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This feels like a story written by someone who watched Bunny Girl Senpai or another show about introspection on the teenage experience, and went "I want to write something like that" ...except they had nothing to say and no ability to tell it well. From beginning to end this show is a miserable slog, with characters barely alive enough to have a pulse, miserably bland situational writing, and dialogue so bad that I began to wonder when the last time was the author has left his house and spoken to another living human. On top of that the designs are incredibly forgettable, the animation is ... poor, and even having just finished the show I can't really be bothered to remember anyone's names.

The show seems to go out of its way to avoid writing any remotely interesting characters. Our lead is a typical older anime lead archetype, the clingy pervert obsessed with a girl. However several seconds in his personality is drastically changed via head trauma into the typical bland, snarky, and whiny modern harem lead. I am not saying I particularly like or prefer perverted characters, I usually find them annoying. But at least this would have given our lead SOMETHING. Because all he has now are uninspired monologues about the things he dislikes. The crux of the show, at least how its presented, is about this formerly loud and clingy boy beginning to give his tsundere co-lead space until she begins to want to chase him. I've heard this called a spoiler, but this setup is completed within seconds of the first episode. If this is the only thing interesting in your anime and you have to guard it for new viewers, you have a problem.

And boy DO we have a problem, because we struggle to even follow through with that premise. Not only is our lead miserable to be around and his "development" amounts to walking away and whining, the love interest is equally unpleasant and bland. She is only a tsundere by the laziest and most general guidelines, and spends the majority of the series looking sad because the boy she spent years telling to leave listened to her advice. She never chases after him, does anything substantial to draw him back, and spends large amounts of the series missing or on the sidelines because she is just such a nothing of a character with no depth, motivation, or even surface traits to hide behind. Anything big or dramatic that supposedly happened with these characters happened before the show began and is only mentioned by dialogue, and watching alternating still shots with mouth animation discussing a series that's....well if not better at least DOING SOMETHING is excruciating. I can't imagine these characters being remotely interesting with this writing, but the only way to have even tried that would have been to actually show scenes where the characters interacted enjoyably. (Yes we get some late season flashbacks but they're just as dry and pitiful as the rest if the show) As is the show has never convinced me that the girl is worth chasing after, or the boy is worth missing once he leaves. I've seen plenty of shows where the characters only seem to be interested in each other because they're both labeled protagonists, but these two have to be pretty highly ranked on that list. I guess at least in that sense they're perfect for each other.

Since we don't spend the show actually developing our leads or even having many scenes together, we instead cycle through a series of other, equally uninteresting girls. Whether it's the awkward morals committee president, the shy brocon girl, or the mature looking younger girl, none of them have chemistry with our lead and it's incredibly painful to watch the show mash them up against him in an attempt to beg the "will they or won't they" or "what will the main girl think?" The in universe reasons they hang out with our lead are also completely bland and do not make for interesting stories. Bad characters thrown into uninspired plotlines and given skin crawlingly annoying dialogue made me both desperate for the episode to end to allow a new girl to focus on, but also a deep misery as I knew the next would be just as bad. It's hard to find a show with such a universally bad cast. Not a single member is able to even try to carry the scene, and I never once thought that any character "belonged in a better show" as is often when watching a bad show. It was just a miserable experience from beginning to end, and failed to even raise stakes or energy for the finale. If I didn't know the show was 12 episodes I'd have no idea if there was an episode next week. I left the show as comatose and constipated as I was the entire runtime, but at least its finally over.

To be fair this show is arguably low hanging fruit. Absolutely nothing about it looked interesting before release. The designs were bland and the promo art failed to even make interesting teasers or show energy and personality. The plot synopsis was incredibly lacking, though what else could you say with a show like this. Any energy wasted on this show is too much. But I saw a fan of the light novels pleading with people to give it a try, that its really good and just seems bad because the synopsis can't give away spoilers. I'm always interested in a good underdog, so I reluctantly withheld my assumptions. But if it looks like a trash, smells like trash, and seems to have no redeeming qualities like trash, it probably belongs in the dumpster. Except even trash implies that I felt anything other than lazy annoyance. This truly was a show I hated every second of and only finished out of obligation so I couldn't be told I just didn't "get" it by not finishing it....what an accomplishment. Maybe next time I'll just believe my gut.

