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Al's Anime Reviews - With You, Our Love Will Make It Through
Posted 2 weeks agoWhen highschooler Mari bumps into fellow student Tsunagu while both are late for class, she's surprised to find out he's a beastfolk who's to attend her school. After all, it's not rare for beastfolk to coexist alongside humans, but it's still uncommon, with the prejudice and all. Nervous to meet one at first, Mari soon learns there's more to him than his exterior. In fact, the more she gets to know him, the more she finds herself drawn to him, his steadfastness, his kindheartedness, and his body...
Who's ready for a lot more people to get super defensive about whether or not they're furries?
Y'know, I was wondering when we'd get a show that's somehow hornier and even more blatantly laser-targetted at furries than Beastars. This might be one of the spicier public furry animations I've ever seen. Since it's only gonna get more intense from here, based on what people have told me, I'm very excited for various reasons. I'm also curious how the general public will react, because it feels like every year we get a new piece of media that forces everybody to unequivocally out themselves, even though I personally don't think appreciating some good furry media should be seen as a bad thing in the ass-end of 2025.
On paper, With You, Our Love Will Make It Through has a pretty simple story with a tried-and-true setup. We have a typical society that's slowly integrating beastfolk into itsself. The beastfolk make up a minority of the population--it's implied that they're the result of experiments from long ago, and they're even sectioned off in their own designated neighbourhood, complete with a checkpoint they must go through for the sake of "public safety". There are a lot of allegories that you can make about what the beastfolk could potentially represent in the real world. The idea that some people are just instinctively bullying Tsunagu, even though he hasn't really done anything, because his overall presence "threatens" them after he upset the local power dynamic" is very poignant. It doesn't really go anywhere in these two episodes, but I hope that if the show is going to tell this type of story, it doesn't conjure a strawman or sideline its themes.
There's an old Japanese saying, “The nail that stands up gets hammered down.” It means that if you stand out in society, you'll be forced to conform to social norms. But what happens if you can't? What if you're taller or stronger, or you have a different skin colour, or you can't or won't bend to the outdated gender expectations shoved at you? Do the social norms expand to include you, or are you simply forced out of society itself so that everything once again conforms to how it used to be? Two of the supporting characters exist to illustrate this. Aida represents the former end of this spectrum. He sees that his way of viewing the world has been upset and feels that this is a good thing. He's eager to travel into the unknown and explore his new social surroundings. Ochi, on the other hand, is opposed to the change. He wants things back as they were. He talks like his goals are pure. Tsunagu's OBVIOUSLY dangerous and he's upset order in the school by being physically different, thus he must be forcibly removed. Of course, his true reasons are far more selfish, whether he realizes it or not. He used to be at the top of the school hierarchy, and with Tsunagu around, he feels inferior, so he lashes out to feel better about himself. Overall, it's a solid look into the hows and whys of racism in Japan.
I love Tsunagu as a character. He's the soft-spoken gentle giant who's forced to be overly conscious and self-aware of how he relates to everyone else. He hates himself for acting on instincts he can't control and is always trying to put other people ahead of him, and you can tell it's not just because that's something he was told he needs to do, it's just genuinely how he is. I can see why Mari would be infatuated with him, but I also think the show might've shown its hand too quickly. Mari doesn't really give a reason, and it comes after such a physically intense scene, so it rang a bit hollow. I'm hoping we get more into the throes of what this relationship is actually like.
It was probably done to get to the explanation of these more passionate and intimate moments faster. In episode 2, it's implied that these moments are triggered by an oversensitivity to a partner's emotions. When our two leads are being casual with each other, things are fine, but when Mari seems to start desiring things, that is when Tsunagu starts to go haywire, pinning her down and sensually licking her neck and whatnot. It's interesting because it implies that the rather intense moments we've had so far are fully consensual dspite how they appear. It's nice that the show establishes that Tsunagu does have some control over himself in these situations, and that Mari does have the ability to say no. That's always a fine line you have to ride when dealing with subject matter like this.
And yeah, at this point it shouldn't surprise you at all that this story originated as erotica. Although the plot differs, featuring a human woman who enters the beastpeople village, author Chihiro Yuzuki's two-volume Hana and the Beast Man takes place in the same world as this one, prominently features the titular couple having sex, and is apparrently retroactively meant to be the story of Tsunagu's parents.
As for the intimate scenes themselves, well, the lighting for this show is pretty theatrical, with very heavy shadows outside of the comedic moments, to the point where it almost feels like watching it through blinds at times. It can be a little distracting at times, but it matches the wallflower effect the show is going for. It has a voyeuristic quality that gets your heart pounding. There's a lot of setup here for the world and its characters, and it looks really damn pretty to boot. I just hope there's more to all of this going forward than just an excuse to get Bao the Whale screaming in horny bliss for three months.
Also, if this gets dubbed and Bao isn't cast as Mari, the opportunity of the year will have been wasted.
Who's ready for a lot more people to get super defensive about whether or not they're furries?
Y'know, I was wondering when we'd get a show that's somehow hornier and even more blatantly laser-targetted at furries than Beastars. This might be one of the spicier public furry animations I've ever seen. Since it's only gonna get more intense from here, based on what people have told me, I'm very excited for various reasons. I'm also curious how the general public will react, because it feels like every year we get a new piece of media that forces everybody to unequivocally out themselves, even though I personally don't think appreciating some good furry media should be seen as a bad thing in the ass-end of 2025.
On paper, With You, Our Love Will Make It Through has a pretty simple story with a tried-and-true setup. We have a typical society that's slowly integrating beastfolk into itsself. The beastfolk make up a minority of the population--it's implied that they're the result of experiments from long ago, and they're even sectioned off in their own designated neighbourhood, complete with a checkpoint they must go through for the sake of "public safety". There are a lot of allegories that you can make about what the beastfolk could potentially represent in the real world. The idea that some people are just instinctively bullying Tsunagu, even though he hasn't really done anything, because his overall presence "threatens" them after he upset the local power dynamic" is very poignant. It doesn't really go anywhere in these two episodes, but I hope that if the show is going to tell this type of story, it doesn't conjure a strawman or sideline its themes.
There's an old Japanese saying, “The nail that stands up gets hammered down.” It means that if you stand out in society, you'll be forced to conform to social norms. But what happens if you can't? What if you're taller or stronger, or you have a different skin colour, or you can't or won't bend to the outdated gender expectations shoved at you? Do the social norms expand to include you, or are you simply forced out of society itself so that everything once again conforms to how it used to be? Two of the supporting characters exist to illustrate this. Aida represents the former end of this spectrum. He sees that his way of viewing the world has been upset and feels that this is a good thing. He's eager to travel into the unknown and explore his new social surroundings. Ochi, on the other hand, is opposed to the change. He wants things back as they were. He talks like his goals are pure. Tsunagu's OBVIOUSLY dangerous and he's upset order in the school by being physically different, thus he must be forcibly removed. Of course, his true reasons are far more selfish, whether he realizes it or not. He used to be at the top of the school hierarchy, and with Tsunagu around, he feels inferior, so he lashes out to feel better about himself. Overall, it's a solid look into the hows and whys of racism in Japan.
I love Tsunagu as a character. He's the soft-spoken gentle giant who's forced to be overly conscious and self-aware of how he relates to everyone else. He hates himself for acting on instincts he can't control and is always trying to put other people ahead of him, and you can tell it's not just because that's something he was told he needs to do, it's just genuinely how he is. I can see why Mari would be infatuated with him, but I also think the show might've shown its hand too quickly. Mari doesn't really give a reason, and it comes after such a physically intense scene, so it rang a bit hollow. I'm hoping we get more into the throes of what this relationship is actually like.
It was probably done to get to the explanation of these more passionate and intimate moments faster. In episode 2, it's implied that these moments are triggered by an oversensitivity to a partner's emotions. When our two leads are being casual with each other, things are fine, but when Mari seems to start desiring things, that is when Tsunagu starts to go haywire, pinning her down and sensually licking her neck and whatnot. It's interesting because it implies that the rather intense moments we've had so far are fully consensual dspite how they appear. It's nice that the show establishes that Tsunagu does have some control over himself in these situations, and that Mari does have the ability to say no. That's always a fine line you have to ride when dealing with subject matter like this.
And yeah, at this point it shouldn't surprise you at all that this story originated as erotica. Although the plot differs, featuring a human woman who enters the beastpeople village, author Chihiro Yuzuki's two-volume Hana and the Beast Man takes place in the same world as this one, prominently features the titular couple having sex, and is apparrently retroactively meant to be the story of Tsunagu's parents.
As for the intimate scenes themselves, well, the lighting for this show is pretty theatrical, with very heavy shadows outside of the comedic moments, to the point where it almost feels like watching it through blinds at times. It can be a little distracting at times, but it matches the wallflower effect the show is going for. It has a voyeuristic quality that gets your heart pounding. There's a lot of setup here for the world and its characters, and it looks really damn pretty to boot. I just hope there's more to all of this going forward than just an excuse to get Bao the Whale screaming in horny bliss for three months.
Also, if this gets dubbed and Bao isn't cast as Mari, the opportunity of the year will have been wasted.
Al's Anime Reviews - Mechanical Marie
Posted 2 weeks agoArthur Zetes is the no-nonsense heir to his late father's fortune, a misanthropic highschool student whose emotional growth has been stunted by the near-constant attempts on his life from assassins hired by other family members. They're jealous of his chosen status despite his origins as an illegitimate child. 16-year-old Marie Evans is an expressionless, championship-winning martial arts prodigy hired to masquerade as Arthur's new robot maid and bodyguard. While she begins to fall for her master, and he for his supposedly mechanical servant, it's a shame that she can't reveal the truth of her humanity, because he harbours a deep hatred of liars.
Mechanical Marie is in a tough situation. The manga it's adapted from started as a one-shot, so surely that changes the approach the anime should take, right? Should it go for a faithful, panel-by-panel adaptation, or should it just jump right in? The answer they seem to have settled on is a bit of both, and I'm not fully sold on this decision, mostly because I think it would've been helpful to have the scene where Roy scouts Marie in the first place in terms of grounding the story.
Still, this is a fun episode. The basic concept is that Arthur has become a raging misanthrope because he's been treated so badly by other people, mostly his older brother Maynard, who actively resents Arthur's existence. But Arthur needs a good bodyguard (and apparently a trustworthy maid), so his butler Roy enlists the aid of emotionally challenged teenage martial arts champion Marie. Marie is to pretend she's a robomaid so Arthur will accept her help, but what are they to do when Marie and Arthur begin falling for each other?
Personally, I'm always down for some level of subversion of classic anime setups, and the robot maid is a trope perfect for riffing. Not ten minutes in, they're already piling onto the unnecessarily overcomplicated absurdity of the setup--Marie has to enact the ol' "robot pretending to be human at school" trope on top of everything else, so now she's a human pretending to be a robot pretending to be a human. Come on, I know we can go for four layers deep at some point in this story. Plus, Marie's a shredded martial artist to facilitate her routine. It's a sharp enough setup that's absolutely worth a few sensible chuckles.
The farcical nature of it all does call attention to the shortcomings on the more serious end of it though. I can grasp the basic idea of Marie and Arthur's would-be romance, with his preference for emotionless machines unintentionally leading him to be the first person who showed any understanding or appreciation for the unexpressive Marie. However, this intersects with Marie's developing must-protect inclinations toward Arthur, which are meant to clash with the high-strung, misanthropic persona he puts on in public. I get what they're going for, but needing to speedrun that emotional entry to establish the whole premise by the end of the episode does it no favours. Again, it just barely works in this jokier context, and it would've totally imploded had the show asked the audience to take it one iota more seriously.
It's cute, but it'd all work better if the episode had spent more time showing us Marie and Arthur actually interacting with each other. This one definitely could've actually benefitted from a double-length premiere. Instead the moments they spend together feel perfunctory, with very little going to promote any sort of warmer feelings developing. They're just sort of in the same room and talking occasionally for most of the episode. There are a couple moments where they save each other, such as when Marie chases down a kidnapper and rescues Arthur from a burning building and Arthur stands up for Marie at school, but none of them feel like anything more than plot points. There's no real emotion behind either scene, although in the case of the fire, it's clear that they're trying.
The animation effort doesn't quite back it up in the way an absurdist spectacle like this needs. Character models are already melting at multiple distances during more active action sequences. Additionally, the anime often relies on postcard memory-style stills to replace major sequences. Not bad as a shortcut, but it takes me out of the moment when it's clearly being used as a crutch to prop up a rather weak production. That's not to say the show is devoid of charm. There are some great moments where Marie inadvertently proves what a great fake robot she makes, like cracking the world's creepiest smile or showing off her hard thighs. Roy always looks one step away from freaking out and admitting everything, albeit in a stoic sort of way, and the scene where Arthur and Maynard have an entire conversation in internal monologues is fun.
By the second episode, Mechanical Marie begs one very specific and pertinent question: Is Arthur just kinda stupid? Marie's veneer of mechanicalness is so thin that it's astounding no one seems to be questioning it. Or at least not to her or Arthur's face. She puts on a good show, that trick with the plates and the glasses was impressive, but claiming she runs on AA batteries? Please.
It's all part of the humor, of course, and it mostly works. I love that Arthur never questions that Marie-2 is the "improved" robot maid when she's so clearly inferior in terms of looks, voice and locomotion--how is legs to wheels an upgrade? Oh, sure, she can play music when he's resting his head on her lap, but still. And that scene actually cracked me up, the high-pitched sped-up lullaby is hilarious. But Marie-2 serves a more important role than merely to stretch Arthur's credulity: She exists to show that Arthur has found a person he can trust, and that, deep down, he probably knows Marie's a person.
I'd say Arthur's aunt, Charlotte Rusty, definitely does. Apart from the fact that she wears her cat like a scarf, she seems to be very with it, and she's not about to spill the beans about Arthur's new employee. That's probably the right move, because this is something Arthur needs to work through on his own. If he's still willing to believe that Marie is a machine, that says he hasn't quite accepted that he can trust a human yet, even one he's so attracted to. Her supposedly robotic nature is safe, even though he watches Marie-2 attempt to inflict harm, including on him. So many contradictions, so little time!
This episode solidifies this as a sweet, silly show. I wish it looked better--although the oversized circle superimposed on Marie's head to show her miniscule facial expressions is funny, the episode overall doesn't look great, and I feel those stills in a completely different artstyle (it's not the manga's style, if you're wondering) are a bit overused. There's also been some controversy over whether or not the stills are either AI-generated or touched up with AI, but it's an admittedly flimsy argument that seems to stem entirely from one of them giving Marie two left hands. Right, cause that's not an error a human could make, it's not like we saw a six-fingered Phoenix Wright back in 2016 or anything.
Despite its small issues, Mechanical Marie is delightful, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Mechanical Marie is in a tough situation. The manga it's adapted from started as a one-shot, so surely that changes the approach the anime should take, right? Should it go for a faithful, panel-by-panel adaptation, or should it just jump right in? The answer they seem to have settled on is a bit of both, and I'm not fully sold on this decision, mostly because I think it would've been helpful to have the scene where Roy scouts Marie in the first place in terms of grounding the story.
Still, this is a fun episode. The basic concept is that Arthur has become a raging misanthrope because he's been treated so badly by other people, mostly his older brother Maynard, who actively resents Arthur's existence. But Arthur needs a good bodyguard (and apparently a trustworthy maid), so his butler Roy enlists the aid of emotionally challenged teenage martial arts champion Marie. Marie is to pretend she's a robomaid so Arthur will accept her help, but what are they to do when Marie and Arthur begin falling for each other?
Personally, I'm always down for some level of subversion of classic anime setups, and the robot maid is a trope perfect for riffing. Not ten minutes in, they're already piling onto the unnecessarily overcomplicated absurdity of the setup--Marie has to enact the ol' "robot pretending to be human at school" trope on top of everything else, so now she's a human pretending to be a robot pretending to be a human. Come on, I know we can go for four layers deep at some point in this story. Plus, Marie's a shredded martial artist to facilitate her routine. It's a sharp enough setup that's absolutely worth a few sensible chuckles.
The farcical nature of it all does call attention to the shortcomings on the more serious end of it though. I can grasp the basic idea of Marie and Arthur's would-be romance, with his preference for emotionless machines unintentionally leading him to be the first person who showed any understanding or appreciation for the unexpressive Marie. However, this intersects with Marie's developing must-protect inclinations toward Arthur, which are meant to clash with the high-strung, misanthropic persona he puts on in public. I get what they're going for, but needing to speedrun that emotional entry to establish the whole premise by the end of the episode does it no favours. Again, it just barely works in this jokier context, and it would've totally imploded had the show asked the audience to take it one iota more seriously.
It's cute, but it'd all work better if the episode had spent more time showing us Marie and Arthur actually interacting with each other. This one definitely could've actually benefitted from a double-length premiere. Instead the moments they spend together feel perfunctory, with very little going to promote any sort of warmer feelings developing. They're just sort of in the same room and talking occasionally for most of the episode. There are a couple moments where they save each other, such as when Marie chases down a kidnapper and rescues Arthur from a burning building and Arthur stands up for Marie at school, but none of them feel like anything more than plot points. There's no real emotion behind either scene, although in the case of the fire, it's clear that they're trying.
The animation effort doesn't quite back it up in the way an absurdist spectacle like this needs. Character models are already melting at multiple distances during more active action sequences. Additionally, the anime often relies on postcard memory-style stills to replace major sequences. Not bad as a shortcut, but it takes me out of the moment when it's clearly being used as a crutch to prop up a rather weak production. That's not to say the show is devoid of charm. There are some great moments where Marie inadvertently proves what a great fake robot she makes, like cracking the world's creepiest smile or showing off her hard thighs. Roy always looks one step away from freaking out and admitting everything, albeit in a stoic sort of way, and the scene where Arthur and Maynard have an entire conversation in internal monologues is fun.
By the second episode, Mechanical Marie begs one very specific and pertinent question: Is Arthur just kinda stupid? Marie's veneer of mechanicalness is so thin that it's astounding no one seems to be questioning it. Or at least not to her or Arthur's face. She puts on a good show, that trick with the plates and the glasses was impressive, but claiming she runs on AA batteries? Please.
It's all part of the humor, of course, and it mostly works. I love that Arthur never questions that Marie-2 is the "improved" robot maid when she's so clearly inferior in terms of looks, voice and locomotion--how is legs to wheels an upgrade? Oh, sure, she can play music when he's resting his head on her lap, but still. And that scene actually cracked me up, the high-pitched sped-up lullaby is hilarious. But Marie-2 serves a more important role than merely to stretch Arthur's credulity: She exists to show that Arthur has found a person he can trust, and that, deep down, he probably knows Marie's a person.
I'd say Arthur's aunt, Charlotte Rusty, definitely does. Apart from the fact that she wears her cat like a scarf, she seems to be very with it, and she's not about to spill the beans about Arthur's new employee. That's probably the right move, because this is something Arthur needs to work through on his own. If he's still willing to believe that Marie is a machine, that says he hasn't quite accepted that he can trust a human yet, even one he's so attracted to. Her supposedly robotic nature is safe, even though he watches Marie-2 attempt to inflict harm, including on him. So many contradictions, so little time!
This episode solidifies this as a sweet, silly show. I wish it looked better--although the oversized circle superimposed on Marie's head to show her miniscule facial expressions is funny, the episode overall doesn't look great, and I feel those stills in a completely different artstyle (it's not the manga's style, if you're wondering) are a bit overused. There's also been some controversy over whether or not the stills are either AI-generated or touched up with AI, but it's an admittedly flimsy argument that seems to stem entirely from one of them giving Marie two left hands. Right, cause that's not an error a human could make, it's not like we saw a six-fingered Phoenix Wright back in 2016 or anything.
Despite its small issues, Mechanical Marie is delightful, and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Al's Anime Reviews - ImoUza
Posted 2 weeks ago{Atuhor's Nose: Because I forgor to post the scheduled review yesterday, it's a twofer night. Enjoy.}
"If a girl teases you, that means she likes you." So goes the old phrase, but Akiteru Oboshi, a seemingly ordinary and well-balanced student, knows from experience that isn't the case, as every girl he interacts with shows him nothing but scorn and he's not scored a single date from them. He's more concerned with securing a spot for 5th Floor Alliance, his game development team that includes his genius programmer best friend Ozuma Kohinata, at his uncle's business. But when his uncle throws him a condition that involves playing the part of his daughter Mashiro's boyfriend, Akiteru has no choice but to take it. At the same time, Ozuma's younger sister Iroha, who works as a voice actress for 5th Floor Alliance, bullies Akiteru relentlessly, but doesn't seem too pleased by the news.
Well, I think we found the first show of the season that legitimately pissed me off. Don't you love it when a show points out the absurdity of a stale trope multiple times while also making it very obvious that it's just gonna beat that trope into the ground through its entire run? Yes, the idea of someone over the age of like 8 bullying their crush is outdated and unrealistic, so please do continue to tell your story about how two teenage girls are going to bully our teenage boy protagonist while not-so-secretly harbouring feelings for him. While we're at it, let's throw in a really questionable and moral issue with said boy being blackmailed into having to act as the fake boyfriend of his cousin.
This is a textbook example of how an anime can take the most basic genre principles you can imagine and still royally fuck them up. It's never a good sign when a romcom has a character opining about the false nature of well-worn cliches. Our guy Akiteru is convinced that the old shitty trope teaching people that boys and girls are naturally huge shitbags to the person they have a crush on is complete bunk, and wouldn't you know it? His friend's little sister--wait for it--is out to get him with her mischievous behaviour and constant teasing. This couldn't possibly mean that she's actually in love with Akiteru, riiiiight?
I was never gonna be on board for My Friend's Little Sister Has It In for Me!, ImoUza for short. I mean, just read that title, a title that feels like it's using the wrong word (it feels like it should be "Out", not "In"). Even from that, you can plainly see that it's both a faux siscon series and a bullying fetish series. You might be thinking "Wait, wouldn't those conflict? Imouto fetish shows are all about fawning devotion, and bullying fetish shows are about how it'd be great if the hot mean girl were secretly into you." And you're correct! The result is a character who invades the protagonist's space and annoys him relentlessly while also sexually harassing him. And then it has a touch of incest mixed in with the cousin character. It's the kind of show that only exists as sexual gratification because there's no way to make it work as something with characters who act like people or plot beats that make sense. And it doesn't even have the decency to be well animated.
I knew I was in for some pain when Akiteru walked into his room to find Iroha blaring and singing along to siscon-themed rap. The dialogue is agonizing in that special way where you can tell whoever penned it thought they were being really witty while doing nothing but reiterating cliches. Every time Akiteru referred to living his life efficiently, every time Iroha threw herself at him while also screeching about being his little sister when she's literally not, every time he gormlessly wondered why she torments him, I wanted to throw myself out of a window. I know that'd do basically nothing because my house only has one floor, but it's the thought that counts.
Let's just get right to the point here, as much as the show expects us to think she's the best new waifu of the year, Iroha ain't even a candidate for the Hotness Awards. She's as stock-standard as they come, with her only standout personality trait being that she's genuinely so much more annoying and over the top than almost any tsundere or teasing master before her. The problem isn't that she gives Akiteru a hard time, it's that she doesn't convincingly represent the behaviours of any human being that has ever lived. She's all schtick and no substance. I think I genuinely hate her. I don't want to see characters like that succeed, I want characters like that to get humbled. All of her actions were genuinely disrespectful to the point where I'd be seriously pissed off if anybody like this were in my life. She almost ruins a job opportunity for Akiteru and humiliates him in front of his entire class by claiming to be a couple in a way that can't be perceived as a joke. I'm sure her arc in this show is that once a genuine romantic rival gets introduced, she realizes that she needs to lock in to fight for something that she was probably seeing as a guaranteed relationship. However, not only do I not want her to be happy unless she goes through a massive character overhaul, I also just really don't see that being pulled off satisfyingly if it's done at all.
Given that ImoUza is a cartoon though, Iroha's psychotic behaviour doesn't necessarily have to be a death blow to the series' prospects. The problem then is Akiteru, who's so moronically oblivious to Iroha's desperately horny pretend-teasing that it is impossible to accept him as a functional human being, let alone a protagonist of a romcom anime. I don't need the guy to fall head-over-heels for Iroha from minute one, nor do I need him to be some amped-up, distaff counterpart to Iroha's freaky personality. I'm just saying that the tension and fun of a romcom is somewhat dulled when the very first scene of the very first episode very clearly establishes that our leading lady is just pathetically down bad for this empty potato sack who wouldn't recognize that he was being hit on if he was in the middle of active, enthusiastic intercourse. Iroha could be screaming "Please, yes, this is everything I've ever wanted, give me more!", and Akiteru would probably scoff and snark under his breath about women being inscrutable mysteries.
And all of that was only in the first half of the episode, because ImoUza found a way to feel a million years long and overstuffed at the same time. I had to watch Akiteru's uncle hit on a waitress and profess his plan to keep doing it until she agreed to a date. I buried my face in my hands when Akiteru walked into the bathroom to find a girl sitting on the toilet. When she turned out to be his cousin, whom he has to fake-date as a condition for employment at his uncle's entertainment conglomerate, I was certain I'd been cursed to have every minute seem like an hour. When she started spouting tsundere cliches in a breathy voice, I was ready to finally purchase and begin playing Minecraft just so I could kill myself in it. Blyat.
The only interesting aspect of this episode is that Akiteru is a game designer as a highschool student. The fact that he and his team apparently sold over a million copies of their first-ever indie game is cool. Most of the dev team being a mystery is a little unusual, but it's not that uncommon, even if the show does a poor job of hiding who these people are from the audience in its first episode alone. I'd much rather see that angle of the show get more exposure, and maybe it will, but if it's going to be tied to this forced love triangle, then I'm not sure it's worth it.
It's too much. It's too awful. Every aspect is incompetently executed, and it attempts to do too many things. It's just trash on top of trash on top of trash.
"If a girl teases you, that means she likes you." So goes the old phrase, but Akiteru Oboshi, a seemingly ordinary and well-balanced student, knows from experience that isn't the case, as every girl he interacts with shows him nothing but scorn and he's not scored a single date from them. He's more concerned with securing a spot for 5th Floor Alliance, his game development team that includes his genius programmer best friend Ozuma Kohinata, at his uncle's business. But when his uncle throws him a condition that involves playing the part of his daughter Mashiro's boyfriend, Akiteru has no choice but to take it. At the same time, Ozuma's younger sister Iroha, who works as a voice actress for 5th Floor Alliance, bullies Akiteru relentlessly, but doesn't seem too pleased by the news.
Well, I think we found the first show of the season that legitimately pissed me off. Don't you love it when a show points out the absurdity of a stale trope multiple times while also making it very obvious that it's just gonna beat that trope into the ground through its entire run? Yes, the idea of someone over the age of like 8 bullying their crush is outdated and unrealistic, so please do continue to tell your story about how two teenage girls are going to bully our teenage boy protagonist while not-so-secretly harbouring feelings for him. While we're at it, let's throw in a really questionable and moral issue with said boy being blackmailed into having to act as the fake boyfriend of his cousin.
