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I cannot emphasize this enough, but My Dress-Up Darling is an ECCHI rom-com. Forget the synopsis about the interesting life of a cosplayer and doll-maker respectively, this is a terrible high school slice of life with some of the worst ecchi sequences I have ever seen. I would like to preface at the beginning of this review that My Dress-Up Darling has become one of my most hated anime. Admittedly, that doesn’t excuse me from just trashing the show entirely, so I will still try to be as objective as I can, since this review is meant for potential viewers.

I’ve seen many shows and movies ... that focus on high-schoolers. This time, the series mainly focuses on the relationship of a tailor and a cosplayer with the shy introverted boy Gojou Wakana and manic pixie dream girl Marin Kitagawa as our leads. Wakana is a quiet kid without many friends. He is reserved and afraid of expressing himself or discussing his hobbies due to a ‘trauma’ he experienced. That ‘trauma’ was when a little girl Wakana met as a kid said something like “Ewww, your dolls are ugly” and ran away. This 1-minute backstory is supposedly the only explanation for Wakana’s social awkwardness and is never touched upon in the rest of the TV series. Marin on the other hand is a quirky girl who somehow went flying head first into Wakana’s desk; this leads to the contrived beginning of two kids who ‘happen’ to learn about each other’s unique hobbies and each other.

You’d think that based on the synopsis of the story, there would eventually be a shift in primary focus from cosplaying to romance-drama, but you would only be half-correct. Occasionally, there are detailed explanations for the requisites of certain cosplay in order for someone to create and dress up in their attire; these moments actually illustrate what exactly it takes to become a cosplayer, as the show had advertised in its PV. Undeniably, when the series decides to offer insight on Wakana’s character, his struggles, and his dreams, it is able to do so very well. Marin, when she’s bearable, can act as a strong supporting character by establishing a fairly interesting contrast between her vibrant personality and Wakana’s insecurity and awkwardness by offering herself as a confident and quirky friend and eventual love interest. Even at its peak, the romance will be very cheesy, but at the very least, it’s a passable experience at that very scene.

“Wow, that sounds like a good show compared to the show you just said in the beginning! How are they the same?”

Unfortunately, the aforementioned show is only something I wish Dress-Up Darling stays true to. Not only are all the aforementioned good aspects kept to a minimum, a lot of its potential is wasted since the writer had ‘different’ ideas on their agenda. I’m going to start with the ecchi, probably the most controversial aspect of the series.

If you’ve never seen a clip of Dress-Up Darling, just know that the number of explicit and uncomfortable shots of Marin, an underage high-schooler, are lengthy and many. Marin is a high-schooler who has kinks such as ‘wanting to be a sex slave like her favorite anime character’ and legitimately strips down in front of a guy she just met since he knows how to use a loom. Particularly in episode 2, a lot of these explicit shots of Marin are also sexual innuendos that are meant to be funny and relatable as Wakana blushes uncontrollably, afraid he’s going to do something wrong. This kind of situation would never believably happen because there’s no girl in existence that acts exactly like Marin does around a guy she just met.

If anyone thought that was bad, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sometime in the middle of the series, we are introduced to Inui Sajuna, a loli tsundere character who also happens to be interested in cosplaying. I wish that when the audience met Sajuna, it was going to be a normal meet-and-greet where Marin and Sajuna had a fun conversation about how passionate they were about cosplaying and how Wakana could help both of them out together. Instead, we are delivered one of the most god awful scenes in the show in which Wakana opens the bathroom door and sees a slipping Sajuna fall onto the bathroom floor and reveal…everything. This sequence leads Sajuna to threaten Wakana with blackmail for sexual harassment which eventually becomes ‘consensual blackmail’ when Marin enters the picture, because everyone is friends now! Whoopee, how convenient and forced can you get?! Sajuna’s secondary purpose in this series is as a cosplayer with some of her own unique dreams and experiences, but her main purpose is to act as a second love interest for Wakana while wearing kinky outfits for the audience to see. She’s arguably the worst character in the series and one I hated seeing on-screen. The less screen-time she had, the better off the series was.

I know that nitpicking details and cherry picking aspects of any piece of media rather than analyzing everything as a whole is generally looked down upon, but someone needs to warn potential viewers that these awful fanservice portions exist because the jarring shift in scene transitions and tone are just overwhelmingly appalling, even by ecchi standards. The main problem I am highlighting here is that all of these concerning scenes are supposed to be ‘hot’ and ‘funny’. Regardless of context, these types of scenarios utterly fail to provide the appropriate atmosphere for actual cosplayers and instead offer a tarnation hentai plot for a target audience that isn’t likely to give many damns about cosplaying. If anyone thought this portrayal of cosplayers was horrendous as is, the list goes on. There’s an entire episode in which skin darkening, a very racist and unnecessary behavior in the show, is present and even an episode where Marin and Wakana go into a love hotel and lay on top of each other for ‘cosplaying’. It’s so contrived and so frustrating to see because the ecchi is not appealing at all to an adult who doesn’t want to see high schoolers in their birthday suits.

I know there is an argument that:

‘Because the show is from the perspective of Wakana, that means his sexual inexperience near girls can appear as what is seen in the show, specifically towards Marin.’

Supposedly, this can be compared to Bakemonogatari which is self-aware of its fanservice hijinks. However, to that argument, I would like to point out that this makes no sense in multiple occasions where a camera shows physically everything about Marin, from head to toe, not in Wakana’s first-person perspective. For example, in the skin darkening episode, the camera is completely in the third-person perspective in which Wakana cannot see, since Marin is in a locked bathroom. In other words, this argument is very inconsistent and in my opinion, not valid. I swear it’s as if every single of these inane situations are an extremely bad excuse for a hentai plot without sex rather than being a character study of cosplayers.

On a semi-related point of the writer’s agenda, allow me to discuss Wakana, Marin, and their relationship to one another. There is a fundamental flaw in the creation of these characters. When Wakana or Marin are alone, actually focusing on their passions, their personalities shine. We see the depth of their personas as they express fears of not being good enough and how to showcase their love for their craft and hobbies. However, in an ironic twist of author’s intent, the reason both of these characters are irredeemable is because of the other. It’s because of the romance.

Wakana’s personality can devolve from ‘nice thoughtful guy’ to ‘horny teenager’ in a matter of seconds because Marin does something abnormal and hypersexualized. It gets to the point where Wakana can become the aforementioned first person POV for the audience members as they see Marin do whatever the hell she’s doing. It’s not even that this happens for the whole episode; it’s just that this kind of ‘slice-of-life romance’ happens long enough to the point it becomes unbearable every time. On the other hand, we have Marin, in my opinion, the second worst character in the series. I really cannot fathom why people like her for anything except her character design. She is possibly the most idealized waifu animated in 2022. Always ‘attractive’, always optimistic, always thinking of her crush Wakana, always working hard, always so lovable regardless of whatever she does. If speaking objectively, her flaw is that she is quite literally a stalker who found Wakana’s address and trespassed into his home uninvited, even visiting his house at night once when Wakana didn’t respond to her texts. But Dress-Up Darling doesn’t seem to think of that as a problem, because it romanticizes stalking as well as everything about Marin. When Marin is all uWu over Wakana, the writer has no holds barred as they make her pander to everything a lover could want: sexual teasing, sweet-talking, objectification, anything and everything! At this point, you may call me Captain_Obvious, but Marin is NOT a realistic nor believable person, but a caricature of a ‘real woman’.

