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Villain to Kill poses the question, what happens when your motivations are genetic and not necessarily your choice, combined with superpowers? The answer is apparently, you just get your own entire section of town to yourself, no-one really bothers you unless you cause trouble and it gives you the emotional range of a brick. Can't say that's predictable but it's not exactly compelling either.

The story starts off with a semi interesting premise, pitting a story of revenge in a villainous backdrop with conspiracies over motivations and the nature of choice. But within the first few chapters, the revenge plot takes a backseat, the main character ... is on an entirely different continent to those he wants revenge on and the story becomes more about internal villain politics, boring fight scenes with no stakes and almost every line of dialogue seems to be talking about the main character. There isn't a whole lot of things actually happening and most of it is just giving food for theory crafters to try and figure things out before they happen. In 54 chapters nothing moves forward, there's little in the ways of developing characters and most ongoing plot threads are pretty common and cliched, nothing to write home about.

The weakest link of Villain to Kill is its characters. The main character is very boring and emotionally stunted, often not caring about situations he's in, walking away from conversations and keeping a consistent low lidded expression that I found myself mirroring the more I had to follow him. Their trigger of 'anger' for their superpowers very rarely affects them and they meld into a lot of stock dark haired cool boy protagonists you'll see in the industry. Most other characters are fairly flat, mostly there to be knocked over like bowling pins in fights to make our protagonist look strong and cool and their motivations are either vague or just shrouded in mystery, with plenty of manic, evil smiling villainous characters who can be punched in the face. The main Psyker character is the only one who has any kind of arc of slight growth, and even then? He's not the focus and barely shows any more emotional depth than our lead.

The action has very little bite to it. There's never any sense our protagonist is ever in danger as he can perfectly dodge anything thrown at him and knock down 'strong villains' in single hits. Even the final big fight of the first chapter which seems like it may be a challenge, literally ends with our protagonist saying "actually this fight was bad and easy and I wasn't even trying." You’d think with a setup of being reincarnated into a new body, the protagonist would be very weak but have his experience to fall back on, but instead he’s just overpowered from the get-go and nothing poses a challenge, it’s not compelling.

The art is fine, mostly? I wouldn’t think twice about it besides some terrible ‘wcdonalds’ logo nonsense in the background, and fights being difficult to distinguish. It’s a lot of very bright colours and effects without any sense of weight or space to them that makes it hard to map out fights mentally. It certainly looks flashy but it’s hard to recall anything specific about any fight scene.

Ultimately, it comes across very basic and going for commonly tread themes of, light is not good and dark is not evil, with occasionally interesting power sets that are still a little vague and generic. I mean, come on, the main characters powers are fire and darkness, It doesn’t get much more trite than that. Exploring the genetic side of things would have been interesting had the narrative not manufactured ways for villains to just ignore the genetic side of things and never have them be a problem for the lead, rendering it all pretty moot. I would describe this as flashy but shallow and there are better things out there to read.

Before I start this review, I wanna clear some misconceptions about Shield Hero that people are using to stop folks watching the show.

Shield Hero is a story of vindication, not revenge. Shield Hero is a story about becoming a better person through family, not having a loli harem. Shield Hero is about getting through rough times, not being edgy by stacking the world against you.

I really didn't expect to enjoy Shield Hero as much as I did when I started watching it, but after a couple episodes, it's quickly become one of my favourites. Yes, it's an isekai, and if you're not into that you ... probably won't enjoy the show, but even so, i'd urge you to give it a chance and go in with an accepting mindset, because this show stands head and shoulders above the more common isekai.

