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The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, in Fact, the Strongest — a potentially good story, wasted to oblivion by all questionable plot conveniences. Please Press X to Doubt.

The "Banished from the Hero's Party" shtick has begun to invade Isekai/fantasy works to brainless chums of one-note authors trying to make a buck to varying levels of success. While many lone work authors do succeed to be given a fanbase that has an affection for the respective works themselves, no matter if the story/premise is good or (mostly) bad, I always question the fact of why executives greenlight works that only add the numbers ... to already oversaturated genres doing the same thing, but better. Such is the case for novelist Kagekinoko's Party kara Tsuihou sareta Sono Chiyushi, Jitsu wa Saikyou ni Tsuki a.k.a The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, in Fact, the Strongest, which actually has a story premise that works generically decently, but with the decisions of a rookie writer's terms that ultimately just don't quite make any sense at all to elevate his/her own story notes, and comes up being the fantasy work that's full of contradicting idiosyncrasies.

As is with every Hero Banished shtick of this regard, this show is no different in its approach of the MC being weak at face value, where is true self is "extraordinarily" strong. This is the topsy-turvy life of the defective healer Laust, a man so infamous they call him Laust the Ignoramus for his incompetence. First being with a party that's just like Wajutsushi a.k.a Notorious "Talker"'s Blue Beyond, where money and exploitation is the root of the evil, Laust doesn't buy into that idea where adventurers within the same party can still get exploited for the work they've done, only to be paid peanuts for it. And since Laust's so weak, the booting is inevitable to restart his adventurer life, and in comes a blue-haired girl who wants to recruit him into her lone party of herself: the assuming young lady of Narsena who's been watching him from the sidelines. And after some negotiation, Laust agrees to share and teach Narsena all that's to know about adventuring, and thus begins their journey anew,

There's one BIG problem about the series itself: the writing of its characters. Laust can be whatever he wants to be, but the main trait of him being the goody-two-shoes character that he wants to seek moral justice in the form of forgiveness and repentance is that he is honestly too good for the world to forgive evil and let the dust settle as it is to avoid having to raise pointless conflicts and needless executions of bad people. Laust is strong alright, but his mentality veers too much to the fictional side of a true-blue Samaritan, that all people, good or bad, have intentions for good. That's where Narsena comes in as the adventurer who's seemingly new to the profession, not knowing much about monster battles and the like, being the disciple of a not-so-remarkable defective healer that she would defend him and his actions on a level of common sense. She too is also a kind soul to people around her and is one of the better-written characters who actually feels like a logical human being at heart. Even as the tide changes with knowing other notable characters, with getting along together "makes the dream team work", and their bond is unmistakable, if ever too realistic when it tries to incorporate things like love lives and such (which I'll admit that the play on romantic love is one of the better executed moments in the anime). However, as I've mentioned, the host of questionable plot conveniences that should've helped alleviate a bigger problem (say, monsters from labyrinths appearing outside of the cave to attack humans, and with higher-ups knowing about this to not act sooner), this unfortunately is the Kamikaze approach of "let situations naturally happen and see what's the best tactic to execute then and there," which by the time the calamities do get out of hand, it's more than just the warning of procrastination before all hell broke loose, to levels of calamity inevitable to escape from.

Alas, the anime itself is a trainwreck on all levels. The no-name 3rd-rate Studio Elle is back to adapt an unremarkable series, and it's not a surprise when its limited production values hamper what is already a below-average work to begin with. And though the animation here, compared to last Spring's Isekai Shoukan wa Nidome desu a.k.a Summoned to Another World for a Second Time, is a lot better than I remember, being the sum of its many parts. However, still, don't be mistaken that this is still a very limited, budgeted adaptation.

The music is easily forgettable, though I'd not figure for the life of me why VA Hina Tachibana can excel as a normal VA, but not when it comes to theme songs (as is the case for the OP), which is just plain bad. At least Sizuk's ED is better somewhat, though not by much.

For once, for much of its bad writing beneath its layers, I was actually hoping that Party kara Tsuihou sareta Sono Chiyushi, Jitsu wa Saikyou ni Tsuki a.k.a The Healer Who Was Banished From His Party, Is, in Fact, the Strongest, could have its story work out somehow, since some elements of it were actually good. But by the graces of Kagekinoko faltering in the writing side of things, the show becomes yet another number to add to the list of shows that you MUST skip and is not worth your time.

You Are Ms. Servant - I...don't understand the hate for this. But there is one cohesive storyline about this - the anime is certainly: more than meets the eye.

In the AniManga industry, there have always been trends to set the pace for the future, along with trends that buck and break because its relevancy isn't so much needed to suit the evolving "tastes" of the global audience (yes, that includes you, the viewer). And for the combo that is the rom-com genre, having been in the same rollercoaster up-and-down tide for years now, it's getting even easier to distinguish the obvious home runs to the ... failed abominations of ideas working separately (or together) and still managing to fumble up somehow. In the case for mangaka Shotan's Kimi wa Meido-sama a.k.a You Are Ms. Servant, that is more likely the case. Where it falls within both spectrums of generic flaws and considerable strengths, and has the ever-so-slightly unexplainable factor that makes this actually a decent series to experience, I really think that you should give the anime the second chance that it awfully deserves despite the negative connotations of the majority.

The generic rom-com story of a high school boy meeting an unidentified stranger at his house, sent by her former master on a simple request to be his servant, with the issue that she has no name to begin with. The high school part is whatever, but the maid has an interesting story to tell: she's been trained to deal with situations pertaining to assassination; that comes from a group where the mark of an assassin is the pride and duty of their living. The thing is, to rebuild her life back to normalcy is proving harder than most, because the maid has been ingrained with assassination techniques so much that things like knives and the like are her primary nature of protection, so much so that things like housework take time to execute to basic understanding and perfection. But the male MC, being the Samaritan that he is, takes his time with the maid to handle house duties, since he's the only one living in his home that's thankfully not swooped with garbage mess (that in the case of other shows, would be the case). And one fine case of a simple rejection that almost caused the life of the MC, begins the somewhat uplifting and emotional ride that would bring both him and the maid together in the typical romance plot. This is the unkempt love story between Hitoyoshi Yokota and his assassin maid servant of Yuki.

