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Let's think back to all of the anime we've gone through before. We have watched anime that had incredible fantasy storytelling right from the beginning. We have watched anime that had a strong thematic approach with the following isekai genre. We have watched anime that had remarkable character development. Yet, I find it difficult to find an anime that can accurately portray character dynamics very well to the standard Konosuba has done (There may be a couple of exceptions, but let's not indulge in that). Comedy anime are a dime a dozen, but it's always a delight to find one that diligently carries out that ... duty with utmost care and timing. Before we could finally watch the sequel, the prequel was fine, to say the least, primarily because most of the main cast kind of carried the humor, and having Megumin only graze the spotlight kind of made the comedy a bit too overreliant on her. Here, the most dysfunctional squad is back in action, that same character dynamics still carry over in complete style with the ragdolls animation and absurdist humor that is amplified by the cast of Konosuba.

When you have an adaptation of Konosuba, it goes far more than just having a simple light novel adaptation of goofy characters doing goofy things and supposedly saving the world in the end. In a statement, the strongest points that Konosuba consistently provides are phenomenal voice acting and compelling character dynamics. I swear most of the comedy wouldn't work if the story didn't try to establish their dynamics properly and how they interact with each other. Now, in some cases, Konosuba's jokes can feel juvenile and immature. Still, when you have a character that acts immature, childish, and unhinged, the only logical sense is to pursue these jokes and fit the comedy into the way the characters are portrayed. If characters have to change or act out of character for the comedy (not to mention if it tries to tell the same old quips that are lazily done), it would be detrimental to the anime's comedy, thus affecting the enjoyment.

Even when Konosuba is known for the outlandish humor and characters that on paper, should be unlikable, it still has moments when it knew it had to progress the story and be serious. When your story is about trying to slay the Demon Lord from total subjugation, it still gives the time to weave the plot as naturally as it could, whether it may be random or such, it's all part of the fun. As I'm saying this, I hope the staff still manages to give that feeling of satisfaction I felt when I watched the team all miraculously decide to group and make the most epic wombo combo in almost every last episode of Konosuba.

Thank you for reading.

I find it weird how this anime is not getting a lot of attention, despite the idea that the anime has a pretty vague premise, so any form of hype for this original work is pretty mild, but after seeing an amazing job they did with Oshi no Ko and looking at this one, I had to try and figure out if it was worth the shot. Sure, I got a bit iffy with the title but after a few episodes, I seriously want people to watch this anime. It's one of the anime where the staff did a stellar job in almost all of ... the core aspects of a good show, writing, tone, narrative, visuals, and characters.

I think one of the difficult parts of making an original anime is that you need to have a strong first impression and provide something worth watching so viewers can stick around and watch till the end. It takes a lot to make a good first episode and certainly is not easy to do. The atmosphere the anime is going for is urban, vibrant, and lively, further amplified by the setting of Japan's most popular nightlife area, Shibuya. The staff working on this does a great job of portraying that along with establishing characters that make sense to the setting they made, it's not random arbitrary characters that are meant to repeat one-liners and quips every time they take screen time, they are characters that are made in mind with the atmosphere and act accordingly to what they should be in the circumstances the writers established in. You wouldn't want absent-minded characters just speaking cutesy things in a supposed rekindling talent plot, right? You wouldn't also want an extremely positive character that just gets a bit sad for a few minutes and then gets happy like nothing happens, right?

I don't think I have to say this out loud, but it's pretty obvious that the visuals are lock-on tight when the production is from Doga Kobo and it has continued to deliver in this case. There's less of that moe fanservice and the facial features of the characters are more natural to look at unless you're not okay with different colored hairs, but even then, I think it's almost impossible for Doga Kobo to disappoint in terms of character designs and visuals.

One of the best parts that the anime is doing is that it establishes characters with an internal conflict and they all are trying to improve themselves, just like how the synopsis said. The anime understands characters need to have a starting point in their life and they all need to strive to make that jump, it's practically an anime that shows the journey of cute teenage girls rekindling their lost talents, but looking at how the staff has managed to produce it, I'd say there's a solid chance for it to be a great original anime, joining into the GOATs of original anime.

My case is that you should try to watch it. It may be vague, yes. But the staff did a great job with what they managed to establish in a few episodes and going forward, I can see in a positive light that it will get better from there.

