- Last Online46 minutes ago
- GenderFemale
- BirthdayApr 4, 2000
- LocationElkhart, Indiana, USA
- JoinedOct 5, 2012
|
May 13, 2020
5 of 5 episodes seen
|
0
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
No one would want the people they care about to be sad; they’d do whatever they can to make sure they’re happy. For those in a loving family, that would include those in their family. There is one anime girl like that, who went back in time just to make her mother happy in the future....but not many people know that the anime she is in exists. I certainly didn’t know it existed until the day I randomly decided to scroll through the list of anime produced by the studio Encourage Films and instantly got attracted to this particular anime’s cute art style. Thus, I
decided to watch it, although despite its cute art style, I honestly didn’t expect much. Little did I know that I was in for a bit of a treat.
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary brethren, here is my review of the not-so-well-known cutesy anime, Ontama!
The story of Ontama begins with an elementary school girl named Ichigo Tamura being distressed about her family issues; her mother is a very nice woman, but her stepfather doesn’t act the same way, always berating the two of them. One day, while she’s crying in the park about it, she is approached by a person in a bus driver’s outfit, who asks her what her wish is; in response, Ichigo says that her wish is for her mother and her father - her REAL father, that is - to get married instead, as she feels that her real father would have made her mother happier. Next thing Ichigo knows, she is thrown into a magical bus (not to be confused with the Magic School Bus) and driven back in time to before she was born. She ends up meeting her real father, the clumsy Kyousuke Hikami, and, while posing as his little sister, sets off to set him up with her mother, Miyuki. However, she must first overcome some obstacles, such as Kyousuke’s best friend and Ichigo’s future stepfather, Yuuji, who also clearly has feelings for Miyuki.
Oh, did I mention how Ichigo ended up meeting Kyousuke? He cracked her out of an egg. I’m not kidding; that actually happened. That is only one of the many completely random things to happen in Ontama’s story, and most of the time, these random moments can actually be quite funny; I ended up laughing out loud a lot more than I thought I would. However, what I didn’t appreciate was the fact that the comedy took time away from the story, which gave the relationship between Kyousuke and Miyuki less time to develop than it already had and made it feel really rushed as a result. Plus, the plot twist revealed in the last episode was so predictable that it was honestly kind of irritating, and although it answered one potential question a viewer who possibly might not figure it out may have, it just leaves them with more; as a result, I wasn’t as emotionally invested as I could have been.
Despite the story not being that good, I can say that the characters were charming. Ichigo is a decent protagonist; I liked how supportive she was of her parents’ love lives. The one who granted her wish, Cappy, had a cute appearance, but otherwise....he was kind of forgettable. Honestly, not a lot of the characters in the cast stand out that much, not even Kyousuke and Miyuki, who are both important parts of the story; no one was really unlikable, but I didn’t really like them, either. I will give a special mention to Yuuji, however; he is perhaps the most complex character in this simple anime, although I won’t get into it because of the possibility of accidentally entering spoiler territory.
I said at the beginning of this review that the art was what made me watch Ontama, and aside from that, the animation was decent. The quality I watched it in wasn’t that good, but the animation flowed well for the tone it was setting. The character designs were cute, too, and while the backgrounds weren’t anything special, they weren’t awful, either. The voice acting was also decent; while there were times where I felt like the voice actors weren’t portraying the emotions the characters feel good enough, it’s still easy to tell that they’re having fun. Finally, the opening and ending themes were decent in their own ways, but ultimately, I wouldn’t listen to them again.
Overall, Ontama was just a decent anime. If you like zany comedy with a bit of romance on the side, I’d recommend you watch it, but at the same time, no one is going to kill you if you don’t. There are other anime out there where characters take field trips through time, after all.
read more
Mar 28, 2020
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
1
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
“10/10, would bang again”
A lot of bad things have been happening in the world this year, but at least we have anime to distract ourselves. As always, the beginning of 2020 brought us a plethora of new anime to watch this year, but very few of those anime have gathered as much attention as Ishuzoku Reviewers; from getting canceled by Funimation and even some Japanese TV networks to the vote brigading on MAL, all that has happened surrounding it is bound to turn heads. I admit that it was Funimation’s cancellation of the simuldub that finally convinced me to give it a go, but it
had caught my attention long before then; not only did an anime about reviewing seem like an interesting concept (although I didn’t actually know at the time exactly WHAT - or rather, WHO - the main characters were reviewing), but there was just something about it that told me that it wasn’t just another ecchi anime. Thus, I watched it all the way to the end, and I have to ask myself some questions.
Was it really worth it? Was Ishuzoku Reviewers, known in English as Interspecies Reviewers, worth all of the attention it got this year?
Ishuzoku Reviewers takes place in a fantasy world full of humanoid races with different abilities. Some girls of these different races are known as “succu-girls” - girls with succubus blood in them - and work as prostitutes in various different brothels depending on their race. (Don’t look at me like that! That’s basically what they are!) Two adventurers, a human named Stunk and an elf named Zel, enjoy visiting these so-called “succu-girl joints”, but their individual opinions on each species can vary. Together with Crimvael - a hermaphrodite angel with a broken halo - and a few others who join them from time to time, these adventurers travel to different succu-girl joints and review their experiences for the reading pleasure of others.
