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So, like, I don't know all the inner workings of how this is all made, but even with my low expectations going into the second season I at least expected there to be some sort of PLOT to it. Instead, all this season has to offer is 10 glorified OVAs with no connection to each other (hell the actual OVAs had more plot relevance than this season) and no real character development (and any character development that does happen gets erased by the next episode). My guess is that they didn't have much material to work with? Although I see the manga has a decent ... amount of chapters so I don't know if that's the case, but like this season adds nothing if you watch this for the plot (I mean, to be fair that's probably a small amount of people). If you like all the ecchi stuff I guess you might like this, but don't expect answers to any of the mysteries created in the first season. It's seasons of anime like this that make me question why I don't just read the manga.

One question plagued me while watching this, "what possessed the writers to pace this show in the way they did?" I'm not saying that pacing is the only issue with this, far from it, but it's the first thing that's apparent while watching. I did watch it while it aired which made the pacing feel worse as I had to wait a week just to find out it was another filler episode instead of finally getting back to the plot. This might not have been so bad if they had done the character introductions before the first major arc of the show, but no, the ... whole plot-twist of there actually being 8 girls instead of 7 was apparently more important. The real kicker is that even if they had switched the order around, I still probably wouldn't have noticed that one of the characters was missing until the reveal, that's how forgettable everyone is. Even now, thinking back, I only really remember three of the girls that well, the main one, the one who senses misfortune, and the one who is impossibly good at disguising herself. If being so bland that I forget everything about them once the show is over was actually an advanced spy tactic, then I guess it worked on me.

The one week break where this show didn't air because of whatever difficulties were going on in production was honestly a welcome breather. I should have used that as an excuse to stop watching but stupidly I thought it would get better as soon as the flashback part of the show was over. Considering the flashbacks take up around half the show, it's my fault for choosing to stick with it. The first two episodes of the next mission almost fooled me into believing that the show was getting better again, however this illusion was soon shattered once the show pulled the most random plot-twist ever and a bunch of other stupid explanations for certain events which felt completely nonsensical. I can't even remember whether it was properly set-up, although if it was in an early episode I can be forgiven for not remembering a minor detail about something I watched a month prior. God knows I'm not going to re-watch it, that's for sure. Some of these "spy skills" are just straight up superpowers, like if superhumans are supposed to exist in this universe just say so, I should have an idea of what's within the realm of possibility before the show pulls random magic on me.

Of course the show had to end with an end-credit scene cliffhanger (also the last episode is another flashback episode because whoever structured this show doesn't understand what a climax is). Honestly, I could not care less about this cliffhanger at all, mainly due to me not remembering anything about the character the cliffhanger was centered around anyway. I have no connection to any of these characters, the show lacks any soul that would make me care if what's her name is in danger or if someone else happens to be secretly evil. If they ever make a second season I won't be watching it, maybe I'll read the synopsis if I ever get curious for some reason. So overall this show is like if Spy X Family and Assassination Classroom had a child, except without any of the charm or competency of its parents.

What can I even say about this? I doubt there's going to be many people desperate to know whether they'd want to watch this show in 2023 but I don't care, here's a review. If you hate harem or ecchi anime with a passion, why would you even bother asking whether you'd want to watch this, the answer is no. Even though I marked this as having spoilers I won't go too into detail, but I marked it as that to be safe since I'm giving away the tonal shift that occurs around half-way through the show.

The first 11 episodes are just your standard ... bland harem romcom, with the occasional foreshadowing that there may be more going on in the plot, however none of it is really explored until after the episode 12 tonal shift. It's not like the show becomes a surprise horror or anything like that but the story goes into darker areas and becomes more of a drama than a comedy. Some of the plot-twists in the second half of the show were actually quite cool in my opinion, however the next episode previews kind of gave some of them away, so maybe skip them if you don't want to be spoiled.

While I put up with the first 11 episodes (which isn't saying much since I rarely drop shows unless I'd rather search for a needle in a haystack than watch the full series), I always got the feeling that the show could be more than it was. I felt like there was a lot of wasted potential, considering they have a whole magic system that's barely explained and just seems to exist for the sake of the premise. Most of my concerns were addressed with the later episodes however I still feel like the world of the devils and (especially) the world of the gods was severely underdeveloped. Maybe they are explored further in the source material, I wouldn't know because I haven't read it, but I'm reviewing the anime so that shouldn't matter anyway. Point is, the existence of magic in the first half only really serves as a gag.