I want to note that Dress-Up Darling is also supposedly a seinen, which means that the target audience is supposed to be young adult males. I want to ask the writer: Why? Can we please have the characters be adults so we don’t have to look at HS kids this way? Even if these characters were young adults, it would still be just as bad because of the fact that Marin is a stalker, that there are numerous contrived scenarios involving nudity, and even blackmail portrayed in a ‘good’ or ‘funny’ part of the show. It’s a fact that none of these awful parts of the show had to happen if the writer didn’t want to cater to a male’s ideal wet dream. I’m not even going to lie, I have seen MORE wholesome and enjoyable H series than Dress-Up Darling. It’s probably one of the biggest disappointments I’ve seen in my life. I hadn’t even hoped that Dress-Up Darling was going to be good until I saw the show peak in episode 4 and 5. But after it peaked, the bar kept dropping one episode after another, until the anime had reached the depths of despair, because Dress-Up Darling doesn’t care about quality. It just cares about its shitty ecchi.

I’m not going to deny that the technical qualities of this show are on-par for some of the best of the season. Admittedly, there are occasional still frames. However, if a potential viewer is able to bear with the story, the detailed character designs and overall fluid animation are able to enhance certain elements of the story, character, and as most likely intended by the director, the ecchi. As much as I genuinely hate CloverWorks and most of their works, I reluctantly have to admit this is visually one of their best works. As for sound, the voice acting is certainly serviceable but nothing impressive. The OST is fairly forgettable and not worth mentioning in my opinion.

I’m sure there is a lot more to talk about, but I really cannot force myself to analyze more of this piece of shlock that I wish no one the burden of watching through. I’m sorry to fans or anyone else I offended, but for potential viewers, this is not your anime of the season, nor an anime you should watch unless you unconditionally love ecchi rom-coms. My Dress-Up Darling does have some decent moments every once in a while but searching for those scenes are like finding a needle in a haystack. If you want genuinely good, funny ecchi, go watch Ishuzoku Reviewers or Imouto Sae Ireba Ii. At least those characters are definitively adults.

This review is written by Maximus7680 and Space_Boyfriend.

There was a feeling that grew within us as we watched 86, one of the most beloved shows this season. Having read its premise, we expected a sense of lyricism from the show with a thoughtful narrative and vivid interactions. Suffice to say, we did not receive what we had hoped for since the aforementioned feeling was complete and utter frustration. Instead of fulfilling a promise of realism and struggles in a world of war, we were given something that is not exactly commendable, if we’re talking about the series in the broader strokes.

To briefly brush upon the ... first cour, 86’s story is about a war between the Republic and the Empire with members of the 86 piloting ‘autonomous’ robots for the Republic against their will. The show still is a typical war drama with many cliches found mostly in the anime medium. We’ve already seen the theme of ‘ending the cycle of hatred’ with AoT, so how is it supposed to be better this time? Now, Republic military officer Lena is supposed to end said cycle. Instead, she is actually a whitesplaining Karen pretending to do social justice. Despite her claims to be on the 86’s side, she never physically joins the 86 in battle, only offering ‘leadership’ safely in her military base. Even worse, we learned that there are actually white hair people from the Republic who have physically joined and died in battle alongside the other 86, yet Lena has yet to even physically meet them. Her ‘big moment’ was remembering their names. Wow, how amazing. She’s also a mouthpiece for some of the most shallow attempts at explaining racism we have ever seen. On the flip side, we spectate the members of the Eighty Six and their battles with the Legion, specifically focusing upon the main character, Shin. It also turns out, Shin’s brother is actually an evil robot! We totally haven’t seen this cliche of the family member becoming your enemy with enhanced technology just like in Star Wars and Squid Game which is not even a sci-fi!

As for 86 cour 2, the series follows the disappearance of the Spearhead Squadron after a brutal launch of attack by the Legion on our protagonists. Luckily, the 86 are rescued by the Federal Republic of Giad and quarantined in their military base. The fellow Eighty-Six were granted freedom and full citizenship, and were adopted by the Federacy’s president Ernst Zimmerman where they had an encounter with Augusta Frederica Adel-Adler, or 'Fred', who proclaimed to be the last Empress of the fallen Giadan Empire. Shin and his team were able to enjoy a period of calmness and peace. However, feeling that they belong to the battlefield, not the soothing environment of the relatively peaceful inner corners of the Federal Republic of Giad, they found themselves, once again, in the battlefield where more enemies lurk within the meadows, cities and plains, waiting to unleash upon them yet another wave of grief, pain and death.

At first blush, everybody can identify 86’s willingness, need and desire to tackle the themes of warfare, of conflict between races and how racism is driven in a society full of noticeable prejudice towards people of different hair color or those of a lower social hierarchy. It’s relentless in its portrayal, through dialogue, through eye contact, through every discussion in the military units. It’s more than discernible in the anime, we could easily list out the prominent ones: A random character named Marcel in Giad/The Federacy who seems to be eager to berate Shin on every occasion - even on occasions in a certain character’s death, albeit so obviously vapid in its usage. Berating and being angry with a comrade in a war, even claiming he let him die, in a fierce war where countless people died, and he himself had witnessed numerous deaths? What a crude choice to articulate rampant racism and bigotry, playing a wildly overstated version of deranged racism against a person that has saved their army of troops seems to us to be so incredibly juvenile. Are the troops of the Federacy given any lecture, any sort of emotional berating before the war started? Are they given sugarcoats of the semblances of war?

Nevertheless, we were rewarded with a juvenile way of depiction, our protagonists are laughed upon, they might frown a little, and thereafter nothing happens. They went on to fight, return, being feared a little, and then a period of time passed by, clouds fluttered across the sky and everything went silent for a while, then the cycle continued. Being spouted upon insults by background characters as Marcel for being ‘Eighty-Six’ and not saving his comrades. Our protagonists are laughed upon, frowning a little, etc. Rinse and repeat. The term ‘Eighty-Six’ exists for a good reason, they are not yammerings of pathetic bigots who are infuriated for not being able to accomplish the similar feats as our protagonists, they clearly exist for us viewers, to alert us that this is a derogatory term, something that should be abstained from, something ostracized by civilized people. But how it’s framed in the show is similar to a cute caterwaul after the loud roars of thunder. How exactly?

The act of racism was constantly frowned upon by our five protagonists, but yet they could just tolerate it without any difficulty, and how it’s presented is as if they casually ‘shrugged off’ racism. We were promised the greatness of the theme, but what do we receive after the heaping up of promises from the first few episodes, from the first ‘cour’? A shallow depiction of racism, discrimination and bigotry. It’s an epic of ignominious pratfalls. Nothing more egregious than how they treat the most important theme of racism, given that the titular ‘Eighty-Six’ is literally a concept sprouted from the roots of partiality, xenophobia and prejudices. Just like how we have no ear for Fred’s maddening, self-congratulatory quotes of stupid moralizationing, we have to announce sadly that we have no eye for the prophetic nature of many fans who like to placard about this dull pudding of a series. Perhaps more evidence should be given in order to support this aggressiveness of this claim:

Ernst: ‘You made it here because you fought to the end! You have the right to enjoy your reward! That’s what your comrades would want!
Frederica: ‘Silence Ernst. They’ve finally escaped a cage of oppression. Now you’re going to trap them in a cage of pity? You’re not so stupid to miss that you’d be the same as the Republic. They’re not young, ignorant children. If they want to go, let them go. (.........) I understand that you’ve got nothing but your pride to keep you together. But that’s no way for a complete human being to live. It’s blood and soil that make a person who they are. If you have neither, and try to define yourself just by who you personally are, when you lose sight of who you are, you’ll quickly fall apart.’

