Back to Devinitas's Profile Devinitas's Profile

Spy X Family has captured the hearts of Spies and Families all over the world, and it's easy to see why. An intriguing setup with striking characters, a skillful interweaving of spy/action stories and comedy/slice-of-life, with just the right amount of heart - but for me, after following this series for over two years, the series developed into a direction I am not really interested in anymore, and perceived dents to my enjoyment that were more incidental at first ballooned into issues that actually keep me from enjoying myself reading it.

Let's talk about the heart and soul of this series first - the characters! Loid ... is the initiator of the story as is, adopting a little child as a cover story, and then going out to find a mom for said child in order to add to his story. And here, an ingenious decision was made - making said child the very center of the show. She is the only one understanding what's going on with both her parents, she knows about both "worlds" the show it set in, but at the same time acts believably childlike, and not even like a particularly sweet child at that. She's egotistical, silly, not the brightest, but those make her one of the most engaging child characters in recent memory and it's easy to see her charm. She's not interested in saving the world except maybe the vague idea she's doing something good by just having fun (i.e. contributing to world peace by just spending time with her new family). She finds innocent joy in knowing her parents lead these exciting lives, but are also there there for her as her loving guardians. If you, dear reader, remember the mid 2000's Disney Channel Show "The Replacements" - it reminds me of that in the best way possible. A hapless fun dad who does action and stunts, a cool Spy Mom (or in the case of Spy X Family, the reverse) - sounds like the premise a child could come up with and it sparks the imagination. And of course the line between Loid's mission that initially required him to be more cold and practical in regards to the child, blurs almost immediately and the Forgers start to become a real found family - that is, until they sort of stop to develop.

What got me into the manga initially and kept me enjoying in for a while was the premise - basically, a fake family becoming a found family. A Manga that constantly present new obstacles, and has the family grow closer by overcoming them together despite all hiding a major secret about themselves from each other. It was one thing after another - adopting a child, making a home, finding a wife, getting into the school, making sure Anya keeps up and performs well at school, all the while befriending the child of Loid's mission target - it writes itself! However, starting around volume 5 or 6, the series grinds to a halt - or at the very least down to snail's pace. It has a lot of fun with the comedy aspect, and I feel it's more comfortable being a Comedy series with the family acting as an anchor. And the little cynic in me can't help but feel that, for better or for worse, it has to do with this manga's immense popularity. I get the impression that it's going on a lot longer than what was initially expected.

The series exploded in popularity very quickly, and you basically can't visit an anime convention anymore without seeing merchandise, cosplayers and everything. And granted, the perceived oversaturation isn't the manga's fault. It's popular for good reason, a lot of people enjoy it plentiful, people watch it together and as a person who has a cultural connection to the vaguely divided-Germany inpired setting, with Trabis driving around and more - the details are there. I love seeing it. It's a great Manga. It's just that for me, it has less and less of what makes it great to ME. There are little moments later in the series that still bring home the spirit I initially liked: Anya acting for the sake of someone else to do the right thing, Yor befriending an important person to the central conflict, a glimpse at Loid's past that gives more weight to his initial badass introductory "for a world where no child has to cry", seeing Anya's schoolmate and what impact his father's circumstances have on him, Anya actually getting into a dangerous situation and for once getting to be more than an aloof silly sassy goofball again - these are all moments I enjoyed! But they're far and in between, and they're bogged down so much by chapter upon chapter than I don't enjoy, with annoying characters just becoming worse the more I have to see them.

- Every chapter involving Yor's brother Yuri is about his obsession with his sister and his suspicion of Loid. Yuri is always annoying and I don't get the feeling the deep bond between the siblings is really there. He is a joke.
- Every chapter involving Anya's classmate Becky involves Becky fawning over Anya's father (including imagining Yor out of the picture) or acting like a somewhat overbearing older sister-type to Anya. Becky is a good foil to Anya, but eventually she just says and does the same stuff again and again
- every chapter involving Loid's fellow spy Nightfall is about how much she wants to be Loid's wife "for the mission only, unless..." and wanting Yor out of the picture. Nightfall is really annoying. Her rage being hidden behind her deadpan demeanor is maybe funny for a little but... she is basically just a jealous coworker and only fun when she gets to partake in action together with Loid.
- regrettably, every chapter focussing on Yor is her being unsure if she's doing a good job as a wife and/or trying (and failing) to do better. I like Yor, but she really suffers from not being involved in the Spy stuff. She mostly just flanders around, and I can't help but feel the author himself is as unsure about what to do with her as she is about her role as a wife.
- Bond is pretty much just there after his admittedly pretty nice introduction. That's okay, he is a dog. It's just not always clear how much he really understands the human world above the basic understanding a dog has.
- Franky feels like a plot device more than anything, and I'm sorry, he is never funny, not even once!

