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When it comes to writing a coherent, enjoyable film or television series, many factors can shine. Whether that be thematic significance, mesmerising worldbuilding, or thought provoking dialogue, these can help push a show beyond mediocrity harder than I can abuse the rule of three writing this introduction to the rest of the review.

New Game doesn’t really feature many of these notabilities mentioned prior, but such is often to be expected from a slice of life show; an episodic one at that (of course, there exist plenty of great examples of environmental storytelling that serve as counterexamples, but as it’s obvious that this was not the ... goal of the creators, I digress). Nonetheless, an unchanging character environment without major conflicts of note can work, but ONLY if the humour works. Imagine watching Seinfeld (or any other sitcom for that matter) without the incidental humour. Trying to watch any show centred around comedy that doesn’t “click” for you will feel like a slog; It just doesn’t work. Perhaps if you like underdelivered jokes that have the writing equivalent of a runny egg’s consistency, you’d find New Game a lot more amusing than I did.

To top it all off, New Game isn’t even particularly educational in its subject matter, preferring to dedicate most of its runtime to idealistic scenes that are slightly more entertaining than watching paint dry. It’s very well animated paint, for sure, but underneath the colourful, vibrant visuals, the enthusiastic voice acting, the fun soundtrack, and the fluid animation, there’s... nothing really of note? The characters show features an all-female cast for no other reason other than to provide the viewer with eye candy, with some of the fanservice shots, while much less common than certain other offenders, being as obnoxious as ever.

I can’t say I hated New Game, but between every fun interaction that could even be humorous on occasion, there existed a plethora of moe fluff scenes I couldn’t get behind personally. While far from the worst offender, I cannot be Stockholm Syndrome’d by the art direction into saying I very much enjoyed the overall experience. Whilst this review may seem harsh, understand that it’s an okay show if you need something cute and thoughtless at the end of a day.

Some people might wonder where lies the value of watching very obscure shows. They're hard to find, hard to know anything about prior to watching them, and rarely serve as a discussion point among peers. What's the point of doing that?

Well, sometimes you end up finding a gem hidden in the rough; and I'd definitely consider this to be one of said gems.

Ippon Bouchou Mantarou is a show about cooking. No, not Shokugeki no Souma "food orgasm" cooking, not Pan de Peace "moeblobs talk about nothing" cooking, actual cooking. And there is genuine exhilaration in the ideas it brings and the way it structures the ... competitions that our main lead, Mantarou, enters.

The attention to detail, especially for an OVA from 1991, is very impressive. The show takes the time to walk you through different cuisines, the details behind making them, and sometimes even their origins. However, don't mistake this for the show having slow pacing; it doesn't. The show strikes a balance between anticipation and action, especially in the first episode. The art, though aged by today's standards, looks very good for its time.

Ippon Bouchou Mantarou is one of those rare forgotten obscures that holds formidable merit and remains watchable even today. If an old anime about cooking competitions interests you at all, I implore you to give this a try. If you end up liking it, perhaps introduce it to a friend as a conversational topic, because like an old family recipe or an excellent hole-in-the-wall restaurant, a genuinely good obscure anime like this is worth sharing.

What does it mean to chase a dream?

On the surface, Josee to Tora to Sakana-tachi doesn't seem very special; just your generic romcom but with a girl in a wheelchair. In fact, in execution, the writing can have some odd pacing issues or underdeveloped side characters. What's to like about the show, then? Plenty, actually.

Much like any good storywriter would do, all of the characters have distinct flaws; Hayato is your usual, overly easygoing friend of the main lead; Josee suffers from a sharp tongue and an inability to express her feelings; and as for Tsuneo and Mai, well, you'll just have to find out.

While ... the cast may come across as cliche, the dynamic between the characters' interactions with each other are what really sell the show; opposites attract, after all. Much of the dialogue between our two leads feels natural, much like an actual conversation. The character writing is thus done in a very concise yet detailed manner.

The art from Bones looks excellent throughout with its somewhat softer line art and great use of colour; you'll see what I mean in numerous scenes that show beautiful imagery. Additionally, while I'm not as big of a fan of Eve as many people on this site may be, I can't deny that the music for the film was fairly fitting, though not something that particularly stands out.

Josee to Tora to Sakana-tachi may not break as much new ground as one would hope from looking at, say, previews or trailers of it. However, its theme is explored very well throughout the show; an idea of being able to work toward insurmountable odds not because you're guaranteed to succeed, but because you're guaranteed not to succeed if you give up.