We’ve never seen a more pro-war propaganda excerpt than this. The fact that the inhuman, the utterly idiotic, the vicious San Magnolia who pastiches xenophobia and preaches racism, is remotely contrasted with the small mistake of an over-protective man who was trying to bring a few unfortunate teenagers out of the battefield – what nonsense. There’s no possible metaphor or rhetorical connection that can be correctly established between a good-willed man and an inhumane, filthy sadistic empire. If it’s established as a simple, thrown-away catchy line, perhaps it wouldn’t be as offensive (it’d still be to a certain degree). However, it is the statement by Frederica that signifies the beginning of Shin and his comrades’ attempt to return to war. Hence, there is an intimate and intense connection between the prologue and after events of this anime that solidifies the incredible amount of stupidity encrusted in the way this series deals with racism. We simply do not appreciate this cheap trick the series has of tucking virtuous characters who are against racism with an actual immoral empire to serve as some set contrast that could bring about an exaggerated sense of racism to provoke instant recognition and comprehension of the theme. Or, how it uses Ernst as a mere tool, using his statements to promote this twisted sense of disparity, highlighting the oppression of the Republic by threatening to equate Ernst’s actions to it, it’s absolutely viscerally disgusting.

Moving on, let’s try to break down the characters. Shin’s only notable trait is quite literally his nickname, “The Reaper”, which is not even a characterization. In the second cour, he comes closer to losing his ‘humanity’ and truly becomes a war machine just as his superiors had intended. Shin also realizes how he became this way and he learns to just accept himself in spite of that. It’s an interesting development, what 86 has been building up to for ages and we’re grateful for that.

While Shin has some good aspects, his fellow 86 are characterized as his friends. They support him and do what friends do. The other half of the time they scream, “Shin! Shin! Shin!” Kurena, Shin’s 2nd potential love interest after Lena, is just another tsundere simping over Shin. Anju and Theoto are background decorations. (Can we also take a second to complain that Anju literally has the same hair color as the white hair Karens of the Republic? Why is the racism in 86 so illogical?) At the very least, the story in C2 has much less fanservice of its female characters that were primarily objectified in C1. Raiden finally gets dialogue, and good dialogue at that! For the first time, he actually has a meaningful conversation with Shin who’s falling down the rabbithole! Also, there’s thankfully less comedy involving Lena eating cake this cour. There’s still some comedy that just completely negates any seriousness the show has, but it’s thankfully less than before.

Speaking of Lena, her ‘development’ as a character was from a Karen tsundere to an angry Karen. When Lena doesn’t get her way, what can she do? Assert herself and…get nothing done. There are moments where she shows her frustration through her hand gestures like clasping her fist tightly and throwing a fit. She manages to convince the Legion to follow her agenda, but do we see her directly affect the 86 positively? Barely. She might as well have not even been there. She’s such an unnecessary character. Why is she in the cast list? So we can have another typical anime waifu with a generic character design? Her biggest moment was near the end of the cour. Imagine if a main character, instead of moving on by himself from trauma he had experienced for most of his life, had this waifu character he barely interacted w/ show up w/o explanation, give a get-better speech, randomly show him a photograph of all his friends causing said main character to cry, and then have him completely move on from his LIFELONG trauma, all in the span of just 3 minutes. That’s legitimately what Lena did, wasting Shin’s entire development on a cliche rather than Shin’s own efforts. We know that really emotional music is playing simultaneously so it must be amazing! Not everyone can just yell continuously like Lena does for 3 minutes. Thankfully, there is one important message she embodies that it seems the world has forgotten since the beginning of time. That’s right, in Cour 1, Lena delivered one of the most inspirational speeches since Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream.” That’s right, Lena explained to her fellow White (Hair) brethren that ‘Racism == Bad’. That’s right, the most deep and insightful comment one can make about fixing societal oppression. That’s right, Lena is best girl. /s

Honorable mention to the worst character in the series, Fred. She’s a moe blob. No surprise, her writing is awful. We always wished she died in battle when we saw her on screen. She is literally a useless character for 86 as a series, wasting screen time when she’s not being a convenient plot device and ‘helping them out’ to avoid spoilers. Also, just cause the writer is aware she is a hindrance to the 86 cast doesn’t make her a good character. We would argue that the show is just making an excuse. She is also a 10 year old girl who gets fanservice sometimes, and of course in the same episode as her backstory. How are we supposed to take her seriously? How bad of a character can you be to get written like this? Why is she a 10 year old? Why is she holding a fucking teddy bear half the time? Even Klee from Genshin Impact looks older than her. It’s not that the writer doesn’t attempt to characterize her as a victim of war, but they picked the worst character trope with the perfect seiyuu to do so. Why not choose a war veteran? Someone who's lived and died countless times? There was one time she was screaming, “Kiri! Kiri! Kiri!”, and Space_Boyfriend thought she was saying “Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!” This one huge mistake in the conception of a character like this killed her potential immediately. The price the show pays is an unbearable character that cannot be saved by any means possible as long as they remain a tarnation moe blob. And what do we get for dealing with her for 12 damn episodes? NOTHING. She is the anticlimax of the whole season for merely existing.

Before anyone defends how badly the female characters are written by saying “OMG Space_Boyfriend! How could you say that Maximus7680? The writer is a woman, so these characters are actually pro-feminism!” That’s legitimately the same as what people said for Shield Hero, quite literally reactionary pro-slavery propaganda. 86 is not the same obviously, but a writer’s objective writing quality does not come from their identity but their actual writing ability, not the other way around. Their identity can shine through their writing quality, but that’s clearly not happening here. 86 should not be any different in its analysis from other stories.

These scenes espouse our belief that the writer had no pre-existing knowledge on war, or how war narratives are treated. Wars are often depressing, extremely bleak, unforgiving, inclement and destitute of any civility. There’s no reason to add a ‘moe block’ in order to sooth the atmosphere, to deliver a sense of relaxation to the viewers. Some would argue that she’s a mascot. Sorry to burst your bubble, there’s no actual mascot, that’s impossible, it’s mostly dogs, cats, donkeys, birds, etc. Why would a brash, maddening girl with ideas of constantly interrupting missions, often slipping herself in dangerous situations that’d cost her life be contemplated as a mascot? That’s not even about fictionalized stories or not, this is plain stupidity. If a military of any fictionalized world would allow a girl of that age to wander around the military units, sneaking in these ‘mechs’ and acting according to her own mind, that military must’ve been epitome of inefficiency, essentially a drivel. Logic is blown asunder in this series and we are honestly impressed by the ignorance used in building this world.

