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May 6, 2024
I read the manga a while back and was happily surprised to see that Doukyo Suru Neneki got animated. Unfortunately, my happiness was short-lived; this adaptation doesn’t live up to the source material.
Let’s start with how the story has been altered. While certain parts of the original story have been animated relatively faithfully, unnecessary new scenes have been added. In my opinion, these new scenes are very much to the detriment of the series. They appear to be there for shock factor only.
Speaking of this shock factor, the source material actually has a pretty subtle horror element. It starts as a creeping suspicion before really
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getting to the horrific implications of what the slime girl can do. But it doesn’t do much with body horror. This animated adaptation on the other hand moves the tone into a more obvious horror-focused direction from an early point in the story.
Adding to this vibe is the background music. Frankly, there is little to no background music to speak of and this only adds to the creepy atmosphere.
The voice acting is actually pretty good, and the guy’s voice is smooth as fuck. That said, the dialogue itself is stilted. I’m unsure whether this is done on purpose to evoke a certain atmosphere or if it’s just bad writing.
The quality of the animation is quite poor. There are a lot of still frames and stiff movements. The sex scenes aren’t bad, per se, but the repetitive movements aren’t exactly the pinnacle of animation.
What can I say. This animated version of Doukyo Suru Neneki certainly is… something. It feels like a low-budget project that twists the original source material into a different kind of horror. If you’re interested in watching something that’s different from the usual stuff, I would say go ahead and give it a shot. At the very least, it’s interesting in its own way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 1, 2024
I was hesitant to watch the Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter because of the low score and negative reviews. All I can say is that they were right. I was looking for something lighthearted and funny, but this anime didn't cut it for a variety of reasons.
The anime centers around the main character, Noir, receiving the ability to create, edit and remove skills at the cost of a resource called LP. Although this cheat-like ability would definitely make him overpowered, I expected that at the very least we would see a lot of creativity in how this ability would be applied. Imagine hilarious solutions
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to problems simply because they have a cheaper LP cost than the logical alternative, for example.
Unfortunately, the main character is a poor fit for this amazing power. He isn’t strong, smart, funny or creative in the slightest. He’s a real average guy without any particular strengths. The worst part is that all of his best uses of this ability are direct recommendations from his master, Olivia. She bestowed the skill upon him and so knows all the ins and outs. Noir never really comes up with his own ideas and instead follows Olivia’s advice to solve just about everything. That’s a very disappointing lack of agency on the part of the main character. A good character can carry a bad show, but this character is half the reason the show is even bad to begin with.
The LP resource to use this special ability is interesting because at the very least it limits what Noir can do. It also gives a good reason for all the erotic encounters he has. And yet again, there’s a missed opportunity here. Honestly, this series would have done better if it had embraced the “indulge in earthly pleasures” part and just went full hentai. As it stands, there’s essentially only some kissing and hugging involved. It gets stale quickly. Not to mention the context in which it all happens is cringeworthy. Going fully cultured and uncensored would have only improved the dynamics in this anime. Finally, the amount of LP gained through these acts has no internal consistency and is completely dependent on what the story requires of Noir.
The OP and ED were mediocre, the background sounds weren’t anything special and the animation was quite poor in places.
Overall, I don’t have anything good to say about The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter. The concept had a lot of potential, but that’s about it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 28, 2024
While I went in with low expectations How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω turned out better than I expected. I wanted something lighthearted and easy to digest. This anime certainly is both of those things.
It was surprisingly entertaining despite the weak plot. Overall it had a nice and simple “let’s go on an adventure” vibe that I could get behind. The main character Diablo and his group visited a variety of places and fought different enemies while working on a quest of sorts, and it all felt very casual. In a way, it reminded me of a theme park with all the various
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rides, or in this case social obstacles and new shiny cool things to show off.
Of course the main character was still overpowered, something I don’t particularly care for in general, but there were a few adversaries that at least gave him a bit of a rough time. This did make matters more interesting. None of the other characters are much more than cardboard cut-outs with one or two personality traits, but that didn’t bother me too much.
There’s still a lot of suggestive themes and decidedly ecchi harem content in here, which isn’t entirely unexpected, but it seems to take more of a backseat than it did in the first season. Depending on your tastes this may be a good thing or a bad thing.
