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— shamelessly so. Practically every other episode begins with a sexual fantasy, there are detailed panty-shots galore, and plenty of bare breasts. If you like fanservice, then boy...you’re probably better off somewhere else. The anime also tries to have a bonafide story, and at only six minutes an episode, you can see where the problem lies. Given how much of the runtime comprises of Saji being a lecher and dumb jokes, attempts to be serious are laughable and jarring.

The anime focuses on Koizumi, Rei Ayame’s slightly more emotive, dimensionally displaced twin sister. Her only notable traits are that she’s diminutive in size, mysterious, and ... cagey. Why is she mysterious? Who knows? Who cares? The anime didn’t give me any answers, so I just rolled my eyes whenever her mysteriousness was brought up. It doesn’t help that said mysteriousness is stated, never shown.

While Koizumi is boring, Saji is downright insufferable. He can barely function because if he’s not groping someone or staring at their panties, he’s having a sexual fantasy that he conflates with reality. The anime tried to push a romance, but it’s unbelievable thanks to the fact that Saji will get his rocks off to any woman.

There are a few other recurring characters, but they might as well be cardboard boxes. There’s a love triangle with Saji’s childhood friend that ultimately goes nowhere, in case you wanted your time to be even more wasted.

Character relations don’t make any sense. In the first episode, Koizumi has a fun night with Saji. Okay, fine. The problem is that the next day and for the rest of the series, she goes on hating him. If the anime was going to have Koizumi dislike Saji, it should have did away with their date at the beginning of the series. Koizumi’s feeling toward Saji flip flop so often that I was just left confused.

The anime also tries to be comedic, but none of the jokes landed for me. The comedy amounts to Saji screaming (which I found obnoxious), Koizumi and other women beating the living crap out of Saji (which was justified, but not funny), and Saji making goofy faces (which still weren’t goofy enough to garner a laugh).

Despite sex-appeal being this show’s biggest strength, it’s not even that good. The cel-shaded art automatically places this as an older anime, but the nostalgia stops there, because the art is pretty average, and at times just plain bad. The character designs aren’t too striking, which is practically a cardinal sin when making erotic animation. The only thing that would help is accented features, and for the most part, proportions are fairly plain in Iketeru Futari. Sure, there are times when the show is sexy, but those moments are few and far between.

The last episode is a perfect example of the show’s faults. It’s a dramatic episode, but we don’t really know why the characters make the decisions that they do. It ultimately ends with character relationships back to square one, with nothing resolved. I guess I prefer that than the show trying to pretend it had dignity all this time.

Iketeru Futari is a comedy that’s not funny, a romance that’s anything but romantic, and an ecchi that’s seldom sexy. If flounders in nearly every aspect. To add insult to injury, it’s just plain gross. The short runtime doesn’t make it more enjoyable; it makes it more bearable.

5/10

D-

I had a lot of fun watching this show, from start to finish.

I admit that I’m a bit biased, because I love G Gundam on concept alone, so the only way I’d hate it is if the execution was completely botched. Before watching the show, I knew of the Gundam featured in the show and I was absolutely enthralled by the outlandish designs. There’s a windmill Gundam, a mermaid Gundam, a Sailor Moon-esque Gundam, and even a Gundam made out of a Gundam face. I actually owned a Gunpla of the Sailor Moon-esque Gunda, the Nobel Gundam, well before I started watching the ... show.

As the designs can tell you, this is very much a Super Robot Show, with super modes, shouting your attacks, plot twist upon plot twist, everything. If you’re interested in Gundam solely for the gritty, realistic war stories, then it’s best to sit this one out. If you love action anime and also love giant robots, then man, have I got the anime for you.

The quotes at the beginning of the review are a variation of quotes said in the show, quotes said so often that I basically had them memorized. But amazingly, they never got old. A large part of the show’s high score for me is the Shounen Hype Syndrome striking again. Even if there was a low spot, G Gundam would be sure to get my blood pumping again and all would be forgiven.

