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It's been quite a while since I looked at Lerche's Given, a romance which had some faults but was still great. We've also seen Lerche's work with Konohana Kitan, Gakkougurashi and the Danganronpa anime. So, they do have a solid record when they aren't working on projects related to Danganronpa which makes me hopeful for this one.

Story:

We open with Satou attending a violin concert with Akihiko. This gives him the epiphany that you can convey strong emotions with music. Remember how in the series proper I talked about him having some ridiculous quirks that break suspension of disbelief? Well, add this to ... the list. In any case, we find out that Akihiko has been in a long running semi-relationship with the brilliant violinist Ugetsu as neither of them quite knows how to quit the other. We also find out that Given is in the running for a spot on the stage of Countdown-fes and Satou gets to work trying to write the perfect song for them to perform at the competition.

The major narrative problem with the film is that the shite between Akihiko and Ugetsu is way too melodramatic. It's a lot of "I want him to be the one who finally ends it" and "We know we're no good for each other but we just can't stop." It's not an unrealistic dynamic it just gets tiresome and kind of annoying pretty quickly.

Melodrama aside, the whole story arc of Akihiko moving away from his past and moving on is pretty well handled. The film uses instruments in an interesting symbolic way to parallel the relationships Akihiko has with both Ugetsu & Haruki. It's also interesting to see Satou's song writing process and how he takes inspiration from the situation.

Characters:

The main characters we focus on for this film are Akihiko & Haruki. Satou & Uenoyama are still around and they're still important but we don't get that much of them and their relationship. The problem is that Akihiko and Haruki just aren't as compelling. They were good as supporting characters but they aren't quite as solid for focus characters. It's also a bit disappointing that the better characters with a much better, more interesting relationship take the sidelines.

Don't get me wrong. The relationship developments between Akihiko and Haruki are fine. It is interesting to see how both the men have to work and make personal changes in order to make a romantic relationship between them viable and avoid the pratfalls of Akihiko's last relationship. It's just not at the same level of quality we saw with Satou and Uenoyama's relationship in the series proper.

Art:

Lerche did an excellent job. The film looks really good. The characters, backgrounds and animation are all excellent. The detail they put into things like performances and instruments is also impressive.

Sound:

Nakazawa Masatomo, Eguchi Takuya, Asanuma Shintarou, Yano Shougo & Uchida Yuuma are all good in this. The music is excellent. The film does a good job of showcasing its big song at varied stages of development and the song is amazing when it's finished. There was a point where I thought they were going to shoot themselves in the foot since they were hyping it so much but then it lived up to all that hype.

Ho-Yay:

All the major guys in this film are into men and the main focus is on a developing romance between men while one of them moves on from a gay relationship that wasn't healthy for either him or the other guy.

Areas of Improvement:

1. The film could have used less melodrama. They could have dealt with Akihiko's relationship drama in a cleaner, more concise way.

2. Satou having a big epiphany that music can be highly emotional is just dumb. It's one thing if seeing a violin concerto inspires him to create something emotional, it's quite another when the concept just never occurred to him.

3. We really needed more scenes with the couple we already know and love.

Final Thoughts:

Given: The Film is pretty solid. It's not at the same level as the series proper but it's still a good film with a solid romance story. My final rating for the film is going to be a 7/10. If you're a fan of Given, you'll likely be happy with the film.

Gokujo: Gokurakuin Joshikou Ryou Monogatari is a 2012 LMD anime based off of a Miyazaki Maya manga. I don't know the studio or the mangaka. Hopefully it'll be a good first impression.

Story:

Akabane Aya wants to be as popular as popular can be. She wants to rule over the all girls' school she attends. Unfortunately for her, she's a silly nitwit and her efforts seem to result in her embarrassing herself. Fortunately for her, there are multiple girls at the school who do have an interest in her. A very yuri-fueled interest.

So, what the series gives us is a dozen short episodes where ... Aya gets into something absurd and shenanigans ensue. The humour is pretty crude and, ultimately, kind of dumb. There's an entire segment with an electric toothbrush going up noses. And a lot of the comedy does employee pretty heavy fan-service and there are definitely gags where they cross the line from risqué to tasteless.

With that being said, it's kind of hilarious at times. The rapid fire nature of the comedy means that they do get to the point fairly quickly and the fan-service never goes too far. A lot of the visual gags do land quite handily in spite of being frequently crude and dumb. In that sense, the shorter episodes actually benefit the series since it does rely on the kind of humour that overstays its welcome quickly.