If you’re looking for a fantasy adventure series with some fanservice here and there....well, you’re not going to find it in the way you expect. It really doesn’t have much of a story to it; each episode mainly follows the formula of the main characters going to a succu-girl joint and seeing what they have to offer in terms of service and.... “service”. The fact that these succu-girls are such a wide variety of species allows the anime to get creative with exactly how these joints work, and this is for the better or for the worse. One of the better examples, in my opinion, is the Magic Metropolis; although the girls there are merely decoys of an archmage, the customers actually get to spend time with them and form something like a bond with them, and I really appreciated that. However, one of the worst examples - if not the absolute worst - was the egg-laying joint; it treated bird-like succu-girls laying eggs like a fetish, and I was so disgusted by it that I almost tossed whatever opinion I had about the series up until that point into the trash and dropped it there.
There may be a plethora of ways the succu-girl joints work in this anime, but what about the succu-girls themselves? They each get minimal development in their respective episodes, if any at all, and after their episode, we barely get to see any of them again, if we see them at all. Given the overall premise of Ishuzoku Reviewers and exactly how many species would need to be covered in 12 episodes, this shouldn’t be a major problem; however, it just felt to me like tossing someone aside after just having sex with them just to go for someone else, with a cycle like this continuing until the 12 episodes are up, and while it really is just a personal problem, it took me a while to get comfortable with the feeling. (I honestly can’t believe I got comfortable with it at all.) What about the characters who review them, however? Well, at the very least, I appreciate that they’re honest about their sexual desires. Out of the main characters, I think I’d say Crimvael - a.k.a. Crim - is my favorite; not counting....certain aspects....he’s the one I relate to the most. Other than the succu-girls and the ones who review them, there are a plethora of supporting and background characters, with each of them either being somewhat charming or really freaking annoying.
The animation is nice and colorful, and the character designs are good....for the most part. While the attributes for each species make sense for their species, some of those attributes just look disproportionate; I think I may have had flashbacks to Eiken, seeing the watermelons on the minotaurs! Two things that are consistently good, though, are the voice acting and music. Each of the characters’ voices fit their characters, and the voice actors themselves did a great job with the acting part. As for the music....well, if the ending theme, “Hanabira Ondo”, sung by the voice actors of Stunk (Junji Majima), Zel (Yuusuke Kobayashi), and Crim (Miyu Tomita), is catchy (which it is), the opening theme, “Ikouze Paradise”, also sung by the voice actors of Stunk, Zel, and Crim, is a freaking EARWORM; I don’t think it has left my head for the entire time that I’ve been watching it.
Overall, did I enjoy Ishuzoku Reviewers? To an extent, I would say so. Would I recommend it? Not really; you’d have to be comfortable with some really kinky stuff to find enjoyment in everything it has to offer. Ultimately, whether you watch it or not is your choice, and even if your opinion is different from others’, you have got to respect those opinions; the same goes for the many other anime there are out there, including those that are borderline hentai or even straight out hentai.
read more
Mar 6, 2020
26 of 26 episodes seen
|
2
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
6 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
How would you feel if you could remember a past life? Would that past life have some kind of impact on your current life? Perhaps in a past life, I could have been more of a mecha fan than I am in this life. Even though I don’t consider myself to be a huge fan of mecha anime, I still happened to have a particular one on my to-watch list for years for rather stupid reasons; after finding a DVD of it at my local library, though, I finally got around to watching it. Now that I’m finished with it, though, exactly what do I
think of it?
Merge one! Merge two! Go, my review of Aquarion! (Okay, that was terrible.)
Aquarion takes place 12,000 years after a war between the Earth and a race known as the Shadow Angels. The Shadow Angels went into slumber after the end of the war, but eleven years before the beginning of the series, a disaster brought the Shadow Angels back to Earth, with them resuming their feeding of humans’ life force. To combat this, an organization called DEAVA uses a mecha called Aquarion, which had been used 12,000 years prior and requires people with special powers called Elements to pilot three fighter planes called Vectors to combine them into Aquarion by “merging”. (A lot to take in, I know.) The series mainly follows Apollo, a boy who is believed to be the reincarnation of Apollonius, who played a large role in the war. He is recruited by DEAVA to become a pilot for Aquarion, and when his friends are taken by the Shadow Angels, he agrees.
It is difficult to explain what kind of story Aquarion is trying to tell, but exactly what kind of story it actually tells is even worse. A good portion of the anime’s 26 episodes contain filler that contribute absolutely nothing to the plot; filler episodes aren’t necessarily a bad thing if those filler episodes were entertaining to watch, but with Aquarion’s filler episodes, I would just groan out of frustration from how stupid they are. Fortunately, the series DOES try to tell a cohesive story, and I commend the attempts at telling that story. However, most of the plot twists are too predictable or just plain confusing; there were very few that I actually liked. Another thing that I must mention is the fact that it doesn’t try that hard to differentiate itself from other mecha anime; I have at least seen enough mecha anime to be watching this and thinking, “Yeah, that’s happened before.”
