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Apr 12, 2021
The story starts with a normal looking girl called Botan who lives with her grandpa. One day, she returns home from school only to be attacked in her house. She fights off the guys with ease, and then her grandpa appears and tells her that she is no ready and that the time to save the world has come. We learn that Botan was trained to be a Ninja by her grandfather, and when she hears that there’s gonna be an actual mission, she is relieved because she thought her grandpa might actually be crazy for having talked about saving the world and stuff.
She is
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then partnered with a guy called Kuruma (lol the name) who is already a pro. He is not psyched about this at all, but there’s nothing he can do. Another guy called Ryuunosuke joins them as well and from now on, they go on missions together. Ryuunosuke and Kuruma go way back though, just a sidenote.
So what is their actual mission and why the hell is Tesla involved in this? At this point, let me warn you: the science in this doesn’t necessarily make sense (not that I would know, but still) so get ready for that. They have to find fragments of some sort of diamond that belong to Tesla. With this diamond, you could basically become OP so Tesla destroyed it and distributed the pieces all over the world. Classic Tesla, I know. They will talk more about this later on in the Manga, I’m not really sure how exactly the powers of the diamond and its pieces work yet. Of course, there is another group of people who are after the diamond (CIA) so they’ll be kind of battling with each other.
On paper, it’s nothing really new, right? A trio gets lumped together, they don’t really get along with each other…immediately reminds me of Naruto, for example. Finding all those pieces kind of reminds me of Dragon Ball, so nothing exciting there, either. But I still love this and here’s why: their chemistry feels super genuine and not forced at all. Even though they don’t exaggerate their dislike towards each other, it is clear that they were expecting different types of people to work with and have to adapt to everyone’s way of doing things. I like that, because it teaches us the importance of breaking out of our own bubble and that we need to surround us with different kinds of people to teach us different things. We get to know them as they get to know each other, which gives it a really natural flow. Also, there are many funny scenes, I especially like their faces in comedic situations. And since the pieces of the diamond are spread all over the world, they go to different countries. The first mission, for example, is set in Norway, which is pretty cool. And aside from doing their mission in Norway, they tackle issues like racism and poverty as well, which I keep noticing in Manga, so…that’s neat. By the way, I don’t know how prevalent racism actually is in Norway, cause you know, you always think Scandinavia is so chill (love you, by the way) but I guess their president is very tough on immigrants, but yeah – back to the Manga. All in all it’s really wholesome and aside from the action and their missions, central themes that I found were respect and friendship, which makes it a really typical shounen, so of course I like that.
The art is very clean, it’s beautiful. The action scenes are fantastic, you can see that for yourselves. One thing I noticed (I mean, I could be wrong) is that Botan and Kuruma look kinda similar? Because right now, it’s seems like the two of them are gonna end up together, but who knows, maybe they’re actually siblings. Anyways, as I mentioned, I really love their funny faces, maybe I’m childish but seeing stuff like that makes me laugh with the right context. The backgrounds are also detailed, I seriously don’t have a single complaint about the art. It’s just good.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 30, 2021
(basically my video review, but why write something different...)
A quote that is attributed to the philosopher Schopenhauer says this: ‘we should always be mindful of the fact that no man is ever very far from the state in which he would readily want to seize a sword or poison in order to bring his existence to an end.’
Now, the story is a little hard to explain for some reason, but I’ll try without spoiling anything. The MC is, of course, a high schooler named Reiji.He lives in a small town and is a secret otaku – he recently got into an Idol Group アクリル, a
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group that was introduced to him by his even bigger otaku childhood friend, Chako. One day after school, they just chill as always, when tourists ask them for a specific location. Reiji is confused as he doesn’t know why anyone would visit their little town, but Chako explains to him that there’s a novel in which two lovers commit suicide by ‘going into the water’. The place they do this at is located in this very town. Chako changes the subject though and tells Reiji that she was advised to take the exam for Waseda university, which is a real and prestigious university in Tokyo.
Chako asks if Reiji doesn’t want to leave the town as well, but he feels responsible for his family. His dad is out of the picture, his older brother is a troubled hikikomori and his grandmother needs constant assistance – so his mother is really relying on Reiji’s help. Saying that he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders might be a good way of putting it.