In the modern revolution of unambiguously good BL such as Yuri on Ice, Sk8, and the Banana Fish adaptation, Love Stage can certainly feel a little dated. Love first consummated (or at least attempted) via force is a trope largely left in the past but is still present in Love Stage. Romance with ultra famous celebrities is extremely common in the genre, and to modern gay people the waffling over "how could I like boys/boys other than my one true love are no good!" can feel a little tired. That being said, despite all of these potential slights, Love Stage has an oddly infectious energy ... that left me constantly wanting more.

Compared to a lot of BL of the time and before, I found myself engrossed with Love Stage and staying up later than I should to watch more and suffering for it in the morning, only to watch more and do it again the next night. While the tropes are common, the plot is predictable, and the characters are fine but not standout, I blew through this series and enjoyed it. The humor is surprisingly enjoyable, and the earnestness of the characters is endearing. I was never bored with the cast or annoyed with the plot progression. That may seem like a low bar, but older animated BL that this reminds me of wasn't exactly a greatest hits of the best material. The close familial vibe of the cast was warm and inviting. Our main character's annoying traits were funny because he received comeuppance for them rather than expecting the audience to simply like him for being quirky. While I was quick to say that the plot was predictable, I still was sad that it was only 10 episodes and would gladly welcome more. I feel the marks against I mentioned are valid criticism, but Love Stage was consistently a good time despite those. And I have to respect it for that. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and always entertained, which is all I can really ask for in a show.

This show was described to me as "an unaware child cassanova tells the main girl every romantic line that a tired adult woman viewer would want to hear after a long day". And it's true. It's me, I am the tired adult woman watching this show to absorb its innocent charm as I recover from daily life.

My Clueless First Friend is simple: Takada loves Nishimura; excitedly, wholly, and enthusiastically. He loves her so much that he absolutely cannot process anything less than perfection about her, so any bullying, self doubt, or otherwise negative thoughts are turned on their head into positives. And this is good, ... albeit unusual for Nishimura, a meek bullied girl who's used to being ostracized as the Grim Reaper. Luckily Takada is also a young boy obsessed with "cool" things with dark powers, so the grim reaper moniker only adds to his obsession.

And that's the formula. People are mean to Nishimura, Takada turns their comments into compliments. Nishimura is used to being alone, Takada follows her everywhere and has the best time. Any doubts or insecurities are repeatedly confronted and destroyed until Nishimura is forced to begin thinking of herself at least somewhat beyond her usual self loathing. It's simple and a bit repetitive, but it's very charming and because of that it never got old. Maybe eventually it would if it ran longer, but at 13 episodes we had plenty of fun situation writing and evolving cast to keep it fresh and engaging.

I can see where this might be dull to some people. It definitely isn't particularly deep or difficult of a watch. But while the cerebral and high concept shows have a place, the older I get the more I also value the simple, sweet, and happy ideas too. Truly after a long week of being worn down by the world, I loved to watch Takada shower Nishimura in affection as the warmth helps rejuvenate and energize me. Even if other weekly shows stumbled, I could use My Clueless First Friend as a palette cleanser to feel good again. It's a simple show with clumsy and unambitious art, but the designs that could be called weak in other shows actually work with the laid back vibes of this show. Overall its just an enjoyable time, a soft hug of a show that came once a week to cheer me up. While it never could've lasted forever without losing some of its charm, I will definitely miss having it going forward. Quiet + outgoing odd couples will always be a common trope, but few are as wholesome and uncomplicated as watching these two children navigate their first time caring deeply for one another and learning how to support and grow together.

How do you turn the world's most boring sport played mainly by middle aged men into an interesting anime? Season one seemed to have figured it out, struggled with some pacing and budget issues, and then completely threw out the winning pieces in season two.

As an initial fan of Birdie Wing season one when it aired and before it gained mass appeal, I absolutely despise season two. The show initially gained attention by bombastic, adrenaline fueled situation writing that seemed to involve taking psychedelics, shonen anime, and campy lesbianism and throwing it all in a blender and painting with the resulting slurry. And it worked! ... Season one may have been silly, but the high stakes and insane gambling golf games managed to be enjoyable and compelling, and the characters had enough appeal and eccentricities to be enjoyed. There was often a method to the madness and it was a blast, and any shortcomings could be forgiven because we operated on rule of cool. The latter half of season one struggles as it changes setting and arcs, but any stumbles were easily forgiven as it was still exciting to see what comes next.

