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Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria
(Anime)
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Story: Sword Oratoria is the Danmachi story shown from a different perspective. Instead of following the adventures of the Hestia Familia with Bell and his journey to become adventurer that he wanted to be, we follow the story of the Loki Familia and its sword princess, Ais Wallenstein, as she and those in her familia unravel the truth of strange going-ons in the dungeon and uncover a darker plot happening in the town or Oratoria. In contrast, the story of Sword Oratoria is a more serious take on the fantasy dungeon story of Danmachi, as it features an overarching mystery plot that those in the Loki Familia attempt to uncover as stronger and more bizarre monsters appear both in the town and in the dungeon. As such, the plot feels a lot more serious and more involved, as the story shifts from a generally lighthearted adventure involving a boy climbing his way to the top, to that of a slightly darker story featuring a girl coming to terms with some of her demons from the past. The overall plot just feels better written due to the fact that it feels like there’re consequences and that there truly are stakes to be had. If that were the case, then we’d have no problems. Unfortunately, the story falls flat on delivering that darker and weightier atmosphere that the story at first glance seems to promise. A lot of the heavier and more gruesome moments from the manga are absent, and instead we’re treated to the fangirling delusions of an elf mage desperately trying to monopolize the full attention of the sword princess. While the story is objectively better from a tone standpoint, the actual content of the series is littered with random moments of our new character Lefiya attempting to be what appears to be a shoddier attempt at being another Bell. This results in a lot of tonal shifts that draw away from the impact of the main plot, thus not only making things a lot less dire, but also making the new character we’re supposed to support, a lot less appealing to the audience. The ending is a culmination final standing point for progression to the next point of the series. It’s an ‘ending point’ that only finishes the first part of the story that seems to be real final stakes moment, but doesn’t really feel that way when you look at everything before it. Arguably it’s not a terrible ending, but when put alongside the journey to get to that point, things could be better. Overall, Sword Oratoria, while considered to be a better story due to the show’s more serious atmosphere involving character exploration and some disturbing aspects about the dungeon that weren’t mentioned before, still falls in its own pitfalls and makes unnecessary sacrifices that resulted in the show feeling less impactful and slightly more irritating to watch. Simply put, if we cut out all of the fluff involving Lefiya’s obsession over Ais, this would’ve turned out a lot better. Overview: + Different and better viewpoint of the Danmachi story - Sacrificed emotional weight for less important fluff aspects - Changes from source material suffered Characters: Instead of Hestia, Bell, and the rest of their familia, we’re treated instead to Loki and the expansive (and well equipped) myriad of misfits that she has managed to raise and grow. Of course, if you’re talking about someone in the Loki familia, you have to talk about Ais Wallenstein, the mysterious female swordsman that Bell idolizes after she saved his ass. Several times. While shown to be a cool and collected girl in the original Danmachi, Ais’s character really shines through in Sword Oratoria as its main focal point. We’re given a look into her past and her own internal struggle, pushing her away from the idealized sword princess that everyone treats her as, and instead as someone who feels more human and wants to improve based on her current state when we’re introduced to a different side of her character. We also get to see her interactions and opinions about Bell in a different light, and it’s really refreshing to see who I thought initially was a boring character become something that had more to her with each passing episode. Then…Lefiya… I’ll be honest; I don’t like this girl. Lefiya is what I would describe to be everything that’s mostly wrong with this adaptation. The show initially treats us to her as a compatriot of Ais, as the two of them are in the same familia and are often put on the same team together. Her entire character can be described as a low level mage who looks up to Ais and wants to be looked at and praised by the sword princess. However, what sets her apart from a certain rabbit boy is the fact that the show goes so far with her wish that it becomes uncomfortable. When she’s not busy getting her ass saved by everyone around her, Lefiya spends a good portion of her screentime fantasizing about spending time with Ais to almost disturbing levels. It takes away any potential screentime to be dedicated to the main plot, and it detracts any likeable characteristics that this girl may have had in the first place because obsessive jealousy is not a cute characteristic. Aside from these two, the rest of the screentime is split amongst more commonly known members in the Loki Familia including Loki herself, some new additions to the cast, and a couple other known characters in the series that don’t get as much as a role since they’re not all that important to the story of Sword Oratoria. In terms of development, the majority of it is dedicated to either exploring the inner workings of the Loki Familia itself and how its members interact with one another, and some of the stories of the new additions to the cast that we’re given. I lot of it really is more akin to world building, but that really doesn’t serve as much of a problem since it only furthers expand the world and the kinds of people within the world of Danmachi, which is always a nice little extra to have. Overview: + Ais’s spotlight develops her well + Side cast aids in providing more of the world to the audience - Lefiya’s apparent obsessive personality. Art: Made by J.C. Staff, the art for Sword Oratoria is the same quality as the original Danmachi. The colors and animation is clear, colorful, and evokes a bright adventurous feel, the action is fluid enough for it to seem like a good enough fight scene/rpg battle for those in the viewing audience, and things are pretty consistent throughout. It’s standard fare, nothing too amazing or anything worth getting excited over. Sound: Similarly, the soundtrack isn’t something that’s worth really writing home about. The OP is cheerful and adventurous sounding, but nothing that memorable or special. Its ED ‘Day by Day’ on the other hand is a more laid back piece that completely contrasts the supposed more serious nature of the show. It’s a decent piece, and worth a listen to, but not really something that I’d personally give too much thought on. Personal Enjoyment: A lot of things I’ve heard from the grapevine about Sword Oratoria is the fact that it was collectively renowned as a spin-off that is superior to the main story. Poking through it, it certainly was of better quality at least story-wise, as had a much more involved story with aspects that the original was simply lacking. This adaptation however wasn’t dressed to impress. While maintaining a slightly more serious tone, Sword Oratoria always felt like it was missing something, and the struggles with the characters in their fights felt too easy when compared to the scale of the creatures they had to fight. (This ain’t some tiny Minotaur anymore.) Needless to say, while I really hoped the adaptation met the expectations of the original, it’s unfortunate that things didn’t really turn out that way in the end. Did I like this series? Despite that, I did enjoy the series…relatively. Aside from the depth with Ais’s character, I really liked what they did with Bell and how they showed parts of his journey in the original story from Ais’s perspective. It’s strange to say, but I actually liked and felt a lot more involved with Bell’s story when the camera wasn’t focused on him. What didn’t I like about this series? Lefiya. Lefiya wasn’t like this in the manga, so the upped ante with her admiration for Ais to an almost disturbing, creepy, and downright mean-spirited nature towards anyone foreign who’d want to so much as talk to the sword princess was definitely not an aspect that I was a fan of. Would I recommend this series? If you’re an anime Danmachi fan who chooses not to touch or read any of the source material, than this is probably the show for you. The contrasts between the source material and this adaptation would make anyone who came from the manga side definitely unhappy. Despite that, the series still keeps many of the story’s aspects intact, and is still what I would think to be a much better version of the story simply because the core aspects of it are centered more on a centralized story and characters, rather than just one character like the original. read more
Story: The Grimoire of Zero story starts us off in the land of Wenias, a place plagued by those who practice magic known as witches and men who born as animal known as Beastfallen. It is here where we meet a certain beastfallen simply known as ‘Mercenary’ for the entire series (and for the sake of simplification), a self-explanatory character that does the mercenary work of killing witches for hire. On one trip through the woods, he comes in contact with a little witch by the name of ‘Zero’, who tells him that she is on a journey to find what has been stolen, her book of spells, the Grimoire of Zero. Taking up all twelve episodes of the series to cover just the first book of the original LN series, the adaptation becomes an intriguing story with many facets to its characters, as its main duo of large tiger man and tiny witch protagonists act as a faction-less duo that do practically whatever they want so long as it benefits them and their goals. We’re given a realistic depiction of the reaction to witches in our own history put into a fantasy setting, which to me is a good way to shape up the main conflict. As a result, the show allows the audience to view both sides of the main conflict, testing many of the other characters’ morals and actions while providing a good blend of action and humorous character interactions to aid in filling out holes that the main plot leaves behind. Adding to that is characterization. Personally I feel as though the show does have some imbalance with how it chose to develop its characters. Due to the nature of the show having two ostracized groups of characters in its society (Beastfallen and Witches), the show primarily focused on the witch characters and the witches’ struggles in society rather than the Beastfallen. Our main protagonist doesn’t really get the time of day aside from a couple choice moments in order to be ‘developed’. Aside from that, the rest of the series is devoted to the problems that the witches in Wenias face and their on-going war for freedom from oppression. Despite that problem, the show is one of the most well paced series that I’ve seen in a long while. Taking account as many details as they could, White Fox managed to create a series that neither felt boring nor too rushed to watch, letting things continue as they went along at an even pace so that every moment felt engaging. Many times, I felt as though the episodes were too short because I was so engrossed in watching it. While less eventful than the climax and many other sections of the story, the ending manages to cap off the first main arc of the series that acts both as an ending to the entire series while being open-ended enough to welcome a second season if White Fox so chooses to do so. Not really a big fan of how many things were thrown into exposition, but I guess to develop the whole scope of the story’s events, they had to make a couple things via time skip to make things a lot easier. Overall, despite its imbalance with who and what it chooses to characterize, Grimoire of Zero was a show that was gripping from start to