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Jun 25, 2025
Just finished it and I haven't written a review in awhile, so I thought I'd share some thoughts after reading other reviews.
= Similarities =
This show is similar in some ways to Classroom of the Elite. It's about a guy who likes to publicly present as a nobody but is talented and enjoys working behind the scenes trying to help a girl with pride gain a position of authority (In this case, become student council president). He also enjoys a good challenge when its presented to him and he starts showing off just how skilled he is at politicking.
I also couldn't help notice
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that Ayano is similar to Yoshino from Matsamune's Revenge.
There aren't 1:1 rip offs per se, but I couldn't help but make these observations.
= Characters =
Alya is a Tsundere, but more dere than tsun. She reflects often, and kind of gets caught up in her own thoughts and feelings which to me makes her endearing. Follow a trend I've been seeing in recent anime, she's much more open about her attraction to the main character, which earns her points in my book. According to some negative reviews, other people found her boring, stock or undeveloped but I think they're looking at it the wrong way. Unlike other heroines, Alya is supposed to be a relatable character as well. We're all familiar with the self-insert lead, but she's the self-insert love interest. You reader have probably had moments of doubt, feelings of awkwardness and goals that mean a lot to you and your ego but seem unimportant to others. So does Alya. She's not some quirky prize to be won like say a romcom love interest or something out of a harem. I'm not going to use buzzwords like refreshing, it's just different, but if you allow yourself to relate to her I think you'd like her like I do.
Kuze is the main male lead. He's not a beta self-insert protag, but he also suffers from being the "too good at what he does" anime character. I made comparisons between him and the MC of Classroom of the Elite, but he's like a bargain bin version of the MC in that one. In Classroom of the Elite, the MC steals the show and you get a good explanation as to why he's so good. It's also shown that the MC in Cote stands around at the back, typically avoiding people. You get a good sense that he is what he claims to be. Kuze claims to be a slacker who doesn't want to get involved when he's got an active social life and girls just throwing themselves at him. He's talented, but it's only explained by how hard he studied growing up and experienced in politics he is. His charisma though isn't explained iirc, maybe we'll get that in the next season. The weakest main character for me, but not awful. Tolerable.
Yuki is the character that everyone talks about. You either love her for cruel, calculating and willing to push the boundaries personality, or you hate her because she's a mean girl who evidently wants more to be more than just brother and sister with Kuze. She's the true star of this show and will make or break it for most people. For me, I think she's amazing by just how evil in a petty way she is. She does and says things in a way that's purposefully done to make Alya feel self-doubt and loves humiliating others. The hinting that she wants Kuze all to herself just adds a layer to her depravity and unlike other shows where the Imouto is clingy or concerned, she's fully confident in herself. She's the villain, and I think what makes others squirm is the fact that you can believe she'd win.
Other characters: Alya's sister is kind of bland. I feel like they could have done more with her given that she also is hiding a part of herself. Ayano the maid is like Yoshino as I said, the stone faced family maid character it works considering she becomes Yuki's henchman later on. The president and his girlfriend are great characters, he exudes chad energy despite wearing glasses and his girlfriend is tough but still extremely girly. I like both of them. Taniyama annoys me because she's just some upset fangirl, and her friend Nonoa is alright.
==Story==
Alya likes Kuze, Alya wants to become president. Kuze likes Alya. Kuze wants to help Alya because he likes her. Yuki is annoyed by these two things as she was the presumptive winner to be president before Alya got involved.
As you can tell, this is a character story. This show isn't Stein's Gate. Like most character stories, they could be going to the park to get ice cream and if they're written well enough and have interesting enough dialogue/actions it could work out. For me it did, but I'm not going to pretend that this show has such a handcrafted wonderful plot. It's serviceable.
===Final Thoughts ===
The characters, their interactions and the feelings they express for one another make for an interesting show. I didn't once check the time while watching this one which is a credit to the quality of it. If you're looking for a character driven show, I highly recommend it. If you're coming in looking for an intricate story then this may be one to skip over.
