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Mar 7, 2025
Sister fucker series, stepsister or otherwise, tend to be tropey trash, but this is a slippery sibling slide that has an arty pretension and few, if any, of the typical tropes associated with this taboo subset of the romance genre. Given the lack of consanguinity or even long-term brother-sister roleplay, it's questionable if one should call this taboo at all (the tourist doth protest perhaps), instead acting as a sort of silly framing device to have them enter a role that is oddly intimate yet acts as a barrier to a relationship, though their apparent autism and insecurities act as more of a barrier than
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their respective roles.
Just to give an example of their modus operandi, let's look at some dialogue: Right out of the blue, in a bizarre and humorless non sequitur, with the only context being a brief exchange about how laundry should be divided within the household, the imouto blurts: I don't adhere to strict gender roles, so I don't want to assume that you're not into wearing panties and crossdressing.
MC: Huh (my thoughts exactly)?
Imouto: UwU, onii-chan, your eyebrows are shaped so nicely. Do you get them done at the salon? Maybe you should crossdress (I would add a teehee, but she doesn't strike me as having enough of a sense of humor to laugh). "Don't you think it's hard to force all sexual difference into just two categories?" While I could blame this on western politics worming its way into Japanese media... Seriously, does she have a crossdressing fetish and is trying to get her step-onii-chan to play into her kink? Or maybe she's a rotten-to-the-core fujoshi? Perhaps the author has a crossdressing fetish that he's insecure about? "But still, prejudice leads to discrimination." Time to turn the channel to Gundam. Using this as anything other than a fetishy joke is something I can't take seriously. Either way, it's not how I'd imagine even an autist would break the ice. Then again, I've known enough autists to think that maybe this is a believable discussion, and I should simply accept it as a character quirk that defines the character study. Anyway, it's a shortish scene that leads to growth of the relationship, so it's not all for naught.
Another tiring strand of dialogue delivery is the constant back and forth about doing favors (not the fetish fuel kind, get your mind out of the gutter, this is a wholesome rather than Peepi-oriented show!) for one another that the couple have. "I want to show my gratitude for what you did for me." "But I've done nothing to receive your gratitude." "No, you did a lot for me." "Well, maybe just a little, but it's not really that much." And they go on and on, comparing what each one did for the other, haggling all along the way to see who can scratch the other's back more, and it has me thinking, "Shut the fuck up!" This aimless blather will go on for minutes at a time! One of the most awkward scenes of all is the autist in the elevator scene, which is somehow stretched to an excruciating 2-3 minutes (in a 23 minute episode, no less!). Sometimes people insert umms and ahhs or interject with relatively useless lines when talking so as to gather their bearings and figure out what to say, and I feel that's what the staff are doing with this hemming and hawing. Perhaps there's a way in which it seems fitting for the characters, as they express their concerns for the other and simultaneously downplay it as if to avoid getting too close, but it's not a very good use of time in a script.
They're both pretty stunted, with her being far more so and failing to understand anything that isn't conveyed in a blunt way, for, in relation to literature, "I can never really understand how the characters feel and all that stuff." Not only does she win the award for the most humorless poker-faced fujoshi, but she can't read a room to save her life. I think it's safe to say that she's on the spectrum, and her onii-chan is either much less on the spectrum or is introverted and emotionally restrained enough for people to suspect he is autistic. It's additionally hilarious how obvious the animal inserts are when it comes to different scenes representing the characters or aspects of them. Like the constant shots of fish. I believe there are only 2 fish in the bowl! Tell me these two kids don't feel like the gold fish heading to the rim of the bowl and blowing you a kiss, in all their autistic, fish out of water, glory! They'll cut away to two birds flying, and so on. This is a common motif in fiction, but it seems absolutely hilarious here. I think with how slow it is and how bottled up and uncomfortable they are when expressing themselves that it comes across as more obvious and hysterical. As a crude exaggeration of the kind of symbolism this show dabbles in, maybe they'll head to the zoo, and when he's thinking of how he loves her, it'll show two animals copulating. It reminds me of that Naked Gun comedy movie where he's driving, and he's upset because he misses his ex-wife and says, "Everywhere I go I see her and can't get her out of my mind." Then it cuts to a shot of two farm silos close together that look like a pair of tits. And he's like, "See what I mean?"