As for the characters, they’re honestly a bit of a mixed bag. All of the characters are cliché, but some of them are actually likable in spite of that. However, there is one issue that the characters share, and that is the amount of development. Most of the characters get one or two episodes of real development each, if any at all; after that, although those characters may get some time in the spotlight, any real development instead goes to Apollo, Silvia, and maybe Sirius. I must admit that it was kind of interesting to see the development of Apollo and Silvia’s relationship, but the other relationships in this series don’t get as much attention or development, which is a real shame.
The art and animation.... What can I really say about those? Well, the settings were decent, and some of the character designs were good. The CG animation wasn’t that good, but it may just be that this anime came out in 2005, when CG animation wasn’t the best. I really, REALLY want to praise the more 2D animation; Satelight and Production Reed have each done some decent animation, and in this series, some of the animation is actually good. The key word there is “some”; it may, again, just be the fact that this anime came out in 2005, but the animation quality is a bit inconsistent and falls at times. The biggest offender of this is episode 19; a majority of that episode was drawn in a different style altogether, and while I understand why the animators decided to go that route with that episode (although it did come off as rather jarring), the parts of the episode that returned to the normal style of this series were very poorly animated and came off as even more jarring.
One genuine praise I have for Aquarion, however, is the music. Both of the opening themes sound like they could be the opening themes for most other mecha anime, but they’re catchy enough to warrant a re-listen or two; the same goes for the ending theme, although that is more because of how completely beautiful it sounds, from the instrumentals to Yui Makino’s voice. The soundtrack is pretty good, too; the piano rendition of the first opening theme is absolutely, breathtakingly gorgeous. Finally, I watched the English dub of Aquarion, and the voice acting is pretty good for its time. The characters’ voices fit their characters quite well (although Brian Palencia as Silvia takes a bit of getting used to, although that may just be my fault for not knowing she voiced her and dumbly expecting a different voice to come out of her mouth), and they convey their emotions quite well.
Overall, Aquarion is pretty much just your average mecha anime. No one is going to kill you if you don’t watch it, but hardcore mecha fans may get a kick out of it. There is more to the Aquarion anime than just these 26 episodes, however; I wonder how it evolves from here....
read more
Sep 20, 2019
11 of 11 episodes seen
|
3
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Music is a powerful tool. That’s a fact that we may not realize at first, but once it hits you in the face, you can never forget it. Singing allows you to convey any feeling you may feel in your heart, even when it feels like your heart has shattered into pieces by a life-changing event. Who knew that a yaoi (or shounen-ai, whichever way you want to refer to it) anime would make such a thought occur to me? I haven’t read the manga that the anime in question was based off of; I just saw the PV when it came out before the
actual anime aired and saw that it had a large amount of potential. Originally, I would have blown an anime like this off in spite of that potential due to it being BL; despite it being years since I removed that restriction from myself, this anime is making me seriously forget that I did it at all!
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary brethren, my review of “Given” is about to be given to you! (Yeah, yeah, throw your tomatoes at me and get it over with.)
Given starts off with high schooler Ritsuka Uenoyama reluctantly teaching schoolmate Mafuyu Satou how to play the guitar. You see, Ritsuka is the guitarist for a band, and upon seeing Mafuyu with a broken guitar at his usual napping spot one day, he fixes it for him; as it turns out, Mafuyu doesn’t actually know how to play said guitar, so he enlists Ritsuka to teach him how to play. One thing leads to another - which includes Mafuyu being introduced to Ritsuka’s bandmates, bassist Haruki Nakayama and drummer Akihiko Kaji - and one day, Ritsuka discovers that Mafuyu has an exceptional singing voice. What else could Ritsuka do except invite Mafuyu into his band? As time goes on and the band prepares for a concert, however, Ritsuka begins to learn about Mafuyu’s past.
I’m just going to start off by saying that the story for Given is the best story I’ve seen for a yaoi anime. Yes, it’s even better than that of Doukyuusei. Not only does it have lighthearted moments, but it also displays a darker side, which includes an accurate depiction of how one may feel when they lose a loved one; there are many who will be able to relate to the story and its characters. If there is one problem I have with the story, however, it is that it feels like it ended too early. Of course, the anime ends on a positive note, but I just feel like there is more that could be explored; maybe it’s just me wanting more than just these 11 episodes and nothing else, though.
Not only does Given have an excellent story, it also has a strong cast of characters. In fact, I feel like the characters are one of the anime’s greatest strengths, if not its greatest strength, period. None of these characters are perfect, which is exactly what makes them interesting; it’s interesting to see them grow. Out of the entire cast, Mafuyu is most certainly the one who grew the most; he went from someone who couldn’t express his emotions that well to someone who could express himself through the power of music. Ritsuka is also an enjoyable character who went through a good amount of growth; his relationship with Mafuyu was also perfect, with their chemistry appearing from episode one and their relationship being developed at a reasonable pace. Two more interesting characters are Haruki and Akihiko; being the adult members of the band, they give the two younger members sound advice, yet at the same time, these two can be complete messes, especially Haruki.