Characters:

The characterisation is pretty simplistic. Aya is the typical queen bee type of character you see in a lot of High school media but without the success that those characters usually enjoy. Konatsu and Ai are the minions/ friends. Asuka is the quiet and mysterious girl with an affinity for the supernatural. It's all stuff like that. However, the series does take these fairly basic high school tropes and exaggerate them in such a way that it makes them work well for comedic purposes, mostly. There are a few characters who are just the tropes but they still function fine.

Art:

I'm not sure how to feel about the art if I'm being completely honest. On one hand, the fan-service can get to be a bit much. But the fact that it's largely used for comedic purposes rather than titillation actually makes it considerably more tolerable for me. It also does help when there are some strong visual gags in the series.

Sound:

The acting in this is solid. Hikasa Youko, Takamori Natsumi, Sasaki Nozomi, Taketatsu Ayana and the rest deliver good performances and they do actually get to demonstrate some range in spite of voicing relatively shallow comedic characters. The music is pretty good as well. It does sound nice and suit the series well.

Ho-yay:

There is a lot of les-yay in this. Basically every major character in the series has a dynamic with at least one other female character that's a bit homo-erotic. Unfortunately, most of it is played up for laughs.

Areas of Improvement:

1. The whole idea of subverting character tropes could have definitely been executed better.
2. A little more care could have been employed with the more risqué jokes.
3. The les-yay could have been more genuine and used for much funnier scenes as a result. Just look at Kaorin from Azumanga Daioh or Hotaru in Non Non Biyori.

Final Thoughts:

While this isn't one of the best comedic anime I've seen, I do kind of recommend it. This kind of dumb, crass comedy is at its best when it's in a series like this that has shorter episodes and uses that to its advantage. And the series definitely has enough strong visual gags and absurdity to make it an enjoyable watch. For me, this one is a solid 7/10.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear is an original anime by Satelight and Encourage. Which, honestly, does not inspire that much confidence. Out of the four Satelight anime I've reviewed, the best has been Heat Guy J which was just okay. As for Encourage, the only thing I've seen from them was Zetsumetsu Kigu Shoujo: Amazing Twins. Which was better than any of Satelight's offerings, but not by much. But maybe this will be the best thing I've seen from Satelight.

Story:

We open with a concert by the duo Zwei Wing being attacked by monsters called "Noise." They work their way through the crowd disintegrating anyone they ... touch. Fortunately, the members of Zwei Wing, Kanade and Tsubasa, summon their Symphogear and fight against the creatures. They're able to save some people from the crowd, including the young Tachibana Hibiki, but only at the cost of Kanade's life. We cut to a later date where Hibiki gains her own Symphogear and joins with an organisation designed to protect against the Noise alongside Tsubasa but there may be something in the shadows that's responsible for the Noise.

Let's start with the big problem this series has. There are a lot of stupid elements. To start with, the commander of the defence unit is able to fight Noise and even stand toe to toe against the powerful Symphogear because he's a good martial artist. The creatures that disintegrate normal humans on contact, the girls who can destroy entire city blocks with ease and this asshole who can punch things well. What, were the writers afraid that not having a big strong man in the story would make it less appealing? They had to break the rules of their own universe to make this guy relevant? Fuck off with that shit. The ending is the worst in that regard. Not only is the main antagonist's plan and motivation absurdly dumb, but there's a big deus ex machina bit to let the protagonists handle it.

On the positive side, the series does have some good ideas. The whole concept of using music to activate powerful relics and the reveal of where exactly the Noise originated could have been interesting in a better written series. The series is also pretty good at foreshadowing so that it's major twists don't feel like they're coming out of nowhere. A pity they have no sense of subtlety so you can easily figure out where they're going the instant they put in that first piece of foreshadowing.

Characters:

The main girls all have concepts that should be fairly compelling. We have Tsubasa, who's tried hard not to feel anything since losing Kanade and resents Hibiki for taking her place. Hibiki who feels like it's her duty to help others based on her past trauma & Chris, who went through a lot of shit and has trouble connecting with other human beings. The problem is that the series doesn't execute any of these ideas very well. A lot of the character change we do get feels very awkward and like we're missing half the character growth arc. It's almost as bad as Squall's character changing completely in the last disc for no adequately explored reason to make the rubbish romance work.

The dynamics between the characters are kind of similar. The main girls could have had some really interesting dynamics but the awkward and abrupt changes really weaken them. The best dynamic is definitely the one betwixt Hibiki and her roommate Miku which isn't that complex but it is kind of cute.

