Back to zenkai97's Profile zenkai97's Profile

I will admit that I may rate this anime too high but I really like this season of Vanguard. It's meant to go on a different direction of the previous season and it really shows. It's meant to be more character heavy and it really shows. Sure there were filler episodes and some odd stuff but it's all meant for us to know the characters and lead up to the heavy stuff that may occur in season 2.

Now for what people complain about in terms of the anime being a card game anime. I felt that they did a good job at visually showing how ... some of the decks work. Sure they are pretty fast and things can be confusing but it's a huge example of show don't tell. Like when we see Tomari take cards away from her opponent's field with a cage, it's meant to show her prison gimmick of her deck. While I understand the grievances of everybody, I thought they did a decent job.

They mostly do this because the anime is meant to appeal to a general audience. Not everyone is going to understand how the game works. While the OG series does get people learning, Overdress is meant to invite people before new fans get into the game. I mostly got a friend who was not into card game anime to watch just for that one awesome but funny moment in episode 12 or the apex of card gaming. If you seen it, you know what I am talking about. Not explaining it due to spoilers.

Now for the good stuff, the characters. The way they interact, the situations they get into, and what we learn about them is great. I especially love Danji for his Big Brother vibe while being a bit goofy which helps him be a bit dynamic. And the whole thing is pretty down to Earth with some relatable problems (to an extent). You got to give it to Overdress to not relying on the supernatural to have a story. Not only that, we do see the protagonist having to train and learn how to play the game while being a part of a community that help him out. So he's not just good on the get go and I hope to see him get better.

Overall, I felt the hate in Overdress is unwarranted and I felt most of the flaws can be expanded on in season 2 or there is a legit reason to them.

In summary, I felt that this manga is a bit refreshing as its manages to do more with this idea than most manga. Like imagine having a T-rex as a girlfriend. They managed to pull it off with an amazing idea like that.

The characters are pretty good and entertaining. Like the protagonist may look bland on the outside, but they actually gave him a pretty funny personality and history. The title character who is a T-rex girl is really cute and funny.

I guess that you can really sum up this manga series as cute and funny as that's what I got out of it. Not ... only that, it manages to subvert some cliches which is a major plus in my opinion.

The only flaw that I have is this one dino kid who is very bratty and annoying, but he only really appeared twice so I'm fine.

I know that I'm not saying so much, but I would just keep saying cute and funny. I highly recommend this to people who seen Ms. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid as it got a similar vibe, but is very different at least. At least with this manga, everyone is aware and it's normal for this to happen which is actually interesting. Just not sure how the science works though.

Now when I first started watching the Wixoss series, it was a fresh air in terms of a card game anime. Sure it had it moments where it tries too hard to be Madoka, but it was ok. Season 3 came in and it tried way too hard to be dark, resulting with every character being stupid and crying for dumb reasons.

With season 4 here, I can safely say that it's a major improvement over season 3. I'll be looking at this anime mostly as a card game anime and a bit as Madoka because it's pretty important with how I feel about this season.

Let's ... start off with pros.

-The thing that I liked about the first two seasons is that it sort of tries to acknowledge how card game players act in real life with card shops, playing casually with friends, and using some mind/strategy tricks against opponents which I dealt with before. Season 3 threw all that away.

With Season 4, it did none of what the previous seasons did. Maybe a little of Season 3. They decided to go all out Yugioh with the whole Shadow Realm nonsense. You know what I'm talking about, card games to the death. Loser goes to the Shadow Realm. I know it's not called that, but it got that vibe.

I was laughing my ass off when I realize this was the route they were going with. It had the same amount of nonsense and silliness as the original Yugioh with how the new rules turned Wixoss from a Madoka game to the Shadow Games. Then they elements like characters turning into card characters or cards just like in the original Yugioh. I mean dear lord, the nostalgia and insanity.

-The original characters coming back. While they are not the best characters ever, they are at least likable. Freaking Tama amp up the cuteness with her bubbly attitude and it's just so cute. We even get to see what the characters have been doing for a while.The sad part is that they aren't seen as much as the Season 3 character which I'll get to later. Overall, I like these characters coming back and their scenes.

-Some of the plot points were definitely better than Season 3 as there is a mystery that is not hammered down your throat and actually gives nice cliffhangers and all. I felt encouraged to watch a new episode and not have to do it just because.