8/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 25, 2025
Wasn't going to write a review on this, but I figured I should type out something quickly.
Despite the constant statements of shippers online, this isn't a yuri anime. The two main characters aren't physically affectionate at all, and merely have a close friendship. There isn't even any sexual tension. People on the internet will turn any same-sex friendship into boys love or girls love these days it seems.
That has nothing to do with the rating though, it's a show that does somethings right and somethings wrong. The villains are interesting, there's basically 3 of them and have their own motivations that sometimes
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come in conflict with each other. The story is somewhat captivating and I liked Chisato, her ability and the story around her. It made for an enjoyable watch.
The things they got wrong though are difficult to overlook. Lycoris' purpose isn't questioned. It's methods of using high school aged girls as assassins seems ridiculous. The protags are mostly all female while the villains are mostly all male, which while I'm not demanding a 50/50 split, does seem a bit out of place. I didn't really like the slice of life moments, I kind of found them to be pretty run of the mill and a bit like padding from the main focus of the story which should be the action.
Unlike bad anime where the author has no clue what they're doing or are just horribly executing it, Lycoris Recoil had a lot of promise to be even better than it currently was. If they made lycoris not all high school girls, if they questioned lycoris' morality, if they refused to fall back on tropes and maybe made the world a little more bloodier and dangerous (won't say why due to spoilers, think Evangelion) it could probably be a 8 or a 9 for me.
The make or break for most people will be whether or not you like Chisato. If you do you'll likely rank it higher, maybe even higher than me. If you don't you'll rank it lower. I think a 5 fits it perfectly.
Would I recommend it? Yes, provided you're looking for something decent and not something that's going to be your next favorite series.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 23, 2025
I'm just going to jump into the good and bad with this show. Let's start with the good.
- MC isn't an anime trope. She actually has a unique personality and mannerism that make it difficult to add the word "dere" to. She's kind of an everyman (or in this case woman). I like it.
- Some of the episodic stories presented are decent enough that I wish the author expanded on it.
- Even though I had issues with it, it wasn't boring while watching it and kept me engaged.
- The art of the ghosts was excellent and really helped sell the show.
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Okay now the bad.
- The stories generally come in 1 of 2 flavours. You have the story of the MC seeing a ghost, fearing said ghost and getting away from said ghost or you have a MC seeing ghost, ghost wants something, ghost achieves what it wants, ghost goes away. It gets repetitive
- The show lacks stakes, and this is major flaw. Ghosts seem to be generally harmless physically towards humans, and there is an episode where the MC physically interacts with one and comes out unscathed. Why is she then still afraid of them? The anime can only imply that something *could* happen, which makes everything seem pointless. I thought the show going in would be her bored about seeing ghosts every day and trying to live a normal life. I think after a week of seeing this things you'd be more annoyed than afraid. If the ghosts themselves aren't the stakes, then add a male love interest who she is afraid of looking crazy to. Something really.
- There are some inconsistencies. If someone has a ghost repelling aura, why did a ghost physically touch them? If someone else can see the spirits, why don't they harm them like the MC fears?
- The best friend is annoying and has 2 defining traits. She likes to eat food, and she's ditzy. Her brother is also kind of weird.
- The conclusion was a cliff hanger, and not a satisfying one like an unresolved side plot, but the logical conclusion that's hinted at in a dream sequence. You shouldn't leave the conclusion for the sequel! It would be like ending Return of the Jedi in the middle of Luke's fight with Vader.
- The only comedy is derived from the pig tails character having misunderstandings with the MC, and is more comedic relief than a true comedy.
All in all, I give it a 4. There are some major flaws with it, but if you take it for what it is, it's entertaining if you don't think too much about it. If you're looking for a story that makes sense, with characters you'll add to your favourites and will have you laughing or dreading, this isn't it for you. It's the definition of a "turn your brain off" show, if you do that you'll have a decent time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 10, 2025
I've watched 10/13 as of writing this, and I'll update the review if anything changes. No spoilers will be necessary.
