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I'm sorry I was just bored out of my mind watching this. The demons are barely demons and aren't interesting, the hero is kinda interesting, the idea of an underappreciated hero quitting has quite a few interesting possibilities but this anime doesn't explore them. So whenever the MC begins the episode interacting with one of the demons my interest drops precipitously. I get the gag of trying to integrate fantasy elements into what is basically a corporate renovation project but this anime doesn't execute it very well because the demon characters are all cliched as hell and lack nuance. In short, there is no hook ... to this series, even in other average or mediocre shows there is at least a core relationship or story thread that gets me to finish it completely so I can see how it plays out this anime thoroughly lacks that.

Definitely skip this one.

I'll try to keep this spoiler-free
I usually don't finish an anime within 3 or 4 sittings, usually, I'll watch a couple of episodes a day and then do something else because I have school or something. This anime though, I decided to finish as soon as possible after watching the first 5 episodes even after I began medical school. Why do you ask? The animation, characters, and story are all peak seriously this kind of series is why I watch anime. The animation, Wit studio really knocked this one out of the park, the action sequences are so well done and the character design is ... perfect. The characters really make this show a classic in my opinion though, the character of Thorfinn is the 'protagonist' but he's really not why you watch the show he's kind of one-dimensional but that doesn't make him any less interesting due to the journey and tragedy of his life. There are a few other characters in this story that are much more interesting and probably are more 'protagonist-esque' than Thorfinn, Canute and Askeladd are both seemingly one-dimensional as well but the more we learn the more we see their incredible growth and hidden complexity. Really there are a lot of characters in this show who could helm a series on their own based on their backstories and characterization. Characters are the strong suit of the story, and it's generally more character than plot-driven, but the story is well paced no episode feels wasted and it spaces out interesting developments well. Vinland saga is well deserving of a 10/10/

Paripi Kongming put simply is a delight. On paper the premise is bizarre and its outlandishness of it might put people off from giving it a chance. I will say that you should absolutely watch this show because it actually does pull it off. The story follows Eiko on her journey to becoming a renowned singer and she has the help of a tactician from the three kingdoms period. Obviously, there is a fish out of water aspect to this and the first couple of episodes play into this but after that, it focuses on Eiko and her journey and how Kongming's strategic brilliance gives ... her chances to let her talent carry her to victory. That therein is the crucial aspect, Kongming's strategies which are based loosely off of real battles in the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history help Eiko win but it's her own abilities that truly shine. The show does a good job of letting each of the characters have moments in the sun and Kongming doesn't drown out Eiko or the other characters. There is really heartwarming storytelling here about art and overcoming hardship to succeed despite these obstacles alongside the flashy art style and outlandish plot which all accentuate each other to produce an excellent series.

Tokyo revengers is an anime about a guy named Hanagaki Takemichi going back in time to prevent his middle-school girlfriend from being murdered by a gang. Through his journey he joins tokyo manji gang which is a 'gang' of middle school thugs that engage in fights after school and behave like actual criminals. Now the idea of middle schoolers joining criminal gangs and having drama with other gangs is sort of thrust upon because we have to get used to the idea early on since Takamichi needs to get into this internal drama to save Hinata Tachibana his girlfriend back in middle school. Now I ... have to say from the beginning that you have to sort of digest the fact that this is a 20-something yr old man in the body of a 13-14-year-old boy and kissing a 14-year old girl and move on from there. The show plays out with Takamichi observing and speaking and whenever he intervenes he gets beaten up which is a pattern that plays out over and over again. The show basically centers on 3 characters that get the most development: Draken, Takemichi, and Mikey. The problem is that beyond development their personalities and dynamics get very stale very quickly, Takemichi has 'guts' which basically means yelling and getting beaten up, Draken is 'loyal', and Mikey is a relatively kind person despite being a member of a violent gang. The strongest aspect of the show is the intrigue presented by takemichi trying to put together the puzzle of the future from the past and vice-versa unfortunately this gets crowded out by the insistence of the show that we care about the individual fights. The fights in this show are incredibly boring, it's just a bunch of people slugging each other constantly with Mikey and Draken kicking everyone's butts. I feel like the series is trying to make me care about middle school gangs when I don't actually care about middle school gangs, I actually care about Takemichi protecting the future, and maybe the best way for him to do that was to have all of these kids taken into child-protective services and convincing them stop fighting in gangs? These 'gangs' are actually a bad thing and maybe busting them up instead of getting involved with them would have saved Tachibana's life? Also Hinata Tachibana provides the 'stakes' in this show as she's innocent and uninvolved in the bullshit but dies in the timeline somehow, so it would be nice to get some backstory into who she is beyond being hanagaki's girlfriend in Middle school. Overall Tokyo revengers' strongest element is the mystery component and the butterfly-effect of Hanagaki's past actions on the present, it's actually interesting to see him try to decode things and decipher how things affect each other to produce the future that he lived in. In that sense, it is like 'Erased' but unlike Erased which had actual stakes and some intrigue, Tokyo revengers has nothing but middle schoolers beating each-other up.