So yeah, the first 11 episodes are basically just a collection of all your favourite harem and ecchi tropes, you've got the nice guy protagonist, the caring childhood friend who the protagonist never registers as a love interest, the girls from powerful families who fall for the protagonist because he was nice to them like a decade ago, the perverted male side-character (who actually seems to be semi-successful in this one) and of course the groups of incels who harbour a burning envy for how the protagonist is always surrounded by girls. One thing that was unfortunate as a western viewer was the acronym for one of these incel groups, specifically the one dedicated to the childhood friend. If you decide to watch the show you will definitely know what I'm referring to when they show up. Of course, these characters stop being relevant as soon as the more serious second half of the show comes in.

I found the second half of the show way more interesting than the first half, for once I felt like I was actually engaging with the story rather than just turning my brain off to each obligatory harem event. It's possible that the only reason I enjoyed the second half as much as I did was due to the contrast between that and the first half, but I thought it was fine. The story is not the most complex thing ever and there are some plot points that don't really make that much sense but I mean my standards weren't that high so it at least felt like an improvement. There are still a load of tropes in this part of the show but I wasn't expecting a subversive masterpiece. I liked the darker direction the story went in, although it definitely makes two characters in particular a lot less likable than they were before if you really think about what it is they're doing. it might not be clear which characters I'm referring to, so to avoid too many spoilers I'll say it's the characters who are basically responsible for what happened during the arc where they all go to the world of the devils. They never really face repercussions for this and once the arc is over it's only really brought up again as part of the explanation for one of the later plot-twists.

To round this review off, I'll say I commend this show for at least having an actual ending. This shouldn't be something noteworthy but it always feels like there's so many harem anime these days which will do literally anything to prolong the conclusion, so I'm glad that this show has an actual ending, even if I do wish the world could have been developed further. To be honest, this review is kind of pointless because the type of people who would want to watch this show wouldn't bother reading a review first anyway. I wouldn't recommend this as anyone's first harem show though, this is one I'd watch once I'd already seen the better ones and just wanted to view something to pass the time. If you don't mind standard harem shows or dramas, I'd say there's no harm in putting this in your "plan to watch" list for when you've got nothing better to do.

A rather interesting short, Hanako wasn't what I expected it to be based on the first minute, that's for sure. There is a very rough feel to the anime which in my opinion works well with the overall feeling of the short. Watching it feels like you are watching someone's confession. I read somewhere that it was all done by one person however I am unsure how true that is. It definitely feels like an intimate experience.

I am unsure if there is any deeper meaning to the story at all, if there is then it totally went over my head. While it does not start ... off especially disturbing it gets more disturbing as it progresses and really I think one of the main factors in that and one of the greatest aspects of this short in general is the music. The piano does a great job of capturing the mood of what is being shown on screen. The speech in this anime is clearly recorded on a cheap microphone but in my opinion this adds to the intimate confession vibe the short captures.

I don't fully understand ever aspect of the story, especially the part around a minute in, it may be that it is intentionally left up to interpretation, but I'm not sure. As I said, I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a deeper meaning to the story but I do think it captures the disturbing vibe very well.

Hell, it's only four minutes, I say give it a watch.

So for this review I figured I'd let you into my experience watching this anime. I didn't enjoy the first three episodes because I feel like they thrust you into the battle system too soon. The whole battling thing is probably one of the weaker parts of this anime in my opinion and the better parts are more when the characters just interact. I didn't get into the groove of this anime until episode 4 which is the first episode that isn't focused on the battles. I think if the first ESB had taken place a little further along in the series after we got ... more acquainted with the characters instead of right at the start I would've probably enjoyed it more.

But yeah I enjoyed it starting with episode 4, don't know how helpful of a review this is but whatever. I think the second season is superior.

This anime was basically just a game of "guess which character has come back to life as a ghoul since you last saw them". Now, I actually don't have much of a problem with anime removing scenes from the source material as long as the story still makes sense and keeps you hooked. With this show, as a non-manga reader, I just found myself confused and puzzled at many of the plot points. I constantly asked myself "hey, wasn't this guy supposed to be dead?" It was kinda explained later on but the characters weren't surprised at these people just showing up again out of ... nowhere, it felt like everyone was in on a secret apart from you.

I do believe that if everything was actually explained, this anime could've been much better. I wish they had given the show more time to explain plot points instead of just thrusting them at you. At least the ending was satisfying I guess. I doubt there's any new perspective I could give on this. I would recommend the manga but I haven't read it so I couldn't really do that in good faith.

Okay, this anime is kind of a weird one. There's a lot of very convoluted sciency stuff, now I ain't no expert so I don't know how accurate it is (however considering that it includes time travel I would guess that at the most it is theoretically sound, I wouldn't know either way). I imagine this leads to the average viewer being confused around 50% of the time due to this stuff taking up about half of each episode.