The visuals seemed a bit lower quality at times than in the first season. I didn’t particularly care for the OP or ED, but the general background music was perfectly fine. It definitely worked to enhance the tone and atmosphere of certain moments.
The voice acting overall was good, but I would like to call particular attention to Shera’s VA, Serizawa Yuu. You see, the series already feels a bit over the top, and the way Shera accentuates that with her “dumb blonde” act really works very well, especially when it comes to the ecchi scenes. In fact, both Diablo and Shera’s VA felt like they had a lot of fun with their roles while recording.
Overall, it really feels like this series doesn’t take itself too seriously and doubles down on some of the aspects that give this anime its charm. While I can’t in good conscience claim that this is a good series, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy my time with it. You can simply turn off your brain and relax with How Not to Summon a Demon Lord Ω.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 5, 2024
I really wanted to like this anime. I really, really did. But as the series went on my opinion on Handyman Saitou in Another World drifted from a tentative Recommended, past a confused Mixed Feelings, all the way down to a solid and disappointed Not Recommended.
The viewer gets dropped into this world without context or background information. From the way events progress it’s also clear that this doesn’t matter – you’re just along for the ride. Things will make more sense as the series progresses, but you have to get there first.
So the series has a unique plot pacing and episode set-up. Each episode consists
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of several mini-episodes, some of which are connected in an arc of sorts, while others are just loose pieces. While refreshing, this also made it very difficult for me to get into this anime.
What made this whiplash worse is that some (mini-)episodes are very good, while others are very bad. Often, there is a massive tone switch within the same episode multiple times. There is no consistency and this really bothered me.
While overall the series tries to go for a cozy dungeon exploration isekai vibe, it mixes up things in the blink of an eye – a cozy scenario has sudden gore, we go from humor to serious moments without a pause, and their attempt at romance gets interrupted by ridiculous events. You’re constantly being catapulted from one extreme to another.
Now, the series is not without its merits. It has an interesting party composition and there are plenty of quirky side characters. Especially Morlock and Lafanpan are cool characters with a lot of charm in their own way. The characters and their interactions really drive the series, even though not everyone is really all that interesting. The worst offender of them all, however, is the main character Saitou. He’s bland, boring and generic.
Either way, what got me to not recommend this series in the end was a childish insistence on some sort of retrieve-a-dick quest and the constant unwarranted gore. None of it was funny nor did it make much sense. It ruined the cozy vibe they had been aiming for. I felt surprised at every turn while watching this series, but near the end I just felt deceived instead.
This series could have been great with its unconventional episode structure and focus on short, bite-sized chunks of entertainment. A different anime that did this well, for example, is Way of the Househusband. Unfortunately, Handyman Saitou in Another World doesn’t even reach the standard of mediocrity. It’s a failed experiment gone wrong.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 25, 2024
Coming from the light novel, the Unwanted Undead Adventurer anime is more or less what I expected – a slow, deliberately paced story with plenty of time for the main character’s thoughts. I may be a bit biased (the LN is one of my favorites, after all), but so far I’ve been enjoying the anime.
While I don’t think the story’s natural pacing makes it well suited for an anime adaptation, they have changed a few details to make events progress smoother and quicker. And so far I feel that has worked out quite well. I know that people who are familiar with the source material
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of an anime like to criticize adaptations, but so far I have no real complaints in that regard. It’s faithful enough.
Rentt and Lorraine’s personalities have been kept intact quite well and I look forward to seeing more characters pop up. Character interactions in general have been good so far and I expect more of the same from the rest of the season.
The visuals are decent with plenty of high-quality background shots. I can’t say I am a big fan of the 3DCGI, but frankly I’ve seen much worse. It’s about as good as I could hope for. Background music and voice acting seem to be on par. I was surprised by Lorraine’s voice, but she sounds about as mature as expected.
If you enjoy getting to know a world/universe at a slower pace, are fond of cautious main characters and appreciate a gentler pace in your series, Unwanted Undead Adventurer might be a series for you. If they keep following the light novel faithfully, the series will only get better and better with each episode. I look forward to episode 4 and beyond.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 9, 2024
Campfire Cooking is a nice, cozy isekai story. You can simply turn off your brain, sit back and relax.