-Lastly, it's finally over! The whole nonsense with this card game is over. Sure we might be spin offs like Wixoss GX, Wixoss 5ds, Wixoss Zexal, Wixoss Arc V, or Wixoss Vrains, but we finally end the cycle of despair for these girls.

Now to the cons which is kind of sad since the season itself was doing okay except it continues from season 3 which is it's major flaw.

-The season 3 characters only wised up a bit. I can understand their motivations and feelings this time because their responses to the situations were more natural per say. However, they are the ones we spend to most screen time with and they barely interact with the original characters. They got a chance to talk, but they don't. When they do, it's a bit satisfying but I wish to see more since it was promoted to happen in this season. However, the season 3 characters just comes off as more boring than stupid this time with their own trading cards being the more interesting characters than their owner. And that's when you realize that this anime have characters who have less of a personality than a piece of card board. I just board with the season 3 characters is all. However, I only got pissed off with one character this time unlike season 3 and I'll tell you more when I get to the main villains.

-The game made no sense anymore. Often times, I felt that they are breaking the rules even though I never played the game before. At least with Yugioh, they only cheat through top decking (Heart of the cards) or reading the description of the card wrong. Here, they just did whatever they wanted, mostly the villains. The main characters tried to play fair at least, but they had their fair share of BS that are only as severe as Yugioh. The main villains however are flat out cheaters. They got special power ups and all that made no sense and just win just because. Like they got this one attack that's a one hit KO with no explanation and this ultimate power or whatever. Hell, the main villain even stated that who ever started these games gave him these cheat codes which pisses me off more. Some of the battles do not feel satisfying as it's often the villains who made really BS moves and they act like they got skill which comes off as arrogant and stupid in my eyes. This anime cheats way more than Yugioh to the point where not even money can allow them to screw the rules.

-The main villains in this anime are flat out closed-minded and very stupid cheaters. The foes in the season are not bad as I did sort of like Aki Lucky as a villain while being interesting. The main villain which was Carnival is not. Season 3 has her previous owner being stupid with no idea whether to be a subtle or not. Here, she is a cheater and all of her battles is just her cheating. There were times where I would say "Judge!" or have the feeling of calling the cops. Remember when I said that the season got insane with Yugioh logic, this character kind of downplays it with her appearance and it really shows in the later half of the season. She tries to ruin what's fun in this anime because of her views of what's fun.

Then you have that fact that Carnival thinks that everyone likes to be in this Death Game and thinks it's a paradise and wants to keep having fun. That is very closed-minded and stupid. Have she ever consider the fact that humanity is capable of being compassionate enough to not murder someone, especially in a card game. While some of us wants to play for fun! And if you made this world wide, eventually everyone will die from your constant cheating and you'll get bored since everyone is dead and you got no one to play with. God, I cringe when I see this character being so stupid. I'm glad that she was defeated in the end.

Then you get the person in charge and the final battle is just a mess. Kiyoi, one of the characters, said it best which is that it's not Wixoss anymore. Just senseless fighting with no rhyme or reason. Also if you need to have a card game tournament, it does not need death in it. At least give it a prize worth winning other than living with nothing gained.

-Overall, this anime has it's ups and downs. While there is some good, there are some bad countering it sadly. I definitely recommend this season if you grew up with the original Yugioh as it has the same amount of insanity when it can.

I think that this series has a pretty unique anime protagonist that we barely see nowadays. Often times it would be some teenage boy, but this series has our hero be an old man. Someone who is old old and not some young looking immortal being or some old man that is handsome, just an old man. Ichiro Inuyashiki to me is someone I kind of find refreshing since I keep getting the typical young hero or how old people are often the typical perverts or mentors or that side character.

But to make things better, he gets to be a awesome robot! And what he ... wants to do with his new state is really noble and heartwarming. I mean before all of that, he is pretty much a pushover who is weak and all. But when he became a robot, he instead wants to use his new powers to save others and it just makes my heart glow to see him being able to help someone after all the pain and sadness he gone through with his family and life. Its kind of nice to see a story of a man who just got powers and decides to use it to help everyone as his main goal. It just helps me see that despite becoming a robot, that side of him makes him really human.

And heck, it was also interesting to see him getting used to learn more about his powers and how he can apply modern society and technology to let him help more people. Like the time where he learns to control his car and all. It's kind of like introducing your grandpa to anime as he tries to learn something about it and all. I personally find it interesting.

