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Nov 24, 2017
My reviews and writing suck, don't read this.
TL;DR: Shounen Ai is not for me.
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I've never watched a Shounen Ai show. I'm just a straight, male anime fan who didn't really realize what he was clicking on when he logged into Anime Strike. Here is what I thought of Hitorijime My Hero.
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Scrolling though MAL catching up on the top rated shows from last season, I had made my way down the list to this show. I didn't give the genres a glance as I typed the title into google to see which subscription service I needed to use to view it, but based on the
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title cover, I had a good idea of what I would be getting into. It didn't take long for my initial skepticism to have validation.
From an outsider's perspective, I have no means of comparison for this show. Although, if this is supposed to be an above average shounen ai show as the ratings suggest, I don't think this genre will ever be something I can see myself going out of my way to watch again.
*Some Spoilers ahead*
Story:
The plot of the show focuses on one of the two pairs and how they realize their love for one another, and then becomes a story of how they grow closer in their relationships through certain events and various emotional conflicts. Notice that I said "pairs". The show decides that the side pairing should take up the majority of the first 3 episodes before fleshing out the main pair. A decision I believe was made just so the show could have more BL than it already was planned to, and so that it could showcase different "top" and "bottom" troupes. The issue that really takes the cake for me though, is the #1 piece of evidence that you are watching a terrible romance: the "it was all a misunderstanding and I run away from our actually non-existent, but rather self-inflicted and imaginary, problems" cliché. Setagawa continually finds himself ramping up these scenarios and ideas in his head that Kosuke and him will never work out for this reason or that. Some of them plausible, others are problems that he creates in his head (although they may have some truth behind them) which end up hurting and straining their relationship beyond how things should have been.
All this accompanied by common romance melodrama, boils down to a poor execution at making a compelling narrative designed to show that true love can overcome all odds.
Art:
Nothing special, but there is nothing inherently wrong with it. The characters are well polished to make them show off whatever features define their character, and the surroundings and environment aren't forgotten.
Sound:
Not a big fan of the OST, but the music accompanies the situations well and the VAs fit their characters.
Characters:
All 4 main characters in this show fit into a specific troupe so that no one's favorite is left out. Setagawa is a clearly defined bottom that is very powerless, dependent, and caring. Another obvious bottom is Kensuke, the younger Ōshiba. He is the typical comic relief through his childish antics and attitude during the lighter parts of the show. This makes Kosuke and Asaya the respective tops. Kosuke is a college graduate teacher who is meant to be the calm, cool, collected, powerful, strong type with an emotional, loving side to him. Lastly, Asaya is the tall, model-esque, inquisitive, jealousy-prone, selfish type.
These 4 characters are created this way in episode 1, and have little to no development by the ending.
Enjoyment:
I finished all 12 episodes in a rather quick fashion, so something about this show must have kept me entertained enough, right?
And to that I'd say: "No, not really."
The only thing that kept me watching past a very laughably dramatic plot point in an early episode where Asaya tells Kensuke something the lines of "Leave me for good or fuck me", was the rather terrible habit of leaving things I completed. That coupled with a curiosity to complete a show in a genre I would have never watched, led me to complete this show.
Overall:
This leads to my overall score of 4/10 or "Bad".
I know this show isn't the "Steins;Gate" or "FMA:Brotherhood" of shounen ai, but it is the show that, barring an over 8/10 score on a show that airs in the future, only reassures the fact that this genre will never be my cup of tea.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 1, 2017
Netsuzou TRap is a yuri NTR anime. Yuri meaning it focuses on a homosexual relationship between two females, and NTR being an abbreviation for "netorare" or basically a cuckold relationship.
I haven't read the manga for this series and only heard of this show through popular names in the anime community touting this anime as a possible leader of a "yuri renaissance". Had this anime had full 23 minute episodes and characters with more than 3 emotions, maybe it could've done that, but what has been given to us is nothing close.
First the positives. The show is not terrible. It's not a 2/10 anime, it's not
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a pathetic waste of time, and it's not boring. The drama is alright, the plot exists, and the animation is decent. In the 7 minutes of actual story, there are moments where you may be interested to find out where the plot goes, as well as who knows what secrets, and there are moments where you just have to appreciate you are watching some yuri (come on, we all know that's why most people watch this).