For one, what I consider to be the only negative part of the series, certainly lies with the choice of the MC. The orange-haired 16-year-old Hitoyoshi has next to no notable qualities; he's just your average high school sophomore who just so happens to have a tragic backstory with a fellow family member who seemingly abandoned him during his young growing-up years, and having another stranger that best resembles that loved one to induce nightmares about future prospects with taking her in as the servant who draws a blank state to things and situations that she is not familiar with. Yuki, on the other hand, is clearly the star character of the series. Despite her perfectionist assassin background, she is trying to live life anew, one that's totally separate from what she has grown up with (since modern-day Japan has no need for bodyguards and the like), and to see her antics grow from the house to the outside world (with the comedy part being pretty much ado about her striking but innocent personality), there is a tingling sense of relation towards someone who is not used to the world outside of her bubble. From the hilarity of the hopelessness of Hitoyoshi trying to teach Yuki the ways of life that start from the household chores to the outside world of acting just like how normal regular humans do (and helping to take care of his playful pet dog Agemochitaro), it shows that perfectionism is not always the answer for a second chance at life. For these imperfections add the charm to what is already a mysterious character to begin with, that with the passing of time, slowly warms both Hitoyoshi and Yuki together as the couple that everyone clearly awaits the emotional ship sailing, though the road to romance is the bumpy approach of the two that has them wrestle with the idea of romantic love, something that the two share and make that bond together (that still classifies this as a romance story).

To help break the monotony of Hitoyoshi's character, his lil' younger sister Riko stepping in to be the make-or-break factor in the character department, and I have to say that she's a great support character. The cheerful and lively Riko, with all of her big bursts of adolescent energy, helps alleviate the tense moments and add flavour to the charm of the budding relationship between her loving big brother and the innocent maid. And as if that's not enough, the fellows come in on both sides with the catwoman assassin "Grace" Nitta and yet another relatable person with the pink-haired Naka Hikage being peas of a pod with Yuki due to their upbringing. All of this meant that you have a show that slowly gets better over time with relatable characters, not to mention Yuki herself with the whole assassin story being a mystery that slowly has the keys unlocked about her past that ultimately answers why she was sent to the Yokoya residence from the get-go.

For the first time, studio Felix Film helming the infamy of the trinity of anime projects at once with this show, Wajutsushi a.k.a. Notorious "Talker" and MF Ghost's sequel season, I'm actually surprised that the show has always kept as consistent with its production from start to finish. Maybe it's me, but knowing veteran director Ayumu Watanabe is at the helm handling a show of similar proportions (that would be Komi-san wa, Comyushou desu. a.k.a Komi Can't Communicate), the anime is a topic that he knows very well and thus brings his usual excellent directorship to the table, which I'm very glad for. If this is the result to see of next year's adaptation of the much-anticipated Tongari Boushi no Atelier a.k.a Witch Hat Atelier, then the anime is in very good hands.

The music plays quite subtly, so despite it not standing out much, it executes in areas where it warrants and fulfils the needs of key moments, and that is quite the achievement for music composer Masahiro Tokuda, who hasn't had a hit yet with the projects he was on (at least to my ears, Summer 2020's Deca-Dence was great). Tricot's OP and Dustcell's ED are both decent-to-good songs, but it's the choice for the visuals to go full ham expressive (even if it isn't innovative) that I think contributes well to the theme songs and the direct references to expect from the anime to begin with.

Like I've said, I don't quite understand the hate for Kimi wa Meido-sama a.k.a You Are Ms. Servant. Call it a generic rom-com all you want, but I actually think that this is one of a rare handful of series that, despite its rather simple approach to the genre, still manages to play its story out that still gets to the heart of the matter in an efficient but effective manner. I just love this show, along with the countless times it made me smile, laugh and feel at the same time.

The series is certainly better than what you see at face value and is not recommended for the wimps (though I'll take the chump for Hitoyoshi just being bland to improvement over time) who think that generic love can't be salvaged and turned to be something "generically" special.

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. - A Mahou Shoujo work focused on corporate management? That's a first.

"A satirical, grounded take on magical girls, where they fight the biggest evil of all: corporate management." That's the comment from the ever-so-popular AniTuber Gigguk, and I have to say that the sentence rings true for mangaka Setta Iwaka's lone series that is a fascinating take on the oversaturated Mahou Shoujo genre that houses within the much-popularized platform of where manga series become huge juggernauts in the process: Shueisha's Shonen Jump+. And truth be told, you can experiment on a genre so much to the point where it becomes stale ... by the dozen (at least when it comes to Isekai/fantasy works), but at least in the case for Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière a.k.a Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., it has a promising hook, on the basis that you have to give the anime a second chance to let it stretch its plot in a slow, but tolerable manner.

In the world of Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière, the Mahou Shoujo work is taken as a true profession: a legitimate one because of the creatures that roam around, which can quickly become a nightmarish catastrophe: Kaii, monsters that come in all sorts of ranges that's pretty much like Pokémon with their various types. And for the sole girl that is the new college graduate of Kana Sakuragi headhunting for her first job, she has an excellent depth of memory to offer, but most companies would find it to be more of a liability than anything. That is, until she comes across the Mahou Shoujo of HitomI Koshigaya having to exterminate a Kaii in an emergency situation, and with her depth of knowledge being the prime factor to help the Magical Girl defeat the creature, Kana is immediately signed onto the unkempt start-up company that is Magi-Lumière, where Koshigaya is the company's Mahou Shoujo spokesperson.

For one thing, birds of a feather flock together, and Kana finding herself within an old, rundown building that houses the startup company alongside eccentric people that ranges from the crossdressing Mahou Shoujo fanatic of president Kouji Shigemoto, his able HR secretary of Kaede Midorikawa, alongside magic engineer Kazuo Nikoyama, not one single person is sane in this small startup company. But if there's one thing going for them, their quirks make up the fact that despite having more than 500 Magical Girl companies established for the very reason to exterminate Kaii, Magi-Lumière stands out for its orthodox approach to the standard, typical work that is assigned: to create and assess their aesthetics, as opposed to big corporations like AST Corporation's president Kei Koga and his able-bodied, all-rounder Magical Girl of Mei Tsuchiba, who is the best representation of Japan's typical Black Company culture, putting funds and results first before people. The dynamics of Magi-Lumière being the startup company as it is, they need not conform to hard-and-fast rules that would be the irate response to workers quitting, and instead, can establish themselves as a Magical Girl company operating on their own terms, terms that would not assume or judge people at face value, and the wholly trust by hiring them based on their hobbies and likings that would be future contributions to the company in a good way to help excel the growth into a good reputation. Now that's the mark of a strategic company, especially for Magi-Lumière's status as a small organization willing to experiment on the good and bad and see what works to advance their limitations forward.