Now, I’m just going to remind you that while this is a yaoi anime, it is also a music anime; thus, it is important that this anime has good music. Fortunately, I can say that Given delivers in the music department tenfold. The opening and ending themes - which are respectively “Kizuato” by Centimilimental and “Marutsuke” by Shougo Yano (the voice of Mafuyu) - are amazing and memorable songs that are worth replaying over and over again; the songs’ lyrics - especially that for the opening theme - also fit this anime’s story so well that it’s almost scary, which is something I realized as the anime was still going on. The soundtrack is also really good, and it adds to the atmosphere of the anime. (There is one insert song that stood out to me, but I’ll talk about that later.) The voice actors gave exceptional performances, too; their emotions are conveyed the way they are supposed to.
The animation.... What can I really say about the animation? It’s not my favorite part about the anime, but there’s no denying that it’s really good. There are some pretty good character designs, with the proportions of every character looking great. (Eat your heart out, Houkago no Shokuinshitsu!) Given also makes good use of its colors; there are bright colors used for the more lighthearted moments, and there are darker colors for the sadder moments. Overall, Given just has great animation.
However, everything that is great about Given really comes together in one particular scene in episode 9. This scene is the concert scene where the band performs “Fuyu no Hanashi”, and....wow. The animation, the sound of this song, the way the song connects to the overall story and Mafuyu’s character.... Everything about that scene was perfect. When it hits for the first time, it’s hard not to feel emotional.
Overall, Given was an excellent anime. I recommend this anime to anyone looking for an amazing love story with amazing music. If you refuse to watch it because it’s gay, I won’t force you, but I will say that you’re missing out!
read more
Sep 19, 2019
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
2
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
I’m going to start this review off with a warning; if you’re going to watch this anime, do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT, read the light novel or look up spoilers for said light novel before or while you’re watching. If you do, it will probably ruin the experience. I found out about the anime I’m talking about before it started airing, and I was interested in watching it because of how cute and wholesome it seemed. However, the light novel spoilers got to me, but I still wanted to watch this anime, no matter what. With that, I made a deal with myself;
if the anime doesn’t get that far or has an original ending, I will completely skip the light novels. Thus, I went ahead and watched it, and while the aforementioned light novel spoilers hindered my enjoyment, I’m kind of glad I did.
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary brethren, here is my review of “Uchi no Ko no Tame Naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai.”, known in English as “If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat A Demon Lord”.
Uchi no Ko (as it shall henceforth be called) follows Dale, a skilled adventurer who one day encounters a little devil girl while on a job in the forest. It’s clear that things have been rough for the girl named Latina; her father and companion has died and left her alone, she is dressed in rags, and she has a broken horn, which, for devils, is the mark of a criminal. Dale, being the kindhearted guy he is, is unable to just leave her to die, so he takes her home and ends up becoming her adoptive father. It’s not long before Dale falls in love with being Latina’s parent, and he goes through the trials and tribulations of raising a child as well as constant heartbreak when his job tears the two apart. Meanwhile, as Latina grows up, she learns about the world around her, as well as herself.
Take Daikichi and Rin from “Usagi Drop”, age Daikichi down, and throw them into a fantasy setting; if you do that, you’d get Uchi no Ko in a nutshell. Just like that anime, it has a really simple slice-of-life story with little conflict. With that said, though, there is an arc in this series that I feel like goes on for too long. Sure, what is shown in this arc is most likely in the light novel (don’t quote me on that), and it captures the process of going to a faraway place accurately; still, I feel like the story arc could have wrapped up in an episode less than how long it went on for. Some of the content of this arc just felt like filler.
As for the characters.... Latina. Okay, moving on! No, seriously, Latina’s the star of the show here. One may think she’s too perfect, but there’s no denying how adorable she is, both inside and out; she also grew as a character, no matter how small her growth was, and I enjoyed seeing that. I also enjoyed Dale’s character; even though he doesn’t really visibly grow as much as a character, he has gotten quite a good number of laughs out of me. As for the other characters.... well, there’s really not much I can say about them. There are quite a few supporting characters who interested me but didn’t get that much screen time, and there were others that I just did not know how to feel about. *coughMayacough* I swear, though, if the supporting characters get most of their development in the light novels that go beyond the anime, I’m going to get mad!
Okay, so the characters aren’t this anime’s strong point, so what is? I’d say the voice acting and music. While the opening and ending themes, which are respectively “I’m with you” and “This is Yuusha, but Zannen?!” (which are each sung by Latina and Dale’s voice actors, Kanon Takao and Nobuhiko Okamoto), aren’t songs I’d replay over and over, they’re both catchy songs that fit the tone of the anime quite well. The voice acting was also pretty good, with a standout performance from Kanon Takao, the voice of Latina; she hasn’t had many roles yet, but with how adorable her voice is and how much it fit Latina, I’d say she has a bright future as a voice actress. I want to say that the animation studio behind this anime, Maho Film, has a bright future, as well; after all, as far as I can tell, this is their first project. Unfortunately, while the art is nice to look at, the animation is not always consistent; still, there’s always room for improvement!