finish. Having a simple plot that was explored to almost its full extent, the show managed to be both engaging and entertaining to the end while providing good world building that mixed in the central conflict of the series. Every episode felt too short for me to fully appreciate, and it left me wanting more. My only complaint really is that there is no second season. Please White Fox. Do it. Overview: + Well-paced story + Simple, yet effective plot - Who they characterized was imbalance - Ending is a bit…uneventful comparatively Characters: As mentioned before, the show’s plethora of characters act as members of one side or one motive while our main characters act as a ‘third’ or ‘faction-less’ group that gets involved with their own sets of goals in mind. The first is Mercenary; the giant fluffy tiger man that despite having a giant FFVII-esque sword, is actually quite soft and fluffy on the inside with a pension for cooking. Being a Beastfallen, Mercenary is a character that despises witches and dreams of one day curing him of his beast curse and opening up a pub once he’s human. As a character, Mercenary is very much a character that sits in his own morals but doesn’t act outside of what he isn’t involved in. As such, he’s less of a by the numbers fantasy protagonist, and more of a ‘does whatever he wants’ kind of guy, which fits into the story perfectly. He acts as the more grounded character of the duo and gets some significant change once the series starts picking up and his more ‘lone wolf’ demeanor softens up. Then there’s Zero, the tiny white-haired witch who enjoys the simple things in life: food. Comparatively, Zero is the freer, more airheaded member of the main duo, as she had spent her life in a cave up until her book was stolen, and lacks any kind of basic knowledge of the outside world. Rather than being a ditzy klutz (mostly), Zero is a calm airhead simply because she doesn’t know anything aside from the intricacies of magic, leading to a majority of the show’s comedic and enjoyable moments due to her hilariously blunt nature and lack of what would widely be considered as ‘common sense’. As such, she has something of a unique identity that when mixed with her mercenary, creates fun character interactions between two quite likeable characters. For the supporting cast, we’re treated to a myriad of characters who act as players to the bigger stage of the kingdom of Wenias, as most if not all of them have some kind of affiliation to one faction or another in the war for magic. As such, characters like Albus and the Sorcerers of Zero are clearly defined to think one way while the royal kingdom and its citizens think the other in order to give clear definition on their opinion of the matter and thus easily explain the overall conflict of the scenario. While less interesting than our main protagonists, the majority of them play their part as the background scenario well, which is the most you could ask for in a series featuring two clearly defined sides. The only one of the supporting cast that differs from this rule is ‘Thirteen’; a character similar to our main protagonists as he only does what he believes is right/based in his own goals and a compatriot of Zero. Overview: + Very intriguing main protagonists + Fitting and clearly defined side cast Art: Produced by White Fox, Grimoire of Zero has the clear fantasy look that the studio has used for previous projects in the past (such as Re:Zero, for example) More or less standard fare in terms of the quality of this day and age, the animation and art quality for the show is good, but not overly amazing or budget breaking. I do however want to bring attention to the various forms of magic used in the show, as the intricate circles and various effects of the spells enhance the art quality to truly feel like a fantasy/magic show. Additionally, and this is more personal than anything, the character design for Zero is amazing. It’s the right amount of complexity and really fits with the overall aesthetic of the show. Overview: + Nice touch on the magic usage +/- Standard art Sound: “Hakkensha wa Watashi”, the OP for Grimoire of Zero is a whimsical rock song that helps provide an adventurous tone to the travels of our main characters and contrasts the more serious tone of the magic war in the series. Personally, I feel like the song itself isn’t all that memorable, but it is a good track that’s been on a few of my own song loops. To contrast, the ED, "Hajimari no Shirushi” is a laid back piece that relies more on strings and light piano to elevate a sense of wonder in our characters’ journey. Accompanied by a children’s book graphic, the ED feels a lot better than its OP counterpart, as it has a nice style to it that gives us a nice contrast everything that the show has given us up until this point. Overview: + Good tracks + Memorable ED Personal Enjoyment: At the start of the season, I always handpick about a dozen shows to watch/review for the season. Some are ‘obligatory’ as I watched and reviewed a previous season of it so it’s only natural that I do the same for subsequent seasons, and others are those that I personally find intriguing. As a fan of fantasy, I found Grimoire of Zero to be interesting at first glance. Before I knew it, it had become my most anticipated show of the season. The overall plot had more to offer than just a simple magic-based story and had a lot of aspects that meshed well with each other to culminate into what we have. I was so sucked into it that I was left wanting more, and I really, really want a second season of this because I really want to see more of Mercenary and Zero’s travels throughout the world plagued by magic. Did I enjoy this series? I think I may have enjoyed it a bit too much, but you can’t really blame a guy for having a preference, right? Personally I found Zero to be the highlight of the series. Her character was always such a joy to have on-screen, and I always appreciate a unique character to help tell the story. What didn’t I like about his series? Albus was really the big stickler for me. They admittedly do play a big part in the series, but I just kinda found them annoying with their constant, constant preaching for their look on everything while I just sat there wanting to see something else involving Zero. Would I recommend this series? If you’re a fan of fantasy of magic, I would highly recommend watching this. It has a unique enough identity large enough to completely separate itself from a majority of the cookie-cutter magic-based shows, showing that original ideas really can be successful. The main characters are interesting, the entire plot is fleshed out, and it has such nice pacing that it feels almost like magic that this kind of even pacing can even exist in this era of rushed adaptations. read more
Story: Our story returns us back to the world of Uchouten, where Tengu rule the skies, tanuki mess around like the fools they are, and humans apparently eat tanuki served via hotpot. It's here where we see Yasaburo's idiot blood get the better of him as he encounters both new and old faces in a strikingly similar plot to the original. At face value, the story for Uchouten 2 is remarkably similar to the original series, so much so that the series is more or less a shameless rehash of the original. Our main protagonist gets thrown around all over the place screwing about and living his troublesome life, before we the audience are tossed in the series ourselves via a political conspiracy plot thanks to a familiar face. Because of this, the show feels less interesting tension-wise because if you watched the first season, it's not exactly hard to anticipate the end result once everything has been said and done. That being said, what the show lacks in plotline creativity makes up in heaps and bounds with the characterization with every member of its cast. All faces both new and old are given the limelight in some sense or another, so we're treated to the heart and soul of the series, the characters. A majority of the show's runtime is dedicated seeing what everyone is up to and the kinds of unique alignments that the characters in the show each have. We learn the pasts of the new editions while discovering more about the familiar characters that we didn't know before, thus giving the audience reason to care and be involved into these characters' lives. Ultimately, the Eccentric Family 2 continues what the series is best at, which is heavy characterization centered around an extremely peculiar cast of different races. Indeed the story itself really isn't all that interesting when you describe it as "A bunch of characters fucking about", but ultimately that's what makes the show interesting in the first place, as these new interactions are what give the audience the reasoning to watch the show. Cause otherwise, it's basically just a rehash of roughly the same plot as the original. (They even did the whole train crash part again. Like seriously?) Overview: + Provides more heavily involved character interactions - Basically has the same plotline as the original (copying yourself still counts as cheating) Characters: A majority of the cast stays consistent even through this second season. We still follow the story of Yasaburo as he goes around town messing with his family, his master, and other familiar faces while also tempting fate with newer characters like the Nidaime and other slightly less important, but interesting side characters. As far as large cast changes go, the biggest changes that we're treated to are the ones involving the new character known as 'The Nidaime', and a more involved role in the series with Kaisei. While Nidaime doesn't get as much screentime or attention devoted to him as I wish he did (what with him being a very weighty introduction to the cast), he still plays quite a relatively large role in the series and provides a new perspective to tengus and their prideful existence, something that the first season didn't really touch up on. As such, the inclusion of his character provides us with a slightly bigger look and welcome into the world of the Eccentric Family. Just personally, I wish his backstory was fleshed out a lot more because it felt so haphazardly placed in the end without much buildup. Kaisei on the other gets a lot more screentime and involvement in the series than before, which was something that I really wanted from the series since she had potential, but just wasn't used that much. The fleshing out of her character and in particular her relationship with Yasaburo was a very nice addition to the series that put in a lot more detail to her character, which was both sweet and very nice to see. Additionally, the series introduces a multitude of other characters in the series like Gyokuran, a tanuki with some affection for a certain member of the Shimogamo family, and Tenmaya, a sly man who escaped Hell. Both of these and more add to the already vibrant cast of the series. While their roles are less important comparatively to the Nidaime and several other members of the family sans the sons of the Shimogamo, everyone provides their own spin to the overall story, thus making sure that every episode is a fun episode. Overview: + Main cast largely stays the same (and interesting) + Large amount of characterization for cast members new and old + Everyone is interesting Art: Produced by P.A. Works, the art for Uchouten is quite different than what the company usually produces. The style replicates that of the original series and has its own sense of boldness with the color palette, and whimsy with the show's stylistic choices. Characters look a lot simpler compared to the normally glossy and shiny look of the company's usual track record, and both the characters and the backgrounds have a sort of painted style that furthers showcases the peculiarity of what the show has to offer. Overview: + Unique art style that works well for the series Sound: "Nasugamama, Sawagumama", Uchouten 2's OP, is quite similar to the first season's OP as it's made by the same band and bears a similar rambunctious rock song reflective of our main character's typical nature of fooling around and causing a wake of trouble behind him. Though not