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TL;DR: You missed the entire point of this series.

I wholeheartedly believe that Re:Creators is going to be one of those series that isn't fully comprehended by the majority of the audience that it will inevitably reach. There are a lot of series that are simple in their format, where most of the appeal is front-loaded into the characters and action scenes, and there are just as many series that are the opposite, in that their appeal is set back into relationships between characters and subtleties slipped into dialogue. That's fairly obvious to state, especially when it's easy to know where that opinion can come from ... when looking at various genres (shounen being the former, romance being the latter), but Re:Creators doesn't fit that bill as well as people would assume it would. It's a mashup of both those styles into an anime that I'd have to call "sleeper good", as it's not good unless you're skimming thoughts and feelings off of the top of all the action.

The early episodes of the series throw a lot of action at you, and it's really fun to watch these different anime tropes do battle with each other, not to mention how creative some of them actually are (Altair, I mean you). As I said, it's really fun to watch, and the action is great, but ultimately I believe this part of the anime to be little more than fanservice to pull in the audience and keep them watching. As the ball starts rolling, the action exists only as a means to further the story, rather than what it's about as you'd see in a typical shounen anime: e.g. Naruto, Bleach, etc. The protagonists aren't simple minded, they're not trying to fight whatever they can, but they're forced to react when the antagonist, Altair, makes her moves. These characters seem more like high powered janitors than actual protagonists, but they're great ways of keeping the audience interested and breaking up the monotony of the character and relationship that is the true focus of the series.

I want to repeat that concept plainly once more: Character and relationship building are the true focus of the series. We're given the creations, the anime characters, and the creators, the weebs that make them, and when I talk about character building, I really only mean the building of the creators themselves. The creations that are pulled from their respective anime strictly conform to the ideals of those typical tropes. Meteora is a flat personality, because she does more thinking than action. Selesia is a good girl, but understands that killing happens when everyone throws their lives at their beliefs. Alicetaria has a strict code of justice that means rectifying her world's issues at any cost. They can't deviate from those tropes or sacrifice their beliefs, as that earnest stride towards their convictions is what makes them good characters to begin with. They're straightforward, unlike the creators that made them, who have their thoughts and beliefs broken down at multiple points throughout the series as they question why they made that type of character, how important that character is to them, and if that character is real or fake even standing right in front of them. The relationships between creations and their creators is the most important aspect of this series, that's consistently reiterated in hopes that the audience will eventually understand that that's what they should be paying attention to.

A creator puts incredible effort into their work. They create entire worlds, including landscapes, innumerable character designs, and along with that, innumerable character personalities. In creating their main hero/heroine, they inevitably put in a part of themselves, slaving away at crafting a character that is believable, relatable, and respectable to the millions of people that will see it. That's why the relationship between them is such an important concept for the audience to understand, as that's the entire motivation behind Altair's actions to begin with. Her creator, her family, was mistreated and her only desire to is rectify that in memory of her. This idea is so important because it's ultimately the solution to the conflict as well.

In all of the action scenes, with all of the varying types of characters, Altair was legitimately crafted to be immortal and incontestable. She blatantly overpowered other characters and couldn't be killed even when they killed her (this makes sense if you watch it), because she is, as advertised, impossible to defeat. This is one of the incredibly few series that doesn't bullshit its way into a solution by having the all powerful character defeated by friendship (Fairy Tail >.>) or just something that really doesn't make sense (Bleach >.>).

Main antagonist was impossible to beat as advertised. The solution was a concept that had been built for the majority of the series, rather than the action that most people were watching for.

As the summary states, the story is basically about a boy and a girl that meet outside of school, discovering a different side of the other, and become close based on that common ground. That would lead you to believe that the first chapter, or at least first few chapters, would be about the major event that their meeting causes or the cause of their meeting to begin with, but that's not how it actually happens. The spectacular thing about 'Horimiya' is that in spite of being a slice-of-life series, the events that should be important are glanced over because the story isn't about what ... the characters do, but the characters themselves.

The relationship of the main characters is super cute and moves forward at a seemingly snail's pace, but seeing that progression is left solely up to the audience reading. How the characters feel, what they're thinking, and their relationship with other characters within the story take precedence over illustrating to the audience how the relationship is moving forward. It's almost a bit of side entertainment, as you're trying to pinpoint where their relationship takes a turn while wholeheartedly enjoying everything else that's going on.

The characters are entertaining. Both of the main characters have their quirks, but aren't dull as their appearance may make them seem. They stay entertaining and will get more entertaining as the story progresses. But what's more is that even the side characters, the friends of the friends, are interesting and make an impact. They may not be relevant to the intended plot, but they serve their purpose in being amusing.