The more depressive and alienating (relative to anime) art film sensibilities and light experimentation often reflect the state of the characters adequately, and there are a few commendable parlor tricks here and there, along with decent, well-balanced composition (when it's not using grotesque rule of thirds composition) and great directing, considering what little there is for the staff to work with. Might even give off a feel similar to select cinema verité or John Cassavetes at times, though relying on more crafty techniques than is the norm for those. Cinematography takes precedence over animation, and this is pretty obvious even from the first frame, where the camera is slowly panning over a bright city and the FMC in what appears to be an elevator, featuring multiple rack focuses used more dramatically than tends to be the norm in anime. Usually, when it's done at all, we rack focus between two different characters, with each having an important line, but this is done in an intensive mood-setting and emotional way. Even though the diary segments mostly relay information we already knew or could infer, the kind of nostalgic imagery used to convey the character's more honest inner thoughts was a compelling shift away from the static angles and alienating minimalism of other scenes, representing a stiff formalism that gives way to a looser stream of consciousness. The music could be syrupy at times, but the sound design is well above seasonal standards, and there's a pleasant blend of ambient, piano, and a sparser amount of choral elements, which combines fantastically with the imagery, mood, and emotions. It's somewhat of a barebones or bargain bin arthouse romance and depends on you caring about these characters or being invested in a kind of character study romance, and it's easy to be indifferent. Still, as an autist character study romance, the artsy independent film feel and aesthetic strongly reinforce the relationship, making this a commendable effort from a directorial standpoint. It's like the staff figured out how to make the series as autistic as the characters, contrasting their controlled and carefully calculated behavior and mannerisms with turbulent outpourings of their inner feelings that they cannot hope to express!
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 5, 2025
Penguin's Memory is what you would get if Terence Malick made an anime parodying Deer Hunter and various other gritty American-made Vietnam war films, but he has the built-in challenge of not using rambling diary-esque voice overs and to use penguins from shitty low-class beer commercials as characters. Many of the shots and the way they represent the main character's (or others') internal state are great at various points, but maybe half of the shots appear to have less thought put behind them or are standard fare. For fans of Malick, it should prove to be an interesting viewing experience, but it's definitely in the
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"poor man's" (or poor penguin's) category by comparison.
The consistent post-war depression is interrupted hilariously via the romantic interest of the main, as she engages in a Dr. Moe (if this weren't such an obscure title, Dr. Moe would be a sensational meme, given how widespread moe has become in anime) certified Moetown hit of an upbeat nature, and the inclusion of a pop song at random is certainly jarring. Anthropomorphic romance (aka furshit) is on the gross side, and all of these penguins look fat, if not obese, and nearly the same. The penguins are used for marketing purposes, which variably clashes with the tone of the film or enhances it with a touch of humor. The story feels contrived in its intense compression and even uninspired but basically well told for what it is.
Can't believe the plot developments at the end. He goes PTSD psycho in a scene reminiscent of Taxi Driver. The main acts in self-defense and has a sympathetic witness but the verdict is guilty before a court? This judgment is made even more absurd by the most emotional part with Chico! Am I suppose to judge the main as "wrong" or "corrupted by war" or some other pretentious low-t drivel based on the direction of the story or the main's complex? Guy's rampage was alpha, totally justified, and he did nothing wrong! It's about as cool as watching the vigilante film Dirty Harry and making jokes about film critics Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael, who had typical elitist sympathy for the criminal over the victim, being dead. Overall, it's a ridiculous sequence, even more so for the writer's judgment. Yet it's a decent-enough film, that hits the right notes much of the time with its understated emotions and soul searching, flawed and forgotten though it may be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 26, 2025
Hidamari no Shit is a CGI animation, originally part of a compilation of films called Zoo (which the author probably escaped from), the rest being live action short films. The compilation is weird and terrible; I reckon the same for the source, and the one film they decided to animate is the most satisfying of the bunch because, despite the dated CGI, they do a decent job with the visual presentation. It has a somewhat charming cel-shaded look for the period.
However, the story is the most insipid kind of "twisty" android-raising simulator. A man creates a female android and teaches her how to imitate humans.
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The reason he has created her is because he will soon "die." He's actually an android and wants her to remember him, and the process will presumably be repeated by the female android, just as the male android also had an android creator who gave him the same role, and so on, in an infinite regress of pointlessness.
Animals thrive, except humans are all dead because... I don't know... probably cow farts, as usual. The theme is remembrance, aside from imitating humans to be a better remembering unit. What she does throughout the story consists of banal things like fetching coffee or tea, but she also learns of heartbreak by observing the death of a little rabbit because seeing cute things die is far sadder than a masculine android pretending to be a human and engaging in a silly ritual before running out of batteries, which is priceless and absolutely hilarious. The emotional cadence resembles the reptillian overlord "The more of your data I collect, the more human I become" philosophy of Mark Zuckerberg more so than the typical "cherish these precious memories" slop it tries to imitate that is so common to slime of life media.
