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Mar 27, 2025
Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You. - An inspired work that only panders to the hearts of the hopeless romantics of watching an actual soap opera on the cusp of collapse.
Seriously, what's up with adaptations from Kodansha's Nakayoshi Shoujo-centric magazine that just end up being failures one after another? If anything, the magazine now hosting just the solid kids' franchise of Pretty Cure just tells of the sad story of the current state of works that came from one of the best-selling manga magazines. If the reboot of Tokyo Mew Mew didn't quite pander to the new fans, and its prolific author, Ema Touyama,
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also didn't work out with Vampire Dormitory (which gave us the rather horrible Spring 2024 anime), what reason does it have to stand that the newest and most current serialization of mangaka Haruka Mitsui's Douse, Koishite Shimaunda a.k.a Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You will ever hope to achieve some recognition for trying to be different but still being just as Shoujo-trash-astic as ever?
For reference (and as context for those living in the West who are not in the know), there was a live-action movie that went by the title of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" (那些年，我們一起追的女孩, lit. 'The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years'), a coming-of-age romance film based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Taiwanese novelist Giddens Ko, that was released way back in 2011. And at the time, the film earned both fame and recognition for its "larky retro coming-of-age confection that injects a fresh, tart edge to the genre with a constantly self-mocking boys' angle (an alternative to Asian teen movies that tend to be syrupy)" that broke box office records in Asia (mainly Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore). And upon knowing that Haruka Mitsui took this idea and updated it to the standards of the modern COVID pandemic outbreak, I was feeling skeptical of how she would make a story between a girl and her 4 handsome Ikemen childhood friends, living in such a tight lockdown that's a whole different experience of their days in high school altogether, only to preempt it as a flashback between then and 10 years from now.
In a sense, you could catch the fever that the author herself is trying to mask, but at the same time, make the underlying premise a fake-out, only warranting when COVID conditions are serious enough to justify cancelling events for the group of female MCs Mizuho Nishino and her childhood friends Kizuki Hazawa, Shin Kashiwagi, Airu Izumi, and Shugo Hoshikawa. These 5 young adults are having the best time of their lives being close to one another and dubbed the Koigahama Highlands boys alongside their only flower, who aspires to be a manga illustrator when she grows up. Surely nothing wrong will go between them, right? Other than the obvious implications of the pandemic limiting their choices when it comes to severe restrictions, it's the feeling of adolescence that Mizuho will one day be stolen by one of the 4 guys who all had their affections upon her, but respectively going about their own dilemmas to either play the friendzone treatment or just go for gold with building jealousy within the group that only seems to shatter the long-standing friendship that they have thus far.
Sadly, as current Nakayoshi standards go, I don't quite have the confidence to say that this show has a story to tell, as disjointed as it sounds. What's the point of the 5 of them hanging out at the same known places, where the crowd doesn't mask up and maintain distance against one another? Worse still, the story feels nothing like the Taiwanese film that I've mentioned earlier in the review, instead opting for your stereotypical soap opera drama of potential boyfriend conflicts and interests against the lone girl who's trying to hide the fact that one of them has an interest in her, and they're just playing hard to get so that she can maintain the status quo. As they say, "Nothing is forever," and though Mizuho gets the gist that their friendship will break sooner than later, it's the emotional and psychological fight between her two most prominent potentials, Kizuki and Shin, that has both Shugo and Aira witnessing from the sidelines, as they're different in their views of the friendship. It's certainly not all that different from the standards of an otome game, where the anime chooses your endgame route rather than the player doing his/hers, and you have no say in what and how the direction will take you, barring the good and bad parts of it.
Knowing Typhoon Graphics and their course produced this show, it just feels like you're reading a VN with non-scrolling but boring text dialogue that tells you what is going on in the minds of the boys, while we witness from Mizuho's view the shallowness of trying to play the friendship game, only to realize that she's screwed the moment any of the 4 boys pounces on her. That said, while the background art is passable, the animation is minimalistic at best, to the sheer point of barely where sacrifices can clearly be seen.
With the music helmed by composer Keiji Inai, I was expecting the level of, yet another Typhoon Graphics show of Spring 2023's Kanojo ga Koushakutei ni Itta Riyuu a.k.a Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion. But even that couldn't prepare me for yet another minimalist effort that just shows the total commitment of effort to the anime overall. Aside from Marcy's ED song (which is literally just the song only), I'm quickly getting sick of new bands created to merge the J- and K-Pop feels together, as is the case for INI's OP song, and more of them have been coming into the Anisong spectrum only to grate on the ears of a Korea takeover in J-Pop.
I feel almost obliged to say that if you consider Douse, Koishite Shimaunda a.k.a Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You, a Shoujo work by all means and sense, yes, it is. But its target demographic should already tell you when guys try to even watch this show and yet still cannot relate to females loving bad boys and the whole "nine yards down" shtick. Shoujo works CAN be enjoyed by both sexes, but not to a point that feels condescending just for shock value, which is exactly what the anime is trying to do here.
It's true in the Shoujo sense, but you're better off with other works that have done this better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 27, 2025
From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated! - Sometimes, it takes Best Dad to become Best Girl. And the results speak for themselves.