as memorable as I'd like, the song is still quite good and worthy of a listen due to how energetic it is. Inversely, we have "Moon River" by fhana for the ED, which is a calmer piece that gives a nice, smoother contrast to the chatter-filled OP. Similarly, it's not that memorable, but it still is a nice listen. Overview: + Good tracks - Not as memorable as I'd like Personal Enjoyment: Uchouten Kazoku was both a very intriguing series to watch and ponder about. Because a greater majority of the characters aren't human, it made sense that they wouldn't follow by what we would consider to be 'normal human conventions'. As such, they mostly did the opposite of what a human would do, thus leading to very peculiar yet fascinating behavior. On top of that, the sheer volume of involvement the series had with its characters' interactions made every scene, no matter what it was, a joy to watch. Did I like this series? I really did enjoy this show. It's very hard to accurately explain this show, so I'm just going to say that I outright loved watching this show and anticipated every episode to come my way. In particular, I adore Kaisei as a character. She serves as a nice compliment to Yasaburou's character and the extra involvement that she got in this season was something of a dream come true for me with her being my favorite character. What didn't I like about this series? I have to say that I'm not really a big fan of Benten. I know a good majority of people like her, but her aloofness and typically described as 'selfish' nature really gets on my nerves because I feel like even the show doesn't have a good idea on where she should sit. Her actions to me don't really make much sense, and as such, hampered my enjoyment of the show a bit. (Though her comeuppance was quite rewarding.) Would I recommend this show? I would recommend it to everyone simply because this show is an experience. Uchouten is very unique in the sense that the unconventional nature of it all lends itself to be truly something that becomes very hard to describe when you really sit down and think about it. Indeed not everyone may like it, but if you ask me, it's the kind of fun 'unknown' that the show has with its bizarre yet amusingly quirky nature that makes it something worth watching. After all, a fun thing is a good thing, and that's a motto worth living by. read more
Story: Masamune Izumi is an LN author in high school. Due to familial circumstances, he must now support himself and his little stepsister, Sagiri, so that the two of them may continue living together. With Sagiri shutting herself in her room 24/7, Masamune has a hard time connecting with her until he finds out one day that his little sister is actually the illustrator for his books, Eromanga-sensei. And thus, hilarity (I guess) ensues. The story for Eromanga-sensei relies primarily on two things: the on-going plot of our protagonist trying to make a new book, and a harem comprised of entirely middle school girls. When combined together, the show creates a decently meshed story, but is ultimately nothing too special as a lot of the dialogue repeating similar lines to each other to boast the audience's appeal to root for the main characters and their dreams, and many of the scenes and episodes are repeated ecchi gags like the beach episode, unnecessary challenges, and the girls hiding their true feelings for a greater portion of the series. Not only that, but the show puts in far too many attempts at creating dramatic or interesting character introductions that are honestly more cringe-inducing than welcome to see. (Looking at you, Muramasa.) While the show is at face value, a cheap rehash of many of what would considered to be the norm in anime, the show does have several genuinely cute moments with the second to last episode in particular being the highlight of the entire series as it explains a backstory that I guess we never really asked for. (Was still nice to see.) On top of that, the show's overall playful nature with its character interactions and lighter storyline leans it more towards a piece of fluff entertainment, so expecting more than what's on the cover is asking for too much. However I'm not really keen on the ending since all they did to finish the series off was to chuck in a throwaway episode that had no handling on the main story. If anything, they probably should've just left episode 12 to be an OVA or something cause comparatively, it follows it own storyline, and it's just weird for the audience to expect some kind of conclusion when really you just leave it on some kind of weird cliffhanger that doesn't make anyone at all very happy. Overview: + Actually nice backstory that caps everything off +/- Pretty much what'd you expect for a little sister/harem series - Last episode is worthless in terms of continuity Characters: As expected with a harem-based series, the cast or Eromanga-sensei consists primarily of the main, dense protagonist, the girls who he trails behind, and a bunch of side characters whose only purpose is to add to the story in a minimal way. As expected, Masamune Izumi is your typical run of the mill harem protagonist. Well, not so much 'run of the mill', just not particularly all that interesting. With his dream being to have one of his works get turned into an anime and getting the chance to watch said anime with his little sister, Masamune ends up being less of your typical dense harem protag, but more of one that is aware of each of the girls' feelings, but doesn't really act on them. He wants his little sister to be able to comfortably step out of her room, but does so without changing much of the status quo of things with any sort of foreseeable impact later on down the line. Ultimately, he does have several aspects of him that make him more interesting than some other harem protags, but not enough to make him not only his own character or anyone really interesting to watch. As for Sagiri, or Eromanga-sensei (an alias that she refuses to acknowledge despite the fact that she came up with it herself), Sagiri plays the role of the cute little sister who secretly loves her brother but is too shy and scared to say or do anything despite getting jealous of all the attention her brother gets cause literally everyone he hangs out with on a daily basis is female. Despite being a 'main character', Sagiri's existence really is more of a glorified supporting character. Because of her shut-in nature, she never leaves the house, and as such relies mostly on video calls to give her a majority of her interactions with other characters in the series. As a result, Sagiri's screentime is severely lacking for a 'main character', so it feels very strange to even call her that. I do however find her closet pervert antics quite amusing. It's just funny to see seeing this 13 year old girl act like an old man half the time because of her fascination of women's underwear and the like. The rest of the harem, Elf and Muramasa, actually have a much bigger role in the series than the supposed heroine. Playing the loud, aggressive narc and the more soft-spoken chuuni, the duo of these two authors create the rest of Masamune's harem and act as comrades in arms to our main character, thus giving them more screentime. While the series provides us with some backstory and explanation to how these girls become authors, their characters similar to the rest of the cast, don't really change all that much. The comedic nature of the series leaves their characters stagnant in order to keep their appeal, really only cropping up new aspects of them at the end when Ithere's nothing related to the plot of writing a book happening. As mentioned before, the rest of the cast doesn't really do much. Consisting of a middle school girl who outright says she loves dick, various editors, the guy author who pretty much only shows up at the end and barely does anything, and other characters of similar importance, the side cast is there to enrich the cast, and nothing else. Overview: + Main cast (and harem) each have some interesting aspect to them - Stagnant characters - Side cast practically does nothing Art: Produced by A-1, Eromanga-sensei looks bright, is quite clean, and is general standard fare for the company. Using a heavy moe-stylized appearance, the whole point of the artstyle is to look cute and appealing to the audience. Nothing really outstanding about it, but nothing really that bad. I do want to fact that because the show literally has 'ero' in its name, Eromanga-sensei is indeed a fanservice show. With many gratuitous shots of underage girls, from beach scenes to underwear, thigh shots, etc...it's pretty much impossible to avoid any kind of blatant fanservice when the word 'erotic' is written on the box. So if you're not a fan of fanservice, probably not something for you. Overview: + Clean, consistent quality +/- Quite a lot of fanservice (Depends on your opinion of fanservice) Sound: The OST for Eromanga-sensei isn't all that special. Both its OP "Hitorigoto" and ED "adrenaline!!!" are cheery pop songs that sound nice, but are ultimately quite generic in the end. The ED is a little more poppy than the OP, but they're still the same kind of song. Personal Enjoyment: If I were to describe Eromanga-sensei, I'd say it's 'enjoyable'. Nothing about it is spectacular, ground-breaking, or really all that special. It's the show of the season that people devote the season's memes to because of just how painfully average it is. Personally, I don't really have anything directed towards it: no vendetta, no appreciation, just an entirely average "meh" to the whole thing. Did I like this series? If anything, I find Elf, amusing. She was always my favorite of the three girls because while her bold and brazen attitude can be annoying, she was the most consistent character and was more honest than the others. I also like Sagiri's 'old man' antics. Her being a perverted 13 year old was always amusing for some reason. What didn't I like about this series? Aside from the last episode being a throwaway, Muramasa's introduction was one of the shoddiest character introductions I've ever seen. Especially when you learn why things played out the way they did, it just boggles the mind with how or why things turned out that way. (Also a certain cameo at the end of episode 11 is just...no. Why do you remind me of that?) Would I recommend this show? If you're looking for something kinda trashy and not expecting much from it, Eromanga-sensei fits the bill quite well. Again, the show is really more of a piece of entertainment than any kind of impressive story or overarching plot, so don't really expect much when watching it. Personally, I don't think it's bad enough to be panned, but it's not really good enough to be worth anything but a timekiller, so my standing on its merit is that it's something that's ok for when you have the downtime for it. read more