This might be, one of the worst anime I have seen. Not the worst, there are others for sure, but it's definitely in my bottom 10.
Unlike other shows where I find the characters, themes and scenes distasteful, horribly executed, boring or offensive, this show does none of that. In fact, it's unique in the fact that it's difficult to explain why this show is so bad. Whereas with other shows it's pretty obvious what makes it so bad. I think though, I've figured it
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out....
The writing amateurish.
That's it? That's what makes it so bad? That's what makes it one of the worst shows you've seen? Yes but it's more than it first seems.
We've all had to do creative writing in school, and I'm sure you may vaguely remember something you had to turn in for an assignment. Your teacher tells you that you're rushing the plot or characters exist that serve no point or get no development, something of that sort. You take your C+ and practice or more commonly for most people, move on with your life.
This show makes your C+ look like an A++. Nothing in this show makes narrative sense. A problem arises, the main character asks his friend what she thinks of it, she makes some comparison to a physics theory and then the story plays out. The MC has no agency nor does he seek it. He's not interesting in figuring out the exact cause, he's not even interested in figuring out a solution. He's the epitome of someone who would say "it'll sort itself out". Does he end up solving some of the problems in the arcs? Accidentally yes, but it's largely because he just sits there and listens to the characters vent their emotions and somehow that fixes the problem.
To create a hypothetical comparison, let's say you're in high school again. Let's say your best friend comes to school with bruises. They confide in you that their dad beats them every day. You ask why and the only answer you get is "because he hates his job". It's vague but gets the point across I guess. Instead of trying to figure out if there is a deeper reason (like your friend is actually doing something or if something tragic happened) to explain their dads behavior, or contact help, you just listen to them every day complain about their beatings. It's just not something a normal person would do for a friend, you'd at least be concerned to try to figure out how to stop it.
Now imagine after 3 or 4 months of this, it just sort of stops out of no where and said friend thanks you for listening and you never speak of it again. That's what each arc of this story is like. Time passes and nothing gets done until its somehow resolved.
In any story made by someone whose age is in the double digits, you want to explain what's going on so the reader/viewer can follow along. This goes double for something that claims to be a mystery. You need characters out there either solving or contributing to the problem. When the story wraps up, you want the reader to know at least most of what went down. I've read absolute garbage such as Sonichu online, a story purely made by the author for the author to tell a story about his headmates, that is able to put together a plot better than this. It's dumb and there's details missing, but you get the gist of what's going on.
The characters aren't worth writing about. They're strange anime archetypes that have just enough ingredients thrown together to not be bland, but miraculously, not enough to be interesting either.
This is the kind of show that you could get into a never-ending internet debate with people over. It's got just enough story and character development that a fanboy/girl could point to to defend it against any criticism that it's terrible. That this line of dialogue explains loosely the concept being applied. That this character is saying something generic anime protagonist wouldn't say. Yeah well a bird pooping on some guy's car and him saying it's a luck sign isn't something a generic anime protagonist would say, and yeah the laws of gravity can explain it but we wouldn't need a mystery story built around it. Especially one where the bird in question is never brought up again.
Maybe I'm using too many hypotheticals, but I'm just doing so to stress how bad this show is. AVOID AT ALL COSTS, because if you've read this review, you've seen this show without seeing it. I'm doing you a favor. I'm giving it a 2 for now, but I can see myself giving it a 1 if these last 3 episodes are more of the same.
Oh and one last thing, she's worn the bunny outfit maybe twice in the first 10 episodes. So you're not even going to get that fanservice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Apr 5, 2025
*** Some actions relevant to characters are given as examples. Read ahead at own discretion ***
Unripened Fruit
This is one of the words that flash on screen, and is used during the scene where the MC Araragi grabs the chest of an elementary school girl. It also is a phrase that describes this show. It's got potential, but completely squanders it.