Season two starts off very painfully aware that we ended in the middle of an unfinished arc, but rather than sidestep issues with the usual energy, it disregards everything. The insane golf powers reminiscent of gambling anime like Yugioh or Kakegurui or sports anime with crazy finishers like Prince of Tennis are gone. While each new character is hyped as a bigger threat, gone are campy perfume tricks or robot arms or godlike precognition. Even our main character loses her ability for a worse, new one. Her individual bullet shots were a little silly, but had specific functions. One had crazy backspin to make interesting moves, one was a strong enough shot to break trees, one got impossibly high vertical angles to go over any obstacle. The powers were campy, but followed understandable rules and ideas. The new Rainbow Bullet, Rainbow Bullet Burst, and Shining Rainbow Bullet are just different ways that she hits the ball really good and wins while we put different effect filters over the camera or show stock footage. And now the in universe audience states that the shots leave real visible rainbows. I never assumed her colored shots LITERALLY had visible light, that was just an effect. I can only watch Eve shoot the OP rainbow shot that everyone tells me is so good and she wins so many times before I'm bored in a way I never was in season one.

We also completely remove any fun setting. Gone is the underground golf mafia and their billionaire funded insanity. Instead are boring and bland tournaments where if I wasn't being told that something cool was supposedly happening, I wouldn't know. We fight a mafia battle exactly once and during it Eve looks directly into the camera and screams THIS IS NOT REAL GOLF. It's been a long time since a show told me to go shove it quite that hard. Birdie Wing season two can tell me all it wants that the tournaments are important, the new random competitors are strong, and the shots are cool but it feels like all talk and no show.

And most damning, we take away the fun lesbian bits from the show. Eve no longer hits on girls and has her swooning fandom. Her main lover Aoi is even nerfed once we bring in the absolutely terrible "your daddy is secretly my daddy and we might be sisters" bull. I watched Birdie Wing for the lady killer with attitude doing trick shots against golf assassins to impress her innocent lesbian girlfriend, not...whatever this is.

So what does Birdie Wing add in place of all it removes, besides more identical uninteresting tournaments? Mainly a really bad attempt at backstory, first shoved at us for an entire episode and then progressing at a breakneck speed to try to replace the former energy with character writing. But the show's strength was never in compelling and well written story, it was the camp we left behind. I resent every moment wasted in the lame drama and subsequent injury and sickness arcs. They were bad ideas and poorly implemented with jarring pacing. Any deep or dark moment fell short because I was too busy either lamenting what I lost or staring into space bored.

The only decent aspect that stayed was the music...quite literally. The great jazzy OST stayed and tried its best to carry weak writing. The opening song from season one also stayed. And don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic song that I never tire of hearing. But with the same song and a half reused OP sequence I began this season worried about budget and pacing and was really never proven wrong. Season two lacks any ability to wow or impress, and since we had those skills previously I couldn't help resent watching it.

It seems I both got on the Birdie Wing hype train before average, and then left it early too since I don't hear many complaints matching mine. But I was absolutely miserable, and no matter how much I wanted to get back on the train, Eve never was able to do a trick shot between the cars like in season one and repeat the same lightning in a bottle.

I once read "if you want to find a good anime/manga, find one with ugly art. That means the story was good enough to be published in spite of it." However Rokudo is another show proving that wrong, with a story, characters, and animation quality as poor as its art.

Fundamentally Rokudo begins with a problem. The premise is that our titular lead gains an ability to make delinquent or otherwise "bad" girls fall in love with him. It's explicitly shown early on that this is just hypnosis and the girls have no control in the matter. Rokudo hates violence, and the plot of the show ... is how he leads these girls into healthy, normal school lives because they will listen to him as his love slaves. This renders all character arcs pointless, as who cares what he can convince a hypnotized servant to do. There's no resistance because they're instantly subservient, and the change isn't real or meaningful because they're hypnotized. How could character development be interesting when it's all fake, unless we rely on that betrayal for drama? And while the narrative does seem to plan to eventually cover that, it's annoyingly clear the final message will be "he just found the good that was inside you all along" which is BORING and BAD WRITING.