Which isn’t to say the show is perfect. As good as that sequence is, action in and of itself can wear itself thin very fast. The dynamic story is why Attack on Titan is so great to me. Admittedly, G Gundam is one of the shows with a slow start. The first episode is good enough, it’s a fine introduction to the world of G Gundam, but the episodes after it quickly lose steam. One of the biggest criticisms is that G Gundam is a monster-of-the-week anime. The biggest problem with this format is that it’s easy for things to get monotonous and stale quickly. Honestly, around episode 4, the monster-of-the-week format started to show and it got tiring. Luckily, the story really breaks out around episode 10, and it’s all uphill from there. While the second half of the series does begin to dip back to the monster-of-the-week format at times, but the story surrounding these episodes is so interesting that I didn’t notice as much as I did the early episodes.

The dub is a bit hammy, but given the tone of the show, I find it actually adds to it.

Tone might not be the right word. Character performances are hammy, suit designs are outlandish, and the powers the mecha display are arguably the strongest we’ve seen in the entire Gundam series. The show, however, takes itself completely seriously. And you know what, I love it. Unlike Build Divers, there are actual, honest to god stakes in this show. I’m actually engaged in the characters and their struggles. Just because you have a Gundam show that’s not real robot, you can still tell a gripping story, and G Gundam shows this.

G Gundam features a multinational cast as colorful as the robots they pilot. All the main characters are interesting and comical. Master Asia and Domon are great for their energy as well as hamminess. I liked seeing Domon progress as a character; from a man with a perpetual frown, to someone who genuinely smiled and saw joy in fighting alongside friends. The breakout character, in my opinion, is Rain. I was impressed by how independent she was as well as how divorced she was from tropes other female characters from 90s shonen anime might have been prey to. She was smart, could fend for herself, and was no-nonsense. I rolled my eyes when she ended up being jealous, but overall, Rain Mikamura was A-okay in my book.

However, another criticism of the show is that it plays into stereotypes. This is true, unfortunately. This much can see seen in the Gundam that fighters pilot.

The main characters’ Gundam are mostly exempt from this, or at the very least, their features aren’t exaggerated. I still think the American Gundam Baxter’s design — with its football helmet and boxing gloves — is stupid, but maybe that’s just because I’m American myself. Naturally, God Gundam looks extremely normal, as far as Gundams go. But goddamn, if it isn’t cool as a cucumber.

G Gundam has 49 episodes, it could be concluded at around episode 43, but it keeps going. Normally, I’d dock a show points for this, but the final arc of the show was amazing and kept me on the edge of my seat. When G Gundam gets going, it just can’t be stopped.

There were a few dumb decisions made by characters, but I didn’t mind too much.

G Gundam is a very unorthodox Gundam show, and that’s alright. It challenges what can be a Gundam show, and I was glad it was made, because sometimes, you just need to see a giant robot do kung-fu moves. If you love action shows and/or you think giant robots are cool, get off this site and start watching G Gundam.

Even if Tokyo Marble Chocolate isn’t outstanding by any measure, it was a cute little anime, regardless.

Tokyo Marble Chocolate tells the story of a young couple consisting fo Yuudai and Chizuru. Both have been quite unlucky in the past when it comes to relationships. Yuudai’s negative trait is specifically being cowardly and mousy, while Chizuru is afflicted with rotten luck. Their date is suddenly halted when Yuudai gives Chizuru a present. To both of their shock, it’s a mischievous (and adorable) miniature donkey. The events surrounding this donkey brings the two lovers closer than before. Both episodes both portray the same two days, just with ... differing perspectives. The first episode is Chizuru’s perspective and the second is from Yuudai’s. Watching one won’t spoil the other, so the order you watch them doesn’t matter. If you plan on rewatching the show, it might be fun to switch up the order.

First thing to note is that the art is absolutely gorgeous. It’s so short that I have no problem telling you to watch it for the art alone. The backgrounds are simple, yet elegant. They remind me of a painting. The character designs are also quite striking. Again, they’re simple, but that’s what I find so charming about them. The “dot eyes” remind me of the characters from the Mother series. It’s a small detail, but I thought it was cool that the tips of characters’ fingers turned red in the cold.

The music is fine. The tracks that will most likely grab your attention are the two insert songs. Chizuru’s insert song is great for being an anime hip hop track and describing her inner turmoil perfectly. Yuudai’s is...fine, I guess. The lyrics don’t fit that well, but at least it sounds nice.

The story itself is good enough. A big part of a romance is development and with just short of an hour, the anime simply doesn’t have the time to pull that off. We don’t really see why the two characters love each other. We don’t really get much chemistry between the two.