The side characters are largely just bland. Except for the commander. The way they push him as a badass martial artist but give him no personality just makes him a terrible character. Then we have the antagonist. The antagonist in this is complete rubbish. At first, they seem to have a solid concept behind them. But then we learn what their actual plan is and see how ludicrously dumb it is. Then we learn their brain dead motivation behind everything and we're left with a worse villain than Silver Age Lex Luthor. You know, when his only motivation was to rule the world and his plans included things like stealing 40 cakes.

Art:

The artwork s pretty decent. The character designs are solid. The backgrounds are pretty well detailed and the Noise do have interesting designs. The biggest problem is with the action sequences. They made the baffling decision to interrupt the action on a regular basis so that they could have a freeze frame with a little scroll telling you the attack names. This results in the battles being choppy and kind of shite.

Sound:

The acting is solid Yuuki Aoi, Mizuki Nana, Takagaki Ayahi, Iguchi Yuka and the rest of the cast all do a good job. Especially considering how little they have to work with in terms of characterisation. The music is, by far, the best element of the series. Though there is an issue with it. During battles they'll have the girls sing while fighting and the sound mixing is awkward. They'll put dialogue and loud explosives over the music. I'm not going to lie, I would have greatly preferred seeing the scenes play out with just the music playing for audio while the action speaks for itself. But I guess you can't do that when your action scenes are rubbish.

Ho-yay:

There is a lot of it. Hibiki has les-yay with Miku, Tsubasa and Chris. Tsubasa is heavily implied to have been more than just friends with Kanade. Chris and Miku develop a dynamic that doesn't seem hetero-normative. There's also a scientist at their headquarters, Ryouko, who gets flirty with several of the girls.

Areas of Improvement:

Your antagonist needs a strong motivation.

Take the time to actually develop your characters and let their dynamics evolve naturally. Don't just skip awkwardly over parts of that development.

A regular ass human who's good at martial arts should never be able to stand up against powerful entities that can dissolve humans on contact or girls with powerful relics that enable them to cause massive destruction. That's fucking imbecilic.

Final Thoughts:

Senki Zesshou Symphogear is a series with a promising premise, strong music, a good cast and some cute les-yay moments. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of insanely stupid elements, poor characterisation, weak action sequences and one of the worst antagonists out there. I'm going to give it a 4/10. I did consider going lower, but I do think its positive elements are sufficient to make it sub-par rather than outright bad.

Megane na Kanojo is a 2010 OVA from AIC Takarazuka. It's based off of a manga by TOBi. So, I've never heard of the studio or the mangaka before and I have no idea what to expect. But let's have a look.

Story:

Basically the OVA consists of four short stories with a romance focus that all centre around girls with glasses. Very basic, slice of life stuff but without the strong comedic elements that make so many slice of life series good.

The inherent problem with the series is that it's dull and trite. The romances are very short, not even close to well ... developed and tying all of them into the ladies wearing glasses just seems like a desperate bid to give it some kind of defining characteristic. Like someone told the author that their writing was generic and they thought making all the stories focus on girls with glasses would somehow counter that criticism. Or maybe they just have a glasses fetish. Either way, the writing is insipid.

A big part of that problem is that every episode focuses on a different relationship. So, instead of having a single romance with some decent development, we have four with zero development.

Characters:

The characters are extremely bland and one note. We have a girl who loves her glasses and a guy who likes her but hates glasses... because he had a lousy teacher who wore them. We have a famous idol who uses glasses as part of a disguise and a dim-witted guy who can't recognise her when she wears glasses. We have an awkward university couple who connect thanks to their glasses. We have a girl who wants to be more confident and her old friend who reminds her of the days when she was more socially inept. And none of their romances have any chemistry or interesting elements.

Art:

The artwork is, by far, the best part of the series and even that isn't great. It's pretty decent. The character designs are fine, albeit a bit mundane. The animation flows well. The backgrounds have some nice details even if they aren't all that interesting.

Sound:

The acting is passable. It's not anything particularly good but it's not bad either. The issue comes down to the characters being less interesting than a discarded bubblegum wrapper. You can get Hanazawa Kana, Hirakawa Daisuke and some other highly talented people, but when they have absolutely nothing to work with they aren't going to give their strongest performances. The music is forgettable and uninspired. Which, in all fairness, does suit the series.

Ho-yay:

There isn't any. Not that queer representation would have saved this series. We'd just have some really boring queer characters to go with the boring straight ones.

Areas of Improvement:

1. If you only have around an hour of run time, cumulatively, don't try to squeeze in four different relationships. Just focus on a single one.