What can you do when tasked to make an animation with a 2 minute runtime? Evidently, quite a bit.

Do you harken back to the older, grander days of giant robot anime? Are you fine with running episodic gags involving Japanese sweets? Do you want a simple, but complete satire story experience in the span of 26 minutes? Say no more.

Doamaiger D is a testosterone filled series of shorts that imitate the simpler, testosterone filled mecha storylines of the older days; something like Mazinger Z is a fair comparison. This is reflected in its artistry, story structure, and mecha designs. However, it does have the unique ... spin of introducing a Japanese confectionary every episode. If you're having trouble finishing a giant robot robot because it contains more episodes than there are molecules in the universe, Doamaiger D is a perfect in between short to check out.

What impresses me most about Doamaiger D is that it was able to create a conclusive storyline, from beginning to end, better than any 2 minute short anime I've ever seen, and maybe will ever see. Of course, much of it is making fun of old mecha tropes, but there's never an overreliance on doing so; it carves some of its own niche, combining running gags with some periodic one-time jokes.

Sure, the characters may be a little flat and it could get a bit repetitive, but it's the cream of the crop when it comes to anime with an absolutely blazing two minute runtime per episode. If you've watched any older mecha series, you're likely already familiar with the style present here; in this case, it's just condensed in pacing.

If you're looking for a fun play on old giant robot anime with a dessert spin, be sure to check this out.

This goddamn pizza isekai is great and you literally cannot change my mind.

At its core, "Yuusha desu ga Isekai de Elf Yome to Pizza-ten Hajimemasu" is a food themed slice of life light novel with a relatively satire play on various isekai tropes and a premise that centres around making pizza. Do you like pizza? You'll like this light novel, which delivers mouthwatering descriptions of them. I absolutely live and breathe pizza, and I was pleasantly surprised at how accurate a lot of the descriptions are; it's clear the author has done at least some amount of research beyond the superficial. Good on them.

Similarly to ... what the author states in the afterword, The chapters act as self contained comedic arcs with an overall overarching progression throughout the series. Because of its relatively short length, some people may be disappointed to hear that the progression doesn't go as far as many of them would like it to be, but such is to be expected in a slice of life series.

There's occasional art that's relatively well done scattered about each chapter, though my only real complaint of such is that some of the characters look similar enough to blend together. That's the case with some of the characterizations as well, being relatively standard tropes at this point. The novel does take advantage of said fact to make a few relatively funny gags though.

This novel obviously won't be a 10 for everyone, especially those who have read more light novels than I have, as a lot of it is pretty standard fare with some tropes that have probably been overdone. But given that the author does poke some fun at the isekai genre as a whole, if you aren't tired of isekai yet and you have any love for pizza, give this series a shot. You may not like it as much as I did, but you might also have a goofy smile on your face through at least some of the segments; it's a fun read that doesn't try to play itself off as anything it isn't.

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry is an anime that I had a very hard time rating. Never have I ever seen something that conflicted so much of what I respect in one way while warranting praise in others.

Let's get the frivolous topics over with first; the opening is very well done, the music is okay albeit lacking, and the artstyle really doesn't warrant any major criticisms.

The anime features a protagonist that, despite being completely uncut for a task, surpasses all odds to succeed. It does so in an admittedly entertaining way, and creates a rare pseudo-harem protagonist that isn't completely braindead. Such I admit is respectable.

A ... lot of the other characters, on the other hand, especially the deuteragonist, come off as unbelievably flat, underdeveloped, and boring. There's literally no reasoning for the viewer to want to care about anything else that goes on, further cemented by the relatively neglected character dynamics, relations, and connections; a lot of what happens near the end of the anime leaves the viewer in almost as deep a lack of satisfaction as some of the plot holes present. There's also some serious pacing issues created from episodes filled with nothing but irredeemably painful fanservice.

The main redeeming factor lies in between the filler, in the fight scenes where you can hear the thought processes of characters as they go. This creates some of the most well thought out fight scenes that I've seen in recent memory, which is pretty good.

If you're willing to look past the seemingly insurmountably large amount of things I didn't like about this show, you'll see promising material. Whether said material is reason enough to go through Failed Knight in its entirety is up to you.

Does this anime have any type of creative nuance or depth that would generally warrant a high rating? No.

Does it create a lasting imprint on its audience, or contain any theme that teaches something of value? Also no. There's no real story to speak of, the music is decent but nowhere near amazing, and the characters fall into various general tropes that you've probably seen a thousand times.

All of this, yet I think this anime deserves an 8? Yup.