Still, I can’t fault the OVA too much. With only so much time to tell a story, something had to be cut, and the story’s cute, regardless. Part of this cuteness comes from the miniature donkey, whose refreshingly non-invasive. He could have been quite obnoxious, but he’s just a cute little animal that lightens the mood. The producers really knew when to make him scarce, and I appreciate it. The characters themselves are also adorable, and I was rooting for them every step of the way.

Besides the art, part of what makes this OVA so unique is its split-perspective storytelling that allows us to see the full-picture of the couple. Its interesting to see the difference in their motivations at the beginning and then seeing them come together at the end. However, in terms of character arc, the OVA was a bit lopsided. We actually see Yuudai overcome his problem and that plays a part in the climax and resolution. Chizuru doesn’t really change and as such, the resolution can feel a bit unearned on her end. It’s probably because “has rotten luck” isn’t really a character flaw, or at the very least, not one someone can actively fix.

Overall, the anime most likely won’t blow your socks off, but it’s heartwarming regardless. You can skip it, but I recommend it on the basis of it being adorable. It might not be the best anime you’ve ever seen, but I promise that it’ll make you smile.


74/80

C

Bentou no Gokui (literally Bento Battle) is an unaired episode of Toradora. It’s mostly a fluff episode; Kitamura brings an extravagant bento box made by his grandmother. Seeing this ludicrously lavish lunch makes Ryuuji feel inferior, so he retaliates by trying to best Kitamura’s grandmother’s cooking.

I watched Toradora on via its Blu-Ray, so I naturally watched Bentou no Gokui after I had finished the series proper.

And let me tell you, don’t skip out on Bentou no Gokui despite it being an OVA with little-to-no bearing on the plot. It's good stuff. It’s actually better than the series as a whole.

Okay, okay, hear me out before ... scrolling away. If you read my review, you’ll know that my biggest gripe from the series came from the beginning. Without this difference in quality to bog my perception of it down, Bentou no Gokui is optimal Toradora!

Honestly, it’s the perfect episode of the “comedy” side of the romantic-comedy Toradora! The animation and facial expressions helped convey the comedy and the absurdity of Ryuuji’s “rivalry” was a riot. I consistently laughed throughout the episode. I can’t recall any other episode of Toradora! that had this effect on me. For this reason, I consider it the funniest episode in the show. Despite this focus on comedy, it’s still sweet, too. The romance is wonderfully apparent and it made me feel warm inside. Bentou no Gokui was the perfect blend of comedy and romance. While it wasn’t the most romantic episode, it’s romantic enough to be good. The episode, tonally, could fit well in the middle of the series, prior to the School Festival Arc.The music was superb as always.

The perfect OVA if you’re a fan of Toradora! and can’t get enough. Honestly, I think it’s pretty good for newcomers as well. I didn’t see anything too spoiler-y, and it’s honestly a better exposure to the series than the first episode is, in some ways.

85/100

B

Toradora! is one of those anime where you should refrain from casting judgement until you’ve seen it through until the end. As a case in point, even midway through, I wasn’t sure what all the hubbub about the show was about. Now, however I fully understand why the show has captured the hearts of so many.

As I touched upon before, Toradora! is a very well-received anime. From what I’ve seen, it’s regarded as one of the best romance anime. It is the favorite anime of many. This in and of itself could serve as a draw to the series. If you want to be in ... the conversation in regards to anime, after watching Toradora!, you’ll be sure to find someone to discuss it with.

Toradora! Follows Ryuuji Takasu -- a first-year high schooler who’s ostracized due to his frightening appearance -- and Taiga Aisaka -- a girl whose extremely short stature belies fiery and violent attitude. Their paths cross when Ryuuji inadvertently discovers a love letter from Taiga, causing her to blackmail him into helping her win the affections of her crush.

That’s a very simple synopsis, but I don’t really want to give away too much.

Toradora! has a very colorful cast of characters, and I’m pleased to say they’re a joy to watch. In particular, I love Ryuuji and Kitamura just due to how nice they are. For Toradora! I watched the Japanese audio version, and all the seiyuu sound fantastic, lending a lot of emotion and character to their roles. I don’t exaggerate when I say that every main character has hidden depths that allow you to appreciate them more. All of their actions make sense and they have reasons for some of their more bizarre and egregious traits. Most importantly, they grow as people.