The anime being yet another one of J.C.Staff projects for the Summer/Fall seasons, the No. 4 of 8 shows, certainly is the mark of what I would come to expect of a J.C.Staff show, though it's the collab with the smaller studio Moe being its first foray into anime production. While the overall production is a touch above average, it's a thing of beauty to see the classic Mahou Shoujo transformation trope get some much-needed love, with each girl getting a minute or two spliced just for their somewhat heavily elaborate transformation sequence that shows every nook and cranny of their Mahou Shoujo likeness. Honestly, I'd feel that this show has not a single minute wasted on anything insignificant, and even if it does, it's only splashing on the minor stuff, and this is the one extent that the hit-or-miss studio Moe director Shingo Nagai and his no-name staff team got things handled right.

The standout would be music composer Makoto Miyazaki's OST for the anime, and given his repertoire of high-profile works, the likes of One Punch Man, Spy x Family, and the most recent of which is Zom 100, I guess I shouldn't be surprised of a veteran's weight and prowess after all. Even both Mafumafu's OP and syudou's ED are good to great, catchy songs at the very least, and I find myself enjoying both songs quite a bit.

It's easy to get lost in the Mahou Shoujo realm thinking that the genre can flex just like Isekai/fantasy does, but at least it's not to the point where it is run dry and overdue to correct its course too late to its run. At least in the context of Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière a.k.a Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., I think that this is a show that deserves a second look, despite looking average and directionless at the very start to set its paces properly. It does have a plot, but like the story of the hare and the tortoise, it's better to plow through the plot/premise slowly than rush through its paces and end up being a trainwreck of an adaptation.

Of course, there is the original source material of the manga to plow through, but why read when you can watch the show instead? With Season 2 confirmed to focus more on the main story at hand, you have no excuses to not give the anime a shot if you haven't yet already, you won't be disappointed.

Goodbye, Dragon Life — Goodbye, animal god life, return to human and heaps of never-ending mediocrity.

Well folks, it's that time of the seasonal reel once again, where Isekai and fantasy come out to play, and us the audience to have to pick and choose our poison to see how good (or (mostly) bad) the shows will turn out to be. And one constant red flag will be no-name authors who think they know better than to have a blank slate of a premise to work on as they go and expand the story from there, which seemingly adds the number to the quantity, not the ... quality. And for one novelist by the name of Hiroaki Nagashima, his lone series (that's still 20+ volumes and ongoing) of Sayonara Ryuusei, Konnichiwa Jinsei a.k.a Goodbye, Dragon Life, is just that: a fantasy series that goes where he wants his MC to travel forth. And let me tell you: please get out of this worse-than-generic warp before it infects you to the point of feeling stale.

Everyone has the opportunity to write something they wish what they want to write, be it influencing or being influenced by similar works, there is no qualms about that. The bad part about that is the list of ideas that they want to bring forth to add substance to their flare, and while not everyone can be like a certain Rifujin na Maganote (author of Mushoku Tensei) and Tappei Nagatsuki (author of Re:Zero), it's totally fine to start somewhere and work to better things henceforth. Only except for authors like Hiroaki Nagashima, who like to just play it safe and hamfist the reincarnation theme on and on with no end in sight...it's a working formula alright, but that formula is VERY flawed because it adds no originality and defaults to everlasting known tropes and cliches that work just for the sake of progressing a story that on top of having little to no substance at all, keeps on harping to no end.

And you need to look at the root cause of the fault, nowhere else than the premise itself: a centuries-old divine dragon who seemingly is done with its life being the infamous warmonger that has raged wars against countless species, so much so that it wishes to be kicked out and reborn again as a normal human living the slow life, and it got its wish as a young man named Dolan living in a "notable" village that's weird for all the wrong reasons: a young girl having a normal crush on him, and milk that doesn't come from a carton, but rather from an actual cow demihuman. This in and of itself shouldn't be right, but it's the author's weird fetish of ideas, so let's just roll with it. Dolan soon getting more accompaniments through the finding of Celina the lamia, who's on an expedition to find her life partner, as well as Christina the swordswoman from the kingdom lands, initially here to investigate what's going on in the unremarkable Verun Village, to then slowly be appreciative of its unkempt nature...with at least the semblance of the typical normal humans. Dealing with the informalities of life, and the usual "evildoers casually invading lands for a fight", it's just the standard "survival of the fittest" mentality that has the strong Dolan equip Celina, who has been for the most part, helpless and a damsel in distress when things go bad, until he decides to train her to become strong to face off against the regularity of monsters, let alone the strong Demon Army with its general Knights. The irony of which, that each and everyone has a personality pretty much monotone, with nothing special to ever talk about.

As is foretold, this is just about as fantastical as it gets being a rip-off of Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita a.k.a Banished From The Hero's Party, I Decided To Live A Quiet Life In The Countryside, but just being on the level of stale bread so tough to chew and the content being fed to the audience that's even tougher to swallow for its bland, flavourless quirks.

Unsurprisingly, the production values are also quite bad throughout. As much as it goes for the past of studio SynergySP's efforts in the action department, its collab with old studio Vega Entertainment having been experimented with before with Summer 2021's Deatte 5-byou de Battle a.k.a Battle Game in 5 Seconds, it's noticeably even worse than this show would allow its hind feet to keep on walking the rough and bumpy path.

Also, the music is just terrible and, with the snap of a finger, instantly forgettable. K-Pop boy band Lun8's OP just is not a good song (or even fit for anime) overall, and I've had better with EverdreaM's EDs (especially with last Fall's Boushoku no Berserk a.k.a Berserk of Gluttony) than this whatever of at least a nice-sounding ED song.

It's a generic reincarnation story alright, but for the life of me, I just find myself tolerating how bad this series could get, and it's even worse on a binge watch because it sets the expectation to force you to watch the following episodes just to see what would happen next.