Like so many other isekai series, the main character (Mukouda) is very powerful. In this case it is more by proxy considering he himself is weak, but the Fenrir who joins him is extremely strong. Either way, Campfire Cooking is not about how powerful he and his familiars are, it is about the main character’s adventures in this new world.
How does he adapt to this new world? What struggles does he face along the way? How does he deal with having a special skill that seems
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quite weak at first? How Mukouda responds to situations as they unfold and how he interacts with the people around him are a large part of the fun in this series. His powerful allies bring in a lot of dead boss-level monsters, yes, but these happenings serve only to provide more cooking scenes and are the basis for a lot of comical interactions between Mukouda, his familiars and other people in the world.
Of course, a lot of the things that happen are awfully convenient and beneficial to our main character, but having Fenrir be the catalyst for most of those events is a decent enough excuse that I didn’t dwell too deeply on such matters.
What I found interesting was seeing how useful and convenient modern cooking ingredients and products can be. It’s not something I usually think about. Even though Mukouda appears to be an experienced home cook, half of his skill seems to come from using the right pre-made sauces.
Overall, the story was fine and very much slice-of-life-y. The characters are well-defined and neither complete cardboard cut-outs nor particularly deep. They’re distinct enough to play off of each other very nicely. Again, the focus of this show is on coziness and humor. And this is achieved with only a handful of characters.
Background music and sound effects were fine and unremarkable, while the voice acting was pretty good. The animation was alright for the most part, but there are a few cooking shots where the animation shoots up a tier or two for a few seconds.
I was honestly not expecting much but it was surprisingly entertaining and I hope we get to see more of Campfire Cooking.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 1, 2024
When I first stumbled across Futoku no Guild, I was expecting something a lot more typical – and with a lot less nudity. But fortunately, this series deviates from the norms of its genre in an interesting way.
The story is pretty straightforward – the male main character Kikuru wants to retire from his job as a guard (basically an adventurer who protects town) to go enjoy what’s left of his youth. However, he needs to find a good successor first. This is where the female cast comes in. Every episode is spent trying to train these girls into competent adventurers so that he can retire.
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Sounds simple so far, right? Well, it is. Except how Futoku no Guild works out in practice is better than I expected.
It feels very much like a slice-of-life series in the way the episodes are set up, and in general the anime has a wholesome, upbeat kind of vibe. Rarely does it feel like a situation is actually dangerous. Furthermore, the dialogue between characters is genuinely funny. I think they nailed the comedic tone quite well in Futoku no Guild. Part of that is because of the way the characters have been cast – they are each very defined in their strengths, weaknesses and personalities. You could argue that they’re cardboard cut-outs, but I feel it would be more appropriate to call them suited for the roles they are meant to play. The girls are introduced one at a time so each one of them can be integrated into the party properly. Overall, I think the characters are fine and their banter entertaining. These party dynamics are what propel the series onwards.
Now, there is an important part of Futoku no Guild we haven’t talked about yet – its ecchi factor. This anime shows nudity and borderline-hentai situations almost every single episode. And the strange thing is that it doesn’t feel as dirty as one would expect because they do their best to keep the dialogue and characters’ inner thoughts comical.
Additionally, because they go the extra mile when it comes to the lewd scenes, this anime strangely enough avoids certain pitfalls that ecchi-comedy series tend to fall into. Most other series tend to stop at a slight tease and try to retain some sense of dignity (failing, of course) while also using the same type of humor over and over for those ecchi situations. Especially when you take into account the way the male and female cast members tend to respond in such situations. Futoku no Guild has no shame and the characters respond different from the norm in a way that feels refreshing.
The visuals of this show are generally good. The lewd scenes in particular have a good budget and there are even a few action scenes that look very well animated. The character designs are appealing while staying relatively simple. I have no complaints in the graphical department.
I barely remember sound effects or music, so they must have done the job well enough. The voice acting was appropriate, and especially Tokishikko (Toxico Dannar) was voice acted particularly well. I took a look at the VAs and almost all of them have either little experience or did mostly small supporting roles. I was surprised by this since their skill is really not subpar at all.