This review will contain no spoilers.

Overlord has probably been the most overrated anime I have ever watched. The high MAL score would make me think there was an interesting story or a compelling character or two, overlord cured me of those delusions very fast. The protagonist is incredibly bland with no discernable personality beyond being wise and kind or whatever. In a lot of ways, he believes his own hype. At no point in the series did I believe that this is just some gamer thrust into becoming the real demon lord, Ainz just is a demon lord, which if you wanted to make an ... anime about an actual demon lord that's fine but this was supposed to be an isekai. Ainz is also basically all-powerful there is maybe one fight in the whole series in which he has to try something different. Supporting characters have a little more personality but they get swapped in and out in various missions and their personality is most highlighted when they interact with each other but when they are with Ainz it's just all subservience. the story is also hardly compelling, often there is a lot of name-dropping of terms we just heard that mean nothing because they're either all weapons that are used once or twice or are just lore-drops. There is also a running theme of each of Ainz's servants being former friends but this ultimately doesn't really impact much because it's just mentioned once or twice without actually impacting the actual story much. Ultimately Overlord falls into the issue of showing instead of telling which makes for a very bland and forgettable viewing experience. The name of XYZ weapon or item matters extremely little to me, I don't care Overlord gives me quite a bit for me to not care about. The only plus of the series is that the artwork is actually quite good a lot of credit to the animators on that front.

This review will be spoiler-free.

After finishing season 1 of My Next life as a villainess I was interested in similar 'wholesome' isekai as they put a nice twist on the sometimes repetitive wish-fulfillment type shows and Bofuri got recommended to me. I started with middling expectations but intrigued as to what the anime had in store as a character finding ways to win after having maxed out all of their in-game points on defense sounded like it would make for some excellent comedy. What I found the anime to actually be like is a bit of a different story. At first I really enjoyed the ... misadventures of Maple in this world and found her to be sufficiently adorable to continue watching. Maple's personality as a funny and adorable MC really holds the anime together as it goes on as a slice-of-life type isekai and we meet her friend Sally and eventually a whole host of characters to join her on her missions. The show just continues like that following our characters on a myriad of journeys in this fantasy world. I guess my biggest problem with the story is the lack of meat it has beyond the MC and it doesn't really try to make use of these other characters to create funny or cute situations using the existing premise. It seems to build up to exciting events that really fall flat. In some ways this show falls into the trap of other stories with overpowered protagonists: lack of narrative tension. With One Punch Man the tension comes internally as Saitama tries to grapple with where he wants to go in life now that he's the strongest there is. With Bofuri and shows with similar OP protagonists (Slime isekai) the tension disippates as the massive threat is dispatched quickly with minimal intervention by comrades. Aside from a few cool fights with and some early funny experiments with the premise the show isn't all that humorous and at times is a chore to get though episodes. The last few episodes in particular leave a lot to be desired. The biggest pro to the show is the dynamic between Maple and Sally who make an intriguing pair and I wish the show stuck to that and allowed Sally to play the 'serious' one to Maple's funny antics. The show overall is fine if you just want some wholesome fun just don't expect anything to keep you engaged or even something all that humorous.