Overall, Uchi no Ko has a number of noticeable flaws, but it’s hard to say that it’s not enjoyable. If you’re in the mood for some father-daughter bonding in a fantasy setting, this may be the anime for you. Yes, it’s all just some very wholesome father-daughter bonding, and nothing more than that.... DON’T LOOK UP THE LIGHT NOVEL SPOILERS.
read more
Sep 16, 2019
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
1
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
You have got to love it when there is a possibility to go the incest route, but that’s just it; it’s only a possibility. After all, when there are other girls around you who would make a good lover, what could possibly make you want to bang your sister instead? Well, I guess there are some people who would have an answer to that question; there are people who are fans of incest anime, after all. One such incest anime was one that I’ve known about for years; however, mostly because of how sexual I had heard it was, I held off on watching it
up until now. When I finally watched it, however, I didn’t expect it to be any good; somehow, it managed to meet my expectations and pleasantly surprise me at the same time.
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary brethren, here is my review of “Yosuga no Sora: In Solitude, Where We Are Least Alone”.
Yosuga no Sora starts off like quite a decent number of other visual novels. Haruka and Sora Kasugano are a pair of twins who move into their grandparents’ house in the countryside after losing their parents in a car accident. This place is somewhere where they’ve spent summers before, and when they arrive, they end up reuniting with childhood friends Akira Amatsume and Nao Yorimichi, as well as making new friends in Kazuha Migiwa and Ryouhei Nagazato. From there, the story splits into four different routes, where Haruka romances one of each of the four leading ladies, with memories of his past playing a part in most of them.
First of all, I need to make this fact perfectly clear; while they don’t show everything, this anime DOES have sex scenes. If you are uncomfortable with that, I suggest you stop reading this review now, because this is one anime that you will not want to watch, regardless of my own verdict of it. With that said, however, for once, I didn’t feel uncomfortable when watching most of those sex scenes; either all of the other borderline-hentai anime I have watched have desensitized me, or it really had more to do with how the sex scenes I was comfortable with contained consensual sex and really felt like love consummation. Most of them could have been taken out, though, and it would not have affected the story much.
Speaking of the story, as I mentioned before, the story is divided into four different routes, which each focus of Kazuha, Akira, Nao, and Sora, in that order. This kind of set-up would remind one of anime like Amagami SS and Photo Kano, but to me, each route felt more like they branched from certain parts of the story. The first nine episodes - which covered the first three routes - were all at least decent; they gave a good amount of character development to those involved. Out of the three, I liked Akira’s route the best; Akira is a fun character to begin with, and I enjoyed seeing her story and the development of her relationship with Haruka.
Then, for the last three episodes, we get.... *sigh*.... Sora’s route. Now, I’ll give it credit where credit is due; I did find it to be a good portrayal of how incest is viewed by society. However, THAT DOES NOT MAKE THIS ROUTE GOOD. We are treated to at least one sexual scene per episode of this route, whether it’s Sora masturbating to Haruka or the siblings just plain engaging in sexual activity; add in the simple fact that they’re siblings (and blood-related ones, at that), and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a very awkward and uncomfortable experience. Further damaging my opinion of this route, however, is Sora Kasugano herself; she is a completely selfish brat, and I saw little to no chemistry between her and her brother. Finally, the way this route ended just left a bad taste in my mouth.
At least the end of the entire anime didn’t make me keep that sour taste, however, and do you know what I have to thank? The answer to that question is the comedic specials that air at the end of every episode, including the last one. These specials star Motoka Nogisaka, a maid who works for Kazuha’s family; apparently, she had a route in the original visual novel, so I’m assuming that these specials were added to make up for her route not being able to fit into the main series. No matter what the reason why these specials exist, however, there’s no denying that they’re quite entertaining; while I wouldn’t say that these specials were my favorite part of the series as a whole, I did enjoy Motoka as a character, as well as her relationship with Haruka, which blossomed throughout these specials. These specials even have their own ending theme - “Pinky Jones” by Momoiro Clover Z - which is not only catchy, but it also fits in with the comedic nature of these specials.
Since I talked about the ending theme for the specials, I guess I should talk about the theme songs for the main series, huh? Well, I do like eufonius’s music, and while “Hiyoku no Hane” - which serves as this anime’s opening theme - isn’t my favorite out of their songs, it fits in with the anime’s overall atmosphere and is worthy of a few re-listens; the same can be said about “Tsunagukizuna” by Nekocan featuring Junca Amaoto - the ending theme - although probably to a lesser extent. The voice acting is also pretty good; each of the characters’ voices fit the characters themselves well, and many convincing performances were given. Finally, the animation, done by feel, is very well-done; I wouldn’t say it’s perfect all of the way through, but it’s definitely pretty-looking.