Story: With the world dying to the point that it could no longer sustain life, a man known only as 'Y' rebuilt it from gears and clockwork, thus creating the 'Clockwork Planet' that the characters live in. (Don't ask me how he did it, the characters themselves don't even fucking know) It is here where our dual protagonists come across many wrenches in this world of gears as they try and work out the kinks in the machine. Based entirely on only a few of the story's beginning arcs, Clockwork Planet is a typical arc-heavy story that relies on different problems arising for our protagonists to deal with, each creating a similar problem in a different way. These outlandish scenarios act as a double-edged sword for the series as while the plots create a semi-engaging scenario for the audience and provide us a reason to continue watching, the actual logistics for each antagonist's reason for doing their evil deeds usually don't really make any sense whatsoever. Especially with the last arc, a lot of the show's cogs fall apart because a lot of plot aspects don't fully mesh well with each other. It's also important to note that very often the show wastes time with less action-packed scenes and focuses more on comedic or slice-of-life moments that while do help provide a better aspect of life on the clockwork planet, don't really add much to the story. Especially since most of the time they shove these parts in the middle of the action, so it creates a jarring shift in tone. All in all, Clockwork Planet was a series that had a rocky start, picked up a little bit in the middle, and then ended with the cogs falling apart again. Mixed with plot holes (some of which can be ignored to an extent), unclear antagonist motivation, and a surprising amount of choppiness with the story, Clockwork Planet's story ends up being a clunky mess that has some good aspects, but ultimately falls apart because things don't mesh well enough to create good synchronization. Overview: + Interesting world (Gotta give 'em for an interesting setting) - Clunky pacing - Jarring tone shifts - Unclear antagonist motivation Characters: Inversely, the characters of Clockwork Planet share a different opinion when compared to its story. Sadly, if you're not a main character, than the show really doesn't care about you. First are the duality of protagonists, Naota Miura, the boy whose sexual preference is robot and Marie Bell Breguet, the short fused clocksmith gone rogue. Obsessed with clocks and wanting to be a clocksmith, Naota represents the 'Natural Genius', as his uncanny, natural ability to hear minute problems within the rhythm of gears and figure out the problem from that actually makes him quite interesting. As a character, Naota is a boy who adores automata to the point that he makes one his waifu and gets very upset when they're mistreated. Marie on the other hand is an experienced clocksmith representing the 'Learned Genius' as comparatively, she knows how to fix stuff, but has to work to find the answer when her counterpart does the reverse. Because of their contraries, the characters work well together as opposites, and the majority of the runtime is dedicated to their opposing ideas meshing together to fix the problem. While they don't do well on their own, their teamwork brings up a good positive for the show since their bickering is actually really fun and interesting to watch. Then there's RyuZu, the one who follows. As the main automaton of the series, RyuZu is a sharp-tongued robot gal who hates people but loves/respects Naota because he fixed what 200 years of clocksmiths couldn't repair. Generally acting as a supplement to Naota's character, RyuZu acts as a bit of a gag due to how rude to everyone she is, thus creating some actually charming scenarios between the characters. She mostly stays stagnant in terms of development like the rest of the cast, but the qualities involving her offensive nature make her very entertaining if nothing else. Other automaton like AnchoR and Halter act a similar role in that they add more to the series to make the cast more colorful, but don't have much in the way of development and are really only necessary to the plot when needed. Aside from them, the supporting characters are shoddy examples of what not to do when creating a supporting cast. The antagonists have very loose motivations that don't really make sense or amount to anything, and the supporting cast either have a very tiny role and/or don't really make much sense. Overview: + Interesting (and entertaining) main characters + Entertaining supplementary characters to the main duo - Supporting cast doesn't really matter all that much Art: Produced by Xebec, Clockwork Planet's art leaves a lot to be desired. The animation and art itself is standard fare, and the show uses actually really nice CGI in order to create the numerous amounts of gears, cogs, and machines that we see throughout the series. Despite its background appearance, the character designs leave a lot to be desired. While the original art for clockwork planet does leave some things to be desired, the anime's adaptation of said art has a lot of inconsistencies with it. Character proportions (like AnchoR's head compared to her body) look off, as the heads of the characters are stretched length-wise and create some really peculiar looking people. On top of that, the show's inconsistencies with character design make it so that one shot doesn't look the same as another, thus creating weird shots altogether. Overview: + Good use of CGI - Inconsistent character designs Sound: Appropriately (or lazily) named 'Clockwork Planet', the show's OP made by Fripside is...quite samey to what the group makes. A lot of their songs sound very similar, and this one is no different. That isn't to say it's a bad thing, as the inclusion of windup noises and the overall tone of the song is still quite nice despite how similar it sounds to a multitude of their other tracks. The show's ED on the other hand (also appropriately named), "Anti-clockwise", is a louder, slightly more screechy song with dissonant piano chords and an all around messier structure comparatively to its OP counterpart. It's not that pleasant to listen to, and is one of those things that's worth skipping not because it's forgettable, but because it does grate on the ears a little bit. Overview: +/- Tracks vary with your mileage Personal Enjoyment: I was anticipating the release of Clockwork Planet for quite a while. It was one of those show that I really wanted to watch and I had to wait for its release because it was stuck in development hell for a little while. Unfortunately, the end result I wouldn't say is worth the wait, but despite that, I still enjoyed it regardless of the fact that I can just as easily chalk up a lot of the shows problems and ultimately say that it is indeed a 'bad adaptation'. Did I enjoy this series? Critically, the show has many flaws. Despite that, Clockwork Planet still managed to be a guilty pleasure of mine. The bickering between the main cast really made the show enjoyable for me to the point that I really didn't care much for the story or any other aspect of the show. Fripside's OP's always interest me, so I would be remised if I said that I didn't enjoy that too. Sure it's not a great show, but a show doesn't have to be 'great' in order for one to enjoy it. What didn't I like about this show? The last arc felt really weak. Especially since it took about a third of the runtime, having a huge portion of the story stumble towards the end was a big letdown, especially since very few things at the moment clicked in place. Would I recommend this series? If you just really want to see some interesting characters talk to each other, than Clockwork Planet fits the bill. Again, the show struggles with having a cohesive story and the visuals leave some things to be desired. Despite that, its characters make the show good enough for those with low standards to still find something enjoyable to watch, so if anything, I'd say this show is for those willing to devote some time to enjoy something that's kinda stupid, if anything. read more
Story: Aino Seiji is just your typical harem protagonist. Nice to everyone, easygoing, and comes into contact with a plethora of very troublesome women through very unfortunate circumstances. After coming into contact with a girl who presents him with a “Kiss Note” (Yes, it’s a death note reference. Don’t think too hard about it), he is brought into the realm of couple-making where he must help couples get together, all the while dealing with a small trail of women himself. This show is in a word, rushed. Smashing together about forty or so chapters of the original manga into a twelve-episode anime, the story for Renai Boukun follows the story of a hyperactive fujoshi, a shrill, incestuous stalker, a kukuri wielding yandere, and the main protagonist, as they come across various, loosely love-based scenarios that culminate into…something. When looking at it from face value, it’s quite unclear to understand what it is the show wants to be. Aside from the overall theme of love and how love exists in various kinds of romantic relationships, the show zip zaps around from being one-off episode comedy plots, to one-two episode long drama plots involving one of the main characters. Due to the rushed nature of trying to get to the end, the show suffers from poor comedic timing, as the necessary time to let the audience breathe from in-between jokes is absent and thus makes it very difficult for the audience to really get a full kick out of what we’re supposed to laugh at. Not only that, it doesn’t help that the show relies mostly on repeated gags in order to try and be funny either. Another problem is character development. Due to the fact that the show attempts to squeeze so much in so little, any and all character development that the show tries to accomplish feels contrived and stiff. Two of the main girls in particular get arcs dedicated to them, and it doesn’t really feel like they accomplish much of anything in the end because we’re given less than hour each of total focus to even give a crap. The ending doesn’t really help either cause things are more or less thrown back into the status quo of things, so I guess like some aspects of life, some things never change. Overall, the story of Renai Boukun is a mess of fragments broken off from an existing manga shoddily put back together to try to create some semblance of an anime. A lot of the in-between details are missing and while the show does tell a story in the end, it doesn’t really feel genuine or rewarding because the journey watching these characters feels so half-hearted. Overview: - TERRIBLE pacing (Some episodes are one chapter. Others are three-four.) - Poor comedic timing - Contrived character development Characters: If I’ll give the show anything, it’s that its main cast is…something. It’s something all right. First off, we have Aino Seiji. Now I don’t know why this guy is our protagonist of all characters, but I safely say that he is as bland as they come. Seiji is your typical ‘nice’ protagonist: respects women, nice to all, easygoing, and most of all, dense. Maybe he’s not that last one so much, but the rest for sure. The most interesting part about his character I’d say is how he at least acknowledges the affection he gets from the girls (At least one of them) and has the willingness to be a kind soul regardless of the situation. Which honestly is something you have to give to the guy considering his harem is filled with absolutely terrible people, deals with haphazardly stupid situations daily, and he gets blamed for stupid shit when his involvement in things aren’t always his fault anyway. Beyond that, he’s about as interesting as a saltine cracker. Then there’s Guri. I want to separate this one from the rest of the harem specifically because she is the cause of everyone’s problems. Noted previously as the ‘hyperactive fujoshi’ who likes to cosplay, Guri doesn’t understand love, yet does whatever she wants because she’s a free spirit and can’t be held down by any form of convention so long as it’s fun and whatnot. This can be a good archetype, except the show makes her really, really annoying. For the most part, she causes a lot of the series’ conflicts (she’s the one that jumpstarted the plot anyway), leaving Seiji in particular to try and fix some things. She’s just…not a very good character, especially since the ending tries its best to get the audience to care about her when the show up until that point gives us very little reason to give a damn in the first place. Then there’re the two half-sisters, Yuzu and Akane. Yuzu shares similar problems with Guri, with most of her gags and annoyances coming off as creepy yuri as she jealously tries to garner the attention of her ‘onee-sama’ when in reality Akane gives little shits about her half-sister’s attention. Yuzu’s whole saga throughout the series is all over the place and lacks enough cohesion to warrant any form of sympathy or care from the audience. As for Akane, she acts as the series’ mediator while also being batshit crazy herself. Carrying kukuri knives and comically threatening anyone who gets in the way of her and Seiji, Akane is surprisingly the most level-headed member of the entire female cast as she carries a lot of reasoning and understanding that most of the girls in this series lack. Of course she does share her own fair share of problems (like having her arc be completely rushed to the point it didn’t