This is a textbook example of how an anime can take the most basic genre principles you can imagine and still royally fuck them up. It's never a good sign when a romcom has a character opining about the false nature of well-worn cliches. Our guy Akiteru is convinced that the old shitty trope teaching people that boys and girls are naturally huge shitbags to the person they have a crush on is complete bunk, and wouldn't you know it? His friend's little sister--wait for it--is out to get him with her mischievous behaviour and constant teasing. This couldn't possibly mean that she's actually in love with Akiteru, riiiiight?
I was never gonna be on board for My Friend's Little Sister Has It In for Me!, ImoUza for short. I mean, just read that title, a title that feels like it's using the wrong word (it feels like it should be "Out", not "In"). Even from that, you can plainly see that it's both a faux siscon series and a bullying fetish series. You might be thinking "Wait, wouldn't those conflict? Imouto fetish shows are all about fawning devotion, and bullying fetish shows are about how it'd be great if the hot mean girl were secretly into you." And you're correct! The result is a character who invades the protagonist's space and annoys him relentlessly while also sexually harassing him. And then it has a touch of incest mixed in with the cousin character. It's the kind of show that only exists as sexual gratification because there's no way to make it work as something with characters who act like people or plot beats that make sense. And it doesn't even have the decency to be well animated.
I knew I was in for some pain when Akiteru walked into his room to find Iroha blaring and singing along to siscon-themed rap. The dialogue is agonizing in that special way where you can tell whoever penned it thought they were being really witty while doing nothing but reiterating cliches. Every time Akiteru referred to living his life efficiently, every time Iroha threw herself at him while also screeching about being his little sister when she's literally not, every time he gormlessly wondered why she torments him, I wanted to throw myself out of a window. I know that'd do basically nothing because my house only has one floor, but it's the thought that counts.
Let's just get right to the point here, as much as the show expects us to think she's the best new waifu of the year, Iroha ain't even a candidate for the Hotness Awards. She's as stock-standard as they come, with her only standout personality trait being that she's genuinely so much more annoying and over the top than almost any tsundere or teasing master before her. The problem isn't that she gives Akiteru a hard time, it's that she doesn't convincingly represent the behaviours of any human being that has ever lived. She's all schtick and no substance. I think I genuinely hate her. I don't want to see characters like that succeed, I want characters like that to get humbled. All of her actions were genuinely disrespectful to the point where I'd be seriously pissed off if anybody like this were in my life. She almost ruins a job opportunity for Akiteru and humiliates him in front of his entire class by claiming to be a couple in a way that can't be perceived as a joke. I'm sure her arc in this show is that once a genuine romantic rival gets introduced, she realizes that she needs to lock in to fight for something that she was probably seeing as a guaranteed relationship. However, not only do I not want her to be happy unless she goes through a massive character overhaul, I also just really don't see that being pulled off satisfyingly if it's done at all.
Given that ImoUza is a cartoon though, Iroha's psychotic behaviour doesn't necessarily have to be a death blow to the series' prospects. The problem then is Akiteru, who's so moronically oblivious to Iroha's desperately horny pretend-teasing that it is impossible to accept him as a functional human being, let alone a protagonist of a romcom anime. I don't need the guy to fall head-over-heels for Iroha from minute one, nor do I need him to be some amped-up, distaff counterpart to Iroha's freaky personality. I'm just saying that the tension and fun of a romcom is somewhat dulled when the very first scene of the very first episode very clearly establishes that our leading lady is just pathetically down bad for this empty potato sack who wouldn't recognize that he was being hit on if he was in the middle of active, enthusiastic intercourse. Iroha could be screaming "Please, yes, this is everything I've ever wanted, give me more!", and Akiteru would probably scoff and snark under his breath about women being inscrutable mysteries.
And all of that was only in the first half of the episode, because ImoUza found a way to feel a million years long and overstuffed at the same time. I had to watch Akiteru's uncle hit on a waitress and profess his plan to keep doing it until she agreed to a date. I buried my face in my hands when Akiteru walked into the bathroom to find a girl sitting on the toilet. When she turned out to be his cousin, whom he has to fake-date as a condition for employment at his uncle's entertainment conglomerate, I was certain I'd been cursed to have every minute seem like an hour. When she started spouting tsundere cliches in a breathy voice, I was ready to finally purchase and begin playing Minecraft just so I could kill myself in it. Blyat.
The only interesting aspect of this episode is that Akiteru is a game designer as a highschool student. The fact that he and his team apparently sold over a million copies of their first-ever indie game is cool. Most of the dev team being a mystery is a little unusual, but it's not that uncommon, even if the show does a poor job of hiding who these people are from the audience in its first episode alone. I'd much rather see that angle of the show get more exposure, and maybe it will, but if it's going to be tied to this forced love triangle, then I'm not sure it's worth it.
It's too much. It's too awful. Every aspect is incompetently executed, and it attempts to do too many things. It's just trash on top of trash on top of trash.
Al's Anime Reviews - A Star Brighter Than the Sun
Posted 2 weeks agoSae Iwata and Koki Kamishiro have been friends since childhood. One fateful day at the end of middleschool, Sae has a revelation: Koki has grown up. Now they're in highschool and she has another revelation: She has feelings for Koki. But she isn't the only girl who does...
It's a truth universally acknowledged that a shojo romance must feature two characters who don't realize their crush is mutual. This truism is doubled only if the two are childhood friends who drifted apart a bit in middleschool only to reunite in highschool. When you add to that the visual elements of floaty bubbles, soft filters and pastel stills, A Star Brighter Than the Sun's first three episodes look like the winners of The Ultimate Shojo Challenge. If it wasn't also good, it might be a little ridiculous. But fortunately, this anime is leaning into its trappings because it knows how to use them. It may not be a new story, but it doesn't have to be--all it has to do is use its tropes well.
Sae Iwata (Iwa to her friends) has been crushing on Koki Kamishiro since they became friends in gradeschool. At the time, she was the tallest kid in class, shooting up to five feet in no time, while he was among the smallest. By middleschool, she'd reached 5' 4", but he surpassed her. And because they weren't in the same class and thanks to the whole gender expectations vibe of middleschool, they more or less fell out of touch. But Sae never stopped watching Koki, and there's a strong implication that the same can be said for him. In episode 1, he practically jumps at the chance to rekindle their friendship, and if you're paying attention, it looks a lot like he announces his choice of highschool the minute Sae says hers. His body language and delivery both indicate that North High hadn't been his plan until hearing that it was Sae's.
This series seems to be all about the little moments. Koki's brief hesitation before saying North High, the way he seeks Sae out with his eyes even if they're not near each other, and how he goes out of his way to be close to her all speak volumes, even if Sae can't catch them. Her sense of social inferiority to him is so ingrained that she can't recognize her own behaviours in his. In episode 3, when he says that the girl he likes shines brighter than the sun, she immediately assumes that means it can't possibly be her because no one would describe her that way. But from Koki's words, it sounds like he thinks the same way, that no one as good as Sae could ever see him that way.
It's a very grounded approach. Everyone believes that there's something wrong with them. Just as Sae is stuck in the mindset of being a giant girl, Koki is keenly aware of his own shortcomings, and both of them believe that those stand out as much to others as they do to themselves and no one could love them for it. Yes, Sae's height is inescapable, but once people get used to the fact that she's so tall, they don't seem to care--her kindness is what shines through to everyone. Sui, one of her new friends, doesn't view Sae as the weirdly huge girl who saved her when she fell, but as the nice girl she met on the first day of school. And when someone doesn't see beyond Sae's height, Koki is there to let them have it, which obnoxious Izawa (who at one point attempts and fails to bestow the nickname "Jolly Green Giant" upon Sae) learns firsthand. Or so we can assume, anyway. In a good bit of Show, Don't Tell, no one ever says that Izawa was making fun of Sae when Koki shoved him down a slope. We can guess that from Koki's body language and the fact that he reverts to calling Sae by her first name, but it isn't spelled out. Similarly, Izawa later remarks that making fun of Sae is officially off the table. It's pretty clear that he's referring to the hill incident... Or maybe another attempt to do the same thing, since he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to learn his lesson easily.
Apart from the slowly unfolding romance plot, what I love about these episodes is Sae's friend group. Sui, who could've easily become a two-faced fake friend bitch when she found out about Sae's crush, is instead shown going out of her way to be a good, true friend. When she thinks Sae doesn't like "girl talk", she switches it off, and when she learns Sae likes Koki, she stops thinking about actively pursuing him. Kagawa, the third in their trio, also makes a real effort to be a good friend. She's dry and serious, but that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy spending time with Sae and Sui, and the scene in episode 3 where Sui dries her hair for her is a beautiful little snapshot of their relationship.
In another story, Sae and Koki not really communicating could've been annoying, but the details are so well done here, from the line delivery to the body language, that it really works. I genuinely want to see them work things out and figure out their feelings (and he better not have a crush on someone else). In a shojo romance, that's paramount, and this show is poised to get it right. Don't let me down, A Star Brighter Than the Sun, and you might prove to be one of the best new shows this season.
It's a truth universally acknowledged that a shojo romance must feature two characters who don't realize their crush is mutual. This truism is doubled only if the two are childhood friends who drifted apart a bit in middleschool only to reunite in highschool. When you add to that the visual elements of floaty bubbles, soft filters and pastel stills, A Star Brighter Than the Sun's first three episodes look like the winners of The Ultimate Shojo Challenge. If it wasn't also good, it might be a little ridiculous. But fortunately, this anime is leaning into its trappings because it knows how to use them. It may not be a new story, but it doesn't have to be--all it has to do is use its tropes well.
Sae Iwata (Iwa to her friends) has been crushing on Koki Kamishiro since they became friends in gradeschool. At the time, she was the tallest kid in class, shooting up to five feet in no time, while he was among the smallest. By middleschool, she'd reached 5' 4", but he surpassed her. And because they weren't in the same class and thanks to the whole gender expectations vibe of middleschool, they more or less fell out of touch. But Sae never stopped watching Koki, and there's a strong implication that the same can be said for him. In episode 1, he practically jumps at the chance to rekindle their friendship, and if you're paying attention, it looks a lot like he announces his choice of highschool the minute Sae says hers. His body language and delivery both indicate that North High hadn't been his plan until hearing that it was Sae's.
This series seems to be all about the little moments. Koki's brief hesitation before saying North High, the way he seeks Sae out with his eyes even if they're not near each other, and how he goes out of his way to be close to her all speak volumes, even if Sae can't catch them. Her sense of social inferiority to him is so ingrained that she can't recognize her own behaviours in his. In episode 3, when he says that the girl he likes shines brighter than the sun, she immediately assumes that means it can't possibly be her because no one would describe her that way. But from Koki's words, it sounds like he thinks the same way, that no one as good as Sae could ever see him that way.
It's a very grounded approach. Everyone believes that there's something wrong with them. Just as Sae is stuck in the mindset of being a giant girl, Koki is keenly aware of his own shortcomings, and both of them believe that those stand out as much to others as they do to themselves and no one could love them for it. Yes, Sae's height is inescapable, but once people get used to the fact that she's so tall, they don't seem to care--her kindness is what shines through to everyone. Sui, one of her new friends, doesn't view Sae as the weirdly huge girl who saved her when she fell, but as the nice girl she met on the first day of school. And when someone doesn't see beyond Sae's height, Koki is there to let them have it, which obnoxious Izawa (who at one point attempts and fails to bestow the nickname "Jolly Green Giant" upon Sae) learns firsthand. Or so we can assume, anyway. In a good bit of Show, Don't Tell, no one ever says that Izawa was making fun of Sae when Koki shoved him down a slope. We can guess that from Koki's body language and the fact that he reverts to calling Sae by her first name, but it isn't spelled out. Similarly, Izawa later remarks that making fun of Sae is officially off the table. It's pretty clear that he's referring to the hill incident... Or maybe another attempt to do the same thing, since he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to learn his lesson easily.
Apart from the slowly unfolding romance plot, what I love about these episodes is Sae's friend group. Sui, who could've easily become a two-faced fake friend bitch when she found out about Sae's crush, is instead shown going out of her way to be a good, true friend. When she thinks Sae doesn't like "girl talk", she switches it off, and when she learns Sae likes Koki, she stops thinking about actively pursuing him. Kagawa, the third in their trio, also makes a real effort to be a good friend. She's dry and serious, but that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy spending time with Sae and Sui, and the scene in episode 3 where Sui dries her hair for her is a beautiful little snapshot of their relationship.
In another story, Sae and Koki not really communicating could've been annoying, but the details are so well done here, from the line delivery to the body language, that it really works. I genuinely want to see them work things out and figure out their feelings (and he better not have a crush on someone else). In a shojo romance, that's paramount, and this show is poised to get it right. Don't let me down, A Star Brighter Than the Sun, and you might prove to be one of the best new shows this season.
Al's Anime Reviews - Kashiwada and Ota
Posted 2 weeks agoKashiwada and Ota are middleschool classmates. Kashiwada is a girl who never shows emotions on her face, while Ota is always thinking of pranks to surprise Kashiwada with, but he always fails. They appear to be opposite types of people, but deep down, they genuinely care for each other.
Okay, I honestly find this kind of hilarious: The name of the show is Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Ota. The synopsis for this show spells out for those who missed the title that yes, Kashiwada is inexpressive and Ota is very expressive. The episode title for the premiere is "Those Who Are Completely Inexpressive and Those Who Are Super Expressive". For an incredibly low-stakes romcom that lives and dies on the back of the most obvious joke in the world, this show sure does seem worried that we still might not get the schtick. So in case anyone is still lost, allow me to break it down for you. See, Kashiwada is a girl who most would probably describe as "inexpressive". Ota, on the other hand, is the kind of fellow that you could easily apply the "expressive" descriptor to, as a general summation of his personality. The two are opposites. Opposites...who are attracted to one another. Do you understand now? Do I need to say it louder and slower for the small infants in the back?
Yeah, if there's any fatal flaw to this anime's whole setup, it's the fact that it's very literally a one-joke premise, and the joke ain't exactly a fresh one.
Pairing two characters that are at such opposite extremes of each other can definitely be fun, and it's a story setup that has been done plenty of times with varying results. I can enjoy those shows on some level as long as the comedic timing hits or it brings just one fresh element to the table. Without that, you risk having a show that drags out the same joke over and over again without much opportunity for creativity. Unfortunately, the latter is precisely what this show does in its premiere.
Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Ota only has one joke, which is in the title. You have a girl who's not that good at expressing herself and a boy who's expressive to fault. The two are curious about each other but show their feelings in extremely different ways. I do like the fact that Kashiwada isn't just an emotionless brick--she does express herself, just in very subtle ways that the rest of the cast can't pick up on. That's kind of fun in its own way, and she's actually quite forward when you just ask her direct questions, like how she basically confessed to Ota right in this first episode. However, I don't like Ota as a character because I think the show went too far in the opposite direction with him. He's loud, abrasive and annoying, and his actions really do border on bullying when you sit down and think about it. He's basically invading Kashiwada's personal space, constantly throwing things in her face, and if it wasn't for the fact that she likes him, I feel like this would be a very different type of show.
So I'm just watching a really misguided boy bully his obvious crush, which isn't an interesting premise, and it's made even less interesting by the presentation. Was I the only one who thought all the background characters looked deranged too? Something about the way many of them have their eyes drawn makes them feel unsettled, and once again, we have another show that's so aggressively washed out that everyone looks like ghosts. The music was the only thing that made me laugh during this premiere, thanks to its aggressively cartoonish quality, even making like DK and whipping out bongos at points. Outside of that, I don't think there's really much here that warrants a full 22-minute runtime. Maybe if this were a short series, it'd be easier to digest, but in its current form, I feel like a lot more needs to be done to keep me engaged.
Does the second episode do any better? Well, on the one hand, I feel like it was a bit funnier, but on the other, I still feel like the show isn't really addressing the fact that Ota is still kind of a bully to Kashiwada. He's at least taking more direct accountability for his actions and showing more openly that he does actually care about her even if he'll deny it. That is better, but I still REALLY don't like the idea of them as a couple, nor do I think I like him that much as a main character.
Episode two also introduces a third main character, the rigid class rep Tabuchi, the class rep. When she calls out Ota's bullying of Kashiwada, it's ostensibly to defend Kashiwada's feelings, but in truth, she's just as obsessed with Kashiwada as Ota is and worries that she'll stop coming to school. There's some actual potential to Tabuchi's relationship with Kashiwada--she initially describes herself as a "fan" and watches Kashiwada from afar, like an onlooker watching an animal at a zoo. She projected her own perception of events onto Kashiwada's feelings, claiming that she can understand Kashiwada better when really she's guessing just as much as anyone else. So basically the only reason why she's so uptight is because she's Kashiwada's fan, not because she had a legitimate point, and she's arguably just replacing one form of harassment with another. Eventually Kashiwada confronts Tabuchi and says she doesn't want a fan, she wants a friend. It was an unusually perceptive depiction of how people often treat others who are regarded as strange, as an observer and a defender while keeping their distance in a way that's ultimately dehumanizing. Tabuchi resolves to act as a friend to Kashiwada, but it's might not be so easy to make that kind of connection. Perhaps the series will do something with this, but it's likely too heavy a subject for this kind of show.
I think the part of the episode that got me to react the most was probably the beginning scene revolving around the swimming lessons. I liked the cutaway between how everyone else was seeing Kashiwada and how she was actually swimming. Or rather, borderline drowning. That was probably the best use of the cutaway reaction gags the show really wants to lean on. If we could get more exaggerated situations like that, I think I could find a lot more humor in this show. However, I think it also worked because we actually went to a slightly different setting than just the classroom. Maybe if we get to see these characters outside of school, there'd be a lot more to play around with. But for now, even at its best, things are just sort of...okay, I guess.
Okay, I honestly find this kind of hilarious: The name of the show is Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Ota. The synopsis for this show spells out for those who missed the title that yes, Kashiwada is inexpressive and Ota is very expressive. The episode title for the premiere is "Those Who Are Completely Inexpressive and Those Who Are Super Expressive". For an incredibly low-stakes romcom that lives and dies on the back of the most obvious joke in the world, this show sure does seem worried that we still might not get the schtick. So in case anyone is still lost, allow me to break it down for you. See, Kashiwada is a girl who most would probably describe as "inexpressive". Ota, on the other hand, is the kind of fellow that you could easily apply the "expressive" descriptor to, as a general summation of his personality. The two are opposites. Opposites...who are attracted to one another. Do you understand now? Do I need to say it louder and slower for the small infants in the back?
Yeah, if there's any fatal flaw to this anime's whole setup, it's the fact that it's very literally a one-joke premise, and the joke ain't exactly a fresh one.
Pairing two characters that are at such opposite extremes of each other can definitely be fun, and it's a story setup that has been done plenty of times with varying results. I can enjoy those shows on some level as long as the comedic timing hits or it brings just one fresh element to the table. Without that, you risk having a show that drags out the same joke over and over again without much opportunity for creativity. Unfortunately, the latter is precisely what this show does in its premiere.
Inexpressive Kashiwada and Expressive Ota only has one joke, which is in the title. You have a girl who's not that good at expressing herself and a boy who's expressive to fault. The two are curious about each other but show their feelings in extremely different ways. I do like the fact that Kashiwada isn't just an emotionless brick--she does express herself, just in very subtle ways that the rest of the cast can't pick up on. That's kind of fun in its own way, and she's actually quite forward when you just ask her direct questions, like how she basically confessed to Ota right in this first episode. However, I don't like Ota as a character because I think the show went too far in the opposite direction with him. He's loud, abrasive and annoying, and his actions really do border on bullying when you sit down and think about it. He's basically invading Kashiwada's personal space, constantly throwing things in her face, and if it wasn't for the fact that she likes him, I feel like this would be a very different type of show.
So I'm just watching a really misguided boy bully his obvious crush, which isn't an interesting premise, and it's made even less interesting by the presentation. Was I the only one who thought all the background characters looked deranged too? Something about the way many of them have their eyes drawn makes them feel unsettled, and once again, we have another show that's so aggressively washed out that everyone looks like ghosts. The music was the only thing that made me laugh during this premiere, thanks to its aggressively cartoonish quality, even making like DK and whipping out bongos at points. Outside of that, I don't think there's really much here that warrants a full 22-minute runtime. Maybe if this were a short series, it'd be easier to digest, but in its current form, I feel like a lot more needs to be done to keep me engaged.
Does the second episode do any better? Well, on the one hand, I feel like it was a bit funnier, but on the other, I still feel like the show isn't really addressing the fact that Ota is still kind of a bully to Kashiwada. He's at least taking more direct accountability for his actions and showing more openly that he does actually care about her even if he'll deny it. That is better, but I still REALLY don't like the idea of them as a couple, nor do I think I like him that much as a main character.
Episode two also introduces a third main character, the rigid class rep Tabuchi, the class rep. When she calls out Ota's bullying of Kashiwada, it's ostensibly to defend Kashiwada's feelings, but in truth, she's just as obsessed with Kashiwada as Ota is and worries that she'll stop coming to school. There's some actual potential to Tabuchi's relationship with Kashiwada--she initially describes herself as a "fan" and watches Kashiwada from afar, like an onlooker watching an animal at a zoo. She projected her own perception of events onto Kashiwada's feelings, claiming that she can understand Kashiwada better when really she's guessing just as much as anyone else. So basically the only reason why she's so uptight is because she's Kashiwada's fan, not because she had a legitimate point, and she's arguably just replacing one form of harassment with another. Eventually Kashiwada confronts Tabuchi and says she doesn't want a fan, she wants a friend. It was an unusually perceptive depiction of how people often treat others who are regarded as strange, as an observer and a defender while keeping their distance in a way that's ultimately dehumanizing. Tabuchi resolves to act as a friend to Kashiwada, but it's might not be so easy to make that kind of connection. Perhaps the series will do something with this, but it's likely too heavy a subject for this kind of show.
I think the part of the episode that got me to react the most was probably the beginning scene revolving around the swimming lessons. I liked the cutaway between how everyone else was seeing Kashiwada and how she was actually swimming. Or rather, borderline drowning. That was probably the best use of the cutaway reaction gags the show really wants to lean on. If we could get more exaggerated situations like that, I think I could find a lot more humor in this show. However, I think it also worked because we actually went to a slightly different setting than just the classroom. Maybe if we get to see these characters outside of school, there'd be a lot more to play around with. But for now, even at its best, things are just sort of...okay, I guess.
Al's Anime Reviews - Lil' Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right
Posted 2 weeks ago(Atuhor's Nose: This was meant to go up yesterday, and in fact, I could've sworn I'd submitted it. So thanks to this odd error, today's a twofer day.)
Luna Ishikawa is a dark and mysterious vampire--or so she'd like her new classmates to believe. The truth is, while she may be one of the not-so-mythical bloodsuckers, she doesn't really live up to the hype. She's short and clumsy, and she can't even suck blood properly. So when her classmate Tatsuta Otori discovers her little "drinking problem", he can't help but lend a hand.
Remember how monster girls were the big craze from like 2015 to 2020? That's all I was thinking about when I was watching this premiere, because it feels like a show that could've come out during that five-year period. The idea of monster girls in a traditional Japanese highschool setting isn't really anything new. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with that setup while sticking with a relatively lighthearted genre. The first episode of Lil' Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel or anything, but I did think it was cute enough..
Here we have the classic story of the popular highschool ice queen and the normal guy who sits beside her. Like these tales tend to go, the ice queen has far more going on underneath than it seems, and after the normal guy discovers her secret, the two become unlikely friends and eventually romantic foils. However, while the basic framework is far from original, it's what this anime builds on top of it that matters. Of course, the twist for this anime is right in the title. The ice queen character, Luna, is a vampire. In class, she plays into the stereotype of what people think vampires should be, ie. brilliant, poised and suave as all hell. The problem is, she's inept at the main thing vampires are known for, ie. bloodsucking.
What makes this silly plot work is how well it's been thought through. Not drinking blood means she's always hungry, trying to fill the void with any sweets she can shove down her throat. Beyond that, without blood, she doesn't have access to her powers, like flight. And once she starts feeding on Tatsuta, the normal guy of the story (who's so purposely nondescript and unassuming they don't even bother to animate his face unless strictly needed), we learn that being bad at sucking blood means everything from drinking too much to having to constantly reposition and make more punctures. Moreover, as Tatsuta gets to know the real Luna, he starts to see the cracks in her facade that no one else does. Sure, she solves a difficult equation on the board like it's nothing, but doesn't notice the chalk dust covering her sleeve. Then he catches her eating snacks behind her books while pretending to study, absolutely not something a noble vampire would do. It's entertaining and endearing stuff.
I like that the show doesn't try to overexplain its setting, it's just a modern setting where supernatural beings and deities happen to live amongst people, although some choice words did make it sound like there's more going on to keep the peace than what we saw here. I hope we get more of that as time goes on and the cast expands. Outside of that, it's just two awkward teenagers learning to get along and share a secret with each other. If you do it well, that's arguably all you really need, though I do question the longevity of that premise. It looks like there is a more extended cast coming, but based on what we've seen so far, I fear they might turn out a bit boring, especially since it looks like almost all of them are just going to be normal humans. I hope I'm wrong, but if you're going to introduce a world populated by monster girls, you need to have some genuine fun with that premise, don't play it safe.
I also feel like the premiere is a bit stylistically inconsistent. I love the design of our main heroine, and I know that her design is supposed to clash with her male costar, whose design is simple to the point where he doesn't even have a mouth, but he legit looks like he's drawn in a completely different artstyle. Most of the time it takes me out of it more than it makes me laugh. I do like the joke about how Luna goes into a bit of a chibi mode whenever she gets excited. The show addresses it but doesn't clarify whether it's just a visual gag or some Umaru-chan thing where she's actually doing it.
All that being said, I have so many questions. How has Luna never sucked blood before? Or does she mean she's never sucked it from a live person, as opposed to a blood bag or an animal? Are her parents also vampires? Why are they allowing their daughter to starve herself via her own incompetence? But at the moment, these aren't plot holes--rather, they show that I'm caring enough about this show to want to learn more about the characters and their lives. And frankly, that's a very good sign. Let's be real, I can't see this being the breakout hit of the season, but I think there's enough here to keep me satisfied.
Luna Ishikawa is a dark and mysterious vampire--or so she'd like her new classmates to believe. The truth is, while she may be one of the not-so-mythical bloodsuckers, she doesn't really live up to the hype. She's short and clumsy, and she can't even suck blood properly. So when her classmate Tatsuta Otori discovers her little "drinking problem", he can't help but lend a hand.
