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Oct 31, 2023
Detroit Metal City was a neat experience. Can't really use any other description that will live up to that 8.10 MAL score. I thought that Detroit Metal City was funny at times, but having a score that high is funnier than the show itself. By the way, I might be switching back and forth between "Detroit Metal City" and "DMC" throughout this review. If I'm referring to the anime itself, I'll say "Detroit Metal City." If I'm referring to the band, I'll say "DMC."
Souichi, our main character, is a sweet young man. I'm assuming he's in his early twenties based on context clues. He moves
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away to Tokyo to achieve his dreams of becoming a musical sensation. He will take the world by storm for his love of Swedish pop music. However, that doesn't happen at all. Instead, he goes to the wrong music producer, and his musical career takes a 180. He becomes Krauser II. Destroyer of worlds and murderer of parents. He's done all the drugs, fucked all of the holes, and chucked every CRT out of every hotel window. There's also Jagi, the bassist for DMC. And Camus, the drummer. I'm sure there is someone out there who legitimately cares for these characters. I'm not one of them. They do, however, have their fair share of funny moments. Jagi is a playboy, constantly hitting on women. And Camus is a weird, perverted freak who mumbles his words. They're only like this in their personal lives.
Detroit Metal City heavily relies on crass and vulgar humor. I've noticed in more recent years that some people label Detroit Metal City's sense of humor to be offensive. Some see that as a positive thing, and some don't. Some of these people can't handle certain words being said out loud. Despite the fact that words have no real power unless you give them power. Words and language are completely made up and mean nothing unless you give them meaning. The reason why the word "Fuck" is considered to be such a bad and taboo word is because we made it that way. In reality, it has no real meaning and was made up by some douche who is probably dead. Or it probably originates from some Germanic word that I'm not aware of. I mention all of this because some people have a problem with Krauser's "Ten Vocialized Rapes in One Second." Essentially his signature. And a bunch of other bizarre rape jokes spread throughout the series. They're not that funny, but they don't bother me either. Characters also say "Fuck" a lot, and that's the punchline. Usually a joke in Detroit Metal City boils down to a character overusing the word "Fuck." That's all. Who cares. This especially applies to the final episode, and the manager of the band. She doesn't have a name, by the way. They just call her "Manager" or "President" and nothing else. Or maybe she does have a name and I already forgot it. And sorry about my unusual take on language. That went on for a while. My personal issue with the comedy is that this style of humor just seems shocking for the sake of being shocking. Which I guess you could argue that that's the entire point of Detroit Metal City. However, the show's attempts at humor are so try-hard and forced that most of the time I don't even end up laughing. Humor is subjective blah blah blah yada yada yada, we all know. You could also make the argument that Detroit Metal City's humor is so exaggerated because DMC themselves are an exaggerated version of a black metal band. I don't know. I Just found the humor lame. I can think of a few other shows that also have a similar style of humor. Like Panty and Stocking. Does nothing for me. I'm sure people love it, but I'm too jaded to actually care.
Another part of the show I haven't mentioned yet is that Souichi has an old friend from his hometown. Her name is Aikawa. She is the textbook definition of pure and innocent. She isn't aware that Souichi is Krauser, so many jokes and scenarios are just Souichi protecting his alter ego. These jokes are fine, but I'm not in love with them either.
This next part of the review is very frustrating for me. I had already written an entire part ranting about DMC's manager and how she was voiced by Yuu Kobayashi. APPARENTLY, SHE ISN'T. I had just made the assumption without checking, but one day I decided to make sure I was correct. It's not Yuu Kobayashi at all. It's a completely different seiyuu who has the exact same last name. Ai Kobayashi, who sounds identical to Yuu Kobayashi. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!? I understand that names can get very repetitive in Japan, but the fact that I was convinced she was Yuu Kobayashi for weeks, an entirely different seiyuu with no relation or connection, is hysterical. Man, I'm so embarrassed and upset. Most of what I had written doesn't apply anymore. I went on this long diatribe about how people love Yuu Kobayashi and how she's hysterical. I was of the same mind about seven or eight years ago, but now I find her sense of humor to be very scatological and obnoxious. She just screams like a maniac most of the time, and people eat that shit up. However, I guess this particular case applies to Ai Kobayashi. Her performance was pretty obnoxious. Her character in this anime is bizarre. I'm positive that 50% of her dialogue is her talking about how DMC's music makes her pussy wet. Usually, I would be on board with a character like this, considering how often I talk about and mention the word "pussy" in my reviews. Regardless, I found her dialogue rather tiresome and annoying. It's never funny after the first time. Sorry.
There was one joke I can remember off the top of my head that did make me laugh. DMC were in the middle of making they're debut album and Souichi was getting many letters from fans. Souichi reads a letter from a specific fan who is ill, and has to get surgery. This fan talks about how he's excited for the DMC debut album and wants to listen to it after his surgery, but there's a good chance that he might die if it fails. Souichi is moved by this letter and visits the fan as Krauser. It's a sweet scene and one of the few moments of the show where Krauser's soft side is displayed. He even brought him a basket of fruits. The emotions are building up, but it's revealed at the end of the episode that the fan was getting a circumcision and lied. That was hilarious. Can't believe I fell for that. Also, unrelated to this episode, but the song title "Fuckingham Palace" is fantastic. It's a song made by a completely different character and band, don't worry about it.
