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Well, well, I've finished reading Nagatoro.

Previously, I kept coming across comments about Nagatoro being almost over the top cringe-worthy, and, spoiler alert, that's far from true.

The two main characters are absolutes of their own archetype, the oyasha and the sadistic athlete, aka Naoto (paisem) and Hayase. The gist (plot) of this romcom is simple, Naoto is weak but a dreamer, and Hayase likes that. How do you show your love? That's right - to beat your lover with feet and hands. How should you respond to these provocations? Right - to weep and begin to bend under the girl, gradually changing his position ... in this sadomasahistic hierarchy.

What did the past hentai artist who drew hentai want to say? Love does wonders to change people. Naoto went from a wimp to a gigachad and started dating the girl of his dreams.... Six years after the manga was released.

Oh, okay. Long story short, I don't understand the motive of this piece at all except for the usual reader reaction to default romcom. Naoto at the beginning of the piece, although he was a wimp, was also a loner and a dreamer, which I for one don't see as something bad. But the author of the manga thinks otherwise, he thinks it's bad. You're a loner, so you're a sucker, but here's a girl from heaven who will fall in love with you and change you for the "better", that's the gusto, and I don't think it's right.

Apart from the main characters, there are a lot of other characters in this manga, Nagatoro's brother and sister, Nagatoro's trio of girlfriends, Naoto's comrades and his art club, the judo guys (which includes Nagatoro). The abundance of characters is good, but there is one flaw here, the characters have absolutely no development. What we see them as at the beginning is what they remain until the end. Everyday life, of course, does not imply a coordinate change of the characters, but against the background of the main characters characters begin to get lost and, personally, I get bored and sometimes annoyed.

Otherwise, I want to say that this is a fairly ordinary romantic comedy koih a lot. There are a lot of minuses, but, at the same time, Naoto really went through major changes in his character, which, in principle, was interesting to watch. The manga can be read once, but it doesn't do much more than that. And yes, it's an average level of cringe, I've seen worse.

The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil is when you make an intriguing start, but then take things up a notch with an empty romcom.

Children's Playground Entertainment is a relatively young studio, founded in 2010, but it's had a hand in all manner of terrible content, whether it's producing the first season of The Fruit of Evolution, whose quality and content I'll probably keep quiet about, or more recently creating an adaptation of Saihate no Paladin, which was another bad isekai. And now, CPE has decided to redeem itself to the audience by releasing a manga adaptation called The Foolish Angel Dances with the ... Devil by Sawayoshi Azuma. Surprisingly involved in this whole mess were director Itsurou Kawasaki, one of his past works being the hilarious The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting, and the three executive producers of Classroom of the Elite, who also became executive producers of this adaptation.

Masatora Akutsu is a demon from Hell, and he arrives on Earth to find a charismatic face to use against fighting heavenly forces. And how unlucky he is to stumble upon Lily Amane, an angel who coincidentally becomes his classmate at school. After revealing her trump cards, a battle ensued, the outcome of which was the angel enslaving the poor demon and putting a collar around his neck. Such a sad and sadistic outcome. From then on, poor Akutsu must obey Amane, or else who knows what will happen to him.


The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil is accompanied by a lot of jokes and comedy, reminiscent of the other comedy manga "Kanan-sama Is Easy as Hell" where a demoness arrives at school and makes a love contract with a student. But here the jokes completely interrupt the whole plot and they look too ridiculous and vulgar, in addition, they overlap each other because of which you do not understand the situation at all. The humour is spoiled by the fact that it takes place in scenes with the main characters, who are not at all sympathetic. Masatora Akutsu is a demon, but by nature he's a weakling and a heel for Lily Amane - a sadist by nature, and the author, Sawayoshi Azuma, really hopes to evoke sympathy with this? Yes, and not only that, because it's also a romantic comedy. I appreciate the concept of love between two opposite people, such as in the sweet romance Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet, but in Foolish Angel Dances you don't believe in this love between a weakling and a sadistic woman, and because of all the stupidity you stop believing in the existence of funny humour and the rest of the interesting story. The only thing that comes to the rescue of this show is the elements of drama, which at least a little help to cool down the viewer's ardour, but, alas, it's too much.

On the plus side, I'd like to highlight the rather nice drawing and smooth animation. The elaboration of the backgrounds is also done to perfection, especially in the school scenes. Also, the opening "Otowa" by Taiyō to Odore, Tsukiyo ni Utae is quite nice and atmospheric, as if you're plunging into a normal everyday life without demons and angels. Ending "Gift" by Kaori Ishihara is unremarkable, it's quite ordinary.

Children's Playground Entertainment's attempt at redemption may be considered a failure, but based on the events of the source material and the last few episodes, the sequel may be quite good, but the beginning of this romantic story, at least, was worse than average.

The girls of Hokkaido are freaky, and you have no idea how much.....