On the other hand, let’s talk about some good characters! Our favorite and in our opinion, 86’s unironically best written character, is Fido the robot. Surviving death and trauma, Fido symbolizes what it means to be objectified as a war machine, Fido is quite literally the 86. Their death in C1 means nothing to anyone except 86, and their revival reunites our protagonists together, rekindling their spirits and allowing them to start anew. Their moment is probably the most resonant part of the show’s theme of objectification, and we honestly wish they got more screen time.

We’d also like to shoutout to Ernst Zimmerman for his incredibly exceptional voice acting in the series. He is one of the only characters whose dialogue is consistently not monotone or annoying to listen to, and he has fairly interesting motives to the point that we wish 86 centered around him as an MC. He is the safe haven for escapees of the Legion/86 and he legitimately hopes to keep everyone from harm. But with this characterization, he’s surprisingly an extremely controlling individual. To say he’s over-protective is an understatement because he’s almost oppressive in terms of his actions. His conversations are intriguing as it shows the double-edged approach he uses to handle everything. That’s why his character development is interesting when he interacts with the protagonists. In order to avoid spoilers, we shall not say anymore.

Back to what 86 is actually about though, one of the worst parts of the show is the dialogue, some of the most mind-numbingly pointless and boring experiences we’ve felt recently. Why can’t this show utilize more show-not-tell? We don’t care about the Federacy in word doc format. Show us what they’re doing! Let us see them fighting for their cause! We don’t want to read what you’re saying. Don’t follow up with more Fred dialogue. That makes it even worse! As a result of these poor writing decisions and mediocre voice acting, the atmosphere is staler than moldy string cheese. All of this could actually be dealt with if they actually focused on the 86 instead of the Federacy or the Republic, since the 86 actually develop together as a group, something interesting and uncommon for a lot of stories. Instead, the writer wastes our time with mindless political drama, fanservice, and shitty comedy. Why?

Also, contrary to popular opinion, we don’t think the directing is good. Sure the animation is above average but that doesn’t change the fact it’s so janky. If anyone thought the directing of Redline or the FFVII: Advent Children movie was overkill, 86 is no different. It does so much with the designs of its mechas and the way they move around that it’s honestly hard to look at some of the mecha fights. There are so many lights flashing to the point it’s almost epileptic; even the mecha character designs are as over-designed as the CGI HoloLive characters, both of which could be subjectively considered ‘good’ but objectively over-the-top compared to the norm. It’s not quite as bad as that one Pokemon episode with Porygon that was banned for sending children to the hospital due to flashing lights causing epileptic seizures, but 86 is almost nauseating to look at personally. This is certainly a personal gripe, but other potential viewers deserve a warning at the very least, because the action scenes were certainly far from enjoyable. The accompanying music is unable to save it from being a bland, forgettable aftertaste because it is just meh. One of the OSTs played sounded like it was plagiarized off of AoT. Unsurprisingly, Sawano Hiroyuki worked on the music for both of them. What do you know? Other than that, we can’t remember a single track worth mentioning let alone recall their tune.

Furthermore, the overall animation is truly nothing to praise. It’s not particularly dynamic and the art might’ve benefited more from a manga adaptation since you also don’t have to hear Fred’s annoying voice. Of course, 86 has still frames and slideshow movement scenes occasionally, because the budget is average. The way to compensate for that is with good directing like A-1 Pictures has done for Kaguya-sama, also boasting an average budget. Because the 86 director has less experience, we end up with a visually mediocre piece of art with over-kill animation during action scenes. Of course, if you like hearing BOOM BOOM PEW PEW, there will be plenty of Michael Bay quality sound fx since we heard the writer was a fan so no worries in that department!

Honestly, we are left flabbergasted by the fact the show generates such a wild saturnalia where people would rave over 86 as if it’s the birth of a new, enduring classic. There’s no nuance, and we are supposed to accept everything as passive readers and viewers with no opportunity to truly engage with the series. Overall, 86 may be one of the most overrated works to have been celebrated in recent years. A teenage war drama being AotS? Really?

Hey you short stuff! Yes, up here! Listen up. As someone who used to like rom-coms, I can confidently say that My Senpai is Annoying (MSA) is the best rom-com, and probably romance of the year. Yes, you heard me. Now, let’s jump right in!

For those unfamiliar with the show, its premise is not too different from rom-coms or sit-coms like The Office, Parks and Rec and Wotakoi. However, MSA is actually a lot less comedy oriented to the point I would actually consider the series to be mostly just a sweet and wholesome romance-slice of life. While shows like The Office and Parks and ... Rec focus on comedy hijinks and Wotakoi is more about otaku culture, MSA genuinely wants to just show you who our characters are as people and the really cute ways they interact with each other, particularly with our female lead, Igarashi Futaba. The nice aspect about MSA’s comedy is that it never actually feels forced nor does it ever try to cram it down your throat. There’s actually a sizable amount of build up and a very high pay off for the audience’s ability to remain patient. The way this show actually delivers its jokes is actually to the point I would argue is realistic, which is perfect for an adult comedy, as the characters never overblow their reactions in ugly chibi art, but are genuinely shook by something they’ve seen/heard or have their fair share of embarrassing moments in the workplace/outside. There is never a purposefully inserted straight man and wise guy nor any particular visual gags for the sake of comedy, because the way MSA delivers situational and character-based humor is fairly natural without purposely trying to make a joke, unless it’s part of a character’s intention rather than the writer. I get that situational comedy is not for everyone, but trust me when I say it doesn’t ever feel like a skit. Despite all the positives I’ve said though, I would not recommend this show solely for the romantic comedy aspect as it’s not actually the core selling point, but is definitely in need of a mention.

Specifically for the romance, there are 2 noteworthy ships in the show, Igarashi x Takeda and Sakurai x Kazama. I’m part of the uncommon opinion, but I actually believe Sakurai x Kazama is significantly worse. They’re an average ship amongst romance in all media, but given what the anime genre has to offer, they’re decent. First, let me explain who they are as characters. Kazama is the deadpan quiet otaku archetype of a character that helps out his crush, Sakurai while playing small pranks on his other coworkers. He’s actually written in a non-offensive way for the most part. The offensive part is that his eyes tend to have a male gaze…at women’s bodies, which is one of his forms of comedy. It was only funny with a specific gag in ep. 2 but no time else. As for Sakurai, she’s a more outgoing, friendly gal whose main characterization is her rack…She plays a more of a damsel-in-distress type of character but is actually a lot more shy than expected from her surface appearance when it comes to romance. When with her co-workers, she’s a fairly nice, and polite gal. Overall, their characterization is somewhat 3-D which is their strong aspect. However, their relationship is not as nuanced.

A lot of their comedy together is borderline ecchi jokes which I feel like is something I’d laugh at in middle school, not as someone in college. A lot of their moments just involve Kazama saving Sakurai from a bad situation, or ‘boy-saves-girl and now boy and girl are in love’, which is not particularly impressive. Though, they do pay attention to each other like people who genuinely care about each other. It’s not like they’re inherently bad for each other, but I personally think Igarashi x Takeda outshines them completely. Sakurai x Kazama romance has at least one nonconsensual romantic moment that I will be vague about to avoid spoilers but just know that it is certainly there, at the end of episode 11; it’s played off for jokes when it’s neither funny nor comfortable to watch. I will admit Sakurai and Kazama do have some particularly sweet moments and sometimes good chemistry, but to call these two a realistic or even good couple…I would not wager more than $5 on that if at all.