2. Just having a romance isn't all that interesting by itself. You need some kind of drama or comedy to enhance the viewing experience. With the length of this, comedy would have been the way to go.

3. You can't produce flat characters and expect talented actors to just imbue them with depth.

Final Thoughts:

This anime isn't bad. It's incredibly boring and provides nothing of value, but there's nothing about it that stands out as outright awful. My final rating is going to be a 4/10. It's a sub-par romance that only a connoisseur of the genre should bother with. For the rest of us, there are much better, more compelling romance works out there.

Enen no Shouboutai is a mid to late 2019 anime from David Production. Yes, the Jojo, Neptunia & Hataraku Saibou studio. The anime is based off of an Ookubo Atsushi manga. That's right, the creator of Soul Eater. So, this one has a solid pedigree. Hopefully that works in its favour.

Story:

In the not too distant future, probably next Sunday AD, spontaneous human combustion has become a huge problem. Not only do people combust, they turn into blazing Infernals who rampage while combusting. To combat these Infernals and discover the cause of human combustion, the Special Fire Force is formed. Our protagonist, Kusakabe Shinra, ... joins the 8th Division with a simple goal. To become a hero. He already has the nerfed powers of Sam Guthrie so he might as well.

There are a couple narrative issues with the series. First of all, some of the redemption arcs feel kind of lazy and contrived. It feels like they want a character to turn out to be a decent person, so they put in some half-assed back story to explain why they went wrong and then just pull them out of their bad situation so they can be a "good guy." The character Feeler is a great example. With that said, most of the time the series actually does a really good job with its redemption arcs, the cases where they don't are in the minority. Another issue is that some of the world building elements feel like they're being made up as they go. Like Ookubo was asked to explain what an Adolla burst is and hadn't even considered the explanation before then. I don't know if it's sub-optimal world building or he's just one of those writers who doesn't do much preparation.

With that out of the way, the story is really good at coming up with creative and varied ideas for fire-based powers. Just in the 8th, we have Shinra going Cannonball, but without the invulnerability, Arthur making himself a plasma sword, Maki controlling little wispy fireballs and Hinawa controlling the propulsion/trajectory of bullets. The series is also very good at maintaining sources of tension and intrigue. There's never a point where things feel slow or dull. The series also ends on a strong point. There's clearly more to come and they definitely leave a lot of open plots but they also have a major climax and answer some huge questions which does make it feel satisfying. The series also does a solid job of mixing in some more comedic moments with somewhat serious moments. It's not one of those anime where they take one or both elements to such an extreme that they undermine each other.

Characters:

Overall, the series does a good job of giving characters compelling back stories, strong relationship dynamics and solid development. That being said, there are definitely some problems with the characterisation. The big one is that Shinra has that harem light protagonist thing going. Where the series loves to give him relationships with women that involve romantic tension. It's definitely not the worst case of it I've see, that goes to Sword Art, but it is annoying. You really couldn't think of more interesting relationship dynamics there? Like, basically anything else? There are also some antagonists who are far over the top. Which is a shame since Ookubo is clearly capable of writing characters with subtlety when he wants to.

Art:

This is another aspect that's mostly really strong. The character designs are good. The action sequences are fantastic. The animation flows well. The one issue I have is that the art can be overly fan-servicey. Especially with Tamaki and her Lucky Lecher ability. So many scenes with her devolve into blatant fan-service.

Sound:

The acting is really well done. Kajiwara Gakuto, Ichimichi Mao, Kobayashi Yuusuke, Kamijou Saeko, Lynn, Nakai Kazuya and most of the cast do a really good job. The acting occasionally goes over the top, particularly with antagonistic characters who don't have much depth. The music is pretty solid as well. They did a good job of getting compositions that suit the atmosphere.

Ho-yay:

There really isn't any.

Areas of Improvement:

1. When you have a redemption arc, you need to put a decent effort into it. Clearly, there's some understanding of that here but they don't always follow through.

2. Important story elements need to either have good foreshadowing or be well extrapolated on.

3. You don't need a goddamn "lucky lecher" ability that solely exists for fan-service. Have some class.

Final Thoughts:

The series has some noticeable issues and things that could be much better executed. But it's a really strong series overall. I'd give it a solid 8/10. If you enjoy super hero works and want to see just how many different ways you can use fire as a basis for super abilities, I would recommend it.