Remember how monster girls were the big craze from like 2015 to 2020? That's all I was thinking about when I was watching this premiere, because it feels like a show that could've come out during that five-year period. The idea of monster girls in a traditional Japanese highschool setting isn't really anything new. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with that setup while sticking with a relatively lighthearted genre. The first episode of Lil' Miss Vampire Can't Suck Right doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel or anything, but I did think it was cute enough..
Here we have the classic story of the popular highschool ice queen and the normal guy who sits beside her. Like these tales tend to go, the ice queen has far more going on underneath than it seems, and after the normal guy discovers her secret, the two become unlikely friends and eventually romantic foils. However, while the basic framework is far from original, it's what this anime builds on top of it that matters. Of course, the twist for this anime is right in the title. The ice queen character, Luna, is a vampire. In class, she plays into the stereotype of what people think vampires should be, ie. brilliant, poised and suave as all hell. The problem is, she's inept at the main thing vampires are known for, ie. bloodsucking.
What makes this silly plot work is how well it's been thought through. Not drinking blood means she's always hungry, trying to fill the void with any sweets she can shove down her throat. Beyond that, without blood, she doesn't have access to her powers, like flight. And once she starts feeding on Tatsuta, the normal guy of the story (who's so purposely nondescript and unassuming they don't even bother to animate his face unless strictly needed), we learn that being bad at sucking blood means everything from drinking too much to having to constantly reposition and make more punctures. Moreover, as Tatsuta gets to know the real Luna, he starts to see the cracks in her facade that no one else does. Sure, she solves a difficult equation on the board like it's nothing, but doesn't notice the chalk dust covering her sleeve. Then he catches her eating snacks behind her books while pretending to study, absolutely not something a noble vampire would do. It's entertaining and endearing stuff.
I like that the show doesn't try to overexplain its setting, it's just a modern setting where supernatural beings and deities happen to live amongst people, although some choice words did make it sound like there's more going on to keep the peace than what we saw here. I hope we get more of that as time goes on and the cast expands. Outside of that, it's just two awkward teenagers learning to get along and share a secret with each other. If you do it well, that's arguably all you really need, though I do question the longevity of that premise. It looks like there is a more extended cast coming, but based on what we've seen so far, I fear they might turn out a bit boring, especially since it looks like almost all of them are just going to be normal humans. I hope I'm wrong, but if you're going to introduce a world populated by monster girls, you need to have some genuine fun with that premise, don't play it safe.
I also feel like the premiere is a bit stylistically inconsistent. I love the design of our main heroine, and I know that her design is supposed to clash with her male costar, whose design is simple to the point where he doesn't even have a mouth, but he legit looks like he's drawn in a completely different artstyle. Most of the time it takes me out of it more than it makes me laugh. I do like the joke about how Luna goes into a bit of a chibi mode whenever she gets excited. The show addresses it but doesn't clarify whether it's just a visual gag or some Umaru-chan thing where she's actually doing it.
All that being said, I have so many questions. How has Luna never sucked blood before? Or does she mean she's never sucked it from a live person, as opposed to a blood bag or an animal? Are her parents also vampires? Why are they allowing their daughter to starve herself via her own incompetence? But at the moment, these aren't plot holes--rather, they show that I'm caring enough about this show to want to learn more about the characters and their lives. And frankly, that's a very good sign. Let's be real, I can't see this being the breakout hit of the season, but I think there's enough here to keep me satisfied.
Al's Anime Reviews - Hero Without a Class
Posted 3 weeks agoIn a world where everyone receives a class and skills at the age of 10, and where such revelations have a huge impact on one's life, Arel, the son of Sword Princess Farah and Archmage Leon, learns that he has no class at all and no special skills. Without these, all that's left for Arel is hard work. And so he takes to training, utilizing wits and cunning to emerge as an all-new type of hero.
I don't know if anything can sum up my reaction to Hero Without a Class quite like the moment in the premiere where Arel just stares directly into the camera, dead-eyed and utterly bereft of even one recognizable human emotion. Arel's face was my face, as uncaring and unchanging as a dry stone, for most of this premiere. I can't even say I was bored, really, because that implies that my mind was given enough stimulation to even wander away towards thoughts of all the good shows I could be watching instead.
Here's the deal: We have a formula that's been so spoiled of any potential that even parodies of the genre have become too lazy and repetitive to sit through. We have a protagonist whose entire character is defined by his featurelessness, who only acts based on a stubborn yet infuriatingly vague desire to do heroic things, like all the other people in his stupid RPG fantasy world, which was gifted literal job classes and passive buffs by their generic goddess. We have a setting that's, in no uncertain terms, one of the most shamelessly lame and unambitious I've ever seen. We have visuals so bare-bones and phoned-in that I'm not even gonna bother coming up with an illustrative metaphor or allusion to emphasize my point, because if I did, I'd officially be working harder to write one sentence than the actual show I'm reviewing worked at, well, anything.
The story doesn't have to be as bland as it is. It has a decently interesting premise as its starting point: In a heavily RPG-inspired world, Arel isn't blessed with a class, thus opening the door for the discovery that one isn't strictly necessary to pursue a career. That's actually fairly meaty as these things go, because it challenges the notion that everything in your life is predetermined, the fantasy equivalent of a highschooler wanting to, say, become a baker rather than take over the family clinic. And as he demonstrates in this episode, "skills" aren't just things the gods give you, they're abilities you can hone through practice.
Not that Arel shows any enthusiasm for this whatsoever, of course. He goes through life in a state of blandness, mildly recalling sparring with his sword princess mother and fending off the advances of his intensely obnoxious sister. He shows off his strength to other kids his age, who are flabbergasted by the idea that you can learn things. And that's really about it. I think my negative reaction to the aforementioned sister may be the strongest response I had to anything, which is a shame, because I'd like to see Arel normalize doing your own thing over what you're told you have to do.
Now, I'm sure this'll shock you, reader, but no, the show did not suddenly and inexplicably transform into a good one in its second episode. The entire premise is just as ridiculous as ever--seriously, how is this kid the first person in all of his universe's history to figure out the secret art of Just Kinda Doing Whatever? The show's presentation is just as insipidly bland and aggressively unambitious as it was one episode ago too.
If you are indeed curious about the continuing adventures of Arel, don't expect too much development. Thrill as Arel wanders around the city of Bresgia and stands in lines a lot! Rejoice as he's summarily rejected from every guild he stood in line for! Groan as that annoying girl Lillia follows him around! Be amazed when the red-headed kid from episode one turns out to be a girl, something that was not hard to figure out in the slightest and was then clearly shown in the ending theme! My goodness, will the madcap adventures never stop?
The better question is really whether they'll ever start, because this manages to keep being utterly dull even with two fights involved. Sure, the moment when Arel ends up squatting over an orc to drive a sword into his skull is neat in theory, but it just lacks the impact. And his rematch with Reiner, the redhead? It's a lot of slashing and talking, which doesn't make for thrilling fight choreography, especially not when it's barely animated.
And then there's the new character Lillia, an irritating gremlin of a girl who's mildly entertaining simply as the one spot where the anime feels like it's got some real energy. Arel says she reminds him of his sister Astea, and that's not a good thing for him or me. She's a character whose constant stream of chatter is meant to be endearing, or at least amusing and indicative of her strong will, but instead she just lands on annoying. It's great that she wants to save her father's guild, but following a guy around town talking at him may not be the best recruitment strategy.
I wish I could tell you that anything of deeper interest or complexity happens, but remember, this is Hero Without a Class, an anime that seems allergic to performing any creative task that might evoke a strong emotional reaction in its audience. I'm pretty sure the series itself would have a heart attack if any one of these conversations featured anything more involved than sitting down on a couch or standing around in the vacant space of some ambiguously beige background--to have a plot with any genuine stakes or discernible momentum is completely out of the question.
What really gets to me is how the show seems to want to have it both ways. It's happy to coast on the success of the 9,001 other lame anime it's aping, and it assumes that its audience will tolerate this strategy, but at the same time, it has to gall to act like the viewers should really pay attention and take in all of these idiotic rules and flavourless characters. This is a show that says "Yeah, you've obviously seen shows about dull ciphers with conveniently powerful natural abilities who show their favourite finger to the rules of a generic RPG world, but this time we tell the story in an even MORE lifeless and aimless manner, and it looks worse too! All we ask for in return is about 23 uninterrupted minutes of your finite and precious time alive on Earth!"
Hero Without a Class feels like it's barely trying. Even as completely disposable background noise, Hero Without a Class comes off as mediocre filler that you'd only ever turn to after exhausting every other alternative.
I don't know if anything can sum up my reaction to Hero Without a Class quite like the moment in the premiere where Arel just stares directly into the camera, dead-eyed and utterly bereft of even one recognizable human emotion. Arel's face was my face, as uncaring and unchanging as a dry stone, for most of this premiere. I can't even say I was bored, really, because that implies that my mind was given enough stimulation to even wander away towards thoughts of all the good shows I could be watching instead.
Here's the deal: We have a formula that's been so spoiled of any potential that even parodies of the genre have become too lazy and repetitive to sit through. We have a protagonist whose entire character is defined by his featurelessness, who only acts based on a stubborn yet infuriatingly vague desire to do heroic things, like all the other people in his stupid RPG fantasy world, which was gifted literal job classes and passive buffs by their generic goddess. We have a setting that's, in no uncertain terms, one of the most shamelessly lame and unambitious I've ever seen. We have visuals so bare-bones and phoned-in that I'm not even gonna bother coming up with an illustrative metaphor or allusion to emphasize my point, because if I did, I'd officially be working harder to write one sentence than the actual show I'm reviewing worked at, well, anything.
The story doesn't have to be as bland as it is. It has a decently interesting premise as its starting point: In a heavily RPG-inspired world, Arel isn't blessed with a class, thus opening the door for the discovery that one isn't strictly necessary to pursue a career. That's actually fairly meaty as these things go, because it challenges the notion that everything in your life is predetermined, the fantasy equivalent of a highschooler wanting to, say, become a baker rather than take over the family clinic. And as he demonstrates in this episode, "skills" aren't just things the gods give you, they're abilities you can hone through practice.
Not that Arel shows any enthusiasm for this whatsoever, of course. He goes through life in a state of blandness, mildly recalling sparring with his sword princess mother and fending off the advances of his intensely obnoxious sister. He shows off his strength to other kids his age, who are flabbergasted by the idea that you can learn things. And that's really about it. I think my negative reaction to the aforementioned sister may be the strongest response I had to anything, which is a shame, because I'd like to see Arel normalize doing your own thing over what you're told you have to do.
Now, I'm sure this'll shock you, reader, but no, the show did not suddenly and inexplicably transform into a good one in its second episode. The entire premise is just as ridiculous as ever--seriously, how is this kid the first person in all of his universe's history to figure out the secret art of Just Kinda Doing Whatever? The show's presentation is just as insipidly bland and aggressively unambitious as it was one episode ago too.
If you are indeed curious about the continuing adventures of Arel, don't expect too much development. Thrill as Arel wanders around the city of Bresgia and stands in lines a lot! Rejoice as he's summarily rejected from every guild he stood in line for! Groan as that annoying girl Lillia follows him around! Be amazed when the red-headed kid from episode one turns out to be a girl, something that was not hard to figure out in the slightest and was then clearly shown in the ending theme! My goodness, will the madcap adventures never stop?
The better question is really whether they'll ever start, because this manages to keep being utterly dull even with two fights involved. Sure, the moment when Arel ends up squatting over an orc to drive a sword into his skull is neat in theory, but it just lacks the impact. And his rematch with Reiner, the redhead? It's a lot of slashing and talking, which doesn't make for thrilling fight choreography, especially not when it's barely animated.
And then there's the new character Lillia, an irritating gremlin of a girl who's mildly entertaining simply as the one spot where the anime feels like it's got some real energy. Arel says she reminds him of his sister Astea, and that's not a good thing for him or me. She's a character whose constant stream of chatter is meant to be endearing, or at least amusing and indicative of her strong will, but instead she just lands on annoying. It's great that she wants to save her father's guild, but following a guy around town talking at him may not be the best recruitment strategy.
I wish I could tell you that anything of deeper interest or complexity happens, but remember, this is Hero Without a Class, an anime that seems allergic to performing any creative task that might evoke a strong emotional reaction in its audience. I'm pretty sure the series itself would have a heart attack if any one of these conversations featured anything more involved than sitting down on a couch or standing around in the vacant space of some ambiguously beige background--to have a plot with any genuine stakes or discernible momentum is completely out of the question.
What really gets to me is how the show seems to want to have it both ways. It's happy to coast on the success of the 9,001 other lame anime it's aping, and it assumes that its audience will tolerate this strategy, but at the same time, it has to gall to act like the viewers should really pay attention and take in all of these idiotic rules and flavourless characters. This is a show that says "Yeah, you've obviously seen shows about dull ciphers with conveniently powerful natural abilities who show their favourite finger to the rules of a generic RPG world, but this time we tell the story in an even MORE lifeless and aimless manner, and it looks worse too! All we ask for in return is about 23 uninterrupted minutes of your finite and precious time alive on Earth!"
Hero Without a Class feels like it's barely trying. Even as completely disposable background noise, Hero Without a Class comes off as mediocre filler that you'd only ever turn to after exhausting every other alternative.
Birfdae again! ^o^
Posted 3 weeks agoIt's my birthday, and also the day of Canadian Thanksgiving this year! Two reasons to be happy and celebrate and eat good food and stuff! \^o^/
Al's Anime Reviews - A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace
Posted 3 weeks agoNana Futami is a rookie shojo manga artist who's supported by her editor, Kaede Sato, and her assistant, Mizuki Hazama. Even though Nana sometimes suffers from intense delusions due to (what she tells herself is) an occupational illness, she keeps working day-to-day with the help of those around her.
Despite having a protagonist who wrestles with overthinking and intense bouts of anxiety, I found A Mangaa's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace (or, as its Japanese title calls it, "A Workplace Where You Can't Help But Smile") to be surprisingly comforting. I have a soft spot for shows that delve into the behind-the-scenes aspects of creating manga and the like. While this show doesn't look like it's gonna get into the deep details of everything, it is a bit fun to watch a show about a young adult just overcoming the pressure of working in that environment. The fact that she shares anxieties with her editor, who's on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, creates a fascinating dynamic that I wouldn't mind watching more of.
Nana is so immersed in the shojo manga world due to her work that she can't help but see her own life through that filter. This "occupational hazard", as she puts it, places the object of her affection, Kaede, in the role of a romance heroine in her imagination. So when it comes to doing something as simple as messaging Kaede late at night, she is bombarded by images of interrupting her in the middle of some important love triangle scene and worries that Kaede would come to hate her for interfering, even indirectly. Much of the episode is Nana constructing scenes in her head while Mizuki plays the straight man and attempts to bring her back to reality.
While Futami sees her editor as this ultra-professional editor who's giving her a chance to succeed despite clearly being inferior to the other manga artist she works with, Kaede is, in reality, a bit of a ditz. While she does her job and does it well for the most part, she has a terrible memory. This causes her to forget things ranging from documents to giving compliments. It's a big weakness, one she knows she has but doesn't seem too troubled about.
The humor is a bit one-note, but I do think there are enough sparks of creativity to help the show feel more alive than it otherwise would've. The obvious one was how our titular mangaka likes to imagine or make up scenarios in her head to avoid directly confronting people. I like the way the show translates those stories using manga panels, as if she's pulling out every cliche she can think of to fabricate a scenario out of thin air. I think it also helps that she has Mizuki around to call her out on her delusions.
And of course, there is one other big issue between Nana and Kaede: The romantic tension. I'm seeing hints of a romance between the two, but I can also see the show just teasing that rather than going all in with it. Besides, it would be a very peculiar conflict of interest. However, I appreciate the strong sense of camaraderie among all the characters. They may get on each other's nerves or not know how to talk to each other, but there is respect and appreciation for the work being done. If that coziness can last an entire season, then that would be ideal.
Also it's just nice to have a yuri-esque show this season that's not about the main girl wanting to die and living under the threat of getting vored by a mermaid.
Despite having a protagonist who wrestles with overthinking and intense bouts of anxiety, I found A Mangaa's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace (or, as its Japanese title calls it, "A Workplace Where You Can't Help But Smile") to be surprisingly comforting. I have a soft spot for shows that delve into the behind-the-scenes aspects of creating manga and the like. While this show doesn't look like it's gonna get into the deep details of everything, it is a bit fun to watch a show about a young adult just overcoming the pressure of working in that environment. The fact that she shares anxieties with her editor, who's on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, creates a fascinating dynamic that I wouldn't mind watching more of.
Nana is so immersed in the shojo manga world due to her work that she can't help but see her own life through that filter. This "occupational hazard", as she puts it, places the object of her affection, Kaede, in the role of a romance heroine in her imagination. So when it comes to doing something as simple as messaging Kaede late at night, she is bombarded by images of interrupting her in the middle of some important love triangle scene and worries that Kaede would come to hate her for interfering, even indirectly. Much of the episode is Nana constructing scenes in her head while Mizuki plays the straight man and attempts to bring her back to reality.
While Futami sees her editor as this ultra-professional editor who's giving her a chance to succeed despite clearly being inferior to the other manga artist she works with, Kaede is, in reality, a bit of a ditz. While she does her job and does it well for the most part, she has a terrible memory. This causes her to forget things ranging from documents to giving compliments. It's a big weakness, one she knows she has but doesn't seem too troubled about.
The humor is a bit one-note, but I do think there are enough sparks of creativity to help the show feel more alive than it otherwise would've. The obvious one was how our titular mangaka likes to imagine or make up scenarios in her head to avoid directly confronting people. I like the way the show translates those stories using manga panels, as if she's pulling out every cliche she can think of to fabricate a scenario out of thin air. I think it also helps that she has Mizuki around to call her out on her delusions.
And of course, there is one other big issue between Nana and Kaede: The romantic tension. I'm seeing hints of a romance between the two, but I can also see the show just teasing that rather than going all in with it. Besides, it would be a very peculiar conflict of interest. However, I appreciate the strong sense of camaraderie among all the characters. They may get on each other's nerves or not know how to talk to each other, but there is respect and appreciation for the work being done. If that coziness can last an entire season, then that would be ideal.
Also it's just nice to have a yuri-esque show this season that's not about the main girl wanting to die and living under the threat of getting vored by a mermaid.
Al's Anime Reviews - Gluttonous Lady and Blood-Mad Duke
Posted 3 weeks agoMelphiera is an earl's daughter who's shunned by most of the nobility thanks to rumors about her proclivity for monster-based cuisine. When she attends a party in hopes of finding someone to wed, she's attacked by a vicious monster, only to be saved by Aristide of Galbraith, feared as the "Blood-Mad Duke". He begins to take a liking to Melphiera, and before long, he's even interested in the "hobby" she never dared to tell anyone else of.
This is an anime I really should've liked, and really thought I would like. Unfortunately for The Gluttonous Lady and the Blood-Mad Duke (I will not refer to it as "Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!" and you can't make me), it's about as boring as a villainess story can go. While she may be called the "Voracious Villainess", Melphiera in no way deserves the second part of her title. Rather than being a villainess in the archetypal sense, she's just an average noble girl with an odd hobby: She likes to turn monsters into fine cuisine. This has caused her to be shunned from high society, basically marking her as insane, as everyone knows that monsters are poisonous.
Now, to the series' credit, they do make a point of saying people have tried to eat monster meat in the past and all attempts ended with those who consumed it getting sick. It seems that Melphiera, likely due to her family's wealth and all her spare time, was able to figure out the secret to preparing the meat properly. Basically, monsters are like fugu. In this episode, she meets the only man with a worse reputation than her, the titular Blood-Mad Duke, Aristide. And so begins the love story of the man who fanatically slays monsters and the woman who wants to butcher and cook them.
And...that's it. There's no real conflict here, no drama, the two are immediately drawn to each other and see past the rumors to find a kindred soul. He's not pushy or standoffish, she's not haughty or cold. They're just two normal people who respect and also enjoy each other's hobbies.
Honestly, this almost feels like a one-shot, like we're done with their story after a single episode. They've found love and a partner that'll support them. Unfortunately, the second episode left my opinion unchanged in its entirety. There is just no tension to this story whatsoever. Aristide accepts everything about Melphiera and vice versa. Hell, they don't just accept the more "problematic" things about each other, they just straight-up find them fascinating.
There's only one notable bit of opposition to their nuptials, and it's not Melphiera's father, the king, or anyone else of consequence. Rather, it's her stepmother who, while eager to marry Melphiera off, is inexplicably against the marriage. However, that doesn't even matter, since she has next to no say in the process. I mean, what's a countess gonna do, go up against the king? The only point of friction in this whole episode is said stepmother disproving of Aristide and Melphiera immediately announcing that she'll marry Aristide regardless. So... Yeah, problem solved, I guess.
As for the rest of the episode, we get a bit more backstory about why Melphiera eats monsters, how it's both an altruistic thing to help her people in the barren mountains they live in and that it was a passion she shared with her late mother. The episode ends on a pseudo-cliffhanger with Melphiera worrying that Aristide won't accept her after seeing the contents of her mother's research laboratory, but that's clearly nothing but a red herring.
If you just want to turn off your brain and watch two people that are perfect for each other fall in love, there are tons of worse shows than this one, but personally, I'm just left uninterested, and I feel like this show is about as engrossing as staring at a wall with some pretty imagery painted on it for 20 minutes.
This is an anime I really should've liked, and really thought I would like. Unfortunately for The Gluttonous Lady and the Blood-Mad Duke (I will not refer to it as "Pass the Monster Meat, Milady!" and you can't make me), it's about as boring as a villainess story can go. While she may be called the "Voracious Villainess", Melphiera in no way deserves the second part of her title. Rather than being a villainess in the archetypal sense, she's just an average noble girl with an odd hobby: She likes to turn monsters into fine cuisine. This has caused her to be shunned from high society, basically marking her as insane, as everyone knows that monsters are poisonous.
Now, to the series' credit, they do make a point of saying people have tried to eat monster meat in the past and all attempts ended with those who consumed it getting sick. It seems that Melphiera, likely due to her family's wealth and all her spare time, was able to figure out the secret to preparing the meat properly. Basically, monsters are like fugu. In this episode, she meets the only man with a worse reputation than her, the titular Blood-Mad Duke, Aristide. And so begins the love story of the man who fanatically slays monsters and the woman who wants to butcher and cook them.
And...that's it. There's no real conflict here, no drama, the two are immediately drawn to each other and see past the rumors to find a kindred soul. He's not pushy or standoffish, she's not haughty or cold. They're just two normal people who respect and also enjoy each other's hobbies.
Honestly, this almost feels like a one-shot, like we're done with their story after a single episode. They've found love and a partner that'll support them. Unfortunately, the second episode left my opinion unchanged in its entirety. There is just no tension to this story whatsoever. Aristide accepts everything about Melphiera and vice versa. Hell, they don't just accept the more "problematic" things about each other, they just straight-up find them fascinating.
There's only one notable bit of opposition to their nuptials, and it's not Melphiera's father, the king, or anyone else of consequence. Rather, it's her stepmother who, while eager to marry Melphiera off, is inexplicably against the marriage. However, that doesn't even matter, since she has next to no say in the process. I mean, what's a countess gonna do, go up against the king? The only point of friction in this whole episode is said stepmother disproving of Aristide and Melphiera immediately announcing that she'll marry Aristide regardless. So... Yeah, problem solved, I guess.
As for the rest of the episode, we get a bit more backstory about why Melphiera eats monsters, how it's both an altruistic thing to help her people in the barren mountains they live in and that it was a passion she shared with her late mother. The episode ends on a pseudo-cliffhanger with Melphiera worrying that Aristide won't accept her after seeing the contents of her mother's research laboratory, but that's clearly nothing but a red herring.
If you just want to turn off your brain and watch two people that are perfect for each other fall in love, there are tons of worse shows than this one, but personally, I'm just left uninterested, and I feel like this show is about as engrossing as staring at a wall with some pretty imagery painted on it for 20 minutes.
Al's Anime Reviews - This Monster Wants to Eat Me
Posted 3 weeks ago"I've come to eat you." So softly utters the mermaid Shiori as she emerges from the sea and takes highschool girl Hinako Yaotose by the hand. Hinako lives alone in a seaside town and possesses an unusually delicious body that's irresistible to nearby monsters. To ensure that she matures to the best condition, Shiori seeks to protect Hinako...all so that someday, she can devour every piece of her.
There's a great deal that the premiere of This Monster Wants to Eat Me (WataTabe for short) does well when viewed from a realistic perspective. A lot of people suffer from depression, and depression can make one feel like they're drowning. The worst part is, this feeling can hit you out of nowhere. I really liked the way that the show utilized water and drowning as a visual metaphor. Obviously Hinako's family died that way, so there's a traumatic element to seeing Hinako constantly submerged. However, on its own, it also acts as a perfect visual representation of how she feels.
From the cinematography to the dialogue and how scenes are cut, it implies that this is supposed to be some semblance of a horror show. Hinako is sought by underwater creatures who probably had something to do with her parents' death, but it's okay because she has a protector in the form of this mysterious transfer student who also wants to kill her, but only when the time is right. And there's where things suddenly feel much more generic and less believable. During the big mermaid reveal scene, all I thought was that it's weird that this is taking place in the back of a school and nobody notices. Also, it's really convenient that our protagonist didn't get any blood on her. It would've been tough to explain what she'd just witnessed if she were trying to keep a secret. See what I mean? Feels much less real.
To be fair, WataTabe starts strong. Hinako wakes from a dream of sinking into open water with a blank, empty expression in her eyes. She receives a text from her aunt stating that she won't be able to make it to "the anniversary", followed by a text from her friend about being late for school. She responds to both of them that she's fine, but it's clear that she's not. She stares at a picture of a smiling family, then makes her way to school, monologing about how much she hates summer as she walks past happy families. Within the first five minutes of the episode, we've learned everything we need to know about Hinako and her world, despite none of it being stated outright.
But by the end, I was pretty much over it. The visual representation of Hinako's dissociation as her being underwater was potent at first, but after it came up for like the fourth time, I felt like I was being beaten over the head with it. The animation looks brilliant at a glance--the overwhelming blues of the water imagery contrast with vivid, warm purples and oranges around Shiori, and again with the deep red of blood splatter against her white dress. However, the impact of the colour symbolism is diluted by the long, meandering panning shots and and cheap lighting effects, including overuse of lens flare.
Allow me to tell you the biggest problem with this episode though... Near the end, we get a fight between a mermaid and an iso-onna. Hinako says the following in narration:
"It was like a scene from Hell itself. I was paralyzed by the unfolding atrocity, and yet... And yet... I... I..."
But that's not what we see. We see choppy, low-framerate footage containing vision-blocking waves, extreme close-ups that show nothing, and a reaction shot of Hinako's face. The most gore we get comes from a pair of severed arms flying through the air in slow motion.