And every so often, a chapter or even a bunch of subsequent chapters tell of another Spy Mission - and to be frank, I am never under the impression they will have any impact on the overall story, so I just don't really care about them.

The manga has gotten comfortable in its status quo, and instead of futhering the story, it's content coming up with more stories involving side characters, giving the reader some spy action, Anya being a meme. And you know what? Fair enough! Plenty of people enjoy the manga, the Anya shenanigans, the Action and the dynamic drawings. But I still feel the joy of my initial discovering the manga, and devouring those early chapters, when I read one of the chapters I was eluding to earlier - that give me the feeling of progress, deepening the characters and their motivations, setting up connections that, in the future, may pay off. I like these characters. I want to learn more about them and see them grow..! But in the past 2, 3 volumes, I've cooled on the series more and more, and the idea that I may continue buying these volumes for another 10, 20 volumes or even more, fills me with mild annoyance rather than joy, and that's the point where I just have to accept that this Manga isn't for me anymore. Will I still keep an eye on how certain developments pay off, or would I be willing to come back if there's a major status quo shift just a few chapters down the line? Yes. Spy X Family is happy being a slice of life comedy now more so than a Spy Story about a fake family. I want more "Drama" in a sense out of this Slice of Life Comedy. And that's entirely on me.

In that sense, if you, esteemed reader (thank you for reading my ramblings!) like Spy Action, precocious little kids that actually act like real children, or just fish-out-of-water comedy - this manga is for you. Plenty of readers all over the world find joy in the comforting status quo this series establishes. But if you like me, enjoy the initial chapters so much that every other chapter that doesn't appear to further anything elicits a sigh, you may be better off prioritizing other manga for the time being.

Oni: Kamigami Yama no Onari - from here on just referred to as Oni - is an unassuming little show I found on Netflix and just went in completely blind due to it very charming stop-motion animation and all of the characters looking like little dollhouse toys. And for the most part, that is where I think Oni is at its strongest.

The environments feel lush and beautiful, all of these fantastical creatures are like tiny children in a big, beautiful forest. The Animation itself is a hybrid between actual stop motion and CG-Animation, which for the most part blends incredibly well and helps make the ... most of the characters and their different textures as well as ways to move around. Some don't have appendages, others can fly, but all emote fairly well. Ostensibly, this show is meant for children, and the fairly simple, straightforward story and simplistic characters confirm that, but due to how well-made, lovingly detailed and genuinely charming Oni is, it's really watchable for everyone. The locations especially- the house Onari lives in with her father, the school, the clearings in the forest - show plenty of things to see if the story or any given scene doesn't particularly grab your attention. Because attention-grabbing definitely is one thing this show is not, apart from some dramatical scenes with heightened emotions and the last episode, it's mostly a show to kick back to and enjoy the environments, like a walk in the forest.

As for the story, as I eluded to before; originality isn't its strong suit, showing a headstrong little girl named Onari, with a mysteriously absent mother who left her just one item, who finds that she doesn't quite seem to fit in with her peers of other little Yokai children, discovering their mystical powers for the first time. Later on, the story is paralleled with another child finding themself in a predicament similar to Onari's, and it's also a very nice bond that deverlops between the kids. Even the conclusion foregoes the obvious solution and instead encourages Onari to choose her own path despite what others think. I am not a child, but I have relatives who are, and I can definitely see the message reaching them.

In the end, the show kinda just comes in, does its thing, and then leaves, but once in a while, having a show like that is just fine, and if you have really young pre-teen siblings, relatives or even children of your own, this show is wonderful as a thing to be shared between you, or even just for yourself to return to childhood feelings of whimsy for a few hours.

Cute Girls 4-Panel shows are a dime a dozen, and while each has their own flavor, they are somewhat derivative of each other, usually featuring the same couple scenarios like going to the beach, fighting over a misunderstanding, summer festival and fireworks, one of them secretly being the rich heir to a big corporation or royal family - give or take a few. And at first, Comic Girls seems to follow in the same vein.

