Back to kyuuri117's Profile kyuuri117's Profile

To keep it brief, with very minor spoilers, it’s a cute non ecchi story about an abused girl who gets rescued by a mage, and the guy tryna make the girl feel better and have a fun life.

It’s cute, a little amusing, and goes completely off the fucking rails in episode 6 at the zoo.

What was previously a cute and amusing dynamic between the two with some additional support from the dudes sister and the mail girl, becomes weird and makes it unwatchable imo.

The animals, every single one of them, act like jealous men regarding Charlotte’s relationship with Allen. Unicorns glaring and cursing out a ... dude because he’s sitting with and talking with the femMC. And then, separately, a talking magical capybara shows up trying to NTR the male MC, while also trying to kill him.

After being defeated, it forceably moves in with them (despite the femMC not giving a shit about it, and the mage being easily strong enough to stop this), along with a wolf they rescued. Both continuously try and disrupt the Charlotte/Allen dynamic, which is the only thing this show has going for it.

This kills the crab.

Dropped it halfway through episode seven. What I’ve written may sound amusing, but the absolute smuggness of the capybara’s voice actor, and its lines, is just so unappealing and cringy. I was somewhat interested in the probably upcoming revenge arc against the femMC’s family, but it’s just not worth it.

Was a decent 6.5/10 before the weird animal nonsense, is definitely a 4/10 or worse post episode 6. Definitely do not recommend.

First of all, the title is a lie. The island stops being just the two of them by like chapter 8 or so. Excellent job editing team.

Anyway, going by the manga cover pic and title, I was under the assumption this would be a thirst trap manga. And there is definitely some fan service going on, with the elf being an unrealistic ditz. She doesn’t seem to realize undressing in front of someone may be weird. And at first you kinda want to give the author the benefit of the doubt, and you think “well, she’s an elf maybe she’s from an all elf ... world and she just doesn't even considering this dude a dude and so she doesn't care”. But no, she’s from a civilized world with multiple races, and does eventually start being embarrassed when she shows skin after she grows to like the dude. It’s just weird and hamfisted.

And I’ll also mention that the first chapter is really bad at how it handles the whole “oh hi elf, guess what? you’re in a completely different world!” thing. So, so bad. Like the author just did not give a damn and didn’t actually want this to get published. I'm not going to go into details here, but literally every other isekai/ reverse isekai that ive seen does their introduction to the transported character better.

All that out of the way, after 14 chapters it has surprisingly started turning somewhat dark and serious, with various Japanese government agencies having multiple hidden agenda’s, and other stuff going on with the adventurers who show up to the island. Despite a real mediocre opening few chapters, I think if this sticks to the serious tone, cuts the fan service a bit, and doesn’t turn into a harem fic, it might actually make something of itself. I’m going to assume it’ll be canceled before 30 chapters though.

Very much a 5/10 so far, which I’m giving it cuz the art is nice and the characters seem half decent after the elf starts being a person around chapter 8 or 10

This story is whipped cream. Fluffy and sweet but it doesn't satiate.

Good:

The art is cute. The way the characters act is cute. The slice of life aspect is done well. The MMC is not dense about his feelings, and the FMC also is pretty good about this.

Bad:

On the other hand, we're told they are sixteen. These 70 chapters take place over the course of 6mo-12mo. However, they act and talk like they're twelve about 75% of the time, and they're also drawn like they're in middle school. I don't like this. If you want to write a story about highschoolers, make them look and act ... like it. If you want them to look and act like how they're drawn here, it should be about middle schoolers. This may not be a big deal to you, but it caused me to feel like the entire story was off.

Weird:

The MMC takes home the FMC's glasses one weekend when she forgets them at school. He seriously considers this an indecent and perverted action on his part. This is not made into a joke in the story, its not a set up, its serious on the characters part and bothers him for a few chapters while he has them over the weekend. I'm not sure what the author was going for, i think hyper innocence on the MMC's behalf, but its just off putting and weird. Its a running theme, and I didn't like it.

I think if you like something like Komi you'd like this. Its the same style of slice of life; cute but unrealistic and not really satisfying to read about. I personally think there are way better romcom's out there that are just as cute but actually have a story and more than minor character development.

Ok so first of all, I don’t know why this shows 60 something chapters. This story is complete, and there are 44 chapters.

So that out of the way, the review. Will contain minor spoilers.

Art - top tier, imo. It’s excellent, super suuuuuper cute. Absolutely no complaints. I will say that it was almost too good considering the plot. There’s no way two girls this pretty would have had no chances at having boyfriends before meeting the two guys in this story. I’m not saying they would have had to have dated, but the story is written as if they’re undesirable, which is ridiculous because the ... art is gorgeous.