Aho Girl is the very definition of lowbrow humour; the greasy potato wedges, the barbecue pulled pork of anime. There is nothing refined present, but it throws ... countless gags toward you that are so absurd, idiotic, and unrealistic that you can't help but laugh at the intrusive slapstick it provides. This makes it a forgettable yet oddly entertaining comedy in its own right.

If irrational slapstick humour that edges upon being barbaric is your type of thing, grab a bit of your favourite comfort food before you dive in; you're bound to have a comically good time.

Chuunibyou is an anime that I cannot support from a moral standpoint.

When looking at each of its technical perspectives, Chuunibyou is good to even excellent; the artstyle looks clean and its overblown animations during the "fight scenes" that occur are absolutely outstanding in both scale and execution. The music, while not my cup of tea, isn't terrible, and the characters have distinct, recognizable personalities. This makes the first half of the anime a romcom that may not stand out, but creates decent enough enjoyment for someone to continue watching.

Minor plot spoilers from this point onward to explain my subpar rating:

This begins to fall apart in ... the second half of this anime, when drama overtakes comedy as the anime's direction of focus and arduous tears are thrown. Loosely tied together plot points in the psyche of the various characters, with a lot of internal turmoil being thrown around for some of our main leads. This would be fine if it amounted to something, but it certainly didn't with one of my least favourite anime endings in existence:

The idea of becoming a mature, self sufficient human being is thrown away in the hopes of creating a carefree ending that appeals to the masses. The fact that such a piece of media would suggest throwing away maturation for the sake of young romance absolutely astounds me. As someone who once experienced the syndrome of chuunibyouism outlined in the anime, this is an unhealthy mindset that definitely shouldn't be glorified or targeted; those who align with what's said in the anime will likely experience relative turbulence in the future if they continue along the path that the ending implies.

Can I support the art direction of Chuunibyou, and the creative ideas that some of the writers bring? Sure, some of such was admirable.
However, can I support the thematic philosophy that the anime attempts to bring? Absolutely not. Chuunibyou should be taken as a lighthearted romantic comedy with mediocre drama thrown in, and nothing more.

6/10

Pan de Peace is, simply put, one of if not the worst piece of media I have ever consumed.

As someone who watches quite a decent amount of slice of life and/or comedy, I had mildly decent confidence that I'd find this anime at least palatable. After all, shorts aren't necessarily bad; Tonari no Seki-kun, for example, is absolutely amazing at creating wacky situations for the viewer to laugh or at least smile at. As such, this couldn't be completely terrible, right?

Oh, how wrong I was.

Pan de Peace manages to suck all the comedy out of its scenes with its mediocre looking moeblobs, horrible static characters, ... and a complete lack of knowledge on punchline delivery. Anything that had any comedic promise was immediately destroyed by long dreary scenes that make an attempt to be cute, but utterly fail.

And this occurs over, and over, AND OVER, for 13 episodes of dumpster fire worthy trash.

Given how much I hate this excuse of an animation, why not a 1/10? As someone who legitimately does like quite a few types of bread, the bread in this show admittedly does look rather tasty. Additionally, the opening song, while by no means being a masterpiece, doesn't completely assault my ears, though it isn't something I'd want to listen to again.

I only recommend Pan de Peace to masochists and those looking to challenge their boredom. At least with 3 minutes per episode, your suffering won't last long once you realize just how dreadful this anime is.

Is Nichijou a perfect anime? Definitely not.
Is it something enjoyable to everyone? Again, no.
However, is it something that, in my opinion, absolutely deserves a 10? Definitely.

I watched Nichijou back when I thought all weebs were heretics and that I'd never truly enjoy an anime. I came out with massive satisfaction and a huge grin on my face. It's probably the show that changed my opinions on the medium.

Nichijou is what many like to call a slice of life on crack, and such regard is very accurate. Using a spectrum of eccentric characters and overblowing in both animation and emotion what would otherwise be a perfectly ... normal scene creates amazingly comedic scenes of what I can only describe as "surreal slapstick". It's a style of humour that relies on a simple yet effective subversion of expectations. Nichijou's humour is very hit or miss, but when it hits, it hits HARD.

Would I recommend watching Nichijou? Yes, but if the humour doesn't appeal to you, it's very understandable to drop it after a few episodes, as it's definitely the backbone to the show's entire experience.
If I were to watch it for the first time now that I have a greater understanding of what to expect from shows, I probably would've given Nichijou an 8 or 9 at best. But as an entry point, and a hilarious one at that?

It's a goddamn masterpiece.
10/10