Detatoko Princess is an OVA from '97-'98. The OVA is from JC Staff and it's based off of an Okuda Hitoshi manga. Interestingly enough, the OVA came out around the end of the manga's six year run. So, hopefully they had some strong content to work with. I'm really not sure what to expect since I've seen good, mediocre and terrible OVAs, and anime in general, from JC before.

Story:

Lapis is the Princess of Sorcerland. One day she causes a floating island to collapse because she wanted to save a falling baby bird and decided that using her magic eraser spell to collapse a ... floating island was just the best solution. This results in her parents sending her through a portal thereby forcing her to journey back as a way for her to clear her head. On the way she's targeted by Topaz, a witch who collects pretty girls like they're Pokemon. Fortunately for her she has her elderly tutor, a tiny faerie girl and an immortal guy to act as a human shield.

So, the whole OVA is based around slapstick comedy with this quirky group of characters. The quality of the comedy itself is pretty hit and miss. The first episode is a mix of gags that land pretty solidly and ones that are just bland. A lot of it is just focused on setting things up. The second has a few funny bits but is mostly a bit rubbish. The bulk of the episode is made up of jokes about how much Lapis loves pudding which is about as unfunny as Gintama's mayo guy. The final episode is the most consistently funny. It deals with a trio of fitness obsessed brothers who also happen to be sickly. It has a lot of really good jokes that take full advantage of that bizarre premise.

Characters:

Part of the problem with the comedy is that the character quirks aren't all that strong. Lapis and Topaz are by far the strongest characters and Lapis' main traits are being dim-witted and loving pudding while Topaz is just a lesbian ojou-sama. Aside from them, Jii is just the elderly tutor. Kohaku's whole shtick is that he's immortal and gets used as a human shield and Nandra is just small and cute. Yes, each of these side characters gets a couple funny moments but they also pretty quickly run out of material.

Art:

The artwork looks fine. There are some decent visual gags. The characters look okay. The animation is decent enough. It doesn't look amazing and there are some definite animation errors but it's fine. Particularly if you keep in mind that this is from the late 90s.

Sound:

The performances are solid. Miyamura Yuko and Hisakawa Aya definitely do the best. Probably because their characters have the most going for them. The music is fine. It suits the aesthetic pretty well.

Ho-yay:

Topaz is very blatantly gay and she summons a couple girls who are very clearly taken with her. So, there's definitely some there.

Areas of Improvement:

1. We don't need to spend the bulk of an entire episode joking about Lapis' pudding obsession. Hate to break it to you, but it's really not that strong a gag.
2. The more minor characters need stronger quirks and a greater variety of jokes.
3. The characters need stronger interactions and dynamics thereby allowing them to play more strongly off of each other.

Final Thoughts:

Detatoko Princess is roughly on par with JC's Ariel OVAs. It's okay but nothing amazing. I'm going to give it a 6/10. If you're a huge fan of fantasy comedy and you've already seen Slayers in its entirety, or you just want something quick, it might be worth watching but I can't really recommend it enthusiastically.

I've talked about Slayers multiple times. The films, OVAs and the first series proper. Now we're going to look at the second series, Next. This one aired mid to late '96, shortly after the first series.

Story:

We open with Lina and company meeting up in the Kingdom of Xoana where they're all trying to get a peek at their pieces of the Claire Bible manuscript, a magical tome of great power. This results in the group traveling together, along with the enigmatic Xellos, searching for pages of the book. On their way they stumble upon several strange plots by various monsters that seem to be ... connected.

There's one part of the narrative that I'm really not super fond of and that's the climax. Slayers Next has one of those endings that borders on being an ass pull. Yes, it's more acceptable in a series like this that's largely comedic than it is in something like Fate/Stay that's completely serious, but it's still not a great look.

With that being said, the comedy in this one actually holds up a lot better than the original. The comedic elements are amazing. Seeing Lina and Amelia put on a musical number, Gourry's tone deaf comments when his brain finally processes something, basically everything with Martina, it's all fantastic. The series also does a good job of introducing the elements that are used in the climax as it goes so it's somewhat arguable whether or not it actually qualifies as a Deus Ex ending, as opposed to the aforementioned Fate/Stay that's definitely a Deus Ex. The series also does an excellent job of incorporating some moments that are actually pretty tense. It kind of does the same thing Claremont did with his X-men run where neither tonal element goes too far to the point where they undermine each other.

Characters:

All the major players return from the fist series. Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis and Sylphiel are all back and just as endearing if not moreso. They have their quirks, the elements that imbue them with some depth and strong interactions that play off of each other very strongly whether the episode is more comedic or going a bit more serious.