Let's address the degeneracy first. I'm not someone who usually gets hung up on 16 or 17 year olds in anime saying or doing suggestive things. We were all teens at some point in our lives, and it's strange how some people get upset
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about portrayals of teens in media if they're not written as pure as the driven snow. A teenage boy wanting to touch a girl's booba is a realistic desire for someone that age for example.
Now that I can't be accused of being a censorious Karen, this is some sick stuff. There's nothing funny about anyone feeling up a child. Nor is it something anyone but a pedophile would want to do, children are non-sexual beings. When she does decide to fight back, he beats her up. In fact, Araragi seems to get offended every time he attempts to grab her chest or touch her underwear and she attempts to fight back. Is beating up a child who is trying to resist being felt up by a teen funny? It's played off in the show as this comedy bit they do every now and then with each other but its messed up. To further confirm that this is the author's thinly-veiled fetish, there's another girl who's slightly older that the MC gushes over briefly when she appears topless (though covered by her hands) unnecessarily. Aragari seems to be at his horniest when interacting with the child character and middle-schooler. Hell he gets bricked up holding a clean swimsuit that the 12 year old gave him to return to a friend. Sure he likes Senjougahara and Hanekawa physically, but not as much as the younger characters it seems.
Since I mentioned Senjougahara, let's move past the I hope no strange NEET repeats this irl stuff and get straight to the general review.
Senjou, is probably the character most people watch and like this show for, and unlike other negative reviews here, I didn't mind her too much. She's annoying at first, and the girl that every character loves and insist she is perfect, which in itself is also annoying, but she gets character development and you get an idea as to her character. It's a good example of show don't tell. It's not stated in the show, but she seems like a person who has some degree of Autism. She's obsessed with wordplay (her hyperfocus), has trouble conveying her emotions properly, and is too aloof sometimes and too blunt at other times. There's intent though behind her actions, and anyone who has seen episode 12 knows that she has a full range of emotions and expresses them in her unique way. The show calls her a Tsundere, but she's actually not. She's closer to a Yandere, threatening to kill others who would kill Aragari openly, threatening to physically harm him if he is caught cheating on her, and obsesses about him. She's not high up on the Yandere Spectrum, more dere than Yan, but she's closer to that than the others.
Let's see, other characters. Well we got Oshino who is kind of the mentor of the main character. He serves as the man with the plan that solves all the problems the characters come across in the "story". Yeah, I should mention that, the story for the show is that there's these spirits that mess with people's lives in secret but dangerous ways. Each spirit and girl has an arc, and Araragi has to diagnose the problem and ask Oshino to help him solve it. Oshino, however, wants to teach Araragi to deal with himself, so Oshino merely gives the solution for our MC Araragi to put into practice. Despite being the too cool, rough looking, chain smoking badass archetype, he actually breaks the mold and knows what he's talking about without being arrogant. He treats the problems with appropriate seriousness, which sometimes requires his focus and participation and sometimes blown out of proportion. He only acts when he needs to. He also likes to give 2 or more solutions to problems, so it adds some depth I guess.
So outside of Senjou and Oshino, the other characters aren't really worth writing up about. They're archetypes you've seen before and nothing unique is done about them. Shinobu could be interesting but we learn nothing of her. Aragari aside from his love of children is the self insert Harem protag who needs women to come to his rescue. Hanekawa is the school president archetype/class rep archetype, with a tragic backstory. The two kids aren't worth mentioning. I guess Kanbaru..