You could potentially make something worthwhile with the concept, as Casshern Sins presents a world where humans are nearly extinct and does a far better job of exploring its themes and telling a story. Seeing as machines are created with humans in mind, the machines have to come to terms with an existence where they don't have meaning derived from doing chores, parlor tricks, or bending over for humans. Why do anything if humans don't tell them to do it? Without a shred of sentience, they will simply be operating at the behest of whatever their programming dictates and cannot ponder this lack of meaning. So we give them sentience or some intermediate, regardless of whether that is possible or would be beneficial. What makes these stories so boring is that they become ersatz humans that can change parts out and have expanded life but are stuck in kuudere archetype mode, which begs the question of why don't we just make stories about humans instead? Or a story about the interactions between man and machine at least. A pointless cycle perpetuated by machines, sans humans, is worthless. The idea of android sentience is laughable other than to make an android moeblob more endearing for the sake of a sexy female android and incel revolution, and Armitage III is the manifesto!
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Feb 26, 2025
Genma Taisen is a dated, ambitious mess. The art, animation, and atmosphere are the only reasons anyone would want to watch this, and all three are inconsistent. The other reason might be that this is something like a proto-Akira, bringing to mind the similarly dubious Ai City dystopic sci-fi film. Katsuhiro Otomo was also involved here, which suggests it might have been another influence leading up to that vastly superior film. There's an impressive fluidity and style to the animation in numerous scenes and plenty of staff overlap with Akira, featuring many of the same key animators.
The art is oftentimes bold and sharp and given
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a great stylistic flair from Rintaro's direction and exceptional moments of fluid animation. Unfortunately, Certain shots look flat in terms of both composition and color—like something out of a 1970s series. Other moments are like the wonderful near-monochromatic scenes when time is stopped, a sequence which is among the most elaborate in terms of production values, storyboarding, and accentuated by those smoldering red lanterns that are used to incredible effect. Takashi Nakamura has a few incredible scenes, and the fiery finale from Yoshinori Kanada is spectacular, but no matter how impressive these scenes are can make up for its flaws. There are plenty of budget saving techniques used to offset the otherwise decent to impressive animation. One of the worst offenders is the devastation of America, featuring loads of pans and zooms and wacky camera movements dancing around stills. Rintaro can be an interesting director, but he doesn't always have an easy time telling a story, and Genma Taisen is one of his bellyflops onto asphalt, from the top of a high-rise building.
I thought it was a safe bet that I'd give this a better rating for the visual prowess alone, but the writing, pacing, and characters are all trash. On some level, I feel this is at least a 3/10 for how impressive some of the scenes are, but the movie is so unbearably hollow and boring that it's hard to do better than a 2/10. There's no emotional connection amongst the characters. Friends of the main even get turned into monsters but we never get any clues as to whether they were killed or if some human component of them remained, as the main dispatches them with the ease of a psychopath, and we promptly forget about them. We get a lot of time with the Japanese high schooler, the android, and Luna, sans any development or characterization to differentiate them from any other generic "we have to save the world" cast, but all of the other characters assemble without an effective introduction and have almost no lines of significance. The only other character I can remember is the black kid with roller skates because of the ridiculous line the android delivers to Luna about how he thinks she's uncomfortable teaming up with the boy because he's black. It came out of nowhere and was outrageously funny, yet the intent was obviously social commentary finger wagging!
There's nothing to offer in terms of storytelling or thematics, the film is simultaneously too long and too rushed, and In the few instances where they squeeze in a theme, it's nauseating, preachy, and half-formed. Worst of all, there's so much gooey B-movie cheese and horrendous jazz-funk muzak stinking up the film to the point one can't even turn off his brain and appreciate the aesthetics or atmosphere. What on earth was with the film turning into a mawkish Bambi ripoff toward the end!? At heart, it's basically a Captain Planet precursor but instead of an environmental hazard, they combine their forces to save the world from a cosmic evil of generic proportions, complete with a kumbaya song and dance finale.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Feb 13, 2025
Plastic Memories takes the basic idea of disposable synthetic humans from Blade Runner with a predetermined lifespan but moeblobified and hyper-emotional, so they cry all the time, eat cupcakes to drive away the existential dread, and become engulfed in loads of comedy and romantic scenarios. I doubt anyone really questioned the concept strongly with Blade Runner because the idea seemed to be that they were still in the experimental phase and were primarily being used for labor. They weren't adorable moeblobs fetching you tea. Here, they're like home companions, as shown with several older people who own them in the first episode, along with many
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other setups, especially incel x sexy android revolutionism. Why give them such a short lifespan and not be able to renew them with their personality and all of their memories if people will grow attached to them?
One could say the reason for the short lifespan is about profit (Whooooa, time to trade my Iphone 5 in for Iphone 6!), but while there's a way in which the corporations could make extra money recycling the giftias and selling them again, imagine how much some people would pay to extend their moeblob's life. Disposable obsolescence is a thing, but the repairs and upkeep must be pricey for such sophisticated technology, and this isn't the same as retiring your old smart phone or PC, for people become attached to these moeblob androids, like they're pets or something... or you could just say humans, since they are nearly identical, and you can't really tell much of a difference other than the script said so. They call them giftias and distinguish them from androids at one point, but they never go into much detail.