Story - I don’t like angst, and there wasn’t much here which was good. But it was also too convenient. They’re ex’s, but there’s no bad blood. They work in the same office building, just on different floors. The girl, unbeknownst to the guy, is the guys favorite manga artist. The girls friend, who also works in the building, is his second favorite manga artist. They’re both written to be “love fossils”, having no experience with romance at all despite wanting to experience it…. But they’re superstar levels of pretty, have no issues dealing with people in general, and generally lack any of the social downsides that an otaku might experience. It’s just too tidy.

Pacing - It felt like it *should* have had 60 something chapters, the final three or four chapters felt rushed a bit. Also, apparently a year passed by between when the guy realize she likes the girl, and finally confesses. It felt like a month or so.

Characters - no big complaints. Both the guys and the girls were great and fun to read about. The two side characters from the guys office are also nice.

Angst- not much, though what little there was was done pretty well.

Humor - I thought it was funny. Not gut bustingly funny the entire time, but it was funny.

Final thoughts - I found this after reading Genshiken and finding this as a recommendation. While they share similar overall concepts, this is nowhere near as good or as realistic as Genshiken is at exploring the “otaku life” themes. Everything about this was more shallow, but I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. If the Genshiken manga was a full meal, this was a fun snack.

I think it’s a solid 7/10. A good quick feels good read. Not every single manga needs to be a masterpiece. This isn’t, and that’s ok.

This is as close to a KonaSuba spiritual successor as you’re gonna find. It’s the exact same sort of nonsense and debauchery people loved KS for.

It’s not quite as good.

But it’s very very good. The jokes don’t hit as hard but it vibes nicely.

The 6.6 /10 this is rocking currently as of July 2023 is a complete joke. Virtue signaling I guess.

At the end of the day, if you loved KobaSuba you should appreciate and love this too, even while acknowledging it’s not as good.

... Character art 9/10 - nicu waifu’s, and the protagonist (both bodies) looked good
Backgrounds 6/10 - acceptable
Animation 7/10 - nothing mind blowing but looked good
Pacing 9/10 - this was surprising but the pacing was very good
Character development 7/10 - expected this to be a 0/10 considering the content but it was actually done well
Music 8/10 - enjoyable overall and the opening animation/music was very cool
Ending 8/10 - satisfying and sets up for a sequel
Parody 8/10 - liked what they did, especially with the lance dude
Jokes 8/10 - solid stuff here. Not top tier but can’t complain at all
Villains 9/10 - usually have complaints but I liked what we were given quite a lot, and the main bad dude did a great job

Overall a high 8/10 I think.

TL DR Very cute and funny story, great characters, great art, great romance between the side characters, nice overall story, and an absolute failure of a romance between the two main characters.

Story is nice and light in tone, no angst, and it’s very funny. There’s not really a plot, it’s slice of life, but the pacing is pretty decent as it does jump a few weeks every chapter.

The romance between the two side characters has a very nice progression, with definite character development on both sides. If you’re looking for the romance part of the romcom, this is where you’ll find it, tho there’s ... definitely also comedy

The romance between the two main characters doesn’t exist. There’s some light progression in the first ten or so chapters, and then nothing (and I do mean absolutely nothing) until the last three chapters. They hold hands once at one point, and then pretend it didn’t happen, and she sees him naked once, and again nothing happens. Honestly not sure why the author wanted to make this a romance between these right from the beginning if they weren’t going to actually do anything with it. The plot is really two old friends rekindling an old friendship, and realizing a romance right at the end. It’s nice and works, but is definitely not what the summary says.

100% recommend and think it’s a great manga overall, but don’t expect any actual romance from the main two, just a lot of cute and funny interactions.

Despite the score this has on MAL, despite some of the reviews this is getting, this is undoubtable one of the GOATS of the industry.

The story is is amazing. No real surprise from the studio behind Code Geass and other giants, but it needs to be said. The pace is almost perfect, there is never a dull moment, and new twists and developments are revealed in such a way to constantly keep the viewed engaged and entertained. Its not quite as grand in scale as Code Geass, but it also doesn't have nearly as many plot holes if you wanted to start nit picking.

The ... art is amazing. The mechs, the characters, the landscapes and the dragons are look very lovingly crafted. Nothing to complain about here. To follow up on this, the animation is also great. The use of 3d is done well and doesnt trigger uncanny valley.

The sound is AMAZING. The first opening theme is an absolute banger, and the second opening theme, as well as the two credit songs, are also amazing. And the voice actresses absolutely kill it with the El Ragna song that is a key theme to the show. And all the voice actors and accesses did an amazing job with their characters.