And unfortunately, that's all the "positives" I can come up with. The main problem is that the characters each have only 3 emotions (at most) programmed into them and that REALLY makes it hard to connect with them, and in the little screen time they have, there needs to be some serious connecting going on. Speaking of screen time, I don't watch to many "short" anime, but in a 9 minute long show, how can 2 minutes of that be OP/ED? Why waste that time? The opening theme doesn't fit at all with the tone of the show either. Not sure what the they were thinking when they made that. Another disappointing part of the show is the pacing. In order to move the story along in a quick way, some cuts have to be made. Sadly, what they decided to cut out was all of the segways. It feels like you are watching a YouTube video with bad jumpcuts every time it switches scenes, and that ties back in to lack of personal connection this show offers. It's hard for me to resonante with a character when the scene cuts from two characters sharing a bond, immediately to a conversation at school. It's just odd.
In summary, the show isn't god awful, but it certainly isn't good. The story is choppy and you have to turn your brain off to enjoy it, the art is decent, the OP doesn't fit the show, and the characters are bad, but I'll probably keep watching. 5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 1, 2017
I need to write a review for this manga series.
I binged this series in two days, going through all the volumes rather quickly. A long extended weekend gives you that ability after all. But at the end, I was left satisfied, yet not very much so. Let me explain.
The story is decent. Actually, it's the epitome of decent. Nothing wrong with the story, nothing overly complex with the story, it just has the right amount of drama, and romance to leave you wanting to read more. That being said, it's also not the most original or groundbreaking. After reading a few manga series that
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have the same categories, you recognize where things are going and how, except for the occasional "twist".
The characters though...oh the characters. I'll start with the only real positive. They all have their good moments. Every main character in the series has their moment(s) where they are fully drawn out, emotionally provoking, and complete. Every side character has their moments of usefulness and certain side characters are, most of the time, better than the main characters.
That being said, the one word that went through my head the entire time I was reading was INSUFFERABLE. Being a man who went though high school in a similar type of relationship, let me tell you that "insufferable" is the perfect way to describe how these characters behave after the first quarter of the series and before the last quarter. It honestly became annoying to read. Suzuka is temperamental, and selfish, and Yamato is selfish, dumb, and brash (essentially Naruto, pre-Shippuden). The only redeeming part about Yamato is that he is doing it all with love in mind. Suzuka, not exactly.
A 7 is a fair score and at times generous. I think some people will find the middle portion of the series as a good drama and romance play and will really enjoy this series. As for others, myself included, I think you'll find yourself struggling to get through the annoying parts to find the good ones.
Also, don't get into this if you want to see some real track and field events and development. It's lacking there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 23, 2014
Shingeki no Kyojin is an anime adaptation of the manga written by Hajime Isayama. The story follows Eren Yaeger, a boy that wants to join the fight against the Titans that hold him and the rest of the human race within the confides of three walls.
Now, this review comes from an amateur anime fan who is gradually progressing to be an anime fanatic. And this is definitely the series that spurred me into doing so. TV bores me nowadays and I rarely find myself compelled to keep watching, and HOLY CRAP I have never been so excited to watch the next episode of something
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before. It certainly didn't help though that I watched this with a group of my friends and we were restricted to watch 3-4 episodes each week. So when the last episode finished and the plot took a major turn we all exclaimed our shock and went the rest of the week talking about what we hoped happened next.
Plot - 8.5/10 - Getting into the story, I don't know exactly if there is anything similar to this anime, be it in genre or a similar show all together, but wow this idea seems super original and creative. It also caters to many different aspects and the story line develops superbly. As I said earlier, I have never been so compelled to keep watching something. The anime staff did a wonderful job of capturing the twists and turns that the manga offers, and even the fillers fit into the plot and made sense. There were a couple parts that I personally felt were predictable or could've been done a different way so that's why I feel an 8.5 is a good score.
Art - 8.5/10 - Wow. Just wow. The characters aren't particularly well drawn, in my opinion, but everything else is gorgeous. Especially the scenes involving the 3D manuevering. It's truly beautiful, but maybe I rate it so highly because I don't have a big means of comparison.
Sound - 9/10 - When I think of sound I think music, so when the opening theme is Guren no Yumia (Opening 1), I can't help but be blown away. It paired with the opening scenes was honestly incredible. Then the music played during the episodes fit perfectly as well. The other side of sound regards the sound of objects and what not, which I must say, was also brilliant. The 3DMD, the Titans, uhhhh, eeverything was amazing.
Characters - 8/10 - Each character got their due, each character fit the plot, almost every character got first season development. What more to want? Need a show with gender equality? You got that too. The only negative was that I don't particualrly like some characters, so the lower score has to do with personal opinion.
Overall - 9/10 - I'm not an anime conossieur in any regard, but I bet for as many animes as I plan to watch, this one will always be one of the best ones out there. It picks you up, eats you, and holds you in its stomach until you are finished with it (Titan reference). If you haven't watched it, do it. Though I bet you already have, because everyone talks about it, and deseverdly so.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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