Visually, Detroit Metal City is essentially a moving manga. It doesn't bother me, but the characters in motion look absolutely goofy and ridiculous. The character designs are not my cup of tea either. Some of the background characters are a little ugly, but I don't mind. The show, in general, looks silly. The only outlier would probably be the OP, which is one other positive I will mention. Satsugai is a great song, and I would highly recommend listening to it if you haven't. The OP is the only well animated part of this entire anime. Go figure.
Overall, I thought Detroit Metal City was fine. Entertaining, but fine. It was never as funny as people made it out to be, and it was on my watch list since 2016. I mostly wanted to get it out of the way, but I was expecting so much more. This is another reason why you shouldn't trust MAL scores, kids. They're usually a little overblown and deceiving. And hey, if you hate this review, don't worry. Always remember that human language has no meaning. Language is just a human construct. So if you hate this review, it means nothing :^)
I hope I made this review long enough to turn people away. I hope no one reads it. It's not great, but I'm going to upload it anyway. Happy Halloween. :)
6.66 out of 10. Hail Satan.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 16, 2023
Do you truly give a fuck about spoilers for Nanaka 6/17? I thought so.
I don't know why this anime in particular hit me as hard as it did. Anime, in general, is so monotonous, gimmicky, and tropey. I've been aware of this for years now. However, something about Nanaka 6/17 really got under my skin. I think it just caught me at a bad time. I'm a little burnout on anime, at the moment. The show isn't doing anything different from your ordinary, run-of-the-mill anime. No, it's just that it's so blatant and lacks any kind of subtlety in it's writing, that it made
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me legitimately angry. Okay, okay. Angry is a bit of an overstatement. I'm just tired and fed up. It's almost as if they had a checklist of every generic anime cliché they wanted to do. A dime a dozen, you're probably thinking. Many anime do that. The difference here is that they rub that checklist in your face. It's covered in drool and doodled with crayon. That's the aura I'm getting from this show. I only watched this out of curiosity and got through a third of it.
Nanaka 6/17 is about this girl named Nanaka Kirisato, a seventeen year old high school student. Her age will be important in a second. Nanaka had a bit of a whoopsy poopsy slip 'n fall after getting into a heated argument with her friend, Nenji Negihara. Who looks very similar to Itou from "Kyou Kara Ore Wa" look it up. The accident caused her brain to regress back into a six year old. Which is in the title! Get it!? Nanaka 6/17! Hahahahahhahahahahaha. So hysterical I'm laughing my pussy off. You can imagine many of the awkward scenarios coming out of a premise like this. Nenji trying his best to keep his now mentally regressed friend out of trouble. It gets very annoying at times.
This show loves putting it's stupid, unfunny gimmick in your face constantly that it starts to become very irritating to watch. To give the show some credit, it's the only gimmick it has. Which is pretty frustrating, considering it's not that strong of a shtick to begin with.
SHE'S SEVENTEEN BUT HAS THE MIND OF A SIX YEAR OLD! ISN'T THAT WACKY!? PLEASE LAUGH! WE'RE BEGGING YOU!
I bet that caught your attention after skimming the review. Lol
One noteworthy thing I will quickly mention is that episode four is point where Nanaka 6/17 becomes interesting. There's another character I didn't mention named, Yuriko Amemiya. Up until this point, Nenji has kept Nanaka's condition a secret, especially at school. Yuriko is the first to learn about Nanaka's secret. She's also in love with Nenji, but since Nenji and Nanaka are always together, she ends up getting jealous of Nanaka. So for the first three episodes, Yuriko is jealous of six year old. Thinking about that fact is slightly funny to me. Episode four was by far the best episode I watched. However, I just can't bring myself to care. It wasn't even that strong of an episode. It was just mildly intriguing for a few minutes, and that was it. I couldn't muster up the strength to continue. Who knows, maybe it improves dramatically after episode four. Probably not. I don't care. You shouldn't care. Wouldn't recommend.
Can't say it wasn't fun...because it wasn't.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 16, 2023
Personally, I don't consider myself the biggest Street Fighter fan out there. I love Alpha 2 and 3rd Strike, but that's mostly it. However, I had a fun time with the Street Fighter II movie. I'll just come out and say it right now. This movie is "mostly" just fanservice for Street Fighter enthusiasts. Which is perfectly fine. I'm not docking points just because it was mostly made for fans. The movie expects you to be familiar with these characters before jumping in. Anyone can watch the film and have a good time, but it helps if you're already aware of who these characters are,
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going in. I'm not all that well versed in Street Fighter lore, so I apologize if I say anything wrong.
A powerful and evil organization called Shadaloo led by M. Bison, or "Vega" depending on what region of the world you live in, is scouring the globe for the strongest fighters who can handle his Psycho Power. Psycho Power is essentially a self-destructive ki that greatly increases the user's power. Due to the monstrous strength of Psycho Power, Bison's body is breaking down. He wants the strongest body on Earth all to himself. A body strong enough to withstand the heavy downsides of Psycho Power. Just so he can transfer his mind and soul into that body, and conquer the world.