PM is using the sci-fi concept to enhance the romcom emotions and inject tragedy into the story to bolster the themes, as well as presenting a unique flavor. A similar comparison might be to develop a romance with a girl who has a terminal illness and coming to grips with her impending death, choosing to either pull away or remain steadfast. The series plays out as a romcom first and foremost and a sci-fi only as a distant second, with many people expecting the series to primarily be a sci-fi story being disappointed. The concept clearly was thought out to be as emotionally manipulative as possible rather than logically conceived for the world. Moreover, it is mean-spirited and assholeish: "LOL, let's make moe android servants that the plebs will grow attached to and secretly have sex with that only live for 9 years, so we can laugh in the owner's face once we liquidate their moeblob, LMFAO!" Furthermore, if they don't get liquidated in time, they go rogue, become uncontrollable, unpredictable, and lose their limiters, resulting in super strength and speed! It makes sense that if you don't regularly service these advanced androids that they would develop some glitches, but the way they're designed makes them an easy weapon to wreak havoc in society. CEO: "Well, the crime rate is plummeting, and life has become too boring and safe, lacking any excitement. Violence is, in fact, awesome, and we need more of it!" These two core issues are artificial and don't make complete sense without added exposition. Those who can't suspend disbelief or don't find these aspects hilariously awesome and darkly comedic probably won't enjoy PM as much. Admittedly, what is heightening my enjoyment is not intentional, or they noticed the issue but didn't care.
The characters accept the status quo and try to adapt, barely questioning the structure of society. All societies have problems, but the only ones visible here involve giftias, and the problems appear to be by design and without any obvious benefit. If humans are becoming dependent on giftias does that mean human relations are deteriorating or becoming unmanageable? Many of them are falling in love with disposable moeblobs that can't reproduce; is that a problem? Is that a means of lowering the birthrate? How does the pervasiveness of giftias alter society for better or worse? Are people who design sexy female android moeblobs that you'll hopelessly fall in love with, only for their existence to be snuffed out due to an arbitrary law or software design, scum of the earth? And if they are, why do they do what they do? If you're going to create giftias expressly to deal with retiring other giftias and integrate into the workforce with young males who will dote on them, why make them lovable fetish fuel? Well... I know why... but... Anyway, you'd expect many of these questions to be alluded to briefly in the background, but we don't even get the subtlest of hints.
If they have sentience and a human-like personality, it only makes sense if their personalities and memories can be copied to last longer than 9 years. One explanation might be that their greater empathy and understanding is desperately needed for labor and as caretakers (birthrate and employment are never addressed, but it would seem both are in decline and giftias are a means of automation), but somehow the technology prevents effective preservation of data and they haven't been able to find a solution, but PM explains so little that what could be rendered as plausible with a few more details is cast aside, resulting in the series looking poorly thought out or with glaring plot holes. I can accept that copying a giftia's personality and memories is not the same thing as copying the data on a hard drive, but you've got to give me more to work with than that! They don't even make that analogy in the series!
The parting of the human owner and their giftia is often shown to be painful. Isla's existence is one of such agony that she deliberately closes herself off and acts more machine-like than she really is (the constant usage of "error," for example), pioneers a method of giftia retrieval that is inefficient but is meant to promote a meaningful parting between humans and their giftias, avoids forming close relationships to prevent hurting herself or others, bears a burden of guilt for her occupation, and frequently contemplates her fate, knowing the exact moment that she will cease to be. It's unbelievably cruel and seems to be without justified reason, other than to inspire a "MUST PROTECC" response from the audience and, "No, I don't think so, you're not getting away with doing that to my moeblob, you son of a bitch!" The artificiality of the cryporn renders the performance as unintentional (???) dark comedy of the highest order.
As for what the series is like outside of the themes and concept, the workplace of Plastic Memories feels more like a dating sim consisting of a bunch of flirting moeblobs, which is to say, everything about it is inappropriate and unprofessional. There's the tsundere sidepiece, and most of the others are either there for a plot function, thin archetypes, or have one or two traits that they flaunt. Although the writers try to push sad and serious periodically, there's a lot of contrasting humor, perhaps even too much, which sometimes seems superficial or jarring. Isla is a klutzy kuudere (because klutziness is a fantastic trait for a labor bot), catapulting into obnoxious physical comedy and outbursts abruptly and regularly. Although some of it is natural, there's quite a bit of stock comedy from the various archetypes, especially the tsundere! Series like this are really only made for self-insertion and to make the waifu as endearing as possible, and it's decent enough at that, with a bittersweet touch from the boohoo crypornisms. The sci-fi coating helps give it that extra something to distinguish it from other generic moeblob romcoms, even if it's underutilized or oddly constructed. In that respect, it's a bit like Chobits, where they establish a distinct sci-fi world just to explore fetishy romcom setups.
