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Oshi no Ko is a drama that dips the reader's toes into different aspects of the Japanese entertainment industry as we root for the main characters and their goals. Even though I don’t typically read manga, I began reading this upon learning that it was Akasaka's most recent work, as I wanted to support him after watching Love is War (and after seeing his amazing mustache mask). I greatly enjoyed Oshi no Ko, but I was also taken by surprise as I am not typically hooked by “idol” stories; it is a bit different though since it is not only about idols.

Firstly, OnK does a ... splendid job at being a very entertaining drama. After the first 5-10 chapters, I found myself always yearning for more, and that desire is never in vain as each chapter is just as exceptional as the last.

Secondly, the characters are well written and executed within the roles that they play. The main characters, Aqua and Ruby, have proper goals, and the story does not get sidetracked and instead set their goals to be pursued later on. Additionally, even though they were reincarnated, it does not feel like the person from their past life overshadows the current character at all; an uncommon experience within other stories that use a reincarnation mechanic. Aqua and Ruby truly feel like unique and independent characters.

On the topic of the supporting characters, they do not feel unnecessary like many supporting characters do in other stories. They do exactly what they are supposed to do, they support the progression of the story and the goals of the main character, directly and indirectly. There is also the case of Kana, who almost seems like a main character, as she checks most boxes within the expected criteria. Akane and Mem-cho fit more typical tropes, but still maintain their own unique individuality.

Finally, OnK does have some semblance of realism, whilst keeping some unrealistic characteristics to generate more suspense and to create opportunities for effective cliffhangers. There are qualms to be had with certain parts, specifically the fact that they do not find out who the other “is” over the course of 16 years, however every reader that’s invested in a story will find a few things that they dislike, so it is perfectly normal. Furthermore, it does give leeway for potential grand reveals and twists later on.

OnK is a fantastic read and I binged it last month in a day and half. The art (drawn by the marvelous Mengo Yokoyari) is stellar and captures a distinctive “softness/cuteness” to it, so it will be eye candy to some. I am enjoying this story to the point that I felt my brain pulling me to my computer to write a review, so that I can fully understand why I like it so. Therefore, I highly recommend reading Oshi no Ko as I can confidently say that most will enjoy it.

I usually try to have mercy on anime of mediocre quality, as I realize that it's quite hard to come up with a very fluid story that contains little to no flaws. I'd rather spare myself the unhappiness of focusing only on the cons, and try to focus on the pros as well. With no regrets, I'd say that Seirei Gensouki deserves a 5/10.

I gaze upon such a low score, and ask: Why is that? Well the answer is quite simple. The story pretty much has no direction.

The show started off fairly well, as the Rio (the main character) is Isekai'd to this new world ... as a poor orphan in the kingdom's slums. As he started to form relationships, climb the ranks, and gain more power and recognition, the story was truly beginning to develop.

Then all of a sudden, poof. He gets framed for a ridiculous reason, leaves the kingdom, and then embarks on a journey to where his parents are from, which was his original goal, or rather, the original goal of the body that he had begun to inhabit. Once he had completed his goal, there was just nothing else for him to do. The story relied on the pointless side characters that had been introduced previously to add new goals for him, but at that point, the new goals weren't even really "goals." It was just "filler" to give Rio things to do.

In addition, the pacing was quite horrendous. A two year time gap would be glossed over like nothing had happened, which puzzles me just a bit. I think we all know that two years is quite some time, so it just feels ludicrous to have such a long period of time hold almost no weight.

With all of that said, the world building was quite pleasing. It's easy to feel like you are part of the world as Rio traveled the land. From the fictitious magic and spirit art systems in place to the realistically historical kingdoms mirroring the olden days of Europe and Japan, the setting had developed quite nicely in only twelve episodes.

I enjoyed this anime as a casual anime, but it didn't stick out to me as much as I hoped it would. If you're looking to expand your knowledge of possible stories and ideas out there, I would recommend watching this as that was the main reason that I had decided to do so. If not, I don't really see much of a reason to, unless you'll just consume anything, no matter what it is.

This review is certainly going to be a hard one. Sitting down and writing this is definitely going to be a head-scratcher due to the mixed feelings of not only the community's view on this anime, but my own as well. However, let's move on ahead anyways.