You should keep this in mind, because the show certainly might not seem like its anything more than surface level at first.

Most of my marks against Toradora! are at the beginning, specifically the first four episodes or so. Toradora! is an amazing ride, but it takes a bit to leave the station, so to speak. The main problem for me lies in the fact that Taiga, at least initially, is a very hard character to love. Bear in mind that I generally loathe characters of the tsundere archetype and Taiga may as well be the queen. Violent, spiteful, load, and possessing a hair-trigger temper, Taiga is the epitome of the trope. And while she’s multi-faceted, she gets better, and she has a reason for the way she acts, it doesn’t watching her any easier. She proved particular aggravating to me because I had to watch her abuse the mild-mannered Ryuuji and see him warm up to her despite her doing nothing to deserve his kindness.

Even ignoring Taiga, I just didn’t find the first few episodes special. The jokes aren’t that funny and it just seems like your standard romcom. If I hadn’t watched the first eight episodes in one go, I might have dropped the series. I would have been missing out on a terrific series, but in my defense, I wouldn’t have known better. It’s a show’s job to hook watchers in early on, and Toradora! unfortunately doesn’t do that well, in my opinion.

Toradora! does reward the faithful for staying however, and it’s all uphill from there. I know one of the most ridiculous things to say when recommending a show to someone is “oh, just keep watching, it gets better! I swear.” For one, it forces new viewers to place their faith in a show despite evidence that its sub-par. With me acknowledging how crazy I sound, please, please believe me when I say the show gets better. It gets amazing. Come the second third of the show, all the jokes land, the animation becomes more fluid as J.C. Staff hits its stride, and serious elements are abound.

The final third of the series, signified by a change in OP and ED, is easily the best portion of the show. It’s definitely more dramatic than the rest of the series, but the shift isn’t jarring. The series gradually moves from comedic to more serious and romantic elements, and I was impressed by how natural it felt. Given the characters I saw at the beginning, I was surprised by how real everyone felt and how naturally the romance progressed.

The music is memorable and fits each scene well.

Hindsight is 20/20, so getting through the beginning will doubtlessly be easier upon a rewatch. As a bonus incentive to watch it again, Toradora! features a lot of foreshadowing.

Overall, Toradora! Is a show that I find a bit hard to recommend. It takes quite a while to hit its stride, but once it does, its all smooth sailing until a great finish. This unassuming romcom is like an onion - it has layers, and it just might make you cry. The art is great, the zany characters will make you laugh, and the connections that the characters forge will warm your heart. I’m really grateful that I got to watch such a heartwarming anime during the holiday season. At first I wasn’t sure what the fuss was about -- it just seemed like your typical anime. Toradora! still isn’t perfect, but there’s something about it that made me smile. And that’s good enough in my book.

Now if you excuse me, in Preparation for curing my Silky Heart, I must eat an Orange sprinkled with Vanilla Salt.

(Yes, I know the name’s Pre-Perade, but I don’t know how to fit that into a sentence, sue me.)

80/100

B-

For someone who’s read the source material, it’s hard to look at an adaptation objectively — even if you’re not trying to, you’ll always think about how it differs and measures up the source material.

And let me tell you, this ain’t it chief.

I’ll only compare the OVA to the manga briefly, because as futile as it is, I don’t like reviewing works themselves, without considering their relation to other creations. For one, it doesn’t really capture the tone of the manga. The comedy that was sparse in the manga is cranked up to eleven. It’s funny, yes, but not very accurate. Compressing a 33-chapter manga ... into a ~50 minute OVA means that many characters are cut out and only a portion of the story is shown — a revised beginning and a slightly altered section from roughly the middle of the story. The stakes on paper are high, but in practice very low. If you wanted an alternate take on the story, then by all means watch, but it is in no way superior to the manga.

Outlanders is the story of Tetsuya, a newspaper photographer who runs into an alien named Kahm. After encountering him, Kahm decides she wants Tetsuya as a fiancee.