Before I talk about the main ship, I do want to note that Doga Kobo is the studio which animated MSA, and it’s generally known for very bad portrayal and character designs of its younger female characters, but I genuinely think My Senpai is Annoying is another step in the right direction for them along with Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun and Maojou de Oyasumi in terms of writing. The sakuga for this show is surprising as hell! Just look at the opening for this show, OPENING OF THE SEASON 10,000%. Even though I have 2 qualms about a boob joke and a non-con kiss scene in the opening song, I think it’s the best sound-wise and dynamically.

The animation is way more fluid than this show probably deserves but it really opens up a new realm in the slice of life genre. Although the character designs are hard to get used to immediately, the consistency of their character models and the number of frames put into the best animated scenes, like in the subway, in the bar, and Igarashi’s home, are so nice to look at. All of them bring out character facial expressions and actions, I can’t help but gush about the effort put into this show.

The soundtrack isn’t phenomenal, but it’s really fitting for this show. It’s just severely out-classed by its opening song, the really pop-out sound fx and the voice actors, so it’s not quite as memorable. As someone who used to sing in acapella, I have a huge love for any singers who use nasal, and I gotta praise Kusunoki Tomori, the seiyuu for Igarashi, for utilizing the beauty of nasally vocals in the opening song because it is so hard to do well. This is the only role of her’s I’ve particularly liked so I’m glad to say she’s showcasing her talent in the seiyuu industry.

For the 4 episodes of the dub I watched, it actually felt like a different experience so I would encourage potential viewers to try both. I personally like Igarashi’s sub voice acting more, but drunk Igarashi in the dub is SO FUNNY! The dub is a little weird to get used to initially, but Mona, a less important character, has a dub that is incredibly comedic, even more so than the sub seiyuu who voices Kaguya Shinomiya, one of the best voice acted roles in the last few years! Kudos to the dub on this one. But…if I had to choose between sub and dub though, I’d give a slight win to the sub, only because the dub occasionally uses some weirdly non-casual vocabulary and unnatural laughter in regular chats amongst the cast members, so I think the dub script translations are not as good as the subtitle translations and the voice actors are not quite as experienced.

Animation: 8.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Soundtrack: 7/10
Sound FX: 8/10
Opening: 9/10
Sub Voice Acting: 8/10
Dub Voice Acting: 7.5/10

As for Igarashi x Takeda, I genuinely like them a lot. Igarashi’s character design in particular might be an issue for some people and she is LOWKEY a tsundere. I will say though that the way Igarashi is presented is not completely unbelievable the more you watch her as a character. I find myself rooting for her all the time because she genuinely tries her best to be honest about her feelings and be an independent adult. Ever since she was in middle school, she didn’t want to be a burden to anyone and that feeling was amplified by her lack of physical growth. In fact, because she is so short, Igarashi has an inferiority complex to her co-workers that causes much of the self-confidence issues she has, also why she cannot confess to Takeda. I think what makes Igarashi a strong character is that she’s willing to accept help and work together with others. She’s certainly a flawed character but that’s what makes her so lovable to me! It’s to the point I just want her ship to win! I don’t drink alcohol but I feel drunk with joy seeing her complain about her life at the bar because she is fairly interesting as an adult woman with short people problems (please don’t kill me short readers)!

As for Takeda, as much as I like him as a person, he’s actually a fairly weak character overall. He’s too perfect lowkey, since he’s always there to help everyone, always optimistic, and never makes any mistakes. It’s unfortunate since Takeda deserves as much development and flawed characterization as Igarashi. He’s like a teddy bear personality and honestly my type, but there’s not much to him beyond that. He doesn’t get a backstory or any particularly in-depth moments either, until the last episode where he expresses a lack of self-esteem for the first time, so we’ll have to see how he is next season, if we get one. Overall, the romance is one-sided, but their chemistry as friends who care about each other is nice to see in a romance! I don’t particularly mind if they do or don’t get together to be fairly honest, but I hope their friendship at the very least grows stronger.

Last 2 things I want to touch off on are Igarashi's gramps and Natsumi. When the most clingy person in an anime is not even someone in love but a grandpa, you knowww they’re being subversive! This guy is hilarious af! He loves his granddaughter to the point where he’s riding a motorcycle cities away just to see Igarashi if she sheds a tear, but to Igarashi herself, he is quite over-bearing and even embarrassing at times, but not necessarily in a bad way! Their relationship is fortunately given more depth in a backstory, so there will be an explanation. If you don’t like romance but like slice of life comedy, I would honestly recommend watching the show for just that one supporting character. Natsumi, Igarashi’s childhood friend, is another character I would like to appreciate because she’s actually characterized and developed as well as Igarashi, a great surprise. Her backstory episode with Igarashi is personally my favorite of the whole series as it gives the audience an under-the-surface perspective of how the characters became who they are today. I don’t want to spoil, so I will leave it there for Natsumi.

In conclusion, this is the must-watch romantic-comedy of 2021 that’s not really a romantic-comedy. It’s not even the best thing ever but as someone who had rom-com burnout to the point I actually think I hate rom-coms, this genuinely makes me want to watch more rom-coms which I’ll probably regret. I have My Senpai is Annoying to blame for that *angry face*
>:( ♫Ano no noo ano no noo Annoying san san week!!♫

Overall: 7.2/10
Enjoyment: 8.5/10

Happy holidays everyone!

Mushoku Tensei is one of the most divisive anime I’ve seen on MAL. Certain online communities have fallen apart and friendships between anime viewers have also ended because of this show. I’m not even joking. Take a look at the MAL forum posts for MT. It’s almost impossible to have a cordial discussion between a fan and a critic because of all the back-and-forth and toxicity. It’s also why almost any criticism or praise has been met with immediate backlash. That’s why I will admit that this review will not be completely impartial. However, I still want to try and capture both sides of the ... debate, because reviews are opinions meant to help potential viewers. So this review will not be just one, but TWO reviews. One shall only criticize MT as a wholly bad show and explain what people don’t like about it and the other review shall only praise MT as a flawless masterpiece and explain what fans like about it. I have put full effort into both. Here is what I have to say.

Why MT is one of the worst anime in modern media:

Mushoku Tensei is conceptually appalling. It is one of the worst incel redemption stories ever created and has spawned so many more. It combines all of the worst parts of anime and media in general into an ‘enjoyable’ experience for a specific group of viewers. It uses male dominance and toxicly masculine beliefs to justify its system as ‘real’. No one would be complaining if that was not present in the show. MT is a male power fantasy about a 34 year old man who got hit by a truck and reincarnated in another world with all memory intact, a cliche premise at best. Rudeus is also an unlikeable MC, but not for a well-written reason. His primary flaw, making him the most dislikeable amongst most if not all critics is that he is proudly pedophilic, even in his second life, and has extreme issues with self-control; if he was a person in real life, he would be in jail because of all the sexual harassment he’s committed. A good way to redeem Rudeus would be both acknowledgement of his horrid actions, never repeating them again, and actively making up for what he’s done, but as of now, it only gets worse and worse.