Despite my overall dislike for romance shows, I still take the time to watch them since everything can come as a surprise when you persevere through the bad ones. Watching the first season of Bokuyaba rubbed people the wrong way during its first few episodes, cringy ahh first impression, supposedly making a goofy impression that might signify an overplayed joke in every episode, and having side characters that appear as your run-of-the-mill anime. For those who persevere through, pat yourself on the shoulder, because what lies ahead is one of the year's best romances, not because it was able to surpass its predecessors, no. This ... is an anime that almost perfectly does the standard of what romances should ideally strive to be and how good writing, pacing, and character development can make a love story impactful to watch.

This is not an anime that's afraid to approach cliches and tropes that don't speak 'good rom-com' to viewers who yearn for romantic chemistry. It takes those distasteful ingredients that should be left behind in the dirt and uses them as a starting point for them to grow into, which fortunately, sees the light of day, in this new season of Bokuyaba. Remember the guy whose whole schtick is to make horny remarks about his peers and always tries to peep at them every day? Rather than the anime only treating him as a complete joke, he was able to receive development that makes him, in a way impactful, even if it seems insignificant at first glance. The same goes for the rest of the cast, who can play a role without becoming a stale knockoff that's supposed to add glitter to the comedy.

Welcome aboard, Ichikawa x Yamada! They have made their mark in the Romance genre with almost immaculate romance progression and smooth-like-butter chemistry. Both of these characters did start with a rough beginning, but it became something far more special as it was nearing its end. The school setting, although extremely common to see, still shows why it's an effective stage to show the romance, as many of its events all seem to make sure the characters have to meet one way or another, like your classic 'school festival', a speech to captivate many hearts, meeting in another love interest's house where you will definitely not get into an awkward situation with your crush. A lot of these repeated scenes we have seen hundreds of times all feel fresh new with our successful couple because of a simple but core aspect that is usually overlooked by writers, which would make most of these scenes significantly feel lesser even if you have established characters and somewhat good dialogue. It all comes down to proper execution. This is why execution and pacing are key to making a good romance, even if the characters are written too simply or a lack of 'out-of-the-box' script. Of course, it took 2 seasons for the lovebirds to realize they have feelings for each other, but in the end, I much rather watch a romance unravel slowly and naturally through the eyes of the protagonist, without mindlessly shoving romance scenes that do not feel earned whatsoever or making the female MC unrealistically too appealing to the male MC without being able to compromise.

Thank you for reading.

I yearn for a good fanservice anime that knows how to balance the act between sexual content and storytelling, but usually, such things don't often go well together especially when the story is so haphazardly done like Chained Soldier with little time to breathe in between. Of course, it also gets some pretty hefty backlash because trying to support a character that is constantly getting lewd seems to be something people find difficult to do (as for those who might haven't watched Kill la Kill) or viewers hating on a character for being too horny to be accepted like Mushoku Tensei's protagonist. Why am I ... saying this? After through brushes and searches of more cultured anime, who would have thought an anime called "Gushing over Magical Girls" show up on the list?

I'll say this right before I go into my appreciation for this anime. Do not watch this anime if you're not okay with:
* Middle school girls being sexualized
* Weird BDSM shit in every episode
* Typical magical girls (really, do not expect a subversion in terms of mature writing)

Meet Hiiragi Utena, she's a real diehard 'otaku' when it comes to magical girls until some random deus ex machina comes in and tells her she's going to help her idols she worshipped, and by that, they meant by helping create chaos so that she can meet them in every single shenanigans she directly (or indirectly) caused. It's another one of those cases where she didn't intend for things to get this way and somehow she has to fulfill a bigger role to play in the grand scheme of the world (usually, stories that do this have to be creative or set up good Chekhov's Guns for some good payoffs.) Thankfully, this anime did have some form of creativity.

This is where the fanservice mainly kicks in and oh dear, it never felt lacking in any other way. Being promised a show meant for tasty content and delivering it is something that most animation production studios or even any studios working in any industry have done miserably. For that, we have to give credit to Asahi Production for being able to consistently provide 'good' content without assorting to ridiculous plot armor or fallacies, betraying character traits for plots, and making every word being put into your face without the simple deed of show, not tell. I'm not saying this anime is completely clean from flaws (there's still plot armor, but I mean every show has that), but there's very little that it never seems that my immersion never got cut off from any bad aspects.