There’s not much to it, which is natural, given the short run-time. The romance (if you can even call it that) doesn’t have any time to develop and Kahm then Tetsuya is inexplicably enamored with the other member. The OVA exacerbates the biggest problem of the manga — the lackluster romance. In addition, it does away with its biggest strength: the drama. There’s talk of an alien invasion, but it effectively doesn’t exist. There’s no sense of adventure. The little action that remains is quite gory, with no payoff. The violent scenes are never mentioned again and achieve no purpose other than giving the anime a bit of an identity crisis.

The animation looks pretty enough.

The way I recommend you watch Outlanders is to stick your finger in your ear, find the switch inside your head, and turn your brain off. If Outlanders is good at one thing it’s comedy. There were times when I was legitimately laughing and the irreverent tone helps with this. It helps that in the English dub, Sean Schemmel of Dragon Ball fame plays Tetsuya and gives quite an animated performance. If you like a bit of crude humor, then Outlanders will be up your alley.

Still, as funny as it can be at times, the anime still isn’t that great. It’s less than an hour, so if you want a dumb comedy and don’t have a lot of time to invest, then you should check out Outlanders. Just don’t expect anything great out of it, though.

The insert song’s pretty cool, though.

6/10

Outlanders is a mid 80s manga series by Johji Manabe that was originally brought to the states via Dark Horse Comics. At thirty-three chapters — even with the chapters being forty pages on average — it won’t take you long to read. But brevity alone isn’t enough to recommend a work. Fortunately, Outlanders is has proven to be quite a good read.

Outlanders tells the story of Tetsuya Wakatsuki, a news photographer who finds himself in the middle of an alien invasion when the war-mongering Santovaski Empire touches down in Tokyo. Soon, he meets the Kahm, the princess of this empire, and the two grow closer ... in spite of the war.

Before going on, as an aside, I just want to point out how one can get a very different picture of this manga just going by the description on the site. First off, it should be noted that the invasion is underway well before Kahm has met Tetsuya and her relationship with him isn’t what sparks the war, unlike what this description suggests. Additionally, unless I’m missing something,virtually none of the characters on the cover image appear in the actual story.

Most erroneously, the story is listed as a comedy, with romance nowhere in sight. Romance is a large part of Outlanders while comedy is decidedly not. There are comedic elements sure, but you’ll be in for a bad time if you’re expecting this to be a lighthearted comedy. Luckily, I was able to change gears and realize the type of story I was reading.

Space-opera is more of an apt genre for Outlanders than action and adventure are. I was impressed and taken aback by just how epic and grand in scale the story was. Realistically, the entire planet gets caught up in the war to defend the Earth. I appreciated how realistically the two powers — the Earth military and the Santovaski — were portrayed. Earth is the underdog in Outlanders and it serves to make the story more tense. There’s a grim tone throughout the story. While I wouldn’t say it’s crushingly dark, it’s something to keep in mind. The comedic moments help to brighten the mood.

The art is classic eighties fare. The characters look pleasing, though they’re nothing to write home about. They’re quite expressive, but their expressions lean more towards comedic. They’re sure to make you laugh, but they don’t quite hit the right notes during more dramatic moments. The alien architecture and ships however, are a beauty to behold and I can’t think of anything bad to say about them.

I should note that there’s fan-service. Kahm herself dresses in what’s basically bikini armor and there are a few occasions where she or other female characters are topless. If you’re not interested, for what it’s worth, they’re infrequent and don’t really detract from the plot. If fan-service is your thing, then the art looks good, though it’s not hypersexualized.

While romance is a big part of the story, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s written well. Specifically, it’s not developed well. Kham and Tetsuya’s relationship progresses unsatisfyingly quickly. There’s a part in the story where they’re at each other’s throats and the next chapter, they seem enamored with each other. It seems like the author rushed the development stages of the romance just so he could get them together and as a result, it feels a bit flat. It’s a substantial part of the story, so if you don’t like it, your impression of the story as a whole might be soured.

I’m a sucker for romance however, and even if it wasn’t very realistic, I was ultimately fine with the romance. It could have been better, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment too much. Even if was a bit out of nowhere, Kahm and Tetsuya make a cute couple.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi mixed with Fantasy in a tense setting, I think you’ll enjoy Outlanders. You’ll come to love the colorful cast of characters. Both the journey and the destination were well-executed. Pick it up if you want something quick and exciting to read. If you’re not a big fan of romance, however, you might want to sit this one out.