Let's move on to the major additions to the cast, Xellos and Martina. Xellos is an excellent character. He incorporates into the cast really well and certainly makes for a strong addition. He's the enigmatic type of character who seems very good-natured but you just know he's got a twisted side. Martina is decent enough. She's the princess of Xoana who wants to take over the world in the name of Zoamelgustar, a monster she made up. Which would be a bit like me starting a cult for the Demi-Goddess Inez, daughter of Poseidon.* She's mostly used for more comedic moments, for obvious reasons, but she does get a few more serious moments that work surprisingly well.

The antagonists also work pretty well. Both Gaav and Phibrizo have motivations, plans and they actually demonstrate some intelligence in pursuing those goals.

The only slight issue I have with the relationship dynamics is that the ones that are supposed to come across as somewhat romantic are a bit trite, at least when the series is pushing that aspect of them. The big dumb dude and the brilliant, highly capable woman. The naive princess type and the stoic but good-natured guy. Etc...

*See Athena's Wellspring

Art:

The art looks roughly the same as it does in the first series. The character designs are still excellent. The action sequences are great. The backgrounds and visual gags work really well. With that being said, it still has recycled moments and the hands continue to be awkward in multiple frames and we aren't talking about, "if you pause it at specific moments you'll see it." No, this is just really noticeable if you're looking at the screen.

Sound:

The acting continues to be legendary. Hayashibara Megumi, Suzuki Masami, Midorikawa Hikaru, Touma Yumi & Matsumoto Yasunori all reprise their roles to great effect. The legendary Ishida Akira joins the cast as Xellos while Ishimura Tomoko, Ikura Kazue & Nakata Jouji join as Martina and our antagonists. And they all put on amazing performances. The music is stellar. The background music is strongly tailored for the series and the theme tunes, Give a Reason & Jama Wa Sasenai, are phenomenal.

Ho-yay:

There's a little bit. There's an episode where Zelgadis kind of develops a thing for a cross-dressing guy and one of the eyecatches looks like a scene from a shounen ai anime.

Areas of Improvement:

The climactic battle and direct fallout thereof definitely could have been better executed.

They would have been better off downplaying the idea of romance within the main cast and keeping things platonic.

The artists could have used some really good hand references.

Final Thoughts:

This anime is fantastic. Does it have some relatively minor issues? Yes. But the comedy, voice acting, music, characters, and overall story telling are all superlative. My final rating for Slayers Next is going to be an enthusiastic 9/10.

Koi Wa Ameagari no You ni is one of those anime that just looks awful from the premise. The whole series seems to be about a High School student developing romantic feelings for her middle aged boss. But let's keep an open mind. Maybe the series isn't as bad as the premise would lead us to believe. Maybe Wit Studio does an amazing job like they did with Vinland Saga or Shingeki no Kyojin.

Story:

Tachibana Akira is a former track and field star who was forced to leave the team due to a nasty leg injury. She started working a part time job at ... a restaurant and developed a crush on the manager. She gets him to agree to one date but, not being a massive creep, he quickly puts her into the friend zone. Which may be just what she needs to reignite her passion for athletics and just what he needs to rekindle his love of writing.

So, let's start with the pressing question. Is the anime as bad as the premise makes it seem? The answer is no. It focuses more on them developing a friendship and ends with them not in a romantic relationship even though it leaves open the possibility that it could happen in future. The series is more focused on overcoming difficult times and forging ahead. So, that brings us to the next obvious question, is the anime good? And here's where the fans stop celebrating because I'm going to say no to that one as well.

There are two massive problems with this one. The first is the pacing. This anime should be about four episodes long given what the actual story is. Unfortunately, they drag every single goddamn scene out to two or three times as long as they need to be and throw in a lot of filler. That isn't charming, fun, clever or entertaining in any way. It literally just acts as padding. The second issue is that a lot of the scenes are unbearably cringey. Part of it is just the general slow pacing leading to super awkward, long pauses and another big factor is simply that the dialogue is frequently horrendously bad. Tachibana will talk like she's in a really bad melodrama and the manager, Kondou, frequently talks like a teacher in one of those stupid teen films that's supposed to be inspirational but it's just cheesy.

Characters:

The big issue with the characters is just that they're under-developed and boring. For a series that drags everything out to an agonising extent, it certainly doesn't use all that extra time to make the characters interesting or compelling in any regard. It's also very much one of those works where the resolution gets dragged out because the main dude is a weak-willed Fuck who won't just come out and say what he means. There are around three extra episodes solely because he can't bring himself to just reject Tachibana right away.