The story is pretty top notch. Everything is set out from the get go to distinguish itself as a stereotypical isekai, only to break the mould and focus its attention on the character dynamics of the main character Naofumi and his party members, Raphtalia, Filp and Melty. It focuses on properly building up its world, showing the main character putting some skill and work into their job and how he takes care of those he works with, like a father or an older brother. It might seem to start out somewhat edgy with initial implications, but all it's doing is setting up its protagonist for development against the odds. Another theme in the story is about skill, tactics and teamplay overcoming sheer power, shown with Naofumi using tricks and his party members to overcome tough enemies, with exceptions such as a certain trump card I won't talk about for sake of spoiling. But he is not an overpowered protagonist, everything he does earnestly does feel like he's struggling and doing his best to fight back and it's honestly pretty endearing. It's not exactly the finest story ever written, but it fits the scenario and very easy to wrap yourself up in with a sympathetic main character and a world that is distinguishable from the norm as our characters do interact with it far more.

The art is very decent, I don't have much to say about it since fights are well animated and characters look good, I didn't notice any particular errors. However I do have to dock points for the poor implementation of CGI in places and it is a shame. Considering I watched Overlord's first season not too long ago and that had far better CGI, I can't help but wonder how the industry hasn't sorted this out yet. For now, it mostly feels like scotch tape holding some of the weaker parts of the anime together, but it is worth getting through for everything else.

Sound is good, not much to say again but both opening and ending themes are still fresh in my memory, particularly the first one. Otherwise most of it is servicable and not much above your typical anime.

The characters are easily the best thing about Shield Hero. Naofumi is an excellent protagonist, set up for failure by the world around him and resenting every minute of it. You understand his worldview and his actions instantly and why he has such a cynical edge to him and it's fun to watch him slowly come out of that side and accept people into his life. His party members all have fun interactions with him and they all feel distinct, none of them overlap too much. The outside cast is also good, the antagonists are fun to hate and there will be times you get frustrated by what they're pulling, like a good antagonist should. Some have argued the characters are too stupid for falling for things and therefore it's bad writing, but this isn't the case. It's not as if deception from authority is common in fantasy worlds.

As I said before, I highly enjoyed Shield Hero and I would recommend it to anyone who wants something a little different from your standard isekai. Its protagonist and a lack of being overpowered, its character building and world make it a good example of how the genre can still be appealing no matter what. See it for yourself and make your own judgements.

I know I won't be shielding my thoughts from this show for a long time coming.

Slime Isekai, which is what i'm going to call it because of it's long title, is going to do a lot of good things for folks who enjoy isekai. However it doesn't quite rise above it's genre. And that's both a good thing and a bad thing.

Honestly i'd heard good things about this show before I even started watching it and I can definitely see why. If you enjoy isekai and want to see something a bit more character driven and slice of lifey, then this show will be right up your alley. But if you want to see the next great isekai, I'm ... not sure this is the one for that. Let me go into detail.

The story is above average. Setup is your typical isekai that focuses more on it's world building than anything else. It expands naturally outwards and it feels like the next big step in the town building is the next big step in the plot too and it all flows together quite nicely. However, this is still an isekai, and thus it has an overpowered protagonist and increasingly powerful characters. Not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it does unfortunately evaporate the tension in some of this show's more action oriented moments. There are times the show will try to convince you of a threat or that something is 'stronger' than the protagonist, but these moments unfortunately never stick as the protagonist will simply tank any hits and defeat the enemy usually in one or two big moves. It takes the bite out of the show when it tries to split it's focus between establishing the town and big arch villains waiting on the horizon. The overpowered nature does still come in useful in places, such as moments of diplomacy and particularly the teaching arc in the second half, but otherwise it drags things down quite a bit.

Artwork is good. The animation on Rimaru's slime form in particular is consistently expressive and genuinely appealing. Most of the designs are nice, though i'm not a particular fan of turning the races into just demi humans after a certain point but that's just anime for you. Very few flubs and moments where it didn't work for me, but there was also nothing particularly outstanding.

Sound is a similar level of quality. I do at least remember the OP which is nice but otherwise few tracks stick in my head and most of it is serviceable.