Overall, Yosuga no Sora is a decent anime....if you can get over the last three episodes. I do suggest watching it if you are in the mood for something similar to Amagami SS and are comfortable with sex scenes. To those of you who are uncomfortable with incest, though, here’s today’s quote: “Don’t like, don’t watch!” (At least, don’t watch the last three episodes.)
read more
Sep 3, 2019
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
1
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
It can be a pain when you’re distracted from something you’ve been trying to put all of your focus on, but it’s even more of a pain when it’s your own thoughts that are distracting you. Trust me; I know from experience. I’m sure there is a certain anime girl who can vouch for me, with her sexual thoughts about a certain guy in her life, among other things, causing a distraction for her. I first became aware about the anime that this girl is in when it was still just a manga; I randomly read a few chapters of it and didn’t really think
much of it, not expecting that this completely random manga would one day get an anime adaptation, even if it was a short one. Since it did, however, I decided to give it a try.
Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary brethren, I give you my review for the anime that shows us why Ao-chan Can’t Study! (No, really, that’s what the anime is called. It’s “Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai” in Japanese, though.)
Ao-chan Can’t Study follows Ao Horie, a high school girl who hates her name and the fact that her father is an erotic fiction author. (“Make an AO face!” is what is referred to when it comes to why her father chose her name, although it is true that “ao” is actually Japanese for “blue”.) Desperate to go to a good university and get away from her father, she throws herself into her studies and avoids pretty much everything else, including boys. Enter Takumi Kijima, Ao’s classmate who just so happens to have a crush on her. Ao is unable to shake him off and finds herself constantly interpreting Kijima’s intentions as perverted. I guess her father’s influence really got to her, huh? Anyway, this anime follows the misunderstandings and awkward situations that Ao and Kijima get involved in.
I’m just going to say it right now; do NOT watch this anime if you’re not into raunchy anime at all. Although it’s not as bad as anime like Shimoneta, there’s no question that this anime is cock-full - er, I mean chock-full - of dirty jokes. That said, though, the comedy is rather hit-or-miss; sometimes, it can make me at least close to laughing, and other times, it can just make me want to slap my forehead out of pure frustration. Comedy aside, the story can be quite predictable; if you’ve seen enough romantic comedies, raunchy or not, there is a chance that you’ll be able to predict what is going to happen.
As for the characters....well, my thoughts on them are kind of complicated, especially when it comes to our leading lady, Ao Horie. On one hand, even if it has a tendency to waver, I admire her determination to get into a good university and achieve independence, but on the other hand, the fact that she always sees Kijima’s intentions in a perverted light, especially when they’re actually really pure, just makes me want to slap her. Her father is also someone I sometimes want to slap; he can be quite annoying, and it’s understandable that Ao doesn’t want to live under the same roof as him for any longer than she needs to. At the same time, however, there are times where it’s clear that he genuinely cares about Ao and wants the best for her, which is why I can’t really hate him. Oh, I haven’t mentioned Kijima yet, have I? I like seeing how much Kijima really cares about Ao, but other than that, nothing about his character really stands out that much. The side characters aren’t really that interesting, either.
Now, Silver Link has done some excellent animation work over the years, and Ao-chan Can’t Study is no exception. No, it’s not the best animation I’ve ever seen, but the bright colors and character designs can be quite appealing. The voice acting is rather good, too; this is my first time hearing Azumi Waki’s voice acting, but if the way she conveyed Ao’s emotions is any kind of reflection of how she normally does as a voice actress, I look forward to watching other anime she voice acted in and hearing her voice. The first few seconds of the opening theme, “WONDERFUL WONDER” by EDOGA-SULLIVAN, is something that I swear reminds me of another song, but I can’t really think of what that song is; that aside, it’s a good song, although not one that I’d listen to on repeat. I feel the same way about the ending theme, “Koi wa Miracle” by Spira Spica, except without the “reminds me of another song” part.
After Ao-chan Can’t Study came out, I happened to find many people who loved it and many people who hated it; as for me, I’d say that I’m in the middle. This wouldn’t be my first recommendation if you asked me to recommend a raunchy anime, but no one’s going to kill you for watching it. That is, if you don’t have any studying that you should be doing instead....
read more
Aug 16, 2019
12 of 12 episodes seen
|
2
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
5 |
| Story |
4 |
| Animation |
4 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Character |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
You know what has kind of been getting on my nerves lately? The recent trend of borderline-hentai short TV anime, or the “seasonal smut”, as I like to call it. Ever since Souryo to Majiwaru (insert the rest of the long title here) came out in the spring of 2017, there would always be that one anime every season that is quite perverted and comes in two or three versions, with one being basically full-blown hentai and the non-hentai version(s) censoring the sexy scenes in rather awkward ways; all the while, little care is put into the other parts of the anime that could possibly
make it enjoyable. Take the anime I’m about to review - the “seasonal smut” from back in the fall of 2018 - for instance. What we have here is the perfect example of a generic anime from the “seasonal smut” genre that encapsulates (no pun intended) exactly what that genre has to offer.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you’re ready for my review of an anime with a name that’s probably longer than its runtime, “Shuudengo, Capsule Hotel de, Joushi ni Binetsu Tsutawaru Yoru.”, known in English as “The Night When Me and My Boss Spent the Night at the Capsule Hotel After the Last Train and He Passed His Fever to Me”.