(P.S. There’s a Chapter 0, though it’s often referred to as Book 1. It’s a story about Kahm trying to obtain a mystical key. It definitely plays up the comedy and has no relation to the story as a whole. While it is a good introduction to Kahm’s personality, feel free to skip it, because it can feel a bit jarring starting the story after reading it. There’s also an epilogue. While it may seem bad at first, I suggest sticking to the end. It enhances the standard ending.)

7.8/10

(This review contains major spoilers for chapter 36 of Fuuka)

Fuuka was... certainly something, I suppose.

Though, I suppose did it to myself.

For any fan, there will undoubtedly be an anime/manga that will leave a mark on them; leave them with a lasting impression that they won’t quite be able to shake. Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ranma ½, Cowboy Bebop, and Akira are just a few such anime for me, if you were wondering. That isn’t to say the impression is always a pleasant one. Fuuka is also an anime I just can’t shake, no matter how much I want to. It’s one of the few anime I’ve ... completed that just left a bitter taste in my mouth that no amount of mouthwash can erase.

This review isn’t for the anime, so I’ll give you the quick and dirty - Fuuka initially started as a slice-of-life about a shy, awkward boy and his outgoing classmate. The anime’s focus shifts onto music, but what will stick out more is a frustrating love triangle and the annoying two main characters. Infuriatingly, the lesser of the two love interests wins out.

Most notably, towards the end of the anime, Fuuka is seconds away from being hit by a truck. This would be the most dramatic, the most interesting moment for the show.

She inexplicably survives and the mediocre anime concludes predictably a few episodes later. Anyone who follows this anime knows that in the manga, Fuuka does indeed perish due to the vehicle, named Truck-kun by viewers.

I’ll make no bones about it. I picked up the manga so I could see Fuuka die.

And I was satisfied. She was, in fact, quite dead. The question becomes, what comes after? Is it worth reading until the end? Is it even worth reading up to the arrival of Truck-kun?

Fuuka starts off interesting enough. Sure, Fuuka may be annoying initially, but the premise of a socially awkward boy who’s obsessed with Twitter opening up to people is interesting enough. It’s surprisingly not too hamfisted either. Compared to the anime at least, the love-triangle is handled fine, and I care about the band members. The character dynamic is good and it actually doesn’t take forever for relationships to progress. The band aspect is interesting, there’s genuine conflict, and the characters are likable enough. I was actually surprised that I ended up liking Fuuka as much as I did. I hate to admit it, but I was actually kind of sad (in addition to gleeful) when her day of reckoning came. So over all, yeah, I’d say the manga starts off pretty solid. Its funny, its interesting, its fast-paced.

And the truck-kun incident is handled pretty well, too. It comes out of nowhere, yes, but I enjoyed seeing the grief that the characters dealt with as a result of Fuuka’s death. All-in-all, pretty good stuff.

What comes after is when things start to fall apart.
The main character, Yuu, soon decides he wants to carry out Fuuka’s dream of having their band perform at a famous concert venue where The Hedgehogs (their favorite musical group) played. After getting the band back together, they decide to start chasing the dream they shared in order to make it a reality.

Soon, Yuu runs into a singer who’s coincidentally also named Fuuka and bears an uncanny resemblance to the Fuuka we know. The two soon grow closer, and any reader who’s even a bit savvy can guess what happens next. This alone will make many roll their eyes, but there are even weirder plot points to come. I actually think plot points such as these are some of Fuuka’s greatest strengths. As insane and/or contrived as they are, they keep the story interesting and keep readers on their toes.

Unfortunately, these are few and far between and we’re left with more mundane nonsense plot points, which are *great* at irritating readers. Not to mention, Fuuka’s greatest weak point - poor plot progression. They say the journey is more important than the destination, but Fuuka wants to cross a country in a broken-down jalopy. We get nowhere fast and even as the band plays more and more concerts and gains notoriety, it always seems like they’re in dire straits, with no clout to speak of. This is my biggest problem with Fuuka: the plot seems to slow to a crawl and become cyclical in nature. Band is struggling and practically unheard of, band overcomes struggle and become more famous, band is struggling and practically unheard of. The manga can’t really seem to shake this until close to the end of its 195-chapter run. I don’t doubt this is how it is for many bands in the real world, but that doesn’t make it any more enjoyable to read, in my opinion.