Don't fault the anime's staff team for this one (even though they're partly to blame for the bad production); blame Hiroaki Nagashima instead for concocting a series that is more than just generic; it's worse than average and serves its own fanbase to be fed endless mediocrity just to keep expectations abreast.

If you excuse me, I'm going to pray to the gods to awaken me out of watching a nightmare that is the epitome of horrible and give me a reincarnation that's better than what this series serves on its broken and dirty platter.

Mecha-Ude - Is anime going back to its roots, any good at all? I'd argue that if you don't see it from a modern lens, it'll do wonders.

Out of all the different sources when it comes to anime production, nothing beats originals because of its blank slate that gives the works fair criticism just by experiencing something that's done before, but to different concoctions based on the vision of its staff involved in the matter. And that can be quite the tricky measure to weigh each and every factor that gives the shows a run for their money, because it is the sole keyword of ... investment that determines its success. And one work in particular has that reputation of evolving from what was a pilot sneak peek into a full-fledged series: Mecha-Ude, a once-$60k Kickstarter project back in October 2016 that met its goal just the month thereafter to produce a 25-minute ONA released in May 2019, to then be commissioned as a TV anime project just 3 years later that, come this Fall, is finally a series realized in the making. So, just like time (which is also a finite investment), is the anime worth it after 8 years of blood, sweat, tears, time, and financial planning from its visionary director of Sae Okamoto and the newly commissioned TriF Studio?

For starters, if you've watched the ONA way back in its heyday, it was a loving swan song to the mega-popular mecha series of all time, from the likes of Gainax's legendary mecha Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann to the evolution towards Trigger's Darling in the FranXX and the Gridman series (though Kill la Kill was in a way a deep inspiration, and Little Witch Academia being very similar in its Kickstarter origins), so much so that back then, there was potential to expand the series based on its pilot into something bigger. And though the anime itself feels pretty much like your typical standard Shonen-focused premise that involves genres and tropes that would usually go hand-in-hand, I think that Sae Okamoto choosing to stick towards conventional terms is a good strategy to bring out the old-school feel of the early 2010s, something that in this day and age of the AniManga industry is sadly few and far between...and is ever so slightly diminishing away from what used to be the staple slate that, next to the Isekai/fantasy genre, matches its numbers (in terms of less quantity and more quality) from the decade earlier.

Just think about it: a dystopian sci-fi future in the very likeness of the Transformers franchise, where mechanical beings descend into Earth after losing their homeland in space and live amongst humans with the intention to fuse (or the correct term: to derize) to them as their means of survival. These mechanized limbs and appendages, called Mecha-Ude, have their usages, though pretty much like the good vs. evil factions of the Autobots vs. Decepticons, while most of them are relatively harmless, some would be used for evil purposes (the whole "take over the world" shmuck), and that's where organizations like ARMS vs. the Kagami Group come in with each their objectives and goals to free and suppress these Mecha-Ude to their own likings. The Sam Witwicky character here is the average boy of Hikaru Amatsuga, who ends up finding one such rare Mecha-Ude that unfortunately is in a state of amnesia, not knowing who or what it is, and all he knows is that this Bumblebee-ish robot called "Alma" is so precious towards both factions because of its reputation as the "Trigger Arm," one of the most powerful Mecha-Udes that could significantly change the tide to whoever finds it and harnesses its unparalleled power.

I'm telling you, this show may have its influences taken from Transformers, but still wholly makes its own story that is palpable to understanding, though its pacing for the standard 12 episodes could afford to have one extra episode just to slow things down from its rather ridiculous speed-running phase (that making this a 2-cour series, is next to impossible for the straightforward and simple story).

If there is one fault that the series just does not do justice, it's the character cast, and there's a bit too many of them to ever just be useful plot narratives in an already overcrowded scenario such as this. Every Mecha-Ude has a human attached to them, and in Hikaru's case, Alma is permanently stuck to his hoodie, seemingly with a mind of its own at times. Being the clear outsider involved in a rather competitive nature, the dull boy makes do with what he can, though ineligible at first since Mecha-Ude relies on its source of power from its user to survive: Arbitrium. And it's in this nature that both Hikaru and Alma would meet people from both ARMS and the Kagami Group fighting in endless retaliation to pursue Alma, and being on the good side of things, rests his laurels on the one who would be his protector ever since: Aki Murasame with her twin-wielding Mecha-Ude of Sinis and Dex. And though the rowdiness of the matter would come to haunt the both of them through the Kagami Group's young master, Jun Kagami, wielding the experiment that is the worm-type Mecha-Ude of Ouroboros, plus the shenanigans of the childhood friend trope with Meru Shirayama just being the romantic gossip girl, Hikaru's life is never the same with Alma completely stuck to him, trying to both wield his way to safety while unlocking the memories and figuring out the truth behind the Mecha-Udes invading Earth and their primary purposes to begin with. If there's one thing to expect from this, it's wild, running insanity of the mix of in-your-face comedy and the serious nature that will have you invest your time into them if you consider the right characters at differing points of the spectrum.

With TriF Studio delivering both then the ONA and now the anime series, it's clear that the studio has been taken onboard alongside director Sae Okamoto from the very outset. And despite the rather small staff team that Okamoto has alongside her, they still find a way to make the show work its flex despite being a total rookie towards TV production-based anime. Yes, it's not Trigger level'esque and it does have its inconsistencies, but the overall product is actually better than I remember from the ONA, most particularly on its action scenes which have some Sakuga moments from time to time, which is impressive for a studio helming its very first full-fledged anime production, and especially from a female animator-cum-director no less who understands and executes the job much better than most subpar 3rd-rate directors.

Of course, you need a OST to beat the heart of the Sakuga, and who better than the famed composer trio of Hiroyuki Sawano, Kohta Yamamoto, and AWSM's Daiki to helm the music and give the series the oomph that it deserves in the sound department. And as is with every Hiroyuki Sawano project, the show featuring Kuhaku Gokko's Setsuko for both the OP and ED is quite the sound bomb offering the bombastic start and a calm finish. You can't go wrong when the famed maestro leans his talents to help a show excel in musicality.