...inaccurately this expression is conveyed by the manga adaptation of Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi, written by Kai Ikada, a native of Hokkaido, Japan's second largest island, where the plot of this animanga is set. The winter season pleased us with a lot of great...NO! Great ecchi, but we didn't get much romance, although the sequel "The Dangers in My Heart" turned out to be great, but that's another story.... But according to the laws of universal balance, for every very good show there is on average one not so good show, and ... Dosanko Gal was one of them.

The main character, Tsubasa Shibi, follows his father to Hokkaido from Tokyo. Cold weather, a different culture, new food, all of this is gradually introduced to him by Minami Fuyuki, a gyaru Tsubasa met at a bus stop. But new conditions are not the only thing she introduces him to, she also introduces him to herself by flirting, which surprises the unhappy young man. Tsubasa is clearly unhappy with Fuyuki's easy behaviour, but if he had known that she is not the only girl from Hokkaido who can show interest in him....

This show is not rich in interesting characters. Even though it's everyday life, Kai Ikada fails to convey the motivation of each character. Seriously, why does Fuyuki like Tsubasa? She's a popular girl at school, she has a lot of friends, but at first sight she liked a shy guy who didn't stand out at all. When I said "didn't stand out" I meant didn't stand out at all to the audience or the girls on the show. Wakana from My Dress-Up Darling is a skilled craftsman who knows his craft. Naoya from Kanojo mo Kanojo is a straightforward guy, careful to keep his promises, albeit skirting the rules. And what about Tsubasa? He's a wastrel who can't do anything but blush at common words and faint at a woman's touch, and three beautiful girls have shown interest in him? As for them, that is:
Minami Fuyuki is the main gyaru of the tittle. Possessor of lush breasts and a lush mum, who became the best woman in the show. A la Marin Kitagawa, but unlike her, she flirts with the main character from the very first seconds of meeting him, rather than the next few days. She has problems with her studies.
Sayuri Akino is a sweaty girl who likes to play video games. Disconnected from the group. In general, she is better than Fuyuki, because unlike her, she is more reserved and determined.
Rena Natsukawa is an excellent student who loves history and reading books. She is as determined as Akino, but more communicative and quiet.
For all their richness, none of them have any real reason to like Tsubasa, but Kai Ikada has other thoughts on the matter that I can't share in any way.

Every attempt by the author to inject some drama into the story turns out to be a case of beating around the bush more and more intensely each time. The secondary characters, who appear out of nowhere and disappear to nowhere, and, unlike the main characters, they are not only unmotivated, but also unremembered. What was the name of Sayuri's friend, anyone remember?

I commend Mirai Minato and Misuzu Hoshino for the fresh breath of adaptation, but the animation and music are worthy of praise. The "Namaramenkoi Gyaru" endings are energetic and moving, if the adaptation had been more successful these dances could have really blown up TikTok like the dances from the Wotaku endings. The "Wayawayawa-!" ending shows each of the three heroines in turn, looking at the audience as if breaking through a fourth wall.

After watching this show I decided to compare it to the manga so that I wouldn't be disappointed in the directing of the adaptation, and my verdict is that Mirai and Misuzu did a great job, but their work has a weak source material. I think Kai Ikada better start writing ecchi where it's not the size of the heart that matters, but what's on the "top of the heart".

Are you tired at your unloved job? Do you want to take a vacation? Or maybe you also want to relax watching anime? Then Mr. Villain's Day Off will be a real silver mine for you, and if you also like pandas, it will even become a gold mine.

The Slice of Life genre has been changing the concept from anime to anime for years, but the essence of the genre remains the same - to relax the viewer and take his mind off the murders, fights and other elements show's on which you need to focus and turn on your brain. There are works ... such as Tanaka-kun, which are full of everyday routine, and in their center of attention are the most ordinary schoolchildren, and around the "plot" reigns carefree school atmosphere and various funny situations. However, some authors have picked up on a detail that makes Slice of Life even more comedic, as was the case with Great Teacher Onizuka. The detail lies in the conflicting image of a bully or villain and everyday life with the same funny situations. So starting in 2018, a manga started appearing on the Pixiv website with the title Mr. Villain's Day Off and its writer was Yuu Morikawa, a young mangaka who loves quiet stories, such as his work The Night and Noon's Delicious Time about two different people living together.

Back to Mr. Villain's Day Off, it's pointless to write about the plot, it's not important. The protagonist is Warumono-san and he is a general of the evil forces that seeks to destroy all mankind and take over the Earth. But not today! After all, the forces of evil also have days off, and even the most badass villain needs a rest. The show itself is a "situation comedy", a show consisting of a large number of short films unrelated to each other in terms of plot and meaning. It is a set of cute stories that make Warumono-san gradually realize the beauty of human society, its love and happiness, and the villain himself becomes comfortable with it. In addition, the villain's heart is enslaved by...PANDA PANDA PANDA PANDA. Watching this show be ready to die from the cuteness of pandas, the abundance of which is many times more than the number of animals on Discovery. Even the absolute evil will melt at the sight of pandas, and this is a fact. The humor here is quite the opposite, so if you expect the same humor as in the famous Gokushufudou manga, you won't find it here, because Mr. Villain's is just a nice show with a calm atmosphere and cute pandas.

