“A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life” is what happens when You want to write an isekai but the higher ups force You to make it a video game one.
It may be the fact that I’ve seen a lot of garbage anime recently, but I don’t think this one is a travesty. The quality of writing varies from episode to episode but it does get better, especially when it comes to characters playing off each other.
It’s not bad but it’s not good either. It’s a very middle of the road plot with absolute garbage world logic and little to no story.
Before we start I
...
would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page…
I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them:
“What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.”
“STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”.
The most infuriating thing in this show is the whole “game” shtick. There is a lot, A LOT of bullshit in this department.
How the fuck does the smell and taste work in this VR system? If You eat something in game does it trick Your brain into not feeling hungry? If yes then can You use it to starve IRL? If not… What's the point? Well… I don’t really see the point even if You can use it to stop feeling hungry… maybe some sort of effed up diet? We saw that Earth was moving his hands during character creation so it’s not like the deep dive system in SAO wich means it doesn’t affect Your brain and You don’t have a mask of any kind so how the fuck did people smelled the food he was making let alone taste it?.
The Fairy Queen - what the hell is her deal? It’s an NPC that acts like a person. Demands food, attention and even forces Earth into pseudo marriage. She also complains about handing out crystals to new players and writing emails. Yes. Writing emails. In a game. That has procedurally generated dungeons, pop up windows in the sky and whole menu system. Why the fuck is she even doing that? It’s a game, the devs write it once and set up an auto send. Why the hell would she write them? You could make an argument that since she’s an AI her responses and reactions are the result of learning and analysing player data but why make it for only one player? What’s the point? What happens when Earth won’t log in for a long time or quits the game all together? Will she run amok? Have depression? It’s just so dumb and plays into the whole, overused “chosen one” cliche. At least it’s not as bad as “Bofuri” in that regard. Small victories I guess.
Another thing is with crafting. After a night (in game) of crafting Earth declared that his hands hurt. Why? It is obvious You don’t swing Your hands to play this game. So why the hell would Your muscles be sore? The only thing I can think of is that they are getting way into roleplaying.
Other, smaller bullshit could be chucked up to Earth having certain items or skills but it is still bullshit because it favours one player and locks other players out of those profits. Bad game design at its finest.
All that sums up to a very lazy world that had little to know thought put into it. It could work as a fantasy world, but not a game world. There are things that make sense in games but not real life. I doubt even if people had the tech to create such realistic VR game worlds the developers would implement half of the bs this show serves as “game world”.
It’s pretty obvious this shouldn't be a game world show (I am not sure if this could be callen any kind of isekai) if the writer put those systems in. It should be a standard fantasy or isekai. At least I wouldn't have so many questions about why this game has so many redundant systems. It’s like Bethesda and Ubisoft had a baby. All that’s missing are microtransactions. We don’t even see Earth out of the game so what’s the point?
Apart from the worldbuilding being absolute crap it’s actually a solid slice of life fantasy show. Nothing groundbreaking but it can be rather enjoyable. My gripe is with the fact that the hero is OP and at some point the show layers on the “chosen one” cliche really thick. Despite being OP it’s a nice change to actually see him fail. That said, we don't see that often. I think 2 times in the whole show but it is still nice that the show admits it’s own hero can fail. If we would see him fail more often and in more critical situations I think that would be a benefit both for the plot (everyone loves a revenge story) and the main character's appeal. I would even stomach the fact that the mofo killed a boss designed to be fought with a party if at the first try he would get his ass handed to him on a silver platter and go through the whole planning and preparation phase after. As it stands he’s a bland character that the world bends over backwards for.
That said, the writing does get better (not by much I will take small blessings in this case) as the show progresses. It manages to balance its comedy with drama and adventure aspects pretty well. There are even scenes in the later episodes when characters play off each other well which provides a nice dose of comedy.
The downside is that it suffers from the same thing most slice of life shows suffer from - lack of focus and story. Because there is no main goal or overarching plot the writers can go wild with their shenanigans. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as there is a story there. Unfortunately there is no story. Earth doesn’t change in any meaningful ways, doesn’t help others to change, does not grow or learn anything in any meaningful way and is more often than not a very reactive character.
Surprisingly the later episodes have some really good ideas and in the hands of a more mature writer those ideas alone could carry the whole season or even two. Especially the missing person quest or the visit to the fairie territory. Both have layers to them that are mostly ignored and resolved in a very lazy way that shows the writers didn’t think things through.
All in all this is a very safe show with a plot that is mismatched to the genre. There is no real benefit or reason for this to be a game. It would work much better as a fantasy of isekai. The fact that it’s a game doesn’t bring anything to the table and the type of plots it shows us are ill suited for it anyway. I think You can still enjoy it, just don’t expect much.
Jan 16, 2025
Toaru Ossan no VRMMO Katsudouki
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
“A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life” is what happens when You want to write an isekai but the higher ups force You to make it a video game one.
It may be the fact that I’ve seen a lot of garbage anime recently, but I don’t think this one is a travesty. The quality of writing varies from episode to episode but it does get better, especially when it comes to characters playing off each other. It’s not bad but it’s not good either. It’s a very middle of the road plot with absolute garbage world logic and little to no story. Before we start I ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 15, 2025 Not Recommended
“A Nobody's Way Up to an Exploration Hero” aka “Mobkara” is what happens when a cliche idea is butchered by amateurish writing.
This show is a rare gem. Indeed, rarely do I see something so badly written, devoid of charm and utterly boring. 99% of what we see is plot with little to no reverence to the story. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa ... Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. Oh boy. I really wish I had something positive to say about the writing but it’s absolutely atrocious. From the very first episode we get to see that this show will have absolutely no stakes. The world bends over backwards for the MC - Kaito from the get go. We barely see anything about his “before” state (the state of his life before his adventure begins), we do get some exposition through his inner monologue but it’s vague and not really interesting. He’s weak and has an obsession with the dungeon. That’s actually a good starting point. Which is destroyed in the very first episode when he finds his first (yes, FIRST) OP AF servant. The worst part? He just finds her. He doesn’t get her as a reward for doing something that would show us his morality. He just finds her as a drop. Above that he was contemplating selling her and had a moment that he regretted not doing that. Hell of a hero. From that moment on we get 99% plot in which the world bends over backwards like a cheap whore for Kaito and 1% story. Which is much more than I thought given how bad the first episode was. Without getting into too many spoilers he ends up with two walkin nukes in cute, loli forms. One angelic and one demonic. I can live with that. At least there shouldn't be any harem ecchi shit with that setup. He even becomes more confident and proficient (told You we get 1% story) which is a nice bonus. But there is something that is poorly explained and makes no logical sense. At some point he is invited to join a party. Their first pairing is explained pretty well. They wanted to take part in an event. Ok. That's good. But… after the event he is invited for more regular exploring and he accepts. Why? There is no need for that. His two loli-nukes are way more powerful than the girls that invited him and, because they are in his servitude, they won’t betray him. Something that’s always on the table when dealing with humans. I fail to see the logic of him joining forces. Especially that his loli servants end up rescuing everyone more than once. What's the point of the party? Oh yes, we need the male, boring protagonist to be surrounded by women that are far more interesting than he is, so they can develop a crush on him. Although why would a college student have a crush on a high schooler is beyond me. Apart from that the last two episodes have the best story of the whole show. Not only Kaito’s personal story (which is boring as hell) but albo one of the girls from his party. We get to see how devoted he is when it comes to helping his friends (we don’t know if that extends to people that he doesn’t know because the first episode was garbage when it comes to character introduction), the fears of the whole party and even something I did not expect. A real crisis for Kaito. That was surprising in a good way. But we can’t have good things in a show as bad as this so his “crisis” is resolved with one conversation with no long term consequences. Most episodes feel like some took an idea for one episode and stretched it to last at least two. I’m not even joking. The amount of useless joke conversation Kaito has with his servants is astonishing. Most of those are the devil girl asking for more “food”. I don’t need to see that after every fight. This show is unwatchable. It has lazy writing, an unlikable protagonist, poorly choreographed fight scenes, no stakes and a world that bends over backwards for our “hero”.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 14, 2025 Not Recommended
“Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian” is what happens when an interesting shtick is destroyed by bad writing.