It has become all the more intuitive that when one genre breaks out, many more works will follow in its stead. And one such feature in the Isekai/fantasy realm is the villainess reincarnation theme, which has more or less become prevalent since the COVID decade of the 2020s. But yet, like the genre itself, many authors hoping to make the bank and buck the trend have largely been seen on the sidelines for being not innovative or creative enough or otherwise just feeling
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like your stereotypical reincarnation story with nothing new to offer other than tried-and-true tropes that can quickly get old fast.
Well, not anymore, because there's a new player in town, and guess what, this is pretty good! Introducing female mangaka Michiro Ueyama's Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan a.k.a From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!, your stereotypical villainess MC is not carried by the same person who got reincarnated but instead, a loved one in the family, and a father figure no less. How stupid and ludicrous this premise can be, it depends on your personal take on this rather innovative twist in the genre.
What happens when you combine Truck-kun with a rather old man just being a hero to save someone's life, even on the cusp of death? You'd get 52-year-old salaryman Kenzaburo of the Tondabayashi family, having died and then reincarnated again, only to find himself filling the shoes in the otome game of Magical Academy: Love & Beast as its notorious villainess of Grace Auvergne, literally being a harmful figure for those around its central character in the premise itself. However, what makes this even more lucrative is that the game itself is loved by his otaku daughter, Hinako, even to the point that she's playing the game to help guide her father, who's trapped in-game, to progress its story and hopefully save her dad in the process alongside her mother-cum-his wife, Mitsuko, who is also an Otaku. What more could you ask from a family of Otakus who treasure video games and see their father's antics play out in the game itself?
As it turns out, quite a lot. We all know the tempers of notorious villainesses in numerous shows of the past, but Grace Auvergne is one villainess who defies that very exact term because Kenzaburo is now the one who is controlling her, instead of the in-game soul that was supposed to tie the game elements altogether. Consequently, the antics of the Tondabayashi father screw over the entire game's logic, which is now being led by his Otaku nature, which is one that's unfamiliar to the otome genre and its gimmicks, to change the course of the game, story by story, bit by bit. Still, what was supposed to be the story of the main heroine of Anna Doll and the love interests of the crown prince, Virgile Vierge, and the many other Ikemen of the magic academy's Student Council, with Grace (or rather, Kenzaburo)'s input of trying to understand the world of the otome game around him, creates quite the trouble that contributes to the allure all to her/him from both the heroine and her Ikemen love interests, plus the people from both within the academy and also those working in the Auvergne House. It's the superpower that twists and turns the game around from evil to good, and it's thanks to this Elegance Cheat skill from Kenzaburo's experience as a salaryman to showcase his forthcoming politeness, without the player himself understanding why his plot to remain faithful to the game's story only hilariously goes from bad to worse, thus making him the side main character instead, to both his wife's and his daughter's chagrin. It's for the humour and laughs, I'm telling you that.
I always have faith when it comes to studio Ajia-do's works, despite some missteps (that weren't to blame production-wise) in the past. The endearing touches that give the show its Midas touch are all over the place and treated with such elegance that you could tell that rookie director Tetsuya Takeuchi and his staff team have the delicate balance going into making the show look as elegant as possible (I'm telling you, the Elegance Cheat is real).
Even the OST sounds good...in its elegance (sorry, but this show is full of elegance puns that it's just SO noteworthy). Once again, Cider Girl (from their last venture from Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu a.k.a Komi Can't Communicate's Season 1 OP) delivers yet again another nice OP song, on top of a rather iconic ED song by actor Ken Matsudaira that's a Japanese mainstay. Regardless, you can't complain about a well-composed OST.
To say that Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan a.k.a From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated!, has been a blast to watch from start to finish, I feel that it's rather underrated and underappreciated for such a work that provides a unique twist to an already proven formula. It has got its "Just for Laughs" comedic gags that strike puns at the very heart of Otakudom, and is so unserious in its BS delivery that no matter if the game's story was canon or filler, it would provide more or less the same delivery one would expect of a show like this.
Expect this villainess reincarnation story to surprise you, and just enjoy the heart and soul given that it's every bit worth your time.
And like the Student Council's vice-president Richard Verseau would say on a pun: Son-sational!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 27, 2025
Momentary Lily - GoHands, is this your Hand Shakers for the 2020s? It seems like it; it feels more like it.
Look, I'm not saying that studios are allowed to have their own freestyle of production, but it feels as if, as time passes on, those distinctions become more of a blessing or a curse, depending on the intentions, of course. And for studio GoHands, for a time, they were just like any other studio out there pumping out stereotypical 2D animation adaptations of source materials like 2009's Princess Lover! and 2010's Seitokai Yakuindomo...that is until they found success with 2012's K Project, and the decision
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to go full 3DCG is officially implemented, which has been the outcome of striking and bizarre controversy ever since 2017's Hand Shakers. And that philosophy still remains true in the regard of original anime from the studio till now, with the release of this season's Momentary Lily: a show about a post-apocalyptic science fantasy adventure of dealing with robotic invaders...as much as the aspect of cooking makes sense to fill stomachs first, then focus on the issue at hand.
