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Jun 24, 2025
“Let me cut right to the chase…you’re not actual siblings.”
Just from this line alone, you should know exactly what type of anime you’re getting into. Pick right here and now if this is worth your time.
This entire thing is…comically incoherent. Something about multiple characters with completely different hair and eye colors being shell-shocked at not being blood-related. Something about the siblings’ dynamics completely changing at the mention of 4 words, going from familial and platonic to romantic and intimate in the span of weeks if not days. Something about a character that lived 15 years of their life as siblings saying “We siblings could
...
get married now, I guess?” or another character remarking how all of her other sisters are now “rivals” in her pursuit of love for the brother.
You’ll come to an epiphany very quickly that either every character needs group therapy or the author of this work is a tool. Then you discover that it’s BOTH. Guess who’s truly the one in control? Reiji Miyajima, the author of the infamous Rent-A-Girlfriend. The Shiunji Family Children is a mess you’ll either indulge in the nonsense of or long to pull all your hair out at it.
Yes, it’s another incesty show that makes you deeply concerned remembering Japan’s deep history with inbreeding. This time, it’s an incest taboo romance harem series “without the incest”, but I still felt some intrigue brewing. See, the series wants to focus on the subject of a group’s family worldview changing overnight; it actually wants to make conversations happen. How would siblings feel about living 15 years as family only to learn it was all a lie? If you learned your family was adopted, what topics would you expect? “What about my real parents? What happened to my relatives from before? Am we all really family?” Maybe there are identity issues and feelings of detachment. Look, you can do a lot with a premise like this: build heartfelt development, dive into emotions and conflicting perspectives around the family dynamic, get into the character of these different girls, and bring bits of dumb fun along the way as despite the changes, their bonds for each other grows. Hell, maybe even a romance can bloom.
Rather than any thoughtful conversation and perspective that may be engaging, there’s one main conclusion: The siblings can now freely fall in love. That’s the entire show’s thesis. It defaults to being another seasonal slop RomCom Harem. There is no difference in identity or reaction. Every unique family conversation is rushed or skipped over. Everyone and everything falls just in place for the “Sibling” Harem to flourish, and it becomes boring, repetitive and unfulfilling fast.
Let’s focus on the brothers first. First, there’s Arata, our main character and older brother. Arata is a breath of fresh air from Reiji’s previous cuckold r/incels protagonist. He actually has responsibilities, hobbies, and character outside of getting his willy wonked. However, the audience quickly identifies him as a harem everyman pulling a weird case of “having the most incoherent personality possible by doing things he never signified any interest in before“. Once “not-blood related” gets announced, he’s too busy going “damn my sis really is hot OIJSIOFWJIOEFIJOWE WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT MY SISTER LIKE THAT?!” to have any sort of identity or character growth. His sister will appear and the camera will focus on their bodies while he thinks about how they're attractive, something he never did or even entertained before. He'll then say a cool line to make his sisters blush. Arata doesn’t exist as a character. He exists as a device for the viewer to insert themselves into and admire the girls’ bodies every single episode. And it happens. Every. Single. Episode.
Then there’s the younger brother, Shion. You’ll be surprised to see he actually doesn’t look or act like a walking caricature. However, be warned. His role solely exists to mask the series’ harem premise. You may think that there’s a potentially complex situation that could occur in which both brothers confront relationships of the family, each having their different personal ideals and stories with the sisters. TOO BAD! That would actually make the story interesting! Shion is barely involved in the story dilemma and is immediately established to be the “push Arata toward his sisters” character. Also don’t worry! For whatever reason, NONE of the sisters are into him. They’re ONLY into the older brother. Hell, give Shion a girlfriend that never appears in the story! Just for safety measure! We can’t have another instance of fan cucking in a Reiji Miyajima work!