Art:

The artwork looks fine. There are some nice details for the backgrounds, the restaurant food and such. The animation is overly slow but it's fine. The only real issue is that the character designs are a little boring. There's just nothing that really stands out about them.

Sound:

The acting is fine. This is one of those anime where it suffers from the lack of character depth. There's also an issue of the cringey dialogue being a bit stilted and awkward which you especially hear from Watabe Sayumi. The music isn't memorable or interesting which does match the series proper.

Ho-yay:

It seems a little bit like Kondou's writer friend, Chihiro, has a thing for him. But just a little.

Areas of Improvement:

1. Stop dragging every little sequence out far longer than it needs to be. Things should never be dragged out because your main guy can't find his bollocks.

2. Instead of wasting so much time with filler and long pauses, actually give your characters some complexity.

3. Stop being so cringe.

Final Thoughts:

While this series isn't as unbearable as the premise would lead you to believe, it's still pretty shit. Far too slow, cringey as a Melissa McCarthy performance, and completely lacking in any real redeeming qualities. It's by far the worst Studio Wit anime I've seen. I'm giving it a 3/10.

The Precure franchise is one I've talked about pretty frequently. I started with Doki Doki and then I went back to the beginning with Futari Wa and I've been going in order since. So far about half of the franchise has been really good (Futari wa, Splash Star & Doki Doki) and half has been mediocre (Max Heart, Yes Precure 5 & Yes Precure 5 Go Go). When I talked about Go Go, the topic came up about how it nearly killed the franchise and I speculated that the likely cause was that the characters in Yes Precure 5 weren't strong enough to carry a ... second series. Hell, they couldn't carry a single series and have it be good. Well, Fresh Precure was the series that revitalised the franchise and ensured that it could keep going even to this day. So, I'm pretty excited to see this one.

Story:

Tart and Chiffon are two denizens of the Sweets kingdom. Tart is given two important tasks, find the legendary warriors, Precure and look after Chiffon. The pair wind up in Clover Town where they meet up with Momozono Love, a girl who loves dancing and her very close friends, Miki and Buki. Obviously, all three of them are Precure. The three of them have to defend Clover Town from the denizens of the shadowy, mysterious labyrinth who are trying to fill the sorrow gauge to locate Infinity, while also seeking out the fourth Precure.

The only real criticism I have for the narrative of this one is that I think the fourth Precure's integration into the group and redemption are a bit too easy. I don't want to go deep into spoiler territory, but this girl starts out more in the lawful evil alignment and just transitions to lawful good really quickly and immediately redeems herself. I get that it's a series for a younger audience and they don't want to be too fixated on a long redemption arc but I also think even Splash Star had a more gradual, stronger redemption story for Kaoru & Michiru and that a couple episodes where she has to really prove herself and work for that redemption would have done wonders.

With that said, the series has a lot of strong twists and turns. The whole theme about cooperating as a group but still being individuals versus complete conformity is an interesting one and the series handles it well. The series even takes digs at being overly individualistic when our heroines decide that they're going to hone their own individual strengths only to realise that they're stronger when they work as a unit. I also do love the whole ending sequence. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, but what happens with the girls and their families as well as the way they affect Labyrinth once they go there and the truth about Moebius are all pretty brilliant. This series also has a strong subplot where there are some boys who are romantically interested in our heroines and we see them look for ways to let them down kindly without anyone being treated like "the bad guy" in that situation. The series also possesses a great sense of humour. There are a lot of strong comedic moments. The writers also knew how to pace things so that there's a steady progression but there's also plenty of time for the girls to face various monsters of the week, have light-hearted fun moments and build their relationships with each other.

Characters:

The Precure are all fantastic. Peach, Berry, Pine and Passion. They have strong personalities with plenty of information and build up for their back stories that help craft characters that are surprisingly complex. Fresh also does a really good job of building up their parents as characters. We get to meet Love's, Buki's and Miki's families, see how they interact with each other and get a strong sense of the parents' personalities. Which really pays off during the ending stretch when we get that excellent scene with the parents. This is also the first Precure series where all the heroines seem to be in a polyamorous grouping with each other. They have strong interactions and they're very yuririffic. We saw the same thing with everyone except Ace in Doki Doki but this is clearly the instalment that started it.

I also do appreciate the antagonists. The whole Eas, Wester & Soular trio is really strong. Wester is actually kind of a delightful goofball. Moebius has a compelling back story and motivation once the series gets into it and stops having him as a shadowy villain figure. Northa and Klein are kind of the weaknesses there since they're both a bit boring but the series actually explains why the pair of them aren't complex and it's in a way that works.