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates
With Momentary Lily being the post-apocalyptic setting of survivability against all odds, I can see how such a story of people having weapons to fight against these monstrous robot-like beings destroying the face of the Earth proves detrimental to humanity's survival for the foreseeable future. In this case, the group of girls of Yuri Kawazu, Erika Kodaiji, Hinageshi Usuzumi, Sazanka Yoshino, and Ayame Sakuya, who were then joined by the unknown girl of Renge Kasumi, were just wandering around all alone with her newfound Andvari weapon, decimating the Wild Hunt robots who roam around the city they're in to kill anyone that's in their way, trying to figure out the secrets of their powers and pasts. In fact, this mirrors Hand Shakers in the way of people partnering together to create their Nimrod weapons to fight against the many groups targeting each other in the race to become God...which, for some reason, as the story (if you could call it that) progresses, I kind of find myself more wanting of Hand Shakers than this show, which, in its execution, was just as wishy-washy, but at least the former show had a somewhat streamlined story despite issues in its storytelling, rather than the latter, which feels like the plot premise kind of took a backseat to the entire CGDCT-esque parade due to uneven pacing.
"We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly." - Anna Thomas
And that problem is pretty much escalated when Renge joins the group of girls who also are in the same predicament, just that they have more control thanks to their Andvari weapons, which enable them to get OP and eliminate the Wild Hunt. As much personality as the 5 girls all have that we can all afford to single out which girl stands out the most, there's just too much detail going into them that it feels like there's no central character of note (well, if you remove Renge from the equation). Renge trying to rally the girls together is an effort that I will acknowledge trying to get some sort of consensus for a survival story of the 6 of them, even if it means having to get down to the heart of the matter: food, because this is what she's genuinely good at, even if it does and doesn't serve as a plot device to the entire story at hand. It's these CGDCT-esque things that show the amount of effort the writers have when exploring character depth but are by no means showing character development, which, sadly, there is little to none of this, bringing about the incongruencies of mediocre storytelling at its finest (which GoHands is always, without a shadow of a doubt, infamously known for).
"Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate." - Alan D. Wolfelt
With GoHands, it goes without saying that they love (and I mean ABSOLUTELY LOVE) quality over quantity, or rather, excessive things like their signature complex camerawork, particle effects, and aggressive postprocessing. This has been the bread-and-butter of the studio since Hand Shakers, and if you thought that you could survive Summer 2023's offerings of Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta a.k.a The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses (which exactly showcases the best of GoHands production) and the underrated Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuutsu a.k.a The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, that's at least a stark contrast to what GoHands does for their original anime, which has the budget to go all-out in their own style. And Momentary Lily just feels like another Hand Shakers that's just made to impress just about the loyalists of overexcessive 3DCG.
Even the music is somewhat overboard this time around, not the plain ones like GoHands's other projects in the past. I thought that Hanabie's metalcore punk-rock OP song was just the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard when it comes to Anisongs, but then again, when coupled with how GoHands loves to just infringe their signature style, it kind of ironically makes a perfect fit for an overhyped OP song. miwa's ED song is just forgettable, though.
Look, you know fully well what to expect going into a GoHands show that is completely originally made from the ground up, only to come out being just as underwhelmed as do their original anime projects of the past (Hand Shakers included). And that's the result of Momentary Lily: a show so ridiculous and over-the-top that it makes you question why any production company (in this case, Shochiku) would have the finances to back an anime project, let alone a GoHands one. This practice will sadly never go away in years to come because GoHands found its formula to rake in any effort they can, even if it comes off as more of an annoyance than anything.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 27, 2025
Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I’m Actually the Strongest — Can we be done with these so-called "weak" classes that are OP as heck but paired with what I can tell is the most egregious choice of picking an even worse MC?
"Turn off your brain and just enjoy the ride, no matter how truly good or bad it is." Don't you feel that lots of people have been calling shows as is and think that they can emit the same feelings as you do? It's definitely annoying, yes, but this repetitive trope will never go away for shows that "feel" like they deserve the
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quote above but end up being severely underwhelming, so there's no justification to prove otherwise. Case in point, novelist Ibarakino's Fuguushoku "Kanteishi" ga Jitsu wa Saikyou Datta: Naraku de Kitaeta Saikyou no "Shingan" de Musou suru a.k.a Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I'm Actually the Strongest, is yet another story in the vein of weak-willed MCs that have OP powers attached to them but couldn't even muster one single ounce of a personal conviction for the audience to connect with him/her.
Sometimes there are throwaway characters that duly just need not be cared about, and yet, there's MC Ein, the young man who's the butt of the joke being given the "Appraiser" skill from birth (as are others being done the same, being god-given), so while some people are born heroes, Ein unfortunately belonged to the boons, destined to be tortured by people as a tool for their bidding and cast on the wayside. However, one such misadventure led him to die a painful death after surviving such a harrowing life...only to wake up at the foot of a World Tree, only to recover miraculously alongside a new eye that he lost trying to deal with S-rank monsters the moment he walked out of that Sanctuary. With the right equipment, one's garbage is another man's treasure, and Ein effectively gained that treasure by having part of the World Tree as his new form of sight after losing a part of his eye, which, when paired with his Appraiser skill, becomes a tour de force to be reckoned with. Also, being kind will get you a love interest. See where this is all going?