The four main girls are moved into a dormitory together with the expressed goal of it being helping them develop their skills as Mangaka. Two of them - Ruki and ... Tsubasa - are already very much busy with the industry, keeping up with weekly chapters or developing new ideas, whereas the other two - Kaos and Koyume - may have debuted, but still have to get their work off the ground. And while I was watching, I kept wanting to see more of the manga-making process in the way a Bakuman for example did it. Instead we get the usual jokes of characters being worked to the bone with deadlines, the characters who volunteer to assist accidentally ruining the artists work... and most episodes honestly aren't about Manga at all. Instead they more heavily focus the girls going through small SoL-adventures together, going clothes shopping, hanging at the beach, crushing on each other... the usual. And I want to take the opportunity to praise the show on this front in particular - while the girls are high schoolers, maybe two or three of the episodes feature them in their school uniforms. More often than not, they are dressed in normal outfits - and damn, what a wealth of cute, fun and character-revealing outfits these girls sport! It was an honest-to-god joy to see, and really added to every moment feeling filled with life and color. Even on the basis of just looking at it, this show managed to be very entertaining and eye-pleasing - all without leery fanservice.

Granted, the main character, Kaos, stand out right away by being a screaming, crying, weeb elementary-school-sized mess who loves watching girls being close with each other and whose storyboards are often rejected for being too unrealistic, not capturing the essence of what teenage girls are and do. Comic Girls is an ensemble show, yet Kaos is undeniably the focus and, for the most part, the POV character. She may have a lot of expressions edging close to cutesy, and the jokes about her putting herself and her art down start getting run into the ground almost immediately, but even so... she is the heart of the show and ends up what makes the whole experience very much worthwhile and unique to other 4-Girls-gag shows like this.

However... as fun as life with her new friends is, Kaos is being told time and time again how bad her storyboards are, and it starts to get to her. She is really happy for her friends, but still wrestles with the feeling of being the one left behing, who is slower and not as good as everyone else. She beats herself up in a way that while usually portrayed as comedic, really shows her frustration in a relatable and endearing fashion. She just fails and fails again, and instead of getting annoyed, her editor takes pity on her to some degree, and advises her the following: "Don't try too hard and instead make sure to enjoy life as a high school girl with your friends". And I actually don't want to give this one away since it was such a wonderful moment - all of this actually contributes to the story and one hell of a conclusion.

Comic Girls may not do a whole lot of things too terribly unique, but the things that stand out with this one REALLY stand out. From character development to the care put into small details to an ultimately satisfying character are, and all pleasing on the eyes and ears - Comic Girls is a wonderful show for everyone who likes cute girls, yonkoma and stories about art creation. I was positively surprised at what this show could do even for a more jaded viewer like me, and would love for it to do the same thing for other people!

Kids want to grow up and be seen as equals by adults, that's a pretty universal experience- And who in their life didn't arrive at a point where they, at least briefly, wished they could go back to their past and do things differently? Be it picking up skills earlier, or realizing flaws in your socialization skills that you fixed and would want to experience a time like school again... man can dream, right?

Well in this show, this is what happens - a child who wishes to grow up becomes an adult, and an adult who wishes she could change turns back into a child. ... And initially, it's a really charming show that works well. Both of these characters - Karada, the girl turned adult, and Shouko, the woman turned child - seem to be happy enough, until they learn that the man in both of their lives, the older brother of Karada and ex-boyfriend to Shouko, Hiro, has something to do with the other. Cue the inciting incident - Shouko turns out to not be so mature of an adult and, despite knowing Karada hates being seen as a child more than anything, hurts her out of spite, which leads to her storming off and both of them getting transformed by the wish stone they happen to meet in front of. It happened because both of them are flawed as people which has to do with their own past trauma, and it seems that the next step is them helping each other out!

Shouko, still spiteful but seeing Karada in an adult body for the lost child she is, invites her to her own place, aware that she has nowhere else to go, and does her best to be as rational about the situation as possible. She takes on the role of an adult guiding a child. Things may not go back to normal, after all. Karada, on the other hand, shows Shouko housekeeping skills like cooking that she lacked for one reason or another, and soon, their life takes on a bit more normality again. They go and buy stuff like furniture, clothes and such for their life. Attention to detail, like Shoukos glasses no longer fitting her child face and her getting new ones, reveal that this initial bit was thought through by the author - and then the show kinda stops being fun.