Going back to the question at the start of the review, I'd feel that AniManga nowadays is quickly losing touch when it bucks the current trend and fails to acknowledge the trends that came before it, to which this show's purpose is to bring us back into our roots of the teenage years and watching classic mecha shows that would live up to the hype. Well, while Mecha-Ude won't win any awards whatsoever, the sole recognition of it being a criminally underappreciated show due to its relentless pacing that would throw just about anyone off, I'd argue that it actually pays off in the long run, for a vision that was once a piece of the puzzle, now magnified in its full reality.

Props to Sae Okamoto and her staff team at TriF Studio for a vision finally fulfilled that's 8 long years in the making and do what you will about a product that may be inherently incomplete, but having the finality of completion, all at the same time.

365 Days to the Wedding — What does a shotgun approach to marriage look like? It's a lot more complicated than you expect it to be.

Often at times, more than not, romance is one of the key genres in an already oversaturated industry of authors thinking that their way of romance will win the hearts of the people through "unique" writing. And while it's easy to fall into the trap of creating a quality romance series of a boy and girl getting together, it's the part thereafter a.k.a the marriage portion, that stings the hardest because there is no "one size fits all" way of ... legitimizing a relationship to the next level. And this Fall, through the unlikeliest of people concocting this trivial matter to bring to the masses, it's mangaka Tamiki Wakaki of Kami Nomi zo Shiru Sekai a.k.a The World God Only Knows fame, bringing to us the 3rd anime adaptation of his works: his latest completed rom-com series of Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka? a.k.a 365 Days to the Wedding.

What do you ponder when it comes to marriages? Is it the relationship maturity that can be fulfilled to the next steps of humanity, or is it a relationship that was born out of wedlock circumstances that, in turn, manifested into a legitimate relationship and has the potential to turn into marriage? Well, if you're like the MCs of Takuya Ohara and Rika Honjoji, you fall into the latter group, being forced to wed each other to avoid being "shipped" out of Japan to work in a foreign country! But I should provide some context here. Their workplace, the typical travel agency, is best known for being tour guides and middlemen to handle all the necessities there are about customers going to their preferred destinations but don't want to handle the pressure of the in-between choices and whatnot. And as a way to expand operations, their company is looking to have branches overseas to better serve the target audience...in the freezing, bitter coldness of Alaska. But there is a catch: anyone who's married or is in the pipelines of marriage can avoid having to go there, for the company will decide who to appoint to their new Alaska branch a year (or 365 days, to be exact for this context) from then on.

To the colleagues of Takuya Ohara and Rika Honjoji, this is a no-brainer to avoid going to Alaska, because they're the definition of introverts, people who are comfortable in their own skin and quiver when they're exposed to new environments that would otherwise have their morale be sunken (I know this because I am also an extreme introvert). And their plan here to fake a marriage, though haphazard, provides a very realistic sense of depth that would test every fibre of their being of what it truly means to be in a marriage, married together and understanding each other's likes and dislikes, especially when exposed to someone both inside and outside of their comfort zone, which can get stressed and infuriating at times. The feline-loving Takuya with his cat Kama, and the map Otaku that is Rika, it's clear that they enjoy their own socialite company and the other colleagues whom they are comfortable with (who come in all sorts of personalities), but when faced with the precedence of the fake marriage, which, when combined with the fast swirling of rumors about the two getting together in a shotgun approach, these two will melt in the face of social pressure, because while one is very quiet and barely talks (thus his presence is always invisible), and the other looking so stoic with the resting bitch face that people will think that she has a bad day. It's ridiculous, but awkwardly hilarious as well, as these two introverts slowly measure what it means to love and be loved, that despite their socially inept barriers, love can still make a way for the unexpected spark to happen that'll ultimately pave the way for their true, unsolicited marriage.

It's actually surprising how much this anime develops an adult romance that speaks to just about anyone involved in relationships to marriages, because these things also do happen in real life, and reality sucks when it does happen; that could hit just as hard as home. The show has tropes to begin with, and that's not really surprising for a rom-com of this magnitude, though unlike author Fujita's Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii a.k.a WotaKoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, it tackles the topics right at the heart of the matter. The topics ranging from the typical office romance of the one-sided love from the plump Hiromi Gonda towards the pretty Natsumi Komiya, the family affair of Susumu Shinshi, to even the ever-so-predictable childhood trope with Takuya's childhood friend Nao Umiyama, that coupled with flawed characters trying to understand their own version of marriage, it's the portrayal that shines as the star of the series. And if you understood that, then the romance battle is half won.

For a small studio like Ashi Productions, their production values may not look like much, but the overall effect of the minimalism of animation is decent and looks the part with the intended slice-of-life vibe. I'm even surprised that the studio is undertaking projects side-by-side this season alongside Goukon ni Ittara Onna ga Inakatta Hanashi a.k.a How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer, both shows with consistent production, nonetheless. But overall, it's fine for what it is.

While the music is so-so, it's great to finally have a good HoneyWorks song, one that was pretty much needed for the longest time, and Marumochi feat. HaKoniwalily's OP is quite the happy-go-lucky, bubbly song that perfectly suits the rom-com nature of the show. While Gohobi's ED may be the less impressive of the two, I adore the watercolour reels that give its visuals a lot of life alongside the song's acoustic feels. Definitely an OST that will not disappoint.

Kekkon suru tte, Hontou desu ka? a.k.a 365 Days to the Wedding may be a very simple story with predictable levels of audacity, but it's the flawlessness of its premise that really brings out the best in its cuteness and serviceability. And if there's a sequel to wrap up this prequel season adapting the 1st half of the manga, I will be down to see how the wedding proceeds between the protagonists.

It may not be the rom-com that one would expect, but it's not as bad as you think.

Negative Positive Angler — When life beats you down and gives you a limited time to live, why not try something that you haven't done before...like fishing?

Originality may be a dime a dozen, a pocketful of change when it comes to experimenting with things that aren't as innovative, but it offers a variety in the usual tried-and-true formulas for things already seen, in yet-experimented forms to its own degree of success. And it's in this hindsight to follow up this trend by releasing Nega(tive)Posi(tive) Angler, yet another Kadokawa and studio NUT collaboration since last Fall's unnoticed Bullbuster that has an adult casting but focuses on ... the sport that is recreational fishing and its "hook, line, and sinker" on the fragility of human life.