This show surprised me in to major ways: 1. That it destroyed its own shtick right from the get to in favour of… practically nothing because nothing comes of it. 2. How boring and devoid of story this show is Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa ... Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. If I had to tell what kind of story telling method this show utilises it would be “and then that happened”. About 90% of what happens in the show's 12 episodes happen because the writers decided to show a cliche scene that You saw a million times (with better execution) before and had no idea how to organically implement it. I’m gonna be honest, the first episode is rather solid for what it’s supposed to be. Get an overall view of what we’re working with. The main characters (Kuze and Alya), supporting cast (the most important of which would be Yuki), their relationship and interactions and the great view of the main “conflict”. It’s not exactly a surprise, the title gives it away from the get go. Alya speaks Russian sometimes, mostly to confess her feelings towards Kuze, and thinks the boy doesn’t understand her. But he does and we even get an explanation for that. On top of that the explanation works also as a setup for something that could (wink, wink) happen later. It’s also a bit misleading of the type of way Alya teases Kuze. It’s much more ecchi than the rest of the show. I don’t know if it's bait for the viewers or someone just managed to hide this scene from the higher ups. As far as first episodes go this one is a solid one. It fulfils its function pretty well. It’s mostly downhill from here unfortunately. The problem is there is very little story to this show and what story there is is mostly shown in the last 3 episodes. Everything (well… 90%) before that is just plot. If You want to argue that it’s a story about two people getting close to each other, go right ahead, but their relationship doesn’t change in any meaningful way. They start as friends with one having an obvious crush and they end as friends with one having an obvious crush. The second is an idiot, I’m not counting him for anything. Something I’m not quite sure why was made is giving Kuze the ability to understand Russian. It destroys a lot of mystery from the plot. If he wasn’t able to understand Alya we would have an element of mystery (You could even leave tha translations for the viewers), as we all know, mysteries are sexy. It would add a lot of tension and drama to their interactions. Something that they lack in the finished product. As it stands Kuze is an asshole. He knows the girl is into him. It’s not a guess, she declares her feelings and urges on multiple occasions. If he wanted to, we would have a relationship between those two in episode 3 at the latest. He allows this relationship to be stuck in limbo. I call that being an asshole. It’s not like he is opposed to the idea of a relationship with her either. If he was he wouldn't have those over the top, pseudo-comedic reactions he has everytime he hears her declaring her feelings in russian. I fail to see the reason why the writers would play it that way. They just created a MC that is really hard to root for, because he’s just an asshole. Listen I get it, the name of the game in rom-coms (and romance in general) is the “Will they - Won’t They”. But in most cases it’s based on insecurity and unknowns from both parties or on some sort of conflict that prevents the characters from getting together. In this case we don’t have any sort of unknowns. We, as well as both parties, are more than aware of the fact that Alya is into Kuze. So we should get some sort of conflict as a counterweight, right? Yeah… no such luck. Kuze acts like an idiot and we really don’t get a good reason why. Even in later episodes we are still left in the dark. There is also very little I would call a proper romance set up. This is a rom-com but the “rom” is silent for most of the show. Yes Kuza and Alya have a lot of interactions but they are not what I would call romantic or even pseudo-romantic. Out of all 12 episodes I think there are only 2 scenes that could work as a romance set up, that is if they weren't destroyed. Once by a cheap joke of stunned background characters who clearly have too much interest in other people's interactions. The second time by a fanatical attendant coming by. Those were the only scenes I would call proper for the “rom” part of rom-com. Mostly everything else focuses on comedy. Which is a problem all by itself because even in straight up comedies You need contrast. You need to give jokes room to breathe and sink in. You want to have a lazy joke? Go for it but contrast that with something full on romantic or dramatic. You can’t just feed the viewer only lazy comedy and expect them to not feel fatigue. Granted this show isn’t as aggressive as something like “Grand Blue” but it still has too many jokes and instead of giving contrast by showing scenes more attuned to drama or romance it gives us… nothing. An anime equivalent of a “Please Stand by” screen. Most scenes between are just filler that leads nowhere. It’s all just plot and lazy at that. The only reason I was able to watch this show (apart from having OCD and Asperger) was Yuki. Probably the only character with personality. Her switching between a perverted otaku sister and a proper Young lady working for the student council was actually enjoyable. I wouldn't mind if she was the protagonist of this show. Listen. Not all MC’s have to be blank slates. In most cases it is better for a protagonist to have an established personality and traits. For fuck’s sake Spike from Cowboy Bebop is far from a tabula rasa and is one of the greates MCs in history. Same goes for the kids in “Grave of the fireflies”. I have no idea why the anime industry insists on having bland, tasteless, white bread as protagonists but this shit needs to stop. It destroys their ability to tell actual stories and leaves them with nothing but plot. As it stands this show isn’t a total travesty or an example of how to fail at a rom-com (well… maybe a little) it’s just so damn safe and full of cliches that I see no reason to watch this over any other rom-com on the market. There are moments when the show tricks You into thinking that it will be better. The last 3 episodes are actually better both with plot and story but it’s too little too late for my taste. The worst part? We don’t get any kind of payoff. We watch 12 episodes of this show, how Alya admits to herself about her feelings and Kuze starting to act like he has a spine and… we end with nothing. Everything seemingly returns to status quo so the authors can pretend to know what they are doing all over again in the next season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 11, 2025
The New Gate
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
“The New Gate” (finally a short title, I missed those) is what happens when an overused idea meets subpar execution.