even really matter), but in comparison, she fares so much better than the other girls in the series. Beyond them, the sidecast involves various family members of the characters’ families (who are also all crazy might I add) that add to some of the arcs in various ways with similarly varying degrees of success, a bunch of cast members who provide their own one-off love stories to help fill up the runtime and provide a different kind of romantic relationship, and the rapey penguin. Yes, you read that right. Why he’s there, I don’t know, but he has a surprisingly large part (by supporting cast standards) in this series so…that’s there, I guess. (There’s also the character ‘Shikimi’, but we don’t talk about her and how much of a bitch she is.) Overview: + Some level-headed characters - Most of the cast is crazy (and not the good kind) - Rapey penguin? (Don’t know if this is necessarily a bad thing, but I’m adding it.) Art: Produced by EMT^2, Renai Boukun’s art is what I would describe as lazy. The colors are blindingly bright to the point that it looks uncomfortable to watch; background characters are usually just gray silhouettes, and the characters just look gaudy with how the colors used on them are. It’s not even just the art. The animation for some scenes clearly show little effort is put into them, thus giving off this really cheap, cost-efficient look to the whole thing that looks very uninteresting to look at. Not only that, but character designs have their own sets of problems. Personally I find Yuzu’s hair very irritating to look at. The huge pigtails on her sides combined with the cheap looking animation make her look like an eyesore every time she came on-screen. Overview: - Lazy, cheap looking art Sound: The OP known as…"Koi? de Ai? de Boukun desu!” (Lord that’s a mouthful) is a poppy, upbeat song that actually fits well with the show’s wacky and comedic story. Sure it’s just a pop idol girl song, but it has merit to it for having a unique beat to it so that it’s not just some generic anime opening that sounds similar to heaps of other openings from other shows. Its ED, 'Suki' wo Oshiete’ on the other hand isn’t so fortunate. Comparatively, it’s not really all that unique and falls into a generic sounding song that while sounds good, doesn’t really have much in the way of memorabilia so that you would want to listen to it again, and not so you have to loop it in the background so you can accurately come up with the words to describe it. Overview: + Decent tracks - Ed isn’t really all that memorable Personal Enjoyment: Having read the Renai Boukun manga, the adaptation disappointed me for not only not being on the same level as the original, but for rushing so much to get to a certain point in the story that it had to sacrifice so much just to get there. As such, I had a really hard time finding many positives to say since not only was the plot not that stellar to begin with, it actually got worse because it was adapted into something with a limited time frame. As such, my enjoyment with this series dipped down a bit, and I really wish it didn’t. Because I did kind of enjoy just being forced to go along with the flow of things sometimes cause like the MC, there’s really no other way out of it. Did I like this series? There were a few choice moments I’m glad they animated. Not only that, but I’m glad Akane mostly stayed intact. Despite her obsessive nature, she’s the series’ main voice of reason and maintains her sensibility (mostly) throughout the show despite the random shit going on around her. What didn’t I like about this series? Aside from the obvious plot problems, the rest of the girls in the main group: Guri, Yuzu, (and Shikimi, technically) really irk me. Their archetypes to me are actually really unlikeable because not only do they center around one thing, which is being annoying, they do it so persistently throughout the series that it never feels like they have any kind of growth to them that would warrant me to like them. There’s almost no change with their characters and it upsets me that in a harem series of all things, there are very few candidates for ‘best girl’. (Not like any of them really are stellar choices.) Would I recommend this series? If you are going to watch this, turn your brain off. Your enjoyment will skyrocket if you do. Beyond that, this really isn’t something worth recommending. Its plethora of problems with its pacing and characters combined with a really cheap looking animation style make Renai Boukun a really difficult watch. Coupled with poor comedic timing and a newbie seiyuu for Yuzu whose voice grates the ears, I honestly have a hard time finding many redeeming merits for this show to watch. I’d say read the manga if anything, but even then it’s best to turn the good ol’ noggin off. read more
Story: Picking off from the first season, Saekano Flat (which I will refer to as ‘Flat’ for the rest of the review) continues the story of Tomoya Aki and the rest of Blessing Software as they complete the destined galge that the group’s members have been tirelessly working on. Similar to its first season, Flat refines and solidifies the cast’s struggles and relationships with each other alongside the characters’ progress with the development of the game. In particular, the show focuses heavily on two of the main female leads, Utaha and Eriri, as they come to terms with their lives as creators and what it is they want, as many of the show’s conflicts and problems are centered around these two and the kind of goals they have for themselves and with Tomoya. As such, the story feels a lot more personal for these girls, and the screentime is used as such to dedicate moments and developments that center around them, thus giving the audience a better understanding of their characterization. An issue with the story however is how much of an imbalance there is with the characterization. Personally, I feel like Eriri’s portion of the story is far stronger while Utaha’s feels muted in comparison. Utaha’s struggles just don’t seem as impactful when compared to how the series builds up Eriri and the kinds of things she deals with later on in the series. I chalk that up more on the series using Eriri as the series’ climax, but it still does feel unfair when looking at the two at face value. Another is how the rest of the main cast, Tomoya and Kato, have their problems mostly have their problems shoved to the side. Tomoya kind of averts this problem by being a core aspect that influences the rest of the cast, and as such, gains growth and the ability to grow from that, but Kato mostly gets shoved to the side and only really gets to shine in 1-2 episodes as the main focus. The way they present her is nice, but I honestly wished that they did more with her than just do what they did with her. With all of these factors in play, the show ultimately culminates into an ending that I would largely describe as ‘fitting’ given the kinds of factors put in play. It’s not the most dramatic ending, especially compared to some of the more high-tension scenes from previous episodes. But it is what I feel like is a very fitting ending for the series and ends on a high note all things considering, as the show still retains its comedic charm despite all of the drama that had happened before. Overall, Flat was a solid second season that had many good and bittersweet aspects to it that culminated into a well-rounded show. Indeed the imbalance of dedication and time spent on the characters made some seem more important than others, but its usage of the artist struggle and personal desire to excel contrasting the struggle of personal vs. professional life made up for a good portion of the mistakes that the show ended up making on its journey to the end. (You know, despite it only having eleven episodes. Eleven episodes for a cour is weird.) Overview: + Finished story (because many anime don’t actually do this.) + Drastic characterization (with consequences and bittersweet moments) - Imbalance with how drastic characterization is between characters Characters: The cast itself doesn’t change much between seasons, so instead of a general rundown, I’m going to be talking more about the specifics on some of the cast shifts. Most prominently for the series are Utaha and Eriri. As mentioned before, these two are Flat’s centerpiece when compared to the one arc they each got in season one. Compared to season one focusing more on them licking at old wounds, Flat shows the girls and their attempts at looking towards the future as the show asks the question: What happens once the game’s finished? I praised the show before for given a realistic spin on the idealistic ‘harem’ scenario, as each of the girls have their own separate lives and personalities apart from their involvement with the game and Tomoya, and Flat gives further evidence for that fact as the story progresses. You see these girls blossom by themselves as individual character, and it’s a really nice change of pace that in my opinion separates this show from other harem/drama shows, and as such, gives itself a positive identity. Then there’s Tomoya. If I really had to pin down what Tomoya does, it would be riding off of the ‘character development train’ that both Eriri and Utaha forge ahead on. Most of Tomoya’s characterization and struggle comes off from those two girls as he sees the result of his actions and comes to terms with what has to be done with all of them. While yes he has a few unsightly moments, it results in a lot of genuine growth that is again, something that’s a nice change of pace. It sucks that it comes from a source that’s not him, but it doesn’t really hurt the series that much when you put it in context. Kato however doesn’t do all that much. As mentioned before, she only has like…one, may one and a half episodes dedicated to her. She mostly plays a background role to all of this rather than the ‘main heroine’ as the series (namely Tomoya) made her out to be. The one episode she does get in the middle fixes several of the problems that we encounter, but doesn’t really justify her lack of involvement if you ask me. Comparatively, the rest of the cast is hardly there. Because the show is so heavily focused on our main 4 characters, everyone else is basically shoved to the side and if anything, act as a slight instigator to some sections of the plot. It’s a shame too, because characters like the Hashima siblings and Michiru had potential; they just weren’t used much at all. (They do point this out in the show, however it doesn’t rectify the problem.) Overview: + Heavy main characterization - Kato does very little (And that’s a bad thing if you ask me.) - The supporting cast basically does nothing. Art: Produced by A-1, the art for Saekano is the same light and gentle artstyle that it had back in season one. The red highlights on the eyebrows for the girls still bother me, but there really isn’t much different or bad in the way of the art department. There are also quite a number of camera shots that’re intentionally framed for fanservice (mostly involving Utaha actually) however. I’d argue that it’s tasteful fanservice, since the circumstances that they come about could actually happen in real life to some degree. They’re not really that common, and if noticed, don’t really impact the story or anything of that sort to any major degree. Overview: + Pretty much the same art as Season 1 +/- Fanservice shots (Some people still don’t like fanservice no matter what it is.) Sound: The new OP and ED for Flat, “Stella Breeze” and “Sakura-iro Diary” both share a similar style as being bright and gentle pieces with a slight bit of energy and a hint of somberness to them. Both of them are actually quite nice, and personally, I think that they’re a good reflection for the series that they’re a part of. My only complaint is how similar the two of them sound. They both share such a similar tone in sound that I’d argue that you could switch the two around and you could achieve a similar effect in the series. Overall though, really nice tracks, though I’d also argue that they’re not quite that memorable? Yeah, I’ll go with that. Overview: + Good tracks that reflect the series - Sound very samey Personal