Meet Tsunehiro Sasaki, an MC so hit by the brutality of life that you wonder why he is still living in the world. An unsuccessful college student who became a gambler by investing all of his savings into the stock market (which bubbled and burst) and dropped out by night to become a gambler to just waste his life away by borrowing money from loansharks and being chased by them when he failed to pay back the funds, one would really question this young man's existence as a complete failure at life. Not to mention with an incurable disease that he has, and the diagnosis returning to him that he only has 2 years to live, I'm thinking that the Devil has pretty much manifested his life to the point of being cursed once he grows up and becomes a wasted member of society. But out of the ashes, a near-suicide attempt that has Tsunehiro being saved by complete strangers who just so happen to be fishing around the area begins his turning point against the negative Anglers and turning them into positive Anglers to see life anew.

The unkempt fishers of a man and woman who saved Tsunehiro's life, both Hana Ayukawa and Takaaki Tsutsujimori are avid fishers who embody everything that is to know about fishermen and women in general: people who go and fish in ridiculous hours just to catch the freshest breed or just catching the opportunity during the seasonal fishing periods to farm for fish of all types, common or rare (or otherwise). They're quite the eccentric duo who are also Senseis in their own right to teach Tsunehiro the 5W1Hs of fishing, which in turn captivates the fishing experience starting from the beginner rookie level. I'd argue to say that fishing in and of itself is quite the art form (apart from its competitive roots), teaching from the usage of baits to even the formation of the fishing lures, which is accessorized based on the skills of the user. Of course, what's a rookie to just learn from the masters themselves when there are the everyday people who also contribute to the fun of fishing as a community altogether? This is the Everyday convenience store mart that sells the typical convenience store food you'd expect, and fishing equipment that is central to the plot as a commune gateway alongside people of manager Machida, to part-timers like Kozue Nishimori, the mysterious veteran of Fujishiro, and siblings of Arua and Ice, all having their personalities contribute to the differing contrast of the cast in totality.

But going back to Tsunehiro (because he's the MC alright). Getting his life back up after losing pretty much everything in his life, not to mention losing his life with finite time to live, any sane person would just do nothing and waste their time away awaiting their death sentence in time to come. And though at first Tsunehiro hasn't got the back of a spine to man up and face his troubles head-on (because of the overwhelmingness of his situation), with much convincing from Hana, Takaaki, and the others, the spineless man slowly not just learns the traits of fishing but picks up skills on his own, nurtures it and applies it to his fishing that becomes the centrifugal force of his newfound living, overcoming his negative Anglers to turn it around into positive Anglers, and see life from a whole new and different angle that's worth living again, even if his terminal illness would come and devastate his life unpredictably. This story of the drama picks up slowly and bears fruit and affects others in the same degree, mainly to the saviour of his life, Takaaki, as secrets between both men get intertwined in a way that still honours what the anime's premise sets itself up for in the first place. It's not just drama for the sake of it, but while pushing the buttons may break friendships like such, the reality of overcoming sins and burdens in one's life may be too much to bear, but it must be done regardless towards humanity's harsh climates.

For an anime based solely on fishing, I like the incorporation of CGI to give the sense of the actions of fish; from treading in waters to struggling through being pulled by the lures, it gives realism towards the recreational sport. And while studio NUT's production values are nothing to scoff at, it wholly gets its job done playing second fiddle to the plot, which is the star attraction of the show.

The music by famed composer Tomoki Kikuya is plenty fine and also does its job for a not-so-chill anime that has its chill moments at the right times. But the OST is quite the miss with Van de Shop's OP, which is A LOT of autotune that just does not fit into the show whatsoever in any way. At least 96Neko's ED is much better and more suited for a calm, collected, and soothing song.

Much like its adulterated tones, NegaPosi Angler will not be for everyone given its rather adult and mature nature. However, with that said, if you need a bit of retrospective for something that, while on the surface, may not look like much, goes much deeper than the depths of the ocean, this anime will do just right for a serious but laid-back atmosphere that's fishing and its soothing nature. Give this show a second chance to hook you; it'll lure you in with its line and sinker, and your eyes for an amicable experience.

Kinokoinu: Mushroom Pup — A dog that can disguise itself as a mushroom? What gives of this shenanigan's premise?

Let me keep this short, plain, and simple: the niche topics have always been the shows that people ventured "less the road travelled," and their predictability from start to finish depends on how you feel about the series as a whole. And this Fall, besides the more palpable and digestible Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru. a.k.a If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student., there is yet another show that flies even lower than the radar, though its seemingly cute nature will turn more people off and not ... appreciate how different it is in the sea of the never-ending wash, rinse, repeat cycle of Isekai and fantasy shows. My friends, that show is this one — mangaka Kimama Aoboshi's lone work of Kinoko Inu: Mushroom Pup (which its 74 chapters in 15 volumes that took 12 years of publication, is quite the long run).

Pretty much like Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru., Kinoko Inu's plot is one and the same of dealing with life's grievances and learning to move on to better things ahead in the same lifeline. And this story involves a human and his beloved dog, once the best adage of "man's best friend" to old age, so much that said human cannot easily forget how much it meant to him. This is the tale of Hotaru Yuyami, living his keep as an author, and how his beloved pet friend of Hanako's natural passing enables one rather supernatural walk in the form of a pink mushroom, being an observer...to the pup that acts on its own accord and gives no second thought to the people around it.

First of all, who comes up with this weird premise, and yet finds a way to make this all work? Not if you get into the mind of its eccentric author, that's what. Kinoko Inu is quite the supernatural anomaly of a pet in a rather slice-of-life, Iyashikei world, being surrounded by regular humans that find it all the more intriguing, from being offered melon breads to takoyaki, and also just being the goofball that it is, the mushroom pup is such an emotional delight of a trip for its owner, who has to slowly acknowledge that with or without Hanako, Hotaru must inevitably move on, emotionally and physically, with his usual unexpressive, depressive mood. Thankfully, he's not alone in this regard alongside his childhood friend-cum-editor of Komako Amano, as well as the eccentric mushroom researcher of Itsuki Yara (who seemingly has a gay reflection on Hotaru), before being joined by the unlikeliest of people with the Ueharas of daughter Anzu and mother Tsubaki (who just so happened to be yet another childhood friend of Hotaru and Amano), with their yet another mushroom pup, this time a purple one they call Plum. Of course, the selling of the premise of how and why Kinoko Inu exists is one of intrigue, being a story as far as time would allow since Hotaru's existence from young and essentially growing up and not heeding any regard to it, until its importance rears its head into this weaving story of life, death, and learning to experience joy unspeakable. All in all, the heartwarming experience sells its soul here so that we feeble humans can soak in the emotional feels; that's all for the right reasons.