And it doesn’t even end there – another childhood ‘friend’ called Gen makes him run errands for him. So one evening, Gen asks Reiji to go get some cigarettes for him. Reiji goes to the conbini to buy them, when the clerk tells him that they don’t sell to high schoolers. This never happened before, and Reiji realizes that she must be new. Later that night, he sees her again when she’s taking out the trash, but there’s a homeless looking dude so he feels like he should stay close in case anything happens. She just gave this guy a bentou and nothing happens. So, Reiji and the girl start talking and it turns out that she is actually Nagi, the chick from the idol group he loves so much. This is where Reiji says his ‘death’ began.
But immediately this girl is suspicious, right? Like, why would this pop idol and city girl be in such a small town and hang out with a high schooler? And this actually brings me to my next point: the main character. For some reason, so many girls and grown women as well are drawn to him. We don’t really know who Reiji is and I can’t say when he acts ooc. This can make him interesting since it makes you wonder who he really is and what he thinks and wants…it seems as if whenever someone asks him to do something, he just agrees. I don’t know if he has a mind of his own.
He seems like a regular guy, but one bad thing happens and he kinda loses it – all it takes then is for one person – always female – to ask highly suspicious things of him and he wants to do them without hesitating. There’s a fine line between having no personality and creating an air of mystery around someone. I don’t know if he’s been hiding his true emotions and they just get triggered by all these women or if he is just easily manipulated. The manga isn’t over yet, so we’ll see. But somehow, everyone in his life clings to him for support, even Chako. Everyone needs him to be something. Nagi is the only one who doesn’t need him to be anything, she invites him to eternal piece aka. Death, essentially. In my eyes, that’s why she doesn’t really need an amazing personality, as she merely functions as a symbol, if that makes sense.
Chako is more fleshed out, she has a distinct personality and a stronger will than probably anyone else in the story. The other characters, like the teacher and mother, seem like leaves drifting in a river. These ‘no personality types’ can seem like bad writing at first, but I’d like to think that this was a deliberate choice to stress the apathy so many people feel in small towns. It’s also interesting that there are basically no men in Reiji’s life. Aside from Gen, who, despite everything, seems to care deeply about Reiji, there is not a single male figure of importance in his life. I don’t know, I’m just starting to feel a little sus about it. The fact that the story is set in a small town makes a lot what happens relatable. Everyone knows everyone, dreams die when you grow to live the life your parents lived, you know…things like that. I lived in a small town for many years in my youth, so I know what it feels like.
The character design in and of itself isn’t super outstanding – it’s pretty good, but nothing super unique or anything. However, the author is really good at creating the right atmosphere. The town has this dark history and it feels like there is constantly something sinister lurking in the shadows, or a darkness waiting to pull you into the deep – or into an abyss, if you will. Everyone constantly seems to be at the brink of suicide, which reminds me again of the quote I mentioned at the beginning of this review. It kind of feels like everything is normal during the day, but as soon as the night comes, everything suddenly changes.
Some people were complaining that this manga is trying to be ‘deep’, and I’m never really sure what they mean when they say something like that, but OK…if something is meaningful or not is different for everyone, so that’s a point I really do not like seeing in reviews unless you can tell me exactly why you felt that way – otherwise, it’s just an opinion and should be written as such.
Thanks for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 26, 2020
Imagine men in suits sitting in a room, thinking about what project to do next. Then one of them is like "yo there’s this light novel about a guy who sexually abuses his teenage son‚ and then the room goes ‚what?! SOLD!"
When I watch stuff like that I can’t help but wonder about all the steps it takes to produce such an abomination.
I don’t know who asked for this, and I’m not sure what kind of people they were targeting when they did this, but y’all need Jesus.
When it comes to sexuality in media etc., I’ve never considered myself to be prude - my
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fav. Manga has tons of incest and even pedophilia, but the difference is that it had a good story. In this waste of time, it is just seen as something that happens and everyone supports it. The outrageous elements here are only there to add in a little twist on an otherwise completely boring story and people with no character traits. It's just there to be there.
If you really want to watch this, then do so with another person and get drunk, so you can at least make fun of this together (couldn’t get past 2 minutes when I tried watching it alone)
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Aug 16, 2020
Slice-of-life with ghosts.
This story is about a school girl called Haze Rena. She always has a line of ghosts following her, but she’s used to it. One day, a guy called Mitama appears before her and tells her that he’s gonna protect her from all the ghosts. He is part of the SecuREIty (‚Rei‘ means ‚ghost‘, so they were going for a little wordplay there) a sort of organization that fights ghosts. She doesn’t really care about them, though - plus, Mitama is really bad at his job because he is actually really scared of ghosts. They start hanging out together and get into
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all sorts of little adventures. The fact that ghosts are present doesn’t always play a role, it really feels more like a slice-of-life story.