I’m getting really tired of writing this but… this show is another example of no story and all plot with no long lasting consequences to anyone or anything, and a world that bends over backwards for the MC. Above that, it's so generic that I really couldn't tell You much about the plot or world without being certain that I’m not mixing things up with another show. It's devoid of originality that much. It’s just another self-indulgent fantasy of a cringe 13 year old. That’s me ... being nice to the show by the way. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. The first episode left me with more questions than answers and not in a good way. It's prologue is actually the most lazy thing I’ve seen in a while. In short it’s Sword Art Online with even less sense and charm, if You can believe that. I call that an achievement. For starters how the fuck did the “If You die in game, You die in real life” worked? I give shit to SAO for being lazy with its writing but even that had an explanation, not a very good one but still, for its deaths. “The New Gate”? Nope. It uses the words of st.Todd Howard: “It just works”. At this point “The New Gate” should have “Made by Bethesda” slapped on somewhere. Eff off with this. If You can’t make it logical just fucking don’t do it. It’s not like the game world really matters in the grand scale of things. You could bring Shin - the MC, to the isekai part in a million other ways. Second thing and this is the thing that most, both isekai and vr death games, share: Why would he want to go back? Seriously. We don’t see his “before” state. We have no idea if he has a family that worries about him, a girlfriend or even a damn cat. He has nothing as far as we know. And since we are on the subject, how long did the death game last? WHo is taking care of his body? Is his body still in his world after the isekai? Did his body disappear? If his body disappeared will he even be able to return home? Will he have his “new” body in the real world? If yes, what about his stats and skills? He’s just gonna show up one day, practically a demigod and work at mcdonalds? I can actually accept that he doesnt think about it, he’s an idiot in a lot of ways, but even his companions, who knows the truth of his situation? The damn NPC that got sentient, that knows about the game, the systems, the other players don’t even think about that? Even the one NPC that is in love with him? No one? On top of that, what the fuck are the other “players” doing? I assume they also have their skills and stats from the game, which implies most, if not all, of them are far more powerful and knowledgeable than the inhabitants of the world. We later see that there are a few of them in the world and not one of them was a psycho killer, a tyrant or at least someone who created a nation with advanced magic and technology to resemble his home world? Everyone just thought “Hmm… maybe I’ll do nothing. I just survived a death game, why would I even want to have some sort of cosy life after that”, or even “Cool, the game is now real. Time for a killing spree!”? Let’s go deeper. The author has no idea how time works. 500 years have passed. 500 yers. Let that sink in. Really sink in. It took humanity less than 100 years to have 2 world wars, develop an atomic bomb, send people to the moon and create the internet. These fuckers had 500 years and yet they still treat in game mechanics made real like “lost technology”. In 500 there was no one who could have had an obsession with those items and magic? No one who had the vision, intelligence and imagination to create even a pseudo version of them for anyone to use? Of course not. What am I thinking? That would make too much sense and our MC wouldn’t be that special. My bad. This isn’t a testament of Shin’a uniqueness but of the world's incompetence. Seriously, eff this world. It has nothing to do with an actual, organic world and everything to do with dumb game logic that pauses everything until the MC shows up. I can’t believe I’m writing this but I think I miss Sword Art Online, it at least pretended to have a living world and some things were actually done without Kirito. At least we get to see from the start what kind of person he is. He put’s himself in danger for others (I am not touching the idiocy of a solo player killing a raid boss, fuck that, it’s too stupid) and pretends it was nothing. Later we even see something that could actually be called a personality trait. Too bad it happens only on 2 occasions in the whole show and nothing really comes from that. He’s just another flavourless, nice gyu MC that gets all the babes. How original. Well ok, I’m not totally fair. In his case we do get a reason why he isn’t interested romantically in any of them. The problem? We get that in the last episode in the last scene. Too little too late for me to change my mind about him being an idiot. If I had to name some good parts of this trainwreck… I mean show it would be a former NPCs. They actually have personalities and did something when Shin wasn’t around. Yes, the best looking one - Schnee took over his place, but despite that became a respectable combatant that most nations would love to recruit. It’s stated that some even used underhanded tactics to get her. This is something I would like to see. Not her acting like a love stricken moron that serves Shin. I want to see Schnee as an adventurer dealing with her own shit. Same goes for Girard. He created a nation and lived far beyond the age range of his species. On top of that he’s so proud that he wants to die in battle against his friend and former master. This is someone who could have been an awesome MC. But what does the show do with him? Makes him an unimportant in the grand scheme of things background character for Shin to have a semi deep talk that changes nothing for him or the viewers. Both Schnee and Gigard would work as amazing protagonists to show Shin around the new world. Leave Shin as a deuteragonist for 4-5 episodes. He’s so bland it wouldn't change much. He can regain his protagonist status after he’s up to date and only after he learns new respect for his former followers. The fact he created them means nothing in this case. They made something of themselves when they were left alone. He didn’t have a chance for that. Put the mofo in his place. Even if he is all powerful there are struggles that can only be done without violence. You just need to think about it a little. My favourite example that I really think more writers need to know about is “Superman: Peace on Earth”. There You see Superman - practically a demigod failing. It’s not a small failure either. He fails to help an entire nation. He is given a choice where there is no happy ending. In both cases innocent people will suffer. The difference is the degree of that suffering. This is how You should challenge an almighty being. Give him a struggle in which his power is the problem. I don’t want to see Shin soloing an entire horde of enemies, the fucker defieted tha last boss of a death game, You can’t top that, give him something that no matter what he does someone will suffer. Make him live with that. Make him live with the fact that it is his fault. That someone is suffering because he is what he is. All powerful, full of good intentions and absolutely naive to the world. Sorry, I went into teaching mode by accident. As it stands this show is about nothing. There are no consequences to anything and the only thing that does change is the number of busty chicks that would like to ride him like Mario rides Yoshi. The most competent, and yet still lazy, arc is the Gigard arc. It’s almost like when writers had a good idea and for some strange reason even skills to write something that is a start to a competent story. That didn’t last long and we got back to brain dead writing pretty fast but it is proof that there is potential in this. Shame a competent writer never got to work on it. I'm giving it a 4 because I've seen worse shows. Far worse.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 5, 2025
Hitoribocchi no Isekai Kouryaku
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
“Loner Life in Another World” is what happens when a good idea meets incompetent writing.