You see, initially setting itself up as a show of two lost girls helping each other through their trauma by way of a shared supernatural experience, it very quickly involves more characters and while they are all likable, some feel like the time spent on them could have been better invested in the development of the main characters. Starting with Hiro, the brother who was unwittingly at the center of the inciting incident without realizing, who is an unbelievably boring third main character. He left his girlfriend in order to take care of his sister after her parents died, but he has very little personality to go along with it. He is more or less just pushed into situations by everyone else. And that would be okay, seeing how this is clearly a story about Shouko and Karada, except he gets a lot of screentime and doesn't really do a whole lot. He extends his disbelief enough to support the two girls in his life, and that's it. Sure, he sacrificed his ambitions in life to take care of a child in need because he felt it was the right thing to do, but that honestly seems more like a way to drive the plot forward by creating conflict instead of it really having to do with him. And then... the story just loses its focus.

Whereas Shouko immediately caught on to the fact that the little girl her ex-boyfriend never told her about during their relationship was the reason fir their breakup, Karada only realizes much later and it comes as a shock to her. Her guilt of knowing her brother left his girlfriend to take care of her eats her up and makes her run away. And while some scenes are really well-handled, like Karada slowly learning about functioning as an adult, what is needed to get a job, an apartment, in the end she just wanders into a really friendly pension who just take her as is and that was that. A friend from her school looks for her for several episodes which ends up with them falling in love, and that's that. All the while Shouko's trauma is addressed very briefly (like her remembering that she was too shy to join other children for playing together) and it starts to feel more like an accident that she got transformed rather than an honest-to-god wish she had from the bottom of her heart due to her past. Sure, it leads to the reveal that Karada's brother was literally her everything in life, her first friend, her best friend and that's why she felt so possessive over him, acting in a way very befitting of an immature adult with lacking socialization, but it's all basically just thrown into the show in 5 minutes of dialogue at the very end rather than waving it into the story to go with the narrative. Same goes for the final moment, during which, after accepting their past and settling into their new lives, the characters are turned back to how they were without any of them having anything of meaning to say about the whole thing. It just felt very rushed and seeing that the manga was still ongoing when the anime concluded, I believe that is where the problem lies; the anime team struggling to connect the initial setup of the manga into an anime that was still supposed to have a definite ending rather than ending openly, inconclusively.

However, despite all that incohesion upon further inspection, the show manages to overall be charming and soothing. It's fun to see these two girls slowly befriending and living with each other. The summer imagery is beautifully paced, giving the scenery and every mood room to breathe, and I could feel it to my core (in part due to the fact that I was watching this show during the height of summer 2022). I think it's a show worth watching. It just unfortunately doesn't follow through on its initial thematic throughline and more so just turns into a summer romance kind of deal. But then, don't we all have at least one childhood summer in fond memory?

As an adult, keeping up with your exercise arguably holds even more value than when you're a teenager. But being an adult, the toll life has already taken on your body can also show. You can get injuries you don't recover from as swiftly anymore, if you're gone from your sports for a while you may be gone for good. There also isn't any money in it if you're just doing it because... you can. No matter how good you are, it'll pretty much always be for fun only. Nevertheless, there is a lot of value to be found!

Ryman's Club is clearly made by someone ... who loves sports stories, but may not have loved that most of them end with a high school graduation. In those stories, the characters spend years together, growing as a team, chasing their dream of competing in a big torunament, if not the national one, but eventually, they'll have to graduate from school and ultimately enter the workplace. And much like Class S stories - in Japanese societies, dreams and ambition can often end with school. People are expected to be serious. And because of that, characters in these stories tend to treat the sport as everything that matters to them. Their entire life revolves around training, tournaments, or at best hanging out with their teammates. The matter of school usually takes the back line, maybe as a "funny" filler episode about how everyone's failing school and has to get back on track, or else they won't be allowed to continue playing. Characters can also get downright reckless when it comes to their health - neglecting sleep, training from dawn till dusk. They are pouring everything they have into their sport. Though once you've graduated... where do you go from here? Like sure, once in a while a narrative about a single character and their career in their chosen sport comes to mind, but especially in more team-based stories, that's usually it. Maybe you get a cheeky future-episode about the characters meeting up, now having careers and familie and such, and that's about it.

And to that effect, Mikoto, the first of the main two characters we're introduced too, might have as well come from one of those stories. He picked up badminton when he was a child, and even developed amazing observation skills because they help him perform better. He and even seeked a company known explicitly for its strong team - and was then prompty fired for underperforming at work.