The Characters are the main reason im personally considering this a personal Greatest of All Time show. Every single main and side character has massive attention paid to having their character developed through the show. Some start out well liked and through their actions become someone you're rooting against. Some start off antagonistic, and you end up really enjoying where they take that character. Some are antagonistic, go through a redemption arc, and then become disliked again. I could go on. The point is that each main and side character was paid massive attention to. Most importantly, each change the characters go through MAKES SENSE. They react and change appropriately to the actions and events going on in the show. Its awesome to see. The team that put this together did an absolutely wonderful job with the layers upon layers of character development in this show

The show is obviously enjoyable. Its funny. Its crass. It's sexy. Its edge of your seat action sequences while you sit there with a large grin on your face. There's appropriate angst. There is, despite all the nudity in the show, actually very little fanservice. Fanservice being, in my mind, nudity/sexual shit thrown in simply for the sake of it; to please the viewer. Cutesy, silly shit that while fun, isn't good storytelling. But almost all of the nudity/sex scenes here are actually very important to developing the characters and their relationships to each other.

An example would be the flight suits. Ange hates the idea of wearing it. She's a princess and it looks slutty and she doesnt want to wear it. Vice Captain says fuck it. You don't want to get in line and wear it? Naked into the hallway you go. Does Ange like that? Nope, so she falls in line and puts it on, and that is the beginning of the sometimes antagonistic relationship between those two characters during the show while also being the beginning on Ange toughening up. And that's just one example. The team clearly wanted to show off their characters, but also wanted to tell a serious story and do a good job of it, and they absolutely succeeded.

I'll say it again. All in all, this is a GOAT of the industry. If you like Mecha genre, you need to give this a watch. If you don't like Mecha genre, you should probably still give this a watch. I was very close to not checking this out due to the aggregate score on this website, but I am very glad that i did.

First time watching this in 2020, so this review tries to take into account the fact the show is now a bit dated.

Story 7/10

Very strange show with it's own style. The story is broken down into five story arcs, with Araragi saving a new person from an "apparition" each time. However, each character remains and continues to contribute to the story, and it also focuses on the overarching romance between Araragi and Senjougahara. It also seems to focus on real world struggles and how certain situations would affect someone, and seemed to do so in a decently realistic manner.

The plot also is very ... conversation centric. What i mean by that is that while there are some fights (and they're very well choreographed fights; short and brutal), the majority of the show revolves around the characters sitting or standing and having one on one conversations. As it's based off of a light novel, its got that faux witty vibe to it which I don't usually like. No one is that consistently witty in real life, has all the needed references and responses lined up and ready to go, nor can they deliver the lines so well. It just feels kinda fake. Despite that, I thought it worked pretty well here since the characters were pretty interesting anyway, and it fit the style of the show. The humor is actually very well done for the most part.

That said, the overall story is pretty basic, and I don't think the show really knew if it wanted to be a supernatural mystery show or a rom com, and it kind of blended the two together. It worked, but it wasn't excellent on either front due to a lack of focus, and I think it *could* have been excellent in one if they focused on it. I'm also taking off some fraction of score for how the final confrontation in the final episode played out. Without spoiling too much, it... was not well done. If I were to review the story only based on epsiodes 1-12, I think I would have given it an eight, but the OVA's are cannon.

Art 8/10 - I think the characters looked good to fine. Good for a somewhat dated show, though I think considering just how few characters there were (they completely omitted extras) they could have been a bit better. I liked the style of the characters, but some episodes the line work seemed to be meh. And while that could have been because I was streaming it, it was only the character models that looked off, not the background, so I don't think that was it. As for the actual backgrounds... the style is part psychedelic, part samurai jack, part anime, part minimalist, and it flows between those. Its weird, but works. I did dislike how so much information was shown on screens that flashed for like half a second so that you had to keep pausing to read them though. Interesting idea, but it got tiring.

Sound 6/10 - The voice acting was... I don't want to say great, but it was close to it. There was nothing wrong with it, and I definitely found myself buying into the characters and empathizing with them, but I just didn't feel like it reached the level of "great". The music, on the other hand, was meh to straight up bad (just like repeating beeps for minutes at a time). The opening and closing songs were good though, especially the opening song on the OVA's (13-15).

Characters 8/10 - Araragi.... is, unfortunately, Shirou-lite, with some hints of Touma from Railgun. Unfortunately, unlike either of them, he doesn't seem to win any of his fights, or really even come even close in order to try and justify his hero/suicide complex. Nor is there any background given to explain why he seems so calm and willing to throw his life away in fights he knows he can't win, especially when there are other options available. It just isn't realistic, and worse it isn't relatable. Though that said, my problem isn't that he's losing the fights, I thought that was fine. Given his talents and experience, he should have been losing them. His attitude during them is the problem.