Despite having the major plot quest of the World Tree Spirit of Yuri and her guardian of Ursula to find her other sisters, Ein having to start from scratch to improve his skill, and speaking of his new Spirit Eye being able to attain powerful abilities from just about any human or monster to make it his own, that alone should be enough to suffice his Appraiser skill being mended into a skill that finally makes him strong, and for good reason. However, the reason standing that you'd think that his personality would follow along as well...nope, it was a total misdirect to think that Ein is like Honey Lemon Soda's Uka Ishimori and deals with her bullies all the same by the "forgive and let live" rhetoric. In fact, Ein's world has already been stretched to the point of determining who excels and who falls, and at the scrutiny of his once captives, Ein chooses to do the same but sometimes has second thoughts and thinks twice to commit to the full deal of ending his captives' lives for being unsalvageable, hence his goody-two-shoes personality of just wanting to forgive because there's no reason to fight against one's oppression out of jealousy, even if it's out of revenge. That should have been a massive red flag, but yet, this is his personality, and I kind of wonder what the author is smoking with his character.
And as if the harem of the World Tree sisters and guardians all goo goo-gaa over Ein once they get to know him, it's just a trope for crying out loud, but a trope that's manifested in the wrong way (despite it being essential for Yuri's quest).
In the 5 years of anime since its inception in 2017, I always thought that Okuruto Noboru is one of a handful of 3rd-rate studios trying to be the solution to the problem that the anime industry has had for years at this point, though the studio's biography just doesn't paint a good picture overall. Needless to say, next to the rather great showing of Spring 2022's Tomodachi Game, which has a similar premise and setting, the production never came close to that grittiness with its revenge-edge style story, instead opting for rather standard animation that just gets the job done. I mean, that's fine and all, but it's just nothing special.
Even the OST is rather lacking and is just white noise overall. As "good" as both Asterism's OP and 22/7's ED songs are, they would've been fine for other shows, but this show is just only fitting for Asterism, and 22/7 finding their song here just does not fit the narrative whatsoever.
Don't go thinking that Fuguushoku "Kanteishi" ga Jitsu wa Saikyou Datta: Naraku de Kitaeta Saikyou no "Shingan" de Musou suru a.k.a Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I'm Actually the Strongest will be anything like Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi a.k.a Redo of Healer, because as a revenge story, it's just very tame and just not executed all that well. Even as a guilty pleasure, the number of issues outweighs the good, and it will only frustrate you to try and connect with this show, where subpar writing doesn't make a good show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 27, 2025
Dr. Stone: Science Future — Let's get ready to enter the future of the Stone Age, one cour at a time!
It's been 5.5 years since mangaka Riichiro Inagaki's Dr. Stone started featuring on the small screen, which was one of Weekly Shonen Jump's top performers when it was still in serialization. Still, to this day, the series continues to be even more popular thanks to the anime boosting sales along after the manga reached its conclusion way back in March 2022. That's the staying power of such an influential work that is rarely seen in WSJ's lineup nowadays.
But back to the anime: after the initial
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start and the arcs of Stone Wars and New World, we're finally at Season 4, the endgame of the final arc of the series, where Senku and the gang from the Kingdom of Science, now bigger than ever, traverse outside of Japan for the very first time into international land, sea, and air. Reaching Why-Man is just as important when they hear that he hails from space, but since they don't have the resources to do so, the outside is their only starting point...
as the looming danger greets them of the first antagonist they encounter: former NASA scientist Dr. Xeno Houston Wingfield and someone whom Senku regards as his closest frenemy in terms of incoming trouble thus far. He, along with the few others who make up the American Colony team, is unlike those of Ibara's Petrification Kingdom the season prior, with their high advancement in technology that far outpaces what Senku and the Kingdom of Science have been doing all this while. They will not be an easy feat to overcome, but this is the accumulation of the scenario thus far for the 1st Cour here.
As they say, "Leave the best for last," and this is where TMS Entertainment and Season 3 director Kurasumi Sunayama once again team up to give Dr. Stone the consistent shine that it always has deserved for the last 5 years and more going into the 2nd and 3rd cours as we slowly witness the epic finale to the entire Stone World saga. And when it comes to OP/ED songs, ALI is back with a renewed tour de force of an OP song, and hip-hop boy band BREIMEN's 1st Anisong is a great follow-up to the casino gambling features of the season (most promptly featured in the 1st quarter of the 1st Cour). What more could you ask of Dr. Stone's popularity being as great as it is and willing to expand even more?
This is only the start of the Science Future finale because Dr. Senku is not done with his quest yet to find Why-Man, and so are we anime-onlies too in watching this epic saga unfold for an adventure that's larger than life.
See you in July for the 2nd Cour!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 26, 2025
Honey Lemon Soda — Old-school Shoujo at its finest, or is it a hidden symptom of much worse?