This show feels kinda like the writers wanted to get their hypothesis on time travel and parallel dimensions out there but they didn't want to propose ... the theory in a scientific way due to fear of being ridiculed. I mean, hey, as far as I know the writers might have accidentally discovered time travel and I would be none the wiser. But I'm willing to assume that it is actually a whole load of bs that doesn't actually make sense. I still don't really know what an "orthodox diagonalizer" is, if that's even what it was called.

As far as the plot, I would say it is original and creative, it's more than just "Godzilla destroys Tokyo, oh no!" I do enjoy the art style of the anime, especially with the whole red dust thing, really set the mood. The AI companion felt kinda cheap at times but hey, it made the anime more fun in a way. Watch this if you enjoy shows that throw around a load of scientific words that probably don't make any sense put together but are believable enough to make the untrained viewer think it makes sense.

Spoilers below:
This might be the worst anime I've ever seen. It's either this or Yosuga No Sora, but at least that had a plot that somewhat made sense. There's so much bullshit going on yet hardly any of it ever gets explained.

The main issue I have with this show is that I feel like it's constantly hinting at some big plot twist or revelation that completely changes the plot, but that moment just never really comes. So the main guy's father is like some secret agent guy who saved this rich guy who then tried to force his daughter to marry the main guy. Apart ... from one scene where they don't even really talk to each other you don't even see the two fathers together. When did they even get a chance to talk about this bullshit? The secret agent stuff is only there to give a reason for Yuuhi to live with the main guy.

Then there's the alien shit. Why are aliens in this story? I have no idea, their motivations aren't explained and they're only outed as aliens while the credits roll on the last episode. If you've got aliens in your story then what's the point of basically hiding that they're aliens until the story is over? I feel like I'm watching a spinoff of a more interesting anime.

In my opinion, the best parts of this anime are when the characters are just interacting with each other. No random secret agent bullshit, no hints of supernatural beings, no random mechs that fall apart as soon as they're revealed. The anime tricking you into thinking some major plot twist is going to happen takes away from the drama between the characters in my opinion. What even is the point of the scenes in the last two episodes where the main guy meets his father again, all it does is take him away from the other characters. Same with when he goes to pilot the mech in an underground lab IN A SCHOOL, or when he falls down a trap door because of Nagomi for reasons I still don't understand. All this does is exclude him from the rest of the characters for a while, without rewarding you with any meaningful reason for all the build up.

One more thing, I get that this was hinted at throughout earlier points of the show, but when you've got a show with so much bullshit going on why would you make the dramatic climax of this show the incest between the main character and his sister? And why does every other character encourage this? You've got secret agents and aliens who don't contribute much to the plot but you make sure the incest story line is wrapped up and explained? Explain why the school is wasting their budget on a lab to create mechs that don't work!

The cruise episode was probably the best one as the plot actually made sense, even if it was stupid. If there wasn't so much unexplained random bullshit then this show wouldn't have much to talk about so I'll give it that. Aliens though

I did enjoy this anime as I tend to with other animes of this genre, although there is something I want to comment on.

The whole concept of "renting a girlfriend" could never actually be green-lit due to the insane amount of implications this app would raise. For starters, how widespread is this service? If you live in an area that's hours away from the nearest girl taking part in the program then do you have to pay for their transport or do you just not get to rent a girlfriend?

Next, how can the safety of the girls taking part in this be guaranteed? I'd ... imagine that the majority of guys who would use this service wouldn't exactly be the best kind of people, so you know the company that provides this damn service would face lawsuit after lawsuit.

Another thing, with the whole concept of rating girlfriends, you know that some of the girlfriends would become popular on the internet, kinda like people on OnlyFans. I'm sure that at least someone would recognise the girls out in the street, which would then expose the guy using the service. The girls would be constantly booked out as you know simps would pay thousands for a service like this.

You know what I would love to see? A spin-off of this show where it shows the development process of this app and how exactly it managed to even become a thing in the strange universe. From how the other characters act it doesn't seem like many people know about this app whereas you know in the real world there'd be countless news articles and shit about it.

But yeah I enjoyed the anime so whatever

There's not really much I want to say about this show, so I'll just give a cool theory I have about the ending.

My theory is that the quintuplets never existed and there's only one girl. The five girls represent the five parts of this one girl's personality. I mean sure, some of the personalities contradict each other (i.e. Miku not knowing how to cook and Nino knowing how to cook) but we all have bad days don't we? Maybe I'm looking way too deep into the story, but whatever.

I enjoyed it, the reason why is because it was enjoyable.