I did like that he was kind of laid back, but a lot of the goodwill I had towards his character kind of went out the door in the last episode. The final confrontation in episode fifteen is... just handled so poorly. So, so poorly. The team wanted to get a point across, and by hell or high water they were going to do so, even if it was at the cost of anything resembling good story telling. I don't even disagree with the point/character development they had their hearts set on showing us. It was needed character development for Araragi. It was just not done well in the slightest.

ALL THAT SAID: When he wasn't fighting and acting like a hero , I thought he was a good character. And fortunately, there are only like, three or so actual "fights" (read: Araragi getting the shit kicked out of him and then him trying to give his life for no discernible reason before someone saves him). He also does a good job as a straight man for the jokes.

Senjougahama was a far more enjoyable character. She reminded me of a occasionally psychotic, while also more honest, version of Yukinoshita from SNAFU. Perhabs SNAFU took inspiration from this. Unfortunately, despite her being the MC's love interest, she's only in maybe half of the episodes in a significant way. Thought this was both a good thing, as the other characters were also very fun to watch, but also somewhat disappointing as I thought she was the best character in the show.

Enjoyment 8/10 - I definitely found this enjoyable for the most part. The story is good, the humor is good, and the characters (outside of a Shirou hero complex) are great. I didn't like all the constant flashing storyboard's, or the messages as I was getting annoyed at having to constantly pause the show, but it's definitely a cool style that DID add something to the show despite it's overuse.

Overall... I want to give it like a 7.5/10. The music was pretty blegh, the ending
was building up to something cool and then just flopped, and I didn't love how the MC had a hero complex without actually having the abilities to follow up on them. Without the last three OVA episodes I would have given this an 8 or 8.5/10 I think. If the MC had been a bit more relatable in the fights, I think I would have given it a 9/10. As it stands however, I'm going to round this down to a 7, as the final confrontation in the final episode has left a poor taste in my mouth.

Not sure why im taking the time to write this but here we go:

Story 5/10 - Nothing groundbreaking here, it's exactly what the summary says. Man goes back in time, confesses to his hot teach, she instantly falls in love with him and minor hijinks happen because she's a complete airhead. Every chapter involves secret flirting, almost getting caught, and somewhat amusing but never laugh out loud situations. Not bad, not good. Also, the summary makes this seem more leud than it actually is by constantly inserting the word lover. Might change at some point, but as of the currently released chapters, nope.

Art 8/10 ... - the teacher is drawn extremely well (and really, she's the only reason anyone is reading this), the time traveling MC and his sister are drawn very decently, the side characters are drawn fine to intentionally ugly. The background is fine.

Characters 4/10 - the MC is decent enough for the 22 chapters available, no real complaints. The teacher is a complete airhead, unrealistically so. Very kind and cheerful though. The MCs sister is in love with the MC and is teetering on the edge of being a yandere (her entire personality is based around this), and the teachers sister is probably actually mentally disabled and she gets turned on when a cat licks her face. None of the other characters are remotely important.

Enjoyment 6/10 - its worth sinking some time into if you're looking for a simple romcom with a teacher/ student pairing. If it was like one hundred chapters, I probably wouldn't have finished it if it kept the pacing it's currently going. Unfortunately, judging by how they're trying to make it almost two whole years without getting caught, it's probably scheduled to run more than that. It'll defintely get canceled before that though.

Overall - im giving this a six because it didn't overstay its welcome with only 22 chapters. It's... fine. I wouldnt have made it past fifty chapters at this level of storytelling, even with how short these chapters are. It draws you in thinking it's going to be more risque than it actually is, but it never reaches that point. It's too leud to read in public, but it's nowhere near the level of a hentai with plot.

After rewatching DtB and Gaiden the last few days, and being horribly disappointed with how Gaiden ended and the overall terrible plot line it has, I was super excited to find this. I was prepared to be in a semi-depressed slump at how badly the series finishes up, especially as I had no interest in rewatching the mess that is season 2. But after finding this and reading the reviews I decided to give it a shot. So, so glad I did.

This was an excellent way to finish my experience with Darker than Black. Great story, fun new characters, small horror sub-genre, and provided closure ... even if the ending was a little open-ended.

The art is good, the action scenes are easy to follow, the characters are well done, the story is definitely enjoyable, and the plot was interesting.

There is some... typical anime over dramatization at the end, which definitely loses a point from me. Buuut easily overlooked with how well done everything else was.

And there's some nice interactions between Hei and Yin if you care about that.

All in all, a great read. Definitely considering this the real "epilogue" to how season 1 ended.