The characters are easily the best thing about this show. Sure these aren't the deepest and most complex characters ever, but they are entertaining and fun to watch interact off of one another and it's truly the moments where the show shines. And it's not all fun and games, dramatic moments and sad character revelations work nicely with how they're built up. The focus on diplomacy over fighting lends itself well to this notion so we can tend to find out about villains and characters without them just being killed off. Rimaru himself remains pretty entertaining as a protagonist and besides his overpowered nature, is a hoot to watch.

Despite my issues, it was hard not to have a blast watching this show. I wouldn't consider myself someone who's head over heels with isekai shows but this one definitely scratches a lot of my sweet spots for some more classic fantasy anime. It's not quite as mystical and original as all else, but it still presents something truly fun that I was looking forward to week after week.

Overall, this show's great. It only just falls short of being truly excellent for me and for some, I can imagine what I had hangups with won't detract from their enjoyment. It definitely keeps a good standard for this kind of show and I hope more anime in future takes notes. It might not be perfect, but it's worth looking at for future reference.

I couldn't think of any puns for this review so, splat.

Radiant is a firework you think you've seen before, but it turns out it was something different entirely, only for it to burn out quickly.

Going into this show, I was expecting just the usual. Fantasy magical battle trash, something mindless I could just enjoy. And at first it did seem just like that with some of its lamer episodes and bizarre idea of character design. But once the show moved into its second half, something else reared it's head and revealed this show understood more than it was letting on.

Story is pretty simple, nothing incredible but it's mostly competent at what it does. ... The story is slow during the first half of the show, mostly focusing on Seth's growing as a mage and learning something about the world. The second half however starts greying the morality of the characters, opens up new possible ideas and peaks with a monstrous villain and a tragic villain. It's got potential to continue improving but as it stands, it feels like the jumping off point for something far better. The actual writing is up and down, a lot of the comedic elements tend to fall flat, but there are some standout running gags that continue to be amusing. The story is easily the biggest bar to entry as i'm sure it'll turn off the more discerning viewer and that is a shame because there is more to unpack than you initially see.

Art is pretty decent. The spell effects are nice and clear, the animation during fight scenes is pretty good, there's not too many flubs I could spot but it's nothing spectacular. It serves the purpose it's needed for.

Sound is pretty forgettable. I can't remember any distinct tracks from it, the voice acting is just fine. I've not got a lot to say on it and even the intro i'm already forgetting and getting mixed up with other shows.

The characters are easily the best part of this show. This anime was adapted from a French manga, (or manfra, idk) and it definitely shows in some of the odder designs but there's some real standouts among the cast. Whilst at first some of the characters are irritating and simple, they do develop as the story goes, Seth especially becomes a far more endearing character during the second half and whilst he's definitely not Asta levels of annoying, there's a lot to be desired. The supporting cast are pretty decent, Doc serves to be a consistent source of good humour and even the villains get larger personalities than i'd expect from a show like this, Black Clover again being a good point of comparison as to how villains usually are in shows like this.

I didn't expect to enjoy this show as much as I did. I must admit I put it off for a good couple weeks due to the nature of the show but when I did get back into it, I was hooked for each week it was on. If you can get through it's first half and find yourself enjoying the characters and the writing, you're in for a treat in the second half.

Radiant is definitely screaming for a second season to really expand it and show off everything it has to offer. I can't help but feel doubtful it will get one though due to its popularity and that big barrier to entry which is a real shame. If you have any interest in a show with this kind of premise, you'll enjoy it. If you don't, you probably won't be able to push through to when it really starts to shine, so just go at your own pace.

In the end, Radiant really brought to light with a generic looking fantasy battle anime can do once it spreads its wings and starts to fly.

Black Clover is a Shonen that feels like it was written 12 years ago and has taken none of the lessons of its predecessors.

Most of my time watching Black Clover was spent watching it to mock it and laugh at how bad it is. Because this show is bad. Really, really bad. The nicest thing I could say about it is that it's painfully average and has one or two good moments but they're not worth sitting through the rest of this dreck for unless you can have a chuckle at it.