The show delights in having the coworkers in his new company point out to him that he IS supposed to be working and wasn't hired only so he could play in the corporate badminton team - forcing him out of his fixation on the sport and actually engage with his coworkers and team members, and, as a consequence, life as an adult overall. And from there, the show becomes a fun Sports-SoL-Hybrid and pretty much equally divides its episodes between the characters training, playing in tournaments and such, and having them work as salarymen for a beverage company. Selling products, developing new ones, marketing, getting drunk together and brainstorming... it's all here. And with that groundwork, the show manages to present very human, if not terribly complex characters. Everyone gets their own arc about adult problems - like struggling to get back into an old hobby after your life changed with marriage and kids, comparing yourself to your siblings and how they were faring since graduation, struggling to fulfill your own potential. It's all a bit basic, but it helps greatly to acquaint the viewer to characters who may just mirror your own coworkers in many ways.

And likewise, these characters have to mangage adult problems as well. They have injuries and insecurities to overcome, as well as responsibilities like a family, but approach them with the understanding and reasoning of an adult. They know they can't just run on a broken limb, they have to learn to adjust and allow themselves to heal, or to move on. They help each other out and talk - and not in a dramatic, overly emotional fashion. It grounds the show in realism - save for maybe two, three little things that seem just a tad too anime in parts.

For example, the two main characters, Mikoto and Tatsuru, met when Mikoto was a child - they have a 10-year-gap - and that encounter inspired each other to keep on pursuing badminton. Tatsuru then found out about him, and convinced his manager to hire him which is just a tad bit odd. At that point, them meeting each other again throgh sheer coincidence, or because they've been following the same path - like how Mikoto met his former middle school partner in a tournament again - would have perfectly sufficed. It's not a huge distraction by any means, but doesn't quite fit in with the more subdued nature of the other relationships in this one. And of course you have a climax with the future of the team at stake.

But I found myself willing to look past all that because the rest of this show was just so pleasant. It's nice to see adults hanging out for a change. It's nice to see that you can enjoy and continue to be ambitious in your chosen sport even if your body may not be able to keep up as easily as when you were young. Heck, you can still even aim for the world championship! Sport is important. Sport is fun! Playing with others is fun! Just remember to sleep enough, drink enough and arrive to work on time.

If you like Fire Emblem but are not a fan of the romance-sidestories in that one, this here might be for you.

As next entrance in the line of "I can't believe it's not Isekai"-type shows, Tensai Ouji is actually somewhat refreshing in its approach to tactical warfare and kingdom management. I was initially a little off-put by the protagonist claiming to want nothing to do with all this, whining about having to attend to his duties and basically planning to retire in luxury as soon as he can, but when he is forced to step up, he is actually fun to watch. At his core, ... he is a smart - if maybe not the genius type level he considers himself to be - yet somewhat lazy character who wants the easy way, and can actually show his stuff when forced to act. I'm not gonna say the little interludes of a chibi version of himself going "No! No! I can't believe this didn't work out as I had hoped!" can't get just a little grading, but he is at least fun to watch, especially when he has to bluff like he's in court trying to overturn a hopeless situation. He is very adept at handling his cards, staying calm and doing what's best for himself but also his kingdom. He claims not to care and he certainly has his moments, but overall it's amde apparent that he doesn't hate his life as much as he claims in his little fits.

Right next to him is Ninym, who initially comes off as a kind of annoyed retainer forced to keep his manchild tendencies in check, but whom he actually shares a nicely developed bond with. The show even addresses that, while they have a bit of a mutual attraction, they can never marry, so her being by his side as his companion, strategist partner and equal gives the show some much needed ground to stand on. She isn't used for fanservice, either, and just as capable as Wein himself, if a little less prone to take a gamble. They make for a nice team and are at the core of what I find makes this one worth watching.

As for the side cast, they aren't too notable overall, but what does stand out is that they're all human. This is a fantasy world, yes, but it doesn't have any magic, elves or cat-ears in it. There isn't too much attention given to the world building in particular, but there is only so much you can do in 12 episodes without completely taking the focus off of your main interests - Prince Wein, Ninym and the tactical warfare and such - and certain details do elude to an actually reasonably planned-out world to explore. In addition, there are several cool female characters - not that noteworthy overall, but in a light novel adaptation, it's nice that none of them has any harem-type feelings or personality and thus likewise approach Wein as his equal. Some of them may even be smarter than the "genius" prince. Again, it's a small bar to clear, but it lend the show an air of realness that added to me being able to take the negotiations and battles seriously instead of getting distracting boob-armor or panty shots in my face every other minute.