Being a C-Station anime, having the studio produce yet another slice-of-life, Iyashikei show, this is right under its wheelhouse, having produced the now bigger-than-life series that is Yuru Camp. And I guess this shouldn't be a surprise when Kinoko Inu is done by most of the in-house staff team coming from the franchise itself: storyboarder Kagetoshi Asano serving his directorial debut, scriptwriter-cum-series composer Jin Tanaka, music composer Akiyuki Tateyama, and many more. It's simple on the eyes with minimalist animation, but overall, it gets the job done.

With Akiyuki Tateyama's touch on the music, while every show or series that he did was hit-and-miss to some degree, it's the Yuru Camp feels that he brings to the table for Kinoko Inu. And given his work on the Bananya series, the show excels at its use of musical tones to good effect, and it shows. Even both HY's OP and Iberis&'s ED are lively and poppy songs, though I'd say that the OP is much more musically fitting and the better of the two since it's composed specifically for the anime. Still good marks around.

Kinoko Inu: Mushroom Pup is a criminally underrated hidden gem, in every sense of the word. It's just made so for the purpose of differentiating in the sea of never-ending tropes, and it's the perfect match for times like these to experience something out of the usual comfort zone. In contrast to the veteran series that is Natsume Yuujinchou a.k.a Natsume: Book of Friends (that's airing its 7th season), alongside this show, it still remains that SoL/Iyashikei series are just not for everyone, and this is quite the shame for an industry so focused on the predictable nowadays.

At least I can say that I've enjoyed this lil' show that is a blip in the ever-evolving seasonal chart, and it made its mark in an adorable manner.

The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan — When edge and speech combined together become the ONLY significance to determine enjoyability...has the edge factor been finally done right?

Fantasy comes in all sorts of flavours if you so wish: the good and the bad, the sweet and the sour...or in the case of novelist Jaki's lone work of Saikyou no Shienshoku "Wajutsushi" de Aru Ore wa Sekai Saikyou Clan wo Shitagaeru a.k.a The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan, the Snake and the Serpent. So then begs the one demanding question: how does one become an edgelord "so bad it's good" that, ... as much as you hate him/her, he/she has a reason and motivation to live being surrounded by strong people that it's the only thing that matters? Let's "Talk" our way into this show and its appeal of why the evil edge plays significance here.

For much of its recorded history, snakes and/or serpents have become quite the household name when it comes to religious traditions and defining cultures that expose the deep side of society and the sin of man into acts of lies and betrayal. And this is quite the environment that we see the series' titular MC of Noel Stollen be absolved into. The grandson of the greatest hero that's ever lived: the "god-level" EX-Rank Brandon "Overdeath" Stollen, whose reputation goes far and wide for someone who's to be feared and revered; the man who knows no death serves as his greatest inspiration for all good and bad things in Noel's growing-up years. Significantly, the phrase "A man shouldn't be looked down upon" becomes the cornerstone of what would become the primary reason for the little boy, who would grow up to become a fine young man...albeit with the Seeker job that is the weakest of them all: the Talker class. Being primarily a support class, you can think of Talkers as the background members of a party, but with the caveat that they do have Buffs and Debuffs on their spoken words while inducing mana, and despite being given a disadvantage to work with, Noel's extreme, rigorous training with Brandon proves his worth to easily match up with the stronger classes above him.

The evolution from a snake to a serpent, Noel's hunger for power and strength is ambitious yet evident, despite his rather androgynous appearance, similar to that of girls with his feminine beauty. And the goal to become the greatest Seeker, by hook or by crook, cements Noel's desire that power and strength are his only motivations to live and surpass the likes of his grandfather one day, even if he has his followers siding with him that follow his ideology and the crowd be annihilated with scores of bodies being stacked for him to trample on. Think of 100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru a.k.a I'm Standing on a Million Lives but bracing on the fortitude of edgelord-ness. Noel's resolution going deep into the rear end makes him hardened and cold, even more willing to employ cruelty without a second thought, and in the process of the events through the demise and rebirth of his party Blue Beyond, enables him to be a keen observer and a thorough schemer through his smooth talking of nothing less than words of manipulation and provocation whilst in negotiation. Combine all of this, and you get an MC that is the edgelord that he is, combined with KonoSuba's Kazuma's "gender equality" trait but pushing the boundaries to the limit of a love-hate relationship that he's just not going to care about others' opinions of who he truly is.

Noel's grown from a snake to a full-fledged Serpent who isn't afraid to douse blessings on the people he wholly trusts and curses those who go against him, plain and simple. And if you don't think that the Machiavellian, Neutral Evil, and egoistic edge on a level like this is a twist worth a breath of fresh air against your stereotypical devilish character plot, then I don't know how to convince you so that antagonist-level protagonists can be ever written like this that can succeed, for the most part. The people that would join Noel's rebirthed party are also strong people whom he deems reliable for the long run, as much as the pursuit of the goal does hook the lines of people into his sinker, the likes of the twisted nature of silver-haired Alma Judikhail and the dark premise of the samurai that is Koga Tsukishima. The world and its people is Noel's oyster to seek, destroy, command, and conquer, and despite those who went before him in the act of betrayal and compassion to thereafter of the people marketing towards him that best aligns his interests, the trio goes wherever the story takes them...though novelist Jaki did take some liberties with the in-between plot of the before and after that sometimes just didn't quite match up. This ride overall, however, is quite the addiction to watch a domineering, independent character dictate the fate of the people around Noel just with the bat of his eye, with his brains over brawn.

Surprisingly, despite the average generic-ness of the overall production, the collab of Felix Film and Ga-Crew's quality certainly is quite up there, even if it's filled with inconsistencies across the board. I never once felt that the show's quality diminished over time (though it's telling in some areas), but for a revenge-filled fantasy story (or even pure fantasy stories in general), it's better than what you'd expect to see out of similar works like this.