It used to be the belief that when one formula works, others will follow in their own interpretations, though successes will vary depending on how authors usually like to carry their approach towards known genres, even if it has to be done from tropes already existing and (usually) having been done better. This is most certainly the case for Shoujo series in the mid-to-late 2000s to the early 2010s, where works like Karuho Shiina's Kimi ni Todoke and Kanae Hazuki's Suki-tte ii na yo a.k.a Say I Love
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You prove most evident of that time period. At the same time, more prolific authors would come to push the genre into relevancy when the genre was at its peak in the 2010s, though it would come to fizzle by the time the Isekai/fantasy genre was just taking off. And one example of this would be female mangaka Mayu Murata's Honey Lemon Soda, which rode the Shoujo wave of the 2010s being one of the best-selling Shoujo series of all time since its serialization in December 2015.
Let's not beat around the bush: Honey Lemon Soda's female MC, Uka Ishimori, given her extreme introvertedness, is pretty much like Kimi ni Todoke's Sawako "Sadako" Kuronuma in every regard: the quiet and shy girl who's misunderstood for various reasons, but in Uka's case, a rather terrifying life of being bullied and called names (Stony for one), which only deepens her insecurity after constant sheltering from the retreat of the people who treat her badly as she is. Fast forward to high school, and Uka's facing the same proposition she had once again, but with a twist: the blonde-haired Kai Miura, whom, for some reason, Uka describes as akin to lemon soda (with the Honey part coming in as the start of the forgiving development), whom she faces her regular fears in school, only to have the upstanding popular boy help her in ways that only he can muster to his own credit, without ever putting a spotlight on himself and making sure that she follows up to the end. And as they say, love paints a picture of a thousand words...or rather, the efficacy for the shy girl to get along with the bad-ass popular boy, to surround herself with friends that she would've otherwise have easily given up by the skin of her teeth, and obviously, have an intimate relationship with said boy.
From the get-go, the Shoujo genre has only so many cliches and tropes that you'd expect, and Mayu Murata exploits that to the nth degree. You might just think that the stereotypes here are just blatant copies of character archetypes done before but better elsewhere (you could even label this a trashy Shoujo work if you so wish to). Uka, for one, does exactly what Sadako would've done in her own state of mind: an introvert who finds it difficult to converse with people, let alone fit into the surrounding nature, which overwhelms her to the point of overthinking. But instead of Sadako, who tries hard from the get-go to persist, Uka is the exact opposite, where her exponential trauma has gravely beset her to the point where fate travels with her everywhere she goes and wash-rinse-repeats the process no matter how many times to the point of insufferability she must. This unfortunately doesn't instill confidence in the audience that Uka will ever improve if she goes nowhere, but this is exactly where Miura comes in as her guardian saviour to notice her unspoken troubles and give her just the right amount of advice to figure out the issues on her own and to start taking flight by overcoming those issues, as difficult as it seems at first glance (from her POV).
Miura being the popular guy in class meant that Uka came under direct fire for all the things she did to catch his attention, intentionally or not, though he tried to play hooky and be discreet with her, not for the fear of reprisal, just the attention from the friends around him. He knows that Stony is the centerpiece of her own issues, and she must overcome trials and tribulations of her own, despite being the bad boy character who sometimes goes after her and gives reassurance only when it matters. Sure, while her and Miura's class can be dramatic with over-the-top reactions that might look staged from different POVs to the point of being unrealistic and overdramatic, it's this same cliche that pushes Uka to the breaking point at times alongside the many friends that she'll come to befriend, from classmates to exes that'll support her when effort is genuinely given. You may love to hate Uka "Stony" Ishimori for her many episodes of inaction that will inevitably frustrate someone to get her going, but we as humans that all have different wavelengths to take matters into our own hands, Uka may be the slowpoke compared to Sadako, but you'll come to root for her as time progresses, and the seeds of love can then be grown between her and the blonde bad boy who grows from being her watcher (from a distance) to genuine caretaker to love.
If anything, characters are the centrepiece to Uka's development. Be it her close friend Ayumi Endo, the ex of Serina Kanno, or her bullies from middle school (which she comes back to fight them with her words), not one character is wasted for effectiveness to show just how much Uka has grown out of her comfort zone, and Mayu Murata would make sure that you don't forget each and every character that came and went in Uka's way to reiterate that the point is reached across.
It's an almost given that Shoujo shows look just as bright and beautiful, and Honey Lemon Soda certainly got that treatment alright. Courtesy of TMS Entertainment under their Unlimited Produce brand, J.C.Staff and Toaru Majutsu no Index a.k.a A Certain Magical Index director Hiroshi Nishikori sought the best the studio has to offer for the Shoujo range since the last work that was undertaken (that being Winter and Summer 2023's Sugar Apple Fairy Tale). For certain, everything got a glow-up in terms of animation; even the eye colours are big and apparent, and it's just a marvel of beauty.
