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A short review of Alya-san

This anime has a solid premise=a romcom with an MC who gets to essentially read his crush's mind since she says her inner thoughts in another language, thinking he doesn't understand Russian. It's a lot different than what I was expecting, however. The focus of the actual writing seems to be more on the student election where Alya is the underdog, rather than focusing on the romance. It's not a plot I find myself engaged in. To be blunt, a lot of the success Alya experiences towards becoming a student presidential candidate feels shallow, especially when Kuze does everything for her, ... then convincing her it was thanks to her.

Alya-san has good animation and consistent art style, and they even had the budget for unique outros. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself too intrigued by the show, and I know a lot of viewers felt like Yuki was carrying. I think season 2 has a high potential to address a lot of what season 1 lacked. I walk away from season 1 not really finding Alya nor Kuze nearly as interesting as Yuki. Alya and Kuze feel very goody-two shoes--thus I think the show is lacking chaos, and it really needs to show more challenge beyond Alya getting nervous occasionally, and Kuze solving everything quickly and casually. Yuki alone cannot add enough chaos to the show, and I worry season 2 will continue to rely on her. I hate to say it since I had high hopes from the premise, but everyone besides Yuki feel one dimensional. Especially after recently watching The Dangers in My Heart, a show with high level relationship writing, this show just doesn't succeed at anything in particular.

8.3/10, I hope season 2 is produced with season 1 criticism in mind.

A non-thorough review on No Longer Allowed

I gave this anime a chance because I didn't have much to watch this season (Fall 2024 is stacked though), but I would say I enjoyed it. The writing was not particularly elaborate or impressive, but Sensei, the MC, has a comically depressed and suicidal nature which I find to be a nice breath of fresh air. As an author (more like a journalist), he does occasionally find motivation to study people who seem interesting, or to call people out for bullsh*t.

To be very blunt, there is not much to praise the anime for, and I'm sure many ... people might find Sensei more annoying than comedic. I did like the opening and ending songs, and I personally like Sensei's design a lot too.

If you just want to take a break from other anime and you seem interested in the main character, it wouldn't hurt to watch this 12-episoder. The writing is a bit awkward sometimes, and the characters often feel one dimensional. A few of the episodes might stand out as decent, but for the most part the show is mediocre. 8.2/10, I would watch a second season but I won't be surprised if it doesn't happen

While I feel like I've seen similar formulas for romance animes, the Dangers in My Heart anime just does it so well. I'm not a true expert, but I think anyone could tell how phenomenal the production is. The art is beautiful, the animation is consistently natural, and the directing is immaculate. These all help develop Ichikawa's perspective into something so compelling while also showing us, often subtly, the many other sides of even the side characters. Despite not hearing a single inner thought from Yamada, any viewer paying attention can still read her like a book.

Our main characters, Ichikawa and Yamada, are a ... combo that we can't keep our eyes off of. Ichikawa is an odd but painfully aware boy, and his inferiority complex makes his way of thinking rational but admittedly dense. He's also at the mercy of his pubescent instincts, which thankfully forces him closer and closer to Yamada. Meanwhile, Yamada seems like a perfectly carefree and naive girl at school, with a surprising sense of maturity behind her. While Ichikawa seems a bit behind, both of them prove to be so inexperienced, and the connection they create leads to so much beautiful and entertaining character development, giving us these wonderful 25 episodes.

The romance this anime fleshes out is high tier. The subtlety of every character's actions and inactions make it so engaging--it feels like every second matters while watching. Catching onto writing that isn't pointed out by Ichikawa feels like a reward, and it honestly makes the anime so fun despite a simple premise.

Informal notes:
The rizz moments, especially in season 1, were awesome.
I love Ichikawa's sister.
Season 2 opening song is very lovely.

9.8/10

Watched it in one day, really enjoyed it. This anime has a fitting short story format, besides the 2-3 larger arcs being fully connected. The anime has a very fun group of 4 along with several comrades and acquaintances chiming in occasionally. Saito is a simple isekai character who does his best to be useful, and as a handyman with his tools from Earth, he is really damn good at being handy in a fantasy sword/armor/magic setting. Saito is a really satisfying protagonist in all cases despite having no combat talent, as his brains and assistance to the team are more than essential. In the ... end, he is often the one who shines brightest.
The art style of the show is consistently fine, the plot is enjoyable, and the humor of the show is fun with a balance between mature and immature(often dirty) writing. Despite being a fantasy setting, these people are still definitely people. Lastly, not all the characters have the best character development, but the anime did a great job nonetheless with what mattered most.