From the very first episode You know this will be a master class in lazy, subpar writing. It’s actually amazing how fast we see the world bending over backwards for the MC. Even the garbage “Re: Monster” waited 2 episodes for that. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as ... Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. I’ll start with this. The story has a lot of potential. A loner that wants to be alone is forced to be part of a pretty large group and every time he wants to leave he is stopped in one way or the other. It could work both as a comedy and as an action adventure. But “Loner Life in Another World” fails on all fronts from episode two. The first episode is absolute garbage. I really didn’t think that any show could beat “Ishura” when it comes to bad first episodes but here we are. Not only we don’t see anything that would make us root for him, we don’t even see what kind of person he is. The only thing we do see is that he avoids people or rather he declares that he wants to avoid people. That’s all. Because he is already proficient with his skills we don’t really see him struggle much. He even gets new skills the first day. It all feels unearned. I don’t mind if he starts with some OP skills (and despite what the show is trying to tell You, they are OP) but having more or even levelling them should be earned, not given for almost nothing. We don’t see his long term goal, any sort of plan or even any kind of moral stand. In short, we see jack shit. Listen, I know that there are a metric shit ton of OP AF MC shows out there but most of them (at least the good ones) give us something. At least show me the idiot has a goal (no, being alone is not it) and an early stage of a plan. Morality can wait but I really don’t give a damn about a protagonist that just waits around and grinds low level monsters. Granted we do get to his morality in the second episode but for fucks sake, that’s one of the most important things about protagonists and we have to wait a whole, boring, useless episode for that. On top of that, worldbuilding is atrocious. We do get the general idea about skills and leveling up but that’s just game logic. Something I truly despise. Seriously, is it that hard to make an isekai without this shit? Anyway, Apart from the skills we don’t really get much about the world. There are monsters, there are levels and killing monsters and using skills allows You to level up. How original. To be totally fair we don’t see in the first episode even what kind of world this is. Yes, the MC - Haruka, ends up in a forest with clothes that do look a bit medieval-ish but for all we know outside of the forest there might be some sort of steampunk civilization. For fucks sake, give me at least a skeleton with appropriate armor or weapon to help make assumptions of what state of technology this world has. I don’t think I’m asking for much. Of course it ends up being a pseudo european medieval world because of course it is. At this point I’m not expecting originality in any way, shape or form from this show. The skill system itself is also an issue. About half way through the season we get our first true BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy). The fight itself is horrible, it’s just pulling skills and tricks out of the combatant's asses. If You are generous You could say there is a little bit of a setup for that but… it’s so incompetent that I wouldn’t. First of all, The BBEG has a skill to copy other skills. Why? How? When He was summoned he chose a skill that is an interference skill and he doesn’t seem to have any magic items granting him this skill so… why? Did he get it while leveling up? That makes no sense since it’s stated he had his big, bad plan from the beginning, including stealing skills. How was he supposed to do that without the copying skill? It’s a pretty big plot hole and it destroyed the whole fight for me. Of course, this being a badly written isekai, there are no stakes. The whole shtick is that Haruka is stuck with “bad” leftover skills but anyone who ever played any kind of RPG would tell You that they are fucking usefull as hell. But that’s not what bothered me the most in this set up. Everyone can pick a skill but there doesn't seem to be any kind of description prior to picking them so how the hell the first BBEG knew that one of the skills is OP AF and had a murder boner to get it? Haruka could only guess what the skills do by their names. Only after leveling he learned what all his skills do so WTF? Of course they end up useful and OP because having stakes in an isekai would be horrible. I think that’s what killed it for me. I really don’t mind power fantasies but they have to have stakes. This one had none. There are only two moments when the show tricked me into thinking there would be any stakes. The final fate of the second BBEG (not exactly BBEG but I’m gonna call her that to avoid spoilers) and the potential drama of the relationship between Haruka and his childhood friend / class rep. The first one could have been an amazing moral dilemma. I’m not even saying that the result we’ve got should change but the set up to it should. The second example is just wasted. Class rep has some obvious feelings about Haruka leaving to live in the woods alone with a girl but does nothing about it and even lies to herself that it’s for the best. That’s just bad writing. Have her confront him. I’m not saying they should change the outcome but for fucks sake don’t make the class rep such a pathetic character at the very eng of the season. After all the crap she went through those 12 episodes with Haruka and others she deserved better. When it comes to the plot… yeah… oh boy. It’s even worse than the story aspects if You can believe this. A lot of things happen because the plot demands it and not because of any kind of logic. Delinquents are the bad guys because… I have no idea. The Jocks leave the girls alone because… I guess Haruka needs to be surrounded by only women. Haruka has “bad luck” with leaving everyone in secret to return to his lone life in the forest because… the show needs him to be in the city and make a running joke of his wanting to be alone. It’s really idiotic. It is especially painful in the last arc when he falls to the bottom of the dungeon. Everything from his motivation for going to the dungeon, to the outcome of the fight with the dungeon emperor is just lazy writing. It’s like some had some ideas using the rule of cool but had no idea how to connect those ideas and it shows. This show is one of the worst examples of wasted potential I have ever seen. Apart from Haruka himself, everyone else from his class is either incompetent, does really dumb things or gets late to the party. It’s visible in the case of the first BBEG. Haruka fights him alone. Why? At this point his classmates have a solid grip on their powers and skills and could help him. Even if we factor in the fact that he cares about class rep and want’s to make sure she’s safe it makes no sense. The only reason I see why we get a dumb one-on-one between them is that the writers didn’t have the skill to write a proper, logical fight with stakes in any other way or just wanted to use the rule of cool thinking that it will make Haruka more cool. It didn’t. I can’t recommend this show. It’s just lazy, banal and has horrible worldbuilding.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 3, 2025
Hitsugi no Chaika
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
“Chaika -The Coffin Princess-” is what happens when You only use the “and then that happened” style of telling Your plot and forget about the story.
I’m gonna be honest, watching this show was like watching someone creating scenes and having little to no idea how to logically connect them. There is a story here but it’s sparse and scattered. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and ... “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. The show is mostly plot and the worst kind of plot. The type that happens because it needs characters in a certain state or place and not the type that uses internal logic. Simple example: At some point we get a pretty good fight with a Dragoon. That part is solid, even if the fight itself could be a bit longer to show us the extent of skills and powers on both sides. But how did we get to that pretty good fight? Our protagonists (Chaika, Tooru and Akari) go there… because an enigmatic, obviously powerful, informer tells them that they will find one part of their quarry there. Just like that. No one questions that, no one asks why he is just giving them this info. Nothing. We don’t even see him getting any kind of pay for the info. I get that this is a very simple story but for fuck’s sake, there’s “simple” and there’s “moronic”. Tooru and Akari are supposed to be trained soldiers and they just go with it? I’m not even getting into the fact that the reason why Tooru and Akari join Chaika is absolutely stupid. The second not so well written thing is the worldbuilding itself. The show uses a lot of words that are poorly, or not at all, explained. For the most of the time You could deduce what they mean but it’s never confirmed. Even the “character class” of Tooru - “The Saboteur” isn’t properly explained and leaves more questions than answers. You could take it, as we do IRL, as someone who “deliberately destroys, damages, or obstructs (something), especially for political or military advantage” but it’s not a perfect match for him. I actually like the fact that “magic” in this world is much more like just supernatural engineering than classical D&D style of magic. The problem I have with this is that it really is not practical. “Wizards” - people who use those magical tools walk around with damn sniper rifles to use magic in combat. Why? They are big, cumbersome and require some time to “load” a spell. No one thought of creating an assault rifle version, shotgun or even a simple revolver? Hell, I’ll even accept a sort of a jury rigged pipe gun. Is there a reason why it has to be a sniper rifle? A problem with miniaturization? Give me something. Above that there are moments when people use magic without any type of medium or catalyst. Most notably the moment when Chaika saved Tooru in the last episode. What’s up with that? The world building is also absurd and laughable at times. One of the antagonists verbally states to Chaika that the brain is always the weak spot of the Dragoon. Seriously? No shit! Do you know anyone that survived having his brain destroyed? What’s next? They are going to tell me that water makes things wet? It’s almost as stupid as “People die when they are killed”. It's a shame because the story idea is a solid one. A story about a girl on a quest to gather her father’s remains that were scattered by people who killed him. I call that a pretty nice starting point. The story also has its twists that are actually good ideas but the writing just makes them tolerable. There is no exploration of them. Well, that’s not true. We do get some exploration into Chaika but it’s almost exclusively done by the antagonist and it’s still just surface level even after the fact that one of his subordinates asks valid questions about her. It’s almost like a different person, the one who almost knows about writing, wrote those parts. If we got more into the things that they are doing and not the boring plot that the protagonists have, this show could have been a solid action-adventure-mystery. But as we stand it’s just a middle of the road adventure with not exactly competent fight scenes. Don’t get me wrong, some of them are pretty good but they are few and far between. Do I think this is a bad show? A bit, but mostly I think it’s just safe. It takes no risks, does not expand on the genre and isn’t even concerned about its own world building and internal logic. I can see why people would like it, a gothic lolita with a magical sniper rifle does sound and look cool but that’s about it. There is no depth here. Only surface level writing, flat characters and a lot of wasted potential.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 23, 2024 Not Recommended
“Why Does Nobody Remember Me in This World?” is what happens when an interesting idea is butchered by childish writing and nonsense logic.