Art:

The character designs are fantastic. I especially like Cure Passion's costuming though they did an excellent job of giving all the Precure costumes that are kind of similar but have their own individual touches. The monster designs and action sequences continue to be strong. The dance choreography we get in various episodes and with the ending theme tune is really good. The one criticism I can offer is that the series might spend a little too much time on the stock footage. Though this one spends a lot less on that stuff than Go Go did.

Sound:

The acting is excellent. Oki Kanae, Kitamura Eri, Nakagawa Akiko, Komatsu Yuka, Matsumoto Yasunori and the rest of the cast do a really good job and they all play off of each other like they're performing a stage production instead of voice acting. The music is amazing too.

Ho-yay:

There's a lot in this series. Every member of Precure seems to be romantically interested in every other member. It's especially true with the other three and Love but they get their moments with each other as well.

Areas of Improvement:

1. Cure Passion's redemption arc could have used a few episodes that explored the whole thing more deeply.
2. The series could have benefited from abridging the stock footage a bit more.
3. Maybe a bit longer for the epilogue.

Final Thoughts:

It's pretty obvious why this series brought the franchise back. It's excellent. The characterisation, action, sense of fun, just about everything in the series works really well. Yes Precure 5 may have been the first instalment in the franchise to put the focus on a group dynamic but this was definitely the first instalment that did it well. My final rating is going to be a 9/10. If you're a fan of magical girl stuff, especially when they're heavy on les-yay, this is one for you.

I've gone over most of the anime Gunslinger Girl series. This time around we're finishing the series with the OVA, like Il Teatrino, this one was handled by Artland. Let's see if it's as amazing as the first two series.

Story:

We open the first episode with Jean meeting with someone from his past who alludes to the loss of an important woman in his life. This gradually transitions to Angelica and Rico dealing with different groups of terrorists. The second episode gets more into Jean and Jose's past while they give Rico and Henrietta some time to relax.

The narrative in the OVA is ... a lot looser and more based on giving us character back stories than on giving the girls a grand mission to accomplish. We learn a lot about Jean and Jose and how they became involved with the SWA. We also get some insight into why they treat their little sisters the way they do. It's not a bad idea and it does help develop the characters though it may be a bit slow and it's very light on action compared to the series proper. If anything, the action we do get is kind of arbitrary. They need action because it's a franchise where that's a big focus but the whole brief mission they undergo doesn't really have anything to it beyond the brief interaction with Jean and the guy from his past.

Characters:

The OVA focuses on Jean & Rico as well as Jose and Henrietta. We get brief appearances from various other characters but those four are the important ones. We learn more details about Rico's past and how her life was before she joined the SWA and why she loves her cyborg body and new life so much. Along with the aforementioned information about Jose and Jean's past. Which is pretty nice. It really helps humanise the two of them.

Art:

The artwork and animation both look good with a strong attention to detail. Very much like Il Teatrino provided.

Sound:

Shiono Anri, Akutsu Kana, Mito Kouzou and Koyasu Takehiton all return, from Il Teatrino, obviously. And they do perform their roles well. Koyasu and Shiono in particular get some really strong sequences. The music is well composed.

Ho-yay:

There's not really any. Henrietta and Rico are mainly enjoying a quiet moment with each other and their handlers but in a very platonic way.

Areas of Improvement:

1. If you want a brief, peaceful respite to wind down from Il Teatrino, you don't need to throw in a short, insignificant action part. I know that's weird to say but it's pretty clear that the meat of the OVA is adding character depth and exploring back stories.
2. The whole sequence where Jean is arguing with what's probably a hallucination would work better if it focused more on him and his actions and less on Jose's. We can sort of connect the dots as they apply to Jose without him being mentioned there.
3. There really should be more closure for Triela given what happened in Il Teatrino. Yeah, she's in this briefly but it's really not much.

Final Thoughts:

This OVA really isn't as strong as the series proper. It's not as cohesive and there are definitely elements that noticeably should have been better handled. With that being said, it is nice to see some quieter, less action heavy moments to wrap up Il Teatrino. It's also interesting to learn more about these characters. If you're a fan of Gunslinger Girl's characterisation, I'd definitely recommend this OVA. On the other hand, if you're someone who only watches it for the action this isn't going to be what you're looking for and I definitely wouldn't recommend it as your first foray into the franchise. I'd go with Madhouse's thirteen episode series for that. My rating is going to be a solid 8/10. Maybe not as strong as the series proper, but still pretty great.