Controversial take, but PM bears a lot of similarities and is better than cryporn like Violet Evergarden, with the negotiation that the "spotter" and "marksman" engage in with the owner and the giftia to help them come to terms with their moeblob being liquidated having a similar build up and catharsis to the letter writing in VE. The main difference is that PM isn't afraid to have fun once in a while and is less pretentious, there's a male MC for self-insertion, plenty of waifubait, and Isla is much more moe and endearing than that autistic automaton with terminator-hands that is Violet. Isla feels less like an android than Violet, but it's hard to say whether that is a point for or against PM... The production values aren't as glossy as what Kyoto Animation would deliver, but PM is colorful, has decent sci-fi backdrops, and punchy character acting for the frenzied crying (in particular, the ultra-low-angle composition where soppy Isla is looking down, her tears splatting the camera, is underutilized in tearjerkers), embarrassed reactions, and comedy, when it needs it. Additionally, although not a deep show by any stretch, the ending is even misunderstood quite often, offering a fitting and cyclical bittersweet touch that's way better than what you'd get from your typical Help, My Waifu Has a Terminal Illness and I'm About to Be an Incel Again tragic romance that is so common.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 29, 2025
The character art is some of his ugliest, aside from the moe being passable because at least he is trying to make his characters look appealing, like he would sometimes do in the past. Seriously, why is he reusing Yunbo, the fat prostitute, as if that scene from Reiraku was anything but garbage? Asano chub chaser achievement unlocked. This is one of the most repulsive manga I've seen from a mangaka I used to admire. What's with all the pointless sex scenes and nudity? It's strange because I don't tend to ask that or think that there necessarily has to be a "reason," but it
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feels forced here: as if Asano realizes Mujina into the Deep is subpar and needs to distract from it by putting in lots of "mature" violence and sex.
A prime example of the vulgarity is when Main is sent on her first hit job; the mark, a fat, unattractive middle-aged woman, is introduced by having her hop out of a cab to drop her clothing down to where we see her bulging bare ass so she can relieve herself. When Main swoops in for the kill, the mark summons her own mujina, who is an obese naked man in bondage gear. It's unbelievable how trashy this manga is, even though Inio Asano is often assumed to be part of the 2deep4u teenage nihilism crowd.
This looks like a work from a first time author who spends too much time on Twitter, Live Leak, and Porn Hub rather than a seasoned mangaka, even if the art is quite proficient other than a few grotesque character designs. The dialogue is horrendous and would make even Tarantino at his most excessive blush. Imagine your final words being to call someone "cray cray" or to spout any of the Kill Bill-tier "tricks are for kids" lines coming from the mujina and influencer Tenko's filthy mouth. I doubt this is a case of unfaithful translation because the trashiness of the dialogue often matches the visuals to a tee.
It seems Terumi, who has European ancestry but was born in Japan, is a character who is simultaneously integrated into Japanese culture through his career but is wholly alien to it racially and somewhat of an outcast in his industry despite his successes. It's also pretty obvious he is meant to be the stand-in for Asano here, which clears up some of the political blather and indicates how estranged Asano feels, and there's plenty of overlap from his semi-autobiographical Reiraku. Terumi has a lot of the meandering "why do we live?" kind of monologues and is constantly in his head and critical of society.
Asano is looking at the generational divide, which is likely best emphasized by the bimbo with the "liberation" shirt and mushroom-cloud afro, who is unbearable in terms of behavior and appearance and louder than most comedy skits featured in shonen for elementary school kids. She seems like a poor attempt to lampoon an irritating type of political activist character. Asano can be burlesque and tacky when he gets into the political stuff, with this one being fairly explicit. Though she's meant to be the butt of many jokes, she does make one statement that seems to act as a kind of thesis for the work: the Mujina, which are basically ninjas, ronins, rebels, or general outcasts, hopping around on rooftops and often taking illegal jobs, like assassination, lack "human rights."
Understanding the ways of the mujina is a means of tapping into the feelings of the next generation, who are even more alienated from society than Terumi. Furthermore, the elderly, after 85, have their rights revoked and are moved into zones to reduce costs and save resources, perhaps functioning reminiscently to a more benign version of the tales of the past that had the elderly abandoned in the mountains when times were rough. Mujina are in the same boat as the 85+ crowd, except they're more so in a gray zone, where the government hasn't quite wormed its tentacles into.
There's at least one interesting idea: It's revealed how much the lines are blurred when it comes to the mujina operating illegally and on the fringes and how much they have to gain from left-wing lobbyists who are concerned with the expansion of human rights to the mujina. Human rights can be exploited for gain, with it even being valuable to sacrifice one's rights or the alternative possibility of scamming one to give them up, presenting the issue of rights as more like another part of the consumerism that Asano is critiquing. Thankfully, he goes beyond basic bitch oppressor/oppressed narratives, though the story does return to this being exploitation and a partial explanation for the young girls wandering the streets aimlessly. Additionally, the manga is also exploring the media industry and the way it shapes child stars, treating it as a kind of Stockholm syndrome and brainwashing, which would apply to the model of consumption as well. The story is consumed by a fixation on human rights or a lack thereof and consumption culture, without many intriguing developments as of yet.