Then, there are the tropes, love interests, or sisters. They do have good-looking designs, but every single girl boils down to a one-word romcom harem archetype. Look, dumb harem tropes can be fun and work for some dudes, but the tropes are so poorly handled once you see the following background: they’ve lived as siblings for 15 years. They then immediately go against any behavior that was set up before to fall for the brother’s bone. All of their identities revolve around Arata.
Banri, the caring onee-san starts with the “a brother and a sister together…hmm♡♡” teasing gimmick shortly after “not blood-related” gets announced, and Arata’s shocked and flustered reactions hint as if she didn’t pull bits like this before in the 15 years they lived as siblings. Ouka, the tsundere and “twin that’s on a similar wavelength as Arata” *EXTREMELY_LOUD_INCORRECT_BUZZER.mp3* immediately has a cumbersome and awkward dynamic with Arata once “not-blood-related” gets announced, becoming increasingly irrational and agitating as the story progresses. What a twin, am I right? The tomboy Minami…exists. Any solid sibling dynamic or character story is malleable to further the harem premise.
I could rant about Kodomo’s character role all day. The shy girl Kodomo actually has potential. She's the “baby sibling” nobody takes seriously. Everyone tells her “you’re still young” as if she isn’t a measly 3-4 years younger than the oldest sister (18) and the same age (15) as 2 other characters. You may be thinking "wait, a wide family subject around not being taken seriously in arbitrary familial structures? This could be great character writing!" The series will completely bomb it because it only exists for MORE INCEST!!!!!
Kodomo’s a different beast than the other girls; she already confessed her love for Arata before even knowing they weren’t blood-related and paved the path of incest. The series will have scenes hint at diving into another topic of confusing familial attraction with romantic love…and the characters do nothing with it afterward. They, instead, let her feelings fester and explode to the point she views her own sisters as rivals. Nobody talks or communicates in this show like an actual sibling, let alone an actual person.
However, the most confusing girl of this series has to be Seiha. Seiha’s the typical “smart girl” trope. Rather than any character growth or development, her little screentime is dedicated to 2 things: 1) fanservice and 2) confronting the subject of incest in a serious manner. Rather than any focus on family and psychology, she focuses on incest. With REAL LIFE ARGUMENTS. She pulls up Japanese Civil Codes, Biological theory, aversion to familial scents, heart-rate experiments, and even the fact that marriage between cousins isn’t unheard of (completely ignoring how its prevalence is decreasing). So because they’re not biologically related, by her own words, “it’s certainly possible for us to have sexual relations.”
Seiha is less a character and more a cute girl to communicate the writer’s confirmation bias around the taboo of incest to explain why people who’ve grown up as siblings could reasonably start seeing each other as bed partners once by Seiha’s words “the word Incest is removed”. I’m not even kidding, this is the series’ crutch. Its magnum opus. If we’re going to actually apply REAL LIFE ARGUMENTS to this dumb fictional fantasy and make people turn on their brains, then we’ll use REAL LIFE ARGUMENTS to ruin this dumb fictional fantasy: the Westermarck Effect. Just search up the Westermarck Effect and you’ll figure out how “aversion to familial scents” was independent of genetic relatedness. Therefore, the life you lived and these behaviors noted are hardwired in biology, psychology, and social learning as “incest”. Removing the blood wouldn’t immediately make people start seeing their “brother” or “sister” as a subject for love and sex. The entire setup of 5 different sisters falling in love with one brother is so statistically impossible it’s not even worth arguing for, but hey, it's fiction. So in the world of fiction in which people turn off their brains for dumb fun fantasy, why have a character go “when you actually turn on your brain and think about it in real life Japan” while drastically failing in the process? For the few times she exists in the story, Seiha sounds like a “150 IQ” redditor trying to figure out an online argument on something inherently wrong. Her experiments only go the direction of “incest” because the author makes them work. The shitty harem setup is actually based in possible reality! The cute smart girl said so! (she’s wrong btw)
The Shiunji Family aren’t siblings; not just in a blood-related sense or a loving sense, but in a “the author doesn’t know how to write an actual family dynamic to save his life” sense. The dialogue is painful. The siblings act like they’re in a school friend group rather than a close family. They talk like they’re implanted with memories given to them by the writer rather than actual individuals with a long background. If you took a shot every time a character hit another over the head with “we’ve bonded as siblings for 15 years”, you’d still be less drunk than the producers that greenlit this show. The series constantly has to remind you that they’ve lived their whole lives as siblings because it can’t write actual congruent characters interacting with familial chemistry. It’s like the series wanted to add the taboo to a harem without actually creating the atmosphere needed for such a setup to be believable. It’s just a bunch of different fodder characters that coexist in the same house.
