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May 30, 2024
One thing is clear after watching this entire season, and it's that there are people out there who have no idea what love actually is. The question becomes, then, whether those people are the writers, the target audience, or both.
When you start a show with "100 Girlfriends" in the title, you have already accepted the ridiculousness of the premise and can't really complain about the absurdity of the plot. That being said, I still feel like there were two acceptable paths through a show like this: you either give us paper-thin characters so we can quickly collect all 100 and choose our favorite like we
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did with Pokemon, or you stick with a small number and develop them into living, breathing characters. Sadly for "100 Girlfriends," however, we get the worst of both worlds.
By the end of Season 1, the number of titular girlfriends is still in the single-digits, yet none of them are developed beyond their singular defining trait. We get the thirsty one, the angry one, the quiet one, and the emotionless one, just to name a few, but we have zero reason to love these girls because we really don't know why the MC loves them in the first place. The "love" he feels for them is the equivalent of the Zing from Hotel Transylvania, and both he and the girlfriends know that they (literally) cannot live without one another, but aside from that? He never once gives us a reason for his attraction aside from the fact that he's a high school boy with a harem.
This circles back to my opening remark, which was meant as a legitimate criticism of the writing and not an insult to the people that enjoyed the show. Why should I care what happens to any of these people if the MC that "loves" them cannot articulate why he himself cares? There's an arc near the end that is meant to create prisonbreak-style drama, but when the prisoner in question is essentially a plot device, I feel like I'm the one in need of an escape route. The VA cast, animation, and music were all on-point, hence why I can't give this less than a 4/10, but I can't honestly go any higher when the plot falls so flat. All would be forgiven if the comedy was there, but alas, none of that landed for me either.
In short, this show was quite disappointing. I love the harem genre because it gives the viewer an opportunity to argue with friends about which girl is best, but there's just not enough here to make those arguments worthwhile. I honestly do not think I could recommend this show to anyone because it falls so short of expectations in every important category.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 29, 2024
Having had a moment to compose myself after an ending that apparently everyone in my watch group but me already saw coming, I thought this was a very (jolly?) good show and would award it an 8/10.
Starting with things I liked, the writing in terms of characterization is some of the best I've seen in fiction. Everyone involved had defined characters that were three-dimensional and behaved just like real people would given the events unfolding around them. None of them are perfect nor evil (although Daddy Jones comes close), and everyone's motivations were clear.
I also feel that the writing did an incredible job of tying
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threads together, both setting things up that would pay off much later AND hinting at things that would occur within the same episode. The reeds/elms conversation and the pocket watch stand out as some of the best examples of this.
Last thing here is that the comedy was genuinely funny. So many shows try to go over the top and come nowhere close to sticking the landing (which was painfully obvious when I watched an episode of 100 Girlfriends right after finishing this), but the subtlety of the comedy here was good for a laugh. Do I have a British sense of humor now?
I rarely comment on music in anime but Emma does a great job here as well. The OP always set me up for the day's adventure, and you knew things were getting real when it would play during other scenes. It never really stuck out, which is what background music is meant to do.
On to my negatives.
As much as I loved how different this show felt than 99% of anime I've seen in terms of grounding, writing, and realism, it went a bit too heavy on some tropes. Did we really, for example, need a drama injection by way of the "one lover unilaterally decides that leaving the other is best for both of them" event? I was already all-in on this before you made that the climax, now I feel betrayed!
This moment also made me realize that the "lovers from different worlds" thing has been done a million times as well, but I didn't mind it nearly as much since it was so well done.
I also didn't particularly care for the tragic backstory that felt wedged into the final episodes. I already felt plenty of empathy and pain for Emma throughout her time as an adult on the show, so all of that felt a bit like heavy-handed tearjerker-bait.
And last but not least, the ending! I had Emma being a 9/10 for several episodes going into the closing shot, and, no joke, I nearly dropped it to a 6/10 when the credits rolled. If not for my cat sleeping on my lap (insert "aww" here) during the train chasing scene, I probably would've audibly yelled some words that no one in the show would dare say. I get that there's a Season 2 that may or may not have a satisfying conclusion, but I didn't need this "twist" to make for a good show. I recognize now that the realism I love is a bit of a double-edged sword, as this is sadly the most realistic conclusion possible.
In short, I am so glad that my group selected Emma for our discussion! The writing was some of the best I've seen in a long time, but it couldn't quite avoid some of the standard beats associated with the genre. 8/10 for me, as it is a very good show that nearly made it into "great" territory. I will be watching Season 2 and trying to convince my wife to watch Season 1 with me. Who knows, this might even be my new "anime for people that don't watch anime" answer since I think my Downton Abbey-loving parents would dig it as well.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 26, 2023
While this review contains spoilers for pretty much everything else in the movie, it will NOT mention the name of the ultimate winner.