Story is bare bones Shonen plot. I wasn't exactly expecting a stellar and ... captivating plot for this kind of show but but it's clearly not trying that hard. It's a simple setup that allows for various fantasy missions, usually involving the villains and ending in big stupid fight scenes. It doesn't ever get too complex, the world building is pretty lackluster likely due to holding onto key information for twists later on such as why the Diamond and Clover kingdoms are at war. As is it's not hugely engaging and doesn't throw you for any loops or if it does try to fool you, it usually gives no buildup at all, or it kills the tension afterwards.

The art is awful. The animation has numerous errors in continuity and in lip syncing, the fight scenes lack good choreography and often resort to lazy shortcuts to avoid putting the effort in. There may be occasional bursts of good animation but for a series releasing an episode every week with no breaks, it's hardly a surprise. Studio Pierrot doesn't have the best animation reputation either.

The sound is bad. By now everyone has heard Asta's infamous screaming voice and whilst it does get better the further you go, it doesn't exactly become anything near quality. The music is pretty forgettable and none of the other VAs stand out or exhibit anything particularly good.

Character? What character? This show doesn't have characters, it has one note stereotypes and cliches that pretend to be characters. I'd say there's only two to three actual characters in the show, the rest are just one note cliches that barely emote and their interactions consist of them reminding you what their trait is before moving on to someone else. The protagonist suffers from this immensely, they try to go the 'boundless determination' route but it never feels earned and they hardly emote beyond that so it hardly matters all that much. At best, the characters are simply boring, at worst they're insufferable.

Like I said, the only enjoyment I get out of this show is ironic. It's just kind of entertaining to watch and laugh at for how much the show runners misunderstand about the tropes of Shonen anime and just throw them in there for the sake of them rather than giving them the time or buildup they deserve.

Overall, this show is a mess. I've been told the manga is better but I honestly don't care. Unless you want to get into Shonen and see one of its worst examples, steer clear.

Kakegurui is like playing a round of Russian Roulette with no bullets in the chamber. Sure it might seem a thrilling idea, but in reality it lacks any bite or consequence.

The story is pretty basing and boring. Local gambling girl takes on various opponents in different games. The actual games played come quick and fast and there's barely any time to get into the games, so they're all pretty simple and predictable games. The biggest sin this 'gambling' anime commits is there are practically no consequences from any of the gambles going on, with the protagonist casually throwing away money or consequences never being ... picked up on or ignored. Even the big ending gamble just results in a draw, so it might as well have not happened. There's no insight into the protagonist's thoughts so it's basically a game of waiting for her to call out the cheating going on whilst never being affected by the events around her. All its attempts to escalate the stakes fall flat and it comes off as pretty bad.

The art? Pretty decent. Some moments definitely shine above others and the facial expressions can be so hilariously distracting when the rest of the show tries to come across as pretty highschool girls. There's nothing particularly standout about it but there's nothing too bad about it either, it's rather hard to talk about honestly. The only thing hugely interesting are the facial expressions and they come across as over the top and hilarious more than anything.

The actual sound design of the show is pretty good. The soundtrack is nice and catchy and it's very fitting for a gambling anime with some jazzy pieces and tense numbers. The ED in particular is a personal favourite. Unless you want to watch some honest to goodness shlock, i'd recommend listening to the soundtrack on its own, it's much better than the show.

There's not much character to be had here. The protagonist has two settings. Nice, demure high school girl and crazy broad who orgasms over gambling. Most of the cast just generally get pretty insane over gambling to the point of hilarity with a triage of generic melancholy backstories of great expectations to over saturate them to the point of meaninglessness. Most of them tend to go through 'development' over just one speech from the protagonist and the villains are all pretty one note and boring, again with just two settings, casual and gambling crazy.

In terms of enjoyment, I had an utter blast watching Kakegarui. I can see why it has a positive score honestly because it's honestly kind of hilarious to sit through, see all the ridiculous cheating methods and stupid facial expressions the characters pull. I wouldn't recommend watching this unless you want to see some fun shlock, don't expect quality out of this show.