The critiques from Asano in this manga are mostly valid but delivered in a shallow "rule of cool" kind of way. A lot of his perspective feels outdated as well, only focusing on capitalism and people being fashioned into consumers, reminiscent of an entertaining but inaccurate dystopic vision like John Carpenter's They Live. If everything were about consumption, then increasing the birth rate would be desirable. The idea is actually closer to using consumer society (amongst other things) to numb the masses and gradually reduce or shrink the population so as to preserve a greater number of resources for the ultra-wealthy. The global population is shrinking, and, yes, that applies even to Africa, which is set to see a decline in the population over time. Asano probably chooses this hill to die on because it's safe and easy, and we all know Asano is a whiny bitch boy who's probably 100% accurately represented by the MC in his vile Reiraku, who is obsessed with sales. With how often his characters are shown jerking off, I'll bet Asano jerks off anytime his manga sells more. Number go up--UOOOOOOOH! 😫😫😫😭😭😭🍆🍆🍆💦💦💦.
Even when I agree with Asano in some respect, it's still easy to become repulsed by his caricatures because they feel too over the top, and it seems he's mocking everyone with "hip" dialogue. Honestly, this kind of satirical approach isn't Asano's forte, and he's even less proficient at crafting an action series. The characters are one-dimensional garbage with poor dynamics and the final nail in the ghastly coffin: Ubume is a stoic cardboard-cutout female assassin. Juno is a dull damsel in distress to be saved from a fate similar to the mujina. Tenko is the kind of character the word "degenerate" was made for. No one else is even all that notable, though the detectives might have a more compelling dynamic than Ubume and Tenko, who mirror them in the sense that they are also opposites. Although not a likable character, Terumi is one of the few who is even remotely interesting thus far. Whereas Punpun and other works from Asano at least had some degree of character depth with functioning relationships and scenarios, Mujina into the Deep only offers meh politics, oodles of naked females done up in Asano's vaguely derpy style, and goofy action scenes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jan 26, 2025
Most problems with the long-awaited anime adaptation of the dated, cheesy, and grimdark Übel Blatt (Evil Blade... Soooooo coooool!) are best illustrated by realizing episode 1 starts at chapter 4 in the manga. Sometimes when a series has a dull start, it can be an appropriate change to thrust the viewer right into the action by skipping ahead and gradually filling in lost details... or forgetting what preceded that arc because it's not necessary. Übel Blatt is not one of these instances. The first chapter is your typical dark fantasy, where the author introduces an edgelord femboy with a smol Peepi, which he frequently whips
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out (willingly or otherwise) in the uncensored manga, but the anime is toned down and desexualized.
Compared to the incoherent and poorly paced anime, the prologue to the manga is mostly clear and presents Köinzell as mysterious, a bit more vulernable, and properly builds up to various reveals about him. We're given backstory about the 7 heroes, that Wischtech is "the foreign nation of darkness," and there is a "black wing sword army" that continues to plunder, rape, and murder throughout the region. It presents a necessary amount of backstory to have a sense of what is going on in the world, and we're given a bit more time to ponder the 7 heroes myth before what really happened is unveiled. The very first scene in episode one is a grisly flashback to a murder, but we briefly see this scene and we're not given all the details, and I actually made the mistake of thinking Wied was Ascheriit, who somehow escaped his fate, because they look similar, and there was a 20-year timeskip. You can't make this mistake if you're reading the manga. Similarly, the people hunting down Köinzell in the airship, along with Aht, already have been introduced in the manga, and we understand their grievances, yet they're thrown in almost at random in the anime. As a result, everything about them feels odd because of a lack of developments and buildup prior. Not that what transpired in the first three chapters of the manga was much better than the initial anime arc, but it's undeniably a more sensible start that supports the anime well.
Like many a bad dark fantasy, perhaps even on the level of the infamously horrible, gut-bustingly hilarious The Eye of Argon from Jim Theis, the author randomly peppers in lots of sex and violence, no matter how poorly integrated it is, either to make the story exciting or more "serious and mature." The manga tends to be more gorey, but the anime is flooded with gushing fountains of raspberry Kool-Aid at every turn, courtesy of our dainty blade master, twirling about in badly choreographed action sequences. Often, he will simply pass through a bunch of fodder opponents who look the same, painting the environment in glowing purple hues. The MC is monstrously overpowered thus far, his only weakness being his reliance on the moon for vitality, yet he dispatches his foes with ease, not just in the prologue, but also the first three episodes of the anime.