In addition to Warumono-san and the pandas themselves, Yuu Morikawa gradually introduces us to three types of secondary characters. These are villains like Warumono, such as the jolly Rooney or the powerful Trigger with a talking name. There are also people called rangers, referring to the Power Rangers series, and these guys live a peaceful life but do not forget to fight evil, their names are based on the color of the suit Red, Blue, Black, Pink and two little Green. Also in each episode there are ordinary people, thanks to the influence of which Warumono becomes more human.

The duo of two studios Shin-Ei and SynergySP turned out to be quite good, which is to be expected. The director of the anime adaptation is Yoshinori Odaka, a man who started out directing some episodes of Naruto and Teacher Onizuka and ended up with the abysmal work on Bem and the Mr. Osomatsu parody. Let's consider it a redemption of sorts, though it doesn't take much talent to create an adaptation of a show of this format.

The music in the adaptation is fairly calm. Ivudot's opening Yūho splash screen is too quiet, unlike Glasgow's Kyūsoku Jūden closing splash screen, as if, lol, they were really confused. It's also notable that the opening splash screen starts right at the beginning of the episode, which is consistent with the content of multiple short films in one episode.

I'll finish my review with an interesting fact about pandas: The panda's main occupation is eating. This process takes about 12 hours each day. If, while eating, you want to watch a quiet show and just relax without getting into the plot, I'll re-recommend Mr. Villain's Day Off.

"A Sign of Affection - Love is as blind as it can be deaf. What is love? Would you like me to explain it to you? *extending my hand forward in a "like" gesture*. This simple "like" gesture also means "good."

We all know that love comes in many different forms. Some love their extended family, some love watching anime, and some love their partner and love looking at the starry sky with them in their arms while on a date. Sometimes, talking to people on the subject of love, the question arises "can all people love"? And no, there is no acute question of asexuality ... of a person, but the question is "is every person worthy of love?". I hope everyone agrees with me that absolutely all people are worthy of love. People with all kinds of problems are worthy of love, be it poverty, complexity of character, or any health problems. However, in such a situation, it becomes very difficult to find your favorite person. To find a person who will accept your problem. It is one thing when you find your love and then there is an obstacle, as was the case with the real person Stephen Hawking, an English cosmologist. Stephen met and married Jane before he became disabled. Despite her infirmity Jane stayed with Stephen and they had a really strong love. But today's heroine from the shoujo "A Sign of Affection" was disabled from birth, and she deserved love as well.

The girl's name was Yuki Itose, and she had been deaf since birth to the point where even a hearing aid couldn't help her. Different from most people, the girl was locked in her inner world, closed off from sounds and many other possibilities. She grew up, went to school, has a best friend Rin Fujishiro, and her hobbies include studying and social networking. But the girl wanted to learn about the world as much as possible, and everything changed when she met a guy on the bus who helped her deal with a misunderstanding foreigner. After chatting, the girl fell in love with the guy, and he, in turn, expressed a desire to learn sign language to make it easier to communicate with Yuki.

"Let me into your world" - those were the words of the same guy, with the name Itsuomi Nagi.

Love is a state in which both partners have to help each other and bail each other out in a variety of circumstances. Itsose was locked in his inner world and due to deafness couldn't change his situation, while Nagi had the opposite situation - he was liberated in the outer world. He had traveled the world and never had trouble communicating, but meeting Itose made him realize that he didn't have to fly anywhere to get to know the world better, because the other world was just around the corner. Suu Morishita, the mangaka, wanted to show that a person's inner world can be much more interesting than the outer world. Especially when it is the inner world of a deaf girl who wants to know everything as best as possible. Many people compare this show to Koe no Katachi, a work that needs no introduction. But this is fundamentally wrong, for all that these two works have in common is a deaf-mute girl and the romance genre. If A Sign of Affection is an innocent shoujo romance, then Koe no Katachi is a deep psychology, showing the cruelty of people to people who are different, and showing the law "a boomerang thrown always returns" in all its glory. Looking at A Sign of Affection I would like to say that it is the most usual romance for girls with an innocent girl and a formidable guy, as it usually happens in shoujo, but with its own exceptional zest.

The manga A Sign of Affection began publication in Kodansha's Dessert magazine, one of the most popular women's shoujo magazines in July 2019. An anime adaptation of the television series premiered in January 2024, produced by Ajia-do Animation Works, a relatively old studio but with a small body of work. The director was Yūta Murano, a man who had worked within the same studio on projects like Kakushigoto or Seven Days War, and he managed to prove his love for good animation by producing such good works.