***SPOILER SEGEMENT*** is interesting insomuch that it feels like she wants to seduce Aragari so Senjou kills him in a Yandere rage. That's my headcanon anyway, since she's a little too physically clingy and suggestive with the MC for a girl who claims to be a lesbian with a crush on his GF. Her thinking is if she has to take the D to have a chance at her Yuri fantasy it's a sacrifice she's willing to make. As a straight man, I wouldn't take the D for a girl I liked, so I admire the commitment. Otherwise I can't say much more about her that's unique. **** END OF SPOILER SEGMENT****
The story of this show bothered me, because the monsters are interesting. They're not Godzilla monsters blowing up cities, their goals aren't to kill everyone they attach themselves to. They're basically curses that every culture has in their mythos. The show was set up as Oshino having this acolyte Aragari and pet monster that sits in corner Shinobu acting as a sort of shaman team that fights these types of spirits. It then became about Aragari and his sex life, with episodes that are 2 or 3 parters that could be cut down to 1 episode if it weren't for all the talking. Mirai Nikki, an anime I like, has two episode arcs like this but they make both part 1 and part 2 interesting. In this, just the resolution episode for each arc is interesting. If this show was cut down to maybe a 6 episode OVA, it would be better, especially if in the process they cut down on the predator scenes.
So yeah, Bakemonogatori season 1. It's got two good characters, a pedophile protagonist, and the rest being cookie cutter archetypes. The story had potential, but squandered it by having it focus around the MC talking to his girls. The pedophilic and I guess hebephilic? moments are uncomfortable and while not as bad as the Happy Sugar Life anime, are still creepy nonetheless.
Rating: 2.5
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Feb 17, 2025
Having watched the 3 seasons currently out back to back, I'd like to give my thoughts on the series as a whole. I originally wrote it as a non-spoiler, and didn't include any plot details, but put the spoiler tag on because the theme of "lack of payoff" and my conclusions could ruin some of the suspense. Read at your discretion.
There's something profoundly "off" about this show. Not in a suspicious way mind you, but in that in every area it falls just shy of satisfaction. Characters are decent but just fall short of being compelling. They have a personality, role, psychological issue and
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add to the story but miss the mark ever so slightly. A character with dependency issues seems a little too independent for their flaw. A character who is unhinged and threatening is a little too reasonable and controllable. A character who relies on genius and politicking as a way to maintain power is just a little too beatable.
The story can slightly miss the mark as well. Sometimes it feels like its a slice of life, other times like a psychological drama, and sometimes a thriller. It's weaved in well enough together, but it feels like it just misses the potential of any of them hitting home. When the drama is leading somewhere it immediately gets hit with a thriller moment which requires all hands on deck. When characters and their interactions start getting developed, it immediately pivots once again. One minute there's a fight and the next minute some girl is drinking coffee with the Protag in his room. Each of these moments feel like they're five or ten minutes from hitting a satisfying resolution before the tone changes.
The story likes to bill itself as complex, but the complexity is more similar to soap opera albeit at a faster pace. Unlike something like Kaiji or Death Note where the problem and its solution is intricate, it's more about how the different characters and their psychological issues deal with challenges that have loop holes or read between the lines elements to them. Which works but yet again, falls short. When situations arise where characters can settle personal scores or one up opponents, they rarely take the chance and when they do, they do so half-heartedly, preferring to settle disputes in honorable duels. Ryuen is the only real exception to this, but does so to so much of the extreme that he'd probably end up in major trouble in any other setting which requires some suspension of disbelief. The pacing itself is another problem, developing things just enough, but refusing to give a satisfying pay off in its entirety.
Is it good? Yeah I'd maybe recommend it. It keeps you glued to your seat, I liked the MC, and takes itself serious enough and how the various characters interact with the tests keeps it interesting. However, are you going to care about the characters, the broader story, or get truly excited? That's where it runs into a problem. One of the reason you're binging it is because it looks like something insane will happen, what new challenge will arise that the MC may just fail at, or what character will become a complete wildcard in changing the dynamics for good or ill. So far, such a thing never seems to happen despite the teasing. If you don't like being edged by a show that constantly holds itself back from being great and merely accepts being above average, then I wouldn't recommend it to you.
Maybe that's the genius about it. The show stands out just enough to accomplish its goals, then quietly steps back once it seems like it's going to assert itself further. Kind of like the MC.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 29, 2025
If I have one word to describe this show it would be: Weird.
If you've read other reviews, you've heard all the major points. Incest undertones, unnecessary fan service, the overbearing mother, etc. etc.
I'll try to cover some things that I haven't seen others cover.