One thing about Berserk is that it has a persuasive visceral quality to the action that makes the MC and his "hunk of steel" blade believable, even if the weapon is, in reality, stupid and impractical. Making "dumb" things believable is what good speculative and genre fiction are really about. The author of Berserk has varying quality with his villains, but he tends to either try to inject depth with select villains or make them cool or a greedy bandit type (more like an animal). Ubel Blatt is so far filled with nothing but generic evil bastards with the trashy writing always on display. The villains are all corrupt and utter lame lines, with the scenery-chewing head monk who is the main antagonist being the hammiest. The arc hilariously ends with the masses coming out with pitchforks for revenge, like a Frankenstein film. Plus, does anyone really want to see another tired revenge of the smol-Peepi plot, with another bitter hero or anti-hero slaughtering swarms of evil bastards who have wronged him? Go big (Peepi) or go home, and this one neuters the excessive edginess of the manga, so it ought to just run home to mommy with its micro Peepi tucked in-between its legs.
The humor and edge of the series make me think of a combination of Seinentard Non Non Biyori X kidult Berserk. This anime is confusing, ineptly told, a clusterfuck of too many unexplored developments and ideas at once, far too many shallow characters, lots of flat blood sprays and stiff animation (when Aht spins her huge sword, they use a still with her sword's blade pointing in 4 different directions, in what might be one of the most unconvincing budget-saving shots I've ever seen) for unexciting action, and a dull revenge plot. The world seems like it might be an interesting one, merging grimdark fantasy and oddly placed sci-fi, but, based on the cheesy writing, awkward plot delivery, and thin interactions, there's no reason to have any expectations for what the series will deliver; there's not much here other than "so bad, it's good." This anime will be sure to leave even the most potent Peepi sad and wilting.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 20, 2025
Shiki is one of the rare horror anime to stand out at all, falling under a "revisionist/social commentary" kind of banner; it has a decently creepy atmosphere, imagery, and an adequate plot, though the gravity-defying rainbow hair and bizarre hip-hop-like music makes this an eccentric title. The writing can be fairly condescending with its depiction of ruralites and villagers: there's a cosmopolitan smugness expressed throughout, with the pink-haired girl, who only cares about cute boys in the city and being an idol, being the best representation of the contempt for the countryside. There's not much presented here that would make anyone yearn for a life
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outside of the city.
For the relatively long running length of 22 episodes, it takes most of the protagonists a ridiculously long time to figure out what's really going on, as villagers are picked off one by one by a clan of vampires. Eventually, the humans fight back, and the prey becomes the predator, but it feels like these people are blind or oblivious for nearly the whole runtime, which becomes exasperating. Emphasis should be placed on the prey becoming the predator, or even the prey and predator being one and the same when boiled down to their essence, which is partially the message found in the monk's pretentious Cain and Abel-inspired story; this is reflective of a trend in horror fiction to humanize the monsters while also relying on gray areas of morality for the sake of social commentary about humanity. The show starts by depicting the shiki as being ghoulish in some early nighttime scenes, but, by the end, the villagers are portrayed in just as ghoulish of a light, if not greater.
Fans seem to relish this aspect, but the humans, while maybe becoming a bit more cruel and spiteful than is necessary when confronting the shiki at times—probably best emphasized by the segment where the villagers leave the shiki to a slow death, but one human delivers mercy killings, as well as the infamous tractor scene, or the murder of humans assumed to be in league with the Shiki—are acting in their own best interest for survival.
The shiki brought the situation upon themselves by terrorizing the once idyllic village. Due to the shiki's bloodlust, the villagers were left to watch their friends and family wither away and die. And among the villagers who die, some come back as shiki and are manipulated or groomed by the veteran shiki in preying on their remaining loved ones in a vicious cycle. Tatsumi, one of the higher-ranking shiki, is particularly sadistic in how he directs these newly recruited companions to prey on former family and friends. The shiki's intentions appear to be the death and/or conversion of all humans in the village. There are no benign alternatives conceived of amongst their ranks. One human appears to be an exception here, and the shiki seem to view him as a potential human ally, in what represents the standard symbiotic relationship often found in horror films, such as vampires having a werewolf or human who protects them during the day or carries out tasks that only they can perform.
Throughout the series, it's shown that the shiki can easily blend in with humans, other than their aversion to sunlight. They open stores in the village, have a city unit of shiki engaging in similar ways, own a moving company, and they can afford to purchase the obviously expensive and out-of-place European castle on the outskirts of the village, so they clearly have shiki-specific infrastructure in place, are well organized, and possess a lot of money.
Cows are featured prominently as livestock to emphasize that what the shiki are doing to the humans is similar to what humans are doing to other animals. Humans survive by devouring animals, but shiki only need the blood of humans to survive, meaning killing is not necessary for the latter. The Kirishiki family is shown consuming blood from wine glasses, an important story arc has one character trying to convince a shiki who was once his friend to coexist with humans and not kill them, and there is only one other subplot that features a shiki making an effort to survive on blood without killing. Couldn't they conceivably purchase human blood (whether non-human blood is viable or not is never addressed) and forego preying on humans altogether? This is never explored at all. In fact, the shiki seldom explain anything that they do, so one must question if their leader, a pseud 900-year-old goth loli vampire, ever had any plans at all.