This is yet another “pick your waifu” series, but it actually wants to be something more. It hints at wanting to have characters address dilemmas and ideas, but it bombs the topics and never actually commits to anything due to being too harem-focused. It never challenge itself or have characters challenge each other. The story arcs the characters have only serve to further the incest. The story events drive at a snail’s pace and is all over the pace. The comedy is lame and cookie-cutter so it’s not even funny. It toes the lines on the taboo while doing barebones to be different. But the worst part out of ALL of this, is that it’s boring. Other than girls for a waifu-loving audience, production value, and "not being Rent-A-Girlfriend", this series really has nothing going for it.
But yeah, shoutout to the production value. Doga Kobo is an enigma to me. Whether the anime’s a big blockbuster or another mere seasonal, this studio's passion shines through and they WILL make it look good. While the animation in this show isn’t as fluent as others before, it still looks really good. The OPs and EDs are accompanied with a well-directed OST, and the voice talent give it their all, especially for the girls. It creates some rather emotional moments that make you forget you’re watching 3/10 story and characters, which is why the anime score is a 4.5. But good production can’t save a shitty story, shitty characters. or sibling dynamics in romance anime. Regardless, they will make that shit look like a 5-star cuisine freshly cooked by Gordon Ramsey as he reminds you you’re nothing more than an idiot sandwich.
Second, things actually happen. While scenes do move slow, romance actually develops. I know, the bar is in hell, but Rent-A-Girlfriend had viewers in perpetual hell over 380 chapters of nothing moving forward. Moments are made in Shiunji Family Children. *Sheds tear* it’s breathtaking, and all it took was adding...incest.
So as I’m finishing up this review, I’m thinking about why when the “not blood-related” bomb was dropped, the entire thing felt so comical, especially with all the differing character designs. Why did their family dynamics immediately feel so malleable? Why did nobody act like a sibling? Then I remember the scene where the Dad revealed to all the siblings the big reveal:
“You’re not actual siblings.”
From a parent, you would expect a statement like “you all are adopted but we’re all still one big family” or even “even if you aren't my real children, I still love you as my own”. Why wasn't the focus on the entire family, but instead on not being siblings? Then it began to hit me. Once the word incest was removed, “We siblings could get married now, I guess?”
I feel a gun placed at the back of my head. As I look back to this anime’s world, the phrase “We siblings could get married now, I guess?” repeats over and over in my mind like an endless bell toll. This was all my fault, and I should have escaped from the start.
“Wait, it’s all trashy incest?” I cry out.
“Always has been.” Reiji Miyajima declares, before finally pulling the trigger.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 30, 2024
"Screw it. I'd rather be a scumbag than have regrets."
This one quote is but a symptom of Mushoku Tensei's true colors. A poorly conceived and erratically-focused power fantasy masquerading as some greater isekai story.
Mushoku Tensei's anime has been praised by many fans for different reasons: its worldbuilding, its down-to-earth writing, its music composition, wonderful visuals, and its characters. Most notably, you'll even hear defenses for this series: it's an anime about a flawed man overcoming faults and achieving redemption in a different world. Rudeus, a creepy degenerate, is not perfect for a reason.