It's really nice to see these characters with so much life and personality. You see many of the characters live their ordinary lives and act like actual people. They felt so much more than just button inputs. Some of the characters have their own reasons and motivations for hunting down Bison. At the very least a chunk of them do. It's bizarre, because Guile and Chun Li definitely have their own specific reasons. For the others, either they don't get involved or Bison intrudes in some way, and they're forced to fight. And there's a couple who don't really have good reason to be there in the first place. At least from a narrative perspective.
Although, not much happens in this film. It is most certainly entertaining to watch, but once you finish it, you realize that very little actually happens. The film opens with a jaw-dropping fight between Ryu and Sagat. Fighting during a thunderstorm and in the middle of a grassy field. A nice callback to the very first Street Fighter game. The first forty-five minutes of the film is just introducing the main Street Fighter II roster. There's some occasional fights sprinkled throughout the film, there's a sexy Chun Li shower scene midway through where you can see her fantastic bapples, and the last twenty minutes is one of the best anime fights I've seen in a while. Ryu and Ken versus M. Bison. What an amazing fight that was! Beautifully animated and stunning to watch. The last twenty minutes of this film brought my score up from a 6 out of 10, to a 7 out of 10. This final fight would be partially responsible for the creation of the Alpha games. So that's a neat little fact. As a whole, it's not an amazing film, but I would highly recommend watching it for the last twenty minutes. If you're a Street Fighter fan and you haven't seen it, this is a must-watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 16, 2023
Originally, I started writing this review under the assumption that this Konosuba spin-off was essentially a season three. It isn't, but I'm glad I checked. I would've made more of an ass of myself than I already have here. At this point and time, this is definitely my least favorite Konosuba related material to be released. That also includes all of the OVA's and the movie.
That isn't to say that it's bad, by any means, just not a very strong Konosuba entry. Here's why I feel this way. I'm going to assume you know what Konosuba is, and have watched all of the previous material
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up until this point. Cool? Cool.
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! primarily focuses on Megumin. Specifically what was going on in Megumin's life before the events of season one. Makes perfect sense why she would get her own season. She was by far the most popular character in the previous seasons. However, the biggest issue with this idea is that you're giving the spotlight to one character in the main cast. One of the many reasons that made Konosuba so magical in the eyes of so many sweaty, greasy otaku are the character interactions. The chemistry, the character dynamics of the main cast. Kazuma, Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin. You're cutting out three of the four main characters who are just reduced to mere cameos in this new season. Relying "mostly" on Megumin to make the funnies. Shame. Of course, she's not alone. You have other characters like Yun Yun, the other Crimson Demons, brief cameos of the previous main characters, and characters who are just references to previous events and places we're all familiar with. Or I guess in this case, future events. Like The Axis of Evil. I MEAN THE AXIS OF ORDER! Yeah yeah yeah. They're not very funny. Nobody is very funny or interesting this season.
With the exception of a few jokes, the comedic writing is not very strong here. The first-half centers on the village of Crimson Demons, and the second-half is the Axis Cult being weird con artists, fights with demons, and Megumin slowly making her way to Kazuma and the others. It's on the same level of quality as Princess Connect! Re:Dive. That one anime that looks JUST like Konosuba, but isn't. And is also not as funny. This is just like that.
Comedy aside, this is just another Konosuba entry. It looks and smells like Konosuba, but there's a different director? Just found that out as I'm writing this. Hmm, interesting. One positive thing I will mention, this spin-off gave me a greater appreciation for Yun Yun as a character. I admire her ability to put up with Megumin's reckless behavior. She's a sweetheart who deserves a little more respect...and friends. Depending on how you feel about Konosuba, your mileage may vary. For some reason, I just didn't enjoy this spin-off all that much. Kind of a letdown.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jun 16, 2023
Sumire 16 Sai!! is a strange and unorthodox comedy manga. It follows the life of Sumire Yotsuya. Sumire is a ventriloquist dummy, being puppeteered by a conspicuous old man who goes unnamed for the entirty of the manga. I don't have a terrible amount of things to say about this manga, but I have some conflicting feelings that I do want to get off my chest. This will be more of a rambling diatribe and less of a proper review. ***MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD***
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Sumire as an experience. It was almost refreshing except for the brief moments when it wasn't
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lol. Mildly simplistic, but overall solid artwork and cute character designs. Just wanted to get my opinion on the artwork out of the way. Sumire Yotsuya, or I guess I should say the old man, greatly impacts the lives of those surrounding him in a positive manner. Sumire is pure of heart and an inspiration to her classmates. The best way I can describe her is that she's an immediate "Room Brightener."