The characters (who all have weird names, especially this one detective guy, I suppose it’s a parody of all those long names people used to have - made me laugh, anyways) feel chuunibyou-ish (but since the ghosts are actually there and the guys - for now Mitama and his ‚rival‘ Souya are part of the security, they’re not) they are still a bit delusional when it comes to their own abilities (they are very good at certain things, but pride themselves on being able to do completely different things that they’re actually pretty bad at)
Some wordplay and the humor is kind of ‚loud‘, which I can find annoying in other series, but the characters are charming so it works for me here. As always, humor is very subjective, I personally had to laugh a lot reading it. Haz is always pretty chill, Mitama freaks out about every little thing - I like this kind of dynamic/balance. I like the scenes with Mitama and Souya the most.
There is the possibility that some kind of romance between Haze and Mitama could develop but I really hope it won’t, I’d like to see more „special“ types of connections in mange that don’t have to be romantic, but maybe that’s just me (just kidding, I know it’s not just me)
The art is not really my thing, but in comedy, it's forgivable.
Anyways, I feel like this would be popular if it got animated. I’d recommend you check out the first few chapters if you like comedy. I’m afraid a lot of the humor could get lost in translation, though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 16, 2020
I have very mixed feelings about this.
Never read the original story before, so I can’t say if this is a decent adaptation of the source material or not.
The first episode was really intriguing and I loved the art style. The Meiji-era is also especially interesting I think, although you won’t notice it much in terms of politics etc., you’ll notice it in the way they speak and obviously what they wear and so on. But personally, I love this period where Japanese and „western“ style first came together like this.
The story itself wasn’t really interesting to me, halfway through the show I didn’t even pay
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much attention to what was happening - until episode 8 or 9. The score is also just what I like, and even though the anime is mediocre, I’m starting to feel low-key obsessed with it. I don’t know, it’s romantic somehow. The way this anime looks, poets sitting in cafés, wearing suits and Kimono, the change of the seasons, talking about friendship, accompanied by soft piano and dramatic strings. I just like that.
This whole mystery-solving thing is just something that also happens. It’s not a good detective show. I think a lot of people will like this on an emotional level, but I can’t really say it’s good. The story (or stories) as a whole seem not very well thought out (at least in this adaptation) and might as well not happen. This is how I felt, at least.
Thank you for your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 15, 2020
This chapter is part of Takemiya’s 1991 art book, umi no tenshi.
It takes place three years after the events of the manga. Serge makes a brief appearance, but the story focuses on Jules and Rosmariné, who meet after three years at one of Serge’s performances.
I feel like the Jules and Rosmariné were quite popular characters, so it makes sense to devote another chapter to them. In it, we learn how the two met, how their complicated relationship developed and where they stand now.
This chapter obviously can’t be seen as a stand alone work, since you need to have an understanding of the two
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and everything that happened. Even though it was short, it was very enjoyable. Plus, the illustrations in the first half of the art book are gorgeous, as expected from Takemiya, so I would encourage everyone to buy it should you get the chance. The illustrations include characters from other popular works by the author.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 19, 2020
When I was looking through the seasonal anime list, this thing caught my eye. Why? Because I speak German and reading the ridiculous name (Miguel Offenbarung Dunkelheit) of one of the main character’s alter ego, I had to laugh, so I watched it. Now on to the review.
This was a decent and rather wholesome anime.
The main character, Koyuki aka. ‚Gestöber‘ is an average, boring guy. He just wants to live a normal life and study to reach his dream, but crazy chuunibyou kids won’t leave him alone. Very simple premise. Koyuki tries not to get involved with them, pities them, thinks they are childish
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and also the reason for his average/worsening grades. He blames those guys for everything going wrong in his life. The thing, though, is that those guys are actually doing quite well in their own lives, and it’s not that they want to make Koyuki’s life a living hell, but just want to be friends with him.