Story:
The main issue this has from a writing stand point is that it doesn't know what it wants to be and when it does decide to take a direction, it picks probably the worst one. Initially it resembles a comedy about a son and his clingy mother in a Isekai. The jokes work and while its not spectacular, it
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seems like its going to be fun and your sympathy for the protagonist doesn't come from relatability or a point of liking him but from feeling sorry for him. You want to see him get a win somewhere despite his tiger mom unintentionally humiliating him at every turn. He's the classic "loser" from a sitcom.
You then start to feel uncomfortable around episode 3 or 4 when the characters start to feel comfortable with their nudity around each other. This isn't just between Masato and his mom either. Though this feeling of discomfort is elevated when there's face on bare breast action between the son and the mother. Purely accidental of course.
The show then hard pivots to the arcs which is where things start to spiral. The setting of the world is nonsensical, so instead of making each episode well...episodic, like a sitcom, it tries to have story arcs based on the themes of mothers and children getting along. Once it goes down this path, the comedy turns from a boy with an over-protective mother to how clueless but OP his mother is which isn't all that funny. It's also not executed well, basically the antagonists are just selfish in their own way and lack any real depth or nuance. It doesn't help the fact that they exist within a game world and their antagonists would be given the banhammer by any a GM instead of relying on protagonists to fix the problem for them.
The show would have been better off if it didn't go down this route. The premise and intro were funny enough, but it decided it wanted to have a over-arching plot that didn't work for the setting nor was it well thought out enough.
Characters:
This is probably where I will deviate with the rest of the negative reviewers, I honestly didn't find it to be as bad as the story.
Masato is the loser trying to get ahead comedy archetype. Others seem to be of the opinion that he should be the self-insert or stereotypical self-insert but he's more like the role George Costanza plays in Seinfeld (though not like him in his personality). It works and had the story been better, he'd probably be less criticized.
Mamako is a mixed bag. She basically has the traits of a Mary Sue, not completely, but its the best way to describe her character. It's hard to say that I could dislike her, because she is a villain if you look at her in another light, but she also doesn't do things that are overtly villainous. Her being a smothering mother isn't done intentionally, but clearly is harmful to her child. Her complete lack of healthy boundaries is disturbing too.
Porta and Shirase: Barely characters. They both exists to give exposition, context or provide useful items. Porta had a chance near the beginning to be another albatross over Masato's head when she accepted Mamako's offer to marry her son. It would have been a bit of a trope of the young girl wanting to marry the older boy when she gets older, but if the story went in a different direction would have given her the comedic element of trying to block this poor guy from getting with one of the other girls. Shirase is just useless.
Medhi and Wise: There's not much more to say about these two that hasn't already been said, but the friendship they develop in the final arc is probably the best part about this show. It's portrayed in a realistic way, unlike in most anime where usually things are overly emotional or sentimental. They have a rivalry of a sort, poke fun at each other, but have no issues hanging out or working with one another and seem to enjoy each others company. They even mock the villain in that arc together, playing off each others insults. In the OVA, they're even seen chilling together while the only male isekai protagonist is doing other things. The writer must have close friends or something because their relationship resembled friends I have irl and not a stereotypical anime friendship.
I ended up giving this a 3, and I think its right where it belongs. It was mostly bad in its entirety though I did like the first couple episodes, the premise and the friendship between Medhi and Wise to the point I'd give a spin off of those two adventuring with a different party a chance. There's worse shows to watch but there is a lot better too.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 5, 2025
Many Spoilers ahead.
The first half of the season is pretty wholesome. It's about Rudy trying to be a good husband, building a home for his future family as well as his past family, and helping out his friends. Sure it wasn't action packed, but for a character we've known the last few seasons and all the constant B.S. he's gone through, it was nice to see him settle down and live a cozy life that we knew could never really last.
In the middle, when he meets the Man God, are we given a sort of three way split in the path of what
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Rudy should do. He wants to go rescue his mother and help his father, but the God advises against this saying he will regret it and suggests he stay where he is and merely cheat on his wife with one of the beast girls. Rudy is against this idea vehemently and refuses to cheat on Sylphiette.