I have no doubt that this line comes directly from the original book, and that it allows the author to sidestep spending paragraph upon paragraph describing the graphic violence Hinako is witnessing and add a bit of character insight at the same time. But while this works for a novel, anime is a visual medium--you have to show, not tell. If a character says something "was a like a scene from Hell itself", we need to see it and agree.
As for the rest of the episode, it serves to get its point across if nothing else. Hinako lost her parents and brother to the sea. Since then, she's been suffering from severe depression. Her only lifelines are her best friend and her aunt. However, when not directly interacting with either, she becomes disconnected and listless, and the visuals do a good job of showing this with the visual metaphor of being underwater. She may not be actively attempting suicide, but she certainly wishes to die, to end her suffering and be with her family. And from this is born our setup: A girl who wants to die and the mermaid that wants to eat her. It's a solid enough premise for a yuri horror show, and there is a lot of drama to be had should one or both come to value the other so much they change their mind, but the make-or-break challenge facing this anime is how it acts until that point, ie. if it can keep the audience interested as it builds toward the easy drama.
As disappointed by this premiere as I may be, I'm not ready to give up on WataTabe just yet. Hopefully the next couple episodes will do a bit more to set up the character relationships and give me a better idea of what the show will look like for the rest of its run. We'll just have to wait and see if it's up to the task.
There's a great deal that the premiere of This Monster Wants to Eat Me (WataTabe for short) does well when viewed from a realistic perspective. A lot of people suffer from depression, and depression can make one feel like they're drowning. The worst part is, this feeling can hit you out of nowhere. I really liked the way that the show utilized water and drowning as a visual metaphor. Obviously Hinako's family died that way, so there's a traumatic element to seeing Hinako constantly submerged. However, on its own, it also acts as a perfect visual representation of how she feels.
From the cinematography to the dialogue and how scenes are cut, it implies that this is supposed to be some semblance of a horror show. Hinako is sought by underwater creatures who probably had something to do with her parents' death, but it's okay because she has a protector in the form of this mysterious transfer student who also wants to kill her, but only when the time is right. And there's where things suddenly feel much more generic and less believable. During the big mermaid reveal scene, all I thought was that it's weird that this is taking place in the back of a school and nobody notices. Also, it's really convenient that our protagonist didn't get any blood on her. It would've been tough to explain what she'd just witnessed if she were trying to keep a secret. See what I mean? Feels much less real.
To be fair, WataTabe starts strong. Hinako wakes from a dream of sinking into open water with a blank, empty expression in her eyes. She receives a text from her aunt stating that she won't be able to make it to "the anniversary", followed by a text from her friend about being late for school. She responds to both of them that she's fine, but it's clear that she's not. She stares at a picture of a smiling family, then makes her way to school, monologing about how much she hates summer as she walks past happy families. Within the first five minutes of the episode, we've learned everything we need to know about Hinako and her world, despite none of it being stated outright.
But by the end, I was pretty much over it. The visual representation of Hinako's dissociation as her being underwater was potent at first, but after it came up for like the fourth time, I felt like I was being beaten over the head with it. The animation looks brilliant at a glance--the overwhelming blues of the water imagery contrast with vivid, warm purples and oranges around Shiori, and again with the deep red of blood splatter against her white dress. However, the impact of the colour symbolism is diluted by the long, meandering panning shots and and cheap lighting effects, including overuse of lens flare.
Allow me to tell you the biggest problem with this episode though... Near the end, we get a fight between a mermaid and an iso-onna. Hinako says the following in narration:
"It was like a scene from Hell itself. I was paralyzed by the unfolding atrocity, and yet... And yet... I... I..."
But that's not what we see. We see choppy, low-framerate footage containing vision-blocking waves, extreme close-ups that show nothing, and a reaction shot of Hinako's face. The most gore we get comes from a pair of severed arms flying through the air in slow motion.
I have no doubt that this line comes directly from the original book, and that it allows the author to sidestep spending paragraph upon paragraph describing the graphic violence Hinako is witnessing and add a bit of character insight at the same time. But while this works for a novel, anime is a visual medium--you have to show, not tell. If a character says something "was a like a scene from Hell itself", we need to see it and agree.
As for the rest of the episode, it serves to get its point across if nothing else. Hinako lost her parents and brother to the sea. Since then, she's been suffering from severe depression. Her only lifelines are her best friend and her aunt. However, when not directly interacting with either, she becomes disconnected and listless, and the visuals do a good job of showing this with the visual metaphor of being underwater. She may not be actively attempting suicide, but she certainly wishes to die, to end her suffering and be with her family. And from this is born our setup: A girl who wants to die and the mermaid that wants to eat her. It's a solid enough premise for a yuri horror show, and there is a lot of drama to be had should one or both come to value the other so much they change their mind, but the make-or-break challenge facing this anime is how it acts until that point, ie. if it can keep the audience interested as it builds toward the easy drama.
As disappointed by this premiere as I may be, I'm not ready to give up on WataTabe just yet. Hopefully the next couple episodes will do a bit more to set up the character relationships and give me a better idea of what the show will look like for the rest of its run. We'll just have to wait and see if it's up to the task.
Al's Anime Reviews - Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle
Posted 3 weeks agoAs far as normies go, it's hard to beat Saku Chitose. He's the most popular kid in his highschool, he has an ironclad reputation that can even weather the most vicious online attacks, and he's got a group of friends who are as attractive on the outside as they are on the inside. But when Chitose's favourite teacher asks him to help a student who's been shut away in his room for months reacclimate to school life, his perfect world will never be the same.
By the end of the premiere of Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, I felt like Loki in Thor Ragnarok.
"I have been falling...FOR THIRTY MINUTES!"
I had a feeling from the start that this would be a rough one at best. The first minute and a half of this oversize premiere had the characters ruminating on being "blue" in reference to the Japanese idiom "blue spring", meaning youth. Our lead is introduced leering at girls' legs and skirts. When the episode started proper and Chitose first opened his mouth, I could feel the simmering disdain rising within me. He may not be the typical nerdly harem protagonist, but instead he's the much worse option, the arrogant, pretentious douchebag who's just so proud of his nonexistent wit. Other boys in his class hate him because he's friends with all the prettiest girls in class. They gossip and call him names behind his back. He's surrounded by manic pixie dream girls who clearly want to ride his bicycle both metaphorically and literally, each one spouting the most overwritten purple prose narration this side of Your Lie in April. One girl is introduced boobs-first, with her cleavage taking up much more screentime than her face. Chitose has two male friends, but they don't matter--there are only two other notable male characters. One is the lazy teacher who gives Chitose the task of bringing back a classmate who hasn't attended school in months, the other is that student, Kenta, whose virulent misogyny makes my skin crawl. I'm sure part of Chitose's aid will be to get Kenta out of his ugly otaku stereotype mindset, but I found a lot of this episode very hard to sit through nonetheless
Look, I get it, highschool sucked for a lot of us. The magic of being a writer is that you can spin any situation to fantasize about as an outlet for frustrations both old and new. So here comes Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, a show seemingly made for those guys who desperately wanted to "win" highschool. The opening narration alone will be sure to exhaust the remaining nostalgia any well-adjusted viewer has for that period of their life, and for the rest of it, they're stuck in this Saw trap of fuzzy memories of standing piano tunes and pretentious LiveJournal entries for half an hour.
Chitose rattles off the seemingly endless introduction of his crowd of super-awesome female friends like he's telling you about his favourite Genshin Impact characters. Perhaps this approach would've been more effective in novel form, but when you're shotgun-blasting this many characters to the audience in an anime, having them actually embody and demonstrate their personalities and charm points would be more effective and economical. But then that might distract from Chitose's status as the center of this terminally small highschool world. If he couldn't use the personalities of his friends and associates and his cool teacher confidant as an opportunity for surface-level philosophizing about how they interact with society, what ever would he do?
It also feels like perhaps it's trying to be classier than your average tale of this type. The impression I get from this episode is that we're in for a fairly standard story about a group of popular kids who use their popularity to help others. The episode itself is a slightly extended 30 minutes, with an extra 20 minutes devoted to two of the voice actresses giving us a mini-tour of the series' setting, Fukui, during which they look at the city's public dinosaur displays and eat at famous local restaurants. I'm not sure the extra eight minutes of story content are needed, although I do understand that the goal was to introduce us to the entire extended cast of named characters in as natural a way as possible. And it does largely succeed there, to its credit--there's a bit of unnatural narration about everyone's club activities, but the dynamic between the core cast comes through clearly, as does Chitose's relationship with Asuka, who I have pegged as his actual romantic interest.
The problem is that this feels very much like a prologue. There are far too many named characters introduced at once, three of girls with names that start with the syllable "Yu" (Yuko, Yua and Yuzuki), and all of them just feel like walking tropes. Chitose himself resents the school-wide assessment of him as an unrepentant asshat, but he doesn't appear to want to do anything about it until his teacher sends him to figure out why Kenta hasn't been coming to school. If this interaction does result in meaningful change, then this episode could be deceptive. Okay, fine, I'll admit I was wrong about it if that's the case. But fuckin' hell, did it have to be dull too?
The animation is overall pretty nice, albeit generic, but it gets so aggressive with the colour correction and saturation that my LCD screen kept feeling like an OLED. Entire scenes will have a strange blue tint over them, whereas a scene at sunset is so orange that it looks like there's a wildfire happening just offscreen. The music, on the other hand, was the best part of the episode besides the Fukui travelogue. The transition from tinkling piano to rock guitars at the very end was surprisingly effective, even liberating.
So yeah, I could be misjudging it based on a really bad first impression, but that has yet to be seen, and as of right now, this feels like all style and little substance. Please prove me wrong, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, I kinda want better for you.
By the end of the premiere of Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, I felt like Loki in Thor Ragnarok.
"I have been falling...FOR THIRTY MINUTES!"
I had a feeling from the start that this would be a rough one at best. The first minute and a half of this oversize premiere had the characters ruminating on being "blue" in reference to the Japanese idiom "blue spring", meaning youth. Our lead is introduced leering at girls' legs and skirts. When the episode started proper and Chitose first opened his mouth, I could feel the simmering disdain rising within me. He may not be the typical nerdly harem protagonist, but instead he's the much worse option, the arrogant, pretentious douchebag who's just so proud of his nonexistent wit. Other boys in his class hate him because he's friends with all the prettiest girls in class. They gossip and call him names behind his back. He's surrounded by manic pixie dream girls who clearly want to ride his bicycle both metaphorically and literally, each one spouting the most overwritten purple prose narration this side of Your Lie in April. One girl is introduced boobs-first, with her cleavage taking up much more screentime than her face. Chitose has two male friends, but they don't matter--there are only two other notable male characters. One is the lazy teacher who gives Chitose the task of bringing back a classmate who hasn't attended school in months, the other is that student, Kenta, whose virulent misogyny makes my skin crawl. I'm sure part of Chitose's aid will be to get Kenta out of his ugly otaku stereotype mindset, but I found a lot of this episode very hard to sit through nonetheless
Look, I get it, highschool sucked for a lot of us. The magic of being a writer is that you can spin any situation to fantasize about as an outlet for frustrations both old and new. So here comes Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, a show seemingly made for those guys who desperately wanted to "win" highschool. The opening narration alone will be sure to exhaust the remaining nostalgia any well-adjusted viewer has for that period of their life, and for the rest of it, they're stuck in this Saw trap of fuzzy memories of standing piano tunes and pretentious LiveJournal entries for half an hour.
Chitose rattles off the seemingly endless introduction of his crowd of super-awesome female friends like he's telling you about his favourite Genshin Impact characters. Perhaps this approach would've been more effective in novel form, but when you're shotgun-blasting this many characters to the audience in an anime, having them actually embody and demonstrate their personalities and charm points would be more effective and economical. But then that might distract from Chitose's status as the center of this terminally small highschool world. If he couldn't use the personalities of his friends and associates and his cool teacher confidant as an opportunity for surface-level philosophizing about how they interact with society, what ever would he do?
It also feels like perhaps it's trying to be classier than your average tale of this type. The impression I get from this episode is that we're in for a fairly standard story about a group of popular kids who use their popularity to help others. The episode itself is a slightly extended 30 minutes, with an extra 20 minutes devoted to two of the voice actresses giving us a mini-tour of the series' setting, Fukui, during which they look at the city's public dinosaur displays and eat at famous local restaurants. I'm not sure the extra eight minutes of story content are needed, although I do understand that the goal was to introduce us to the entire extended cast of named characters in as natural a way as possible. And it does largely succeed there, to its credit--there's a bit of unnatural narration about everyone's club activities, but the dynamic between the core cast comes through clearly, as does Chitose's relationship with Asuka, who I have pegged as his actual romantic interest.
The problem is that this feels very much like a prologue. There are far too many named characters introduced at once, three of girls with names that start with the syllable "Yu" (Yuko, Yua and Yuzuki), and all of them just feel like walking tropes. Chitose himself resents the school-wide assessment of him as an unrepentant asshat, but he doesn't appear to want to do anything about it until his teacher sends him to figure out why Kenta hasn't been coming to school. If this interaction does result in meaningful change, then this episode could be deceptive. Okay, fine, I'll admit I was wrong about it if that's the case. But fuckin' hell, did it have to be dull too?
The animation is overall pretty nice, albeit generic, but it gets so aggressive with the colour correction and saturation that my LCD screen kept feeling like an OLED. Entire scenes will have a strange blue tint over them, whereas a scene at sunset is so orange that it looks like there's a wildfire happening just offscreen. The music, on the other hand, was the best part of the episode besides the Fukui travelogue. The transition from tinkling piano to rock guitars at the very end was surprisingly effective, even liberating.
So yeah, I could be misjudging it based on a really bad first impression, but that has yet to be seen, and as of right now, this feels like all style and little substance. Please prove me wrong, Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, I kinda want better for you.
Al's Anime Reviews - Bunny Drop
Posted 4 weeks agoUpon arriving at his grandfather's funeral, 30-year-old bachelor Daikichi Kawachi finds himself face to face with a 6-year-old girl he'd never seen before. His mother tells him the girl is Rin Kaga, and she's apparently his grandfather's illegitimate child. As the funeral ceremony proceeds, Daikichi notices that Rin is largely ignored by the rest of the family, and when they try to put her into foster care instead of any of them taking on the responsibility of raising her themselves, he loses his temper with all of them and declares that he'll take her in.
While it has become much less rare over the past decade, it still isn't all that often you see the topic of childcare come up in anime as its primary theme. Most of the time, we're introduced into families already established a long time ago. One of the few examples that immediately comes to mind is Wolf Children. Another would be Ghibli movies--My Neighbour Totoro in particular seems to have a pretty clear idea how children behave, as does Ponyo to an extent. In the realm of manga, Yotsuba& introduced me to a delightful little clover-haired girl who faces everything head-on with all the energy she can muster, and we literally see things through her eyes. In that regard, Bunny Drop is a bit different, as it places the viewpoint squarely on Daikichi's shoulders, but the focus of the show is nonetheless Rin, the girl he literally took in on a rage-induced whim.
Part of the charm of Bunny Drop is seeing just how out of his depth Daikichi is. The show makes no secret of the fact that his spontaneous "adoption" of Rin was a rash decision, even if he probably had the whole audience cheering for him when he told his family what for. From their first really awkward breakfast the morning after, Daikichi and Rin set out to build a life together. Another reason why this works is because Daikichi, for all his initial bluster, is an actual adult. He might've made an unplanned decision in taking her in, but he deals with his situation like an adult--he weighs his options and chooses what'll work out the best for both of them. Rin, for her part, is one of the most real-feeling depictions of a child I've ever seen in a TV anime. She enters Daikichi's life with a childish uncertainty and a head full of questions, but once she opens up to him, she's got a clear idea of what she wants and when.
Idealization aside (Rin is a remarkably easy child to care for), what makes this show so much fun to watch is seeing Daikichi's reactions to everything. At his own admission, he's not very good with children. Furthermore, he has a naturally intimidating face that normally tend to keep children at arm's length, but it's ultimately his resemblance to his grandfather that initially draws Rin to him. And so he finds himself panicking over every little thing--finding Rin new clothes, figuring out what she likes, getting her into a good kindergarten, making sure she eats right, watching over her with a sense of dread as she experiences her first serious fever... In many ways, Daikichi's life has turned into a long sequence of discoveries as he races to keep up with the adjustments he has to make to fit Rin into his life. Her unwavering trust in him coupled with his eventual refusal to give her up to anyone else creates a bond as palpable as it is adorable.
For the viewer, the (possible) transition from manga to anime is going to be an easy one. Bunny Drop is made to look like the manga in every respect, and it works quite well. The show has made a rather artistic choice in having the pre-opening scenes look like watercolour paintings, which makes it look both similar and different compared to the main episodes themselves. The opening theme is a catchy little pop number that suits the show to a tee at all times, except for the first episode, where it feels rather out of place due to said episode being about the funeral service through most of its runtime. The animation isn't the most impressive, but it doesn't really need to be, seeing as Bunny Drop is a generally quiet show.
And yes, I know about the goddamn manga ending where Rin ends up marrying Daikichi once she's an adult, but honestly, if readers didn't see that coming, that's their own problem. There were three big hints for me that Bunny Drop would end with the main characters starting a romantic relationship. First there was the fact that Daikichi was a reasonably good-looking, golden-hearted working bachelor, sort of ideal marriage material for a lot of young women in Japan. Second, from early on, Rin refuses to call Daikichi any sort of father-related title and wants to keep calling him by his name, showing that while he served as a father figure, she never saw him as her dad. Third, when Rin runs away from home and goes to her mom's house after Daikichi finds out about the feelings she has for him and gets upset with her over it, her mother is the one who makes the irresponsible choice to encourage her to go for it and persist until Daikichi says yes. Fourth, the manga was published in a josei magazine whose target demographic is women who'd see Daikichi as the type of guy they'd marry on the spot if they could. So while I can see why the manga's ending was controversial and widely negatively received, I also wish people would just take Elsa's advice already. And no, just because you and others highly disliked the ending, doesn't mean that the whole story preceeding it suddenly turns into a "grooming story". That's a completely unreasonable stance to take up, and you can hate and ignore the manga's ending without making such an exaggerated, defamatory and easily disproven claim. It was Rin who started to have romantic feelings towards Daikichi once she hit puberty, and she made the first move, not him, at age 16, ten years after her adoption. Before that, there weren't ANY instances which showed or indicated that Daikichi's behaviour towards Rin had sexual ulterior motives. He was shocked and felt betrayed by her love confession and fought her on it with all his strength, until she took her mom's advice and wore him down enough to make him relent, and even then he only cut a deal with her that if she still felt this way in a couple more years when she turned 18, he'd marry her. So anyone who says that shit can piss off and go be miserable with the people who think Disney's Beauty and the Beast is a story about Stockholm syndrome and Gaston is the real hero because they horribly misremember the events of a movie they clearly haven't watched since the 90s.
The manga readers among you might also be bothered by the omission of much of Daikichi's inner monologue. For those unaware, much of what he states in the manga is less meant for his surrounding enviroment, yet it's a part of what constitutes his character. The oddest change can actually be found in the first episode, where instead of lecturing his relatives about their misconceptions regarding Rin's personality, he just walks up to the table, slams down his mug and immediately turns to Rin (though the relatives' reactions are still as they were). It also leaves itself open for further seasons, but the show can hardly be blamed for that--it merely follows the manga's ending to Rin's childhood to the letter, adding a short sequence past the end credits to at least try and give it some feeling of closure before hopefully moving on to the next stage.
What this all doesn't change, however, is that Bunny Drop is an incredibly charming, fun and cute series, a quiet, undrstated gem that you should definitely prepare some space on your shelf for.
While it has become much less rare over the past decade, it still isn't all that often you see the topic of childcare come up in anime as its primary theme. Most of the time, we're introduced into families already established a long time ago. One of the few examples that immediately comes to mind is Wolf Children. Another would be Ghibli movies--My Neighbour Totoro in particular seems to have a pretty clear idea how children behave, as does Ponyo to an extent. In the realm of manga, Yotsuba& introduced me to a delightful little clover-haired girl who faces everything head-on with all the energy she can muster, and we literally see things through her eyes. In that regard, Bunny Drop is a bit different, as it places the viewpoint squarely on Daikichi's shoulders, but the focus of the show is nonetheless Rin, the girl he literally took in on a rage-induced whim.
Part of the charm of Bunny Drop is seeing just how out of his depth Daikichi is. The show makes no secret of the fact that his spontaneous "adoption" of Rin was a rash decision, even if he probably had the whole audience cheering for him when he told his family what for. From their first really awkward breakfast the morning after, Daikichi and Rin set out to build a life together. Another reason why this works is because Daikichi, for all his initial bluster, is an actual adult. He might've made an unplanned decision in taking her in, but he deals with his situation like an adult--he weighs his options and chooses what'll work out the best for both of them. Rin, for her part, is one of the most real-feeling depictions of a child I've ever seen in a TV anime. She enters Daikichi's life with a childish uncertainty and a head full of questions, but once she opens up to him, she's got a clear idea of what she wants and when.
Idealization aside (Rin is a remarkably easy child to care for), what makes this show so much fun to watch is seeing Daikichi's reactions to everything. At his own admission, he's not very good with children. Furthermore, he has a naturally intimidating face that normally tend to keep children at arm's length, but it's ultimately his resemblance to his grandfather that initially draws Rin to him. And so he finds himself panicking over every little thing--finding Rin new clothes, figuring out what she likes, getting her into a good kindergarten, making sure she eats right, watching over her with a sense of dread as she experiences her first serious fever... In many ways, Daikichi's life has turned into a long sequence of discoveries as he races to keep up with the adjustments he has to make to fit Rin into his life. Her unwavering trust in him coupled with his eventual refusal to give her up to anyone else creates a bond as palpable as it is adorable.
For the viewer, the (possible) transition from manga to anime is going to be an easy one. Bunny Drop is made to look like the manga in every respect, and it works quite well. The show has made a rather artistic choice in having the pre-opening scenes look like watercolour paintings, which makes it look both similar and different compared to the main episodes themselves. The opening theme is a catchy little pop number that suits the show to a tee at all times, except for the first episode, where it feels rather out of place due to said episode being about the funeral service through most of its runtime. The animation isn't the most impressive, but it doesn't really need to be, seeing as Bunny Drop is a generally quiet show.
And yes, I know about the goddamn manga ending where Rin ends up marrying Daikichi once she's an adult, but honestly, if readers didn't see that coming, that's their own problem. There were three big hints for me that Bunny Drop would end with the main characters starting a romantic relationship. First there was the fact that Daikichi was a reasonably good-looking, golden-hearted working bachelor, sort of ideal marriage material for a lot of young women in Japan. Second, from early on, Rin refuses to call Daikichi any sort of father-related title and wants to keep calling him by his name, showing that while he served as a father figure, she never saw him as her dad. Third, when Rin runs away from home and goes to her mom's house after Daikichi finds out about the feelings she has for him and gets upset with her over it, her mother is the one who makes the irresponsible choice to encourage her to go for it and persist until Daikichi says yes. Fourth, the manga was published in a josei magazine whose target demographic is women who'd see Daikichi as the type of guy they'd marry on the spot if they could. So while I can see why the manga's ending was controversial and widely negatively received, I also wish people would just take Elsa's advice already. And no, just because you and others highly disliked the ending, doesn't mean that the whole story preceeding it suddenly turns into a "grooming story". That's a completely unreasonable stance to take up, and you can hate and ignore the manga's ending without making such an exaggerated, defamatory and easily disproven claim. It was Rin who started to have romantic feelings towards Daikichi once she hit puberty, and she made the first move, not him, at age 16, ten years after her adoption. Before that, there weren't ANY instances which showed or indicated that Daikichi's behaviour towards Rin had sexual ulterior motives. He was shocked and felt betrayed by her love confession and fought her on it with all his strength, until she took her mom's advice and wore him down enough to make him relent, and even then he only cut a deal with her that if she still felt this way in a couple more years when she turned 18, he'd marry her. So anyone who says that shit can piss off and go be miserable with the people who think Disney's Beauty and the Beast is a story about Stockholm syndrome and Gaston is the real hero because they horribly misremember the events of a movie they clearly haven't watched since the 90s.
The manga readers among you might also be bothered by the omission of much of Daikichi's inner monologue. For those unaware, much of what he states in the manga is less meant for his surrounding enviroment, yet it's a part of what constitutes his character. The oddest change can actually be found in the first episode, where instead of lecturing his relatives about their misconceptions regarding Rin's personality, he just walks up to the table, slams down his mug and immediately turns to Rin (though the relatives' reactions are still as they were). It also leaves itself open for further seasons, but the show can hardly be blamed for that--it merely follows the manga's ending to Rin's childhood to the letter, adding a short sequence past the end credits to at least try and give it some feeling of closure before hopefully moving on to the next stage.
What this all doesn't change, however, is that Bunny Drop is an incredibly charming, fun and cute series, a quiet, undrstated gem that you should definitely prepare some space on your shelf for.
Al's Anime Reviews - The Banished Court Magician
Posted 4 weeks agoAlec Yugret is a mage who dedicated himself to support magic to help out the crown prince and his efforts to clear out dungeons. One day, however, the prince suddenly fires Alec from his role as the court magician, declaring that someone who only knows support magic is useless. Now jobless, Alec is contacted by his old magic academy friend Yorha Eisentz, who asks for his help to once again venture into dungeons.
Y'know, in concept, I actually do like the idea of the "kicked out of the party" trope as the start to a story. After all, there are so many routes to go down. And yet, the problem with the subgenre (as far as anime goes) is that it almost always seems to take the same damn route. Is it ever about a guy who quits the party because he realizes he truly is a liability and then goes on to find new and creative ways to help people without being on the front lines? Nope. Is it ever about someone who's an arrogant ass and is rightfully banished from the party, only for his subsequent story to teach him the errors of his ways and help him find redemption? Of course not. 99% of the time, it's always about an overpowered guy helping his party in unseen or underappreciated ways that his companions somehow see as useless and a reason to give him the boot. Then he finds a new group who sees his true worth and he gets his revenge indirectly on his old party when they suddenly start to fail and realize all he actually did for them, and that's of course what The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest seems to be as well. You know you're in trouble when even people on MyAnimeList are complaining about it being redundant.
But despite being about as bog-standard as possible, the story itself isn't even told well. I constantly felt like the show was deliberately withholding information just to get to the next plot point faster. It starts simple enough with a rather interesting relationship between a young boy and an expert magician with some seeds of mystery that could be interesting. However, not only is this done extremely quickly, to the point where I don't get as emotionally invested in this relationship as I think the show wanted me to, but the disgrace that this magician feels ends up becoming the emotional crux of our main character's entire journey. That would be fine if the premiere actually bothered getting into any genuine worldbuilding, but it really doesn't.