One of the contributing factors to Rudeus’s failure to change is the comedy, the subjectively worst part of MT. Let me just say my bar for comedy is fairly low. My favorite genre is comedy. If something is funny, I cannot hide a smile from my face. However, if Rudeus was a comedian, he’d be compared to Bill Cosby and Louis C.K.. Yes, that’s the type of person he is, unapologetically so. Pedophilia and rape jokes were never funny and still are not. Comedians who think otherwise are delusional, attempting to normalize such sensitive issues as ‘comedic’. When a character-driven story is focused upon an incel and there is comedy, degenerate comedy is always sure to follow. Some of these stories are successful like Onanie Master Kurosawa, arguably Re:Zero, and even Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun. But why do these media succeed while Mushoku Tensei doesn’t? It’s because the incel comedy either evolves or outright disappears along with the incel characters they relate to. Mushoku Tensei’s comedy has and always has remained the same in both cours. Whether it be peeping on young girls naked or treasuring their underwear, Rudeus keeps repeating his actions. It is evident that Rudeus’s fundamental flaws are not actually acknowledged, staying true to MT’s dark incel comedy rather than criticizing him for what he is. For instance, take the infamous figurine scene, a whole minute exhibit of a Roxy statue Rudeus had crafted. One of the characters narrates every last detail about the figurine from Roxy’s clothes coming off to the little features of her nude body, practically breaking the fourth wall. Rudeus feels no shame nor regret towards his nasty creation and actually provides even more information about it. This scene is considered a funny marketing gag to fans, but at the end of the day, fans are still going to buy it. The audience is never shown why this statue is morally bankrupt nor offensive. If there were any actual self-criticism of MT’s ‘waifu marketing’, rather than just self-awareness, all efforts have fallen flat. Mushoku Tensei is unabashed in its comedy, but it never actually reflects upon itself and shows the audience why it’s wrong. Instead, it capitalizes on ‘waifu marketing’ and perpetuates it even further.

Even if Rudeus stays a pervert, he can still grow in other ways right? If Rudeus actually demonstrated character development, it would be obvious. The evidence for character development is clear from a comparison of Rudeus at present and the past. What are his flaws at the beginning of the show? He is a NEET lolicon who has made many poor life decisions. Rudeus never addresses his mistakes with a direct apology nor actually tries to make up for his bad habits from the past, only occasionally ‘reflects’. Has he changed from any of these obvious flaws? Not really. Even though he stopped being a NEET, he is still a pervert with the same bad habits. He also doesn’t actually apologize for his bad behavior towards friends and family. Instead, he selflessly saves a bunch of helpless people from whenever he hops towns and becomes a hero on multiple occasions, but he never addresses his fundamental problems as a human being. That’s why Rudeus is a failure of a redemption story. He uses his heroic acts of kindness saving generic villages as a bad excuse for actual character development. It would be nice if the writer actually acknowledged this.

In fact, Rudeus is one of the most idealized heroes since Shield Hero. He’s a Gary Stu that’s never considered flawed by other characters except his adversaries. Even when he gets placed in prison, he will still help his captors when they are in trouble. He is a hero who doesn’t bear grudges. Anything questionable or nonconsensual he does, whether it be peeping, or touching someone uncomfortably, is immediately forgiven by his harem and everyone else since they love him or will eventually bow down to him. No one in real life would be able to do this because the stuff Rudeus does can be scarring and even traumatizing. But since Rudeus is a Gary Stu, he will always be unconditionally forgiven. Rudeus is unconditionally loved and Rudeus unconditionally loves the young girls in his harem but in an extremely uncomfortable and morally disgusting way. In fact, he’s usually rewarded for his bad behavior that’s portrayed as good or funny even. In the world of MT, Rudeus is normal. If he makes a ‘mistake’, he takes responsibility and is forgiven for that. And then he does the same thing again, and again, and again…it’s a cycle. He is inherently a hero in the frame of the story. When people look at Rudeus in fear or look down on him, the audience is always supposed to empathize with him. He’s not actually flawed enough to not be considered perfect because of the way Eris, Ruijerd, or any ally will always love and support in all he does even if he’s in the wrong. It’s not normal. Just because he doesn’t see himself as a hero doesn’t mean the audience is being told not to. It’s all about the framing of the narrative.

Even ignoring everything said before, Rudeus is handed all his power-ups whether it be reading a foreign language or incantation-less spellcasting while still in a diaper, a tremendous advantage along with his mind as a 34-year old, meaning he is overpowered. From a writing perspective, he is unrealistic even in the confines of his own fictional world, making him objectively flawless. He still gets handed super-powers in the second cour like his future sight eye, giving him an obvious advantage over everyone. This is not only boring to watch but it also means Rudeus will always end up on top, just like any other male power fantasy. Even when he loses a battle, there are never any substantial consequences.

And we have the other problematic characters...Eris is a tsundere and also Rudeus’s cousin. Because of Rudeus’s tendencies, particularly in episode 11, in which Rudeus disgustingly grooms her, that means there is incest. She’s literally 14/15 but still fanservice for Rudeus and the audience. I hate to call a minor this, but she is one of the waifus of MT; just cause ‘adulthood’ in MT is 15 doesn’t mean she is actually an adult. She’s the perfect young girl to comfort our ‘miserable’ protagonist and his struggles as a ‘flawed male’ when he’s practically perfect. Her own arcs can be broken down into training and friendship. Training arcs have never been praised and still are not in MT; it’s a weak substitute for character development, especially if there is no thematic value to it. Even when Eris actually becomes strong enough to overpower Rudeus, Rudeus will immediately be given superpowers such as foresight to continue his male domination over her, so it’s meaningless. Even when Eris gets a full arc with the Doldia tribe, a group of beast-people that Rudeus’s party encounters, she remains the same person. People like Eris’s character for her progression from a cold personality to a warm one. She remains 2-dimensional the entire time. The only thing that makes someone feel emotion towards her is the cheesy piano music in the background during her ‘development’. It is literally impossible to find someone like her in the real world because she is a tsundere.

Roxy is a loli. Her development is apparently from an ‘immature’ loli to a ‘mature’/kuudere loli so she got even worse from a writing standpoint. Her purpose is to get sexualized for merch and help Rudeus out. Her backstory is provided as development but it doesn’t explain anything about how she became a kuudere. An inability to communicate in what is essentially the writer’s cringeworthy attempt at a segregated setting leads to Roxy running away from her village without explanation and somehow surviving in the middle of a desert. Tears fell down from Roxy during a painful reunion but none fell from the audience since there is never enough build up or reason to care for such a shallow character nor story of alienation. Even if her backstory was more impactful, the more lasting impression on the audience is the aforementioned ‘comedic’ nude statue of her in a following episode.

Rudy’s father, Paul, is one of the worst characters of MT. Not only is he complacent in forcing the idealism of toxic masculinity on Rudy, he’s very misogynistic in the process. When he is no longer the confident alpha male he once was, we’re supposed to empathize with him for his failure. The recurring media trope is that once a strong male loses something of importance, then we’re supposed to admire their development from that. But this development never addresses his problem as a character. He is a domineering alpha male that takes control of everything and doesn’t see people, not even his loved ones as equal. Paul is so toxic. His development is the laziest possible way to develop a toxicly masculine male. Rather than using a resolution that involves Paul acknowledging and working towards his flaws, every horrible thing Paul has done will be forgiven since he is now a hero who rescued all the villagers from the tragic mana accident. Paul doesn’t address what’s wrong with him as a person, Paul uses a workaround as an easy way out and we as the audience are supposed to forget all the horrible things he’s done. The writer thinks that just having Paul suffer and just apologize is enough to make up for all of that. But that’s not how mending family and relationships work. Apologizing is the BARE MINIMUM. Then, you have to put the work into changing as a person, actually treat other people with human dignity, and learn to put others before yourself. Paul’s core development is “forget[ting] everything [that] happened” rather than accepting his mistakes and growing as a person. Like father like son, he is a failed redemption story.