Ajia-do had quite a challenge for the animators to make the hand movements of the characters as smooth as possible, it's a very important detail after all. And oh yes, the animators coped with it, the movements were smooth and graceful, in addition, the picture itself turned out to be atmospheric and colorful, and the design of the characters looks attractive.

The musical accompaniment was rather inconspicuous, not counting the atmospheric guitar performance of Novelbright's "Yuki no Ne" as the opening splash screen, and ChoQMay's "Snowspring". And the former showed off their high performance skills as early as the main Ao no Orchestra theme.

People are different, but everyone deserves love, and A Sign of Affection takes care of that.
A Sign of Affection is careful to uphold this rule. It may seem like a typical shoujo romance, but it's still a very sweet romance that makes you want to forget about all the bad things that happen in the world.

Fullmetal Alchemist held the top position in MyAnimeList's anime top for quite an impressive amount of time, but it wasn't to be, the Sousou no Frieren adaptation was released, and now it's taking the heated spot at the top of the top. But why? What happened? Is Frienen really such a masterpiece show to hold the top spot for the entire release? Let's try to figure out what makes this show so good, and what its flaws are.

Fantasy is one of the most popular genres in both the animanga and movie worlds, often rivaling comedy in popularity. Its appeal lies in its ability to transport ... viewers to imaginary and magical worlds filled with fantastic creatures, epic quests, and unusual abilities. Fantasy is characterized by elements such as magic, mythical creatures and otherworlds, and offers viewers an escape from reality and an exploration of limitless possibilities beyond the constraints of the everyday world. But what else is characteristic of such a genre? Surely you as a child have heard tales of knights destroying dragons to save princesses, or for example, watched anime on TV where the main character strives to become the strongest in the world or strives to become a pirate king. The heroes have a main goal. But what if I told you that the show could be interesting if the main character has already achieved the goal at the beginning? Someone would probably laugh and say, "Nonsense, how can such a show be interesting? After all, we watch and enjoy the characters fulfill their dreams and achieve their goals. How can that be interesting?" And one talented man by the name of Kanehito Yamada answers this complex question with his simple answer of "yes, it can". Another popular genre is loved by those who want to enjoy a piece of work in peace and quiet over a cup of coffee, and that genre is called Slice of Life. Peaceful life, routine. What if I told you that fantasy could be combined with ordinary routine life and it would be interesting? Is that even possible? Once again, Kanehito Yamada along with his partner Tsukasa Abe the illustrator answers with the same simple answer of "yes, it can".

A little background. Sousou no Frieren is a manga created by these two people. It has been published since April 2020 in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday by Shogakukan Publishing. By December 2023, the manga had a circulation of over 17 million, and has won many awards, including the second place in the top 2021 best manga for men by Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The anime adaptation, produced by Madhouse Studios, premiered in September 2023 as a two-hour special on Nippon Television's Kin'yō Road Show. This program usually features feature-length films, and Frieren was the first anime series ever to make it there, which is already incredible. It was directed by Keiichiro Saito. But what's even more incredible is that Sousou no Frieren is a work where the fantasy genre and the Slice of Life genre don't alternate, but live side by side, emphasizing each other's important features.

Sousou no Frieren follows the story of Frieren, an immortal elf wizard, as she journeys through different eras, witnessing the fleeting lives of her mortal companions. The plot revolves around Frieren's encounters with various individuals whom she befriends and eventually outlives, grappling with the transient nature of life and the bonds she forms along the way. The most beautiful aspect of Sousou no Frieren lies in its exploration of the philosophy of time and people's lives. Through Frieren's experiences, the show delves into the significance of mortality, the passage of time, and the impact of relationships. It poignantly portrays the bittersweet beauty of human existence, highlighting the importance of cherishing fleeting moments and forging meaningful connections despite the inevitability of parting ways.
Moreover, the use of flashbacks to their old friends, Himmel, Eisen, and Heiter, enriches the narrative by providing insight into the characters' backgrounds, motivations, and beautiful relationships. These flashbacks not only deepen the emotional resonance of the narrative, but also contribute to the development of the characters and their interconnectedness across different time periods.

With this approach, Sousou no Frieren couldn't help but have a lot of interesting characters with depth of personality.
Frieren — is a cute and young elf girl, but in reality she is also a powerful sorceress who has been defending her skills for very, very long years. A member of the hero Himmel's squad, and this is the same squad that defeated the Demon King. We all know that elves are almost immortal, and Frieren is no exception. She is a stranger to the concepts of human life and the rapid flow of time, a century seems to her an instant, and a millennium a minute. But a group of heroes managed to influence the elf with their love and kindness, and after the death of her friends in old age, she decided to learn as best as possible what human life is.
Fern — is a human, a sorceress, and Frieren's apprentice. She is an orphan from a southern country who lost her parents during the war and was about to commit suicide by jumping into a ravine, but was saved by Heiter, Frieren's friend, a priest and a member of the hero squad. Fern also becomes a very strong mage with a calm character, for, in fact, she was raised by Frieren.
Stark — is a human, a young warrior raised by Aizen, who replaces him in Frieren's new adventure, just as Fern can be said to replace Heiter's. Stark is a young lad with a mischievous character who has an important task to become a "lion" and an excellent warrior.
In the course of the story, this trio meets even more characters, each of whom is further revealed and has their own unique biography.