This will be a spoiler-free review. From the outset 86 has a very somber tragic setup for a story. One that could very easily become like the movie Avatar in which the main protagonist behaves like a 'white knight' to save the downtrodden in society. The story does feature a very compelling world in which a nation is constantly at war with a mechanized army known as the 'legion' the race in this nation the Alba use 'unmanned drones' to fight this war. Except those unmanned drones are actually run by people: the people in district 86 who fight and die and their casualties are ... not even reported as casualties as their humanity has been removed in the eyes of the alba. The 86 are given orders by their commanders whom are always alba. The main protagonist, Vladilena Milize feels sorry for their plight and wants to save but due to her presence within the system that the alba have created she remains powerless. Watching Milize struggle with her helplessness as well as learn the ways in which she, even in her sympathy, contributes to the dehumanization of the 86. I also appreciated that the relationship between the 86 and Milize is not one of universal love but even some level of annoyance/curiosity which adds an element of realism. The human tragedy of war is portrayed in a nuanced way dare I say similar to attack on titan. Overall I thought that the anime also managed to deal with an ensemble cast well and made the tragedy of characters dying impact others in subtle ways. This anime also 'shows and doesn't tell' which I highly appreciated. The character of Shin is, while less interesting than Vladilena still manages to capture some of my interest. While I had seen similar archetypes, dark and reserved leader like Levi or Aizawa, to him in other anime his character still manages to be unique due to the sense of vulnerability he exudes throughout the story. The anime does a decent job with the entire ensemble cast creating at least some unique impressions within 11 episodes. Overall this anime richly deserves an 8/10.

The OVA Thus spoke Kishibe Rohan is an series of 4 relatively disconnected stories told from the perspective of Rohan Kishibe from Jojo's bizarre adventure part 4: Diamond is unbreakable. While it is not absolutely necessary to have seen Part 4 to enjoy this series it is advised that you do so to better understand who Rohan is as a person. The individual stories are very unique and unexpectedly different from what Jojo's is traditionally known for, that is there are no protracted stand battles but rather Rohan's odd experiences in the wider world. He travels to Italy, forests outside Morioh, the gym etc. I ... found one or two of the stories to be delightfully creepy and unsettling (that's a good thing) despite being told in anime format which generally struggles to convey creepiness. I caught some definitive inspiration from western writers like edgar allen poe in one of the stories which certainly heightened my personal enjoyment of it. The artstyle is more like part 5's and whether you like the art is a matter of personal opinion and while sometimes the art served to heighten the truly weird circumstances that rohan gets himself into occasionally I felt like the Rohan I remembered from Diamond is unbreakable is lost in this new artstyle. I also felt like narratively Rohan is very different in this OVA than the manga/anime he was introduced in. I do think that the stories in this OVA should be considered just short stories and if you don't enjoy the concept behind one short story others are certainly better. I do think however if you wanted an especially 'jojo's' themed set of stories you will likely be disappointed. There are no fights or even that many memorable lines.

This review is spoiler-free.
To keep things brief the Great Pretender is an exciting romp with sharp wit and fun twists. The character is Makoto Edamura who works with a team of con-artists to rob wealthy criminals all over the world. The Story has its ups and downs but in general tends to understand that it's a thriller with a light comedic element and doesn't really stray from that general path. I would say the characters are mostly fine although I don't think that the story integrates the characters' backstories into the actual stories as well as they would hope to. The scams themselves keep ... the viewer guessing and really live up to the suspense element of the story as advertised. The art and music of this show are incredible and make me want to keep watching, I really love the expressive nature of the characters' faces they're very emotive. On balance I think the Great pretender is an entertaining and thrilling romp with plenty of comedy and suspense but if you're looking for depth or real character development or growth you won't find it here. I also think that the anime isn't that consistent as 1 or 2 of the arcs are somewhat predictable and fall flat on the character exploration they attempted. It certainly doesn't do everything it attempts to do well but it nails a few key elements: fun characters and great group dynamics among them, at least 2 of the cases are fun plots that keep the viewer guessing and in suspense, excellent art design and a really fast-paced style that keeps the viewer engaged and not bored.

Durarara!! was a show that I had previously seen videos on youtube on recommending me to watch it. Seeing the title on Netflix enticed me to check it out. The story lured me in with intriguing mysteries, a wide main cast and sleek animation. The story is complicated and rewards you for paying attention to subtle details. The characters are defined not only by their individual personalities but how they fit in to the city's ecosystem, the city itself features as a main character. There are a lot of exaggerated personalities and abilities in the story each of which is fascinating in their own way. ... I also enjoyed that each character is assigned a specific motivation such that they could individually helm their own series. I did find that the story really had two different climaxes and it was disorienting to slow down the plot after the first one in away that kind of took me out of the action a little, but the anime quickly supplemented that with new twists in the plot which were primarily done by revealing new information to the viewer. I liked that the show didn't withhold info in contrived ways and instead had characters withhold info from each-other for story-driven reasons, such that the audience know only a little about specific characters than other characters do. Overall I felt that the story blended supernatural elements with the crime-drama aesthetic very nicely and aside from being slow here and there the story kept me engaged by dangling pieces of information here and there. I would recommend it for people that enjoy crime-drama and thriller stories.