However, it has been apparent to others that Mushoku Tensei isn't a
...
well-built together isekai plot, but rather, a creepy degenerate fantasy where the "game is the game". An unfortunately shallow worldbuilding with uninspiring depiction, plot contrivances to give Rudeus perfect opportunities without much challenge, and a questionable depiction of personal agency, especially surrounding women and children. To compensate for the MC being a leech and the second coming of epst*in, other people are that much degenerate and stupid if not even more. Perversion is everywhere, SA is a measly off-comment remark, and degeneracy is the norm.
Fans will say “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it” but that’s missing the point. Any piece of media can/will be received and responded to by audiences. Some viewers will go into further works they don’t necessarily like with an open mind. There’s a reason media can “shift expectations.” Media can challenge your views, and that’s why media is powerful.
So how does this season fair with previous iterations?
Even worse.
Not only does it fail to “challenge your views”, but it also fails to write cohesive situations that can only be excused with "it's a fantasy". Choices in writing and production fall apart; this anime season, especially the later half, is an egregious storytelling of rushed problems, incomprehensible developments, and poorly handled traumas before setting up a complete character assassination plotline for many of those loved ones.
Rudeus is…controversial to put it lightly. You have heard enough about his issues from other negative reviews. However, the first half of part 2 continues his path to achieve the good life and grow. Growing into a family man and overcoming his past faults for others made some actually like Rudeus's character for a moment (which is saying something). Other characters get some good arcs, such as Norn and Paul. Sylphie…is a character in the series "Mushoku Tensei".
Composition-wise, the music remains strong, and while animation quality has taken a bit of a decline, parts that need stellar animation (e.g. ep 10's fight scene and ep 12's argument scene) are on point. While many fans may complain about the drop in animation quality, Directors still manage to create a show with component alignment. Voice Actors remain giving their heart and soul and a wonderful performance when the time comes for them.
However, all of my praises end here.
This is a point specifically from LN readers, not from me. The anime adaptation skips several conversations and chapters. Now, it’s not unfamiliar for anime to do this. To fit its restricted runtime, budget, and story points, it has to set constraints and cut material. This is just a symptom of making anime. As an anime-only fan, many sightings of potential cuts become noticeable. Big developments are missing reactions from other characters, and arcs are rushed to set off new events. An episode supposedly has a very important conversation cut, and its cut makes the act look even more reprehensible (we’ll get to “that moment” later). Even as a solely anime watcher, you’ll notice rushed developments without the needed downtime.
However, before you say “Y’all should just read the LN already” to anime watchers, keep in mind that these are views of the anime’s work, not the light novel. If you wish to discuss comparisons to the light novel or complain about specific scenes missing, discuss it in those forums. I've seen enough “this is why I hate anime-only fans!” posts during this series airing. LN readers are allowed to feel upset, but fans have gotta stop plastering spoilers or attacking anime-only watchers just because there is disappointment surrounding this season. Be critical, not a d***.
However, this iteration is still a disappointment overall, and it’s not just because of “adaptation no good”. The first half is still actively uneventful, and good arcs become sparse in a slow-running lagoon. In the second half, the plot and the people surrounding the plot take a turn for the worse without proper development for such setups. The most egregious of these (the streets won’t fu- with this one) has to involve Roxy.
Do you like her characterization? Too bad! It becomes just as shallow as Rudeus's brain. Many aspects of her goals along many years of living and her 7-year journey get nullified, and she becomes nothing more than another girl accompanying Rudeus…who she feels flustered by now that he’s older! Plot Twist! Conveniently ignoring how Roxy is 50 and knew/taught Rudeus when he was 5 years old (Yes...I know Migurd age far differently and Rudy is mentally 50. Let me joke and talk my s*** again), she is no longer her own character with her own goals, but rather, just another one of Rudeus’s girl companions. This is all haphazardly thrown together over a mere 20 minutes of anime runtime and is far more poorly developed than previous interests, especially on both ends.
But it gets far worse. Through one specific plotline, several other plot points become rushed and ideas fall apart. Viewers will either defend this girl with their lives or despise everyone (including her) for the illogical turn of events; as you can guess, I’m in the latter camp. You don’t need a ragebait video to understand how some viewers, including some established fans, were upset by the later arc of season 2 part 2. To put it simply, it’s a slap to the face of one’s intelligence.