Even if the character arcs were convincing, why would I want to watch outgoing, dynamic characters be sanded down into subservient innocents? It's just not a compelling narrative on any level, especially with the lack of nuance or creativity that this series comes with. I can only assume the creator has a love of either hypnosis or breaking women into waifus, but it seems like a mistake to assume that's a common desire. I'd much rather watch bad girls be outgoing and large characters...though not these girls. From an emotionless, mostly silent sukeban, a strong loli, a gyaru in only the most basic and debatable ways, a do good cop boot licker, a cross dresser, and more, these girls aren't desirable in any form, good or bad. This is truly a harem of the weakest written girls obsessing over a lame guy even by self insert harem standards, and his equally uninteresting friends. I complained about making dynamic characters bad by hypnosis, but it's all theoretical because these were never particularly compelling characters to begin with. And then I cannot overstate how unattractive and cheap the art is, between about five times as much eyeliner as any girl needs, ugly attempts at spiked and styled hair, and just a general list of design archetypes in anime but done worse than average. Add that the art itself is ill-proportioned and incorrect, and I can't even space out by looking at the art. It's a poorly written show with bad concepts and ugly art, truly nothing helps redeem the weaknesses of Rokudo. Coupled with Gen Satou's screaming performance feeling particularly annoying because it accompanies bad character writing, and confusion why seiyuu legend Akira Ishida is playing the comedy fat sidekick friend, the audio does no favors either. Truly just one strike after another.

Maybe it's mean to go after Rokudo. It was clearly going to be a weaker show from the initial premise and designs, I can't think of anything short of abandoning it's core pieces that would have saved it. But it still got greenlit by manga editorial staff and then picked up by an anime studio. However I can't imagine they ever will make back their initial investment on a show like this.

Akebi's Sailor Uniform? More like Akebi is a Sexual Awakening for an Entire Class, the anime.

Akebi is a mix of popular slice of life moe tropes done well individually, all smashed together and shoved into one character. Individually, each episode is fine and the characters are cute enough, but when viewed as one whole narrative it becomes a story about how Akebi is just the coolest and smartest and prettiest and nicest and...etcetera. Every character has to come to love and adore Akebi, whether they were interested to begin with or actively disliked her. Anything Akebi does has to be endearing and personally healing to ... the character she is interacting with. Akebi has so many abilities and positive personality traits, highlighted by a story focused on telling the viewer how awesome Akebi is, that as a character she comes off bland. There's both too much going on and at the same time nothing at all. The worship eventually becomes white noise until it blends together creating a dissociation and ultimate realization that the entire final episode is every member of the show collectively discussing how much Akebi changed their lives and nobody but Akebi is as special as her, all while they stand in a dark auditorium and watch her dance for them. Like...I get it dude, you're in love with your OC. I could tell that from the way she's drawn and the focus on certain body parts and how every single cast member wants to jump her. I didn't need a season long crash course about how your OC is the best original character ever. And even beyond the fatigue, the girls skew a little too young and the both childlike and sexualized style accompanying the worship does feel a little bit disturbing - and I am not the type to balk at taboo in anime. If anything I think I could've handled the young designs if the worship didn't get so overdone and I'm reminded the age of the character the author is simping for.

Despite my complaints, as I previously stated, as stand alone stories most episodes range from decent to good. It isn't poorly written as a concept, it just is a little too much a gospel of character worship. I'd like to rate it lower but I did find myself enjoying episodes when I could seperate myself from the overall feeling of suffocation by Akebi. However as the episode count grew that became harder and harder, and honestly I was relieved when it was over that I didn't have to sit through any more ramblings of why Akebi is the best waifu and girlfriend material. I enjoyed pieces but I'm glad it's over.

The issue isn't that MagiRevo isn't good. It's VERY good. The problem is it doesn't give us enough time in its world.

MagiRevo is set in a typical fantasy setting, but what stands out are its characters. While they do fall into archetypes, they play their roles very charmingly and are addictive to watch. The show also smartly remains a relative slow burn for the first arc so we can marinate with the characters and to show the slow journey of healing and acceptance. But then the show speeds up, and it feels like the one season should have been at least two, maybe three, with ... very clear stopping points for each one. Most every idea brought up and explored by the show is fun, but I feel like I'm watching the greatest hits, and that at certain points the characters developed further offscreen. Anything that feels sudden would have been completely fine and natural if we had more time to introduce it, and I do wonder if the source material is able to go slower.