Unfortunately, the story starts off extremely cute and does an incredible job of grasping my attention, but it very quickly falls of what it seemed like it was intending to do. The relationship of the main characters starts off as extremely important, but even the important parts of a relationship (the first kiss, or... ecchi things) are glanced over. It glances over their relationship more and more as the chapter numbers go up until the story becomes more about the friends of the main characters than the main characters themselves.

It stays entertaining since, as I said, all of the characters are extremely entertaining in their own right, but it's not the manga that I initially started reading. Not by a long shot.

Personally, it was a 10/10, but I know that most people aren't going to enjoy it as much as I did, so I'm going to rest on an overall 8/10, but I won't budge further. >_>

A few years ago, there was one night where I didn't really feel like watching a new anime and was caught up on my current manga, so I was clicking on any random manga that showed up in front of me and skimming through it to see if there was any interest. Nana to Kaoru just happened to be one of those. The content is pretty adult, so it's ... not going to be widely accessible, so I'm betting that most people won't ever find it. If you do, PLEASE RE AD IT.

The art is honestly pretty horrible. The scenes pack impact, but that's partially due to the content in them. The facial art specifically is pretty bad, but if you can get past the dark lines and any of the other problems with the art, you will absolutely enjoy this manga.

There really isn't an overlying plot for this series. The events that happen aren't building towards anything major, and while I personally find that unappealing when I pick up a new series, this is a special case. Each separate event has importance, each separate event is tense, and they're the type of events that don't need an overlying plot. In the case of this manga, the overlying plot is the 'romance' genre itself.

'Breathers' are, in this case, simply just bondage sessions, and are what bring the two main characters together. As childhood friends, they grew up and separated over time, belonging to different cliques in school and expected to go separate ways throughout their life. Stress relief is one aspect of the breathers, but it shows that the simplest of desires can bring two completely different people together, whether it be a release of stress, lust, or just a shared secret. But the greatest part about "Nana to Kaoru" is that fact that it'll take it one step further.

As a romance, it's intended to bring the OTP together, and it does... kind of. With the content, it does give that 'illicit love' type of feeling and is really tense, which is great. But even deeper than that, it shows that the connection between them isn't physical as bondage would represent, but emotional. It shows the inner workings of what bondage can be, not just what we would normally just think it is.

If you're looking for something that'll make you take a step back and re-evaluate yourself, read this manga. It's not going to change you as a person, but it may help change the way you think about things.

TL;DR: Episode 10 has cat balls. Wurf.

The first couple episodes of this anime were honestly pretty great. They were entertaining introductions to all the characters and I was pretty invested in what would come for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, what I was given, were disappointing episodic events where the main character just gets a one-on-one adventure with each of the girls. It was incredibly disappointing sitting through half the anime where nothing important happened. Past the introductions to the characters, you're really better off just skipping to episode twelve and watching the last two episodes, because that's where all the interesting stuff happens.

The ... characters were pretty good. I liked the main character, which is often hard for me to say when it comes to harems, but he wasn't bad. Mai was okay, Koito had her moments, Usagiloli was adorable, and Reina was super cute. But beyond the outward appearance of the character, there wasn't really anything deeper to any of them. You saw them once, knew what they were about, and that's all you get for the entirety of the series.

Honestly, the best thing about the show was the art. It really does look pretty great, but you can easily expect that from KyoAni. It was smooth, colorful, and just overall appealing.

Would not recommend. Nice to look at and it has cat balls, but that's actually it.

My advice for Netoge? Judge it by the cover.

Don't expect to pick up this series and receive a well thought out plot, characters with insane depth, or any really heartfelt romance. It's the type of anime that can easily parade itself around as if it has all of that, but it only has all of it in certain moderation. If you watch Netoge, you shouldn't be expecting something that would be able to claim a place as a keystone anime, but something that, as long as you appreciate the genres, will not be 'bad'.

Before you read any type of summary or reviews, you'll probably build ... some interest by the images you see. There's no shame in that, because the art for this anime is beautiful. The colors are bright and happy, the lighting they use in various scenes is done very well, and overall it's just so smooth. Cardboard-Cutout-MC-kun is one thing, but the girls are so cute, you really have to try hard to not want to watch it.

On the subject of cute girls, Ako is absolutely adorabley cringey, Master is the lady neckbeard we all want to see, and Segawa is our tsun (-dere is being looked into). Master, or Kyou if you must have a different name, is great. The 'premium gamer' everyone wants to be, but everyone hates to see. She pulls it off in a fashion that doesn't get annoying, but still plays the 'rich kid' trope that's needed for harems. On the other hand, we have Segawa, filling the spot for the classmate and tsundere. Fortunately, this isn't an anime that really gives a love triangle, or square, or really anything you'd expect from the usual harem. Segawa doesn't ever give off the appearance of having a legitimate affection for Nishimura and honestly, it's the one thing I couldn't have hoped for more. She gives off her tsundere tones, but is able to play nice, and doesn't interfere with the romance we were given.