Even the antagonists are one-dimensional. They all have barbaric motives at best. They’re comparable to old Disney villains. Once bad, always bad. Interior motives don’t matter since we know they will either betray Rudy or are just overtly horrible people. A pathetic antagonist is not the same as a good antagonist. They should have as good of a motivation and character as the protagonist, instead of being as cliche as possible. One of the antagonists use threats of rape too. We don’t need that. Rape threats are not good dialogue and it doesn’t characterize them in a complex way. It only adds on to their simple personality of being sexist and horrible like everyone else in the show. Just because Rudeus knows the antagonists are creepy or pathetic doesn’t make it better. It’s the same as SAO antagonists. Their only purpose is to be defeated so the protagonist is rewarded and heroized.

People always praise the audiovisuals but there are sometimes numerous still frames and off-model faces in scenes where there is no sakuga. Sometimes Rudeus and Eris will look blurry if they are in the background or if the angle is pointing at the side of their faces. There are even a few times that they are barely recognizable because the budget wasn’t allocated consistently. The music is also annoying. It actively tries to pull your heartstrings and force you to feel certain emotions but it always fails. The overall OST is just boring and lacks any feeling to them since they are for the most part reused and just generic background music. It has no identity of its own. Even the world-building, MT’s ‘strongest point’ might as well not even exist. They just go from one generic village to the next after Rudeus’s party saves the day. If explaining how magical powers work is considered good world-building, then any sci-fi show or movie has inevitably failed because they don’t explain magic. World-building doesn’t make a story good. I cannot even name a single MT arc nor town because the location and setting doesn’t really matter.

Why did I watch MT? Because it’s become the new SAO, the new Re:Zero, the new best isekai…except that it’s supposedly the FIRST best isekai. MT is popular for all of the wrong reasons. Mushoku Tensei at its core had potential as a legitimate redemption story, but it failed miserably and did not even attempt to fulfill its primary theme of character growth beyond a surface level because Rudeus at his core never changed. It’s a relatable tale for people like Rudeus in his first life, except it’s actually an escapist tale of fake struggles and undeserved rewards for doing less than the bare minimum. If you’re not sure whether or not MT is for you, just give the first few episodes a shot. If you’re disgusted, drop it like a piece of shit in the toilet. If you’ve managed to watch all of Mushoku Tensei and find yourself still not on the hype-train, know you’re not alone and that you should be rightfully appalled by this utter catastrophe of an otaku fantasy.

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Why MT is a dark masterpiece

Mushoku Tensei is the best isekai in existence and will forever be remembered that way. It is a redemption fantasy about a 34-year old man hit by a truck, reincarnated in another world as a newborn known as Rudeus Greyrat. Premise sounds familiar? It’s because MT was the first isekai with this premise and inspired every other one that we know of today. In his former life, Rudeus was bullied into becoming a HS dropout, becoming a shut-in, refusing to even attend his parents’ funeral many years later. However, his reincarnation is a second chance at living life to the fullest and where his story really begins.

Unlike most isekai, Mushoku Tensei is unapologetically a cynical view of how the real world functions and will use morally ambiguous, but believable themes to express its intentions. It has a realistic main character that can be related to because he is flawed and honest about it. His internal conflicts are a part of how flawed real people are and how they must learn to become better and have self-control. Rudeus’ constant battle against his lust and his past self is derived from his subtly hinted shame. If he truly was horrible, he would be Makoto from School Days. He simply is not. He struggles with self-restraint. Yes, he is a pedophile, but Rudy always gets called out for it and apologizes. Just because I am a fan does NOT mean I support everything Rudy does. In fact, I think it’s funny when he gets punished for his pervy-ness. Rudeus has anxieties and fears that he confronts all the time. He has very low self-esteem and tries to improve but struggles. Even when he started out with an advantage and is given help by Hitogami, he is still plagued by his past traumas and failure to protect others. He is an extremely in-depth character for that reason. Even if Rudeus has mostly developed away from being a shut-in, the appeal is that he still has much more to grow. The fact is, Rudeus is selfish and makes mistakes. He isn’t able to save everyone all the time. There are occasions where he almost let Ruijerd and Eris almost die, and actual people get killed due to a simple mistake. Rudeus has blood on his hands and still feels that way every time he fails at protecting friends and family. However, when presented with a choice between letting a stranger live or die, Rudeus will actually think about it. A perfect hero would not even think. Rudeus is not like that. He just has basic morals. He’s not heartless but he values his own life. Rudeus is the perfect example of how people can realistically change, little by little, regardless of how slowly that is.

By Rudeus’s side we have Eris, a strong female lead. She works hard and is like a rival to Rudeus, strengthening their relationship as well as herself, whether it be her physical training to become a warrior and an adult, or her tender, subtle care for Rudeus and vice versa. Her individuality as a tomboy subverts gender roles and is well portrayed. Eris is a perfect example of a character that shows instead of tells. The way she expresses herself through her actions makes her a human person. It’s hard not to like her as a person. The way she shows genuine emotion and weakness through uncharacteristic tears is so heartwarming, because of how much she values her relations with others. She's just so innocent and pure. Despite suppressing these emotions, she tries her hardest just to be equal to Rudeus, particularly in ep11, making her another admirable character. She brings life to Mushoku Tensei with her exciting personality and has inspired other girls like herself in other isekais, but none will be as good as the original.

Roxy is another well-written, in-depth character. Even when she’s not on screen, Roxy’s personality shines. For example, her very inferiority complex is revealed through details put into a figurine of Roxy, crafted by Rudeus himself, also showing self-awareness of what’s wrong with the anime industry. That’s a product that someone could consider buying because of the thought that went into its creation and on the screen. Funnily enough, it’s nuanced art. On a more serious note, Roxy’s backstory is probably the one that hit the hardest. Her childhood is one in which many can relate to, not being able to fit in with everyone else. Using barely any dialogue at all, the writer shows how alone Roxy was, being unable to make a single friend or even talk to a single person, due to a disability. Amongst her village, she is deaf. She can’t understand others and others cannot understand Roxy. It’s a simple metaphor for being unable to talk with others in real life, but it is even more emotionally resonant because of how believable it is. It explains why Roxy rushes to become an adult and desires to hide her weakness so she can’t be pitied any longer. She seeks to be more than she is, which is something we should praise. Despite her size, she ends up being one of the bigger people of the series, by returning to her village and reconnecting with those she had abandoned, making for one of the most heartfelt moments of the series.