Shuudengo Capsule Hotel (as it will henceforth be called) follows Minori Aizawa, an office lady who constantly argues with her boss, Akihiko Hadano. One night, after a company drinking party, Minori happens to miss the last train of the night; thus, Hadano takes her to a capsule hotel, which is basically a hotel with small rooms that the beds make up. Unfortunately, Minori’s room happens to be taken, so she ends up rooming with Hadano for the night. (I’m sure you can guess where this is going....) That night plants the seed for Minori and Hadano’s growing relationship....
First of all, I might as well admit my cowardice and say that I watched the censored version (which I was SOMEHOW able to find with English subtitles); thus, I can’t evaluate the sex scenes. With that said, though, the way that the sex scenes were completely cut out was awkward, to say the least, and it made each episode’s already-short runtime even shorter. I cannot believe I am saying this, but anyone who wants to watch this (although I will say right now that you are better off not watching it at all) is probably better off watching the uncensored version as long as they are comfortable with watching the sex scenes. At least a good chunk of each episode isn’t cut out in that version!
Sex scenes or no sex scenes, though, the short runtime of this anime still hurts the story and characters. The story of Shuudengo Capsule Hotel is as generic of a love story as they come, and at some points, it was all over the place; to be frank, it wasn’t entertaining at all. The characters in this story weren’t much better. A noticeable trend in the “seasonal smut” genre - at least, the ones aimed at a female demographic - is that the man tends to come off as a rapist; while Hadano wasn’t really as much of a creep as characters like Aki Myojin from “Amai Choubatsu” - or at least, he didn’t come off like that to me - he still has creepy tendencies that show when he forces himself on Minori. Minori herself is the perfect example of how to write a perfectly bland character; other than maybe her looks, she really doesn’t have much going on for her, and even when she says “we can’t do this” or stuff like this in response to Hadano’s advances, you sure don’t see her struggling! Because of the runtime of this anime, Minori and Hadano’s relationship doesn’t get a good enough amount of development, but let’s be honest; no matter how much you try to develop a relationship like this, can you really consider it a healthy relationship that everyone who sees the series they are in will support?
Okay, the story and characters are an obvious bust, but what about the animation, voice acting, and music? Surely, they will be good enough, right? WRONG, especially if you are talking about the animation. The character designs are fine, but throughout the entire series, I kept spotting animation error after animation error, whether it came from the characters’ movements or the setting that they were in; the studio working on this, Suiseisha, really could have done a better job animating it. Maybe the sex scenes are better-animated? I don’t know for sure, but if that is the case, it really goes to show that they care more about the quality of the sex scenes than the quality of literally anything else. Well, at least there is the voice acting. It was alright; the voice actors didn’t give groundbreaking performances, but they did their best. The ending theme was also okay, but it’s ultimately forgettable.
I have spent all of this time bashing on Shuudengo Capsule Hotel, but is it the worst “seasonal smut” anime I have ever seen? No, but it is certainly not the best I have seen, either. Whether it is the worst or the best, however, I can say for sure that I do not recommend watching this anime, regardless of whether or not you’re watching it for the sexy times. I believe the same can be said for any of the “seasonal smut” anime there are; if you’re really watching for the “plot” and not the plot, you might as well watch hentai instead!
read more
Sep 27, 2018
6 of 6 episodes seen
|
2
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
4 |
| Story |
1 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Character |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
Have you ever questioned every decision you’ve ever made in your life? I sure have had those moments, and I have a feeling that the people who made this anime had one after it was all over, too. “Just what were we thinking?” they probably asked themselves. “For what purpose did we create this thing?” Believe me; my question is very similar to this one, and I’m determined to get it answered. Before I do so, however, I must state what that question is.
What purpose does the ONA known as “Iya na Kao sare nagara Opantsu Misete Moraitai” serve? Ladies and gentlemen, wish me luck
in my investigation.
Let’s see.... I guess from stating what it’s about, it should give me a clue. It should be easy enough; after all, the only thing that really happens is that the Anime Girl of the Week makes a disgusted face and shows you - the audience - her underwear. Wait, no.... I can’t really put it that way, since the title literally translates to “I Want You To Make A Disgusted Face and Show Me Your Underwear”.... You know what? Just look at the title, and you’ll be able to discern the “plot” of this anime. (Oh, and it’s also in a first-person point of view.)
The reason why I put “plot” in quotation marks is precisely because there is no actual plot and only “plot”. Even when a story is attempting to be told up until the “plot” kicks in, it’s incredibly tedious and boring, to the point where even I couldn’t help but think, “Can we just throw in the panty shot and get it over with?” Needless to say, I’m disgusted at myself for having such a thought, but I’m sure that there are others who could think such a thought with pride. Maybe this anime’s purpose is to give “plot” to those who desire only it? No.... if they wanted “plot”, those people could easily watch High School DxD or Rosario + Vampire or any ecchi anime like those....
Okay, so it’s not the plot, nor is it the “plot”. Moving on.