It just really gets tiring after a while. With Fuuka, however, you’ll come to enjoy boredom, because when Fuuka isn’t boring, it’s infuriating, with idiotic plot points and characters acting dumb. You have no idea how many times a character frustrated me due to a stupid misunderstanding. In particular, one character acts nothing but horrible to the main characters, but they learn to love them and brush the behavior aside as “tough love” or something.

But...I don’t know, the series certainly has its moments. The last arc in particular was terrific and adrenaline pumping. The long journey finally seemed to pay off, with the main characters growing, their skills being shown, and all the friends they made along the way having meaningful roles in the end. It’s a little too late, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bring a smile to my face, make me exclaim in shock, and think the journey was pretty good in hindsight.

Do I think Fuuka is a good manga? No. The last paragraph might just be stockholm syndrome speaking. Fuuka, as the sum of its parts, is average at best. It has some genuine great chapters, but they’re grossly outnumbered by chapters that are “meh” at best.

It isn’t terrible, but if there’s merit to it, then who do I recommend it to, and HOW do I do it? As a general reader, the evolution of a band is a cool concept, but I’m sure there are other manga that do it better. The romance grows more and more lackluster as the series grows on. Really, the only person that might get something out of this are fellow viewers of the anime adaptation. If you saw the anime and for some reason want to see how things could have turned up, you could pick up Fuuka. Even if it’s not that great on its own, it still blows the anime out the water and perhaps you’ll feel that your time wasn’t wasted, after all (Koyuki’s still largely a joke, though).

But I try my best not to rate fiction in relation to other works. With this in mind, Fuuka simply isn’t worth the time investment. On concept, it’s great, in execution, it’s painfully average seven times out of ten.

5.9/10

So...I’m reviewing this a lot sooner than I expected.

As some of you may know, Attack on Titan Season 3 was originally billed as a two-cour season, similar to the first season which premiered way back in 2013. However, following episode twelve, it was revealed that the season would be split cour, with the second half set to air in Spring of 2019.

This review should have come sooner, but I’m having trouble typing since I’m suffering nasty from Titan-Slaying withdrawal.

Attack on Titan is going to be a hard show for me to review, because I love it so much to the point where I’m ... sure the show really isn’t THAT good, but the hype gets me pumped so much that I can see no wrong and I’ll be screaming “Sasageyo!” as Mikasa cuts the nape or achilles heel of some giant titan. I like to call this Shounen Hype Syndrome. It’s the same thing that made me see DBS as absolutely amazing even though looking back, it had quite a few rough spots.

So yeah, a bit of bias, no problem though.

After the the jaw-droppingly awesome second season, I feel that season three (or rather, this half of season three), dialed it back a bit, but I still think it was a bit better than the first season. The stakes were still high, the revelations weren’t as insane as the second season’s but still great, and the fights were as great as ever. While Titan Eren wasn’t utilized that much, it’s a bit of a refresher because it shows that Attack on Titan can still have marvelous fights while not relying too much on Titan vs. Titan.

I’ve been told that Attack on Titan has a distinct shift where it starts being more of a thriller and human vs. human as opposed to the bleak Man vs. Nature conflict of the beginning of the first season. I can kind of see it here: the first antagonist of the season is Kenny the Ripper - an infamous serial killer who, along with his task force, is tasked with taking out the scouts who are caught up in a smear campaign. The fact that their equivalent of the ODM gear is specifically made to fight humans instead of Titans drives this point home. While I can start seeing the series shifting, it feels naturally and doesn’t seem like it betrays what makes AoT what it is. If you loved season 1 and 2, you’ll love 3.

(You probably won’t love the opening though, that’s just bad. Here’s to hoping they change it for the next cour.)

In general, backstories seem to be the focal point of season three so far. I personally think they’re handled well. I was more invested in these backstories than Ymir’s in season two, even though I acknowledge that her’s was really important to the plot. They just seem to compliment the present action very well.

One thing that I took notice of was that the main trio was out of focus, a bit. Naturally, Eren got the most screen time of the three, but Mikasa and Armin seemed just like they were warming the bench. I hope they’re up to bat in the second cour. Though, this isn’t too much of a problem - AoT has a large cast of characters and I cared about them now more than ever.

Episodes were still fast-paced and were over in the blink of an eye, making me want more and then lamenting that I had to wait a week for the next episode.