Alec wants to become a magician in order to change the profession from the inside because he believes his mentor was wrongfully banished, but we don't know exactly why he was banished or what exactly is wrong with the magicians system. Alec gets banished from his party, but it comes off more like his party being a bunch of dicks that were always secretly looking down on him. Maybe the message is supposed to be that firm divide between nobility and commoners? Maybe the scene where they kick him out of the party is supposed to feel forced and unnatural because they're just looking for an excuse to get rid of him and they legitimately have no genuine reason? I can't tell because the show isn't giving me a lot of information or context for how this works or how we're supposed to view our main character.
Alec is apparently one of the most skilled magic prodigies of the past few years and even seemingly broke a world record, but they get on his case because he only seems to use support magic, even though we clearly see he's able to do more than that. So why didn't he just use other types of magic when he was doing these intense dungeons? Did he just not want to upstage the prince? I don't know, because as already pointed out, the show doesn't give me a lot to go off of. Hell, what information was Alec trying to pass on to the king? Why does Alec refuse to use his true power even after becoming a solo adventurer? What the shit was "You haven't found your original state, have you?" supposed to mean?
This makes the climatic battle of the episode a total mess. Yorha makes it seem like Alec using magic is a huge deal, a major character moment for him, and that them being in a party together should be seen as a big exciting thing. She even literally states how excited she is to take Alec to the Adventurer's Guild. The music swells and the animation gets all flashy, and...I have no idea why I should care. I don't even really know how Alec feels about the prince at this point--I don't know if he feels emotionally betrayed or just let down because he failed to reform the royal court like he'd hoped. I don't know how he feels about magic or his old magic school companions, other than that they seemed to get along. There's this message at the end of the episode about trusting your teammates, but it doesn't feel earned because it's starting a bunch of plot points while failing to follow through on them. Even if the idea is that these are supposed to be things that get developed throughout the show, it still acts like it's coming to definitive emotional conclusions about them. If it wanted to be a setup episode, it should've spent more time establishing the world and these relationships. If it wanted to have an emotional payoff, it should've focused on one idea.
Just about the only real compliment I can give to The Banished Court Magician at this point is that it has the decency to inject some pleasant, warm colours into the exterior shots that take place in the evening. I guess I can also appreciate that the tone of the show is aiming for light and breezy instead of miserably edgy--if that's the alternative, I suppose I'd much rather have blandness. Maybe if this one can get its shit together within the next couple episodes, it might stand a chance in my books, but I know better than to get my hopes too high.
Y'know, in concept, I actually do like the idea of the "kicked out of the party" trope as the start to a story. After all, there are so many routes to go down. And yet, the problem with the subgenre (as far as anime goes) is that it almost always seems to take the same damn route. Is it ever about a guy who quits the party because he realizes he truly is a liability and then goes on to find new and creative ways to help people without being on the front lines? Nope. Is it ever about someone who's an arrogant ass and is rightfully banished from the party, only for his subsequent story to teach him the errors of his ways and help him find redemption? Of course not. 99% of the time, it's always about an overpowered guy helping his party in unseen or underappreciated ways that his companions somehow see as useless and a reason to give him the boot. Then he finds a new group who sees his true worth and he gets his revenge indirectly on his old party when they suddenly start to fail and realize all he actually did for them, and that's of course what The Banished Court Magician Aims to Become the Strongest seems to be as well. You know you're in trouble when even people on MyAnimeList are complaining about it being redundant.
But despite being about as bog-standard as possible, the story itself isn't even told well. I constantly felt like the show was deliberately withholding information just to get to the next plot point faster. It starts simple enough with a rather interesting relationship between a young boy and an expert magician with some seeds of mystery that could be interesting. However, not only is this done extremely quickly, to the point where I don't get as emotionally invested in this relationship as I think the show wanted me to, but the disgrace that this magician feels ends up becoming the emotional crux of our main character's entire journey. That would be fine if the premiere actually bothered getting into any genuine worldbuilding, but it really doesn't.
Alec wants to become a magician in order to change the profession from the inside because he believes his mentor was wrongfully banished, but we don't know exactly why he was banished or what exactly is wrong with the magicians system. Alec gets banished from his party, but it comes off more like his party being a bunch of dicks that were always secretly looking down on him. Maybe the message is supposed to be that firm divide between nobility and commoners? Maybe the scene where they kick him out of the party is supposed to feel forced and unnatural because they're just looking for an excuse to get rid of him and they legitimately have no genuine reason? I can't tell because the show isn't giving me a lot of information or context for how this works or how we're supposed to view our main character.
Alec is apparently one of the most skilled magic prodigies of the past few years and even seemingly broke a world record, but they get on his case because he only seems to use support magic, even though we clearly see he's able to do more than that. So why didn't he just use other types of magic when he was doing these intense dungeons? Did he just not want to upstage the prince? I don't know, because as already pointed out, the show doesn't give me a lot to go off of. Hell, what information was Alec trying to pass on to the king? Why does Alec refuse to use his true power even after becoming a solo adventurer? What the shit was "You haven't found your original state, have you?" supposed to mean?
This makes the climatic battle of the episode a total mess. Yorha makes it seem like Alec using magic is a huge deal, a major character moment for him, and that them being in a party together should be seen as a big exciting thing. She even literally states how excited she is to take Alec to the Adventurer's Guild. The music swells and the animation gets all flashy, and...I have no idea why I should care. I don't even really know how Alec feels about the prince at this point--I don't know if he feels emotionally betrayed or just let down because he failed to reform the royal court like he'd hoped. I don't know how he feels about magic or his old magic school companions, other than that they seemed to get along. There's this message at the end of the episode about trusting your teammates, but it doesn't feel earned because it's starting a bunch of plot points while failing to follow through on them. Even if the idea is that these are supposed to be things that get developed throughout the show, it still acts like it's coming to definitive emotional conclusions about them. If it wanted to be a setup episode, it should've spent more time establishing the world and these relationships. If it wanted to have an emotional payoff, it should've focused on one idea.
Just about the only real compliment I can give to The Banished Court Magician at this point is that it has the decency to inject some pleasant, warm colours into the exterior shots that take place in the evening. I guess I can also appreciate that the tone of the show is aiming for light and breezy instead of miserably edgy--if that's the alternative, I suppose I'd much rather have blandness. Maybe if this one can get its shit together within the next couple episodes, it might stand a chance in my books, but I know better than to get my hopes too high.
Al's Anime Reviews - Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon
Posted 4 weeks agoWhen Light is kicked out of the Concord of the Tribes, his former comrades instantly turn on him. Light escapes this diabolical act of betrayal by the skin of his teeth, only to find himself in the deepest part of the Abyss, the most dangerous dungeon in the realm. To avoid being eaten by carnivorous monsters, he uses the Unlimited Gacha, his sole magical skill. But where it previously only produced junk items, this time Mei, a gorgeous Level 9999 fighter in a maid outfit, springs forth. Fast forward three years and Light has carved out his own kingdom in this backwater dungeon, summoning more beautiful max-level warriors who swear absolute fealty to him. Now a powerful overlord, Light plans to ascend to the surface and take revenge on his betrayers one by one.
And the award for Most Obnoxiously Long Title in Light Novel-Based Anime History goes to (y'all ready for this?)... Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members! And if you think I'm ever typing all that out even once again in my life, you can go fuck yourself all the way to Big Bill Hell's!
God, what a muddy, ugly, mean-spirited, miserable time of a show. I often wonder how much the people producing these cynical light novel stories actually like these subgenres or the conventions they embody. Even the video game elements can feel tacked on out of obligation, to the point of forcing in mechanics that most people don't even like in games. So sure, the special power this week is gacha. Leading lad Light gets the power of "Unlimited Gacha", and seemingly never thinks to roll it more than two or three times at once. It produces useless trash and limits his options, but at least a multiracial party of encouraging adventures is here to welcome him into their fold anyway! Considering the title of this show is Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, it's pretty easy to guess that things aren't going to go well.
Everything that sucks about this anime is laid painfully and embarrassingly bare in its title. I mean, Jesus, just look at it! It's equal parts insipid, pathetic, insulting and shamelessly on the nose. It proudly broadcasts the kind of petulant perspective that could only come ripped straight from the hastily scribbled journal entries of a maladapted, myopic teenager who refuses to even try developing the most basic of social skills. That queasy, sinking feeling that lodged into the pit of your gut when you read that title? That's exactly what watching the show is like, with the one difference being that reading the title doesn't steal an entire half-hour of your life away.
Stories of vengeful vindication can be engaging. Just look at May I Ask for One Final Thing?, which premiered the exact same day--that show made its case effectively, and seeing said vengeance was actually fun, like watching John Wick come after the monsters who killed his dog. The problem with Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon is that it has zero interest in context. The concepts and tone driving them exist purely for their own sake. Light feels useless and discriminated against because it appeals to the author and target audience for some reason. Humans as the oppressed race in a fantasy setting could be a fine, functional idea, but the story virtually skips over all of Light's time with his party of nonhuman false friends, jumping straight from being brought in to being betrayed for this exhaustingly detailed, cruel contrivance of a plot.
Getting the means to the vengeance is just as chimp-simple as setting up the circumstances in Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon. Everyone betrays you because they think you're dumb and gross? What if you could just summon girlfriends? What if you could just summon a sex maid who could fight for you and loved you unconditionally and thought you were the specialest boy and would never betray you? The contrivance of Light's "gift" is so transparent because the story doesn't even bother to detail the system under which other "gifts" in this world function. What do regularly "good" gifts look like? How do their users come into them? Seriously, is there any reason Light never thought to roll the dang thing more than a couple times when he knew, from its name, that it was "unlimited"? Who cares! It's gacha, you know how gacha works! Look, it's got card rarities just like in that mobile game you sunk a bunch of time and money into!
Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon exists in diametric opposition to the actually fun and thrilling revenge fantasies out there, like May I Ask for One Final Thing?, Taken, John Wick or The Count of Monte Cristo. Instead of offering a main character who's inspiring and cool, we get Light, an oblivious and pathetic dweeb undeserving of sharing his name with one of the best villain protagonists ever, whose entire personality has been precision-engineered to require maximum coddling from a gaggle of literal gacha summon waifus. Instead of a creative and compelling fantasy world, we're stuck with the same old stock MMORPG bullshit, watered down, filtered and recycled like Kevin Costner's piss. Instead of a cast of villains that are at least compellingly evil and stupid, Light's titular backstabbers are just a bunch of human-hating beastfolk and elves whose personalities begin and end at "We're the bad guys, yessiree!" The character designs are bargain-bin generic. The direction is completely phoned in. There is so little effort on display here that I'm shocked they even managed to work a word as inspired as "Backwater" into the title.
There's not even any good action in this, the fantasy world design and backgrounds are bland exercises in genericism, and the character designs are a mishmash of forgettable flailings of flair that make me go "Yeah, that's what I'd expect from a C-tier gacha game that inevitably dooms itself by collaborating with a far better IP." This show is begging for a pity roll from anyone it can appeal to, and the best thing for both it and the viewers is to just let it go dark.
And the award for Most Obnoxiously Long Title in Light Novel-Based Anime History goes to (y'all ready for this?)... Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon: My Trusted Companions Tried to Kill Me, But Thanks to the Gift of an Unlimited Gacha I Got LVL 9999 Friends and Am Out For Revenge on My Former Party Members! And if you think I'm ever typing all that out even once again in my life, you can go fuck yourself all the way to Big Bill Hell's!
God, what a muddy, ugly, mean-spirited, miserable time of a show. I often wonder how much the people producing these cynical light novel stories actually like these subgenres or the conventions they embody. Even the video game elements can feel tacked on out of obligation, to the point of forcing in mechanics that most people don't even like in games. So sure, the special power this week is gacha. Leading lad Light gets the power of "Unlimited Gacha", and seemingly never thinks to roll it more than two or three times at once. It produces useless trash and limits his options, but at least a multiracial party of encouraging adventures is here to welcome him into their fold anyway! Considering the title of this show is Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, it's pretty easy to guess that things aren't going to go well.
Everything that sucks about this anime is laid painfully and embarrassingly bare in its title. I mean, Jesus, just look at it! It's equal parts insipid, pathetic, insulting and shamelessly on the nose. It proudly broadcasts the kind of petulant perspective that could only come ripped straight from the hastily scribbled journal entries of a maladapted, myopic teenager who refuses to even try developing the most basic of social skills. That queasy, sinking feeling that lodged into the pit of your gut when you read that title? That's exactly what watching the show is like, with the one difference being that reading the title doesn't steal an entire half-hour of your life away.
Stories of vengeful vindication can be engaging. Just look at May I Ask for One Final Thing?, which premiered the exact same day--that show made its case effectively, and seeing said vengeance was actually fun, like watching John Wick come after the monsters who killed his dog. The problem with Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon is that it has zero interest in context. The concepts and tone driving them exist purely for their own sake. Light feels useless and discriminated against because it appeals to the author and target audience for some reason. Humans as the oppressed race in a fantasy setting could be a fine, functional idea, but the story virtually skips over all of Light's time with his party of nonhuman false friends, jumping straight from being brought in to being betrayed for this exhaustingly detailed, cruel contrivance of a plot.
Getting the means to the vengeance is just as chimp-simple as setting up the circumstances in Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon. Everyone betrays you because they think you're dumb and gross? What if you could just summon girlfriends? What if you could just summon a sex maid who could fight for you and loved you unconditionally and thought you were the specialest boy and would never betray you? The contrivance of Light's "gift" is so transparent because the story doesn't even bother to detail the system under which other "gifts" in this world function. What do regularly "good" gifts look like? How do their users come into them? Seriously, is there any reason Light never thought to roll the dang thing more than a couple times when he knew, from its name, that it was "unlimited"? Who cares! It's gacha, you know how gacha works! Look, it's got card rarities just like in that mobile game you sunk a bunch of time and money into!
Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon exists in diametric opposition to the actually fun and thrilling revenge fantasies out there, like May I Ask for One Final Thing?, Taken, John Wick or The Count of Monte Cristo. Instead of offering a main character who's inspiring and cool, we get Light, an oblivious and pathetic dweeb undeserving of sharing his name with one of the best villain protagonists ever, whose entire personality has been precision-engineered to require maximum coddling from a gaggle of literal gacha summon waifus. Instead of a creative and compelling fantasy world, we're stuck with the same old stock MMORPG bullshit, watered down, filtered and recycled like Kevin Costner's piss. Instead of a cast of villains that are at least compellingly evil and stupid, Light's titular backstabbers are just a bunch of human-hating beastfolk and elves whose personalities begin and end at "We're the bad guys, yessiree!" The character designs are bargain-bin generic. The direction is completely phoned in. There is so little effort on display here that I'm shocked they even managed to work a word as inspired as "Backwater" into the title.
There's not even any good action in this, the fantasy world design and backgrounds are bland exercises in genericism, and the character designs are a mishmash of forgettable flailings of flair that make me go "Yeah, that's what I'd expect from a C-tier gacha game that inevitably dooms itself by collaborating with a far better IP." This show is begging for a pity roll from anyone it can appeal to, and the best thing for both it and the viewers is to just let it go dark.
Al's Anime Reviews - May I Ask for One Final Thing?
Posted a month agoIn the middle of a royal ball, Scarlet El Vandimion's fiance, Prince Kyle, suddenly calls off their engagement. She's falsely accused of being a bully, and people unfairly call her a "villainess". The aristocrats and noble families all denounce her. For years, she had to put up with his abuse and idiocy, but she can't take any more of it. At her wits' end, she asks for one last favour: To give him and his new girlfriend a good fist in the face. So begins Scarlet's story of revenge against Kyle and his cronies.
For weeks, I've been wondering what request could possibly follow the alluring title of this, one of my most anticipated anime of the season. Finally, I have my answer, and readers, it is so much more satisfying than I even dared to hope. Our heroine, Scarlet, has spent years putting up with the abuse of her betrothed Prince Kyle, only for all that suffering to end up having been for nothing when the douchebag tosses her aside and cancels their engagement in favour of the conniving Terenezza Hopkins. We've seen how Scarlet is a fiercely proud and principled girl who instinctively uses her fists to defend herself and the downtrodden people around her, but she's stayed her hands to protect her family's honour and future. In a moment of perfectly paced and expertly crafted catharsis, Scarlet realizes that she's now free from her past restraints. So, as a fabulously sharp little grin spreads across her face, Scarlet ask her former fiance "May I Ask for One Final Thing?" The haughty bastard concedes, of course.
What follows is the most perfect sentence I can imagine in this specific set of circumstances: "May I knock that bitch on her ass?"
Terenezza is just one symptom of the larger sickness that infects Scarlet's society though. The entire ballroom is filled with venomous sociopaths who happily suck the blood from the peasants and slaves to fill their coffers. Naturally, every last one of the fuckers is gonna have to get laid out, too. Scarlet El Vandimion does not suffer monsters such as these.
Were this not a series lampooning the villainess subgenre, you'd be excused for wondering if there wasn't something pathologically wrong with Scarlet. Her one joy in life appears to be punching people in the face, and since she was told not to do that, despite her horrible fiance's treatment of her, she's basically not enjoyig anything in her life. Mind you, being around Prince Kyle for more than three minutes could have that effect on anyone. Fortunately for everyone, however, this IS a series lampooning the villainess subgenre, and so we're free to enjoy Scarlet beating the shit out of truly awful people while also tacitly admitting that she doesn't hit animals because that's going too far.
Yes, it's simple enough as a gimmick. But look, you're talking to someone who for a very long time has named Karin Kanzuki as one of his favourite Street Fighter characters, so I'm going to delight at the sight of a blonde noble girl in red throwing hands. Even as that opening scene of betrayal, followed up with much of the flashback of the first episode, is emphasizing the hard time Scarlet had to endure, the writing's still making clear from the start that "loving to hit people" is just how she's always rolled. Going through that flashback and then seeing the aftermath of Scarlet putting up her dukes and dropping all those dukes, that helps prove that One Final Thing has legs beyond its clear base appeal.
Having the nobles out themselves as slavers right before Scarlet reconnects them to God's wifi is an easy enough way to make punching them more palatable, sure, but it also sets up the political maneuvering that Prince Julius is managing, and how Scarlet is just one part of that. Julius himself is an interesting ally (as far as we can tell so far, at least), being a "nice" noble who's still deathly lacking in empathy due to his life experiences, and he even embraces how much of a manipulator he can be. Naturally, I love him. Did I also mention that this has a crossdressing maid assassin dogboy femboy? At this point, I worry the show's over-selling itself to me.
Oh, and it looks great too. Most of the attention is naturally paid to the potent impact of Scarlet's fists felling fools, and since those bits are literal punchlines on so much story setup, that means the rhythm of it all works. It's just damn good direction from scene to scene, playing up the timing of threats to Scarlet and others and either deflating or releasing them, depending on the situation. Granted, that overall dependence on the action does make me wonder if One Final Thing can actually sustain the energy it needs to keep up. Plus, Scarlet's blessing of time magic does hit that level of power bonus contrivance I tend to roll my eyes at in these kinds of shows. But said magic does provide an edge to mix up the action as it goes, and Scarlet's already showing some evolved choreography to her combat.
All of this being said, I am a little uncomfortable with Scarlet's apparent inability to understand why her brother keeps telling her that hitting people is bad. Yes, she mostly hits the deserving, but even though this is fiction, it can feel like a bit much. It also stumbles in its worldbuilding--if it's not proper for Scarlet to show her legs, why does her school uniform skirt stop at mid-thigh? If slavery is illegal, why is it so easy to find the slave traders in the capital? And we know Scarlet is clearly not stupid, so how the hell does she thinks a rock is a precious ore? Moments like that took me right out of the story.
Still, this is more fun than anything. Prince Julius giggling like a mad fool every time Scarlet's fists fly, her brother guzzling antacids and that one brief shot of Sigurd playing with a butterfly while Kyle rants in the foreground are all delightful, and then there's Kaito Ban's mad scenery chewing as Kyle (complete with Italian pronunciation of Terenezza)--this show is a blast. Sometimes you really do just need to see a lady punch a jerk in the face and then wear his blood like body glitter. I'm wondering what the writing plan is with Terenezza, the girl who tried to frame Scarlet and was the first to get her bell rung. Seeing her in the outro, she's clearly up to something bigger. But overall, this is a series that absolutely earned the two-part premiere status.
I went into this show desperately needing an entertaining and comforting escape from the perils of the real world (not to mention the weaksauce premieres that the season has been putting out that I can barely muster the will to write anything about). One Final Thing gives me everything I needed, and then, like a most generous and benevolent queen, it gives even more. The supporting cast is great, the jokes are funny, and most important of all, we have found in Scarlet El Vandimion a true top-tier waifu. All hail the Bloodstained Lady, and may her decimating reign of terror flood the world in its righteous scarlet waves.
For weeks, I've been wondering what request could possibly follow the alluring title of this, one of my most anticipated anime of the season. Finally, I have my answer, and readers, it is so much more satisfying than I even dared to hope. Our heroine, Scarlet, has spent years putting up with the abuse of her betrothed Prince Kyle, only for all that suffering to end up having been for nothing when the douchebag tosses her aside and cancels their engagement in favour of the conniving Terenezza Hopkins. We've seen how Scarlet is a fiercely proud and principled girl who instinctively uses her fists to defend herself and the downtrodden people around her, but she's stayed her hands to protect her family's honour and future. In a moment of perfectly paced and expertly crafted catharsis, Scarlet realizes that she's now free from her past restraints. So, as a fabulously sharp little grin spreads across her face, Scarlet ask her former fiance "May I Ask for One Final Thing?" The haughty bastard concedes, of course.
What follows is the most perfect sentence I can imagine in this specific set of circumstances: "May I knock that bitch on her ass?"
Terenezza is just one symptom of the larger sickness that infects Scarlet's society though. The entire ballroom is filled with venomous sociopaths who happily suck the blood from the peasants and slaves to fill their coffers. Naturally, every last one of the fuckers is gonna have to get laid out, too. Scarlet El Vandimion does not suffer monsters such as these.
Were this not a series lampooning the villainess subgenre, you'd be excused for wondering if there wasn't something pathologically wrong with Scarlet. Her one joy in life appears to be punching people in the face, and since she was told not to do that, despite her horrible fiance's treatment of her, she's basically not enjoyig anything in her life. Mind you, being around Prince Kyle for more than three minutes could have that effect on anyone. Fortunately for everyone, however, this IS a series lampooning the villainess subgenre, and so we're free to enjoy Scarlet beating the shit out of truly awful people while also tacitly admitting that she doesn't hit animals because that's going too far.
Yes, it's simple enough as a gimmick. But look, you're talking to someone who for a very long time has named Karin Kanzuki as one of his favourite Street Fighter characters, so I'm going to delight at the sight of a blonde noble girl in red throwing hands. Even as that opening scene of betrayal, followed up with much of the flashback of the first episode, is emphasizing the hard time Scarlet had to endure, the writing's still making clear from the start that "loving to hit people" is just how she's always rolled. Going through that flashback and then seeing the aftermath of Scarlet putting up her dukes and dropping all those dukes, that helps prove that One Final Thing has legs beyond its clear base appeal.
Having the nobles out themselves as slavers right before Scarlet reconnects them to God's wifi is an easy enough way to make punching them more palatable, sure, but it also sets up the political maneuvering that Prince Julius is managing, and how Scarlet is just one part of that. Julius himself is an interesting ally (as far as we can tell so far, at least), being a "nice" noble who's still deathly lacking in empathy due to his life experiences, and he even embraces how much of a manipulator he can be. Naturally, I love him. Did I also mention that this has a crossdressing maid assassin dogboy femboy? At this point, I worry the show's over-selling itself to me.
Oh, and it looks great too. Most of the attention is naturally paid to the potent impact of Scarlet's fists felling fools, and since those bits are literal punchlines on so much story setup, that means the rhythm of it all works. It's just damn good direction from scene to scene, playing up the timing of threats to Scarlet and others and either deflating or releasing them, depending on the situation. Granted, that overall dependence on the action does make me wonder if One Final Thing can actually sustain the energy it needs to keep up. Plus, Scarlet's blessing of time magic does hit that level of power bonus contrivance I tend to roll my eyes at in these kinds of shows. But said magic does provide an edge to mix up the action as it goes, and Scarlet's already showing some evolved choreography to her combat.
All of this being said, I am a little uncomfortable with Scarlet's apparent inability to understand why her brother keeps telling her that hitting people is bad. Yes, she mostly hits the deserving, but even though this is fiction, it can feel like a bit much. It also stumbles in its worldbuilding--if it's not proper for Scarlet to show her legs, why does her school uniform skirt stop at mid-thigh? If slavery is illegal, why is it so easy to find the slave traders in the capital? And we know Scarlet is clearly not stupid, so how the hell does she thinks a rock is a precious ore? Moments like that took me right out of the story.
Still, this is more fun than anything. Prince Julius giggling like a mad fool every time Scarlet's fists fly, her brother guzzling antacids and that one brief shot of Sigurd playing with a butterfly while Kyle rants in the foreground are all delightful, and then there's Kaito Ban's mad scenery chewing as Kyle (complete with Italian pronunciation of Terenezza)--this show is a blast. Sometimes you really do just need to see a lady punch a jerk in the face and then wear his blood like body glitter. I'm wondering what the writing plan is with Terenezza, the girl who tried to frame Scarlet and was the first to get her bell rung. Seeing her in the outro, she's clearly up to something bigger. But overall, this is a series that absolutely earned the two-part premiere status.
I went into this show desperately needing an entertaining and comforting escape from the perils of the real world (not to mention the weaksauce premieres that the season has been putting out that I can barely muster the will to write anything about). One Final Thing gives me everything I needed, and then, like a most generous and benevolent queen, it gives even more. The supporting cast is great, the jokes are funny, and most important of all, we have found in Scarlet El Vandimion a true top-tier waifu. All hail the Bloodstained Lady, and may her decimating reign of terror flood the world in its righteous scarlet waves.
Al's Anime Reviews - My Awkward Senpai
Posted a month agoAzusa Kannawa is a superstar at her job. She's a no-nonsense hard worker who wins awards and looks good doing it. So it's no surprise when the boss pairs her up with a newbie, Yu Kamegawa, expecting her to teach him the ropes. Of course, there's just one problem: She's actually a socially awkward mess. Rather than being goal-oriented and focused on the job, she's just trying to be direct so she can speak to other people as little as possible. She also doesn't see that while other people recognize her accomplishments, they also fear her and find her unapproachable. Luckily, Yu is able to see a glimpse of her inner personality rather quickly. He can tell that there's an emotional person underneath the cool, blunt exterior. And so begins their friendship, with her trying to serve as a good mentor while learning how to open up a bit in the process.
Who's ready for another awkward office romance? I'm not sure why it took me awhile to realize that this has become a growing subgenre lately. While I appreciate the change in pace from the typical highschool misunderstanding setup, let's be honest, this is essentially the exact same thing with a slightly different coat of paint. I'll admit, it was initially a bit challenging to get into this premiere due to its bland appearance. I wasn't a fan of the washed-out colours, and everything looks relatively flat. But at least some fun scenes left a mildly entertaining impact.