He's now given a choice:
- Disobey the God who has correctly guided him and set off to rescue his mother
- Disobey the God and live a happy life with his wife
- Obey the God and bang a catgirl
He decides to pick option A, probably so the series doesn't stagnate to being a slice of life. I honestly wouldn't mind it if he didn't go off adventuring, the latter two options would be interesting on their own. Defying the God for the sake of love and its consequences, or obeying him and finding out just how his life could be happier by shacking up with an animal person. I suspect it might be related to needing to form an alliance with the beast people to help the princess regain her throne and receiving the title of a Lord as a result, elevating his family's station in life.
So you know what happens next, he rescues Roxy (who I suppose the Man God thinks should be dead), rescues mom, etc.
Roxy then, a character always portrayed as wanting physical affection but seeing it through the lens of love, decides to straight up seduce Rudy, a married man, at his lowest point using "helping him" as an excuse, forever changing the nature of their relationship. He goes along with it and even shares feelings with her. They both get depressed knowing they can't be together.
Elinalise tells him he should just marry her as well and live in a bigamous relationship. This blows my mind, because you think a character who was cursed with being a slut, who lost a sense of self-worth over it, and who was now happy to be in a (desired but not able to commit yet) monogamous relationship of her own would even suggest to Rudy that he shouldn't have a monogamous relationship with her own grand daughter. Rudy and Roxy decide to do it if Sylphiette is okay with it.
Then when they finally get to the mansion, and the question is popped, Norn rightfully scolds Rudy and Roxy is depressed. When Roxy leaves, Slyphiette tells her to stay and that while she hoped Rudy would remain faithful to her, she figured he wouldn't and would rather he marry Roxy as well because she wants him to be happy or w/e.
This just ruins her character as well. The major arc throughout the series was that both her and Rudy did what they could to be with and help one another (even if it wasn't explicitly romantic at first in S1). That throughout their own unique paths in life, that it was all going to come back to those two, even if it was just them being close friends. When the last few episodes of S2 Part 1 occurred, it elevated their relationship to the level of soul mates and was a nice thing to see.
Sylphiette being a passionate, understanding, patient, supportive, eager and loyal girl means she narratively deserves to be treated with more consideration. Kind of like the traditional horror movie final girl being a virgin who abstains from alcohol and drugs. Betraying Sylphiette, who has given so much to Rudy emotionally, should be the beginning of another arc of regret. Where the character who has been portrayed so nobly the past couple seasons becomes to be seen as the degenerate self-centered NEET once again. Sylphiette being okay with this arrangement however, reframes her as a desperate doormat. We've seen how passive she is, though we hoped that is was more a shy personality and that her passivity was something that was lost offscreen by her numerous spoken about exploits.
This ending was a disaster. Not only for what it is as I just wrote, but also the future implications. If Eris comes back, is there going to be any drama from that now? No she's just going to join the harem. Is there going to be any moral implication of Rudy hooking up with one or both of the beast girls? Nope they can just join the harem. Does Roxy's survival and marriage make Rudy's life full of regret like the Man God hinted at? Unlikely since Roxy and Sylphiette seem cool with it and Roxy being a competent fighter means everyone will likely be more safe together.
I rate this a 6 because I did like most of the season, but this ending man, it will have a dire effect on the series and unless Season 3 has Rudy losing everything as a result, it's a wound the series will likely not be able to recover from.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 28, 2024
I played one route of the visual novel from start to finish (Common ----> Kotori) and I feel this anime has one problem: Tone.
In the VN, they dwell a lot on the supernatural and what exactly it is. Ghosts? Cryptids? Other worlds? Fairies? There may even be talks of UFOs iirc. It was the most interesting parts of the story, with the slice of life being a sort of downtime between the mysteries. It worked well because often times you're going down a path because you like a particular girl and then random stuff starts happening and you're left wondering what is going on.