Kakegarui is an gambing anime in the trappings of the word and little else. It's fun if you don't take it seriously, but if you want a good gambling anime, go watch Kaiji.

Twocar is like going to an auto show and spending your whole day talking to some driver instead of looking at the cars.

This show is honestly aggravating for me. I was excited to see it and it just sort of turned into a dud of a series. What could've been a fun romp about some neat characters and some great racing turned into a series of forced drama with the occasional meaningless race. It's not what I came for and i'm not sure if it was really worth it.

Story? What story? The story is set around racing championships for the Isle of man TT but ... it never goes anywhere. It's all built as setup for the final race, which is the only meaningful race in the show, and as a setup for the characters. The plot is essentially static and even by the end, little has actually happened. The races are the worst part, for a 'tournament' you'd think maybe it's set over a few days, but majority of the races are just testing with only two races having any plot impact. And the ending doesn't even focus on the results of that last race anyway.

Art is pretty good. The CG for the vehicles and characters was decently integrated with the 2D, it did look occasionally janky when two vehicles had to pass one another, but otherwise the angles and the shots used for the racing are pretty nice to look at. The 2D animation is not so great but it's passable.

Sound is of a similar quality, the opening and ending themes are pretty catchy, the music is generally good and fits the tone of scenes, the voice acting is fine, it's very passable.

The characters are unfortunately the tipping point of the show. The two main characters are pretty insufferable, a pair of catty bitches who spend most of their time arguing and going at each other. It's cute at first but it becomes annoying quickly, and I think the anime knows it too considering it focuses on them little during the middle of it. Plus they refuse to grow and any semblance of development for them is snuffed out in the final episode.

The other characters are a bit more interesting, we essentially get three arcs involving three other teams and two of them are alright, developing relationships. The third sadly doesn't seem to have any real pay off and just meanders into a semi ending. The joke lesbian couple are also decently entertaining but I won't be remembering any of these girls by name, that much is a certainty.

Enjoyment is a sticky wicket. I enjoy the show whenever it focused on the cars and the side characters. When it focuses on the main characters, it becomes a repetitive grind and most of my goodwill went out the window with the final episode.

If you really want a sports anime about racing, i'd say go watch Initial D. If you need a sports anime about racing centering around cute girls, you can watch this if you want, but I wouldn't highly recommend this in any degree.

Ousama Game The Animation is what happens when an idiot ball knocks down every character like bowling pins and scores a strike on the audience's intelligence.

The story is very poor. There are two primary stories, a story set in the past and one set in the present. The outcome of the past story is already apparent, so it's impossible to get into and the present day story isn't much better. Both follow the orders of the Ousama game, these orders usually ranging from remarkable simple only to be fumbled by character stupidity or so vague they're merely an excuse to butcher some more characters. There's ... very little attempt to immerse you in the world of the show as there seems to be nothing outside of the cast going on and it makes everything feel particularly empty and uninteresting. There are also vast leaps in logic that are incredibly difficult to suspend disbelief for, even for a killing game. You simply have to put more effort into world building for these kinds of scenarios. Most of the actual horror comes in the show's theme of pointless cruelty, which would be an alright set up were it not for the characters themselves. Speaking of which...

The characters are not good. In an anime where anyone could die at any time, you really need developed and interesting characters so it can hurt all the more when the show kills them off or they're put in peril. There are flashes of this, but usually only in characters who are about to be killed off or don't last very long. There's usually 3 primary characters the show builds on and develops at all and the rest of the cast tends to be fodder for the orders. Most characters also seem to have a remarkably flexible morality, as in one scene they can be scared teenagers trying to survive and in the next they are turning on one another and becoming psychopathic murdering rapists. And that's not hyperbole, there's multiple examples in the show of characters doing a 180. The protagonist is a particular point of contention, he seems more fitting for a shonen protagonist as despite his experiences, he is insistent upon hope and that everyone can survive when he knows for a fact that is impossible. There's no real attempt to explore this either, a shonen protagonist trapped in an unwinnable situation has more potential than this show gave it.