*POTENTIAL SLIGHT “SPOILERS”*. Not specific, but read at your own risk*
Episodes 9-12 (especially episode 11) are a misaligned mess. Major plot events and aftermaths are ill-conceived and are merely situational for the sake of being situational. Such events that should be utterly story-shaking are moved on from quickly and become nothing more than devices for misplaced subplots that don't have enough development to be feasible. And the BIG "dilemma" loses the plot as it doesn’t know where its lead should focus. Events are illogical and make characters, especially Roxy, look utterly disgusting in context. People wouldn't defend those involved while criticizing past characters if these current events weren't portrayed in the story as the more "attractive" archetypes and outcome(s). This "dilemma" act also ends up completely undermining big story-shaking events in previous episodes as the dilemma is the means for resolution. Those effects are nothing more than a mere afterthought in the heat of something degenerate.
But don’t worry. Just like in previous seasons, the anime’s “morals system” will try to validate its degeneracy once again. This time around though, the anime becomes just as hypocritical as Rudeus. Do you know how other girls called out other guys for specific perversion in season 1 (while not factoring in different religious beliefs)? Don't worry, your fictional waifus WILL accept your perversion! Rather than tackle these problems head-on, others will actively reward and excuse your actions when others in the past have been vindicted. The one who vocally hated a character for their past acts of degeneracy will actually RATIONALIZE the consequences of that character's actions if you're factored in. This MC's previous sense of morality? INVALID! Their original efforts to grow family-wise?! POINTLESS! MORALS ARE DIFFERENT HERE! Let’s just conveniently ignore how other characters were previously hounded for their lack of morality from multiple angles (season 1 for instance. Not just from one party's religion), and how this entire subplot STILL undermines big events from a prior episode. A character's acts to be better than past errors? You forgot this was a NEET's power fantasy where indulgence is best.
Interesting debates and controversial views, especially those surrounding certain relationships, become nullified by a rush of flows, a lack of upfront communication between everyone, and an active inconsistency with tone. “This dilemma” isn’t bad because it’s controversial. Controversial media can challenge our world’s views on “morals”. It can set up believable scenarios with understandable roots where even “the moral police” has to see a different perspective. The fact that many fans can still see Paul as a well-written character (not person) is proof of this idea. Unfortunately, if it fails to be well-put-together controversial with consistent challenges, then it becomes nothing more than wish fulfillment. Mushoku Tensei rushes so hard into creating and indulging in “the dilemma” to get its way. This doesn’t help with an utter inconsistency when addressing this subject and an unfortunate degradation of characters along the way. It can't even challenge itself without portraying those challenging its ideas as guilty or insensitive as possible.
Treat it like a cake that was “not like the other cakes”. It's gonna be sold and promoted for its unique style, but it'll still be criticized regarding a correct mix of ingredients and cooking time. The cake being poorly made isn't validated by its differences or challenges. You can gas it up like "the store-bought cake enjoyers ain't finna like this one!", but it'll still be judged for its final taste. Mushoku Tensei continues to leave a bad taste in your mouth while claiming it's something deep, challenging, and thought-provoking. It is still that uninspiring male fantasy masquerading under a big isekai story. Rudeus having the cake and eating it too is a pretty effective way to negate any sort of past efforts he made.
But it's not supposed to make sense. It's supposed to be a fantasy for NEETs. Rudeus is their self-insert, he’s amazing af, and the waifus run a faucet for him. This season makes it very clear of that. I better see a harem tag on Season 3.
*POTENTIAL SLIGHTLY SPOILERS OVER*
I've never been able to favor Mushoku Tensei. However, I've continued this series with an open mind like a “critic” should. Despite having vast issues with its flaws, many developments from previous iterations left me intrigued. This series does have good moments, especially production-wise. I have to give so much credit to directors, voice actors, animators, and compositors. Of course, I have to respect Rifujin's original hard work. However, this season's final developments, not just with Rudeus's Parents but also with Roxy and Sylphie, become an insult to everything that was teased before about Rudeus's "growth". It will continue to be wish-fulfillment degeneracy. Rudeus is still that pest fans will either support or desire to ram into a wall.