So, for the vast majority of the manga, it's a goofy comedy series where most of the jokes revolve around a creepy old man puppeteering a teenage girl. Misunderstandings and silly highjinks ensue, you know how this goes. It really is a unique and refreshing set-up in chapter one, right off the bat. You have Sumire's main group of friends, Renge, Akebi, and Mizuki. I don't have any real issues with them, but I never thought they were all that funny. Akebi was definitely the most entertaining out of the three, mainly because she's the daughter of a mob boss. There are new characters that are introduced throughout the manga to shake things up. They tend to vary in quality. There's a male puppet and a lady who appear later in the manga that felt unneeded and didn't go anywhere, to be honest. Felt shoehorned in. Earlier, I said, "vast majority of the manga" because near the end, the manga attempts to tug on your heartstrings. Which for most people, it worked. For me, once I finished the manga, I was left with more questions than answers. Nothing is really explained. It's all left ambiguous, which I'm not particularly a fan of. I guess you could argue that when it comes to absurdist humor, asking questions, using logic, and reason does not matter in the least. By the end, it's revealed that the old man repeats his highschool life with Sumire Yotsuya, the puppet. Once he graduates with a class, he starts over once again. Apparently, he's been doing this for years. At least, that's the implication. Who is the old man? Who is Sumire? Why does he repeat highschool over and over again? Does he have any ulterior motives? What is the purpose of all of this?
There's a "theory" that Sumire was once a real girl, and the old man's daughter who died years prior. All of his actions throughout the events of the manga is his form of coping with the loss of his daughter. That is FAAAAR more interesting than what actually happened in this manga. I use the word "theory" very loosely here, because there is no reference or implication of that being the case when you read the manga yourself. From what I've seen online, I believe it was thought up by fans. I have no clue!? It's strange and I don't know how to feel about that. Or maybe it's something I missed, and it went over my head. That's frustrating. There's definitely something I missed here. Ugh...
Sumire 16 Sai!! was a bit of a letdown. I enjoyed my time with it, however. As a comedy manga, I would probably give Sumire 16 Sai!! a light recommendation. Very light. I'm a little reluctant to say that. I just think I set my expectations a bit too high before going in. Started off as an 8/10 and slowly went down to a 7/10 bordering on a 6. Really, it was the ending that baffled me more than anything. It made me want to get my thoughts down on paper. It's good, but nothing outstanding.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 16, 2023
I have a soft spot for underdog stories. It might be a bit cliché, but I find many of them very inspiring and uplifting. That's why I was willing to give Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, another shot. My priorities and tastes are changing a lot when it comes to the anime I consume. I had this show on-hold since 2014. A long while before I even made this account. So fuck it, right? Might as well get it out of the way. I'm not going to spoil anything about this show and be as vague as possible. Kinda...
Kenichi Shirahama, Age 17, nerdy, milk toast,
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bland, quasi-self-insert character. Y'know how it goes. Encounters a young, beautiful, blondé girl by the name of Miu Fuurinji. Kenichi, immediately gets his shit wrecked by the big bapples babe. Call it fate or destiny, eventually, the two of them become good friends by the end of episode one. Especially after a bad encounter with some thugs. Kenichi is already in the Karate club at his school and is trying to get those thick, meaty arm muscles, titanium alloy abs, and milky hamstrings, yummy yummy! However, the boy has no natural talent for martial arts. Something that is repeated multiple times throughout the show. Once Kenichi and Miu became friends, and because of some stupid bet he made in the Karate club, Kenichi now trains with Miu at her dojo/home, the Ryozanpaku.
She lives with six different masters, who each excel at a different martial art. Akisame Koetsuji, master of Jujitsu. Shio Sakaki, master of Karate. Apachai Hopachai, master of Muay Thai. Shigure Kousaka, master of all weapons. Kensei Ma, master of Chinese Kenpo. And finally, Hiyato Fuurinji, Miu's grandfather and headmaster of the Ryozanpaku. He doesn't have one particular skill he excels at. He's a master of all martial arts. Kenichi will follow in their footsteps and study these martial arts all at once to become a fearsome warrior. Hence the title of the anime.
Overall, Kenichi was not that great of an experience, but it has it's moments. It kind of reminds me of a slightly better Air Master, more than anything. It has a few positives I would like to talk about first, mostly related to the underdog storytelling. I said earlier, but I do have a soft spot for these kinds of stories. Watching the progression and growth of Kenichi was a deeply fascinating and engaging the entire way through. I'm sure many people would agree. From starting off as a weakling who couldn't even bicep curl a pencil, to this absolute badass fighting against these highly trained martial artists. It's quite the spectacle. Watching his character slowly blossoming into something truly strong and heroic was also nice to see. Near the end of the series, Kenichi is one big damn hero influencing the lives of everyone he encounters. This is connected to another thing this anime does well. While being a show about martial arts, it also proves that words and conversations have the power to change a person's outlook and mindset. It's not easy, but not every situation needs to be resolved with violence. Very neat-o. (^_^)
Now, I have a few complaints with Kenichi. This show is pretty damn ugly, at times. Earlier I mentioned Air Master, a battle, fanservice anime from 2003. Kenichi is exactly that, a battle, fanservice anime. At the time, I didn't do a whole lot of research before watching the show, but I had made the assumption that Air Master and Kenichi aired at or around the same time. I was quite off because Kenichi aired from 2006 to 2007 which took me aback. I know the time gap is not that big, but this show looks like the awkward transition period of early 2000's anime. It's on par with Air Master in terms of visual presentation. It has no reason to look this bad. Now, depending on who is directing an episode, on rare occasions, the anime can look fairly decent. This also applies to a couple of fights later in the show's run. I'm breaking my promise a bit about spoilers, but it's a minor one. Well, without context and explanation, spoilers mean nothing to the person who hears them. Kisara fighting in the rain is something I never thought I would need in my life. The fight looks great. And she's such a hottie <3. Every now and again you'll get a well-animated fight, however, most of the time, the animation is very stiff and difficult to look at.