I’ll give credit where credit is due, despite having really bad writing in the plot and character departments and just bad in the story department, this show is at least focused. It successfully avoids a lot of crap of being side-tracked, which is a plague of most anime. There are few side quests and those that are here are still connected to the main plot. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many ... people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. The story is pretty cool. A story about a young man thrusted into a totally different reality that has little to do with the one he was raised in. So far so good. This can, and should have been, a starting point of some really good plot. Maybe give it an existential twist like “Evangelion”, something melancholic like “Girls' Last Tour”, or maybe something more apocalyptic and depressing like “Now and Then, Here and There”? Nope. We get… “Zelda”. Well, that’s not entirely true. We get every boring cliche trope of a “Legend of Zelda” game but without the charm. I have seen a lot of anime that had an amazing story idea but the plot was just awful. “Why Does Nobody Remember Me” is just that. A good idea with a less than mediocre execution and terrine characters that are forgettable at best. To be honest the first episode is terrible for what’s to come, it would work better as a short flashback than an intro to a new series. Normally the first episode shows us the main hero, some of his backstory, maybe even people he cares about, factions and something about the main conflict / drama. This time we have an episode that gives us very little about the MC and wastes an opportunity to properly develop the relationship between him and his, soon to be gone, friends. There is no reason to give a damn about them (after all the MC doesn’t so why should we?) and so the drama has no weight behind it. Look, I’m a big fan of efficiency. Not only in anime, but we’re talking about one so let’s focus on the introduction to one. Give me something that doesn’t waste time with unnecessary bullshit, introduce the most important characters and story beats. The problem is, this time the first episode is too succinct. There is supposed to be drama regarding our MC - Kai, losing everything and having to adapt to the new world but… there is no drama in it. We only get 3 scenes with him interacting with his “friends”. Two of those are work related and the third one is a pseudo-date that doesn’t even last 5 minutes and doesn’t show how he exactly feels about the girl.. How the hell am I supposed to care about his circumstances when I have nothing to work with here? I have no idea how close those people are to him. What things they overcome together or even why they are friends. Nothing. Just some plot bullshit to pretend he has a stake in this show. I’ll get to that, don’t worry. The world building is pretty lazy. First of all we have two human military organizations in two different worlds, with different histories and purposes. Yet they share both the design of their uniforms and iconography. Why? I’m not saying they can’t be similar but exactly the same? Come on. That’s just lazy. 30 years passed and yet demons live in ruined human cities, elves live in forests. I know they are still at war with each other but 30 years is a lot of time to develop new settlements, new technology, new ways to use magic and hell, even a brand new culture. Yet this world is just basic fantasy shit without thought. Simple thing: Why the fuck does the demon hero live in a run down, decrepit old building? Now for the most… “enigmatic” (I’m gonna use that word, because I was told I use “stupid” too much) aspect. The whole Sid shtick. So… Sid was a human hero who basically soloed everyone and locked them up. Why didn’t he just kill them? I don’t know, maybe he thought humans would get too lazy if they didn’t use teenagers as half-assed guards. After the world changed only 2 people (initially) remember him. Our basic, white bread with no flavour MC and his amalgam companion Rinne. Why? It is implied that Kai’s case might be related to the fact he saw Sid’s sword when he was a kid but if that’s the case, that’s some more lazy writing right there. Furthermore, the big bad non-human bosses get some of their memories back (both about him and the previous world) when they hear his name. Why? Is it because Sid had contact with them? Ok. Let’s go with that. So we have 2 situations when someone might remember him. 1. When in previous contact with the man himself 2. When in previous contact with his… sword. Just a sword? Not like other belongings? So You’re telling me that in the previous war, nobody on the human side met the man, maybe even saw his sword? Especially not some of the higher ups of the human army? Not one person who might have come in contact with both Sid and his gear? Just the one person who happens to be the MC of a shitshow of logic and lazy writing? Yeah… that checks out. Secondly, There is no one from the opposite side of the war that survived an encounter with him and who could have had memories of him that would appear when someone used the name “Sid”? No? So everyone, except the bosses are what? Dead? Locked up? Where are they in the previous world? We get no info about what happened to other races, we don’t know if they were hunted to extinction, which is probably not the case, otherwise why spare their heroes? But the writing is so bad I wouldn't be surprised that the writer wings everything and has no idea about the plot in general. Ok, let’s talk about stakes. Obviously out overpowered, undeserving MC has none but to everyone who has an IQ higher than room temperature that’s just bullshit. First of all, Kai lost everything. Not just his job, not just his home, not just his friends. EVERYTHING. Think about it. The history he knows is probably useless, the political status quo has changed, the new versions of people he knew don’t know him. He’s basically alone in an unknown land and… he just rolled with it. No crisis of any kind. Oh, everyone I know has changed, I have nothing except my combat knowledge (that is still valid), gear and skill… oh well c'est la vie. Yeah… eff off with that. There is an even more insulting scene later on in the show. He is told that there might be a way to get his old world back, but it would destroy this one. He would get back his old “Friends” but he would have to essentially kill, not even kill, annihilate those he knows now. People he already formed connections with. Connections that have better development than anything we were shown in his previous world. The moffo doesn’t even care. There is no dilemma here, no drama, no one thinks that maybe, just maybe the man that helps them to combat other races will soon become a far greater danger than anything else? His goal is to return home. To do that he would have to destroy this world, kill everyone in this world and no one gives a damn about that? The fuck? Just how lazy is the writer? As You might have noticed I have zero respect for the story aspect. The writer clearly didn’t care about it, so why should I? That said, the plot is a better aspect. Still a bit lazy and repetitive but better than the story. From about episode 2 the plot kicks in in full swing and mostly stays that way. That’s probably the only redeeming factor for me not giving this show a 4 or 3 ranking. It’s focused and avoids side-tracking for the most part. There is some side-tracking but it’s surprisingly well woven into the main quest so it’s easy to miss. The main coterie is on a mission to defeat every other race. Do they do that? Fuck no. Not even close but they do develop some political alliances and I think that works far better in this kind of plot. The main example. After sending the first boss to the great beyond they haven’t really done much to defeat the whose race. There are still plenty of demons to go around and everyone is far more capable than humans. So what do they do? They call a ceasefire and it’s almost logical. Demons have other things to worry about than a human who can kill one of their greatest heroes. Fighting him would cost them a lot of resources and there is a chance he will die dealing with other races so I would say that was a pretty good call long term for both sides. The rest of the show is really similar in that aspect. Decision making from the non-humans is almost logical. Shame I can’t say the same about humans, there are a lot of dumb decisions that humans make. But You could make an argument that people are petty and dumb so it’s pretty on brand for them but I would still like to see an organised military organization that understands that they are in deep shit and everyone actually works for the greater good. One can dream. Apart from that the plot is pretty basic with a lot of things happening because they have to to advance it and not because they make sense. That is especially visible in the last 3 episodes. That’s just bullshit fest. To be honest the plot is so basic that You might just call it a sequence of quests given to our MCs that prove little to no real challenge for them. Go there. Defeat that. Have a few minutes of R&R, repeat. Yes, I know that most shows could be described that way but in this case it is more visible thanks to the blandness of the characters and the world itself. From about episode 3 You will understand that Kai and Rinne are unstoppable and could probably easily become symbols to rally all of humanity under them. Which would be far more practical than what they are doing right now, both in the case of “saving” humans and returning “home”. But that would require someone who understands both warfare, psychology and politics as a writer. Honestly? The show is bad when it comes to the story but the plot could be a source of entertainment. It’s focused and shows mostly the things that would be necessary in this type of war tale. We don’t get beach episodes, some kind of dick measuring contest for command (well… we do get that in the second arc but it’s so bad You will forget it in just an episode) or even the traditional chicks in harem are jealous of each other. We get that at the end of episode 12. If You don’t care about writing and just want to watch something that pretends to know what it is and cosplays it pretty well on the surface this could be a show for You.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 8, 2024 Not Recommended
“A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring”, don’t You just love short titles? Is what happens when a mature topic is turned into a meaningless comedy.