Now, turning attention to the two that are most important, Nishimura and Ako. Ako is great in a lot of senses of the word. She's cute, both in looks and the way she acts, she's cringey, but adorable at the same time. The problem with her is that she doesn't have friends and spends so much time in her room, but it's shown so much that its to no fault of anybody but herself. She's awkward, quiet, and basically tries her hardest to not be involved with anyone at school. Seeing a little of that mentality shaved away over the course of the season was great, but there was a lack of enjoyment for me seeing this gorgeous girl so against 'normies'. As for Nishimura, his reactions weren't the greatest. He'd react to Ako's affection, react to any typical anime mishaps, but all of his reactions were just kind of sub-par. I hoped for a little more, but he was ultimately pretty dull throughout the series.

As far as the story goes, I pretty much gave my opinion on it at the start of the review. If you want a romance, harem, or otherwise, there are better options for the genre you want found elsewhere. Netoge does all of the things it says it does, but on a lesser scale. However, while that sounds bad, it leaves a lot of room for the characters to just kind of be themselves. The interactions you get from them just sitting in a room together are enjoyable because rather than being a setup for something bigger, it's just idle banter.

I would definitely recommend it if you want something nice to watch, but again, I do feel that if you're on mission to watch a specific genre, there are better options. Don't expect too much from a series that is wholeheartedly just enjoyable.

At the start of each anime season I pick a few of the anime to watch weekly. Unfortunately, while Occultic;Nine was able to keep me interested since episode one, it wasn't good enough to keep watching weekly and I fell behind a great deal. Having recently finished it, I'm glad that I took the time to return and watch it. It's not something to be heralded as one of the greatest anime and personally I didn't even feel as if it's something I'll be recommending to other people, but I did thoroughly enjoy parts of it. There were a lot of things I had ... a problem with, but at the very least, the parts I enjoyed were enough to keep me going until I finished it.

To get it out of the way at the beginning, I harbor a personal bias towards the art style that Occultic;Nine and other similar anime use. The overly dark tone of colors is one thing that I can get over, the the various points of view that are used to view the characters and especially the fish eyed effect that is used sometimes is just not something that I can get over. The anime isn't being shot with a camera, the different points of view aren't necessary and are really brought in when they're not need; e.g. when the cast is sitting in Blue Moon talking to each other and you as the audience is placed on the other side of the room, seeing nothing but them in a corner of the screen. The shading used for their noses, or lack thereof, was also something I didn't really appreciate, but at that point I guess I'm just being nit picky towards the artist's (or artists') art style. Other than the issues I've stated, the rest of the art throughout the series isn't something I had a problem with. It was consistent throughout it and fairly smooth. Brownie points for the important scenes being both well lit and lacking of ridiculous points of view.

As far as the sounds go within the series, I don't have anything special to say about it. I'm not really the type of person to pay attention to the opening and ending songs, nor do I pay special attention to the music used within each individual episodes, so if it does stand out to me, I make sure to say something about it. In essence, the sound to the anime were fairly average.

While some might love the variations in characters that came together in this show, I will not be one of those people. Individually the characters weren't special in much of any way and when they came together as a group, didn't offer anything to each other to get attached to any of them. The reason I watched Occultic;Nine was not for the characters, as I felt that their significance was simply to act out the story in the same way a hammer drives a nail. Sarai was fairly hard to swallow. Usually he was brusque, but was able to flip a switch at a moments notice to a different personality setting. Miyuu and Moritsuka were the easiest characters to like. Miyuu didn't give much of an opportunity to hate her either, to be fair, but she wasn't normal and nice. Moritsuka talked way too much, but at the same time, he was just interesting. The biggest problem I had with the characters was with Gamotan himself, our main character. He was whiney, but in the next scene he'd be confident, and he really had a hard time having his own personality, instead settling down to be all of them. He did his job as the main character, but it wasn't enjoyable to watch him make the journey from episode one to episode twelve.

If there's any reason to watch this series, it's solely contained within the story itself. The events within the Occultic;Time world would take place without real connection to the main characters and they would be forced to play catch up. Over time it felt less as if the characters mattered, and more like they were just the group that got lucky enough to be the ones we'd be forced to watch. As I said above, the characters were more of a tool to act out the story. Every time you'd believe the characters were catching up and making progress, another event would be revealed that set them back and sent you reeling. The vast scale of the events kept me watching and the thought process of the people behind these events kept me interested. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the overall story. Each individual event was important and interesting, but the story as a whole didn't make much of an impact and the ending was lackluster to say the least.

Overall, Occultic;Nine isn't something that I'll really every recommend to anyone unless I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel of the genre. The points of view were not enjoyable, the characters were annoying or plain at best, and the plot in its entirety wasn't that entertaining. Watching the show is pretty much just done to see it all play out step-by-step, which is what made it interesting at all.

TL;DR: If you don't have anything else for the genre, watch it. Otherwise, don't bother.