A lot of my enjoyment stems from the CRAZY performance and SPECIFIC characters which the anime takes pride in, it's done splendidly and impeccably oozing with unhinged madness to watch. The experience of finishing a single episode of Gushing over Magical Girls is your classic dose of great voice-acting, especially from Utena's and Sayo's, these VA's performances were so good that they ended up stealing the show when they got the time to thrive. The precious screen time they are given is used well and rarely did I feel I waste a second watching it.

There are still some rough segments of the show which doesn't sit right with what the show excels at, the so-called romance and comedy. I think it's normal to have an anime that generally doesn't land its comedy well since most of the anime don't do it well and even if some are praised, it's very few and far between. But much of my criticism is on the Girls Love aspect of the story. I'll say this clearly, the show lacks an understanding of how to build genuine chemistry and proper relationships. A lot of times, you'll see characters just doing their one quip when they interact with one character or another, a lot of jokes are reliant on those exhausted jokes that died in the first episode. Kiwi's whole screen time is spent on her being a crude rebellious bitch that gets way too clingy on the MC. Haruka's character is your typical optimistic magical girl which I think is supposed to be the BUTT of the joke since she gets embarrassed ridiculously along with her comrades by Utena. But then again, who would expect that when you're watching something this unhinged?

It's an anime that tries to hit its small difficult target and did that with an ace on their hands. The anime perfectly encaptures what Ecchi anime is supposed to accomplish rather than just having bits of uncensored boobs or buttcheeks shoved on your face with a supposed male MC just taking it like it's his privilege. I get that people might not be able to take it well considering it's another one of those shows that still insists on blurring the boundary between what is safe and what is considered porn, however, if you're someone who wants tasty fanservice and good craziness, you should try this out.

Thank you for reading.

I'll keep this review short. There were many things that I would like to address, but I figured it would be best to keep it simple.

At first glance, I disliked how CoTE put up a facade that wanted to appear smart with the promises of psychological warfare and used dirty tactics just to get more merit over the other. Until then, I have reached the point where I enjoyed the journey of what the 1st year saga has to encapsulate. The anime's story, in its own right, is not bad. Of course, there is some downtime that could have been removed for more quality character ... moments and there's not much to talk about the cast, but it's still not messy junk where the plot happens for no reason, it still remembers to set some things up and make it pay off later as the story progresses.

The issue that continues to this day is how there's a severe lack of context or buildup to any conflict that you're unable to fully grasp what is happening without relying on LN spoilers. In this season, they somewhat can provide enough context, but rarely does it feel sufficient when it reaches its climax.

I'd say for a plus, the animation looked better than what we've gotten in the previous season (S2 EP2 was laughably terrible) and it was, to a certain degree, enjoyable to watch while it lasted. Usually, anime like this can fail miserably when dialogues, script, or pacing is not kept in check, but here the staff has done a good job and you won't have to suffer from unnecessary quips or shenanigans. It's tolerable and decent, to say the least.

Thank you for reading.

Unwanted Undead Adventurer is another fantasy adaptation that doesn't have an obnoxiously long name and dwells around the familiar aspects of many light novel adaptations. It's neither something where the anime is a pile of garbage that should never be made nor the adaptation that deserves some form of applause. What this anime has managed to achieve is the mere average of what you should expect in your weekly seasonal anime. The anime plays it safe with your dose of fanservice, and decent character growth. By that, I mean flaunting the main character's only personality with any random character the anime decides to show for ... the sake of the plot, etc. This is my review of UUD.

First and foremost, the Good:

It starts with a very familiar plot point that usually happens in Isekai fantasies, the Reincarnation aspect. The primary plot of the story is about a goody-two-shoes guy who wanted to claim his spot at the top for his contributions to the fantasy guild, only, in no surprise, met his doom and reincarnated into an undead, just as the title foretold us. As the Reincarnation plot was being unfolded, it was by far the best part of the anime. It's always intriguing to see a character gathering more strength and starting from rock bottom to something stronger, like a rogue-like RPG. Unlike most light novels that have no issue of bestowing ludicrous cheat skills and proceed to have the main character not abuse any of his skills other than daily basic life duties (believe me, I get frustrated when shit like this happens), it's good that none of that happens here and you're watching the efforts of the main character flourish itself during crucial fights that happen in the anime.