Although I find it hard to put into words, what I have been trying to say is that Futoku no Guild is actually one of the better ecchi comedies I have ever watched. It’s upbeat and wholesome with a slice-of-life feel to it, the characters and banter are on point, the visuals and character designs are good and they don’t stop at a typical tease but go beyond that without shame. All in all, I actually quite enjoyed this show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 28, 2023
This season of Goblin Slayer was about what I expected – a series of adventures centered around killing goblins. It feels like you’re watching a D&D campaign, but with only the good parts shown.
There was some more focus on certain characters and their hopes, dreams, fears and so on this season. It was an alright change of pace. That said, each character is still as stereotypical as before and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just that to make the series work everyone has a very strong, somewhat simple, identity. Again – not too dissimilar to how some people roleplay their
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characters.
I was surprised at how much the gore was toned down. For some viewers that might be an issue, for me it’s just a neutral observation. This was in general a less dark and violent season. In fact, there was less action overall, but I found the content and storylines engaging nonetheless.
The moments I enjoyed watching the most were when Goblin Slayer makes a battleplan and they execute it to achieve victory (with a few hiccups here and there). These situations are tense and the tactics used to defeat their foes are quite clever.
I do hope there will be another season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 27, 2023
The second season of The Faraway Paladin took me by surprise – it’s much better than the first season.
I was torn on whether to watch this season or not, considering the first season left me with mixed feelings. The first season started out great but quickly became horribly subpar and so I did not have high expectations going in. However, what we got in this second season was a change of pace and focus that turned The Faraway Paladin into an enjoyable adventure story. The kind of adventure story that makes you think of a tabletop roleplaying game set in a European medieval setting.
While Will
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is still very much an overpowered little snowflake it bothered me much less this time around. It doesn’t matter that he’s so powerful because they managed to give the events that transpired a very distinct feeling. It’s more about the problems that he and his companions solve than showing off how amazing he is. Somehow, despite having such an unremarkable set-up, this season felt much more satisfying to watch. It avoids some of the pitfalls of the first season by being more consistent in tone throughout.
I would have liked to see more gripping dialogue and personality from the various characters, but I guess that wasn’t meant to be. They were all flat and could have used some depth.
As far as voice acting, music and sound effects and so on go, they were all fine. The visuals were about as expected as well.
Either way, I enjoyed myself while watching this anime. However, I am not sure whether we can expect another season, since apparently no new volume of the light novel has been released for a few years now.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 4, 2023
Isekai Nonbiri Nouka was a series I picked up because it seemed laid-back and cozy. And on that front it certainly delivered. While I can’t call it an outstanding series, I have to admit my partner and I enjoyed ourselves just fine with this anime.
This series does not have a particularly original set-up, but at least it’s another notch on the wheel of isekai niches. The premise of Isekai Nonbiri Nouka is simple and if you want to watch something that doesn’t require braincells, it works. It’s just a slice-of-life series with an overpowered main character interested in making a farming community. I am unfamiliar
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with the source material, so perhaps the light novel has more substance.
Either way, the atmosphere is good and delivers on being nice and relaxed. Nothing bad happens and the story doesn’t turn “epic”. All conflicts are avoided due to plot reasons and that seems like a very deliberate choice.
The pacing is a bit quick and sometimes events happen or get resolved so fast that it feels things are left out. Details are glossed over quite often. There isn’t nearly as much time to explore various characters and their relationships as I had hoped, but I suspect the source material does do this. I’m disappointed there were no references to romance or sexual activity at all despite such things being bound to happen considering the situation the main character is in, but at least there were no fanservice shots whatsoever, which I am grateful for. This series is in fact cleaner than most kids’ shows.
Many things in Isekai Nonbiri Nouka happen because the author wants them to happen. There is no logic behind these victories for the main character, they just magically occur. It’s all very easy. But I feel that that’s not really the point of the show. It’s a feel-good kind of show that’s all about escapism. There is nothing wrong with that per se, but as a result I would struggle to call this series anything even remotely resembling a masterpiece. That said, if you go in knowing what to expect it really isn’t so bad.
The voice acting and sound effects are fine. The visuals on the other hand can be a bit simple and cute in a way that screams budget reasons. Backgrounds/environmental shots and shots of produce on the other hand are quite good.
Either way, Isekai Nonbiri Nouka has a good atmosphere and delivers on staying laid-back and cozy. If you need that in your life right now, this anime might be just what you’re looking for.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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