The music is nothing to write home about. I thought the first OP was okay and all four ED's were nothing special, either. The one exception I do really enjoy is the second OP. It took me a few listens to finally warm up to "Yahoo." Even the chorus alone is great. Other than that, no songs really stand out in my mind. A forgettable and unremarkable soundtrack, sadly. I wasn't even going to bother mentioning the fanservice because I thought it unnecessary. I believe at this point in 2023, if you're even remotely an anime fan and not completely new to the medium, as a collective, we should be used to or aware of trashy fanservice in anime. I'm sure it bothers some people, and fanservice is prominent within Kenichi. It didn't bother me in the least, and it shouldn't bother you either. Just sayin'. It's unnecessary, it's redundant, we know. The camera will just sometimes zoom into Miu's big beautiful bazinga bosom breasts. Who cares. It's anime. You don't like it? Fuck off and don't watch anime. Keep in mind there's always a demographic for shows like these. Horny teenagers. Kenichi was definitely made with that in mind.
Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple was generally okay. If you're into fanservice heavy shounen, I would give this a light recommendation. Or just watch the show for Kisara alone. It's not a required watch by any means, but you'll get some enjoyment out of it. It's more enjoyable than Inuyasha, that's for true. I'm just glad I got this off my on-hold list. It was starting to collect dust. My scores:
Story: 5/10
Art: 4/10
Sound: 5/10
Characters: 7/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 18, 2022
Take the excessive cuteness of Popotan mixed with the absurdity of Puni Puni Poemii and you get the delightful gag comedy Nurse Witch Komugi. Oh my Haruhi! I discovered this OVA through the Akio Watanabe character designs and I'm truly grateful that I gave it a shot. Yet another perfect example of why you shouldn't trust MAL scores. Most of the time, anyway.
This anime is more important than ever. Komugi Nakahara is given the responsibility of eliminating viruses that negatively affect the lives of ordinary, everyday people. The leader of all of the viruses, Ungrar, escaped "The World of Vaccines." I watch anime
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to escape reality, not to be thrown back into it. If only the people of Japan could've masked up, it would've saved a lot of time. An hour and forty minutes to be exact. Ungrar has a henchmen named Koyori, a classmate of Komugi who got possessed, who does all of his dirty work for him. She creates mayhem and mischief with her viruses, and it's up to Nurse Witch Komugi to stop her.
What an absolute gem this show was. I could go into more detail about the characters. Like how Komugi is an idol who is also an aspiring actress. Or how she gets bullied for not knowing her lines. Or how she has a crush on a guy named Kyosuke who she wants to do the horizontal monster mash with. Or the show's fetish undertones. Or how Shinichi Watanabe is here again. None of that stuff. I want to talk about the hilarity of this anime. The OVA is only five episodes but gets better in quality with each consecutive episode. Episode one is about a giant 2chan cat monster transforming innocent people into smaller 2chan cat monsters. They don't kill anyone, they just act like a bunch of 2channers. Lot of meta humor and internet humor in that one. There's an entire episode about anime production and midway through the episode when Komugi is in battle, the visual art style changes to rough storyboard animation. This is one of the few times when the anime has a mixed media art style and it fits the situation well. There's another episode where the anime is doing a Gatchaman parody and has this really slow, sluggish, ugly Speed Racer/Carmageddon 3D generated scene that looks like it's being run on a Windows 95. I seriously believed the video was lagging and quickly realized that it was the anime doing that. It was a very surreal scene. The insanity in each episode escalates as you keep watching, until you get to episode 5 which is a very confusing fluster cuck of an episode.
I find Nurse Witch Komugi and Puni Puni Poemii to be some of the best comedy anime out there. I already made a Puni Puni Poemii review, but these two shows are so similar with the hyperactivity and chaotic madness. In the endless sea of generic, bland, and by the numbers anime that do the same thing over and over again, Komugi and Poemii stand out in my mind. If you're like me and you love insane plotlines and over-the-top humor you will adore this OVA. This is a MUST-WATCH.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 10, 2022
This show had so much potential, such a strong and compelling start and it squanders it all by doing nothing. Seriously, the show really doesn't do much throughout most of it's runtime, but I'll talk about that later. In the year 2059, aliens have invaded Earth and humanity is thrown into a war. Takuto Kaneshiro, a snobbish college student and mathematics major, I think, initially has nothing to do with that war. He's just an ordinary twenty-something in a strained and deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend, Maki Agata. The two were college lovers and you get more and more glimpses of how their relationship blossomed
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over time during flashback scenes. I say "flashback" because the first episode is essentially a backstory/origin story for Takuto. The real "story" happens afterwards. Takuto and Maki begin to spend less time with each other. Maki canceling plans and telling Takuto that she's busy all the time. This goes on for months and Takuto, understandably, grows more frustrated by this. It's later discovered that Maki and Professor Noguchi, a teacher at the college they went to, have discovered a new alien creature. The colossal behemoth lays dormant; not even awaken by the experiments conducted on it. Professor Noguchi gives a legendary and epic name to the alien. FRANK. FRANK-ly, I would've gone with a better name like "Epsilon Gamma 2000" but that works, too. Argento Soma means, "Silver Body" in Greek, so I wanted to stay consistent with the Greek motif.