While, again, the action and revelations weren’t as good as season 2, this season was amazing in its own right.

Production is still top-notch. Characters look great and action is fluid. It’s part of the reason that I’m not that upset over the hiatus. As they say, it’s not easy being beautiful, and if it takes half a year for Wit Studio to give us more quality episodes, I will wait.

Patiently

Agonizingly


9.5/10

Anyone who even has a passing knowledge of Gundam can tell you that it is a big series. While it can seem daunting, people who want to get into it can take solace in the fact that given the number of entries, there’s a show for everyone. If you’re like me and enjoy dark and gritty stories, you can watch Zeta Gundam, Victory Gundam, or Iron-Blooded Orphans. If you want something more lighthearted, you may be inclined to watch something such as ZZ or Build Fighters.

Gundam Build Divers is definitely more on the lighthearted spectrum. As someone who’s favorite Gundam shows are the three aforementioned ... “dark” entries, you might be inclined to believe that I’d write off this show without giving it a chance. While it’s true that this type of Gundam show is somewhat alien to me, I was willing to give it a chance, and if it had many merits, I’d love it, lighthearted or no.

Gundam Build Divers is centered around Gundam Build Nexus - an MMORPG based around Gunpla. The main characters frequent the real-life Odaiba Gundam Base (most notable for its Gundam Unicorn Statue). This was by far my biggest draw to the show. As a big Gundam fan, the concept of a Gundam MMO proved fun to think about. The possibilities are endless. Gundam Build Divers’ cameos were great as well. If you’re a fan of Gundam, you’ll be sure to see a reference to series you love. They even paid tribute to the box art for the Linkin Park Gundam!

So, besides fanservice, what does Gundam Build Divers bring to the table?

Not much, unfortunately.

The very thing I praised the show for, its setting, is one of the biggest things that annoyed me. Maybe Recovery of an MMO Junkie spoiled me, but GBN often doesn’t feel like a game. While it can be forgiven in that it’s a VR game, it’s still ridiculous for characters to act hurt or hungry, only to remember that they’re in a video game (multiple times).

GBN murders any tension the show tries to foster. Because GBN is a game, there aren’t any real stakes, so it was hard for me to get invested. Game concepts aren’t brought up nearly enough, and thus, while more than an afterthought, it felt like GBN was deemed not worthy of exploring.

What does Build Divers deem worthy of exploring, you ask? The characters. Unfortunately, they’re still explored about as well as other galaxies. The story primarily follows Riku, the blandest Gundam protagonist I’ve had the displeasure of following. He’s pretty much your generic middle-school shounen protagonist who converts friendship into the energy needed to tear through each and every obstacle that has the misfortune of being in his way. The shrivel of tension that exists in the show is brutalized by Riku, who, past the intro episodes, becomes a nigh-unstoppable force, making the show quite boring. It’s a bad sign that, more often than not, I was rooting for Riku to get his just-desserts. I came to roll my eyes whenever a character spoke of a low success rate, because I knew Riku would pull through all the same. It was extremely unrealistic to see Riku, a total newbie, absolutely brutalize most of his competition.

And if you thought Riku was too bland, Build Divers has you covered with Sarah - a mysterious girl whose sole purpose in this anime is to stand around looking cute. The less I talk about Sarah, the better.

The other characters don’t add much, though a lot of them do end up being more enjoyable than the main bunch. Though I must say, as far as the main group go, Ayame is a saving grace.

Again, battles aren’t that important in Gundam Build Divers. Sure, characters like to do battle, but nothing is really at stake with losing. While some of the Gunpla look quite cool, a lot of the battles lacked a certain “umph,” for a lack of a better term. My favorite challenges were actually the capture the flag events, probably because they added something new to the mix. The ending of the show has a really nice one, but it’s too little too late.

I wanted to like this show, especially since I began it with a friend, yet it didn’t do anything for me. It was hard to drag myself to watch another episode, and it felt like a chore. I didn’t really find the show funny, I didn’t find the action exciting, the characters were boring, and the story was anything but gripping. The only saving grace was - due to being a glorified commercial - the copious amount of fanservice, but even if you’re a Gundam show, it’s not really worth the watch.

Suffice to say, while I’m wary about calling the show terrible, it was quite mediocre.