Sometimes I feel bad for him when he fails to save someone and even before that I felt bad for him. As mentioned before, his life was not that good. His family did not care for him and he was dying of cancer. I did feel something for this man and that made his victories more worthwhile. Every time he was on screen helping someone, I would cheer for the dude. I got excited when he fought against some kids who tried to kill some hobo, I would cheer on the dude when he learns about a new function on his body and so on.

Now the down side of the series is the main antagonist, Hiro Shisigami. At first, he leads an interesting concept that killing people makes him more human and is a polar opposite for our hero. But that is contradicting the fact that he has two people he care about and all. I sometimes think that if he wanted to protect them, he should never have gone on a killing spree. Eventually his need to kill is just boring and repetitive since what else is there to him.

The worse part is that he gets the most screen time. It's often about him killing people and making us try to like him when he is really unlikable. I felt that he should of have little screen time and just have his moments be about how he slowly becomes more evil due to his desire to feel human instead of what we got. As a result, it ruins any more time to develop out protagonist that I grew to like. The only thing I like about this dude is how he would say "bang" to kill and how in the last few episodes he made the stakes higher which I wish it would just stay that way instead of forcing us to feel bad for him.

In the end, this series could of been better if we focus and develop more on the main character than the antagonist. It has potential, but it did not work in the end. I guess manga artist are so used to giving focus to the typical handsome guys. Go figure.

Also did not like how it ended as it would of worked for me if the protagonist was developed more like learning more about his powers, the flaws of good vs evil, and so on.

As a recap, it was okay and may possibly be good as a stall for the next part of season 2 if there is any. The details about everything was at least explained. Though the events of season 2 does help make it stronger as we get more context as to the cause and history of the series. I started to have another insight of the series after sort of glance over everything that has happened in season 1 and how the prequel does make a huge impact.

If anything, I suggest watching this recap after watching the stuff about Wasshio and if you need a ... refresher of the series.

When I first heard about this anime, I thought that it would be an interesting take on Christianity and Hell Fire with anime girls. I was sort of right. All I got was fan service with some of what I expected. I mean the best way I can describe this that I got what I wanted and nothing more.

Story: Honestly this one is a mess as it goes all over the place. If it wanted to be monster of a week, fine by me. Instead there were some stuff shoehorned last minute in the last few episodes and some confusing motivations. Not only that, there ... were way too many cop outs and cheap endings from an anime that should of have some action which makes the experience not that exciting at times. Though it is a meh, don't watch this anime for the story and only the concept.

Art: Again meh. When I first saw the concept art, I thought it was okay until I saw the actually anime which is less appealing in my taste. I thought that it would look cutesy and all but instead it is way too detailed and not that moe. The animation is a big meh with some exceptions as the budget seemed to have gone to some other aspects. When it does get good, it's good but it barely happens. I have heard that it went over budget so that might be the case.

Sound: Meh. I did like some of the songs, mostly the cute ones. The voice acting however is really good at least. Just want to point out that the English dub acting is funnier as some of the actresses really put some personality either it be better than the sub or something new.

Character: I'll start with the good. When they act like demons, it's very sexual but it is what I expect. One of the few things I want to see in this series is to see demons getting all hell fire up on yo ass. This series did have some of those moments. Each demon character represent their own sins pretty well in addition of having an interesting interpretation of them.

The biggest flaws is that they did not take advantage of this. There is the fact that they are one dimensional, the fan service gets in the way, and they are suppose to be the good guys. See, I'm okay with demons or bad people being heroes, but it does not work here for many reasons. Their motivations made no sense at times so what is the point, they are way too evil for that, and also they are freaking demons! It's their job to torture people in hell, but nope. The only real demon is into torture while the others are not into it. Ladies, it's your job.

Then you have the main human character, Maria, who is for the most part is bland but her character development is Stockholm syndrome. Also the worse character in my opinion is that demon with blue armor that barely covers her. I just find her annoying, bratty, and not that appealing.

Enjoyment: When it delivers, it delivers. When it doesn't, it doesn't.

Overall: It just gives us what we ask for. That is it. It doesn't do more and sadly less. Do I recommend it, you may need to have some tolerance and not take the series seriously. I ended up comparing this series to Spongebob. Kind of personally enjoy this series despite some of the issues and I don't really care for the fanservice unless I joke around.