While all the moving parts fit together fine, My Awkward Senpai is an anime that succeeds or fails based on two questions: Do you find it funny, and do you find it relatable? In my case, the answer is sadly "no" to both. I don't find the "gap moe" (as I've only recently learned is the term that's been coined for this) of Azusa's inner thoughts vs her outer actions to be particularly laugh-inducing. The opening theme, "Bukiyo na I Love You" is pretty damn cool, but sadly it's all downhill from there. The central joke was maybe mildly funny the first couple of times, like when Azusa messes up tapping her transit card, and when she drops her business cards all over the floor. After that, however, the whole episode became so repetitive that I barely remember anything other than her stressing about what counts as being friendly and what counts as sexual harassment, a bit so dependent on being entrenched in shifting cultural expectations around work and socialization that it didn't even hit me as humor.
Honestly, my favourite thing about the show so far is Azusa's mindset. She's someone who's naturally introverted and doesn't understand the difference between how she wants to appear and how she actually comes across. I did think it was funny that there are times when she thinks she's being rude while actually coming off as very professional. However, there are also times when Azusa thinks she's being extroverted, only to come off as being very rude and cold. That can be fun, and I love the scene at the beginning where the music fades out as we slowly get a glimpse of her actual mindset. That little sequence was the most creative thing in the entire episode.
The problem is that the setup is very predictable and has yet to offer anything new. We have the new coworker Yu, who'll of course be able to see through our lead or, at the very least, be a lot more understanding of her communication styles, and a romance will blossom between them. I need to see more from Yu to actually buy into the duo's romantic tension, because by the end of the first episode, it just doesn't really feel earned when he stands up for Azusa. I don't know what HE'S seeing when he says he gets to see a different side of her. Maybe some more episodes from his perspective could help balance things out, but for now, I'll just put My Awkward Senpai in the "Okay" pile. Not bad, but not good enough to be a high-priority show.
Who's ready for another awkward office romance? I'm not sure why it took me awhile to realize that this has become a growing subgenre lately. While I appreciate the change in pace from the typical highschool misunderstanding setup, let's be honest, this is essentially the exact same thing with a slightly different coat of paint. I'll admit, it was initially a bit challenging to get into this premiere due to its bland appearance. I wasn't a fan of the washed-out colours, and everything looks relatively flat. But at least some fun scenes left a mildly entertaining impact.
While all the moving parts fit together fine, My Awkward Senpai is an anime that succeeds or fails based on two questions: Do you find it funny, and do you find it relatable? In my case, the answer is sadly "no" to both. I don't find the "gap moe" (as I've only recently learned is the term that's been coined for this) of Azusa's inner thoughts vs her outer actions to be particularly laugh-inducing. The opening theme, "Bukiyo na I Love You" is pretty damn cool, but sadly it's all downhill from there. The central joke was maybe mildly funny the first couple of times, like when Azusa messes up tapping her transit card, and when she drops her business cards all over the floor. After that, however, the whole episode became so repetitive that I barely remember anything other than her stressing about what counts as being friendly and what counts as sexual harassment, a bit so dependent on being entrenched in shifting cultural expectations around work and socialization that it didn't even hit me as humor.
Honestly, my favourite thing about the show so far is Azusa's mindset. She's someone who's naturally introverted and doesn't understand the difference between how she wants to appear and how she actually comes across. I did think it was funny that there are times when she thinks she's being rude while actually coming off as very professional. However, there are also times when Azusa thinks she's being extroverted, only to come off as being very rude and cold. That can be fun, and I love the scene at the beginning where the music fades out as we slowly get a glimpse of her actual mindset. That little sequence was the most creative thing in the entire episode.
The problem is that the setup is very predictable and has yet to offer anything new. We have the new coworker Yu, who'll of course be able to see through our lead or, at the very least, be a lot more understanding of her communication styles, and a romance will blossom between them. I need to see more from Yu to actually buy into the duo's romantic tension, because by the end of the first episode, it just doesn't really feel earned when he stands up for Azusa. I don't know what HE'S seeing when he says he gets to see a different side of her. Maybe some more episodes from his perspective could help balance things out, but for now, I'll just put My Awkward Senpai in the "Okay" pile. Not bad, but not good enough to be a high-priority show.
I have no words
Posted a month agohttps://www.furaffinity.net/journal...../#cid:61272772
Wow. Blocked me on all platforms, even erased all record of our interactions on our personal Discord server, because I said no "context" could justify Charlie Kirk saying unambiguously racist shit, cheering on political violence when it suits him, and advocating for things like gays being stoned to death and preteen rape victims being forced to give birth. Even after I made it very clear that no, I do not condone what was done to Kirk, when I was under the impression that the people who DO would be the ones you cut off. You're willing to end a nearly 20-year friendship over that? Okay. Good to know the only view you'll accept is the one you say I can have, just wish I'd known sooner.
Here's hoping you come back down to Earth and unfuck yourself someday, I guess. I'm so very FUCKING sorry that I hold the "radical leftist" viewpoint of not being a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, science-denying, Bible-thumping bigot and not mourning a man who'd have loved very much to see many of my friends dead!
Let me be clear, I in NO WAY condone or advocate for political violence. I do not think Charlie Kirk deserved to die or that he had it coming. What was done to him was abhorrent. I feel horrible for everyone who had to witness it live, and for his preschool-age kids who were also present and have now lost their father. The people celebrating his death, asking for more political figures to be assassinated and calling for his wife and kids to be next are psychopaths and they deserve all the consequences they're facing. But make no mistake, the more I learned about the kind of man Charlie Kirk was, the less sad I felt for the loss of him. I'm not happy he was killed, I'm just not gonna cry over him. It fucking floors me that there are people who view Charlie Kirk as a leader and a hero. A leader and a hero who is known to have said
- gun violence deaths are "a reasonable price to pay for preserving the Second Amendment"
- gay people should be stoned to death and doing so is "God's perfect law", a statement he made in response to Ms. Rachel quoting the Bible's "Love thy neighbour" bit in a video to teach her child audience about LGBT acceptance
- empathy is a made-up new-age concept that does more harm than good
- most people are scared when they learn a black pilot is flying their plane
- Taylor Swift should reject feminism and submit to her husband
- liberals should not be allowed to move to red states
- Martin Luther King Jr. was an awful person and the 1964 Civil Rights Act was "a huge mistake"
- George Floyd had it coming and the cop who murdered him was just doing what he was trained to do
- David DePape, the man who attempted to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and violently asaulted her husband with a hammer, should be bailed out by "a patriot"
- British colonialism made the world decent
- religious freedom should be terminated (and yet I'm sure he'd have had a very different opinion if asked what he thought of Muslim nations without religious freedom)
- women's natural place is under their husbands' control
- multiple black politicians "stole" their spots from white ones
- hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19
- young women working on getting college degrees and pursuing careers need to focus on finding husbands and having children instead
- abortion is worse than the Holocaust
- no one should be allowed to retire
- Palestine doesn't exist
- mandatory vaccinations of any kind are "medical apartheid"
- parents should actively prevent their daughters from taking birth control
- Muslims only came to America to destabilize and destroy its civilization
- if he had a 10-year-old daughter who got raped and ended up pregnant from it, he'd force her against her will to carry her rapist's baby to term and give birth to it
And all of this is verifiable.
Yeah, forgive me if I'm not crying for him.
Actually, I'm not done yet--want some more inflammatory and callous public statements he made? Well, he's the origin of the baseless bullshit about Haitian migrants eating people's pets that was so infamously brought up by Trump during his last presidential candidate debate against Kamala Harris. He openly described American college campuses as battlefields overrun by "enemies" and accused liberals in academia of being "totalitarian censors". At a rally, he said "The radical left will pay for what they've done to our country." This phrase, and others like "the time for talk is nearly over", have been construed by observers as veiled threats, especially given the intense climate at his events. He not too long ago posted "Get ready for war--our values are under attack." On his show and social media, he frequently used the language of impending or active war against the left. He encouraged supporters to "take action" when "the government comes for your guns", a classic far-right talking point encouraging armed resistance. He said "the cure cannot be worse than the disease", which was echoed by the armed militia groups protesting pandemic restrictions and those calling for violence against public health officials. And let's not forget this gem: "If you're not angry yet, you're not paying attention, and angry people change history." He repeatedly said this at mass gatherings, often accompanied by calls to "fight back by any means necessary."
Kirk's entire style was to maintain a flimsy veil of plausible deniability while hinting at more extreme elements to his intended audience. He rarely directly called for violence, but his rhetorical choices, especially since 2020, were--at best--dangerously close to incitements. He encouraged stochastic terrorism, he just couched it as free speech and open-minded debate. He never conceded when he was wrong and always moved the goalposts because his point was to radicalize people. And it's very, VERY telling that when one of the attendees at a previous event asked "When do we start killing them?" and he responded with "No, that's what the left wants, to incite you to violence" and began condemning political violence, he was booed by his own audience.
And the ironic thing is, he paved the way for people like Nick Fuentes, who it turns out his own killer was a big fan of. Tyler Robinson apparently hated Charlie for not being alt-right enough, and for actually condemning Israel's actions during a beef he was having with Nick. And once news came out of the shooter being a white, cisgender republican from Utah, of course all the far-right political figures who'd been calling for mass killings of liberals, air raids on blue states, all-out civil war, more deportations, the extermination of trans women, etc. rushed to scrub their socials of evidence faster than the DoJ could scrub Trump's name from the Epstein files.
But yeah, ultimately, if not bowing down and declaring him forgiven of all wrongdoing because some dipshit on Twitter decided to claim all the records of what he's said are "fake news" makes me a bad person, then fuck it, I'm the bad guy. Duh.
Addendum: Yeah, hi, friends of his making me out to be a lunatic because you don't like that I'm not bending over and adopting your views. None of this is historical revisionism, btw, sorry to break it to you.
Have a heapin' helpin' of sources, chucklefucks.
Black pilots: https://tinyurl.com/ye2x8v6y https://tinyurl.com/bdcv5tpu
Taylor Swift: https://tinyurl.com/5n6t5km3
Retirement: https://tinyurl.com/bdh8kyzn
Leftists in red states: https://tinyurl.com/mv5yvc4s
British Empire: https://tinyurl.com/yc46nppm
Pelosi: https://tinyurl.com/mrxyp5s6
Religious freedom: https://tinyurl.com/2jzrxhm6
Blacks "stealing spots": https://tinyurl.com/nu86ncup
MLK Jr: https://tinyurl.com/3ec4tn69
COVID: https://tinyurl.com/n275th6y
Vaccine apartheid: https://tinyurl.com/4ukc73tn
Gun deaths: https://tinyurl.com/55z5sx83
Women's role: https://tinyurl.com/438p5khf
Birth control: https://tinyurl.com/4asfjp8v
George Floyd: https://tinyurl.com/yr3hw6na
Civil Rights Act: https://tinyurl.com/ypw3jrh2
Palestine: https://tinyurl.com/muy78tx9
Assorted audio proof, including proof of him saying yes to the 10-year-old rape victim hypothetical, also available here: https://bsky.app/profile/gingerkap2...../3lypzokzipc2u
God, y'know, I'd love to know where all your fucking outrage was this past June, when Melissa Hortman, her husband and their DOG were all shot dead in their home by a Trumpanzee. Oh wait, right, half your camp didn't give 1/4 of a fuck and the other half reacted with glee and mockery.
Addendum 2: Okay, so...
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal...../#cid:61273682
Look, bro, if you're gonna insult me, do it to my face, and if you're gonna sing the praises of Charlie Kirk, at least know how to identify him. The man in the "Change My Mind" signboard meme is Stephen Crowder, not Charlie Kirk, and Kirk makes Crowder look great by comparison. Also, Kirk's idea of "debate" was basically just attempting to steamroll his opponent, who'd usually be an impressionable college student, shifting goalposts and answering questions with questions so he'd never have to concede to being wrong about anything and could make the opponent look foolish to those who agree with him. He was like a religious protester at an anime convention, debating him was an utterly fruitless endeavor.
But yeah, sorry I got emotional over the sudden end of what until that moment was a close friendship and proceeded to reaffirm that I don't support what was done to Kirk but also that he held verifiably terrible beliefs. Because contrary to what social media would have you believe, two things can be true at the same fucking time. Didn't know stating facts and providing proof is what people these days consider to be irrational and illogical.
Wow. Blocked me on all platforms, even erased all record of our interactions on our personal Discord server, because I said no "context" could justify Charlie Kirk saying unambiguously racist shit, cheering on political violence when it suits him, and advocating for things like gays being stoned to death and preteen rape victims being forced to give birth. Even after I made it very clear that no, I do not condone what was done to Kirk, when I was under the impression that the people who DO would be the ones you cut off. You're willing to end a nearly 20-year friendship over that? Okay. Good to know the only view you'll accept is the one you say I can have, just wish I'd known sooner.
Here's hoping you come back down to Earth and unfuck yourself someday, I guess. I'm so very FUCKING sorry that I hold the "radical leftist" viewpoint of not being a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, science-denying, Bible-thumping bigot and not mourning a man who'd have loved very much to see many of my friends dead!
Let me be clear, I in NO WAY condone or advocate for political violence. I do not think Charlie Kirk deserved to die or that he had it coming. What was done to him was abhorrent. I feel horrible for everyone who had to witness it live, and for his preschool-age kids who were also present and have now lost their father. The people celebrating his death, asking for more political figures to be assassinated and calling for his wife and kids to be next are psychopaths and they deserve all the consequences they're facing. But make no mistake, the more I learned about the kind of man Charlie Kirk was, the less sad I felt for the loss of him. I'm not happy he was killed, I'm just not gonna cry over him. It fucking floors me that there are people who view Charlie Kirk as a leader and a hero. A leader and a hero who is known to have said
- gun violence deaths are "a reasonable price to pay for preserving the Second Amendment"
- gay people should be stoned to death and doing so is "God's perfect law", a statement he made in response to Ms. Rachel quoting the Bible's "Love thy neighbour" bit in a video to teach her child audience about LGBT acceptance
- empathy is a made-up new-age concept that does more harm than good
- most people are scared when they learn a black pilot is flying their plane
- Taylor Swift should reject feminism and submit to her husband
- liberals should not be allowed to move to red states
- Martin Luther King Jr. was an awful person and the 1964 Civil Rights Act was "a huge mistake"
- George Floyd had it coming and the cop who murdered him was just doing what he was trained to do
- David DePape, the man who attempted to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and violently asaulted her husband with a hammer, should be bailed out by "a patriot"
- British colonialism made the world decent
- religious freedom should be terminated (and yet I'm sure he'd have had a very different opinion if asked what he thought of Muslim nations without religious freedom)
- women's natural place is under their husbands' control
- multiple black politicians "stole" their spots from white ones
- hydroxychloroquine cures COVID-19
- young women working on getting college degrees and pursuing careers need to focus on finding husbands and having children instead
- abortion is worse than the Holocaust
- no one should be allowed to retire
- Palestine doesn't exist
- mandatory vaccinations of any kind are "medical apartheid"
- parents should actively prevent their daughters from taking birth control
- Muslims only came to America to destabilize and destroy its civilization
- if he had a 10-year-old daughter who got raped and ended up pregnant from it, he'd force her against her will to carry her rapist's baby to term and give birth to it
And all of this is verifiable.
Yeah, forgive me if I'm not crying for him.
Actually, I'm not done yet--want some more inflammatory and callous public statements he made? Well, he's the origin of the baseless bullshit about Haitian migrants eating people's pets that was so infamously brought up by Trump during his last presidential candidate debate against Kamala Harris. He openly described American college campuses as battlefields overrun by "enemies" and accused liberals in academia of being "totalitarian censors". At a rally, he said "The radical left will pay for what they've done to our country." This phrase, and others like "the time for talk is nearly over", have been construed by observers as veiled threats, especially given the intense climate at his events. He not too long ago posted "Get ready for war--our values are under attack." On his show and social media, he frequently used the language of impending or active war against the left. He encouraged supporters to "take action" when "the government comes for your guns", a classic far-right talking point encouraging armed resistance. He said "the cure cannot be worse than the disease", which was echoed by the armed militia groups protesting pandemic restrictions and those calling for violence against public health officials. And let's not forget this gem: "If you're not angry yet, you're not paying attention, and angry people change history." He repeatedly said this at mass gatherings, often accompanied by calls to "fight back by any means necessary."
Kirk's entire style was to maintain a flimsy veil of plausible deniability while hinting at more extreme elements to his intended audience. He rarely directly called for violence, but his rhetorical choices, especially since 2020, were--at best--dangerously close to incitements. He encouraged stochastic terrorism, he just couched it as free speech and open-minded debate. He never conceded when he was wrong and always moved the goalposts because his point was to radicalize people. And it's very, VERY telling that when one of the attendees at a previous event asked "When do we start killing them?" and he responded with "No, that's what the left wants, to incite you to violence" and began condemning political violence, he was booed by his own audience.
And the ironic thing is, he paved the way for people like Nick Fuentes, who it turns out his own killer was a big fan of. Tyler Robinson apparently hated Charlie for not being alt-right enough, and for actually condemning Israel's actions during a beef he was having with Nick. And once news came out of the shooter being a white, cisgender republican from Utah, of course all the far-right political figures who'd been calling for mass killings of liberals, air raids on blue states, all-out civil war, more deportations, the extermination of trans women, etc. rushed to scrub their socials of evidence faster than the DoJ could scrub Trump's name from the Epstein files.
But yeah, ultimately, if not bowing down and declaring him forgiven of all wrongdoing because some dipshit on Twitter decided to claim all the records of what he's said are "fake news" makes me a bad person, then fuck it, I'm the bad guy. Duh.
Addendum: Yeah, hi, friends of his making me out to be a lunatic because you don't like that I'm not bending over and adopting your views. None of this is historical revisionism, btw, sorry to break it to you.
Have a heapin' helpin' of sources, chucklefucks.
Black pilots: https://tinyurl.com/ye2x8v6y https://tinyurl.com/bdcv5tpu
Taylor Swift: https://tinyurl.com/5n6t5km3
Retirement: https://tinyurl.com/bdh8kyzn
Leftists in red states: https://tinyurl.com/mv5yvc4s
British Empire: https://tinyurl.com/yc46nppm
Pelosi: https://tinyurl.com/mrxyp5s6
Religious freedom: https://tinyurl.com/2jzrxhm6
Blacks "stealing spots": https://tinyurl.com/nu86ncup
MLK Jr: https://tinyurl.com/3ec4tn69
COVID: https://tinyurl.com/n275th6y
Vaccine apartheid: https://tinyurl.com/4ukc73tn
Gun deaths: https://tinyurl.com/55z5sx83
Women's role: https://tinyurl.com/438p5khf
Birth control: https://tinyurl.com/4asfjp8v
George Floyd: https://tinyurl.com/yr3hw6na
Civil Rights Act: https://tinyurl.com/ypw3jrh2
Palestine: https://tinyurl.com/muy78tx9
Assorted audio proof, including proof of him saying yes to the 10-year-old rape victim hypothetical, also available here: https://bsky.app/profile/gingerkap2...../3lypzokzipc2u
God, y'know, I'd love to know where all your fucking outrage was this past June, when Melissa Hortman, her husband and their DOG were all shot dead in their home by a Trumpanzee. Oh wait, right, half your camp didn't give 1/4 of a fuck and the other half reacted with glee and mockery.
Addendum 2: Okay, so...
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal...../#cid:61273682
Look, bro, if you're gonna insult me, do it to my face, and if you're gonna sing the praises of Charlie Kirk, at least know how to identify him. The man in the "Change My Mind" signboard meme is Stephen Crowder, not Charlie Kirk, and Kirk makes Crowder look great by comparison. Also, Kirk's idea of "debate" was basically just attempting to steamroll his opponent, who'd usually be an impressionable college student, shifting goalposts and answering questions with questions so he'd never have to concede to being wrong about anything and could make the opponent look foolish to those who agree with him. He was like a religious protester at an anime convention, debating him was an utterly fruitless endeavor.
But yeah, sorry I got emotional over the sudden end of what until that moment was a close friendship and proceeded to reaffirm that I don't support what was done to Kirk but also that he held verifiably terrible beliefs. Because contrary to what social media would have you believe, two things can be true at the same fucking time. Didn't know stating facts and providing proof is what people these days consider to be irrational and illogical.
Al's Anime Reviews - Dealing With Mikadono Sisters
Posted 3 months agoYu Ayase is the son of Subaru Ayase, a woman gifted with beauty, athleticism and intelligence, but Yu seems to have only inherited her good looks. When Yu is enrolled in a high-class school, he's entrusted to the care of the family of a close friend of his mother's and moves to their house, where he begins rooming with the three Mikadono sisters, who are all exceptionally talented in their own way but each have a weak side to them.
The structural setup of Dealing With Mikadono Sisters is a Breeze isn't anything new by harem romcom standards: Hapless guy winds up rooming with multiple girls, hijinks ensue. But some of the specific details at least help it stand out. In good ways? I don't know yet, but it at least feels distinctive in ways that won't have me confusing this anime for a dozen other structurally similar ones out there when I try to recall it a few seasons from now.
The leads are a bit more distinct compared to what I'd expect from an anime like this, for one thing. The three titular sisters all have styles that are just a little unconventional. There's an angularity to them, sharpened alongside some pretty distinguishing height differences between each other as they tower over the main boy. Naturally I find Niko to be the standout, but that might be because she's done just a little more interaction-wise than the other sisters. The others have their own charming points that are definitely going to target other viewers though, with stage star Kazuki coming off extremely different from other older-girl romantic interest leads.
It's all compounded by focal fellow Yu himself. He is, in the parlance of our times, just a little guy. He's a cute ball of mediocrity. But unlike so many projectable potato protags, Yu is assured and resourceful in his mediocrity. He's gained enough awareness of his alleged betters and learned enough about them that he's got an idea of how to take care of them (or "deal with" them, as the title goes) with a confident understanding you don't see from so many other put-upon dorks these kinds of shows are centered on. He might not be able to perform, fight or win at shogi, but he's the most amazing housekeeper this home has ever seen, and that earns him a spot being subservient to these bigger, more headstrong girls.
At least, that's the obvious train of thought I think Dealing With Mikadono Sisters is trying to lead its target audience to. I spent a not-insignificant chunk of this first episode trying to figure out precisely what his actual deal was. He seems earnestly engaged in the task of forging a family with these girls, their own priorities aside, but his ways of doing so ping-pong between genuine helping out and self-assured psychology. Again, I can't actually say that this is good or bad, but it's at least intriguing. It all looks nice enough, with bold colours and sharp animation on parts like Niko's efforts to kick people's heads in. The show's greatest strength is easily the character designs. Harem though it may be, there's little relying on visual shorthand to express the girls' personalities, which come through in their expressions and actions. The sisters' two-tone hair gives them extra pop in an overall vividly coloured production. It's not just the big picture either, there are small details that show thought and care, like Niko's t-shirt and sweats at home.
In its second episode, Dealing With Mikadono Sisters continues to feel just a bit weird, but that at least means it continues feeling unique. Yu's ostensible status as a simple little guy is regularly underscored by the anime effectively pimping him and his efforts. He's still inherited an actress' looks, after all, and he's even got the caretaking skills to conceive of and prepare meals perfectly suited to the sisters. Really, who wouldn't fall for him as this sort of helpful househusband? Even Niko experiences a dreamy-filtered shot of him, and this episode is overall about Yu's deceptively basic bearings tearing down barriers between him and his new would-be family.
It only feels a little undermining the way the writing keeps slipping in the undercurrent of how Yu has his ways with handling these girls and showing them how strong and independent they aren't. They even throw up imagination spots of him visualizing girls like Niko as cute animals who need to be tamed and manipulated--though at least she does call him out on the inherent creep factor of that fantasy. Nevermind the ultimate reveal of this episode that the rigidly resistant Kazuki is secretly a fussy child who needs an attentive parent to take care of things for her. It's an episode largely concerned with revealing things that these seemingly perfect sisters actually suck at, and it all provides a path for why Yuu would be necessary to helping them achieve their goals in the given fields. But it also comes across, at least a little, like the writing can't wholly abide girls who are actually strong-willed, competent and capable and must concoct situations where they need a self-insert guy playing Princess Maker with their stats and schedules. Granted, there's still a whole lot of a very particular kind of dynamic being fetishized under all this.
It's unclear exactly why Yu is having to act as the live-in caretaker of these extremely wealthy girls. If they fail at their specialties, it'll somehow be his fault. When he thinks of this, he imagines them defeated, humiliated and...stripped of their clothing. Okay, I don't think your clothes fall off if you lose at shogi or a karate match or mess up in a stage performance, buddy.
But there wasn't any other weird, out-of-place fanservice after that, leaving me to enjoy the parts of the show I liked and feel neutral about the rest. To his credit, Yu doesn't win the girls over through trickery or manipulation (so far), but by sincerely attending to their needs. The girls are prickly and suspicious, but accept his help when they see the effort he's put in to address their exact situations. When Kazuki resists his assistance, he tries to learn more about her to resolve the problem.
I have to say, the directing and comedic timing of the show is actually really winning me over the most. There's a lot of good moments of genuine comedy that really take advantage of those pop-up character profiles, with my favourite probably being the profiles following the characters as they're running across the entire school. It's pretty unique and I hope it pushes the boundaries of that type of visual gag as the show goes on. There are also plenty of comedic cuts that genuinely did get a laugh out of me, so at the very least, the show is holding my attention from an entertainment perspective. The problem is the predictability of the whole setup and how the show hasn't quite yet earned those flustered romantic moments yet. The show likes to make it a big point that our main character has the looks and the know-how but doesn't have talent, so everyone keeps getting disappointed in him. With Niko, he's seemingly won her over pretty easily with a single look and a few choice words. It would've been better for the overall story if that affection was actually earned.
Still, maybe the reason I like Yu more than a lot of protagonists who've been in his shoes before is because he interacts with the sisters like an individual character who's just as goofy and weird as his costars, and the interactions he has with them actually make you believe that they'd come to like (and maybe even love) their new tiny butler. That said, we get enough shower scenes and innuendos to keep Dealing With Mikadono Sisters from feeling too wholesome and sterile. You've gotta strike the right balance of being cute and being pervy in a harem anime, learn more from The 100 Girlfriends or Tenchi Muyo and less from, like, Love Hina or Monster Musume, y'know what I mean?
Niko's still my favourite, naturally, but there are some relatable connections Yu makes with Miwa, as their shared lack of athleticism shows they aren't as far apart as they might think--at least before Miwa starts busting out baby memories like she's Ray from The Promised Neverland. There's potential common ground here though, is what I'm getting at, and that's also found in the acting that brings Yu and Kazuki together by the end. His efforts can help to drive her passion for her craft as a motivation, and I find that way more compelling than the ending sequence showing Kazuki dreaming of Yu sweeping her off her feet as she spawns long, womanly hair and dons a feminine dress.