The music works...I guess? Honestly, I felt more invested in the pumping story and character notes than everything else around it; it just feels like both production and sound were just foils for the main story to act and stretch to its liberty. Once again, I give props to Kohta Yamamoto for trying out Hiroyuki Sawano's artist collab rhetoric, but so far it just doesn't seem to work, at least not with last season's Maougun Saikyou no Majutsushi wa Ningen datta a.k.a The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord's Army Was a Human. Having Band-Maid's lead singer Saiki Atsumi for the OP and Aaaamyy for the ED, they are standout songs for contrasts, but in my opinion, soul-suckingly forgettable.

To have this show finally show why sometimes it's good to always have edge and yet deliver, this is a rare case that often always ends up being terrible due to how misconstrued authors have when trying to write and concoct edge on their own terms. What novelist Jaki has here is something that's not just for the shock factor, but a MC whose ideology, while contradictory at best, doesn't play favourites and knows what he's in for in the long run, looking ahead and not turning back.

And this is what makes edge works, not just for shock, but for the eventual impact as well. I'm surprised that this show is worth enjoying to watch, if you can stomach all of the negativity that's for intentional purposes.

TsumaSho a.k.a If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student. - The title alone sells the premise, but by the standards of the 2020s, it has become the misogyny to trigger even the tiniest of Karen-type fascists to force a name change...idiots.

As humans, the adage of "forgive and forget" is an often-quoted term that can be the bitch (or vain) that would not be suppressed in our system so quickly. Case in point, the loss of loved ones that family and friends can only get the news and be shell-shocked by the sudden loss that it could take days to weeks to move on, a ... story that we fickle humans must learn to accept no matter how hard the pain can be. Case in point (again): mangaka Yayu Murata's Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru a.k.a If My Wife Becomes an Elementary School Student, a title that since its release has been the subject of a litany of triggering people's Spidey senses to the point for just about every outlet to refer to it as the shortened Japanese nickname instead, just because of its "sexual" inference. But believe me, this drama-filled story is more nuanced once you get into the show firsthand, then dig into the manga for what the anime chose to omit for its limited runtime and come out feeling like an emotional trainwreck in totality.

It's not easy being given the news that a loved one has died due to a freak accident, and the family and/or friends having to grief like there's no tomorrow for what life is left to expect. This is the family of the Niijimas, of husband Keisuke, daughter Mai, and the dead wife/mother Takae, who's been killed in a car accident. For 10 years thereafter, both father and daughter having lived their lives on their own accord with a broken family that has gone with words not exchanged between the two (mostly on Keisuke's end), which without their beloved mother, the Niijimas' household descends and plunges into total darkness. That is until the appearance of an elementary school kid, who, chancing the gloominess of both Keisuke and Mai, barges straight to the Niijimas' door...to proclaim that she's a reincarnation of their mother, Takae. Of course, any sane person would dismiss this word outright, but the bizarre premise takes the twist to prove that despite being in a different body and having a different name, she is indeed Takae in every sense of the fact, knowing full well of every fibre of their being to attribute her motherly traits, remembering her past life, which reassures both Keisuke and Mai that their mother is "back." The fault of the matter, however complex it may look, is quite the simple construct that teaches a lesson about the fickleness of life.

If you're one to take in those emotional notes, this show will undoubtedly wreck you to the point of onion tears. Second chances don't come often in life, much less the anxiety of feeling grief and healing knowing the near-impossible of the supernatural of someone ACTUALLY being like Jesus Christ "rising on the 3rd day and living out the monumental years of the Saviour's life." It's both a blessing and a curse for the Niijimas acknowledging that Takae is back in another form, though it clearly puts a strain on the new identity that isn't Takae all at the same time. To have the elementary school kid of Marika Shiraishi "be enabled" with Takae's past memories intact, both Keisuke and Mai may not have believed that the impossible came true, but they clearly have to grapple with someone else who has their mother's identity, yet let her live like the person that has her soul being reincarnated from another. Reincarnation is the keyword here, and it'll change the dynamics of the Niijimas as they have to come to learn to "forgive and forget (or rather, move on)" that their mother, despite being in another body, will never come back to the face of the Earth again, as much as it has her loving kindness showing through the physique of the other. And this drama, despite being fictional, does have some sense of realism of the bonding of the Shiraishi family and the other characters that would come to understand where both Keisuke and Mai are coming from and help guide their path towards the future to reassure them that things would be alright even without Takae by their side, though it can be quite the ugly sight at times of human-natured tendencies to act impulsively and go out of order. It's just that dramatic, though sometimes to the degree of weird, and Yayu Murata certainly got what he wanted to tell out of this story on the right notes for a premise that's all about "living life to the fullest" and "life or death incarnate, till death do us part."

The obvious nitpick about the anime adaptation is largely the sum of many parts, other than the one aspect that does well. Story-wise, as a manga reader, I think that leaving the second half out of the anime certainly makes the show feel incomplete from the Average Joe's point of view, but I would take the first half over the second any day, as the other half goes into even more bizarre plot armour about Takae's reincarnation phase (and new characters that relate to her) that honestly would just not sit right having a sequel just to explain all of the shenanigans that would otherwise hamper the overall feeling of the anime as a whole. Think of this as the family drama version of Horimiya's compressed adaptation, and you're all set to go.

Being a Studio Signpost production, the show may not look as refined, but it honestly doesn't need to be one to get the story moving in animated form, and it's a decent, but admirable job done to simple satisfaction. Even the music is plentiful at times, though for a drama of this calibre, it has to be to hit its emotional notes at the right spots. And a great example of this is the contrast between Pachae's rather delightful OP and Ms. Ooja's melancholic ED, of which, just by song tastes alone, the ED is a cinch above the OP.

Despite being the complete-but-incomplete adaptation, though with the manga's rather childish nature when it comes to its art style, I'd suffice to say that the anime is the way to go if you're down for emotional but mature drama stories like Tsuma, Shougakusei ni Naru. if you need a cut from on all of the excessive Isekai/fantasy BS that the AniManga industry is heavily focusing on these days and leaving works like this in the dust. It may not be for everyone, but it's a substantial lesson worth noting of the fragility of life, its devastating effects, and the outcome of moving on to better things ahead.