Speaking of this show, we shouldn't forget the fact that it remains a FANTASY. In addition to the fact that Kanehito Yamada has managed to reveal the world of Sousou no Frieren through a variety of characters and locations, the author has managed to implement a magic system and a list of different spells ranging from a spell that creates a field of flowers, ending with a spell that can kill the enemy. The spells are diverse, and MadHouse animation has made the battles with the use of these spells look spectacular and exciting, just as the battles in the first season of OPM from the same MadHouse studio were animated. The battles are not done in the style of "who had time to kill", but also involve the wit and logic of the opponents, as well as the choice of location for the battle.

One of the most distinctive things that the audience had a hard time not "noticing" about this show was the musical accompaniment. The music for the show was composed by Evan Call, a man who has also previously worked on music for anime such as Muv-Luv Alternative and Violet Evergarden, so yes, if you remember what music was in those shows, then you know that credit goes to this man. Evan is a native of the US who moved to Japan on a visa and started working there, a very talented man. The music in Frienen is very diverse, and fully reflects the essence of the events happening on the screen. It is under a calm and peaceful melody or the sound of a violin that the wordless inserts take place, filled with lamplessness and showing a lot of cute and funny scenes, as if it is a daily routine or discussion of some plan. During the battles, tense music is played, clearly setting the audience in a characteristic emotion. Special thanks to Yoasobi, Milet, and Yorushika for the opening and closing intros (the closing intro for the second half of the show features a different arrangement of the song from the first closing intro), which was excellent. Showing the characters to rhythmic and soft music was a very good idea for a show like this..

Sousou no Frieren is a really great show, and the critics touting it as something good are clearly not lying. Fantasy is a wonderful genre, but Sousou no Frieren brings it to life in a different way, with deep philosophical themes, battles between characters, a plot, and characters who each have their own story and personality. Sousou no Frieren deserves its greatness and excellent rating, well, and about the place in the top here you can argue and argue, but the fact, as they say, remains the fact.

Saitama kills his enemies with a single blow? Pfft, how about instant death with just a thought?

Superpowers. Superpowers range from the ability to ignite flames in the palm of your hand to the ability to destroy the universe at the snap of a finger. I bet that each of you at one time or another has wondered "what superpower would I want for myself?", I'm sure that most of you will give an answer on the level of "the ability to fly", or "the ability to pass through walls", or "the ability to see through clothes", it depends on how you look at it. But ... what if I told you that's nothing compared to the ability to kill with your mind? Hell, yes, it's impossible in our harsh real world where there's no trace of magic, but this is I-S-E-K-A-I, everything is real, you can get anything and become anything, even a slot machine like in Reborn as a Vending Machine or a dog in Inuhiro. As Polish writer Janusz Wisniewski said "When there is neither tea nor sugar in the cup, but only hot water, imagination and sense of humor help", and here the Japanese succeeded not worse than in the technical scale.

And what is the ability of Yogiri Takatou, the highlight of our program? It's incredibly simple, he can kill, and he kills with his mind. "Die," you're dead. It doesn't matter who you are, worker, dragon, God, you're dead. You'll probably say "that's too cheater", and yes, you'd be right, that's the comedy of this show and all its charm. Japanese humor knows no boundaries, and you'll understand it even after interacting with the people of the Land of the Rising Sun. This show plays humor to the degree of absurdity, a huge number of plot holes and atypical situations. If, for example, the show 2023 KamiKatsu ironizes the gods, here the author of the original (short story) named Tsuyoshi Fujitaka ironizes the characters' superpowers and personality. It's pointless to strain your brain twists and try to think about the plot here, lol, there isn't one. You have to laugh and relax, that's what the show's creators are counting on. So to all the boring guys who scream "The show is ridiculous and stupid!" I'll say this, go watch serious dramas and philosophize there. Every show has a purpose, and this show should make you laugh with its absurdity. It starts off in the spirit of a typical fantasy, schoolchildren out of the blue find themselves in another world where they get a power and a certain task. This is what happened to the Yogiri class during a bus ride. The guys got powers, cool! Not all of them however, for a small group of classmates got nothing, among them Yogiri and his loyal classmate friend named Tomochika. The class took off, leaving the guys behind as bait, but no such luck - Yogiri has the ability to kill. And now the plot splits into two camps, on one side are the classmates with basic abilities, and on the other side are Yogiri and Tomochika who are hanging out in a new world and, you could say, acting as travelers.