Yeah, seriously, the ending credits roll over a sequence that concludes with Kazuki dreaming of dancing onstage with Yuu in a feminine white dress and long hair. Because I guess every gender-nonconforming girl secretly craves traditional gender roles, right?
Dealing With Mikadono Sisters continues to be amusing in most places anyway. Plus it's still got a strong, vibrant look to it. I dig the variously expressive little bear on Yu's apron too. But I definitely think this series will fare better if it focuses on Yu ingratiating himself into the girls' lives as a caring family and/or equal-footing love interest, rather than showing off how his effective husbandry skills can tame and basically reprogram them or some BS. It all still feels weird, but I hope it can swing closer to "fun weird" than "offputting weird".
The structural setup of Dealing With Mikadono Sisters is a Breeze isn't anything new by harem romcom standards: Hapless guy winds up rooming with multiple girls, hijinks ensue. But some of the specific details at least help it stand out. In good ways? I don't know yet, but it at least feels distinctive in ways that won't have me confusing this anime for a dozen other structurally similar ones out there when I try to recall it a few seasons from now.
The leads are a bit more distinct compared to what I'd expect from an anime like this, for one thing. The three titular sisters all have styles that are just a little unconventional. There's an angularity to them, sharpened alongside some pretty distinguishing height differences between each other as they tower over the main boy. Naturally I find Niko to be the standout, but that might be because she's done just a little more interaction-wise than the other sisters. The others have their own charming points that are definitely going to target other viewers though, with stage star Kazuki coming off extremely different from other older-girl romantic interest leads.
It's all compounded by focal fellow Yu himself. He is, in the parlance of our times, just a little guy. He's a cute ball of mediocrity. But unlike so many projectable potato protags, Yu is assured and resourceful in his mediocrity. He's gained enough awareness of his alleged betters and learned enough about them that he's got an idea of how to take care of them (or "deal with" them, as the title goes) with a confident understanding you don't see from so many other put-upon dorks these kinds of shows are centered on. He might not be able to perform, fight or win at shogi, but he's the most amazing housekeeper this home has ever seen, and that earns him a spot being subservient to these bigger, more headstrong girls.
At least, that's the obvious train of thought I think Dealing With Mikadono Sisters is trying to lead its target audience to. I spent a not-insignificant chunk of this first episode trying to figure out precisely what his actual deal was. He seems earnestly engaged in the task of forging a family with these girls, their own priorities aside, but his ways of doing so ping-pong between genuine helping out and self-assured psychology. Again, I can't actually say that this is good or bad, but it's at least intriguing. It all looks nice enough, with bold colours and sharp animation on parts like Niko's efforts to kick people's heads in. The show's greatest strength is easily the character designs. Harem though it may be, there's little relying on visual shorthand to express the girls' personalities, which come through in their expressions and actions. The sisters' two-tone hair gives them extra pop in an overall vividly coloured production. It's not just the big picture either, there are small details that show thought and care, like Niko's t-shirt and sweats at home.
In its second episode, Dealing With Mikadono Sisters continues to feel just a bit weird, but that at least means it continues feeling unique. Yu's ostensible status as a simple little guy is regularly underscored by the anime effectively pimping him and his efforts. He's still inherited an actress' looks, after all, and he's even got the caretaking skills to conceive of and prepare meals perfectly suited to the sisters. Really, who wouldn't fall for him as this sort of helpful househusband? Even Niko experiences a dreamy-filtered shot of him, and this episode is overall about Yu's deceptively basic bearings tearing down barriers between him and his new would-be family.
It only feels a little undermining the way the writing keeps slipping in the undercurrent of how Yu has his ways with handling these girls and showing them how strong and independent they aren't. They even throw up imagination spots of him visualizing girls like Niko as cute animals who need to be tamed and manipulated--though at least she does call him out on the inherent creep factor of that fantasy. Nevermind the ultimate reveal of this episode that the rigidly resistant Kazuki is secretly a fussy child who needs an attentive parent to take care of things for her. It's an episode largely concerned with revealing things that these seemingly perfect sisters actually suck at, and it all provides a path for why Yuu would be necessary to helping them achieve their goals in the given fields. But it also comes across, at least a little, like the writing can't wholly abide girls who are actually strong-willed, competent and capable and must concoct situations where they need a self-insert guy playing Princess Maker with their stats and schedules. Granted, there's still a whole lot of a very particular kind of dynamic being fetishized under all this.
It's unclear exactly why Yu is having to act as the live-in caretaker of these extremely wealthy girls. If they fail at their specialties, it'll somehow be his fault. When he thinks of this, he imagines them defeated, humiliated and...stripped of their clothing. Okay, I don't think your clothes fall off if you lose at shogi or a karate match or mess up in a stage performance, buddy.
But there wasn't any other weird, out-of-place fanservice after that, leaving me to enjoy the parts of the show I liked and feel neutral about the rest. To his credit, Yu doesn't win the girls over through trickery or manipulation (so far), but by sincerely attending to their needs. The girls are prickly and suspicious, but accept his help when they see the effort he's put in to address their exact situations. When Kazuki resists his assistance, he tries to learn more about her to resolve the problem.
I have to say, the directing and comedic timing of the show is actually really winning me over the most. There's a lot of good moments of genuine comedy that really take advantage of those pop-up character profiles, with my favourite probably being the profiles following the characters as they're running across the entire school. It's pretty unique and I hope it pushes the boundaries of that type of visual gag as the show goes on. There are also plenty of comedic cuts that genuinely did get a laugh out of me, so at the very least, the show is holding my attention from an entertainment perspective. The problem is the predictability of the whole setup and how the show hasn't quite yet earned those flustered romantic moments yet. The show likes to make it a big point that our main character has the looks and the know-how but doesn't have talent, so everyone keeps getting disappointed in him. With Niko, he's seemingly won her over pretty easily with a single look and a few choice words. It would've been better for the overall story if that affection was actually earned.
Still, maybe the reason I like Yu more than a lot of protagonists who've been in his shoes before is because he interacts with the sisters like an individual character who's just as goofy and weird as his costars, and the interactions he has with them actually make you believe that they'd come to like (and maybe even love) their new tiny butler. That said, we get enough shower scenes and innuendos to keep Dealing With Mikadono Sisters from feeling too wholesome and sterile. You've gotta strike the right balance of being cute and being pervy in a harem anime, learn more from The 100 Girlfriends or Tenchi Muyo and less from, like, Love Hina or Monster Musume, y'know what I mean?
Niko's still my favourite, naturally, but there are some relatable connections Yu makes with Miwa, as their shared lack of athleticism shows they aren't as far apart as they might think--at least before Miwa starts busting out baby memories like she's Ray from The Promised Neverland. There's potential common ground here though, is what I'm getting at, and that's also found in the acting that brings Yu and Kazuki together by the end. His efforts can help to drive her passion for her craft as a motivation, and I find that way more compelling than the ending sequence showing Kazuki dreaming of Yu sweeping her off her feet as she spawns long, womanly hair and dons a feminine dress.
Yeah, seriously, the ending credits roll over a sequence that concludes with Kazuki dreaming of dancing onstage with Yuu in a feminine white dress and long hair. Because I guess every gender-nonconforming girl secretly craves traditional gender roles, right?
Dealing With Mikadono Sisters continues to be amusing in most places anyway. Plus it's still got a strong, vibrant look to it. I dig the variously expressive little bear on Yu's apron too. But I definitely think this series will fare better if it focuses on Yu ingratiating himself into the girls' lives as a caring family and/or equal-footing love interest, rather than showing off how his effective husbandry skills can tame and basically reprogram them or some BS. It all still feels weird, but I hope it can swing closer to "fun weird" than "offputting weird".
Al's Anime Reviews - Secrets of the Silent Witch
Posted 3 months agoMonica Everett the Silent Witch, is the world's only practitioner of Voiceless Magic, a veritable heroine who singlehandedly fended off the Black Dragon of legend. However, the young prodigy is actually super shy, and she only learned Voiceless Magic to avoid speaking in public. Ignorant of this, the Seven Sages have placed her on a top-secret mission to guard the Second Prince.
Well, wouldn't be a proper new anime season without me getting to some of the earlier-premiering shows late, eh? In any case, the first three episodes of Secrets of the Silent Witch each set the stage for the story to come in different ways, and I'd like to use this review to examine those ways.
The first episode is all about laying down the world, key players and core premise of the show. Basically, the kingdom is on the edge of a succession crisis. While many are backing the crown prince for the thrown, the second prince, Felix, is backed by a powerful duke who seems to want to use him as a pawn to take power from royal hands and collect it in his own. This, not unexpectedly, makes Felix a target ripe for assassination by the crown prince's faction, especially as he's currently outside the royal palace attending school. To make things more complicated, the one tasked with protecting Felix, Barrier Mage Louis Miller, is a member of the crown prince's faction, making him less than trusted by Felix or his allies. Thus Louis enlists the aid of Monica Everett, a powerful mage with no ties to either faction whose face happens to be unknown even to members of the royal family. In other words, she's the perfect choice to impartially protect Felix from the shadows.
The issue with this first episode is not the information we're given, but how it's given to us. The premiere was almost entirely expository dialogue where Louis tells the entire situation to Monica. There's very little on the show-don't-tell front and it all feels like a joke due to how uninterested and downright fearful Monica is of the plan to send her undercover into a school for nobles.
The second episode, on the other hand, is all about fleshing out Monica as a character. When it comes down to it, her damn near Komi-level social anxiety, which is so overpowering that she developed a new way of using magic without the need to chant just so she didn't have to talk in front of people, is a complex issue stemming from two sources. The first is a matter of nature. Monica is obsessed with math--it's her special interest and she can't help but want to share how cool and interesting it is with everyone around her. It's also what makes her so great at magic. However, she is aware that few people feel the same way about it that she does, even if she can't quite imagine how this could be. The second is a matter of nurture. After her father was killed as a heretic due to the results of his mathematical research, Monica's new "guardian" would beat her anytime she talked about math (and likely any other time he found her displeasing). This instilled in her a fear of talking, that she never knew what the "correct" thing to say would be in any given situation. In her child mind, any wrong word could potentially set someone off and end with her getting beaten. Thus her defense mechanism became to say nothing at all. And now, years later, she's nearly unable to speak at all, even when she knows not answering might lead to problems as bad as saying the wrong thing. Luckily, through her interactions with the various students at the school, she's starting to overcome her trauma little by little.
The third episode is where the setting and characters are finally put to use. The entire episode is a mystery story where Monica tries to figure out the identity of the person trying to kill Felix. Using her skills in trigonometry and calculus, she's able to figure out where the assassin was during the latest attempt on Felix's life and then collect the evidence needed to find the culprit. In the process, we see her start really trying to grow beyond her trauma and do the right thing to protect her new friends.
We also get hints throughout these three episodes about the greater mystery to solve: The idea of memory-altering magic and its side effects is naturally introduced into the story, and we're able to spot the signs that there's a yet-to-be-revealed mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows, manipulating those who've been attacking Felix in various ways.
Overall, this turned out to be a solid introduction to what we're in for with Secrets of the Silent Witch, and while it started off a bit shakily, I can comfortably say the series has found its footing and earned itself a modest recommendation.
Well, wouldn't be a proper new anime season without me getting to some of the earlier-premiering shows late, eh? In any case, the first three episodes of Secrets of the Silent Witch each set the stage for the story to come in different ways, and I'd like to use this review to examine those ways.
The first episode is all about laying down the world, key players and core premise of the show. Basically, the kingdom is on the edge of a succession crisis. While many are backing the crown prince for the thrown, the second prince, Felix, is backed by a powerful duke who seems to want to use him as a pawn to take power from royal hands and collect it in his own. This, not unexpectedly, makes Felix a target ripe for assassination by the crown prince's faction, especially as he's currently outside the royal palace attending school. To make things more complicated, the one tasked with protecting Felix, Barrier Mage Louis Miller, is a member of the crown prince's faction, making him less than trusted by Felix or his allies. Thus Louis enlists the aid of Monica Everett, a powerful mage with no ties to either faction whose face happens to be unknown even to members of the royal family. In other words, she's the perfect choice to impartially protect Felix from the shadows.
The issue with this first episode is not the information we're given, but how it's given to us. The premiere was almost entirely expository dialogue where Louis tells the entire situation to Monica. There's very little on the show-don't-tell front and it all feels like a joke due to how uninterested and downright fearful Monica is of the plan to send her undercover into a school for nobles.
The second episode, on the other hand, is all about fleshing out Monica as a character. When it comes down to it, her damn near Komi-level social anxiety, which is so overpowering that she developed a new way of using magic without the need to chant just so she didn't have to talk in front of people, is a complex issue stemming from two sources. The first is a matter of nature. Monica is obsessed with math--it's her special interest and she can't help but want to share how cool and interesting it is with everyone around her. It's also what makes her so great at magic. However, she is aware that few people feel the same way about it that she does, even if she can't quite imagine how this could be. The second is a matter of nurture. After her father was killed as a heretic due to the results of his mathematical research, Monica's new "guardian" would beat her anytime she talked about math (and likely any other time he found her displeasing). This instilled in her a fear of talking, that she never knew what the "correct" thing to say would be in any given situation. In her child mind, any wrong word could potentially set someone off and end with her getting beaten. Thus her defense mechanism became to say nothing at all. And now, years later, she's nearly unable to speak at all, even when she knows not answering might lead to problems as bad as saying the wrong thing. Luckily, through her interactions with the various students at the school, she's starting to overcome her trauma little by little.
The third episode is where the setting and characters are finally put to use. The entire episode is a mystery story where Monica tries to figure out the identity of the person trying to kill Felix. Using her skills in trigonometry and calculus, she's able to figure out where the assassin was during the latest attempt on Felix's life and then collect the evidence needed to find the culprit. In the process, we see her start really trying to grow beyond her trauma and do the right thing to protect her new friends.
We also get hints throughout these three episodes about the greater mystery to solve: The idea of memory-altering magic and its side effects is naturally introduced into the story, and we're able to spot the signs that there's a yet-to-be-revealed mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows, manipulating those who've been attacking Felix in various ways.
Overall, this turned out to be a solid introduction to what we're in for with Secrets of the Silent Witch, and while it started off a bit shakily, I can comfortably say the series has found its footing and earned itself a modest recommendation.
Al's Anime Reviews - Bad Girl
Posted 3 months agoYuu Yutani is a first-year highschool student who's seen as a good girl. However, to attract the attention of the school's popular, high-class disciplinary committee chairman Atori Mizutori, she begins to act like a delinquent.
When I first heard of Bad Girl, I briefly thought "Oh shit, a whole anime about one of the best bit characters in No More Heroes? Neat!" And then I watched the anime and discovered that I was in for 12 episodes of a soft-yuri romantic comedy. Not what I was hoping for, but hey, I can vibe with this.
Okay, that was mostly a joke, I didn't actually go in thinking that's what the show was, but still.
What's perhaps the most interesting about Bad Girl's first three episodes is how quickly it abandons its central premise. The central concept of the show is that smol bean Yuu Yutani is crushing hard on the head of the disciplinary committee, Atori Mizutori, and is concerned that she's too unremarkable to catch her crush's attention. When Atori approaches Yuu's delinquent-looking friend Suzu Suzukaze at the entrance gate of their school one morning, Yuu becomes fixated on the idea of adopting a "bad girl" persona so Atori will have to talk to her.
This plan fails immediately as Yuu is far too adorable to be a convincing delinquent. However, Yuu has now made enough of an impact on Atori that they can talk regularly, and hijinks between them and a few of their other classmates ensue. The best of these wacky endeavors include some wild misunderstandings around things like gift giving, Yuu accidentally watching puppy play porn after misinterpreting a recommendation from Suzu, and Yuu requesting degradation ASMR from Atori to cure a case of hiccups that she thinks will kill her.
The humor in each episode is more often derived from miscommunications between the central cast, rather than Yuu trying and failing to convince Atori that she's a delinquent as the opening minutes seem to set up, and I'm largely okay with this fake-out. Usually I find humor and situations derived from miscommunication in these kinds of romcoms to be trite and frustrating--I can't connect with characters or find value in their relationships if most of their interactions are just whatever dumbass misunderstandings that the writer feels will be funny or create the most drama. However, in Bad Girl, the miscommunications feel more genuine and believable.
It's always refreshing to watch a romcom where characters are expressive about their feelings for one another, in ways big and small. Of course, because all of these feelings and situations are so new and important to them, they stumble in the execution to humorous effect, like when Yuu accidentally propositions Atori to engage in puppy play after seeing that video, with the latter being extremely into the idea, and then Yuu is immediately overwhelmed by the situation she unintentionally created. A lot of the jokes are like this--cute, fun and grounded in young teenage girls being little idiots and in different places with their sexual proclivities and ability to express intimacy.
I'm also curious to see how the character dynamics develop as the show goes on. Yuu and Suzu have the "childhood friends whose bedroom windows look right into each other's rooms" trope going on, and Suzu has a crush on the oblivious Yuu. The third episode also sparks up an internal conflict in Atori, who seems to think she's less worthy of love and admiration than Yuu thinks she is. None of these lingering plot points feel incredibly weighty or like the show is set to offer some inspired insight into the human condition or something, but I appreciate that these characters are more than just vehicles for gags and have some degree of interiority.
That being said, not all of the jokes worked for me, and one character in particular feels especially one-dimensional. Rura Ruriha, a narcissist streamer, is introduced in the second episode. While the gag in that episode's stinger, where she turns to her online audience for intellectual validation and her army of simps instead respond that they're only watching her because she's hot, was funny, her whole "Tell me I'm pretty!" schtick to Yuu in the third episode was excruciating to sit through. There's a wealth of characters in anime who are memorable and hilarious because they're annoying by design, but this kind of character only works well in smaller doses, and Rura had overstayed her welcome by the halfway point of her proper introduction.
I also need to mention that even with the jokes landing more often than not, a lot of the other parts of Bad Girl are serviceable to forgettable. The voice acting is just solid enough not to get in the way of the jokes, the music is pretty good when it plays into a gag but otherwise largely unremarkable, the animation is limited without taking away from the comedy, and the opening and ending are fine enough. Bad Girl also has a lot of competition in the comedy, romcom and yuri divisions this season with titles like CITY The Animation, New Panty and Stocking, My Dress-Up Darling and Grand Blue's long-awaited second seasons, There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless... and See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, and I'm not sure how well it can stack up to them in the long run.
In a vacuum, these episodes of Bad Girl have solid jokes and characters with just enough depth to keep me interested in what they do next. Every character is a little weirdo dummy and I think seeing them continue to bounce off each other will both be entertaining and lead to a more complete characterization of each. While the first three episodes have tempered my expectations, I'm confident I'll have a fun time watching these characters feed into each other's quirky indecencies, at least whenever I find time to watch more between everything else I'm watching in this heavily packed season.
When I first heard of Bad Girl, I briefly thought "Oh shit, a whole anime about one of the best bit characters in No More Heroes? Neat!" And then I watched the anime and discovered that I was in for 12 episodes of a soft-yuri romantic comedy. Not what I was hoping for, but hey, I can vibe with this.
Okay, that was mostly a joke, I didn't actually go in thinking that's what the show was, but still.
What's perhaps the most interesting about Bad Girl's first three episodes is how quickly it abandons its central premise. The central concept of the show is that smol bean Yuu Yutani is crushing hard on the head of the disciplinary committee, Atori Mizutori, and is concerned that she's too unremarkable to catch her crush's attention. When Atori approaches Yuu's delinquent-looking friend Suzu Suzukaze at the entrance gate of their school one morning, Yuu becomes fixated on the idea of adopting a "bad girl" persona so Atori will have to talk to her.
This plan fails immediately as Yuu is far too adorable to be a convincing delinquent. However, Yuu has now made enough of an impact on Atori that they can talk regularly, and hijinks between them and a few of their other classmates ensue. The best of these wacky endeavors include some wild misunderstandings around things like gift giving, Yuu accidentally watching puppy play porn after misinterpreting a recommendation from Suzu, and Yuu requesting degradation ASMR from Atori to cure a case of hiccups that she thinks will kill her.
The humor in each episode is more often derived from miscommunications between the central cast, rather than Yuu trying and failing to convince Atori that she's a delinquent as the opening minutes seem to set up, and I'm largely okay with this fake-out. Usually I find humor and situations derived from miscommunication in these kinds of romcoms to be trite and frustrating--I can't connect with characters or find value in their relationships if most of their interactions are just whatever dumbass misunderstandings that the writer feels will be funny or create the most drama. However, in Bad Girl, the miscommunications feel more genuine and believable.
It's always refreshing to watch a romcom where characters are expressive about their feelings for one another, in ways big and small. Of course, because all of these feelings and situations are so new and important to them, they stumble in the execution to humorous effect, like when Yuu accidentally propositions Atori to engage in puppy play after seeing that video, with the latter being extremely into the idea, and then Yuu is immediately overwhelmed by the situation she unintentionally created. A lot of the jokes are like this--cute, fun and grounded in young teenage girls being little idiots and in different places with their sexual proclivities and ability to express intimacy.
I'm also curious to see how the character dynamics develop as the show goes on. Yuu and Suzu have the "childhood friends whose bedroom windows look right into each other's rooms" trope going on, and Suzu has a crush on the oblivious Yuu. The third episode also sparks up an internal conflict in Atori, who seems to think she's less worthy of love and admiration than Yuu thinks she is. None of these lingering plot points feel incredibly weighty or like the show is set to offer some inspired insight into the human condition or something, but I appreciate that these characters are more than just vehicles for gags and have some degree of interiority.
That being said, not all of the jokes worked for me, and one character in particular feels especially one-dimensional. Rura Ruriha, a narcissist streamer, is introduced in the second episode. While the gag in that episode's stinger, where she turns to her online audience for intellectual validation and her army of simps instead respond that they're only watching her because she's hot, was funny, her whole "Tell me I'm pretty!" schtick to Yuu in the third episode was excruciating to sit through. There's a wealth of characters in anime who are memorable and hilarious because they're annoying by design, but this kind of character only works well in smaller doses, and Rura had overstayed her welcome by the halfway point of her proper introduction.
I also need to mention that even with the jokes landing more often than not, a lot of the other parts of Bad Girl are serviceable to forgettable. The voice acting is just solid enough not to get in the way of the jokes, the music is pretty good when it plays into a gag but otherwise largely unremarkable, the animation is limited without taking away from the comedy, and the opening and ending are fine enough. Bad Girl also has a lot of competition in the comedy, romcom and yuri divisions this season with titles like CITY The Animation, New Panty and Stocking, My Dress-Up Darling and Grand Blue's long-awaited second seasons, There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless... and See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, and I'm not sure how well it can stack up to them in the long run.
In a vacuum, these episodes of Bad Girl have solid jokes and characters with just enough depth to keep me interested in what they do next. Every character is a little weirdo dummy and I think seeing them continue to bounce off each other will both be entertaining and lead to a more complete characterization of each. While the first three episodes have tempered my expectations, I'm confident I'll have a fun time watching these characters feed into each other's quirky indecencies, at least whenever I find time to watch more between everything else I'm watching in this heavily packed season.
Al's Anime Reviews - CITY The Animation
Posted 3 months agoStruggling college student Midori Nagumo lives in an ordinary city filled with not-quite-ordinary people. As this reckless girl runs about, she sets the city in motion. Midori is in a bit of a bind--she's deep in debt, and her landlady is trying to shake her down for unpaid rent. Her best friend Ayumu Niikura refuses to loan her cash since she's wised up to her tricks. Maybe some bullying would help. Or a bit of petty theft. Neither is sustainable. Maybe getting a job would settle things... But working means less time for fun adventures in the big city...
Nichijou is one of those quietly perfect pieces of media that feels like it's always existed. I'm aware that the anime premiered in 2011, but there's such a timelessness and immediately endearing quality to Nichijou that it becomes difficult to imagine a world where it never existed. To use more mainstream examples, imagining a world pre-Nichijou is like trying to imagine a world before the release of works like, I dunno, insert any culturally significant work here. Intellectually, everyone knows that these works didn't exist for most of human history, but doesn't that feel wrong? Doesn't imagining a world before these works existing make that world feel immediately strange and alien?
I begin this review with this question because I could physically feel reality shifting as the opening moments of KyoAni's anime adaptation of CITY, a manga from the same creator as Nichijou, began to play on my TV. CITY The Animation is so utterly charming and completely itself that I now have a hard time remembering a world where IT never existed. Needless to say, it's already proven itself to be a worthy successor to Nichijou and is well on its way to being, dare I say it, even better.
To begin my next several paragraphs of praise, CITY looks incredible and unlike anything else in anime right now. The combination of a simplistic art direction with bold, bright colours that have little to no shadows or shading makes every scene incredibly vivid. While feeling like a natural evolution of the art direction in Nichijou, th visuals evoke digital pop art, possessing an almost overwhelming number of distinct colours in any given shot and thick lines preventing any colour bleed. The character designs are also adorable in a youthful kind of way, like a children's book capturing the random people a kid would see while running errands with a parent. The many little critters tucked into the corners of scenes are a constant source of joy in the show. I can't help but point at the screen and go "Oh!" every time that white cat-rabbit thing is dozing in the corner of a shot or decides to walk in on a conversation and passively participate.
While that description might make CITY sound overly busy, these visuals add tremendously to the anime's style of humor. These designs allow the characters to be incredibly expressive, and the stylized backgrounds of familiar everyday locales make it feel like these hijinks are happening in places you could stumble into yourself. Most of the jokes feel improvisational in tone, where dramatic characters respond to a surprising development in a way that makes a given situation even wackier. Some of my favourite sketches from the show so far include a restaurant owner and new employee covering up spilling yakisoba into a customer's bag only to end up doing it a second time, a girl dealing with several shoulder devils and losing her mind over the lack of an angel after finding 500 yen right next to a police box, a playwright convincing an acting troupe of animals to work with him on his latest project, and the entire city falling in love with and wanting to protect the sleepiest girl you've ever seen.
Even when a particular segment feels like it's starting to run too long or isn't quite landing, a last-minute twist will always bring it home; or the visuals will be gripping enough to make up for a weaker punchline. There are no bad jokes in these first three episodes, only jokes that aren't as good as others. Though for as much as the comedy is this anime's selling point, it's the underlying characterization and heart that makes these episodes so special.
The characters aren't just vehicles for gags, and they all have enough depth to make them relatable and their (usually exaggerated) actions and reactions feel motivated. By the first three episodes, the main trio of Midori Nagumo, Ayumu Niikura and Wako Izumi are all living together (with Wako, sort of the Osaka of this cast, living in the other two's bedroom closet) and have pretty defined personalities and relationships. Niikura gravitated towards Nagumo when they were in highschool, as the latter was a savant who succeeded at everything she tried. However, like many gifted and talented kids, her natural talent left Nagumo directionless as a young adult, leaving her hard up for cash and so overconfident that she's always leaping into ridiculous situations. This makes Niikura the more mature and grounded of the two, though she's still firmly stuck in Nagumo's orbit and pulled into these situations with her. Wako, meanwhile, is a photographer who quickly becomes obsessed with anything she finds interesting and joins in on, and even exacerbates Nagumo and Niikura's shenanigans because she knows the two will give her new stimulations and experiences.