While my first reaction after seeing this series is to critique the pacing, that's such a tragedy because the episodes we do get are very good. Not only would more time help, I WANT to spend more time with these characters. The writing is solid, the characters are strong, and the visuals are nice. The plot takes a few drastic turns as new arcs begin but the decisions themselves are fine. I wish I saw them slowly develop in the background and then come to the front in following seasons, especially some of the larger later reveals.

I do appreciate the show's exploration of homosexuality as the social other. Anis' ostracization as the only royal without magic and her own talents in thaumaturgy/magicology (I've seen it translated both was and I'm unclear which is the official wording) prevent her from ever being seen as an equal. She can excel far beyond her peers, but because she doesn't fit the norm she will always be lesser unless she is forced back into the mold society made for her. Even if her way of life is what makes her happiest and most fruitful. Preventing her from living authentically only harms her and others around her who cannot benefit from the strengths of her inventions, but old elders set in their ways about what is right demand conformity. Anis fights a sisyphean battle but still manages to find a like minded community and those who see the value in her way of life.

And then in case the subtext isn't enough, the show is explicitly gay because subtext alone is for weaklings. I am so relieved to see such an unapologetic lesbian. Finally, no hand wringing about how to dilute it to placate naysayers in the audience. Anis is gay. This is not the only part of her personality, but it is an important part she has always had, will always have despite any resistance, and pretending otherwise damages her mentally and makes her physically ill. Her romance with Euphy, while slow, also refuses to be seen as just sisterly or friends or a phase. These two girls are in love and will be together, even if they have to revolutionize society as they know it to do it. On my second watchthrough I also began feeling their fathers were an analogy of if the girls hadn't been true to themselves...I don't feel like that's a stretch because lines here and there as well as parts that are clearer on a rewatch are very direct - the fathers have a close relationship they swallowed down in order to fit into the royal and heterosexual society. There are other characters that also feel gay or bisexual, overall this is just a very queer piece both in narrative subtext and in a cast that all has romantic tension with the same gender. Anime friendships often give that energy by mistake and even BL and GL can try to sugarcoat it. So again I appreciate how MagiRevo both crafts intelligent analogs and also shoves its rainbow stained hands in your face to say "hey, we're gay!!" It handles both extremes well, just like how Anis and Euphie seem to be opposites but are equally well crafted and interesting, mixing beautifully together.

MagiRevo both feels safe and at home in its tropes and archetypes, while loud and proud enough to stand out. It's a good time and I'm very glad it exists, from beginning to end I enjoyed it and it became a seasonal favorite. I just wish I was allowed to stay with its characters longer.

Came for the trash, stayed for the surprisingly well executed story of transition and personal growth. Onimai is a masterclass in how to tell a trans joke.

MILD SPOILERS, but not beyond what the final episode conflict and resolution are.

Based on previews, art style, and other factors I assumed Onimai was going to be kinda trashy but fun, and I hoped it would succeed in having the edge without getting uncomfortable. Genderswap anime are common enough to be a subgenre and I wasn't expecting anything subversive. Episode one began and I was met with the lewd humor I expected, but along with it, I instantly recognized ... something.

This is a trans story. An ACTUAL transgender one, not just a cheap gimmick.

This narrative seems to know more about going through actual social and medical gender transition than most.

Is this actually going to be a real trans narrative and not just a gag?

For reference, I am a trans person. So I feel like my opinion, while still only one person's and not meant to speak for a whole community, is worth at least something. From episode one onward I was surprised what the story focused on, how it chose to portray transition and its cast, and this show I expected to be edgy trash became a touching narrative of how transition allows a person to enjoy life and have healthy relationships in ways they struggled with before. While the fanservice is there for those who want it, it's surprisingly sparse and only becomes rarer as Onimai focuses more on its characters and is surprisingly wholesome.

I was so relieved that unlike most shows about gender and libido, Mahiro never uses their new gender and age to be creepy towards anyone. Mahiro is objectively not interested in kids their own age, since Mahiro still has memories of being older. Mahiro has a sex drive only towards older women, and even then it's a very harmless and bashful one. Meanwhile Mahiro forms close friendships with girls, fixes a formerly broken relationship with Mihari, and even dabbles in tantalizing boys and becoming curious if this new body comes with new feelings towards men. Mahiro's exploration with gender and sexuality feels very natural and open, and the show actively agrees with this mindset and avoids being homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise creepy. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't find the budding potential childhood lesbian romance cute, because again it is portrayed as genuine and wholesome, and never predatory.