Takuto and Maki have a sad exchange of words halfway through the episode. Takuto is clearly upset with Maki and wants her to spend more time with him like they use to. Maki tries to justify her actions, but Takuto refuses to listen and lashes out on her. Turns out Takuto was planning on proposing to Maki and throws away the engagement ring in her face. After finishing the show, upon reflection, this scene is much more tragic than what it originally was. This is going to be the very last conversation Takuto and Maki ever have and they end it on a sour note. How tragic. During the experiments, Frank wakes up. Frank is a powerful alien who wakes up in a pretty grumpy mood. He destroys the entire facility with a giant explosion killing everyone except Takuto. Half of Takuto's face is damaged and the building is in ruin. He screams Maki's name over and over again getting no response. It's just dead silence. The final scene of the episode is a damaged picture of Maki and Takuto.
What a great start! I absolutely loved it! If the anime was this episode alone, it would get a strong 8 maybe a light 9 from me. The second episode is also strong, but not as good as the first. We're introduced to a new character named Harriet Bartholomew nicknamed Hattie. I would've never, ever imagined that I would encounter an anime character named Hattie. My grandmother is also named Hattie, so I greatly appreciate that. She is capable of speaking to Frank, who escaped the facility in the previous episode. The two somehow become good friends and share a very strong bond for the entire show. Takuto is now in the hospital and is visited by this freaking-looking dude who has a great character design. Long red hair that goes straight down his back, a sick goatee, ear piercings, a lab coat, and some granny smith apples that he carries around for no particular reason at all. I'm sure it's symbolic for something, but I have no clue. He also quotes Shakespeare everytime he's on screen, so yeah, that's a thing. He calls himself "Mr. X" and gives Takuto a new lease on life; by giving him a new identity and a new job. This makes Takuto a college dropout. Join the club, dude. His new name is Ryu Soma and he now works for a military group called, "Funeral." He also has one of the most badass character designs I've seen in an anime. He has gnarly scars on the left side of his face, his left eye color changed to a light blue, almost white color giving him the illusion of blindness in that eye. He not actually blind. Heterochromia has always looked cool to me. And part of his hair changed to a white color that stands up more compared to the rest of his hair. The man looks incredible, the change isn't too drastic, but it's genius to me.
Now this is the point where I stop caring about most of the details, because once the show introduces the members of Funeral, the show goes into a direction that I'm not a fan of at all. I'll say this right now, the first two episodes and the epilouge are the only strong epiodes of Argento Soma. The members of Funeral don't really do anything for me. I don't care about them all that much, despite all of them having semi-realized backgrounds and backstories. Sue Harris, Michael Heartland, Guinevere Green, Dan Simmons, and Lana Ines are all okay characters. They all left little to no impression on me whatsoever, and I will forget who they are a week after I publish this review. With the exception of Lana and Dan. Lana was the commander of Funeral, so her face was on screen for the vast majority of the show. Dan Simmons is definitely my favorite of the bunch who gradually becomes more hostile towards Ryu. The two are practically rivals, at least from the perspective of Dan. Saying that Dan is my favorite of the bunch doesn't mean that much since most of the cast lacks a lot of character and nuance, excluding Ryu and Hattie who are very important to the show. So, I'm assuming you've already seen Neon Genesis Evangelion. Argento Soma is a Post Eva military drama/sci-fi/revenge story that follows the same trends that many other mecha shows followed between the late 90's to the early 2000's. Since Eva had such a major impact (Lol) on the anime landscape at the time, many mecha shows wanted to go into a more abstract and esoteric direction or just have a similar structure to Eva. I bring this up now because remember the midsection of Eva where it was a "What Angel are we fighting against this week" show? Y'know, a monster of the week. So imagine that, but for 15+ episodes! Argento Soma becomes so formulaic after Ryu joins Funeral, it was by far the worst part of Argento Soma. The show withholds plot relevant details from you, but sprinkles bits and pieces of clues throughout the show that are somewhat vague. Mr. X knows a lot more than what he lets on and is usually the one to give clues to Ryu, occasionally. The show just follows a set procedure for a very long time and it was not interesting in the least. The only thing remotely interesting that's going on is that Ryu is trying to kill Frank the entire time. Which is where the "revenge" factor comes from. I like that part of Ryu's character. He wants to avenge Maki and he feels that he can't move on without doing so. Funeral discovers Frank with Hattie and uses Frank to fight against the alien threat. They then name him the "X-1." Ryu is so bitter and angsty during this time, but I don't blame the guy. The experience would've been better if the soundtrack started playing Hoobastank or Shinedown whenever he showed up on screen. Fucking hilarious.
During the final stretch of episodes the show becomes more plot-centric. Big reveals start to happen at this point, which I didn't care too much about. There's a dark secret about the alien threat and the mechs that the characters have been piloting that is rather similar to Eva. I won't spoil what that secret is, but it surprising and unsurprising at the same time. A few twists near the end that did catch me off guard. *Pssssssst* There's a traitor within the group. And a timeskip ending and epilouge that I thought was pretty good, but by that point I wanted it to end so badly. That midsection was terrible and difficult to sit through. This show is also very slow and plotting. It could've done so much more with it's runtime, but it mostly just wastes it.