The OST by Akira Kosemura, if I didn't know any better, feels calm, collected, and smooth. This is a given from the composer who brought you Ao no Orchestra a.k.a Blue Orchestra and Summer Ghost, so knowing the latter movie certainly raises some hopes for a decent soundtrack that's not too flashy yet not undercooked at the same time. The OP and ED songs by fusion J-Pop and K-Pop band &Team are both visually creative and made to impact, and they get the job done for the most part.
In the end, what you're watching is a trash Shoujo in the works...good trash, that is. With such an outlandish story and resolutions that just make you question more than you can answer "How the hell did it derive to this kind of unrealistic outcome?" of scenarios, Honey Lemon Soda pins the "realistic" coat of the Shoujo paint out of the picture. Yes, you could argue that this paints a stark contrast to the much more affable and relatable Kimi ni Todoke, but Mayu Murata sure as hell isn't going to go the safe route and create yet another similar derivative. Does this make sense from a story perspective? This is a Shoujo built on hopes and dreams, amped by its drama being like a soap opera, that'll still get you the major vibes, by hook or by crook.
Is it worth a watch? Yeah...if you're the kind who wants to venture the road less travelled, but for everyone else, keep your expectations in check.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 26, 2025
Grisaia: Phantom Trigger — Forever and for eternity, the black sheep of the franchise, without question.
It goes without saying that Frontwing's Grisaia franchise has seen better days since its inception in Fall 2014 with the mainline Grisaia series (Fruit, Labyrinth, and Eden). On its episodic VN series of Phantom Trigger, however, it is without a shadow of a doubt that it overshadows the good that is the franchise to turn on its head into something more of a catastrophic showing. You would think that after 3 films and the ousting of the one credible director that has made all of this possible, Frontwing and Bibury
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Animation Studios (after taking over from 8-Bit for Phantom Trigger) would learn from their missteps in the adaptation to the small screen.
Well, not anymore. After the 3 films (which adapt Volumes 1 to 3 of the game), comes the anime adaptation to adapt the game's remainder of volumes...and it's frankly more of a mess. Even when you thought that you'd finished watching the prequels first before going into the anime, you're already thrown for a loop once again.
I thought that seeing the Mihama Academy remnants of Haruto Aoi and the former Phantom Trigger members, plus the SORD girls obviously, would make the memories recognizable since it's been a while since the last showing of the series itself in the late-2020s' Stargazer. But while that is evident and all, the story itself, from evolving enemies to character developments alike, with an all-new staff team, it's clear that you're no longer watching director Motoki "Tensho" Tanaka's adaptation but a re-interpretation of the remainder of the VN according to the unknown director that is Kousuke Murayama, having taken over the reins from him since Stargazer. And I don't know what is truly happening here, because it seems that from his standpoint, the VN content, being too much for anime, got cut down and butchered instead just to make ends meet. Seriously, I think that the removal of Tensho literally cost one franchise's side stories the treatment that they deserve as a full adaptation of competent quality, though this comes with the cost of time and manpower to justify why taking it slow with the VN approach is always a risky business move.
No matter if it's 8-Bit or Bibury, the production always is Grisaia's strong point, and it's still great to see the show embracing its cinematic 16:9 movie quality to show that the show hasn't lost its chops. The music, on the other hand, is just not as memorable as past series, even with Mao Uesugi's OP and Yoshino Nanjo's ED songs.
In the end, the Phantom Trigger episodic VN series was kind of screwed the moment it turned into adaptations on the small screen. As much content as the VN would have, it's literally impossible to squeeze it into the anime format, so a gamble was taken, and once it looked viable, more can be squeezed out of the series to make a seamless transition. That's the main problem with the films and the anime here, and there's just no way you can come out unscathed trying to understand what the heck is going on.
Oh well, let the dust settle, because this is as good a showing for the "sequel" that never got expanded the appropriate way possible.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 26, 2025
Magic Maker — Seriously, why have the Isekai name in it if you know that the thematic don't necessarily call for such things like this?
If you ask me what's the temperament between Isekai and fantasy, they basically go hand-in-hand for reasons justifiable, such as unfortunate scenarios of death to then reincarnate in the fantasy world and so forth. But in the case of novelist Kazuki Kaburagi's Magic Maker: Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata a.k.a How to Create Magic in Another World, this is one of a rare few times that Isekai and fantasy (I feel) should have a distinction that's not properly defined here.
You know how
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in every fantasy world, magic should be a mandatory thing for people to pick up on and make it their bread-and-butter in life? That's inherently not so in Magic Maker, where the element of magic doesn't even exist, let alone the people of the lands from both royalties up to commoners down. This sounds strange to the MC of Shion, thinking from the remnants of the living world that fantasy worlds SHOULD have magic and, even if it's not mentioned, should exist in some form. Undeterred, Shion sets out with his sister, Marie, and their good friend, Rose, to find out about this "magic," which charms them like discovering something new in the children's mindsets to enable seeing why their world works as such — that magic has always been surrounding them without knowing it. This then sets the course for Shion to discover magic and share with the world that it actually exists and is among them all.