While the story is completely about Mahiro's journey with gender, the entire cast and Mahiro are fully complex characters and allowed to have an equal amount of daily situational fun along with the gender-related plots, much like how actual transition always is centered on gender, but the freedom of transition allows a more colorful and fulfilling life. Whether it's realizing how a female body is perceived differently in public, deciding that dedication to personal image is fun, or just having a healthy friend group and experiences foreign to Mahiro, Onimai balances to two sides wonderfully. And the comedy is very amusing. As trans people have been saying for years, it's not that we don't want trans jokes: just find GOOD ones to tell. And Onimai manages to highlight the humor in transition magnificently, because it really seems aware of the details of it.

To anyone who claims Onimai isn't about real transition and Mahiro isn't trans, the finale very forcefully puts those arguments to rest. The trans subtext, which I would argue was just text, becomes explicit as Mahiro is finally confronted with the ability to change back, and has to actively choose which life is most important and genuine. And as any trans person can tell you, while transition is hard, scary, and dangerous, any struggle as your real gender is better than a life without it. Death before forced detransition, and all that. Onimai never uses the words transgender and Mahiro never says "I am transitioning into a woman", but like good LGBT anime the story is explicit enough in stating it that I feel any argument to the contrary is in bad faith. Onimai manages to be funny, emotional, dramatic, informative, and a little pervy but never in an uncomfortable way because it feels like an explicitly knowledgeable trans narrative. While I'd never claim to know a person's inner truth....it really does feel like the creator is intimately aware with what transition feels like on a personal level.

Other than the story and trans portrayal, the animation is absolutely fantastic. (With one episode as an arguable exception) The characters move with a fluidity and beauty that feels completely special to this project. The voice acting is stellar and sticks with you enough that now I hear the Onimai characters when the actresses are in other shows. Overall Onimai is a feast for the viewer, and as a transgender viewer I feel particularly seen and this show will probably be very special to me for a long time. I would recommend this to anyone who likes anime and can handle a little nudity and sexual humor, but it really doesn't have any more of that than many other beloved and classic anime.

Summertime Rendering is one of those high energy, fast paced thrillers that only come along once every now and then and are very difficult to replicate.

The setting is simple, but efficient, using the existing concepts of doppelgangers/shadow people/skinwalkers and an isolated location to keep the cast and setting small, but complex. The time travel premise of the show is well thought out, given adequate consequences and weaknesses to ground it, and an incredibly quick pacing that never allows a moment to go dull. And the characters are fairly simple to understand but immediately likeable with enough personality to remember them. The show has a solid, ... direct storytelling that both holds suspense and mystery well, but never allows downtime or sluggish moments and time feels valuable, and in return treats the viewer as if their time watching is as well. Put together, the show is a wonderful mix of endorphins and adrenaline that I can count on one hand other similar feeling shows that have executed these goals as well. It was incredibly exciting watching it weekly and speculating, but equally fun rewatching with a friend (he hadn't seen it and lamented that he did not watch it airing like I did). I remember commenting that "the second cour of the show feels almost like one long endgame arc" because it just sucks you in and sprints and never slows.

Visually, the show works well. The designs are fairly simple but still manage to have personality and feel like their own characters and not archetypes or copies. Camera work in suspenseful moments is tense, and when we do have combat, the fight choreography is fantastic and energizing. The show also has a memorable sound design, with certain tracks doing a great job conveying and escalating the tension and eerieness of the scenes.

I cannot say that the show is without any fault, as in my opinion most time travel stories can end one of two ways, and I'm not a huge fan of either one. However I can't blame Summertime Rendering for that, its how the concept works. And because it's been the base concept from the beginning that everything else is based around, the ending still felt earned and natural despite the fact other shows have had the same type of ending and it be massively unsatisfying.

This is easily one of my favorite shows of the season. I also really respect an anime with a concrete, self contained story to tell that can tell it well and end it definitively in this era of sequelbait. This show was incredibly gratifying to watch. I was so concerned it would let me down like a lot of other high tension fast paced shows, so it feels really good to just have an example of an unquestionably good one.

You've seen sports anime about teens who were new to the game, and you've seen idol anime about struggling idols. But have you ever seen an anime about an entire tournament of people who are bad at BOTH?