In the end, I find myself with not much more to say about this show in particular. It didn't really have much depth or commentary or anything I'm going to think about after finishing it, but once in a while it's nice to just have this kind of fantasy show with a clear focus, a likable cast, without Harem or Isekai hijinks and some tense negotiations. There are many other Fantasy shows that do individual aspects of this one - cast, world building, tactics, upper-management - better, but if you're looking for a bite-sized version of a story like this with genuinely good moments and dynamics, this one might just be for you.

It's inevitable - friendships are going to change over time. Your best friend from your childhood may move to a different city and have a family there. Or they may lose interest in the things you shared and connected over. You have to let these things go sometimes, or at least allow them to change with the time in order for it to become something new. Because trust me, if you cling to all you've known and refuse to let new stuff in, you may just end up like Satoko in this godforsaken "sequelboot" of a show.

The premise going into this one was actually an ... idea with a lot of potential - two friends with polar opposite views of how their future together should look like. Rika wants to go to a prestigious all-girls-school to experience high society in contrast to the rural life in Hinamizawa, whereas Satoko can't seem to fit in at the school at all and feels abandoned by her friend. She wants them to just live together in the small town of Hinamizawa forever. A bored god ends up passing on to her the same ability Rika possesses and hijinks ensue. Well, I say hijinks, but most people would probably call it tasteless degenerate torture porn for 12 straight episodes. Sotsu aims to provide the "answer arcs" to the "question arcs" posed by Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Gou, its direct predecessor, trying to recreate the structure the original Higurashi had, with just one major flaw... there is no intrigue, and no answers required. It's downright parodic.

In the original show, there was actually a huge plot involving a conspiracy in the background of it all, and each question arc indeed provided some answers to the overall picture, as well as what the protagonists actually needed to do to overcome their fate and make way for a good future for everyone. In Sotsu however, the "answer" is always the same: Satoko can infect people with Hinamizawa Syndrome now, and she has a gun. That's it. Her aim is always to crush Rika with the most devastating plots she can come up with, you know, the girl who's supposed to be her best friend and whom she loves so much that she wants to never be apart from her. I am not going to comment further on how marvelous it is to make the most tortured, saddest, abused character from the original show into a psychopath abusor who cackles delighted upon seeing her best friend and everyone around her suffer because trust me... I'd just fly into a pathetic sad rage. Instead, I am just gonna look at what it does to the show overall.

Higurashi has always felt a little dissociative, and that was by design. You had the kids in the close-knit town of Hinamizawa just hang out and have fun, and the flipside to that was all the violent murders that could happen depending on who caught the devastating illness this time around. Though the core of the outbreak could always be found in human sentiment. Jealousy, anger, alienation, distrust - these kinds of emotions were always there and with just a little viral influence spiraled out of control and into a tragedy. Sure, it may have not gotten that far if it wasn't for the paranonid delusions the virus caused, but it still told a lot about its main cast of six and their burdens. In this one however... it throws all that out of the window and instead goes for "bad person makes bad things happen because they find delight in it". I am absolutely ready to accept the reading I've seen of this show as a parody. But even if that was the intention, that doesn't change anything about the fact that unless you're super into torture porn - which I am not - I just don't think there's a whole lot to enjoy about this one.

There is a lot of reused content from Gou, not unlike a certain season of a show called Haruhi Suzumiya, that just reuses the same scenes with slight alterations or little moments of a different perspective inbetween. It's ungodly boring because you see know exactly where everything is going, yet it will still take 3 episodes to retread the same ground. You see good people suffering. Except there is no rhyme or reason to it, because you know exactly that the whole point is just to make Rika sad. You know, the person who spent a hundred years reliving the same couple days and dying horribly each and every time. Then there is sort of an "interlude" of two goddesses who are basically having a fight over... what exactly now? One feels empathy for the fate of Rika and Satoko while the other just sits back and enjoys the torture porn. Not to kinkshame, but... thats just not cool.

In the end, there is only one saving grace in this show, and that is the conclusion. Mind you, it's not a saving grace in the sense of "this was totally worth sitting through 12 episodes of torture porn, yes sirree". It's merely a final episode that moves on from the torture porn and instead just lets two childhood friends have a good ol fight over where their future is heading. What starts off with a supernatural battle flicking the girls through time and space eventually culminates in a fist fight between two twelve year olds, at the end of which they come to reaffirm their feelings for each other and arrive at the conclusion that it's okay if they just separate for a while and each do their own thing. If you disregard the fact that they both accepted the risk of killing each other for good with a magical sword, that conclusion is indeed much in the spirit of the original Higurashi. I may have even considered it worth the experience if it didn't involve sitting through so much bullshit beforehand.