The music, especially the ED of this anime took me by surprise since it's not a song you'd expect in one of these shows. Even if it's almost unfitting to find a good song in a somewhat niche category, we have to give it credit for what's worth and it helps maintain retention throughout the series.

Then, the Bad:

A lot of my interest started to wane due to its downtime, its ebb and flow of the story is so slow that you might groan when something has to happen, but by far, my highest criticism is when it comes to its characters. I'd say that the anime's weakest point is that it has a very dull cast of characters, the only time where you see some color in these characters are the ones that end up being fascinated by the MC's good Samaritan charm or mysterious characters that are meant to act as the plot devices when nothing notable happens. Due to the narrative being centered around the main character only, it leads to most of these characters being nothing more than flavor text or 1st-dimensional characters that just interact when the main character gets close enough. Everyone treats the MC like he's the ultimate good.

The anime's quality in terms of storytelling takes a drop once the rogue aspect of the story gets sidetracked for some side-quest character growth that is supposed to shed light on the main character's personality, though the way it executes them is nowhere impactful as it doesn't provide new information about the main character, rather affirm that he's still human in his heart when the anime does not need to show it blatantly. It's where I would say the anime had a good first impression until it started to make up characters that are meant to take up time just so the story can still figure out ways how to make the character gradually stronger to a point where it becomes satisfactory.

To conclude, there's not much to talk about the anime, which can summarize for a forgettable experience. Once the anime has finished its time, it's going to be on the shelves, something you can easily label as an "anime with an above-average Main Character". You can try it out if you want an anime that takes its shot with leveling up elements that are present, or the barely passable fanservice, which is meant to rake in more views. If it's neither, then you can bet that the anime is not something worth remembering.

I am clearly not the intended audience for this anime, yet here I am, reviewing this anime. Making the female MC deaf was definitely a trick to get more people to indulge in this anime. I think it's already clear how this romance anime caters to the Shoujo demographic when you have every character having the most kissable lips, the male character's rizz game is always at its peak, meant to make the girl infinitely blush with him, all the while also having love triangles and unrequited love stories that are at play. There's a lot of things to not like about A Sign of ... Affection, but what if I tell you, I did enjoy it too?

If I were to name one good thing that this anime did well other than the sign language the show takes pride in, it's the handling of the worst aspect of most romance dramas, love polygons. I kid you not, it's not a romance anime if you don't have any love triangles or anyone who has unrequited love and in almost every romance show, all it has done is make virtually more interesting side characters that either don't get into a relationship with the MC despite better chemistry or make the worst side characters known to mankind, just so the main character will always get with the main one, all the while creating drama about their said backstory with MC and how they were "deeply in love" with the MC which is never returned. I know love polygons are common in fictional romance stories. Still, when it comes to doing this, rarely does anyone know how to properly execute this without overstaying its welcome or getting extremely annoying to deal with. Luckily, the anime fixed this by making every cast an adult. They don't throw tantrums like insecure babies fishing for pity towards them and talking about how they gave the MC the most attention and somehow think that will make them like them. Instead, it handles the subject maturely and calmly, which is a nice change of pace for a romance drama.

Another praise I'd give to the anime is how the romance is also quite decent. I actually enjoyed it too and didn't find it a notorious fire piece of garbage. The male love interest (who naturally ticks all the boxes for your typical main love interest in every shoujo manga), doesn't exhibit any behavior that leans towards stalking psychopathic tendencies, instead, it's just cute teases I can actually see happening and in a sense, I can support the relationship going on between the two. I had a bad assumption about how the anime was going with the relationship given how the man had the recipe of an incredibly insecure and more harmful than protective character, but it was a nice change of pace unless you take into consideration the other romance that does it several degrees better than this anime.

Are you still with me? Because this is where I want to delve into issues I had with A Sign of Affection.

Even if it does some things right in terms of plot and romance, it still doesn't excuse the characters, who are pretty forgettable and I'm willing to say, 'bad', in a lot of ways. From my perspective, Yuki is the weakest character of them all. The only reason you can remember her is because she's deaf. Yuki's character is someone that can be generalized as a "self-insert for girls" because Yuki is like every girl's fantasy who wants to have a perfect boyfriend like Itsuomi (had to search for his name in MAL because I couldn't remember him), but let me stop you for a minute there.