Because that's the concept of Extreme Hearts, both the anime and in-universe tournament. Our MC is a failed idol who joins a league of potential idol athletes where the common goal is to use the tournament's notoriety to go pro. Their world has pro athletes and pro idols without combining the two and adding weird unexplained technology, it seems like all players here NEED this tournament of losers ... to become successful. While this COULD be an interesting commentary on the entertainment industry and how fame and success is much more thanks to luck and marketing and riding a wave than raw ability, this is the seasonal garbage anime so none of that is here. Extreme Hearts is a fast paced tournament where its contenders must become pro in every sport and in music, which...isn't normally how attaining pro status and skill in anything works? Luckily the show absolutely refuses to show as much of the games and concerts as possible so we don't even see most of it to need to argue that they're good or justify why, and we also don't spend much time showing meaningful training to need to visualize the concept of improvement or strategy. And when we do...oh boy does it look bad. What isn't just a slideshow of still shots or narrated about without showing is incredibly poor. Most of the girls' games are won by a new team member entering mid game, surprising even the team. Which, sure let's say the first one already had the new players on the roster. The rest...didn't. How did they come in? And even then it's still usually clip show or a quick cut to the ending as if the anime is afraid to show it. What little is animated is very poor quality and unexciting though so I can't say I wanted more. In the final game of the tournament, we actually do show a large portion of the game and I found myself very confused and very bored wondering why we were focusing on it. Clearly nobody on staff was particularly interested in writing staging or combat.

So what is the point of Extreme Hearts? As mentioned it sure isn't the sports. Even the practice is montage and offscreen. So is it the idol part? That's a money maker. But the music is given even less time, with concerts glossed over or even skipped and mentioned in passing. Like with the sports, we also never show much practice despite most of the cast is new to music. If this is supposed to be an idol anime, Extreme Hearts does a miserable job at selling its idol waifus. Even their designs are the blandest most uninteresting girls I've seen in ages. Who would want a figure of any of these girls? Even within their own show, the main team Rise is very noticeably more homogenous, boring, and uninteresting than every other team they face. I understand simplicity for the budget's sake, but maybe you'd have more funds if you could expect anyone to want to buy merch of this show.

Ruling out sports and idols....the two things the show markets itself on...maybe the characters are interesting? But I'm sorry to say they're the most bland and forgettable roles possible. Even the word "archetypal" doesn't fit because that implies some level of interest to grab onto. Our MC is boring the point the final episode even has a discussion about how she's never been seen crying, or overtaken by laughter, or angry, or any strong emotion. Whenever shows have to justify how cool their character is by them being a blank slate, I have to ask...are you trying to convince yourself that's cool? Because I find it boring as can be. Meanwhile every girl that hesitates to join the team is because they're TOO GOOD at sports and hurt someone physically or emotionally and were shunned because of it. So they avoid the team until they learn ITS OKAY TO BE TOO GOOD. Other characters claim its an offscreen responsibility holding them back, or they have no hesitation at all. That's really...everything there is to these girls, and it doesn't even matter because after their intro episodes they fade into the background and have very few lines, let alone development.

So what does Extreme Hearts do with its run time if it doesn't focus on sport, idols, or characters? Honestly I'm not sure. I watched every single episode and every week it just felt like we were either stalling to avoid more exciting things, or we were rushing through events as fast as possible. I understand this show was clearly low budget in an era where we've been having many delays and issues. But this goes beyond adjusting to handle problems because fundamentally from the first moment nothing was working. The designs were bad, the writing was uninteresting, and the pacing was terrible. The show also fails to explore every concept it creates, from what it's Extreme Heart tech really does or how it works, or how much AI melds into society and how that functions, to even how these new hybrid sports idols function in showbiz that also includes actual athletes and entertainers. Whether it's a character beat, the end to a conflict, or a whole theme of the show, Extreme Hearts seems not only hesitant but downright unwilling to work with its own premise.

I have to admit, both idol and sports anime are not my particular favorite genre. While some are unarguably fantastic, I feel like these genres can let in even more forgettable trash than some others. However usually there is something about a pitch to latch onto, or to be disappointed about if it doesn't succeed. But Extreme Hearts is such a...nothing from beginning to end. I was bored out of my mind and resented the time I spent, but at the same time I never cared to begin with to feel let down. It really felt like nobody on staff wanted to be there, and so I didn't either. For a show about the rejects of the entertainment industry, they sure made a poorly entertaining show itself.