A novella with that screaming title «My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me!» was released from 2016 to 2023 on the Shōsetsuka ni Nar website, and just think, it has 14 volumes and 341 chapters, unbelievable, for that many chapters the protagonist just had to solve the issue of overpopulation of our planet with the ability. Now we are presented with an anime adaptation by Okuruto Noboru directed by Masakazu Hishida, who has joined the same studio and in the spring season we are waiting for his next work with Okuruto, which is an adaptation of the manhwa Kenka Dokugaku.

The animation turned out to be a bit sparse, as well as the musical component. If the creators of KamiKatsu made horrible graphics their humorous highlight, then in My Instant Death Ability the creators tried to make a beautiful picture, which they failed. The backgrounds are nothing, and the drawing is extremely simple. A pretty picture is not necessary for a parody like this, but it still makes a difference in the show. Music. I especially liked the opening title track, the song "Killer Bars" performed by Hilcrhyme, which is fun and upbeat.

From one point of view of humor this show looks great, many moments were unexpected and therefore funny, but still the work lacks some comedic originality. The vulgar jokes on the background of jokes about the main character's strength look absurd, and some flashbacks from the past are superfluous. Let these scenes clarify the situation, but chasing two birds at the same time in the adaptation did not work. Anyway, parodies are good, but with this development of events in the future we will see more parodies and parodies on parodies. Die.

Well, the season of "I want to be a slave to Makima" has come to an end, the era of "I want to be a slave to Tenka" has begun, and femdom fans are back to their old ways....

If you know anything about the world of animanga, you probably know or have at least heard once about such a popular person as Takahiro, a man whose type I call an "idea generator". Takahiro is the author of several manga and short stories, including popular works such as Akame ga Kill! or Yuuki Yuuna Is a Hero. However, bloody fantasy and maho-shojo is not the only ... thing that this brilliant man can produce, because Takahiro knows all the delights that can appeal to readers, mostly Japanese. In 2007, for example, he co-wrote with Makoto Kanata the visual novel Kimiaru, a work where the story centers on a brother and sister who become the servants of three girls and, yes, yes, it's harem and ecchi, just the way we like it. Then, a year later, Takahiro took part in writing the script for the anime adaptation of the same Kimiaru from A.C.G.T Studios. And so, starting in 2019, Takahiro began releasing his ecchi shounen manga "Chained Soldier" in collaboration with artist Youhei Takemura, and then the announcement of an anime adaptation from Seven Arcs came out, with Junji Nishimura stepping in as director, taking a vacant slot between the two seasons of The Fire Hunter. And AT-X TV rewarded viewers with an uncensored screening of the show.

Yuki Wakura, the protagonist, has the unheard-of luck to find himself in another dimension filled with monsters ready to crawl out through the opening gates to the real world. In order to keep the real world safe from the threat, the dimension has created squads of female warriors who fight the monsters with their abilities, while living in the same world in their spare time as if nothing had happened. Wakura was in the middle of a gate and almost got killed, but Kyouka Uzen, the leader of the seventh monster-fighting squad, came to his rescue. She rescued him and made him a slave, recognizing his potential. After becoming a slave, the boy acquired the ability to turn into a large demon, supporting in such a state warrior girls as a reward for...erotic desires. Thus began the story of the slave Wakura, burning desire to fight monsters and the desire to become a hero with a lot of rewards in the form of sexy girls.

Chained Soldier is notable for the fact that it combines a lot of erotic moments, clearly dividing the line between an interesting plot and the whole vulgar part of the show. The picture is full of battles between the characters and their relationship with each other, and the fanservice desired by many remains as a cherry on this sweet cake. And the fanservice is really not based on the level of casual poses or showing underwear, but on various fetishes, I'm sorry, but I won't list them, you have to see it for yourself. The show also has a large number of female protagonists, among whom the brightest stands out a person with the name Tenka Izumo - a short-haired captain of the sixth squad, which, by the way, according to the results of the vote among readers took the leading place among the most popular characters of the manga. She is a cunning and charming girl who at first treated Wakura as a pet, not just a slave. And there are tons of such lovely characters in the show, as it's also a harem.

Seven Arcs and the animators are to be thanked for the spectacular and special effects, but still it was not enough for such work, especially the CGI graphics of the monsters in the second half of the anime, which apparently wanted to save the budget, but it turned out a bit crooked. Erotic scenes, in turn, shown in the adaptation are depicted worse than in the manga, although they appear in color with a couple of new angles.

Takahiro's manga can definitely be called ecchi with a good plot, while the adaptation by Seven Arcs can be understood as a good advertisement of the source material, which I, again, highly recommend to read. But still it's nice that the beginning of 2024 pleased us with ecchi shows, because the previous year was rather poor in this respect.

Ishura - to fight to the bitter end, however who expected the ending to be just that?