When you call a character "self-insert", you're referring to a character that lacks substance or any form of personality to be considered as a real character but the term "Self-Insertion" refers to the main character being as closely similar to the author's personality or his/her image to how they would react into the real world or if the same circumstances were applied to them as well, typically the correct definition of self-insert or what you would call "the author's surrogate". Here, in this situation, Yuki is the definition of being a "self-projection."

How do I prove this? A lot of things only happened because the supporting characters had a role to play in which Yuki does nothing but let everyone approach her and blush because it wasn't something she intended to do, yet she indulges in it, hoping she gets this treatment without ever trying to put effort into getting what she wants until the latter half of the series, where Yuki somehow does something but reminded her how she needs to be treated like a princess because oh no, she's a deaf person who's being held like a trophy for the guy to get his hands on. I may sound like I'm yapping absolute nonsense, but the idea is that you can't have a main character who does nothing or just reacts to everything without taking any initiative to do anything, the story makes everything served to her on a silver plate.

The cast is only categorized by two driven things, either driven with jealousy or acting as the loud voice just so there is a smidgen worth of comedy other than your usual poetic-esque description of having their voice heard miraculously by a random Prince Charming character. The love polygons are the only notable part where you can have some form of memory indulging in this anime, otherwise, it's another one of your run-of-the-mill romances that participates in satisfying the quota just so it passes off for every romance viewer like myself to watch.

The anime definitely suffices as a romance anime, since there is chemistry between the duo, and have proper romance advances which are much appreciated to see, but I would have definitely recommended it if Yuki's character had more thought put into it. Maybe it's due to my lack of interest in these kinds of characters that are portrayed as shy, timid, and quiet all the more justified with the characteristic being deaf, but I wish Yuki had put a lot more effort into taking interest in what these characters do, maybe provide more gifts or help others more rather than being bestowed with many gifts that can't process the simple line of thought to repay debts for their deeds. In my eyes, it's just decent.

Thank you for reading.

The very culmination of this anime is the author's wet dream of being stepped on, albeit a fetish from a known variation of the anime community. If you're no fan of watching the anime having its self-insert like the author just shamelessly shows that he's a fan of this madness, you should probably stop what you're doing. This anime purely exhibits such dangerous energy that I am hindering myself from uttering those words. I don't think I need to elaborate further about the animation, it's nowhere near as bad as other CG animations go and you can see where MOST of the budget went into ... this anime.

What Chained Soldier does is purely fast-paced fanservice, like what you expect from pure action shows. Where, instead of 18 minutes of dedicated action sequences, you get 18 mins of dedicated fanservice. But there should be 21 minutes worth of content, right? Those extra 3 minutes are used, although haphazardly, to progress the story. The show knows you are only here for the insane amount of content and directly gives you what you came here for.

The Chained Soldier's gourmet provides you with a plethora of different girls, you get a snobby girl who acts assertive, the very serious girl, and the called-best-girl of the anime like most anime with majority of female casts usually go. The only thing similar to them is their superiority to the MC, so prepare to watch MC get treated like an absolute slave. But it's okay since the MC is content with all this and thrives from a wicked sense of pervertedness from the girls' treatment of him. Being stared at with pure disgust, check. Getting blackmailed, check. Being called a pervert, check. But the girls still flock to him despite all of that? WIN WIN!

So yeah, have fun watching this if your own projection of treatment is similar to this anime in any way.

Before I begin this review, I have a confession to make. After Episode 18 had aired, I felt honored as my home country was mentioned in the anime while also slightly amused by the idea the author included it. Hearing 2 different VAs having a vacation in a different country other than the usually portrayed countries like the US, Italy, France, or anything else is weirdly soothing. And yes, this is where I admit that I am a Malaysian. Witness the honored one.

It's been difficult to approach Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 with an objective mind, given how it was produced with extremely tight scheduling (only ... a week before the episode had to be aired!), and the studio's reluctance to pay its staff fairly. When MAPPA's working schedule is this bad, it's almost impossible to fathom how something like Jujutsu Kaisen could still look so good, despite the simplified look and some awkward drawings during action sequences. The staff had to give 120% of their potential to push out the episode for us, devoted fans of Jujutsu Kaisen, and to satisfy the company's greed for mainstream attention. At this point, it's hard to determine which approach is appropriate, as praising it would justify the decision MAPPA executives made and later encourage more situations like this for its staff, while criticizing it would discredit the effort of the staff, later proven by the cultural impact and media edits fans have posted for this season.