Throughout the series, Koyuki doesn’t seem to have any real friends, his grades were never good to begin with and his personality is plain (no hobbies or interests, he even has a Nice Guy moment in the show, cursing good looking people for no reason etc.) Despite all that, he can’t seem to appreciate the fact that people are trying to be there for him and put effort into making his life more fun - carefree days won’t last forever, right? He thinks he’s better than everyone without even realizing, he doesn’t really care about anyone (if he hurts somebody, he will make it up to them so he won’t feel guilty about it) yet he acts as if he didn’t need to be surrounded by childish idiots, even though really he is the child, not appreciating and accepting people (I mean, not once did he even wish for more normal friends or anything, he is completely self-involved)
Not a lot really stands out here, but I liked the fact that the ‚weird kids‘ were portrayed as the more normal or sane ones, if you think about it. Koyuki is a boring guy, but he seems bitter, even at his young age (bitter is not the same as depressed) but the other guys want to live life to its fullest, and involving Koyuki is kind of like their gift to them. They know that life is hard, but that’s exactly why they don’t want to give up entirely on their inner child, something Koyuki seems more than willing to do. Society, especially in Japan, can be really unforgiving, and while the chuunibyou kids strive to change the world, Koyuki won’t even waste a thought on things like that. Also, Koyuki is literally the only person who despises those kids, the rest of the class just laugh with them and play along with their phantasies, more or less.
Each time a new weird kid gets introduced, Koyuki acts as if it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Miguel to find a friend, although that is not the case at all. If anything, Koyuki should be thinking that way about himself.
The comedy was fine, obviously depending on your humor, you might find this show stupid or hilarious. As is often the case, especially with comedy, a lot got lost in translation (word plays, role-language etc.) Personally, I had to laugh quite a few times.
Rating it a 6 is not something bad. Keep in mind, it is still above average. It’s completely decent. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, maybe, but to some I would, yes. It’s not very ‚good‘ or original, but that’s OK, too. It’s good to relax sometimes.
Btw, I feel like maybe ‚cute‘ stories of friendship between guys aren’t very popular among the male demographic, maybe. Had this been a Manga/Anime about girls, more people would probably like it. That's just a thought.
Thank you for your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 12, 2020
Most of you, I assume, already know that this OVA is based on a 17-volume Manga (well if you didn’t know, now you do) so having this be only 1 hour was gonna make me skeptical.
Anyways, since the Manga isn’t fully translated (which is honestly outrageous) I can only imagine that not a lot of people outside of Japan have read the whole thing (correct me if I’m wrong) Having read all volumes, I feel like this OVA is really for fans of the Manga who know what’s gonna happen.
Aside from the obvious fact that this OVA was way too short for the whole story,
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I’m a bit confused as to which scenes the producers chose to animate. Like, I’m not really sure what they wanted to tell us, but I guess they wanted to focus on how the relationship between Serge and Gilbert developed, but they way they ended it seems like they just ‚got together in the end‘ when in reality, this is like 1/4 of the story. Again, I know it’s too short for the whole story. Maybe it was indeed more like a trailer for the Manga?
It’s just strange to me that they put in a single shot as a hint of how the story in the Manga is gonna end, but if you didn’t read it, it’s just really confusing. They hint at the weird relationship with Auguste, they hint at the end, at sorrows in the future, then ends.
My point is: as a stand-alone anime, I’d be like…what. It’s hard for me to understand the thoughts of people who have only seen this OVA (I don’t mean this in a offensive way at all, I’m saying I can’t forget the Manga while watching this so it’s harder to judge this on its own) I really hope more people will read the Manga after seeing this.
The animation itself was fine (not everyone likes older Anime, I personally like it a lot) and as true to the Manga as it could get, I think. The backgrounds and buildings were especially beautiful. The music itself I also liked, except that I personally expected something more melancholic (especially for Gilbert) but fine.
All in all, it’s a ‚trailer‘, in my opinion, or bonus material for fans of the Manga.
Thank you for your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 2, 2020
[contains minor spoilers]
Before I get into my thoughts on this manga, I would like to address the concerns people have about the nature of some of the themes here. I very much agree with Oscar Wilde when he said that there are no moral or immoral books - they are either well written or they aren’t. That being said, I have no problems with the things I encounter in fiction at all. Especially in this Manga, which is loaded with things that I wouldn’t tolerate for a second should I happen to encounter them in real life.
That being said: I fell in love with this
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Manga, so my review will be heavily biased. When somethings stirs something in you, it’s hard to stay completely objective, although I will try my best to do so. You may want to keep that in mind should you decide to continue reading this review.
This Manga almost seems like it was written for me - meaning, it has a lot of elements I always look for or dream about, so seeing something so ‚dreamlike‘ in the real world, I got excited.