I've had friends say to me that the degenerative aspects that I despised were all en route for an interesting redemption story with great plot development and intriguing worldbuilding. But then, after so many attempts and compromises Rudeus made to grow as a person, he drops this line:
"Screw it. I'd rather be a scumbag than have regrets."
It is, and will always be, just that idealized male fantasy other critics perceived it to be. A hikikomori, family leech, and literal pedophile reincarnates into a poorly built fantasy world getting all types of looks, powers, benefits, and girl companions for free. Any sort of roadblock or tragic event is quickly moved on from and nothing but a directive to set up another otaku fantasy (usually sexual or romantic). Potentially interesting worldbuilding takes a backseat when "needed". Everything typically horrible in real life is simply "not that big of a deal in this world" so Rudeus can look better narratively as other characters look worse. Women have no sense of agency in the presence of our master. He can be celebrated, put on a pedestal, and prance around that he is a better person now than before, but that doesn't change that at his core, he will always be a degenerate pest. Now, he is just a hypocritical one that this new world validates.
Despite having solid art and animation, a wonderful music composition, sparse solid characters, and moments that show something special underneath, Mushoku Tensei remains nothing more than uninspiring storytelling with trashy direction. Many plot points and character situations remain actively unexplored or rushed and will continue being unexplored and rushed. Good writing and worldbuilding are not a focus when the “game is the game” and you gotta “catch ‘em all”, right?
Perhaps I’m just tired. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. If I continue with this series, I’ll probably fall into a state of trauma.
And I doubt sex is the perfect means to make it better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 22, 2024
"You know, jellyfish can't swim or shine on their own, but once they absorb light from around them, they're able to shine for themselves! So maybe...I can, too! If I'm around you, maybe I'll be able to shine, too?"
Social media has taken over the world and people have embraced this new identity. To be honest, I've been waiting to see an anime effectively dive into this trendy subject and the deep process of creating content (music, animation, streaming) for a virtual online brand. YoruKura was that anime for many fans, a "new-gen" story with big ambitions, and it manages to shine.
For the first 2/3 of
...
the show.
However, with a mere 12 episodes of runtime, YoruKura is far too ambitious for its own good and leaves fans with a lackluster taste in their mouth.
Let's get the positive out first. The *first half* of YoruKaru is utterly fascinating.
Yorukaru overcomes its initial hurdle of being an original anime with A POWERFUL first impression, art and visuals that tear at your heartstrings, intriguing characters that actually feel like cohesive characters and not "moe" archetypes, and an actively trending subject. YoruKura seemed to understand what actually goes into this type of work and making it interesting for general audiences. Moreover, you see the results of the group's hard work in several of the series' endings that just look perfectly entwined. Seeing their process episode-by-episode had me on the edge of my seat.
All of the characters find a way to work together with great chemistry, develop their relationships, overcome their faults, and grow not just as people, but as artists. Their first arcs are all amazingly executed and their conflicts are a big factor to their group's success. Personally, I love Kiui Watase and how her connection between VTuber Identity and IRL Identity were done, but fans can relate to all 4 of these girl's dilemmas. The character bonds and personalities are what helped pull the story together and produce amazing works alongside the other 2 girls as JELEE.
And for those, Yuri fans out there, you're sort of in luck. This isn’t a show that "baits" their audiences with one-off Yuri-bait interactions (I'm talking about you Hibike Euphonium). There's actually good development there for a fun ride.