I would like to preface this review stating that I plan to keep it short and simple based on my overall feelings, not a rating system towards different categories of enjoyment. I also think that it's quite important to note that this story is—to my understanding—the center of controversy because it is illegal for an adult to take ... in an underage person without a parent or guardian's consent, and is typically only legal with the transfer or acceptance of legal guardianship by a court. It's a clash between different types of human morals, which I say because these laws were clearly put into place because of logic and reason based on the things that bad people have done regarding this topic in the past. Either way, I think it's important to be able to distinguish reality and fiction, even though this story resides in a gray area closer to "realistic fiction." Please remember that this review is my personal opinion, and if you disagree with it, not to take it to heart.

Without further ado, "Higehiro" is a story about the relationship between a teenage runaway (Sayu) and an average salaryman living in Tokyo who decides to take her in (Yoshida). One night, as Yoshida is walking home drunk after he's been rejected by a girl that he is attracted to, he stumbles across Sayu sitting under a lamppost alone. Yoshida asks her why she's out so late, and that she should be home, and she responds telling him that she'll let him have sexual intercourse with him, which to her surprise he refuses but allows her to stay at his home for the night.

Throughout the story, their relationship becomes stronger and stronger as their platonic love for one another begins to shine. Living together as roommates, they get to know each other quite well, and even the delight that they get from living together as well as having someone that deeply cares about the other is something that makes their relationship truly special. It develops into more of a "guardian and minor" relationship, even though they actually both take care of one another instead of it being more of a one sided thing. Although the anime ends quite predictably, it certainly was a pleasure to watch. It's a short and sweet story that isn't afraid to discuss controversial topics, knowing it will get criticism from a lot of people.

Now yes, I could get nitpicky towards the lack of important character moments regarding people that are NOT the main characters, but that isn't necessary. In the case of "Higehiro," it didn't require overly important side characters. The role of the side characters in this anime were to help Yoshida and Sayu, as this anime was hyper-focused on the situation of Sayu being brought in by and living with Yoshida, and how Yoshida could help bring Sayu back to reality and help her face her past.

The main reason this anime received an overall score of 7 (or 7.4 with all the scores being averaged together), is because there were a lot of uncomfortable scenes—which is completely fine—that I kind of had to "push myself" through. If you watch this anime, you'll understand what I'm talking about (first scene of Episode 3 especially). Although the uncomfortable scenes made it score lower in my book, that's because those kinds of scenes aren't really "my style." They don't really hook my interest, they just make me feel uncomfortable, even though the highlight of this anime was that it wasn't afraid to show things like this. You can tell I'm on the fence about this topic.

Excluding the uncomfortable (yet, important) scenes, overall, this anime genuinely was worth the watch. Two lonely people being brought together in such an unconventional way to help fill the void that causes loneliness and to help one another improve as people overall is not only entertaining as they become closer and tease one another but also heartwarming to see unfold. I hold the utmost respect towards the author for having the courage to create a story containing many mature themes and bringing to light a possibility that could happen in this wide world of anime.

Watching this anime was something I did on a whim. I remember being bombarded by Crunchyroll Collection's video clips of "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro," thinking to myself about how "average" the anime looked. Not boring, just average. Just a couple of days ago, I saw it was finished airing and decided to give it a look. This has reminded me of the saying to "never judge a book by its cover," something I feel that I am constantly in need of being reminded.

At first glance, "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" seems to be an anime about your run-of-the-mill romance protagonist being bullied ... by a Tsundere, but it manages to be "something more" and stand out from the crowd.

"Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" is about a second year high school student named Hachioji (commonly referred to as Senpai by other characters) constantly being teased by a first year high school student named Nagatoro. Senpai is usually a pushover when it comes to being teased, so he is typically fine with it, which allows Nagatoro to continue her mischief. As the story progresses, they begin to get to know each other, learning about each other's hobbies, likes, dislikes, mannerisms, and personalities. Slowly but surely, they become more comfortable with one another, and Nagatoro directly and indirectly helps Senpai improve by helping him become more confident in himself, while being able to tease him. As this continues, they become good friends and start to develop a romantic interest in one another.