Meatgrinder, aka Battle royale, is a trope/genre that was popularized by Mirai Nikki and the Koushun Takami manga with the identical title in its heyday. Each author has a different take on this type of genre, but basically it's about creating a situation with a large number of characters who for some reason must survive and reduce their numbers as the story progresses. So what makes the difference between a good Battle Royale and a bad Battle Royale? Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet and take ... a look at two shows: Jigokuraku (aka Hell's Paradise), which got an anime adaptation in 2023, and a new show called Ishura, which we were treated to this past 2024 season.

Ishura emerged as a web novel in 2017, and was even later acquired by ASCII Media Works under the guise of "Dengeki no Shin Bungei". The author of this creation is Keiso, a man who would go on to release a couple other works such as Gekitou in the future. Ishura received a warm welcome before the anime adaptation was announced, receiving good comments from critics, and in 2023 it was finally announced as an anime, produced by Passione, directed by Takeo Takahashi, and animated by Sanzigen, a studio that specializes in CGI graphics.

Ishura is about creatures with powerful abilities that can be compared to demigods and even gods. The Demon King has been killed, but by whom - it is unknown. Now the now wandering souls of the heroes (aka Shuras) are free to do whatever they please, but the question of "who killed the Demon King" becomes cancerous for them, to the point that they decide to organize a contest like a gladiator battle to find out the true identity of the winner. Well, at least that's what Keiso, the author of the work, willed. The first season of the anime adaptation will adapt the first volume of the novel, and will focus on the story's characters and the political conflict between the Golden Capital and the self-proclaimed new principality of Lithia. There is no main character in this story, the plot focuses on all the characters, some of whom get screen time and reveal in an entire episode, as if to save their time. Accompanied by solving two major problems, solving a political dispute and finding Keiso's true hero, we are "very happy", I heartily apologize for the quotation marks, with battles as it should be.... battle royale?

So, yes, Ishura is Battle Royale, and essentially the entire plot is a subplot to keep the viewer and reader in a state of anticipation of bloody battles and unforeseen moments. Battle Royale is good in that it allows the author to introduce a huge number of different characters and intelligently pit them against each other without depriving the rights of the target audience to enjoy the plot component at the same time. I'll call it the formula for a successful Battle Royale: spectacular battles + competent plot = good Battle Royale. For a perfect battle royale it is also necessary to have a logical conclusion of battles, balance, variety of characters, sharpness of the plot, but you do not think that all this is not in Ishura? Well, I won't be ironic, half of these things are really there. Back to the formula, does Ishura have the two main elements for a good battle royale? A competent plot is in place, even if it is a bit too rushed. The author brings us up to speed and does it very quickly, as if he is in a hurry, which makes our heads muddle after the first episodes. Spectacular battles? And there it is - the Achilles' heel of this show. Good battle royale must give the consumer a lot of emotions from battles, because that is the beauty of the genre. Starting to consume the product you bet on your favorite characters, which after a while begin to collide with each other, from which the viewer's eyes literally begin to move apart. In contrasting Jigokuraku I was not mistaken about this, for this work observes two factors of the formula of "good battle royale". The heroes, having appeared on the island with the purpose of fulfillment of the task, collide with each other spectacularly showing their skills and skills of battles, though the main character, Gabimaru, was made horribly invincible. Ishura, on the other hand, leaves you anticipating the same thing - but ends up doing exactly the opposite. Instead of spectacular battles, we literally get death with a single blow. Predictable? Hell no, but how frustrating it can be. The show is able to reveal a character over the course of an entire episode, only to end up with no trace of him in a measly few minutes. Keiso may have been going for realism, but Battle Royale isn't about realism, it's about spectacle. Imagine if on a gladiatorial battlefield everything would end with one blow, would the audience like it? I doubt it. As a bottom line, Ishura has a good story, but as a source of epicness the show is very weak.

Omitting the moments with battles I want to highlight the excellent work of the previously mentioned Sanzigen and animators, the picture is colorful and CGI animation is smooth and good. Character design is done at an excellent level, for which first of all we should praise Keiso. Each character has some zest in his appearance, thanks to which he stands out so well.

The musical accompaniment in this show is worth a special attention, but the fact that such a musical potential was mercilessly drained is worth the tears shed. Throughout the episodes, there are various musical compositions that reflect the emotion of the scene well, and this is a credit to Masahiro Tokuda, the man who also wrote music for shows like Deca-Dence and Platinum End. The opening splash screen of Sajou no Hana's "Shura ni Otoshite" shows all the characters in turn, and is generally good, I especially liked the wyvern scene. Konomi Suzuki's "Hakka" was also good, but it wasn't too memorable or special.

To summarize, I'd like to say two of the most obvious things at this point about a show like Ishura. Battle Royale is a very handy tool for an author, but even with a hammer you need to know how to hammer nails so that they don't stick out crooked. I won't be pessimistic, but I don't have any hopes for a spectacular sequel, especially considering that there are already 10(!) volumes in the novel, it's scary to imagine where Keiso's imagination has gone. And the second most obvious thing is that if they would translate the rest of the volumes into English as soon as possible, it would be fun to see what would come out of it.