Of course, much credit to production. Unsurprisingly, an anime from Doga Kobo looked, sounded, and executed this well. Visuals and colors are utterly beautiful. While I was initially hesitant of Ryohei Takeshita, the Director of frickin' Eromanga Sensei, being YoruKura's main director, there isn't anything too weird other than a few odd camera angles (worst case: in the same episode a character complains about people gazing at her body, there's a camera shot on her butt 9 minutes earlier. Comedy doesn't come this naturally). Moreover, many scenes are amazingly done by the voice actors. They hit DIFFERENT. A lot of this show's direction, scripting, and production was solid.
In the middle of the season, YoruKura had many YouTubers and forum members calling it the underrated "anime of the season." A genuinely great surprise and the arguable favorite of the season. I had given this series a 9 at first too.
However, that rating has since dropped for many fans, including myself.
While YoruKura is still a great experience, many will be left with mixed feelings, and it has to do with how this series ends.
Ironically, the final part of Yorukura end up like "Jellyfish in the night" and struggles to swim on its own. A set of narrative decisions from its writing team halts everything that made the series great. In the span of just 1-2 episodes, YoruKura shifts from a step-by-step journey toward creating music and striving toward stardom into rushing new ideas, deriving character motives, and a final melodrama that leaves a weird taste in your mouth.
This isn't to say drama doesn't work in YoruKura. Each character has their own personal drama: conflicts and issues they have to overcome throughout the series. However, these were settled episode by episode and were able to entwine with YoruKura's main thesis (4 girls coming together to produce music under JELEE) quite well. However, the final drama (without spoiling of course) fails to hone in on that show's thesis, ultimately rushes many different contrived developments, and instead directs away from the show's overarching message.
And it's hard to recommend an anime with a "bad ending."
Animes with "bad endings" aren't that uncommon. Attack on Titan, Charlotte, and (my personal vendetta) Wonder Egg Priority easily come to mind. Series with amazing openings and concepts that have weak or utterly disappointing final arcs. You'll always see countless people say "Did the anime switch writers or something?", but in reality, some shows just don't know how to end well. Either 1) production experiences several issues, 2) a writer has a great concept but doesn't know how to wrap it up properly, or 3) a team has too many ideas and not enough time or episodes to give each idea grace.
While nowhere as egregious as say Wonder Egg Priority's fall, YoruKura does leave many fans with a lackluster afterthought. This falls into reason 3, wanting to execute too much with far too little time. The series, as a whole, wanted to do a lot more than its runtime of 12 episodes.
With too little time, you have 2 decisions: 1) Limit the ideas and plant the "seeds" in case of a further retelling/season 2, or 2) try and tighten the script to fit multiple arcs and ideas into one cohesive story. YoruKura probably knew a season 2 wasn't likely happening, and thus goes for option 2. However, it fails to tighten everything into the story's cohesive message.
Without spoiling the events, episode 9 completely changes the story and its tone, and the production team is now tasked with just 3-4 episodes to create, redeem, and simultaneously wrap up angsty melodramatic conflicts that were far from YoruKura's initial direction. It rushes through countless developments and redemptions that were unneeded for the story's headlining message of being able to shine. Audiences were first heavily judgy? All of a sudden they're accepting and gassing stuff up! Everything either falls perfectly into place or goes under wraps to get every idea crammed into a 4x4 box.
Some characters remain strong, others become utter shells of themselves as they are rushed into unrealistic situations, and others just...don't work for me. The most egregious of this has to be with Kano's past idol group. I cannot understand how this series wants to characterize them. Yukine Hayakawa, Kano's mom and the producer of Kano's past idol group, for example. One second she's portrayed as the selfish idealistic who only cares about her dream rather than being a mother; the next she's portrayed as being heavily considerate, making a final decision that makes not much financial sense from her position as an idol group producer. Mero Setou, the idol group's lead idol, is even more egregious as while her presence goes up (she played a major role in a past conflict), she doesn't have enough connection for a viewer to care about her. It very much seems they wanted an arc surrounding this group, how it connected to Kano's past, and evolving them. However, again YoruKura doesn't have the time. This period halted not just JELEE's process, but the anime's as a whole before the anime subsequently ends.