Now for the technical aspects of Argento Soma, the production value is okay. Just okay. It's passable. Argento Soma is a Sunrise anime made in the year 2000. Looking through their catalog they've made better looking shows even around this time period. Inuyasha was made by the same studio and it was released the same year and that show looks leagues better than this. Even Escaflowne came out four years prior and that show is gorgeous! Also made by Sunrise. Escaflowne made my eyeballs cum while this show was just average looking the entire way through. Art design and animation are all fine. The entire production is nothing remarkable, but I do like the character designs. To compensate for the lackluster visuals and animation, the characters designs, mech designs, and the alien designs are pretty detailed and distinctive, in my opinion. Despite the aliens looking the exact same way which kills the oppurtunity to have some variety. Eva, at the very least, gives all of the Angels unique forms throughout the show. I was hoping Argento Soma would do the same, but nope. And finally the soundtrack. It's surprising good. The only song I do not appreciate is the ED "Horizon." I think sounds very obnoxious and doesn't match the tone of the show at all. It's a very upbeat and brassy song and it feels very misplaced. Argento Soma overall is pretty slow, dark, ominous, and contemplative. Horizon is the last song I want to hear at the end of each episode. Easy skip for me. Everything else is pretty solid. It's nothing special but I enjoyed the OP, Silent Wind. Most of the score for this anime is very French and R&B inspired. It's all killer no filler kinda sorta!!!
These are most of thoughts and opinions on Argento Soma and I don't feel like talking about it anymore. Despite the relatively low score for MAL, a hearty healthy 6.77, this show has a very devoted cult following. I don't entirely get it. I think these people are seeing something that isn't really there or they're desperately trying to convince themselves that the show is a true work of art. 6 out of 10. It really isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be. It's far from amazing, but it's better than Raxephon and MUCH easier to watch. So yeah, I'm tired. Bye bye. My scores:
Story: 5/10
Art: 6/10
Sound: 7/10
Characters: 4/10
Enjoyment: 4/10
Overall: 6/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 16, 2022
Gimme a moment so I can gather my thoughts and bearings and my bear rings. As a whole, Inuyasha is not a very good anime. Yep! I said it! What are you gonna do about it? Originally I was going to make a joke about nostalgia goggles, but then I realized how condescending and stupid that statement would be and left it out. I watched half of Inuyasha as a *cough* *cough* year old, so I don't have the fond memories of watching Inuyasha and the gang finding the Sacred Jewel Shards for eons and eons. When you're a kid with all the free time
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in the world, Inuyasha is not bad. But when you're an adult watching Inuyasha, it's a nightmare. I'm going to make this a "somewhat" quick review because I only watched half of it and it doesn't seem entirely fair for me to speak upon it. Y'know what, fuck it. I've done stuff like this in the past, so who cares.
Young whipper snapper, Kagome Higurashi, is transported to the Sengoku period of Nippon and encounters a half demon/half dog dude by the name of Inuyasha. You see, Inuyasha doesn't have the best of intentions. He was caught trying to steal this really unimportant item. It's called the Sacred Jewel. You probably won't have to remember the name. It's very insignificant and will have no effect on the plot whatsoever. He's caught red handed by the stunningly beautiful and graceful shinto priest, Kikiyo. She had to put the doggy down, and when I say "put the doggy down" I mean shoot him with an arrow and have him be stuck on a tree for a while. Kagome saves Inuyasha years after the squabble with Kikiyo. One thing leads to another and now they're on the long, long, long, long, long, long, long looooooooong journey of collecting all of the Sacred Jewel Shards. They were smashed into pieces (This is my last resort!) because some demented dickhead wanted them for himself and now they're scattered everywhere. GREAT!
So yeah. That's it. Sorta. The early period of Inuyasha (The first 24 episodes) are just world-building, introducing the lore, introducing the main cast of characters, and how Kagome and Inuyasha meet them. It's a not a bad start. Nothing incredible yet, but this early period of the show is definitely the best of what I saw. You have Shippo, a little fox boy who can shape shift. Miroku, a perverted buddhist and booty grabber of Sango. Sango, a yokai hunter who wields a giant boomerang and occasionally gets her booty groped. We also have H̶a̶p̶p̶o̶s̶a̶i̶ Myoga, who's a flea and every now and again pops up to join the group. He's also a pervert, because why not. And Kaede, who is the younger sister of Kikiyo. There's a few more characters they meet along their journey, but those are the most prominent people in the gang. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older brother, who's a heartthrob and a half. Good god, he stole the heart of every young woman watching that show and I can see why. Have you seen those eyes!? You can get lost in them and he can fuck you just by glaring at you! Unlike Inuyasha, Sesshomaru is a 100% genuine demon. Inuyasha's initial goal was to use the Sacred Jewel Shards to become a full fledged demon. For the few times that Sesshomaru appears he gracefully hands Inuyasha's canine ass to him on silver platter. Once Inuyasha possesses the Tetsusaiga he sorta kinda maybe almost probably stands a chance against his brother. The Tetsusaiga immediately becomes his staple weapon.