I’m gonna be honest. This anime is about 3 in the writing department. I gave it a 4 only because I actually enjoyed watching this trainwreck of logic and nonsense. It uses cheap tricks to make You think You actually give a damn about the characters but somehow it actually worked on me this time. At least up until episode 6. After that the show turns into a repetitive slog. Shame because I actually like the premise. Unfortunately ... this sort of premise requires a writer with skill that far surpasses the author of this show, to make it feel organic and have an actual message. It's not a bad anime, I’ve seen much worse, it’s just meaningless. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. When it comes to the story… there basically isn’t one. You could say that it’s a story about a reincarnate that takes care of two unique children he found in the forest but… that’s not exactly it. They are with him, they accompany him everywhere and he does try to teach them basic skills like math but not much, if anything, really changes due to that. This show is extremely light in the story department. There are 2, 3 if we’re being generous, story beats that actually happen. The rest is just plot. I’ll start with the world because it’s something that bothered me a lot. As with most isekais from the last, at least, 15 years we have a world that works on game logic. We have levels, dungeons, dungeon drops, adventurer guilds, bosses and all that crappy stuff You saw a million times already in far better shows. When it comes to the world itself there isn’t anything original or brave. It's as safe as safe can be and that makes it forgettable. I don’t think You could distinguish this world from most other isekai / fantasy worlds from the last decade. That itself wouldn't be much of a problem if the story, plot and character were able to do the heavy lifting, but unfortunately… they don’t. Takumi, our MC, is the embodiment of a Gary Stu trope, I wound’t be surprised if he was supposed to be a self insert for the author. He can do no wrong, has a solution for everything, the very gods of the world bend over backwards for him. There isn’t a thing in the entire show that had a negative consequence for him, be it short term or long term. Everything just goes his way. He even gets solutions for people's plights far in advance without even trying. It’s like watching a fresh Dungeon Master trying to create an interesting NPC without understanding what makes one. He is so overpowered that he’s probably considered a WMD in this world by those who know of his powers. He gets gifts from 3 out of 5 gods and doesn’t really have to try to make use of them. Be it a new skill, new magic or a new contracted beast. Everything for Mr Kakumi. When it comes to personality… he has none. It’s just the same old, worn out mix of tropes: nice, helpful, tries to avoid conflict ets. If You gave me his description I wouldn't be able to tell him apart from all the other badly written MCs of isekais. He is supposed to be a guardian to two very young kids. Yes, those kids are power houses by themselves but that doesn’t mean he should just allow them to dive into combat mindlessly, which he does almost every time. There are very few moments when he acts like a proper parental figure and even then it’s only in very trivial matters. I guess he does teach kids to read and do basic math, and those are moments when I actually liked him and the scenes themselves. Unfortunately that's just one scene in the whole show. When it comes to the kids - Allen and Elena, things are better but not by much. The kids we see at the end of the show are not the same as the kids we see in the beginning. Their metamorphosis is visible, gradual… and unfortunately totally unearned. I really like the fact that they open up, get more bold and even start to express their individuality on 2 occasions but that’s not enough. We don’t really see them trying to overcome things. One moment they are hiding behind Takumi because they're scared, and the next they act like nothing happened. They don’t have real struggles. Same as Takumi, the world bends over backwards for them to the point that the first time they try out water magic they become competent at it in just a few seconds. Takumi being overpowered and having two overpowered kids under his wings would make sense if he was an actual, well written mentor figure. There is a lot to say about raising kids that in time could become WNDs in their own way. Not to mention that a truly powerful mentor as an MC isn’t something that we see often and can have a ton of plot and stories all by itself. Why not show how Takumi tries and fails in the beginning to teach them that the fact they can do something, doesn’t mean that they should? Let them not understand when he means and through an experience make them understand. Show me how he struggles himself with his image as a parental figure, his doubts about his way of raising them and maybe even show how he is unable to control them in the beginning. Show me something that would make me care about any of those 3. If You think You can write it well enough, make an arc when the kids learn control by hurting Takumi to the point where he’s out of the picture for most of the episode. Make it their fault so we see that they are truly kids with powers that they can’t control just yet. That would be much more impactful and meaningful than just making them stronger, more powerful and competent by the episode. Not to mention earned. I can even accept the fact that all 3 are overpowered but in that case let them have challenges that can’t be solved with fighting or magic. For fucks sake “Superman - Peace on Earth” gave the most overpowered character of all time something he couldn’t do. A challenge he could never overcome. They made him taste one of the most bitter defeats in his comic book history and make it a catalyst for learning. They made Superman, damn Superman unable to help people, to do what he always does. Why not make something similar here? Take those 3 overpowered characters and shove them into a citation they can’t possibly beat using might or magic. It doesn’t need to be anything grande like in “Peace on Earth”, something small and personal would be good, like the kids finding out what kind of asshole their father is and having them break because of it. It’s not very original but it would do the trick. I get that this is supposed to be a feel good story but it went about it in the worst way possible. A story like this needs contrast in its plot. You can’t just show only good parts in life because it suffocates the story itself. Without contrast the story becomes stale and boring and that’s what happened in this show. The first 5 episodes are pretty nice. Nothing groundbreaking but it works as an intro to something bigger. But the rest of the show is almost exactly the same. Nothing bad ever happens. This is supposed to be a story about raising kids. No matter how much one might try, life isn’t all burritos and strippers, there are bad things in life. Teaching that to kids (ok, maybe not that young but it could still work because of their circumstances) is one of the responsibilities of a parental figure. Those kids had already had a shitty moment in their lives before meeting Takumi giving them some more struggles of different kinds would still fit. But no. All we get for the entire 12 episodes are just good things with no consequences at all when finally something less than pleasant happens. It really annoyed me. Ok, I know I’m giving shit to the writing and I’m not going to apologize for that. The writing is abysmal, lacks focus and any kind of message. That said, I actually enjoyed watching this trainwreck. I know about every little trick they used to make me think that I care about the story and plot and yet, the first part of the show hooked me. Despite the writing, the execution of those little tricks, like using crying children, comforting parental figure or exaggerated reactions to little things, is actually solid. Yes, they are cheap but there's a reason why they work. Do I think this anime is a travesty of story telling? Yes. Do I think the writers are incompetent? Yes. Do I think I wasted my time watching this? Surprisingly - No. For the first 5 episodes I really had some fun and the later episodes do have at least one thing that was entertaining enough for me to continue watching (apart from me having OCD and Asperger that is). I wouldn’t recommend this but I also understand why someone who just wants to turn off their brain would find it enjoying.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 5, 2024
Sentai Daishikkaku
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings
“Go! Go! Loser Ranger!” is what happens when a pretty good idea is held down by a terrible mismatched mix of genres.