YoruKura is ultimately a strong anime. Beautiful visuals, amazing characters, great sound and music direction, light-hearted comedy balanced with interesting conflict and goals, wonderful music developments, and a message that worked so well at the start: shining for oneself in a deep sea and being able to swim. However, the last arc ends up losing the show's mojo with a haphazard conclusion. Could all of these fit together with better directing? Could earlier ideas have been cut to fit this arc? Could this final arc have been entirely reworked? I don't know. While the start is absolutely deserving of praise and will be given praise, the decision surrounding the final moments sucks audiences out of a show with wonderful energy, leaving it rather unclear.
*EDIT*
In actuality, you can really start seeing signs of a "downfall" after episode 6. Episode 7 introduces a new character to be important, but their complete lack of involvement in later events and character arcs makes their role rather pointless. Episode 8 also introduces a dilemma that could have many character perspectives to dive into, but it completely rushes its development to set up the story's final arc. The signs were there of too many ideas being rushed or unexplored. It just became far more evident near the end.
*EDIT OVER*
A show with very high potential and great tricks but didn't stick the landing. If you told me how a jellyfish willingly shut off the light and not swim on its own, everyone in the room would shout "YoruKura!". It would have enough presence and members to fill the Tokyo Dome.
Final score: 6.2/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 16, 2024
From the same studio that brought you "I Cheated on my Wife in a Fantasy World?!", Isekai Onsen Paradise is a show that despite taking less than an hour to watch feels like an utter waste of time.
A guy from another world gets isekai'd, but what's the gimmick? He desires to spread his love of hot springs to the new world! It's a hot spring anime accompanied by fantasy girls or whatever! He accomplishes this deep dream of his...by sitting in the exact same spot for 7 straight episodes.
I am not joking. This series is a slog.
Despite being a 4 minute per episode anime
...
(with an opening that takes a full minute leaving you with 3 minutes of content) the series moves at a snail's pace. When one development appears and a few conversations go underway, the episode ends before you can even digest the little bit that occurred. Nothing happens in multiple episodes straight besides lackluster character hijinks, a poorly animated fight scene, joke attempts, bits of onsen trivia, the catchphrase "take off your clothes and get naked!" when a new character appears, and bare boobs. A lot of short-frame shows usually move at rocket-level speeds to get through a chapter's events, yet IseOnsen is like my grandpa driving on our country road. After a while, you realize "Wait we haven't moved at all in the last 20 minutes." Such a road doesn't feel relaxing but duller despite IseOnsen being a "relaxation anime".
Don't expect too much good comedy with that little runtime either. While there are like 1-2 nice jokes in the entire show, it's nothing special. The funniest thing about this series, however, is how on release, episodes 1 and 2 were fully uncensored. However, episode 3 had the series pick up a sponsor, and moving forward the series was censored. I am not whining about being unable to see anime boobs, but there is some hilarious irony about an anime's one-liner being "Take off your clothes and get naked!" while covering up after money calls.
Despite being an ecchi, the most ecchi you're getting is bare boobs and a few jokes. Personally couldn't care less, but if you expect and want something more "exciting", "devious" or "heart-pounding", then you might as well suit your fancy to "other" anime on other streaming websites. Those with an "h" attached to them.
However, compared to its studio's other counterpart, IseOnsen is nothing offensively dreadful or irritating. It's just nothing special. Characters? Undeveloped archetypes or definably by one-word sentences. The acting? Rather lackluster except for 1 scene. The animation? As minimal as possible. Sound? Nice onsen sounds, but the music leaves nothing to be desired. The one positive I can give IseOnsen is how the main fox girl has some amusing moments, but otherwise, it earned its rating for a reason. It's rather hard to enjoy.
I decided to watch this series and write a review all while cooking something that required around an hour of oven time. The thing is still cooking and I am left feeling that unfulfilled. Despite finishing all that in an hour, time passed even slower than expected, and you definitely should've spent time on something far better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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