Could it be the artwork? I mean, the girls look cute, so it’s a small possibility. However, the animation is just....meh. It’s not God-awful, but it’s not all that good, either. What about the sound, though? No, that can’t be it, either. The voice acting is pretty average, and the ending theme is so forgettable that even if it somehow gets stuck inside of your head, it won’t take much to get it out. The lack of background music isn’t doing it any favors, either.
This investigation is going nowhere.... I guess if I’m going to figure it out, I’d have to talk about the characters. First, let’s talk about the protagonist, who is - as you can probably guess from what I had said earlier in this review - YOU. You’re someone who is acquainted with these six girls - a maid, an idol, a nun, a shrine maiden, a nurse, and a high school girl gamer - and you’re also a pervert. Yeah, that’s all “you” are, no matter how many variations of “you” there are in this anime. All of the girls are pretty one-note, too; originally, their opinions of “you” are positive or neutral, but by the end of the episode, they see “you” as the sicko you are. Even so, they still show “you” their panties every time, calling your masochistic self “gross” or “pervert” the entire time.
Masochistic....? Oh my! I think I’ve got it!
Iya na Kao sare nagara Opantsu Misete Moraitai’s purpose is to satisfy the masochistic perverts with panty fetishes, nothing more and nothing less. Anyone who doesn’t fit into this category, please don’t watch it; I know that I fit into that category, and I didn’t find it too enjoyable. Anyone who DOES fit into that category, however, may be looking forward to season two right now.... WAIT, SEASON TWO?!?
read more
Aug 19, 2018
13 of 13 episodes seen
|
4
people found this review helpful
|
| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
I will admit that there have been times where I’m unable to express how I truly feel. I’m sure everyone has those moments, though; they know that they feel a certain way, yet they can’t put those feelings into words. However, I will try today; I will try as hard as I can to put my feelings for this particular anime into words. After all, I’ve waited so long to watch this anime, from the moment it was announced to the day (after) it was released on Netflix (because I wanted to watch it legally). Even so.... despite the facts being that this anime was
animated by Kyoto Animation and the light novel it was based off of was the first to win the grand prize in any of their contests, was the wait worth it? Was this anime able to meet the expectations of me and everyone else who eagerly awaited it?
From the looks of it, yes. At the very least, I can speak for myself when I say that Violet Evergarden was worth the wait.
Violet Evergarden follows a girl named.... well, Violet Evergarden, who was raised to be a “weapon” for the military in a war. Gilbert Bougainvillea, a major in the military, did not treat her as a weapon, however; he treated her with kindness and treasured her....right up until he told her he loved her right before the war ended. Having lost her arms in the war, Violet is left with only those words that her beloved major told her and no understanding of what they mean. In order to understand, she ends up getting a job as an Auto Memories Doll, who write letters for people who are unable to do so or have trouble expressing their feelings. From there, Violet’s encounters with her clients not only change their lives for the better, but they also help her grow and understand emotions better.
See, that last sentence alone capitalizes the second best thing about this anime (and I’ll get to the first best thing later), and that is the character development. All of the characters get a great amount of development, from the main characters to the supporting characters and even those who only appear in one episode. Even the characters I initially found annoying for one reason or the other, I ended up sympathizing with them; if an anime can do something like that, it’s doing a good job. In the center, however, is the titular character, Violet Evergarden, who gets the best character development of all. As fascinating as it is to see how she affects the lives of those around her, it’s simply quite amazing to see how it all affects her, as well.
The character development helps the overall story, as well. There were moments where I was admittedly not too invested in what was going on, but those moments were few and far between; for a large majority, there was quite an amount of emotional investment. Take episode 10, for example; given the situation that was going on in that episode, I will just say that by the end, I was in tears. (It’s kind of funny, actually; Violet is starting to understand emotions throughout the course of this anime, and I was starting to get emotional as I watched!) With all of that said, some people may say that each of the stories told in this anime aren’t really connected to each other, but I can confidently say that whoever would say that doesn’t know what they’re talking about. All of them are connected in that we see how Violet grows through all of these experiences; thus, even if these stories aren’t connected, they are.
“Sincerely” by TRUE and “Michishirube” by Minori Chihara, which respectively serve as the opening and ending themes, are truly music to my ears; both are beautifully composed and wonderfully sung, and I could listen to them many times! (In fact, I already have, in the opening theme’s case.) On another music-related note, “Violet Snow” by Aira Yuuki is very beautiful, too; I can remember it being played when one of the first PVs of this anime came out, and it was pleasing to hear it again in the last episode. While I can’t really say much about the Japanese voice acting because I watched the English dub, I can say that the English voice acting was superb, with every voice actor, especially Erika Harlacher as Violet, doing much more than just fitting the roles they were given. The best part about this anime, however, is the animation, and I really mean it when I say this; it is breathtakingly gorgeous, even by Kyoto Animation’s usual standards. The backgrounds, the character designs, the colors, the animation.... It was clear to see that on an artistic scale, this was KyoAni at their finest.
Overall, Violet Evergarden was truly a great anime. Looking for an emotional rollercoaster with gorgeous animation? Watch this one! It’ll probably leave you experiencing pretty powerful emotions.
read more
|