In the end, I can't say that I regret watching the Higurashi Sequelboot in its entirety. Seeing all these characters in their pretty modern designs and just having some of the original Higurashi recreated was fun. Listening to all these voice actors reprise their roles from back when was fun. The atmosphere was tense and well-built - in Gou at least - which was also fun. And ultimately, the idea that Rika now has an eternal human companion is to some degree comforting. And while Higurashi is one of the few shows that could actually benefit from a modern recreation, seeing this show just do its own thing was also interesting in its own right. I don't think I can recommend it overall - though if you're curious, it's more than enough to just watch the first and the two, maybe three final episodes for this one. Or better yet, just rewatch the original show and appreciate it with all your knowledge going in. This show definitely reminded me of my affection for the original, and while there are better means to that end, I sure think this one at least merits a closer look.

Sometimes you only really appreciate what you had once it's lost, and just how deeply it was embedded into everything else beings to tear everything else apart.

Well, enough with the dramatics - Tribe Nine never set itself up as anything other than a dumb action type of show. Let's play baseball, but this neon dystopian city is our playing field, and dying in the game is not only normal, but downright commonplace! Tragically though, this show immediately displayed that it was already sorely lacking half of what makes a show like this fun - proper directing to give the action weight and pazzazz. The matches, ... while kinda fun, don't convey any sense of where everyone is relative to each other, and it doesn't focus too much on setting any rules. It could still be fun with a rule of cool sorta deal, but it just doesn't have that either. It's just sorta bland.

But nevertheless, the first three episodes were enjoyable. It had big sections of these kids just fooling around, giving each other silly nicknames, and everyone reacting to the zanyness that is their leader, Kamiya Shun, delightfully portrayed by Akira Ishida who is obviously having a lot of fun. It felt like the show, while not all that well-balanced, didn't take itself too seriously and that despite all the brutality, this show still gives off the vibe of a group of outcasts who found each other in this unlikeliest of places and are just trying, day in day out.

And then episode 3 happens.

I won't say why, but by the end of it, a huge shift to the general, somewhat comfy dynamic occurs that just... initially, it effectively pulls out the rug from under the main cast and lets them adjust to new circumstances, but after that? It still had some minor ideas I kind of liked... but the one other thing this show had going for it - the dynamic of the cast members with each other - is gone. There is no longer anything to really care about.

That's not to say a big mood shift is a bad thing, or that I think the show is bad because it wasn't going "my way", but just that it lost the one thing it had going for it despite kinda botching its initial premise. And with that one thing gone... the episodes just blended into each other, feeling like a random baseball show with just more brutality to it. And that kind of thing isn't even done well here. If I want outlandish violence, or if I want baseball, I have plenty of better options - and heck, if I want both there are Jun Maeda baseball episodes that deliver on this premise much better, safe for the gore. So while this show isn't the worst thing ever, it's uneven, and worst of all, honestly just pretty boring.

Want some sweet BL but without all the bullshit toxic tropes? Then boy, do I have the show for you!

Personally, I am open to all kinds of romance shows, with Yaoi and Yuri being even more interesting to me than the same old hetero high school romance. There's just one problem; By now, there are plenty of fun Yuri options to pick from - and I bet plenty more that I am excited about, yet haven't gotten around to! - whereas with Yaoi, it's like a minefield if you aren't into stuff like assault and cookie-cutter seme/uke constellations and tropes. Not to say that once ... in a while, a show with a more "problematic" constellation like student/teacher, age-gap and so on doesn't also please, but the sheer lack of variety here is a big issue. It makes the whole genre seem like it's only meant to appeal to a very, very specific demographic.

Luckily, I came across this little gem and had a thoroughly pleasant time with it.

It tells the story of two high-school kids - a kouhai and a senpai, one year apart, who over the course of over a year slowly become friends, become more and more interested in each other and then slowly fall in love. But then, why does it have to be a BL? What makes this one so special? Well, it's the fact that it was clearly made by someone with a lot of affection for the genre, yet also enough self-awareness to ground the show and make it actually endearing. We got Miyano, a young man who is really into BL even though he isn't "into it in that way", and his Senpai Sasaki, who ends up asking for a manga recommendation and then slowly becomes more interested in BL as a storytelling genre as well as his cute Kouhai. And both of the boys get plenty, plenty of room to work with their feelings. There's a lot of consideration, thought process and desire that doesn't seem to match in the beginning. Yet this show also avoids becoming too heady by having its main couple talk to plenty of colorful, fun side characters, all of which can tell what's going on much sooner and can gently help to nudge them both in the right direction.