First off, I just don't understand why this NEEDS to be an Isekai or if someone just had an idea to think of why their world operates the way it does and to pioneer some missing element that would help in any sort of way. For reference, the latter is how Shion would think of how their world can operate even without acknowledging that there's magic around them, and throughout the series, his experimentations bring to light that magic actually exists and is worth sharing around the "new technology" of their age for a breakthrough of its kind...which also unfortunately reveals the shattering truth that every discovery has its omens (of a typical Isekai). This is fine and all for a rather cookie-cutter fantasy story, but just don't call it an Isekai.
The characters here are surprisingly sound; I'm equally as intrigued about this. The kids of Shion, Marie, and Rose, as playful as children can be, have good adult figures to take care of them, mainly the former's parents, Gawain and Ema, as well as the warrior Grast. To an extent, Gawain is always at the forefront of Shion's new magical discoveries, either celebrating with him or taking care of things when the newfangled magic somehow goes out of hand for protection. Sure, Gawain and Grast can only train the children as much in swordsmanship, but magic is something that Shion, as the pioneer, can only muster at the time; he's responsible for how magic operates by his count. This is intentionally designed to be one of the series' strengths, and rightfully so; it proves to be a shadow without a doubt.
For Studio Deen and director Kazuomi Koga's standards, this is as low as it can go, mainly because Isekai/fantasy shows have now become the new garbage that has every staff team and studio edge for something that they can work on, even if they know that the source material cannot be improved upon in terms of content. So, for what Magic Maker brings to the oversaturated genre, this is palatable enough to give the series a look that, while not great, is most importantly, not looking bad either, just teetering on the edge of mediocre to decent.
The music is kind of forgettable, though it helps set the mood for the series to good effect, and I'll give my compliments on that. Same too with XIIX's OP and Humbreaders' ED songs; they're alright and suit the show for what it is. Noticeable? Yes, but they're not memorable.
To appreciate Magic Maker: Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata a.k.a How to Make Magic in Another World is to identify the target audience it's serving: the kiddy scientist feelings that warrant us to discover much more, even if it's lacking in certain areas that can be identified as suitable sacrifices for a much more compelling experience. Indeed, Magic Maker serves all that and more as not an insulting show for those tired of the repetitive Isekai/fantasy tropes but a show that, while decent, has more potential that was missed along the way.
You can enjoy Magic Maker, provided that you don't expect too much from it, and you're good to go.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 26, 2025
Ishura, Round 2 — Now this is certainly a better effort than Season 1, that's for sure.
It's interesting enough that despite being similar to Shuumatsu no Walküre a.k.a Record of Ragnarok, novelist Keiso's Ishura goes the road less travelled when it comes to storytelling, albeit in the way that you need some time to get used to its rather unorthodox form.
I need not say that if you look closely enough into the series, each episode is just like the said Ragnarok series of introducing character after character for what seems like an eternity. With Season 1 being the preface of the LN's Volume 1 and
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(parts of) 2 introducing Sojiro the Willow-Sword and the like, at least that had its own branch story of the Shuras involved in the cornering fight of the coup d'état between Aureatia and the New Principality of Lithia. With Season 2 continuing the adaptation of the remainder of Volume 2 and into 3, the story takes an abrupt turn to the outside lands, where Aureatia still lives on the recovery of finding more Shura to advance their cause, as well as the incumbents (now called the Old Kingdom Loyalists) now skirting around the lands to find the purpose of their living, though it's obvious that there's a bigger plot to play with new characters that come and go as the call to gather at Aureatia to determine who's the True Hero, once and for all.
So here therein comes the biggest problem of the series: why are we still getting the exact same infodump about new characters? I did briefly mention this in my review last Winter that this tactic of storytelling gets old fast, especially when there are so many characters to go around and not see the overarching plot of what the season attempts to establish by the end of that count. Looking back at it now, while Season 1 plays mainly towards the division of Aureatia and the New Principality of Lithia (which should be simple to understand), Season 2 plays it in another ballpark of the entire world in general, showcasing more characters, but this time, really compelling ones like Hiroto the Paradox going around as a grey-haired child who's an excellent negotiator with his conversational skills that allow connections with influential people, highlighting that the postmortems of the True Demon King's war have not been quelmed yet and there exist remnants trying to understand what the bigger plot at play is, more than just the gathering of heroes alone. This, to me, is what makes Season 2 a progressively better follow-up than what Season 1 started out with.
Passione and Sanzigen's co-2D/3DCG production have certainly gotten better this time around, with much exhilrating fights like the battles of Toroa the Awful against Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge, whose intense action is foretelling of the high stakes at play.
The only change would of course be the OP/ED set, and as much as Mayu Maeshima's OP and (returning) Sajou no Hana's ED songs try to invoke that change, I find this to be a downgrade overall when compared to Season 1, which had the right amount of edge for a show like this.
Even though we're only just getting started with the Record of Ragnarok themes of an all-out fight, Ishura is a series that has its lore on worldbuilding while simultaneously shifting characters around according to the needs of the scenario at hand. It truly is an eye-watering moment that I initially didn't buy back last Winter, but now I see the appeal of this, that with progress, comes enjoyability. It is a perfect example of how characters overshadow story elements, but don't break out of it at the same time.