Set in one of my favorite historical periods (fin de siècle) in France, I expected a regular love story between two teenagers. It’s an all-boys school, so what else would happen, right? Well, to a degree, it is what happens, but the road to that is hard and long with no end in sight, and even when you think that they have finally reached their destination, this element of the story isn’t even half of what this story is about. Let me elaborate by talking about our two main characters for a bit.
Gilbert - he is the ultimate manifestation of addiction and fear. He has no sense of self since he was raised to be nothing more than a pet, causing him to lose himself in what he considers freedom - music, alcohol, dreams and of course, ‚love‘. He can’t be alone for a reasonable amount of time, and when he doesn’t get what he feels he needs, he will do anything to get it, anything - even if it inflicts pain on those the claims to love. The way he has been treated and continues to be treated by basically anybody other than Serge seems to only reinforce his idea that this is just the way things are. He can’t change. He doesn’t want to change, he wouldn’t mind staying like this forever, since reality is too much for him to handle anyways. The eternal boy.
Serge has always been a serious boy who is used to putting effort into everything he does. He soon realizes that being with Gilbert is to abandon everything - his dreams, his friends, his future. He suffers, but can’t leave Gilbert. Only when he realizes that he can’t catch this bird that is Gilbert, he sees himself forced to give up. Serge wants to save Gilbert and live a normal life with him, but Gilbert is not somebody who is willing to give up on his ways. Gilbert would be fine living like he did with Auguste (I’ll be damned if that man wasn’t modeled after Franz Liszt) except less cruel. Serge tries to provide Gilbert with a certain lifestyle, but to do that, he has to work and constantly suffer at the hands of his surroundings. Life with Gilbert makes him miserable, but he tolerates it for this impossible love. Each time there is a glimmer of hope, something goes wrong and it all has to do with Gilbert. Now, at the time, homosexuality was not considered a crime under the Code Napoléon, but that doesn’t mean that society did not frown upon such things nevertheless. He knows in his heart that there is no future for them, not only because they are both male, but because of Gilbert’s nature. Serge knows from his own father that you sometimes have to throw away everything you hold dear to be with the one you love, but unlike his father, Serge’s partner isn’t willing to do, well, anything. Gilbert doesn’t seem to care if he lives or dies, and Serge alone can’t take the burden which is both of their lives.
The story can get really over the top sometimes and a lot of the time, the character’s actions are completely unreasonable. In that regard, the story is a bit flawed and takes away from the realism for me, but in the end, I honestly didn’t mind that much because I got so emotionally involved in it. The main point, to me, is shattered hopes and dreams, and it can’t be helped that they do. It’s ultimately about the death of youth. It’s a classic tragedy.
Needless to say, I personally love the art. It's melancholic and beautiful.
This Manga just got me. It's an emotional thing, so I'm not sure how else to talk about it at the moment.
Thank you for your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 29, 2020
On my search for good or better BL, I came across this Manga a few years ago.
After having dropped it at Volume 4, I finally managed to finish it. It is with great pain that I gave this Manga a 6, but after careful consideration, I thought wow, this Manga actually IS above average, considering the amount of pure garbage in the realm of BL Manga (or Manga in general, for that matter)
The story was actually intriguing, which is why I started reading it in the first place. It was still relatively unknown back then and I was honestly shocked when I found out
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that it kind of blew up in, well, ‚the community‚‘, I suppose? Anyways, I was prepared for a slow-paced and intense drama, only for it going downhill after a few chapters. I can honestly not comprehend how anyone involved with this Manga thought that this sort of pacing was good.
The direction in which the Manga headed soon became, in every sense of the word, inappropriate. Obviously when reading Yaoi there are certain things you expect. That’s fine, otherwise I wouldn’t read it. My problem is that it was way, way too soon. It's like the Mangaka suddenly remembered that this was supposed to be porn, so she better get to it somehow, who cares what else happens. In the beginning, I felt for Shirotani. I found the portrayal of his condition somewhat realistic, so I braced myself for witnessing his struggle to overcome it, only to solve it in a manner that is nothing short of maddening. The story was completely rushed. Given the title, I thought they would spend more time focusing on each point on the list but they didn’t. They come back to it every once in a while but that’s it. The character’s reasoning behind their actions is also completely incomprehensible. In the end, it’s just another unrealistic, pseudo-psychological BL with relatively decent art.
I’d recommend it if you enjoy smut with a little bit of story, but if you -like me - expected actual depth, I wouldn’t.
Thank you for your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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