The Good - If you've watched two seasons of QQ already it's probably safe to assume that you love these characters as much as I do, and seeing them together one more time is well worth the price of admission on its own. The interactions among the sisters and Futaro are as great as ever, and the comedy still sticks the landing. There are also some deeply emotional moments throughout the movie, reminding me why I fell for this series in the first
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place. I appreciated that the second half of the movie spent time watching the new couple spending (pre-wedding) time together instead of simply ending things with "The Decision." Miku gets some great character development and shows a lot of growth from her shy Season 1 persona.
The Bad - On the topic of character development, Yotsuba seems to have regressed in a way. It took me several months to see the movie after finishing S2 so pardon me if I've forgotten, but I really don't remember her being this...pitiful? I know that a big part of her character has always been that she feels responsible for her family's struggles and wants more than anything to help others, but it was never to this extent where she repeatedly called herself worthless. Ichika also fails to redeem herself in my eyes given how she behaved at the end of S2, which was a missed opportunity.
The Why - Was it really necessary to introduce the quints' biological father at this stage? I had honestly forgotten that Nakano was an adoptive dad by the time I saw the movie, so bringing back the baby daddy came out of leftfield. There are also plenty of other scenes that show that he sincerely cares for his daughters, so I didn't feel we needed this artificial drama near the end. Finally, Itsuki continues to be a spectator in terms of character development in this movie. She seems to only exist because "Quintessential Quadruplets" didn't have the same ring to it. I also realize that Nino hasn't appeared in my review yet, likely because she's effectively the same character she was in S2. Both of these sisters could've used some additional screentime.
The Verdict - For all my complaining above, I still give this movie an 8/10 or a "very good" score. I place it below S1 and above S2 in terms of enjoyment. There are clearly things preventing this from earning a 10/10 in my eyes, yet I couldn't help but love spending two more hours in this world. All of the positives far outweigh the negatives for me, and I find it to be a fitting end to the QQ saga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 19, 2023
Have you ever encountered a show that was difficult to rate because you didn't know what it was trying to be?
This is what I experienced with Weiss Survive.
As a commercial for the game Weiss Schwarz (which I love), it does a solid job of making you want to play the game. It isn't a Yu-Gi-Oh! quality story, but given that the entire "series" lasts 30 minutes that isn't surprising.
As an instructional video for the game, it fails miserably. They try to stick to the real rules somewhat, but they do such a horrible job of explaining what's happening that I'd be even
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more lost than I was when I started playing. Using Yu-Gi-Oh! as a reference, the best card game shows tweak the rules to make a children's game epic; this show just leaves rules out.
As an anime, it's...fine? I laughed quite a bit from the references to other shows and other gags, but most of the jokes are repeated in all 16 episodes and by the end just aren't funny anymore. I found it to have the right amount of ecchi (if such a thing exists).
Overall, I give this a 6/10. There are far worse ways to kill half an hour.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 11, 2023
I love romance shows (no pun intended), and given the hype surrounding Horimiya, I was stoked to see it was free on Crunchyroll in anticipation of an apparent second season. What I found, unfortunately, was one of the worst romances I've ever watched.
Starting with the leads, the titular Hori and Miya have zero chemistry with one another. I have no clue why they "love" each other outside of the plot calling for it.
They both have secret lives and bond over their shared need to hide from the judgement of their peers, you say? The so-called "secret" is that the quiet guy is really...
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a quiet guy, but with ink! And Hori seems like a mean girl, but deep down she's...a mean girl that washes dishes!
Hori treats Miya like garbage and her abuse is played for laughs, but what really bugs me is her masochist streak and how others in this world respond to it. I won't kink shame Hori, and her wanting a "tougher" Miya is actually pretty funny! But what kind of message does it send when people that knew Miya as a child consider his verbal and physical abuse of his girlfriend to be a sign of growth?
The supporting cast is far more interesting and the episodes in which Hori and Miya take a backseat are the best. Hori's dad carries every scene he's in and I would honestly watch a show focused solely on him.
Even still, said supporting cast quickly becomes unlikeable. I understand that these are kids at the end of the day, hence why I won't complain about the laughably bad confessions, but boy are they dumb. The only one with an interesting character arc is Sakura, so of course she ends up alone while manipulative Yuki gets the guy.
I had to drop this after ten episodes as I just couldn't bring myself to spend another hour with these people. I then read some other reviews to get an idea of what I was missing by ducking out early, and the answer seems to be "not much." If anything, it sounds like things were about to get even worse.
I give Horimiya a 4/10. Some of the humor (Hori's dad, primarily) and the supporting cast were enjoyable at first, so I can't in good conscience give it a lower score. Everything else, however, fails to launch for me, as the show started off fine at best and only got worse. I likely would've given a worse score had I been able to stomach three more episodes, so consider this to be the best score possible.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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