Still, you'd have to leave it at Season 3 for the epic battle, which I hope will come pretty soon enough.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 25, 2025
Flower and Asura — a recital that's best further explored to see if its weight holds up.
I love exploring niche topics when it comes to just about any medium of content derived from the sources that it stems from that's full of awe and intrigue to find out what goes on behind the trait that just works. So, in this Winter season, courtesy of the musical maestro that is author Ayano Takeda and her globe-transcending franchise that is Hibike! Euphonium, let's explore the road less travelled with her rather peculiar story about finding your voice and the incantations that are pretty much the vocal life
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of literature: Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku a.k.a Flower and Asura.
If you're coming into this show and thinking that it'll be a masterpiece like Hibike!, then I'm sorry to say that you're going to be disappointed, since HanaShura doesn't have much of the weight attributed to it as compared to the former series. Instead, it explores the less ventured nuance of literature and, importantly, recitals/speech and storytelling, which Japan has no lack of such exquisite fine practices to help boost its literacy into something special. If you love shows like Summer 2021's Kageki Shoujo!!, then this will be your mojo, just in a different aspect.
Meet Hana Haruyama: the girl who lives on the small island of Tonaki-jima with a sizable population of just 600 and has an interest in storytelling by reading to children. That has been her life at least since the one influence that brought her to the same degree in her youth, until she attends school on a normal basis as a fresh new sophomore and gets noticed by the Senpai of Mizuki Usurai when she starts speaking affluently to scout her into the Broadcasting Club and try out her articulation, which confirms her position in the rather small club. Along with other prolific members of the Broadcasting Club, Hana's journey into the realm of recital literature begins.
Right from the get-go, HanaShura leverages the anime medium in one single fine thread: the aspect of sound through voice acting. It's never easy for VAs to get their articulation right, and when they do, they create some of the most iconic voices that have resonated with us throughout the years (e.g. Yusuke Kobayashi for Re:Zero's Subaru Natsuki, or any character that's voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda). It's the same application here in HanaShura, where the VAs drowns the surroundings until one decides to step up to the plate and showcase their talent, to which sound engineers will enable vacuum chamber-like settings to showcase their talents in clear-cut clarity and stereo voice. It's an art that, though, has been explored before (as in last Spring's Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote a.k.a The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio), but not to this height of composition that enables one's voice to have so much power and feel that when he/she takes the lead, it's just that engrossing. It's for this reason that if you want to enjoy this show all the more, please use headphones or a good surround system to fully appreciate the sound design for the anime.
The Broadcasting Club has no lack of eccentric characters: some like Hana who are in the club for fun or others like Mizuki who've been climbing up the ranks between the various competitions against other high schools vying for the same glory and reputation. Obviously, the 2nd-year students of president Mizuki, vice president Ryoko Totonoi, Setaro Hakoyama and their advisor of Hiromi Kichijoji are experienced when it comes to competitive recital, enough to give the new faces of Hana, rivals An Natsue and Shudai Toga, as well as their meditator of Matsuyuki Akiyama to prove their skills, this becomes all the more important to distinguish what's good (in the comfort sense) and what's better (in the competition sense), because good is never enough, if you're not putting your own skills to the test, which if going by the symbolism of the series' name, Hana (as in the flower) and Shura (as in Shura Saionji, the person who inspired Hana to take on recital storytelling in the first place, or more appropriately as in the Buddhism demigod of war Asura) aptly creates the scenario of people falling into situations in which they have to fight an endless war against their own comfort zone, in a relentless and inhumane manner, if it means earning the fame that they're known for.
Remember how Studio Bind was created between White Fox and production-cum-planning management company Egg Firm just to focus on Mushoku Tensei alone? Well, after 6 years of operations, you can clearly tell where the studio is at thanks to Egg Firm separating it from White Fox to "allow us to move forward with the project in a continuous, long-term, and systematic manner." That's not to say that works from the studio from now on will become less varied, but they still show potential in their production, as does HanaShura here. It just needs to amplify what's needed, and that's as much effort to give the great effect.
Other than the incredible sound design I just mentioned earlier in the review; Masaru Yokoyama's OST also is solidly sound. There's not much to it, but whatever it does have, it's done to delicate balance and knows its centrepiece all the more. I'm also fine with Shishamo's OP and Sato's ED songs, though it's not something that is noteworthy, unfortunately. Props to rookie AiPri VA Minori Fujidera for her performance; the now 18/19-year-old VA easily fits Hana's character very well.
Ayano Takeda certainly wasn't lying when she made Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku a.k.a Flower and Asura, because while it tries to hinge on the massive success of her prior series, at the same time, it's branching out to be its own work as well, which takes a unique audience to understand the brave complexities of vocals and sound in a captivating manner. They say, "a picture paints a thousand words," and I believe that the art of storytelling turns the quote upside down to give its own take on a long-standing rhetoric that shines best in silence.
For sure, HanaShura's a unique experience; just don't expect too much from it (especially if you're going into it with a Hibike! mindset) and let the series just resonate its wavelength of stillness, coupled with vocal harmonics that'll leave you wanting for more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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