The sound is... alright. Nothing particularly great or bad. The music was good for raising suspense and suited the atmosphere, the voice acting was generally decent but nothing standout. It's so unremarkable it's not worth watching the show for.

The art ranges from decent to bad. A lot of the gore and the actual horrific moments tend to be blurred out or are so horrific they're hard to take seriously and come across as something more out of the Evil Dead than a horror show wanting to be taken seriously. Most of the character designs are very forgettable, it has the 'main character design' syndrome where the only characters that matter get slightly effort driven designs whilst everyone else is stuck with your usual classroom fodder look.

Enjoyment for this show is rock bottom. I didn't enjoy it as a horror anime, as a story or as a piece of animated media. Honestly the only enjoyment you can get out of Ousama game is watching it for the 'so bad it's good' quality. But that's only present in a couple of episodes and you'll probably find yourself shouting at the screen rather than laughing at the ridiculous scenarios.

This is not a good show. This is not a good horror anime. Do not watch it unless you simply desire to see a train wreck in motion. This Ousama Game was over before it even started.

Juuni Taisen is a very unique breed of anime. It's left me with more mixed feelings than most shows I can honestly think of. Some of it's good, some of it's bad and what we're left with is a very strange package to unwrap right before Christmas. Well, let me try and tackle this with some structure.

The three key things that define Juuni Taisen as a show are it's characters, it's thematic storytelling and it's anti climaxes. And all of them have their ups and downs.

So i'll start with characters. It's hard not to be immediately drawn in because all the characters have pretty ... stellar designs, both visually and how they're written. None of the 12 participants feel interchangeable and clear work has gone into making them interesting and fun to watch. A lot of the good stuff in Juuni Taisen is just watching these characters interact and deal with one another across the show's runtime. We're given a decent amount of time to learn about most of their backstories, their motives and their goals and they work well with their actions.

Unfortunately the strength of these characters is cut short as, since this is a death game, the characters tend to die off very quickly before they can have any actual development in the show. Once you know a character's backstory, for the most part, it's just a countdown to when they'll die, so sometimes it can be hard to get attached to them, especially early characters. There are some exceptions to this, for instance Tiger is easily one of the more standout characters and Rat also have some development, but they're drops in a bucket.

Onto the plot, the strength of it is definitely in the themes of the show. Every character having clearly defined goals and methods means their actions and even deaths are particularly fitting. It's nice as well that it's not drawn a huge amount of attention to and there to expand on for the more eagle eyed viewer who spies a cue in a certain backstory or in dialogue.

However, the plot itself is very bare bones and basic. It's your standard killing game affair with a rich group betting on it and somehow being able to grant wishes, none of which is given any detail. And on top of that, the plot does get predictable quickly, thanks to the show being based on the story of the Chinese Zodiac, if you're even vaguely aware of the story, you already know who the winner is and who will die in what order, which for a killing game is kind of detrimental.

What will surprise about Juuni Taisen is its use of anticlimaxes, something not often seen in anime. These tend to be both good and bad, sometimes they will earnestly catch you off guard for how sudden an action is or how shocking an event was and other times you'll feel somewhat robbed of a potentially interesting payoff.

The animation itself can be pretty good when the show actually decides to use it, certain fight scenes later in the show are pretty good but unfortunately a lot of the actual 'animation' is just used on simple talking scenes and it's something of a shame because when fight scenes are present, they tend to be pretty good and make you want more.

Overall, while I personally got some enjoyment out of Juuni Taisen, this is definitely not a show for everyone. I'd say give it the three episode rule and if you're enjoying the characters and can get over the predictable nature of the plot, it's a fun but bumpy ride right until the end. If you're just here for action and violent scenes, you'll get some of it, but probably not as much as you're craving.

I'm glad I watched Juuni Taisen, but it's only getting a polite round of applause from me.