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Sometimes it feels like something out of a horror comedy where no one can see the monster but you and they don't believe you, making you intrigued as to what exactly is happening.
If you've seen the twist, you're both mystified and curious, and when you finally (it takes forever) get past it, you want to know what's going on. In Kotori's route you only get part of the story, so presumably you have to finish all of them to get a good idea, but I didn't have the patience to go through it all again (it is a long game, but a good one).
So onto the anime itself. They decided to approach it the opposite way. They wanted to make it into a slice of life with action and either ignore or gloss over the uncertainty and mysterious tone of the VN. I believe this was a huge mistake. Re:Write should feel unsettling in its first act, with the slice of life breaking up the tense moments as the character is trying to live a normal life while going through all this crazy stuff.
In the second act, they glossed over the emotional aspects at least for Kotori's story. People who have only seen this would be surprised just how much of a background character they made Kotori comparatively, there was a lot more they could have done/added that wouldn't have taken up too much screen time. They added some of the elements, but glossed them over and it lacks the emotional weight and build up. I haven't seen season 2 yet, but they should have at least saved it for that if they were going to include it at all.
The Key also acts differently in this, but I don't know if that's in another route so could be canon. I felt like the character though as portrayed in the anime took away from how it was in the VN, again, from what I played. So I won't comment further on that.
Finally, I feel like this anime was made for me and not people who haven't played the VN. The more tonal story I would have preferred may have been kinda "meh" for people who played the VN, since you know roughly what is going on, but would have been great for people who hadn't played the VN. Since I did play the VN, it was nice to see things I remember from the game, how it was adapted, and the condensed story including all the routes.
Would I recommend it to others? No, in fact it may be extremely confusing and come across as rushed or mediocre. They left out a lot of information from the VN. Saying that, for me, I didn't mind it, more disappointed than bored.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 11, 2024
The first episode, and to a much lesser extent, the second one are funny, but it goes downhill from there fast as the story is played straight. He doesn't tell the girls (yet) about their fate. He doesn't try to keep the harem secret, he has no second thoughts about what he's doing, everyone is fine with the arrangement even if they shouldn't be ( it feels more like resigned acceptance), Hell the show doesn't even treat escalation properly (They pretty much kiss, hand hold, confess etc. right out the gate). Not to mention its complete disregard for romantic connections.
In most other shows, the
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romance is an important part. What do the characters feel? How far are they willing to go for the one they love? What do they desire? Are they compatible? Would they make a good lover? What's their history together? Is there a connection? When they engage in intimate acts is it genuine and desired?
In your typical Harem, the girls all feel romantic attraction to a guy and each new step taken whether in competition or in showing affection is an escalation, raising the stakes of the story. You end up having a favourite and maybe a second favourite that you the audience member believe would be the best fit. The main character may be uncertain of his feelings, which is understandable, but you believe that generally speaking he's genuine and respectful towards the girls feelings.
This show advertises itself as a comedy, but really is about a guy who tells girls he loves them, does something to try to get them to fall for them and then introduces them to his harem and they're all kind of okay with it, thrilled even. It really goes downhill in episode 3 where the shy girl who pines for a fantasy romance like the princess and knight in her favourite novel, is brought before the harem and told she's now part of it. It makes no sense that she's okay with it. The protag really went out of his way to pursue her and tell her he loves her, only to just toss her into his harem and in the very next episode does the same with another girl. It's all played serious too and he's completely shameless about it.
Making a deep emotional connection with someone should be meaningful, and not used as a ploy to bring someone into a polygamous relationship. If he cared about any of these girls as much as he says, he wouldn't be leaving them at home the minute they join girlfriend club so he can find another to fall in love with him to do the same.
I can't recommend this to anyone as a fan of the harem genre let alone for people who don't really like harem anime. I'm giving it a charity 2 though because the tropey characters are leaned into enough that they're interesting or amusing to watch. You just wish that one of them would tell him they're not sharing and would rather die.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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