Genuinely a fun and enjoyable 12 episodes, 9.3/10

I have no idea if a sequel would work, maybe a few OVAs or something with extra content would be best? Another season would definitely need to add a decent number of characters, and fitting them in would be rough. Idk what the manga content is like, I do see it doesn't have a good rating though

JJK Season 2 has some of the best animated fights I've seen in a long time. However, it's very obvious that this was blood animation, and this level of work should have instead taken way longer to be released to avoid overworking animators for no good reason. From a purely critical view of the animation, it was so excellent that you wouldn't know that many of these fights were not even close to being fully animated yet if no one told you. I won't get my hopes up that we'll ever see this level of animation ever again in a seasonal anime, since it's probably ... not worth the studios' efforts if they can't overwork their animators to get it done on their tight schedules. Definitely watch JJK up to Shibuya if hype fights are your style. I know nothing about the future arcs, but I imagine it only gets better based on manga readers' words.
As for season 2's plot and writing, the Hidden Inventory arc is short and sweet, and definitely relevant. Shibuya feels like there are so many major events and fights that time for character development is only notable in one character, though we do learn a little more about some other characters before they lose their fights. Whenever characters do die in this show, some viewers have definitely called their deaths pointless and bad writing, but I think it adds to the severity and reality of the situations they get in. Overall, I feel like season 2 was pretty ideal. This was just one arc in a much larger story, so it's fine that there was more action than development. I do expect to see more character development and growth in the next arcs of the show, since we can't always have action even if characters can grow during fights.
9.8/10 season, will miss watching this show

Guys, it's just a cute old isekai with a frickin vending machine protagonist. The writing in this show is very basic, and the show is simply mid tier. It's not unbearable to watch, and I only watched it in the first place because it is just so conceptually funny. Overall, nothing to be impressed with by the show, which is what I was expecting walking into it. I'll watch season 2 purely to finish what I started lmao.

7.5/10, simple.

The review isn't long enough so I'll be more detailed. This season feels more like a slice of life, just watching people learn to live with ... the super vending machine infinite food glitch. Gives me the same vibes as Campfire Cooking in Another world, but that anime is much better in most aspects.
The creative combat our protagonist uses is smart--his plans work out way too well though, and he said himself it's mostly been luck. It's mostly just a wholesome anime. The art and animation are simple, and the animators are probably overjoyed with a vending machine speaker half the time. Nothing is especially great about this anime, so it's pretty bland. Definitely just an anime to kill time.

My thoughts afterwards, spoilers

The version I watched had somewhat terrible subtitles, and the production of the movie felt pretty messy at some points. However, I didn't hate the movie, and I already knew before watching the series who would win. I don't have many complaints, though I do really think they needed to give Yotsuba a better setup before and while she was being chosen. The only scene they really relied on for that was the swing set flashback, meanwhile the other girls had so much more. I understand she was the underdog winner, but they needed to really convince the viewer better than what ... the movie showed us. I enjoyed the happy ending, but it didn't feel like it was meant to be adapted into a movie. I think a third season would have been the better option, since it felt a little rushed despite being a 2 hour movie.

So, overall, I'm still Nino gang, but I enjoyed the whole anime. The second half of season 1 to the entirety of season 2 were my favorite parts, and the movie nicely wrapped up the story. I'm fine with the Yotsuba choice, as it wasn't simply because she was the childhood friend or anything. She just needed better hints and reasoning for convincing the viewer that Futaro made a good decision than what we were actually presented.

A solid 8.0/10 -- I liked season 2 a lot more but it's fine. This is the first harem anime in a while for me, and I was definitely entertained. I do think a lot of animes are switching to movie productions, but some stories would be better off being told in more segmented forms, like 1 hour specials or just more episodes. I don't have a strong opinion beyond that though.

It was a fine anime, and I'd like to leave it at that. Nino gang.