I’m a sucker for genre deconstructions. My favourite story of this type, and in general, is “Miracleman” by Alan Moore. Needless to say that when I read the synopsis for “Go! Go! Loser Ranger!” I was hyped. I thought it would be a Super Sentai deconstruction in a similar way that “The Watchmen” (also by Alan Moore) or “The Boys” were a deconstruction of Marvel and DC superheroes and… to a degree it is. It has some elements of a competent deconstruction but is ... held back by terrible comedy timing and the absurd world it takes place in. Does that make it a bad anime? I don’t think so. It does however make it less than competent deconstruction. I warn You to keep that in mind if You are also a fan of deconstructions. Thing is that episode 2 and 3 work as a solid prologue to an amazing deconstruction and are even played as such. Episode 1 is another beast but I’ll get to that. Before we start I would like to explain something. I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. I’m not gonna lie, I like the story. A story about a frustrated, basically slave, that decides to fuck over his tormentors. It’s a cool idea, not a very original one but a cool one. A bonus is that no one in this show has a moral high ground. Everyone is an asshole in one way or another, a sociopath or has less than righteous motives and plans. The MC (Fighter D) is literally a creature created to fight, kill and conquer humanity. He even has a goal to take over the world and be top dog. The drawback to this approach is that there isn’t really anyone to root for. On one side we have psycho rangers, on the other a power hungry idiot. I really couldn't care less about any of them if I tried. Maybe I would feel differently if Fighter D was a man with a plan but the truth is he doesn’t think things through (apart from 3 situations in later episodes) and wings it most of the time. He has a goal. Cool. But has no plan of achieving it. When it comes to the plot… I’m not a fan of the first half. For the first 5 (and a lot of 6) episodes it’s like the plot can’t decide what it wants to be. There are even moments when Fighter D (I refuse to call him just D. D is an awesome and competent vampire hunter not a poorly written moron. He’s Fighter D of FD from now on) is relegated to the role of deuteragonist, something that should never happen in an anime that has only 12 episodes. I will give credit where credit is due, there is a lot of “because of that” type of storytelling here. The problem is that the main beats that are the catalysts of this are mostly the effect of “and then that happened” type of storytelling. In this case it’s not as bad as in some other anime, apart from episode 2, that shit is just bullshit, but it still stands out. It had so much potential as a hero deconstruction and yet it decided to squander that potential for cheap jokes that kill any sort of drama, inconsistent protagonist and a world full of idiots. Granted, if the world had more than a bunch of people with an IQ higher than room temperature this whole show wouldn’t have happened in the way it does. But that’s the curse of anime in the last 15 years… oh well, c'est la vie. The first episode actually fulfills its function pretty well. It gives us a brief look at both sides of the greater conflict and does some lifting in worldbuilding without being a straight up exposition dump like some other anime do. Don’t get Your hopes up too much, there is still exposition. It shows us that the Keepers are machiavellian assholes, the fighters are cowardly peons without any sort of long term plan or even a goal. It also shows us that the world is populated by idiots. It has been 13 years since the invaders came to conquer earth. 13 years. In this time the conflicts were transformed from actual war-like skirmishes into a weekly spectacle. It was also 12 years since the last human died due to a monster attack and no one asks questions about this? I may be autistic but I would assume that if something life threatening suddenly turners into entertainment for the masses there would be questions. After 13 years even “The Simpsons” lost some of its viewership. Everyone just accepts that a force that was hell bent on world domination just attacks now in regular intervals, always in the same place, always with just a small unit and a boss, and only attacks the Keepers. There are shit loads of civilians with only a mere squad of security. If there were more of them they could paint the damn stadium red. Yes they do have an arrangement with the keepers but it’s stated that most people don’t know about it. Yet they still come to a place that would have no business being as safe for them as it is, if this was still a real conflict. I can’t even feel sorry for them. If they die, that’s on them. Natural selection wins. Listen, if I were to only look at its function I would probably give this episode something like 5 or maybe, MAYBE 6. But alas I’m the type of guy that cares more about the plot and story than just function. There is very little logic and believability in this world. How can I take the drama seriously if the whole world is packed full of nonsense and idiots? Let’s talk about the moment of the enslave… I mean, the arrangement the Keepers made with dusters. The deal was made 12 years earlier. 12 years. Let that sink in. The Keepers look as if they were in their mid 20's. Let’s say they are 25 (I have no idea if their age is stated anywhere so I might be wrong). 13 years ago when the conflict started they would be around 12-13. So now we have a couple of ways of looking at it. Either this is a different team than the one who made the dead, which isn’t very probable since they look and sound the same. Red even has the same mannerisms as he does in the present. Second. The transformations aged them when they were kids. Which is dumb but was made in “Power Rangers Turbo” with Justin Stewart so I wouldn’t be that much surprised. There is also a third option. The Keepers are in their mid to late 30s. Which is even worse because it implies that grown-ass men (and one woman) in their 30s act like spoiled kids. Furthermore, being in their 30’s isn’t old (I’m gonna tell myself that since I’m at the tail end of my 30’s) but it’s past their prime. They have a whole production line of Keepers and yet, not one Ranger in their 20s was able to outdo someone with their 30s? I could believe this in the case of Red, he does seem to have some unnatural level of strength almost like he spends every Dark Souls game using Strength builds, but the rest? I find it hard to believe the Keepers don’t have early retirements if only to keep the illusion of them being all powerful alive. Also, in Your 30s You tend to change Your outlook on life and what You value in it. Yet all of the Keepers are still acting like spoiled children. Mostly Red but Blue is also cocky and pays for it. Let’s get to the second part of the show. From around episode 7 (maybe 6 but that’s me being nice) the show changes. It becomes more focused. Almost like the writer took some writing classes when no one was looking. It gets better and worse at the same time. It becomes worse because it mostly loses its unique pitch. Yes we’re still in the universe where Power Rangers are psychos, yes most people are still morons and our MC still has a revenge boner but the show stops throwing garbage jokes anytime something serious happens (still does, but not so much so I count that as a win). The drawback is that it becomes just another tournament / exam regurgitated garbage You see in every school anime these days. It became so basic that I couldn’t even tell You why the exam was so dumb. Granted I’m not sure even the people writing this could tell You that but that’s beside the point. The infiltration and fucking up an organization from the inside is a good idea. Not many anime and even movies do that. But there is a reason why. It’s really tough to write something like that in a way that doesn’t feel cheap. The best example I can think of, of this type of plot is “Infernal Affair” - an amazing movie that uses an undercover cop and an undercover mob member to create suspense and drama. It’s a masterpiece of writing. The thing is, there are 3 movies in the series and only the first one is amazing. It’s that hard to write this sort of plot. It would be hard enough in a realistic setting, adding a Super Sentai fantasy to it makes it even more so, and adding dumb jokes that don’t land ruins it almost entirely. Probably why, the jokes stop at some point and the show gets better because of it. The exam arc also shows us another part of FD. His thinking and strategic part. Seriously, the second half of the show proves that he can think strategically and on the fly. Why isn’t this mofo the leader? The way he fools the opposing team to get the key, the way he takes charge of the situation when shit hits the fan and the way he plans the fight during the exam are really solid writing.. With few crappy moments but compared to the rest of the show it’s top notch. For 12 years he didn’t think of leading his own kind? With this kind of adaptability he could become a real threat to the world. So why just now? Oh, right… the plot demands it. The only thing I would call bullshit is that at some point he reveals his identity to convince someone to join his “cause”. It’s dumb and totally unnecessary. He could have convinced him in so many ways that I would spend a day and a half naming them. Ok, the reveal could have been the final method but the dumb ass barely tried anything else. Ok… this is getting too long for any sane person to read and I’m not even ¾ of the way I wanted on a list of things I wanted to address so… At the end of the day I don’t think this is a bad anime. The animation and art style are nice and OST is pretty solid as well. My main grype is that it is positioned as a deconstruction and I guess it does have elements of it, but it’s not a very good one. Shame because the idea has potential and I would lie if I told You I did not enjoy the second half of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 21, 2024
Goodbye, Don Glees!
