show.


The Teacher and the Twins:
The 3 main side characters of this show I don't want to spoil about. So I will only say about them that their role is mainly for some comedic relief and some mature guidance. However they are also shown as caring and kind hearted people.

Overall the characters and their characteristics and quirks are nothing that is new or exciting. However they are done quite well for what they are and their interactions feel genuine and not forced. Besides that each of the 5 has enough screentime to shine. Also they don't fall out of character and the development of the group has a good pacing.
All those things lift the cast of this above the average.


Sound:
The OP is one of the highlights of the show. It captures perfectly the feeling of the Anime and tells you right from the start if you will like the show or not. The serene voice of the singing made me never skip the OP. The ED is although not as good as the Opening still enjoyable. The overall soundtrack of the show is best described as fitting. Like the Opening it gives the show a harmonic atmosphere and improves the show in that way.

Art/Animation:
The second big selling point goes to its art. As a typical feed of iyashikei Anime the backgrounds are mostly drawn with lighter colors compared to for example action Anime. The art especially shines here in still shots of some beautiful nature or the scenes which play in bodies of water.
The character models are compared to that rather generic, but still not bad.
OK at this point I try to tackle the elephant in the room. I know many people will be turned off by the sometimes goofy looking facial Animation. For me personally it wasn't that big of an issue, but I understand that some people may not like them and the overabundance on them.

Reommendations:
I recommend this Anime to people that like:

charming character interactions
some beautiful artwork
scuba diving (obviously :P)
a relaxing atmosphere
all people that like iyashikei/Slice of Life Anime (especially Aria)

I would not recommend this Anime to people that:

dislike some goofy expressions
are more interested in a Plot-heavy story
don't like Slice of Lifes in general


Conclusion:
"Good Anime but has not enough water." -6/10 IGN.
Jokes aside for me it's the perfect Anime after a stressful day at work. It is no masterpiece and no Aria, however it is definitely another great entry in the list of Slice of Life Animes and I enjoyed every second of it. Which is my second reason that I wanted to review this show, because it is fun and I like to share fun.
So:
FUN For ALL and ALL for FUN