These kinds of fun and earnest relationships populate more and more of CITY's cast with each subsequent episode. While CITY is firmly a comedy, it's also willing to bridge into some more upsetting topics in these relationships. For instance, the middleschool-aged duo of Matsuri and Ecchan has the strongest improv comedy team energy of any combination of characters and are so in sync that they feel like they share the same brain cell. However, in the second episode, we learn that Ecchan and her family will be moving away and she hasn't told Matsuri yet. This left me with an underlying anxious feeling as I watched them bounce off each other in episode 3, as I kept waiting for Ecchan to tell her friend that she'd be leaving soon, and this admission never came.
These tinges of depressing situations or real disappointments make the world of CITY feel much more real, even if it's still infinitely more vibrant and fun than real life. This little bit of darkness makes it feel like I actually could live in this show, which is a brilliant choice because I kinda want to. Especially when the voice actors in both the sub and dub are bringing their A game. I know this isn't much of an observation as she's quietly one of the best VAs working right now, in terms of both talent and overall behaviour if I'm being totally honest, but Erica Lindbeck in particular brings the exact right combination of confidence, mischievousness and dumbassery to Nagumo, and the rest of the cast understood their assignment equally well.
These first three episodes don't just make me want to watch more, they make me want to be a part of this community and interact with these characters. I think that's about the highest praise I can give any piece of art. CITY The Animation seems destined to just keep getting better and better!
Nichijou is one of those quietly perfect pieces of media that feels like it's always existed. I'm aware that the anime premiered in 2011, but there's such a timelessness and immediately endearing quality to Nichijou that it becomes difficult to imagine a world where it never existed. To use more mainstream examples, imagining a world pre-Nichijou is like trying to imagine a world before the release of works like, I dunno, insert any culturally significant work here. Intellectually, everyone knows that these works didn't exist for most of human history, but doesn't that feel wrong? Doesn't imagining a world before these works existing make that world feel immediately strange and alien?
I begin this review with this question because I could physically feel reality shifting as the opening moments of KyoAni's anime adaptation of CITY, a manga from the same creator as Nichijou, began to play on my TV. CITY The Animation is so utterly charming and completely itself that I now have a hard time remembering a world where IT never existed. Needless to say, it's already proven itself to be a worthy successor to Nichijou and is well on its way to being, dare I say it, even better.
To begin my next several paragraphs of praise, CITY looks incredible and unlike anything else in anime right now. The combination of a simplistic art direction with bold, bright colours that have little to no shadows or shading makes every scene incredibly vivid. While feeling like a natural evolution of the art direction in Nichijou, th visuals evoke digital pop art, possessing an almost overwhelming number of distinct colours in any given shot and thick lines preventing any colour bleed. The character designs are also adorable in a youthful kind of way, like a children's book capturing the random people a kid would see while running errands with a parent. The many little critters tucked into the corners of scenes are a constant source of joy in the show. I can't help but point at the screen and go "Oh!" every time that white cat-rabbit thing is dozing in the corner of a shot or decides to walk in on a conversation and passively participate.
While that description might make CITY sound overly busy, these visuals add tremendously to the anime's style of humor. These designs allow the characters to be incredibly expressive, and the stylized backgrounds of familiar everyday locales make it feel like these hijinks are happening in places you could stumble into yourself. Most of the jokes feel improvisational in tone, where dramatic characters respond to a surprising development in a way that makes a given situation even wackier. Some of my favourite sketches from the show so far include a restaurant owner and new employee covering up spilling yakisoba into a customer's bag only to end up doing it a second time, a girl dealing with several shoulder devils and losing her mind over the lack of an angel after finding 500 yen right next to a police box, a playwright convincing an acting troupe of animals to work with him on his latest project, and the entire city falling in love with and wanting to protect the sleepiest girl you've ever seen.
Even when a particular segment feels like it's starting to run too long or isn't quite landing, a last-minute twist will always bring it home; or the visuals will be gripping enough to make up for a weaker punchline. There are no bad jokes in these first three episodes, only jokes that aren't as good as others. Though for as much as the comedy is this anime's selling point, it's the underlying characterization and heart that makes these episodes so special.
The characters aren't just vehicles for gags, and they all have enough depth to make them relatable and their (usually exaggerated) actions and reactions feel motivated. By the first three episodes, the main trio of Midori Nagumo, Ayumu Niikura and Wako Izumi are all living together (with Wako, sort of the Osaka of this cast, living in the other two's bedroom closet) and have pretty defined personalities and relationships. Niikura gravitated towards Nagumo when they were in highschool, as the latter was a savant who succeeded at everything she tried. However, like many gifted and talented kids, her natural talent left Nagumo directionless as a young adult, leaving her hard up for cash and so overconfident that she's always leaping into ridiculous situations. This makes Niikura the more mature and grounded of the two, though she's still firmly stuck in Nagumo's orbit and pulled into these situations with her. Wako, meanwhile, is a photographer who quickly becomes obsessed with anything she finds interesting and joins in on, and even exacerbates Nagumo and Niikura's shenanigans because she knows the two will give her new stimulations and experiences.
These kinds of fun and earnest relationships populate more and more of CITY's cast with each subsequent episode. While CITY is firmly a comedy, it's also willing to bridge into some more upsetting topics in these relationships. For instance, the middleschool-aged duo of Matsuri and Ecchan has the strongest improv comedy team energy of any combination of characters and are so in sync that they feel like they share the same brain cell. However, in the second episode, we learn that Ecchan and her family will be moving away and she hasn't told Matsuri yet. This left me with an underlying anxious feeling as I watched them bounce off each other in episode 3, as I kept waiting for Ecchan to tell her friend that she'd be leaving soon, and this admission never came.
These tinges of depressing situations or real disappointments make the world of CITY feel much more real, even if it's still infinitely more vibrant and fun than real life. This little bit of darkness makes it feel like I actually could live in this show, which is a brilliant choice because I kinda want to. Especially when the voice actors in both the sub and dub are bringing their A game. I know this isn't much of an observation as she's quietly one of the best VAs working right now, in terms of both talent and overall behaviour if I'm being totally honest, but Erica Lindbeck in particular brings the exact right combination of confidence, mischievousness and dumbassery to Nagumo, and the rest of the cast understood their assignment equally well.
These first three episodes don't just make me want to watch more, they make me want to be a part of this community and interact with these characters. I think that's about the highest praise I can give any piece of art. CITY The Animation seems destined to just keep getting better and better!
Al's Anime Reviews - Clevatess
Posted 3 months ago[Atuhor's Nose: Yep, another double feature. Who's complaining though?]
Alicia, who's aspired to be a brave hero since she was little, is chosen to be one of 13 heroes for a quest. Wielding legendary swords, the heroes set out to subjugate the lord of magical beasts, Clevatess. However, he kills them all without much effort and destroys their kingdom as revenge for attacking his lands. He takes in a baby belonging to the kingdom's royal family, then resurrects Alicia, whom he enslaves so she can help him take care of the baby while hoping to examine humanity more closely.
The premiere of Clevatess is a study in contrasts, and what you see at first is not what you ultimately get. While I wouldn't entirely call it a bait-and-switch situation, the fact is that the first half of this introductory episode is a much grimmer, scarier story than the second half. It also features some genuinely good worldbuilding: The eponymous Clevatess, known as Clen for short, is one of the great dark beasts who keep humans confined to a small portion of the continent, and legend speaks of how a group of brave heroes will ultimately defeat him. Except that legends and stories rarely translate into reality, as Alicia, one of our protagonists, quickly finds out. But she's always known that, because her father was a member of the previous generation of heroes, and he was unsuccessful, to the tune of it costing him a leg. That may be part of what saves Alicia in the end--she's more cautious than her fellow heroes and also more determined, because she knows the price her father paid.
That and she has breasts.
No, that's not a flippant remark, it is in fact her anatomy that wins her a second chance at life, because Clen has, to his own bemusement, rescued a baby from the ruins of a castle he destroyed and intends to raise him. But he also lacks the ability to feed a baby, so he picks Alicia to do it. It's emblematic of the remarkable change in tone between the two halves of this double-length episode, and also a very good reason why this is a double-length premiere: Both the worldbuilding and the introduction of Clen as a character are important, and while they aren't the real meat of the series (or so it seems), Clen raising baby Luna needs that foundation to build on. We have to understand how dire and dangerous this world is in order to appreciate how bizarre it is that one of its chief monsters would take on human form and adopt a baby. Alicia certainly isn't comfortable with it, and the premiere's first half makes a very good case as to why.
The episode also ends on an expectation-subverting twist, which I very much appreciate. It seems that Clen in his humanoid form is just as weak as any normal human. Even simple bandits can overpower him. It's a good joke, and one that adds both drama and tension to the journey. After all, if baby Luna dies, Clen can still turn into a country-destroying monster and wipe out every humanoid on the continent.
Then comes episode 2, and while it's still quite good, it's also incredibly unpleasant. On the plus side, it at least knows that slavery and sexual assault are bad. Given how many shows coyly skirt around those truths nowadays, it's worth noting that Clevatess is not one of them. But we learn this because of what the female characters go through in this episode. Alicia is threatened with rape at least twice and new character Nell is a survivor of unthinkable circumstances. When she recounts her life to Clen, it's one of repeated beatings, rapes and purported stillbirths, with the result that she lives as the bandits' wetnurse for any random child in their encampment. There's a strong implication that she was rendered intellectually disabled through repeated head trauma, although it could also simply be her coping mechanism for the horrific life she's led.
On a symbolic and thematic level, this is all in service of Clen learning about humans as he raises Luna and plans to make the baby fit to be a king. He tells Alicia that he wants to study humanity, and the series is clearly throwing him in at the deep end with the absolute worst that humanity has to offer. Already showing that Clen has far more humanity than some actual humans, he tries to help Nell--he might not characterize it in that way, but killing two of her abusers with his shadows and offering to take her with him as Luna's caretaker at least feels like it's as much about saving Nell as it is about feeding the baby.
That's all well and good, but this episode is brutal to watch. They really don't hide anything that's happened to Nell, and I can't shake the idea that her babies weren't actually stillborn after the first one, but killed to keep her trapped as someone "useful"--her initial refusal of Clen's offer seems to indicate this as a possibility. There's also more graphic violence in general, with a slave being dismembered by a monster and broken, bloody bodies at the base of a cliff. Clevatess seems to delight in its capacity for darkness, though at least I can respect that it's in service of the plot rather than just for shock value or, worse, titillation.
Meanwhile, Alicia's identity is quickly uncovered by the bandits who want to use her to get their hands on her companions' magic weapons. And as mentioned before, they attempt to rape her as well, more than once. I won't say it's unrealistic given the setting, but it's still a lot. Of course, Alicia objects to both plans the bandits have for her and instead dislocates her shoulder, kills a guy and falls to her death, banking on Clen's power and her undead nature to save her. Still looks like it fuckin' hurts though.
In the end, while the show is still one of the better new offerings this season, this episode has solidified to me that Clevatess may not be a show I want to watch weekly--I'd rather marathon it, because episodes like this one will probably go down easier if I can see the comeuppance likely to be doled out in the next episode without having to wait a week for it.
Alicia, who's aspired to be a brave hero since she was little, is chosen to be one of 13 heroes for a quest. Wielding legendary swords, the heroes set out to subjugate the lord of magical beasts, Clevatess. However, he kills them all without much effort and destroys their kingdom as revenge for attacking his lands. He takes in a baby belonging to the kingdom's royal family, then resurrects Alicia, whom he enslaves so she can help him take care of the baby while hoping to examine humanity more closely.
The premiere of Clevatess is a study in contrasts, and what you see at first is not what you ultimately get. While I wouldn't entirely call it a bait-and-switch situation, the fact is that the first half of this introductory episode is a much grimmer, scarier story than the second half. It also features some genuinely good worldbuilding: The eponymous Clevatess, known as Clen for short, is one of the great dark beasts who keep humans confined to a small portion of the continent, and legend speaks of how a group of brave heroes will ultimately defeat him. Except that legends and stories rarely translate into reality, as Alicia, one of our protagonists, quickly finds out. But she's always known that, because her father was a member of the previous generation of heroes, and he was unsuccessful, to the tune of it costing him a leg. That may be part of what saves Alicia in the end--she's more cautious than her fellow heroes and also more determined, because she knows the price her father paid.
That and she has breasts.
No, that's not a flippant remark, it is in fact her anatomy that wins her a second chance at life, because Clen has, to his own bemusement, rescued a baby from the ruins of a castle he destroyed and intends to raise him. But he also lacks the ability to feed a baby, so he picks Alicia to do it. It's emblematic of the remarkable change in tone between the two halves of this double-length episode, and also a very good reason why this is a double-length premiere: Both the worldbuilding and the introduction of Clen as a character are important, and while they aren't the real meat of the series (or so it seems), Clen raising baby Luna needs that foundation to build on. We have to understand how dire and dangerous this world is in order to appreciate how bizarre it is that one of its chief monsters would take on human form and adopt a baby. Alicia certainly isn't comfortable with it, and the premiere's first half makes a very good case as to why.
The episode also ends on an expectation-subverting twist, which I very much appreciate. It seems that Clen in his humanoid form is just as weak as any normal human. Even simple bandits can overpower him. It's a good joke, and one that adds both drama and tension to the journey. After all, if baby Luna dies, Clen can still turn into a country-destroying monster and wipe out every humanoid on the continent.
Then comes episode 2, and while it's still quite good, it's also incredibly unpleasant. On the plus side, it at least knows that slavery and sexual assault are bad. Given how many shows coyly skirt around those truths nowadays, it's worth noting that Clevatess is not one of them. But we learn this because of what the female characters go through in this episode. Alicia is threatened with rape at least twice and new character Nell is a survivor of unthinkable circumstances. When she recounts her life to Clen, it's one of repeated beatings, rapes and purported stillbirths, with the result that she lives as the bandits' wetnurse for any random child in their encampment. There's a strong implication that she was rendered intellectually disabled through repeated head trauma, although it could also simply be her coping mechanism for the horrific life she's led.
On a symbolic and thematic level, this is all in service of Clen learning about humans as he raises Luna and plans to make the baby fit to be a king. He tells Alicia that he wants to study humanity, and the series is clearly throwing him in at the deep end with the absolute worst that humanity has to offer. Already showing that Clen has far more humanity than some actual humans, he tries to help Nell--he might not characterize it in that way, but killing two of her abusers with his shadows and offering to take her with him as Luna's caretaker at least feels like it's as much about saving Nell as it is about feeding the baby.
That's all well and good, but this episode is brutal to watch. They really don't hide anything that's happened to Nell, and I can't shake the idea that her babies weren't actually stillborn after the first one, but killed to keep her trapped as someone "useful"--her initial refusal of Clen's offer seems to indicate this as a possibility. There's also more graphic violence in general, with a slave being dismembered by a monster and broken, bloody bodies at the base of a cliff. Clevatess seems to delight in its capacity for darkness, though at least I can respect that it's in service of the plot rather than just for shock value or, worse, titillation.
Meanwhile, Alicia's identity is quickly uncovered by the bandits who want to use her to get their hands on her companions' magic weapons. And as mentioned before, they attempt to rape her as well, more than once. I won't say it's unrealistic given the setting, but it's still a lot. Of course, Alicia objects to both plans the bandits have for her and instead dislocates her shoulder, kills a guy and falls to her death, banking on Clen's power and her undead nature to save her. Still looks like it fuckin' hurts though.
In the end, while the show is still one of the better new offerings this season, this episode has solidified to me that Clevatess may not be a show I want to watch weekly--I'd rather marathon it, because episodes like this one will probably go down easier if I can see the comeuppance likely to be doled out in the next episode without having to wait a week for it.
Al's Anime Reviews - Rock is a Lady's Modesty
Posted 3 months agoAt an all-girls school where young, gorgeous, ladylike girls from all over the country gather, Ririsa Suzunomiya, who became the daughter of a real estate tycoon after her mother remarried, gives up her guitar and love of rock music in order to act like a "proper" lady. But her passion is rekindled when she meets a highly skilled drummer who attends the same school.
On its most basic level, Rock is a Lady's Modesty is the story of a group of girls attending a high-class all-girls academy who secretly form a hard rock band. It's full of comedy as the outwardly proper young ladies release the vulgar rockers inside. It also has more than a little tension as they all attempt to keep this a secret from their friends, families and teachers. However, there's far more to this anime than that.
Thematically, Rock is a Lady's Modesty is about struggling to live up to other people's expectations. To match the school's atmosphere and philosophy, the group is hiding not only the existence of their band, but also the fact that they even know how to play their instruments at all. And for some characters, it goes even deeper than that. Lilisa, our main protagonist, tries to make her mother happy by discarding her past, pretending that her mother's first marriage to Lilisa's rockstar father never happened and that she's always been the daughter of a well-respected millionaire. This means she's not only trying to prove to the world that she's a perfect lady, but has had to give up on her major tie to her father as well.
At the same time, society pressures another band member, Tina, into playing the role of tomboy princess to the point where her true personality is completely hidden, and she has to physically alter herself daily to fit the part. Only through unrestrained, emotion-filled rock music can these girls gain even a bit of freedom in their otherwise suffocating lives.
As is necessary for any music-based anime that wants to be anything more than forgettable, this show also has an amazing soundtrack that display the importance of eah instrument in a way anyone can understand and appreciate. The visuals go hand in hand with this. When rocking out, 3D animation is used to its utmost to deliver awesome camera angles and show the complexity of the music by animating the girls' precise hand movements across the keyboard and strings. This is made all the more realistic because, in the performance scenes, the characters were motion-captured by the members of Band-Maid, the real-life all-female rock band who performs the show's opening theme song.
In the end, Rock is a Lady's Modesty is a silly-yet-emotionally powerful coming-of-age story about girls having to fight an inner battle between their wants and the expectations put upon them by the world around them. It's got great animation and music, and if you've ever wanted to see some “proper ladies” hilariously spouting out the most vulgar insults this side of Panty & Stocking, then this show will have you hooked by the time the first episode's credits roll.
On its most basic level, Rock is a Lady's Modesty is the story of a group of girls attending a high-class all-girls academy who secretly form a hard rock band. It's full of comedy as the outwardly proper young ladies release the vulgar rockers inside. It also has more than a little tension as they all attempt to keep this a secret from their friends, families and teachers. However, there's far more to this anime than that.
Thematically, Rock is a Lady's Modesty is about struggling to live up to other people's expectations. To match the school's atmosphere and philosophy, the group is hiding not only the existence of their band, but also the fact that they even know how to play their instruments at all. And for some characters, it goes even deeper than that. Lilisa, our main protagonist, tries to make her mother happy by discarding her past, pretending that her mother's first marriage to Lilisa's rockstar father never happened and that she's always been the daughter of a well-respected millionaire. This means she's not only trying to prove to the world that she's a perfect lady, but has had to give up on her major tie to her father as well.
At the same time, society pressures another band member, Tina, into playing the role of tomboy princess to the point where her true personality is completely hidden, and she has to physically alter herself daily to fit the part. Only through unrestrained, emotion-filled rock music can these girls gain even a bit of freedom in their otherwise suffocating lives.
As is necessary for any music-based anime that wants to be anything more than forgettable, this show also has an amazing soundtrack that display the importance of eah instrument in a way anyone can understand and appreciate. The visuals go hand in hand with this. When rocking out, 3D animation is used to its utmost to deliver awesome camera angles and show the complexity of the music by animating the girls' precise hand movements across the keyboard and strings. This is made all the more realistic because, in the performance scenes, the characters were motion-captured by the members of Band-Maid, the real-life all-female rock band who performs the show's opening theme song.
In the end, Rock is a Lady's Modesty is a silly-yet-emotionally powerful coming-of-age story about girls having to fight an inner battle between their wants and the expectations put upon them by the world around them. It's got great animation and music, and if you've ever wanted to see some “proper ladies” hilariously spouting out the most vulgar insults this side of Panty & Stocking, then this show will have you hooked by the time the first episode's credits roll.
Al's Anime Reviews - Tougen Anki
Posted 3 months agoShiki Ichinose's blood is Oni, and his father's is Momotaro. Normally, those of Momotaro's bloodline hunt the Oni, but Shiki's father refused to kill him upon finding him as a baby. Instead he adopted Shiki and lovingly raised him, despite the rebellious attitude and dangerous temper that comes with Oni blood. When a member of the Momotaro Agency kills Shiki's father years later, Shiki vows to avenge him.
Tougen Anki feels like it was assembled from parts of other, more popular examples of darker shonen anime. It's like bits of Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen and Blue Exorcist put together--hell, I've even seen it being called a grimdark edgelord version of Blue Exorcist. It doesn't have a lot of big ideas it wants to showcase, it's just a punk-ass teenager who discovers he can turn his body into guns when his adoptive father gets murdered in front of him. The minute recently expelled delinquent Shiki tells his old man "I never want to become a lame adult like you", we know that the man's gonna die before the end of the premiere. Shiki himself is a little too oblivious to realize he's the protagonist of a "kid suddenly finds he can transform into a demonic ultimate weapon thing" anime, so he doesn't know he's just signed his dad's death warrant, but that's simply what happens when a kid mouths off to their parent in a show like this. How else is he going to feel guilty and revenge-motivated enough to kill the bad guys in however many episodes this series is set to produce?
And y'know what? I think I had more outright fun watching it than almost any other new show this season.
Take the first scene: Shiki sits at his desk in his room full of airsoft guns, chuckling on the phone about how he was expelled from school. He hangs up, and his body language shifts, now looking uncomfortable and lost. In the space of just a couple minutes, I feel like I know something about this boy, and I didn't have anyone sit down and give me an "As You Know" speech or have an omniscient narrator explain it. The dialogue continues in this manner--not exactly naturalistic, but smooth and able to avoid clunky exposition by showing instead of telling whenever possible, having characters explain things only at points where it makes sense. Is a punk with a heart of gold the most original or exciting protagonist in the world? No, but he has a real personality and it's competently conveyed through the animation and voice acting. That goes a long way.
The action direction is just as slick, outside of some clunky shifts into CG and an ill-realized smoke effect. Shiki's power, being able to form guns out of his goopy red oni body, is not only seeded well with his airsoft obsession, but it's...kinda cool, to be honest. The climactic scene takes place in a big, empty warehouse, making for a fairly straightforward fight of characters running at each other with weapons without interacting with the environment, which isn't the most thrilling, but the reds and golds of the lighting set the tone and mood just right. I liked how flashy everything looked with the oni blood powers, even if it did just feel like I was watching footage from a Marvel game at times. I'm not just saying that because the powers of the Oni look like a Carnage knockoff--the action seems to make a lot of use of cell-shaded 3D models to go for some more intense choreography. This works when the Oni are CGI because the blood texture on their body hides that well, but when it's just some guy swinging swords around, it really does look like some obscure video game cutscene.
The fight Shiki has against his father's killer is genuinely pretty badass. The choreography is good, the animation is consistent, and the show takes full advantage of Shiki's specifically gun-based blood powers. I actually began thinking about how I sort of miss the days when a comic could have heroes and villains alike whose entire catalogue of superpowers was having an infinite amount of giant guns to pull out of whatever hammerspace arms factory they generated them from back in the 90s. That whole aesthetic is gloriously stupid and weirdly nostalgic, and Tougen Anki channels that vibe with a single-minded purpose. You WILL be impressed by how many guns Shiki can shoot guys with, dammit!
In short, Tougen Anki is pure junk food, like the anime equivalent of a big bag of Doritos, and sometimes that's exactly what you're in the mood for.
Tougen Anki feels like it was assembled from parts of other, more popular examples of darker shonen anime. It's like bits of Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen and Blue Exorcist put together--hell, I've even seen it being called a grimdark edgelord version of Blue Exorcist. It doesn't have a lot of big ideas it wants to showcase, it's just a punk-ass teenager who discovers he can turn his body into guns when his adoptive father gets murdered in front of him. The minute recently expelled delinquent Shiki tells his old man "I never want to become a lame adult like you", we know that the man's gonna die before the end of the premiere. Shiki himself is a little too oblivious to realize he's the protagonist of a "kid suddenly finds he can transform into a demonic ultimate weapon thing" anime, so he doesn't know he's just signed his dad's death warrant, but that's simply what happens when a kid mouths off to their parent in a show like this. How else is he going to feel guilty and revenge-motivated enough to kill the bad guys in however many episodes this series is set to produce?
And y'know what? I think I had more outright fun watching it than almost any other new show this season.
Take the first scene: Shiki sits at his desk in his room full of airsoft guns, chuckling on the phone about how he was expelled from school. He hangs up, and his body language shifts, now looking uncomfortable and lost. In the space of just a couple minutes, I feel like I know something about this boy, and I didn't have anyone sit down and give me an "As You Know" speech or have an omniscient narrator explain it. The dialogue continues in this manner--not exactly naturalistic, but smooth and able to avoid clunky exposition by showing instead of telling whenever possible, having characters explain things only at points where it makes sense. Is a punk with a heart of gold the most original or exciting protagonist in the world? No, but he has a real personality and it's competently conveyed through the animation and voice acting. That goes a long way.
The action direction is just as slick, outside of some clunky shifts into CG and an ill-realized smoke effect. Shiki's power, being able to form guns out of his goopy red oni body, is not only seeded well with his airsoft obsession, but it's...kinda cool, to be honest. The climactic scene takes place in a big, empty warehouse, making for a fairly straightforward fight of characters running at each other with weapons without interacting with the environment, which isn't the most thrilling, but the reds and golds of the lighting set the tone and mood just right. I liked how flashy everything looked with the oni blood powers, even if it did just feel like I was watching footage from a Marvel game at times. I'm not just saying that because the powers of the Oni look like a Carnage knockoff--the action seems to make a lot of use of cell-shaded 3D models to go for some more intense choreography. This works when the Oni are CGI because the blood texture on their body hides that well, but when it's just some guy swinging swords around, it really does look like some obscure video game cutscene.
The fight Shiki has against his father's killer is genuinely pretty badass. The choreography is good, the animation is consistent, and the show takes full advantage of Shiki's specifically gun-based blood powers. I actually began thinking about how I sort of miss the days when a comic could have heroes and villains alike whose entire catalogue of superpowers was having an infinite amount of giant guns to pull out of whatever hammerspace arms factory they generated them from back in the 90s. That whole aesthetic is gloriously stupid and weirdly nostalgic, and Tougen Anki channels that vibe with a single-minded purpose. You WILL be impressed by how many guns Shiki can shoot guys with, dammit!
In short, Tougen Anki is pure junk food, like the anime equivalent of a big bag of Doritos, and sometimes that's exactly what you're in the mood for.