Here's the major issue I have with this anime and it all comes down to how it's written. It reminds me of another Takahashi work, Ranma ½. With the way Rumiko Takahashi writes, both series have the tendency to waste time and drag out for an eternity. Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. The main villain of Inuyasha is a stupid fuckface named Naraku. Inuyasha and the gang had a side objective of capturing Naraku since he's a stupid fuckface and all. I can't even remember the reason why the gang is after him, that's how long this goes on. After the first 24 episodes, Naraku is introduced and the gang has to catch him. They make zero progress in catching the man for the next 50+ episodes! That is embarrassing and pathetic. I heard this goes on for even longer than that. Now one of three things will typically happen within these 50+ episodes and it becomes very apparent what the show is trying to do.
1.) Inuyasha and the gang will be so tantalizingly close in catching the motherfucker, but they can't do it because Naraku has the poisonous insects that surrounds him and if anyone tries to touch him, they're dead. He gets away.
2.) Inuyasha and the gang will be right behind Naraku when entering a town and he ends up causing mischief before he leaves. He'll usually have some kind of curse or cause some kind of damage to the town and the gang has to fix the problem. They usually do so with their fists.
3.) Inuyasha and the gang encounters one of Naraku's henchmen and fight to the gosh dang death. Except they don't, because they always flee when they lose or become aware that they're outmatched.
This goes on for so long! The same things happen over and over and over again. It became so slow, sluggish, and painful to sit through. I soon realized that just like Ranma ½, this show loves to waste the time of the viewer. No one should ever sit through something like this. For Nakaru to conveniently slip out of their hands every single time!? So stupid and mind-numbing. This show is the epitome of a time vampire.
Even from the very beginning before Naraku showing up, the show was never that interesting. Collecting a valuable item that scattered into a million pieces across the world? Haven't heard that one before! It all becomes so monotonous and repetitive. I got almost no joy out of any of it. At least with Ranma I had fun. It was stupid fun, but fun, regardless. I skipped a few extra details and running gags I didn't find all that funny. Like the magic collar or leash that Kagome has on Inuyasha. All Kagome has to say is "Sit" and Inuyasha eats dirt like a chump. She usually does this whenever she's very upset with him. It happens all the time and it's played off as a joke. I never found it funny.
Some positives I will mention. The action animation and artwork look pretty good. The backgrounds are beautiful to look at when you're not in the forest. And trust me, the characters are in the forest quite often. Some of the music is good, like "Change The World" and "Owari Nai Yume." That's about it. All of the characters, with an exception of a few, have their own shitcks or archetypal anime traits we've all seen before. Inuyasha is the hot blooded shounen protagonist who thinks with his fists, asks questions with his fists, files his taxes with his fist, and fucks mad bitches with his fist. Inuyasha loves fisting. He's also a borderline male tsundere to Kagome. He pretends that he doesn't care about Kagome, but he really does. It's a will they won't they situation. It's boring. Kagome is an actual tsundere and I can't say she was fun to watch. She obtains a weapon at some point, so she's not entirely useless. Myoga was just Happosai. Shippo was like the annoying little brother of the group. I wasn't a huge fan of most of the cast. And that's how I mostly feel about Inuyasha. In conclusion, Inuyasha is a long-winded shounen that's pretty boring and not all that enjoyable to sit through. Sounds like a lot of my reviews lol. Even when I compare it to other shounen I've seen it's definitely near the bottom in ranking. I guess Inuyasha can ligma.
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Ligma nuts. :P
My scores:
Story: 3/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Characters: 4/10
Enjoyment: 2/10
Overall: 4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 16, 2022
"My favorite anime of 2021 is Osama bin Laden Ranking."
- Neimaj, 2022
I'm not sure what I was expecting when I saw the cover art and the title for this OVA. Black Magic M-66 is gonna be the name of my new indie metal band; talk about a sick name.
Very straightforward anime here. Sexy, naked, tanned, anime lady Sybel is hoping to get a new big story or scoop for whatever news channel she's working for. It's never really clarified who she works for, but it doesn't matter. She discovers that the military is hiding some kind of secret weapon and tries to get more
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information out of the situation by spying on the military. She does this with the help of her not so helpful partner in crime. He's not important at all and you don't need to remember his name. Turns out, the military was hiding these robot assassins that go on an insane killing spree once they escape, and it was fascinating to watch. The fight choreography and animation of the robots were pretty damn good. The military stood no chance and it was a solid gold ass whooping.
If I could describe this entire OVA in one phrase it would be, "Discount Terminator." The robots have a specific target they must kill, which is the granddaughter of the man who created them. I can't remember why they're after her, but Sybel encounters her and protects her for the entire episode. It was a fun 48 minutes. If you just want to watch a stone-cold, cybernetic killing machine causing a lot of collateral damage to kill a single girl for 40 minutes with above-average animation, be my guest. It was cool. The robot is absolutely terrifying because of the amount of resources and tricks they had to use to actually put the thing down. Other than that, it doesn't have that much substance and is lacking a real story. It has no real rewatch value and everything I said in this review is the OVA. The OST is mediocre, nothing special. I'm not sure what compelled me to write this review. Definitely one of my shorter ones.
I would give Black Magic M-66 a light recommendation. 6 out of 10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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