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
“Goodbye, Don Glees!” is what happens when You have mediocre first two acts and absolutely slaughter the third one.
This movie tries hard to be deeper than it actually is. It’s a coming of age mish mash of ideas and themes topped with really heavy handed and pointless philosophical monologues. Unfortunately it’s another example of a pretty solid story held back by an incompetent plot. Its third act is incredibly disjointed from the rest of the movie and is an example of how not to end a movie. Speaking of story and plot… I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms ... interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page… I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them: “What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.” “STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”. “Goodbye, Don Glees!” is a coming of age story… and that’s it. Apart from the visuals that are really good and towards the end even very, very good, this movie has absolutely nothing to distinguish itself from the sea of other coming of age tales. Three boys – Roma, Toto and Drop go on a poorly justified adventure. There is no real reason for them to go, the only reason they do is some social media bullshit. They aren’t part of an official investigation by the authorities, their parents are pissed with them, there is only some crap on the bootleg Instagram. When Roma gets back home his parents act like nothing happened. So why the hell would they go and risk their health? Oh yeah… because the plot demands it and the writers are too inept to write something organic. Even when the boys encounter cops, they are not pursued by them. The only reason why they run is their own stupidity. To be fair that’s not the worst part, I’ve seen far worse justifications to move the plot along. The worst part is… I’ll get to that. First, the thing I liked, probably the only thing connected to writing, is a setup done at the beginning of act 1. Toto teases Roma about his crush and dials her phone number so his friend could “tell her something”. He dials the wrong number and instead he is connected to a lone phone booth in Iceland. Someone answers that phone call which is demonstrated by the call timer on Toto’s phone. The person on the other side hears Toto’s pseudo motivational speech. I like that it’s a very subtle set up to something that will have a resolution in act three. The movie doesn’t make a big deal about the fact that someone answered the phone. There are no needless zooms on the timer or even a voice from the other side. It’s just there on the side. The frame is concentrated on Toto speaking and treats that as the main point. The only other moment when this scene is referenced is at the tail end of act 3. This is probably the only good and subtle setup of the whole script. It’s all downhill from here. The characters themselves aren’t very interesting and in a story like this that’s a big problem. It’s just the standard coterie of Toto – the overachiever that walks the path that his parents set for him, Roma – the protagonist that’s the catalyst for most crap and Drop – the newcomer that shakes things up. Nothing really special. There is nothing about them that makes them stand out. You can easily mistake them for any other coming of age squad. One of the weirdest points of the plot is the relationship between the boys. It’s stated that the OG Don Glees are Roma and Toto and Drop is a newcomer to the squad. Toto met him literally a few hours ago and is still more than willing to spill his guts to him about his problems and fears, despite not being able to do it with Roma – his best friend. He does that right after getting into a fight with Drop and making Roma act like a spoiled brat and walk off. Now, let’s talk about the worst part of the plot. The movie blows its load with one of the dramatic beats from the get go. In the beginning Roma speaks about death and it’s inevitability and at the end of act one we get two, heavy handed “clues” (I am being generous now, You can’t miss it even if You tried) about the state of Drop. It’s so obvious it’s almost insulting. Then in act two his fate is blatantly stated with a narration about “his last adventure”. . Add to that some scenes when Drop is an obvious outsider to the group dynamic, topped with zooms on him while having a melancholic or sad face expression. It kills a lot of its drama. Because of it, when we finally got the news about Drop’s death (Yes, we don’t even get to see that) the movie didn’t get any kind of emotional reaction from me. Another thing that really killed the death part for me is the fact that we don’t really get to know Drop. He has some scenes of interacting with Roma and Toto in both act 1 and 2 but those aren’t really deep enough to let us know him. We know from at least the tail end of act 1 that he’s going to die so why not give something that would consolidate him as the emotional epicentre? The intro monologue would be pretty solid if it was as in the epilogue not the prologue. As it stands it is just pointless. It’s too heavy handed to work as a proper foreshadowing to the point that it’s just a spoiler. Why? Why would You do that? Wouldn’t it be better to leave it for the last act and let it hit hard as a truck? Let us get to know Drop better in act two, make him likeable and sympathetic and then after we think that everything would be ok, let him die. Make it a dramatic moment of suffering for both the viewers and the rest of the coterie. It would still need some foreshadowing, subtle foreshadowing mind You, but it’s not like it’s an impossible task. The writers prove that they are able to create such elements with the whole phone booth setup. Now let’s talk about the absolute shit show that is act three. It’s so disjointed from the previous two that it might as well be a part of a different movie. It starts after a pointless time skip. How long? No idea, it’s never stated. We don’t even see Drop’s death. We are just stuck with its aftermath. With Roma and Toto’s pain and even that isn’t shown for long because our coterie gets a new quest from beyond the grave. From that point on everything the movie shows is created to evoke emotions in the most obvious and heavy handed way possible. The frames, the camera movement and above else the music. Without the music there would only be one scene that could have had a chance to evoke the feeling of grandeur (or any kind of feeling actually) and it would be the one with the waterfall. That is a solid scene. From the background to camera movement and music, everything is almost perfect for a scene like that. On top of that the scene ends with the payoff to a setup we got in act 1. The one with the telephone call. There is also something that is pretty pointless and never resolved. The crush Roma has on a girl. We get some flashbacks with her, we get a scene where calling her turns out to be the catalyst of the whole movie and we even get her as the last person we see before the credits. Why? Why would we get to see someone who’s so absent from the main plot as the sendoff? Why wouldn’t we get a proper confrontation between her and Roma and maybe some kind of resolution to that plot point. The plot point is set up but we never get a payoff to it. It’s so annoying. The writers could just forget about her after the phone booth scene but no, for some reason we have to see her at the very end. It’s so unnecessary and feels like a pathetic setup for a sequel that will never come. Listen, I’ve seen worse movies. A lot of them actually, I’m a camp connoisseur so I know my way around bad movies. This one? This isn’t a total travesty. It’s just rushed, has a lot of disjointed elements and treats its viewers like eggs (is afraid to show Drops’ death or any other kind of farm). For that reason it is extremely hard for me to recommend this movie on the basis of its script. I would say You can watch it for the visuals and act 3 for the synergy of visuals and audio but that’s the best the movie has to offer unfortunately.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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