The two arcs this season adapts, Gojo's Past Arc and the infamous Shibuya Incident Arc that had many leaks and spoilers from manga fans; were surprisingly handled pretty well for something that was rushed. Well, since the Shibuya Incident Arc took a delay after Episode 5 aired, and for as little time they made to create 18 episodes fully compassing it, it did not disappoint, to say the least. The magnitude of the fights JJK is known for has multiplied further. Not to mention, we see some of the best voice acting to compete for 2023. Honestly, it was difficult to choose who had the best voice performance between Enoki Junya and Shimazaki Nobunaga, since they put their heart and soul into their roles, not to forget about Gojo's VA though. Truly the perfect example of everyone using 120% of their potential.

If there's any actual criticism I could give for this anime, it's the storytelling. While the set pieces are pulled off really well, it's at the cost of some brainless plot conveniences. While the action sequences and the payoffs are great, the story's logic is idiosyncratic, like the previous season. It takes plenty of time to elaborate the power system and techniques used by different people alike, but then allows some characters to ignore that logic and then proceed to explain it in the most general way possible as if it would accomplish anything. This kind of shenanigans can be a real pain in the head for people who are looking for actual grounded shows. The author follows the system until they say that something needs to happen regardless of the outcome. Well, it just means you're going to see some plot armor here and there.

Other than that, feast your eyes on some of the most action-packed sequences we have gotten this year. There are still some legitimate criticisms with people claiming the animation looks like fan art (they're not wrong, sometimes the art does look rough and unpolished), but the cinematography and choreography do not miss. It's so fluid that the impact of each of their force is properly registered and does not feel awkward (well, excluding a few scenes that took shortcuts like Episode 17). Taking into consideration the intensity and stakes this series has introduced further, the payoff is immensely satisfying, even greater than JJK Season 1's action sequences.

To summarize, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 is a product of great talent that has been stretched thin by tight deadlines. We might never see a sequel of Jujutsu Kaisen that reaches this level of quality ever again, due to staff leaving MAPPA and never to be associated with it ever again. To me, it seems like the swan song of MAPPA's glory, as it all finally crumbles down for the people to see what lies beneath their facade.

When it comes to anime like Hyakkano, they never fail to push the boundaries between what is appropriate or full-on immoral shitfest. The duo, an author on crack writing every 100 girlfriends to never lose while the illustrator whose hand is definitely messed up for draw multiple girls that will subsequently increase to the 100 limit. It is another anime that followed the flow of having an overly insane premise combined by the talent of the staff to achieve culturedness.

Before we talk about the story, the staff working on this really did a great job with Hyakkano. While the manga had fourth wall breaks and ... meta references from the beginning, the staff amped it up even further by animating false endings, a pokemon animation, a goated narrator all the while animating a different ED on its penultimate episode. If I didn't make it clear enough, the production in this anime is good and an creatively immaculate direction from the staff.

Moving on, the story is literally stated in its title, 100 girls who are devoutly in love with you, (well they are with the main character, Aijou Rentarou). At first impression, he looked more like your average high schooler before it comes to his love life. This is where the lunacy of the story begins and also the best part of it. You see, when the story has this blatantly obvious premise, it's just a WARNING sign telling you that casuals won't be able to take this very well nor those who enjoy loyal and normal romantic relationships. It serves as a satire of such to make fun of common tropes in romance anime, even the names of the female characters are based on literal puns in Japanese language.

The real reason you're here to begin with is to know if the comedy is any good. I'd say it's mixed. The jokes can be pretty repetitive (or more accurate, juvenile) especially when they start to repeat the same shenanigans these tropes are expected to do, but it's worth noting about the energetic voice acting the cast went to elevate these tropes along with meta comedy at present. It's not everybody's cup of tea but if you're willing to give the comedy of Hyakkano, I'd say take it.

It's hard to pick a favourite out of the voices here in Hyakkano, but combined together, they make for a very cultured experience and can be a breath of fresh air from generic romance soap operas.