Enjoyment: With the plethora of harem/romance shows that I have haphazardly slapped onto my list, it becomes an increasingly difficult trial for me to find many harem shows that I would not only actually enjoy, but also find interesting due to how samey many of them feel while watching. Saekano not only gives me that interesting harem story that I was looking for, but also speaks to me as a creator and gives me a way to relate to these characters. So for that reason, Saekano is one of my all-time favorites in the category. Did I like this series? I did. I really did. Despite it having a very, very bittersweet climax and resolution, I really enjoyed the characters and the story. Not only that, but I like how Saekano itself acts as a bit of a parody of the harem genre because all of the characters know and avoid the general conventions of the genre while also proving itself to be more than just a show with several girls chasing after him. The character interactions are also really, really fun to watch. What didn’t I like about this series? Personally, I just don’t like the climax. Not for how it was presented or how it was written, but for how it hits me personally. It’s very hard to make decisions like that, and as a fan of the series; it’s an understandably bittersweet moment to witness because if I may be honest, I like the entire main cast; maybe Kato more than anyone, but I still like everyone. Would I recommend this series? If you watched Season one, watch Flat. I promise you won’t regret it. (Or maybe you will because you, like me, have personal attachment to these characters. I don’t know.) If you haven’t, I would suggest this show highly. It’s has a lot of merit to it, and tells a complete story about the problems with personal life vs. professional life combined with the struggles with being a creator, a topic that not that many anime actually cover despite itself being an art medium. read more
Story: Glenn Radars is a man without any motivation for anything. With his guardian, Celica, threatening him and forcing him to get off his ass to do something with his life, he ends up at the magic school that also serves as Celica's workplace, and ultimately becomes a magic teacher much to his chagrin. Akashic Records is a very arc-heavy (or as I refer to as arcic) show. The series itself is split into 4 arcs spanning roughly 3 episodes each, with the general focus of each episode being Glenn saving and involving himself with one of the three main girls in the series: Rumia, Re=L, and Sistina in that order. General arc flow involves something evil plot relating to each of the three girls, things get dire, and Glenn saves the day. Rinse, repeat, do it again. As a result, the story for Akashic Records becomes monotonous and quite predictable. It's not bad per-say, as the presentation for each arc gives the audience some more world building and a better look into the mysterious past life of our main protagonist, but because each arc is just another rehash of a story setup done countless times, it's very hard to be invested in it, especially since each arc is so short and there's very little buildup before we end and move onto the next girl. Another problem I find is exposition. In order to educate the audience about aspects of the magic concepts that they didn't know before, the show inputs heaps of exposition in various parts of the series from character introductions to new magic studies and research. As a result, the flow of the series feels slightly choppy because we're given what's essentially a wall of text to tell us who this person is or what kind of magic that's being put at the forefront right now. Doing this makes it clear that it's important to this section of the story (and nowhere else), so it just makes it all the more easier to know what's coming the audience's way. Overall, Akashic Records's story is average at best. With a predictable arc-heavy setup as the formula for its story telling, the story ends up becoming very easy to guess and as such, relieves a lot of the built up tension the show attempt to create. Not only that, but the 'Akashic Records' that's in the title is barely even mentioned. Pretty sure it's the end-all be-all of the series, but since we only got a small bit of the whole story, the fact that we're led on that it plays a part kinda sucks. Overview: +/- Worldbuilding through exposition +/- Arc heavy storytelling - Extremely predictable - Very little tension despite alluding to it Characters: You're either Glenn or the 3 main girls. If you're not, you're unimportant. Glenn Radars is a cocky, selfish, self-congratulating bastard of a teacher. (I mean the show is called 'Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor' in translation after all.) As a character, Glenn plays the duality of roles of being the series's main asshole, as well as the show's secret badass. Haunted by a past that he doesn't like talking about (Cause everyone has one of those), Glenn's character changes as the series goes along from a jerkface to someone who genuinely thinks positively of being a magic instructor while at the same time, fixing all of the series's conflicts because "I'M THE MAIN PROTAGONIST" and because he wants to be a 'mage of justice'. (Archer would like to talk to you btw.) While the characterization is nice, it's how easy all of the problems are solved which is the problem. As mentioned before, Glenn solves literally all of the conflicts that this series has, and as a result, makes the show very predictable and kinda lackluster. There's not any serious loss that the series shows us on-screen, so any potential weight that the show might have dissipates because the main character is always there to say the day. Then there're the three girls: Rumia, Re=L, and Sistina, better known as the kind, understanding girl, the kuudere loli, and your typical tsundere. As far as personalities go, this is about the extent that these girls have. While true we do get a better idea of them and their past as a result of the show devoting an entire arc of equal length and time to each of them beyond their devoted arc, they don't really do or get anything. If anything, they sink back into the background while the one currently in front gets the spotlight and their respective damsel in distress story. Oh yeah, they also really like making at least Rumia a damsel in distress. It's actually really annoying considering she's the only girl of the 3 that's even slightly annoying sometimes. The rest of the cast involves members of the imperial mage corps (who barely get any screentime), some other teachers in the magic school, one-off villains who you won't really remember cause they get defeated so quickly that we're already on the next arc, and the rest of Glenn's class who're only there to...be a class of students. These characters are only there to make some kind of meaning or worth to the conflicts that the series presents or 'expand' the world in a way that it feels like there're more people that're important than there really are. Also, the evil organization known as the 'Researchers of Divine Wisdom' that the show says are scary, really aren't? I mean obviously they're just building their resources or knowledge up for the series finale, but the lack of tension really makes it hard to see them, frankly anyone, as a threat. Overview: + Some characterization for the main cast - Main girls really are just tropes beyond their arc - Side characters are just screen fodder Art: Produced by Lidenfilms, the art for Akashic Records is...standard. The art itself doesn't stand out that much, as everything looks like a brightly colored show that's slightly muted in its color palette. Action is semi-fluid only because of the varying shots they use to choreograph the fights, but most of it is just magic blasting out of their hands after they spend 5 second chanting. The magic circles however are nice and detailed, so that's a nice little detail they do consistently. My biggest complaint with the art however is the design of the school uniforms, particularly the female uniforms. I know it's there for fanservice, but dear lord the girls look more like strippers than students of a magic academy. With skirts shorter than hotpants, straps just wrapping their abdomen and lower body, and different gloves on each hand, the design for the female uniform in particular is just a clunky, incohesive design that's only there to make up for the lack of bath scenes or other classic fanservice moments that the show lacks. I just...don't like it. (And it doesn't help when the male uniform is completely covered and everything.) Overview: +/- Art is standard fare - Terrible, terrible uniform design. Sound: The sound for Akashic Records is nothing special. The OP, "Blow Out" is an action song that starts out sounding interesting, but quickly turns into any other high energy song that many other shows have. It's honestly quite good, but it just doesn't have anything unique about it to make it neither special nor memorable in the sense that you'd want to listen to it over and over again. Its ED, "Precious You" shares the same problem. Sung by the girls' seiyuus, the song is a cheerful and bright song that while sounds good, really has nothing great going for it. Its only real draw is the fact that it's the seiyuus singing it, but that's about it. Overall, the soundtrack just suffers by not being anything special or unique, resulting in a decent, but not fantastic OST. Overview: +/- Average soundtrack that's not really memorable Personal Enjoyment: While currently at the time of this review, Akashic records is one of the more popular anime this season, this show just...doesn't really do a lot for me. I've seen this plot, this concept, and many aspects of it time and time again, and seeing it again with another coat of paint on is just really, really dull. I don't hate this show, as nothing about it is really aggravating, but nothing about it makes me want to give a damn. Oh, there's a conspiracy...oh no...a hidden fiancé we didn't know about appears...oh dear...what're we gonna do... Did I like this series? Not...particularly. I read some of the source material, so I ended up watching this. There're far worse things out there, but I didn't really find any specific enjoyment while watching this. What didn't I like about this series? If anything, it's the fact that Rumia was a damsel in distress character. She doesn't come off as one, but since the series knows that she's super important, they relegate her to that role. It's not fun seeing a character become a damsel, so if anything, that'd be something about this show I hate. Would I recommend this series? If you're looking to kill time or for a magic show without much investment, than Akashic Records suits the bill. The show itself knows what it is, and doesn't really aspire to be more than what it presents us in the first couple episodes. As a result, while the show may be kinda dull, it's consistent, and if you're looking for something with consistency and a really heavy status quo after every couple episodes, than this is probably something that you're looking for. read more