And that is also where the BL commentary comes into play; it's light, but it's undeniable. Miyano questions the true nature of his feelings for his senpai a lot, and in no small part due to the common BL clichés. He's a small, somewhat girlish-looking boy with a cute face. Would he have to be the Uke? But that would place his senpai as the cooler, older Seme. But that doesn't seem right! Can't he be cool, too? It's weird for him to find this tall, supposedly manlier senpai cute, isn't it?

And Sasaki isn't just cool either - he wrestles with his desire for his kouhai, he wants to touch his hands, his hair, his face, but also wants to be sure his kouhai is comfortable. He doesn't want to do something just out of desire, so he constantly makes sure to give his kouhai all the room he can.

It's just all around a pleasant show, with two good kids who give each other all the space and consideration while also having a real connection that many other yaoi works are devoid of. They have interests they share, they have a wonderful chemistry, they more or less share a friend group, give and take a few, who are all supportive of them. They develop and think about their feelings each in their own pace and it's really well-done. Add to that the shows somewhat mellow, soft presentation with plenty of warm oranges and pinks, and a lot of soft shapes that kinda just float in space softly, and perfectly communicate blossoming feelings and the mood of each scene.

In conclusio, this show may not do anything revolutionary, but sometimes just doing something ordinary really well and being a good time through it all is enough. Sometimes just a sweet little romance is all you need. And in a genre desperately lacking grounded romance, this is one solid entry I can easily recommend to everyone.

Shenmue was, at its time, a marvel of a game, an accomplishment in more ways than one. The first true Open World Game loong before the genre became popular. And while that certainly was an impressive feat, the game is probably even more remembered for its characters and its philosophy.

And the latter ones, the most important parts, are what this Anime actually managed to capture really well.

Ryo, despite not being an overly interesting or complex character, is nevertheless very likable and even endearing as a protagonist. He's straight as an arrow, which initially makes him fit neatly into the "young boy on a revenge quest" ... archetype, but together with all the other characters, he actually develops very nicely alongside the people he forms a connection with. And while the gamey elements of this shows roots are very apparent - learn a new technique by finding out who teaches it and running a quest for them - this show actually takes a fairly clever approach by not having the people explain any sort of technique to Ryo, but instead guide him towards learning not techniques, but principles of what it really means and takes to learn their specific brand of Kung-Fu. Ryo starts off wanting to learn as much as he can as fast as he can to face off the murderer of his father, but is sort of forced to slow down by circumstances and instead gets to know the people of his hometown and later Hong Kong. And it works wonderfully. While the characters aren't terribly complex, they all bounce off of Ryo's straightforwardness very well and generally add to a nice atmosphere of community and Self-Betterment. He lost his father, but he finds plenty of other mentor figures, rivals and more to help him on his way. It may be a very videogamey plot, but it's just well-done enough to engage. I did enjoy my time with this show.

Though as well as those elements work, I also have to point out where this one flounders... and that just has to go to the production.

The stuff that makes this show worthwhile - the fact that it manages to capture at its core what made Shenmue so endearing - has all been taken from the game just rearranged and repaced ever so slightly, whereas the unique strengths and chances of animation just aren't utilized whatsoever.

Sure, the show has a couple nice shots, nice renditions of the games soundtrack and such, but... it's nevertheless very stiff and in large parts kind of boring to look at. The character designs look rather bland, the fight scenes - for the most part - feel unexciting and unengaging and the direction is also just somewhat passable.

It's a bit of a shame, and after my praise this may sound a little overly harsh, but... despite me enjoying the story and the characters to a fair degree, I cannot emphasize enough that this is despite the show being generally boring to look at. It is a serious flaw, especially considering that aside from its content, Shenmue was also praised for just how beautiful, ambitious and out there the game was back in the 90s.

A beautiful and ambitious game deserves a shiny, ambitious production, but it's just not here. Though I suppose the fact that this show actually made me even more curious about the games needs to be honored, too.

In conclusion, the Shenmue Anime is generally watchable and has fun characters and moments, but it falls flat as an adaptation due to its fairly lackluster production and presentation, which renders it a fairly average experience overall. I'll go check out the games, though, so I can just hope that at least reaches a few more people like me to go and discover the games for themselves.