Another one of the underrated characters is Paul. In the first cour, we see how imperfect he was as a father but how he still addressed his mistakes and tried to raise Rudy right. However, this cour, Rudy’s father becomes a shell of his former self. He’s someone who tries to right his wrongs after losing everything, which leads to one of the most climactic moments of the series, the reunion between Paul and Rudeus after the mana explosion. Due to how physically and seemingly mentally healthy Rudeus appeared, Paul shuns Rudeus for having a carefree life, guilt-tripping Rudeus for not suffering enough and putting his efforts into saving others from the village, despite the fact that Rudeus had indeed undergone such experiences. However, Paul’s conflict with Rudeus is one of genuine meaning as it came from Paul’s own failure to protect his family and village. The value of life is significantly emphasized and development is shown through Rudeus’s own empathy toward Paul and reflection as a person. Through communication between father and son, both Paul and Rudeus are able to accept not just each other’s mistakes as human beings, but also their own. For some reason, Paul’s development is heavily underrated in his arc despite the fact Paul had to endure nightmares for months about family members dying and Rudeus losing body parts. By acknowledging his own mistakes as well as Rudeus’s own struggles in the Demon Continent, the audience was able to witness one of the most clean resolutions to a family squabble in anime! Paul’s own redemption arc really showcases how the writer does not leave even supporting characters untouched.

Rujierd is my personal favorite character in Mushoku Tensei. Just like Scar from FMA, he has one of the most conflicted moral compasses and some of the best characterization in the series. In the beginning, we learn he’s from the Superd tribe, a clan shunned for their former rampage in the Demon Continent, and is portrayed as an antagonist. However, Ruijerd is simply someone who wants to clear his clan’s name of wrongdoing and improve relations with other races. His initial inability to see individuals beyond just ‘good’ and ‘bad’ was horrifying as he brutally murdered anyone who he deemed as ‘bad’, particularly those who harmed children. Ruijerd’s development beyond such a shallow form of judgment is quite refreshing compared to the typical do-good hero one would see in other isekai, as Ruijerd learns how to compromise his own values with others in order to protect those who are important to him, Rudy and Eris. He is the supporting character that is needed to train and protect Rudy’s party as they try to find their way home, until they’ve grown into fine adults.

The antagonists of MT add to the dark atmosphere of the show as a whole. They’re also comedically written to the point where it’s obvious they are meant to be laughed at. The way Rudeus sees them as people who can be taken seriously or as a threat makes sense because that’s what a real person would do in real life. Characters like Pax quite literally act like a child and that’s how they should be viewed. They have very believable motivations. Just because some of their dialogue lines are offensive, doesn’t mean the whole show should be treated like this as a whole. Context matters. They serve to showcase how messed up the world of MT is, it’s not rainbows and sunshine. They’re not there to heroize Rudeus either. In the Doldia Village arc, Rudeus actually debates whether or not to just flee to safety rather than fighting the antagonist. When Rudeus struggles against Pax, he uses the perverted Roxy figurine to set himself free. Rudeus isn’t perfect, even in combat scenes which is why he’s written well. The antagonists only serve to showcase Rudeus’ complexity and creativity as a person.

The art and animation are just as brilliant as the story itself. It has some of the best sakuga since Demon Slayer. Compound that with the sound and you have the best possible audiovisual experience to accompany the best possible characters. Even though there is no opening song, the expansiveness of the world-building can be seen throughout the journey of Rudeus and his party. From bristling yellow fields to snowy lands to the intricate treehouses in the Doldia Village, Studio Bind illustrates their passion through animation. There’s a reason Studio Bind has not animated any other shows/movies, and it’s because they knew Mushoku Tensei was one of the best, so they pulled out all the stops, rightly so. Heck, they even invented their own fictional language, just like Lord of the Rings and Futurama! And don’t forget how the magic system, power system, and power-ups are explained down to the most minute detail, almost as well as Hunter x Hunter. On a technical level, Mushoku Tensei is a masterpiece. I think even critics will begrudgingly have to agree with that.

In conclusion, Mushoku Tensei is a must-watch for fans of subversive isekai. It’s a gift of 2021 with the best possible quality. It’s hard to imagine this won’t age well considering how it’s still well-received by fans even 7 years since the light novel was first published. To those out there unsure what to feel about the series, don’t let anyone decide your opinion. Your opinion is rightly your own. Even if I don’t view MT as flawed, I can acknowledge those who do and I hope they do the same for me as well. It is a controversial series, but it’s one full of love and passion, which is why it is a masterpiece.

Hey Guys, it's Halloween, so I decided to bring to you Takena Nagao's best work out of his claymation cre(m)ation station: Chainsaw Bunny!!!

Characters (7.5/10): Are you tired of trashy harem, prententious anime like Bunny Girl Senpai? Do you also hate Facebook and its overwhelming controlling over your social media life? Chainsaw Bunny has got you! Not only is special guest Mark Zuckerburg playing the antagonist role in this horror movie, we also have a subversion of your typical bunny girls: instead of cute girls wagging their cotton tail, they're swinging their axes and knifes to take out the Z U C C.

Story (10/10): The metaphorical ... meaning this movie provides is surprising (and definitely not pretentious garbage I'm making up). In the Facebook Papers, we actually learn the algorithm incites violence. What do you know? In Chainsaw Bunny, slithery tongued Zucc with his robot looking eyes is about to take down another victim with his face(book) mouth flap looking thing and about to eat a bunny girl! The solution: turn off Facebook, or as our bunny girl does it, cut down the face of the ZUCC.

However, we all know how addicting social media is. No matter how long you stay away and feel safe from all the scary parts of Facebook, they always come back. And that's when Zucc multiplied into multiple zombie clones. FACEBOOK IS SPREADING!! That's right, Takena was definitely alluding to targeted ads, more hate content, more of your offline buddies joining the site, and everything else you can think of ready to consume you like it always has...

And that's where the bombastic climax is reached. Using bunny girl power, our girls teamed up and slashed ALL the faces of Mr. Zucc and his nasty-looking tongue. What Takena is telling us is that EVERYONE needs to stop using Facebook. That's how we stop the zombie invasion attack.

The last minute shows our hero bunnies feeling relief when law enforcement comes. But it raises a question. Is the government on Zucc's side or yours? If the government is indeed 'sus', you know what you gotta do~

Audiovisuals (9/10): I will be completely honest about the art and sound and I actually think Takena has improved a lot over 15 years. Especially if you watch his older videos right before this one, you'll be surprised how fluid the stopmotion is! The animation of Zucc's tongue was smooooooothhhh! The way blood splattered and the gore was done was actually amazing. Takena even put in the effort to mold the ZUCC Zombies' pps so you can tell he was serious about this one. The characters actually look almost as good as the Rilakkuma to Kaoru-san's stopmotion/claymation style and it paired so well with the sound as well. I don't know how Takena has made all of the sound effects or molded everything but it really shows his experience with his work. He had some help for this particular work, but even still I am genuinely impressed.

Comedy: If you like so-bad-it's-good, this is perfect. If you genuinely like Takena and for some reason haven't seen this masterpiece, go watch right now! You can watch the full movie (6 minutes) on his YouTube channel. I'm honestly surprised I have not heard of this until I was looking through his works on MAL. More people need to see this, laugh, and share with other people, especially on Halloween, because if you see this as a trashy horror or as a hilarious satire on Mark Zuckerburg, I promise you it will be worth the watch!

Moral of the Story: Use AniTwitter (which is totalllly better) and the Discord App. Thank you Takena for this masterpiece.

Note: As of writing this, it's been 10 months since Takena has posted a YT video and I definitely think it's because the ZUCC zombies have invaded his home. We must bring Takena back from the dead by spreading his message for everyone in the world to see!