Story: Continuing right after the rampage of the female titan had come to an end (spoiler btw, not like almost everyone hasn’t already watched season one), Attack on Titan season two continues the story of humanity’s struggle against the giant, stupid, naked men that eat humans for shits and giggles called titans. Shorthanded, that’s the rough idea of what this season two is. In actuality though, that’s about as off as one could explain what season two is. Comparatively, season two has a drastic shift in tone and pacing that makes the series more than the parodied action scenes and shock value of cannon fodder dying by titans that season one bountifully gave us. We’re given less action and less titan murdering, but all of that is sacrificed for what I would consider as better suspense, better pacing, and overall a better presentation of the story. While yes the series was only given 12 episodes to fulfill the portion of the ongoing war against titans, the time that it was given was if you ask me, a lot better spent and actually made me give a crap by a majority of what we’re being shown. The main attributer to this would be not only the story shying away from the action, but more on the focus on characterization. The meme/side characters of the series are given their time in the spotlight while the main trio is pushed to the side. As a result of this, the show dives more into the characters of each member of the trainees that the main characters grew to know before becoming soldiers. While your mileage will vary on the time and effectiveness of each story, as the short run time and focus doesn’t give everyone equal time in the limelight, this change not only provides the audience with characterization for some of the characters that we never got to really know, but also allowed the world to expand ever so slightly from the two areas within the wall that the first couple arcs were so heavily centered upon. (Seriously though. Trost was what, nine episodes?) If anything, the only problem that I can see is that the show is just too short, especially for those who have been waiting. As good as it is, one cour after four years is far less than ideal for what have been literal years after the hype it had before had died down and into only a fraction of its former glory. It’s a bit of a shame, especially when this section of the story really begins to pick up more on what the fantasy of Shingeki no Kyojin can create. The ending is more or less a reflection of the ending of season one. Recollection of all of the events of the season before ending on a cliffhanger giving the audience chilling shots further of what is to come. It's not the best way to end the season, but at the very least, there's a season 3 on the way, so the audience isn't going to be left in the wringer. Overall, season two was a solid anime that had done away with a majority of the flaws that season one had. Not to say it didn’t have its own set of problems, as some of the intentionally vague storytelling ended up being really annoying and the runtime of the series is quite short. Despite that, season two is a definite improvement over season one, and if season three is a possibility, I hope to see it continue onward from there. Overview: + Much better storytelling + More focused characterization + Better Pacing - Characterization wasn’t spread evenly - Several, annoying vague details Characters: As mentioned before, the characters in season two have a huge shift in both relevancy and importance. The main trio act more as background characters in this season, and it is quite honestly one of the biggest positives in the series, as we’re no longer subjected to hearing Eren scream ‘TITAN’ for twenty plus episodes straight. First on the chopping block is Ymir, a background character that really didn’t get that much relevance or even screentime in the first season. Showing up mostly only during the trainee arc in the first season, Ymir becomes a more fleshed out character as the show unveils more of who she is and gives us a different view to people affected by the titan outbreak and the like. The only problem is how vague the series makes Ymir. Her backstory is almost comprised of flashbacks, and this is the section of the storytelling that irks me. The series presents her struggle and how she got to the point to where she is now in such vague detail that for those like me who’ve only watched the anime, the show might as well not put in the effort to try. Sure you can connect several dots, but when the show actively tries to hide so much information from you like it’s a playground secret, then you know you’re doing something wrong. As a result, Ymir’s potential faltered and a lot of her supposed conflict was muted from what it could be. Then there’s Christa. Presented as a cute, pretty girl in the first season who wanted to give herself a little more meaning to her life, Christa has the opposite treatment to Ymir. Her problems are presented in more detail (though it is smaller in scale), and we get a better sense to what she wants and what she fights for. But the main problem is how the series makes Ymir a crutch for her to stand up straight. While Ymir can stand by herself as her own character, Christa on the other hand needs Ymir to give her a majority of her characterization, and it’s slightly disappointing seeing the direction that they went with on how to develop her character. Similarly, the rest of the ‘side cast’ including Conny, Sasha, Reiner, and Bertholdt follow suit as each of them are given time to explain and express what their part is in the overall scope of the series. Conny and Sasha are much smaller, but give us rounded conciseness with that works well in their devoted episodes while Reiner and Bertholdt gives us larger stories that build up the world even more. Also Eren and the lot are still there. They’re not there for very long, but they still play a healthier role in the series that even if it's smaller, it's something that I'm personally fine with. Overall, with what can only be described as a role reversal to the series as the side characters take the MCs’ places in the spotlight, characters that we previously knew very little about are given the time of day, creating what I believe to be a very welcome change. It’s nice seeing that Sasha is more than just a ‘potato girl’. Overall: + Given side cast devoted characterization + A healthy dose of MC’s rather than an overdose - Main ‘focused’ characters still have lacking qualities Art: Reprised by Wit Studio, the art for season two is…pretty much the same as season one. The big difference however is the lack of the thick outline that the characters had in a majority of the earlier episodes in season one. As a result, the characters look more melded with the background and don’t stand out as something separate to the background. Another positive change is the fact that the show puts in many more gruesome, suspenseful, and truly fearful moments that we get in the first episode of the first season. The titans comparatively don’t ALWAYS look like bumbling idiots, and the art direction for the series has made them not only scary again, but something that would make sense for humanity to be fighting against to preserve their existence. The only real downside to all of this is the lack of flashy, fluid animation for the fight scenes. No more cool and edgy 3-D maneuver gear shots, no more spinning Levi, etc, etc. Personally, I don’t really mind since inputting that into the series would’ve created a jarring tonal shift, but the fluidity and proficiency that the survey corps was able to execute with the dual bladed spiderman gear was something that stood out to me in season one. Overview: + Pretty much the same art (with some slight improvements) + More built around suspenseful art direction +/- Lack of flashy fight scenes (which at the end of the day doesn’t matter THAT much) Sound: It’s…pretty much the same thing. Just like the art, the sound for the series is pretty much the same thing as what season one provided. Background music is roughly the same, and the new OP, ‘Shinzou no Sasageyo’ is a patriotic homage to the first opening that barely anyone can sing sans the word ‘Jaeger’. Hell, it even has what sounds like to be a remix of the first OP in it in the latter half of the song. On the flipside, we have its ED, ‘Yuugure no Tori’, an…unsettling song complete with bad Engrish sung in a woman dubbed over with malfunctioning autotune. It’s certainly unique, and memorable, but is so grating on the ears that I can’t stand it and I’m forced to skip it every episode because I value what little of my hearing I have left. Overview: + Pretty much the same soundtrack (including OP in a way) +/- Very…interesting ED. (Apparently there’re some that really like it. I’m not one of those people.) Personal Enjoyment: I never really considered Attack on Titan to have much, if any, worth. Due to the tempest of hype that swirled around season one that spawned hundreds upon thousands of memes and unsettling fan creations, it became something I hated simply because it was shoved in my face so often, which didn’t really help my opinion of the series since I already thought it wasn’t anything too special once I got past the initial episodes. Why am I explaining this? Well that’s because season two was something I actually enjoyed. It was more on the characters more than the action, and it focused more on the scope of the world rather than making cool edgy shots of the 3-D gear. As hesitant as I am to give praise to this series (as extremely hyped shows tend to make me lean towards giving them a bad rap), I genuinely liked it. What did I like about this series? In terms of specifics, I liked how the main characters became much more muted versions of themselves. Armin wasn’t solving everyone’s problem, Mikasa wasn’t as Eren-crazy, and Eren was a hell of a lot less shouty than he’s been in the past. If we get more of this, I would be happy to finally give them the time of day. What didn’t I like about the series? Vagueness. I hate series’ that intentionally make things hard to understand for the audience, and Ymir’s story is a prime example of that. The flashbacks used to explain who she was never gave a setting, an explanation to what was happening, or even much as to why she acts the way she does beyond ‘doing it for Christa’. It’s infuriating, and it withdraws sympathy from me since I only have a small inkling of an idea as to who or what she was before the events of the series. Also the ending for the last fight was a bit of a cop-out. Not really a fan of that particular bit. Would I recommend this series? If you watched Attack on Titan season 1, and liked it, then watch this. I promise you won’t be disappointed. If you haven’t, then I don’t really know why you’re considering watching the sequel series to something that’s existed for (at the time of this review) four years. Let’s just hope this doesn’t become another NGNL 2 or S&W 3. Cause lord knows we’re NEVER getting those. read more
Story: Continuing with its previous season, Tales of Zestiria brings us back to the world plagued by malevolence where we follow our main protagonist, Sorey, as he fully realizes his power as the Shepherd in order to save the world from humanity's own faults and wrongdoings. At least...that's what I think the show's about? It's not really all that clear. Unfortunately, the muddiness and lack of detail of my own synopsis to me shows just how difficult it is to describe Tales of Zestiria from a story sense. With the entire game adapted into roughly 25 episodes worth of material, many liberties were taken by Ufotable in order to squeeze it into this tiny, tiny runtime. But it's not just that the show was rushed, rather, the show decides to focus more on specific sections of the game (more specifically, the arc about our newest member, Rose) and run with that as the main brunt of the runtime. As an end result, the show ends up being extremely choppy and uneven in pacing, as there's this huge jarring scene transition in the middle that turns it from a character-based story about our females leads, into an overall journey deciding the fate of the world. The consequences of these actions are both prominent and many in number. The antagonists of the series ultimately have difficult to understand motivation to the point that there might as well not be any, the amount of world building is both laughable and poorly structured, the pacing is horrendous (especially in the last few episodes), and above all, there's no emotional weight or anything to bring us this far. The last one is the biggest problem of them all because I find that there's really no reason for anything the characters do to matter so much. Sure the ending might be predictable, but at least make me feel SOMETHING for the characters when they struggle. I just found it very hard for me to even care with what was going on, let alone understand what was even happening half the time since things go from zero to one hundred in the span of an episode. Zestiria makes a difficult case for itself because due to its vast number of problems, it becomes very hard to find anything positive to say about its story. A show becomes a trial to watch when the plotline has our heroes try and solve some