Review draft 7-20-23
Season 1 rating = 7.9
Season 2 rating = 9.1

Season 1+2 review (I will review the movie later):
I've had this anime prepared for a while, and finally had a chance to finish both seasons. I wanted to write a review before I watch the movie tomorrow because I'll surely forget my thoughts about the beginning. The first half of Season 1 is mainly preparation for the serious romance arcs, so if you can get past that, then you're good. It's a solid romance anime for the second half of Season 1 and all of Season 2. All the girls get their moments to develop ... their characters nicely, though you need to pay a little more attention for Itsuki's and especially Yotsuba's moments. I love the entire story and the solid amount of drama, but also genuine love and forgiveness, that weaves its way between the quintuplets and Futaro. Everyone is starting to mature, even Yotsuba as she begins to think more about herself. Futaro himself, you might not notice, slowly becomes a more likeable and dependable character, while maintaining his outstanding academic superiority. I also happen to really like the season 2 studio's decision to switch his eye color to yellow. He looks really great. And he's really doing his best for these girls who make his life so much busier. I love watching Futaro become a cornerstone in their family. The anime is entertaining and the characters are imperfect, but still very likeable.

Spoiler opinions:
I will say that by the end of Season 2, personally, Nino > Miku > Itsuki = Ichika = Yotsuba. Ichika has her rough moments after the strong lead in the warehouse, though all is forgiven, so thus she returns to the running. Nino has phenomenal growth after the reality of Kintaro becomes apparent, though she always had good intentions despite her sassy attitude. Miku finally getting a solid spotlight at the end of season 2 was great, while Itsuki and Yotsuba haven't had a true spotlight yet. Hopefully the movie does the story justice, though I know many people were unhappy that one person won while their favorite didn't. I won't be mad if Nino loses, as long as the winner is fair and reasonable. All the girls are quite charming, after all. Furthermore, Futaro is his own character, and he is far from dense after the first confession, so I have no complaints if he makes an unexpected choice, as long as it's not the WORST choice by the time he's making it.

Seeing the bad rating, I put this anime off nearly completely, but decided to binge it for the past two days anyway. It actually turned out interesting and entertaining, though I can definitely see the pacing being problematic if you were watching it weekly at the time.

The anime gives off mystery/detective vibes, but it is a twist on that where the MC is simply focused on finding the ideal solution to a conflict, which includes mind games, trickery, and thoughtful lies. I think the season would have been more interesting with shorter arcs like the first arc with the serpent, though I liked the ... Steel Lady Arc and its ending. I haven't watched season 2 yet, but I imagine making the anime 24 episodes from the start could have been a better option. And cutting the beginning of the Steel Lady Arc down an episode or two would be ideal.

IMO, the anime could have just avoided the time skip to instead give the MCs a natural progression with their relationship, rather than one we learn about over time. I think a lot of people would have rather watched that, all while implementing arcs relatively shorter than the Steel Lady Arc. I think that would work better with the premise we started with compared to the actual anime, especially working with only 12 episodes.

Nonetheless, I think the direction the anime went with was alright, and the story of Kuro and Iwanaga post-time skip was relaxing to watch. Nothing crazy, I give the anime a solid 8.5/10. No animation complaints, but it's a dialogue heavy show, and it can definitely feel monotone at many times, so avoid this anime if you aren't in the mood for that.

(SLIGHT SPOILERS on the direction of the anime) This is undoubtedly a ten-tier anime, holy crap it's so fun and interesting. The author feeds us some obvious and predictable cliches to avoid unnecessary clarification, meanwhile, the true nature of the anime is anti-cliche nearly all around and especially at its core–it’s a genuinely amazing work. Right off the bat, I thought I was witnessing main character syndrome in Cid, but no, it's almost the opposite. Seeing productions like this instead of the average cliche, often forgettable seasonal anime makes me feel so lucky and blessed.

The one thing inherently off-putting about the anime is that it ... is so anti-cliche that we don’t get the usual satisfaction of the main character being recognized by those he saves. There are many pains we experience, as the average viewer is used to this eventual satisfaction being given to us. But instead, the satisfaction only goes to Shadow Garden, no one else. The addiction to being the underdog that outshines any other character is beautifully done, though the direction definitely shifts towards being the villain in this season. I can see many people being off-put by Shadow Garden, who we think of as the good guys, being villainized at nearly all angles.

It’s annoying watching Cid being unrecognized as Shadow when it would solve so many conflicts. But if the author let that happen, the anime wouldn’t be itself and therefore worse off. Just like how I feel about One Punch Man, I hope that we do eventually see this desired recognition of our protagonist, but even slightly-poor writing could completely ruin the tone of the story that the author relies on.

10/10, the animation and art quality is lovely, the level of fan-service is perfectly balanced, and the entire production and direction is astounding. I should have been doing work but here I was getting plunged into a 20-episode binge at 5 AM. Thanks, I will be waiting for Season 2 with high expectations and support. This is peak fiction.