I'd consider this anime to be good because of how great the character development is, as this story is quite character-driven (the plot is used to develop the character/characters). Being a non-linear story in a skit-based format, it ends up resulting in most of the anime being dedicated to building up the relationship between Senpai and Nagatoro, neglecting most of the other characters. You'll notice that there are a lot of "quid pro quo" situations in the way the story was written, and even in the way it was animated, although sometimes sacrifices have to be made depending on what is more important pertaining to the story in the long run.

The relationship between the two is not only quite touching as they grow closer, but it's also very intriguing considering that the two main characters are arguably polar opposites in terms of personality. It's certainly a breath of fresh air to see such different people accentuate the best parts about the other, which is what compelled me to write this review. Bravo to the writer on the execution.

It was also nice to pick up on how well the character's designs reflect their personalities. Nagatoro is more of a popular, hyper, and carefree extrovert, wearing metal hair pins and ear cuffs, not caring if her uniform is see-through due to soaked clothes, etc. Her eyes are also full of energy and her face is full of expression, which just continues to further the notion that the little details in the character designs truly make the characters unique. On the other hand, Senpai is the complete opposite, being a nerdy, shy, introverted loner. His eyes are lacking energy and look rather dull, although his face is very expressive, similar to Nagatoro.

Now, to get one of the lesser things in terms of importance out of the way, the sound was fairly good. It complemented the situations well, and the soundtrack was pretty good for a skit-based anime. Don't get me wrong, sound is most definitely important. I don't want to come across as taking sound for granted, as I know if the show lacked sound, it would be quite dull. For example, the death stares from Nagatoro would quickly become awkward without any kind of sound/music to accompany the situation.

In terms of art, the animation is crisp. It's quite apparent that the animators sucked detail from unimportant characters to help allocate said detail to the pivotal characters. An example of this is how the unimportant characters LACK EYES, which was creepy yet hilarious the first few times, but this has been done in other works so it's understandable. The art is certainly better than a lot of other anime, so it definitely deserves some praise.

This was an anime I certainly did not expect to write a review on, but I always believe that credit should be given where credit is due. Nagatoro definitely deserves credit for its excellence in standing out from other anime in its minor ways that slowly become more noticeable towards the end.

I recommend "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" for anyone looking for a funny and naturally pleasant love story that takes a bit of a different route from other anime in its genre.

To be quite frank, I'm not the type to write a review on an anime/manga/light novel/all of the above, although something about this short anime film pushed me to make an effort to explain my feelings and thought process regarding it.

At first glance, the art in this film is phenomenal. CoMix Wave Films does an outstanding job bringing Makoto Shinkai's ideas on the big screen to fruition—bringing the whole world to life, even if the story's job was to convey a short yet important message to the audience.

The story is about a 15 year old school boy named Takao Akizuki and a 27 year old ... woman named Yukari Yukino who are both feeling alienated, so they sit down at an azumaya (traditional arbour or summer pavilion) in a relaxing garden on rainy days. This place is a safe place of sorts for the two, as they use it as a place to escape from life and just talk with one another. Both being extremely lonely, they develop a bond with one another and slowly but surely, they lift each other up.

Akizuki finds it hard to connect with others because he doesn't have the same interests as others, and they would typically ridicule him or show lack of interest in what he has to say, leading to the feeling of loneliness and isolation for him. Yukino feels alone because of the jealousy and hatred that she received from her students, and her boyfriend refused to do anything about it because he believed that it was better for her to deal with it herself. They both skipped school/work for these reasons, because they felt alienated and felt more comfortable in the azumaya in the park, where they could talk with one another and be happy.

Their time with one another helped them start to pick their lives back up again after their shared slumps and overall feelings of lonely sadness. Yukino expressed the time in the park with Akizuki as "helping her be able to walk again."

This story uses shoes as a metaphor for life, and it spoke to me because I can relate with this feeling called "lonely sadness." It helped me realize that this is a feeling that people have felt before, and that it is just as painful for anyone else. I never looked the concept of "lonely sadness" very deeply, but watching this fantastic film helped me realize and pinpoint what the void in my life was, which has really opened up my eyes for the future.

Even though the characters weren't extremely fleshed out, I don't think it would have been necessary for them to be that way in the first place. I feel that not every main character has to be a character that you have to know from every angle, but sometimes all that is needed is a character with values and feelings that help get the point across. It's a short film running at only 46 minutes, but it has an important theme in it that can be easily glanced over if you don't thoroughly explore it.