Paradox Live - let's set our hearts on fire with music, just don't take it literally!

If you're even a little bit interested in Japanese hip-hop, you've probably heard about such a great project as Paradox Live, aka Paralive, created jointly by Avex Pictures and GCREST recently, in 2019. The project is essentially a rap battle between members of different teams, voiced by 29 (so far) voice actors including Gakuto Kajiwara, Ayumu Murase, Natsuki Hanae (Tanjiro Komado and Kousei Arima), Yusuke Kobayashi, and many others. The teams themselves, as well as their members, have their own characteristics, song styles, history, but the most important thing that ... unites them is hip-hop.

If you believe the mainstream version, hip-hop started in Japan in the early 1980s and was, like in other countries, "freedom music". If you look for a correlation between the anime industry and hip-hop, the first thing that comes to my mind is the series Afro-samurai Fuminori Kizaki by Takashi Okazaki, where at the expense of hip-hop style to the viewer more clearly shows the concept of anime. Hip-hop in Paradox Live is the basis, it is around him all the musical teams and it is this musical genre is very fond of all the participants of this project.

The announcement of the anime adaptation was at the end of the second live concert Dope Show Paradox Live, and later the whole cast of creators became known. The series was created by a small studio called PINE JAM and directed by Naoya Andou, who had previously worked on episodes of some anime and on the music video Hi-DRIVERS! 2022. Paradox Live at the time of writing this review was divided into two story phases, this show is just about the first phase, with the main characters being the members of the four teams.

About the plot. Humans discover the metal "phantom metal", which in the not-too-distant future hip-hop artists start using to create charming illusions related to their emotions, for this they use accessories containing the very same "phantom metal", which has its own DNA. What is the toll of using illusions? Side effects, up to and including the death of the one using them - that's the price, quite impressive, but there's no way to stop the servants of their creativity. As I mentioned earlier, the anime depicts the first stage of Paradox Life. Several teams battle each other in battles after the mysterious return of CLUB PARADOX for a huge amount of money and the right to get a duet with the legendary vanished group. There are four hip-hop teams, and they are:
— BAE, a trio who perform songs in three languages: Japanese, Korean, and English. In general, the anime seems to have no protagonists, as all the teams and members are equally important to the project, but the BAE members do get more screen time, especially Allen and Hajun. Ann stays on the sidelines as a good mate.
— The Cat's Whiskers are a foursome whose line-up is more reminiscent of the title of a Russian TV series called Two Fathers and Two Sons. They differ from the other teams in that their hip-hop is combined with jazz, and their overall style is darker and nocturnal. In addition, all members work in the bar 4/7, where they mostly get together.
— cozmez is a duo of marginalised brothers, Yatonokami Kanata and Nayuta, who, like BAE, get a lot of attention. Their songwriting style is cheeky, talking about the harshness of their life in the slums and their difficult childhood.
— Akanyatsura is a five-piece team who call each other family, and are members of the Suiseki Clan, a yakuza group. Their music is more fun and lively, similar to street rap. These guys probably get the least amount of screen time than the others.

Seeing in the genres "music" don't rush to please your musical soul, this anime touches on deeper themes, as it still has drama in its genres. Even though the anime is part of a music project, this show is still not about the music, but about the stories of the characters. Yes, you will see and hear performances, but prepare yourself - there are few of them, less than in other musical anime like Love Live or K-On! The anime does a great job of showing drama, but the creators devote an entire episode to revealing some characters, and a measly minute to revealing some other characters, so it doesn't feel like they're all equally important to the story. The characters have drama in their story, and hip-hop, as a free genre of music, helps them cope with it, and the "phantom metal" effect, thanks to its peculiarity, becomes a powerful weapon for viewers and listeners.

Another advantage of Paradox Live: The Animation is 2D graphics, which turned out to be colourful, despite the fact that the show was created by a small studio. However, 3D during the performances leaves much to be desired, it would be better if it was not there at all. If it was not so noticeable during the performance of The Cat's Whiskers, it was obvious during the performance of Bad Boyz by Akanyatsura, which Pine Jam did not handle very well.

Although there isn't as much music in this show as I would have liked, it was cool and varied. Paradox Live is strong with tracks, it's hard to argue with that. The opening intro "Rise Up", performed by all four bands, sounds great despite the different styles of the bands, all the members sound unified. The closing sequence, "Every Day Every Night" by Buraikan, shows the greatness of the legendary band from the first episode.

Despite some shortcomings, the show is a great addition to Paradox Live that will delight fans and not only them, Taku Iwasaki has done his job well. Personally, being not the most ardent fan of the "music" genre in anime, after watching this project I liked it, even now, w hile typing this review, I have headphones in my ears with the BAE track playing.