kind of civil war in one episode, then already at the doorstep of the 'main antagonist' in the next. If it's any consolation, the previews where our characters banter with one another before unveiling the title for the next episode is arguably more entertaining than probably anything else that we get from here. Overview: - Messy writing - Horrendous pacing - Choppy scene transitions - Gives the audience very little reason to care Characters: Characters fare slightly better than the story mostly because not only is a brunt of the screentime devoted to the characters' stories, but their interactions are for the most part, quite entertaining. As far as the cast from the first season goes, there's not really much to say. Sorey and his seraphim friends still go about his journey to save the world from malevolence and Alisha is still the princess who's dealing with power struggles in her kingdom. Sure Alisha gets a little bit of expansion to her eventually resolved problems, but the placing of it combined with the lack of the antagonist's motivation for doing anything sort of undercuts any and all tension that would've been had. Sorey however doesn't change. The show doesn't focus on him at all in any way shape or form over the course of season two, so trust me. He's still the same dopey MC with good intentions as he was before. Despite it being Sorey's journey, the true star of season two is Rose, the spunky merchant girl who literally steals the show by being the only character with ample screentime or devoted story time to. Sure while her story's all well and good, my main gripe with her is the fact that she completely overshadows anything that's going on. The surge of world-ending malevolence is completely ignored in order to devote at least two-thirds of the show's overall runtime the personal trials of one character. While I don't think that Rose is a terrible character, the decision to make her the star of the season two was a bad one at best, especially when last season ended with our main characters meeting the big bad guy for the first time. Both side characters and antagonists serve only one purpose: background decorations. No one aside from the main characters really have any weight on the flow of the story, as everyone that isn't an elemental seraphim or one of the three colorfully dressed humans serves only to move the story along. This becomes painfully obvious with the villains because even with watching the series in its entirety, it's not really quite clear what all of the antagonists hoped to achieve with all of this. Especially with the "Lord of Calamity" that keeps being brought up. Overview: + Entertaining main cast - Very little screentime for the main protagonist - Rose takes up too much space - Everyone who's not a main character is background fodder Art: A general consensus for Ufotable is that they have top-tier animation that blends both hand-drawn animation and computer graphics together to form breathtaking scenes. (This becomes especially clear with their work in the Fate series.) With Zestiria being given that same treatment, that statement rings true once again as Zestiria has Ufotable's signature shine and beautiful animation to make the series a visually pleasing experience to watch. Alright, what's wrong with it? You know, for being a series based on a JRPG, there's not that much fighting. There really isn't. Zestiria might as well not have any fight scenes because it seems like the show just flat out refuses to show any. Hell, when they show any fight scenes, they're always so short and unmemorable that it feels like it never even happened. The final fight with the last boss lasted THREE MINUTES. Admittedly, actual movement in Ufotable's fights is rare, but at least in other cases, they pad it with the combatants talking to each other to make it seem like the fight goes on longer than it actually is. Zestiria's fights hardly feel like a battle at all. Overview: + Ufotable-level artwork - Literally no fight scenes. (You get maybe 10-12 minutes of total fighting in the entire series.) Sound: Season two sports a brand new OP and ED that in comparison to its season one counterparts, sounds like there's a lot more weight to the entire situation. Both its OP, "Illuminate" and its ED, "Innosense" have a lot more urgency to them and make it feel like that there's a lot more at stake for our protagonists in order to save the world. While that's an utter lie, the tracks give the show that illusion. Personal Enjoyment: I really wanted to enjoy Tales of Zestiria, I really did. But I for the life of me don't understand what is even happening. One episode there's a hostage situation involving Alisha dealing with her power struggles, then Rose wants to take revenge on someone? And now...they're fighting the big bad guy when just two episodes ago, our characters couldn't even use the game's biggest battle mechanic of armatization like...at all. It came to a point where I sort of threw my hands up in the air and gave up on making any sense with what was going on because the show just made it that difficult to follow what was going on. Did I like this anime? I enjoyed the first season, not so much this one. Admittedly, the first season was painfully slow and had its own set of problems, but at least things weren't all over the place like season two. What didn't I like about this anime? In terms of specifics, the ending felt like a cop-out. It really feels like a huge cop-out. I wish it wasn't a cop-out. Would I recommend this anime? I don't really find much worth in watching Tales of Zestiria. Sure the visuals are nice, the soundtrack is pretty good, and the characters are entertaining, but the story makes everything so difficult to fully appreciate. Ufotable's attempt at pressing everything down to make it fit does a lot of harm to a story that already a lot of people weren't too keen on in the first place. As such, if you do plan on watching this, I would be sure not to keep expectations to high and just sort of go along with it. If you're not planning on watching this, then it's not worth the time. read more |
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Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria
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Ah, Danmachi. With the harem/fantasy show’s legacy leaving behind such wonderful memes about its busty loli goddess heroine like the famous boob ribbon and ‘Hestia is Bestia’, it’s no wonder the show had a tough time having a complete positive footing in the anime community due to various aspects about it like its multitude of female characters wishing to breed like rabbits with its main protagonist. So how can you make a show like that into something that’s similar, but objectively better in comparison? Well, for starters you could follow the source material.
Story: Sword Oratoria is the Danmachi story shown from a read more
These days, witches are regarded as practitioners of magic and act as the female equivalent of wizards in what would be considered as the pop culture norm for magic. While their original existence no longer has any place in society today, the history of evil witches, people who have made deals with the devil and practice witchcraft still lingers in the ugly recesses of history. With that said, what would happen if you put both of them together? To create a world where in a sense, both the meaning of witches in history and pop culture come together?
Story: The Grimoire of Zero read more
With a very peculiar look into the unique relationships that people forge with each other, the Eccentric Family was a very intriguing show featuring a tanuki named Yasaburo as he interacts with various characters, both protagonistic and antagonistic, as he inches closer to the truth about his father's death. Now with a second season, we're brought back into the world of Uchouten where everything has changed, yet nothing of significance has been really altered.
Story: Our story returns us back to the world of Uchouten, where Tengu rule the skies, tanuki mess around like the fools they are, and humans apparently eat tanuki read more
The 'imouto genre' is a very peculiar sub-genre to the whole moe craze that we have in anime today. Mostly relying on the forbidden fruit of romantic sibling relationships, most of these shows tend to have ankle-deep plotlines with heavy reliance on fanservice and your typical misunderstanding plots in order to fill out its runtime. If I may be honest here, Eromanga-sensei really is no different.
Story: Masamune Izumi is an LN author in high school. Due to familial circumstances, he must now support himself and his little stepsister, Sagiri, so that the two of them may continue living together. With Sagiri read more
Anime is like a well-oiled machine. When all of its parts work harmoniously together (i.e. the story, characters, aesthetics, and the like), you end up with a piece of work that functions well as a piece of entertainment that has a larger majority of its audience responding well to it. But when there're sections that don't really work all that well, then you've got a problem.
Story: With the world dying to the point that it could no longer sustain life, a man known only as 'Y' rebuilt it from gears and clockwork, thus creating the 'Clockwork Planet' that the characters live in. read more
Love is weird. On one hand, you can fall head over heels for your partner, but you could also want to dig your fingers into their throat because of how annoying they can be. I hope not every relationship is like that, but it can and has happened. Through it all, love can be hilarious due to how nonsensical the concept it can be when you put it in perspective. So why does it matter anyway? Well to Renai Boukun (aptly titled ‘Love Tyrant’), it means a lot.
Story: Aino Seiji is just your typical harem protagonist. Nice read more
The road for a ‘Creative’ is a long and difficult one. The pressure of meeting deadlines, constantly improving yourself, and ultimately making something that you want is a struggle that many artists find themselves in as they try and share with the world the vision that they have. And so we find ourselves with the second season of Saekano, as we see the conclusion of what the doujin circle ‘Blessing Software’ has to offer.
Story: Picking off from the first season, Saekano Flat (which I will refer to as ‘Flat’ for the rest of the review) continues the story of Tomoya Aki and read more
Because magic is such a foreign concept grounded in the limits of one's imagination, the possibilities for stories based around magic are virtually limitless. So what happens when you combine the concept of magic with an arcic harem setup? Well you get this show. Whoever thought this was a good show idea is a bastard for sure.
Story: Glenn Radars is a man without any motivation for anything. With his guardian, Celica, threatening him and forcing him to get off his ass to do something with his life, he ends up at the magic school that also serves as Celica's read more
Four years. Four years ago at the time of this review, the anime community was graced with Shingeki no Kyojin, an anime that had so much hype and attention revolving around it that even those that weren’t in the anime community were caught in its momentum. With its long-awaited season two now finally here and at an end, was the wait worth it? If you ask me, yes…and no.
Story: Continuing right after the rampage of the female titan had come to an end (spoiler btw, not like almost everyone hasn’t already watched season one), Attack on Titan season two continues the read more
Out of all of the games in the 'Tales of-' series, many people were skeptical at Ufotable's choice at adapting Zestiria, which was understandable given how it had one of the weakest stories in the entire series. And honestly, the skepticism backed itself up very well given the final product.
Story: Continuing with its previous season, Tales of Zestiria brings us back to the world plagued by malevolence where we follow our main protagonist, Sorey, as he fully realizes his power as the Shepherd in order to save the world from humanity's own faults and wrongdoings. At least...that's what I think the show's about? read more |