But on some level, I accept the argument that what humans do to cows is no different than what the shiki are doing to the humans. One can even argue that humans don't require meat to survive either. We can become vegetarians. However, humans enjoy the taste of meat, and a balanced diet with meat, fish, etc., is nutritionally superior to vegetarianism. We also harvest the bodies of animals for many items we create.
However, the series makes it clear that the shiki are trying to survive and flourish. Similarly, shiki need more than just blood, because they cannot replicate themselves through DNA but have to instead convert humans into shiki. If we consider the instinct to reproduce in some form an imperative for all lifeforms, then how can the shiki really be blamed, for it appears to be a biological necessity for the shiki? They do what they must to survive and to "reproduce," yet it necessitates antagonism between humans and shiki. The shiki use every part of humans, not just blood; just as the humans use every part of cows.
While I think we may as well limit suffering, it's a natural part of life. We only make ourselves weaker by creating an ideology centered around removing suffering altogether. A utopian example of this ideology is actually the idea of the humans and shiki co-existing, which strikes me as the end goal of the tedious moralizing the series engages in. "Extreme" attempts at removing suffering tend to result in much more suffering overall. In theory, the two could co-exist. Humans and shiki could live amongst each other, without it being an arrangement similar to the predator-prey relationship of the Eloi and Morlocks of H.G. Wells Time Machine. With a sufficiently small number of shiki, humans could donate enough blood to sustain them. Too many shiki would necessitate suffering and death for the humans, but they could also have controlled replication. Some humans would obviously like the chance of becoming immortal, like the shiki, rather than dying, so there could be a quota system to prevent their death and bolster the population of the shiki. Surveillance technology could enforce this system even better. This is an arrangement that works well in theory, and you could probably make a simulation of this in a video game and perfectly micromanage a win-win outcome. Nonetheless, reality is messy, and humans and shiki are naturally at odds with one another. It's unlikely that you could stop the two from feuding or prevent the shiki from manipulating the humans along the way of completing this grand utopia that will never be. It would also inject many problems into society, with elites controlling the shiki's "immortalization" process.
Just as wolves are predators and sheep are prey, we have a similar relationship with our livestock. The shiki are a natural predator of humans. Is it really immoral for predators to hunt prey as food? Certainly no one would consider a non-human animal consuming another animal as immoral. It only becomes a topic of morality for humans because of their sentience and insecurities. Due to our ingenuity and problem solving, many will debate that having alternatives makes this process inhumane and morally objectionable. Of course, for a coherent worldview, one must realize that morality is a subjective construct to enforce order; individuals have a personal morality that interacts with a consensus morality of said society, and that consensus morality is enforced by violence. a society has to have some kind of morality to function and sustain itself, and morality should be beneficial. Yet the morality on display in Shiki is often framed in a way that is injurious to the humans, and the authors are saying it is a good thing, often resorting to injecting manipulative evil bastardisms into their writing.
The killing of humans by other humans without a justified cause would almost universally be seen as immoral by the standards of today. Could the same be said of relations between shiki and humans? Certainly there are many similarities between shiki and humans, but is an equivalence in intelligence and other criteria more important than the nature of being predator and prey, when it comes to evaluating whether or not something is moral? The shiki may have once been human, but they must be regarded as a completely different species, and something altogether different than even denisovans or neanderthals, which are other species humans mated with in the distant past. My assumption is that shiki are probably parasites that can "resurrect" a recently dead host, harnessing their memories. Just because the shiki possess the dead human's memories does not mean they are one and the same.
Essentially, the shiki are in direct opposition to humans. Both are engaged in competition for resources as various creatures would be in an ecosystem, while also engaging in a predator-prey relationship, eventually resulting in a predator-prey reversal as the humans gain the upper hand. The shiki, as the minority, must always be fearful of the human majority exterminating them, and the humans must always be fearful of the shiki surreptitiously parasitizing them and taking over their society, as can be seen when the shiki replace the entirety of the local government, with aims of taking over the village.
The focus on morality that the show has, where they went to great lengths to make the humans seem wicked or "just as bad" was insipid and cheap. In many cases I'd say the humans are portrayed by the writers as far less sympathetic than the shiki, the true aggressors here. I'd rather have been spared the moralizing tone and the pathologizing of the villagers. Both the humans and the shiki can be "humanized" in their own right with a recognition of them being competing entities, concerned first and foremost with their own survival and growth in numbers. You can portray a person doing something one might find objectionable without giving them evil-looking expressions set to sinister music, which this show was often guilty of in the second half.
One point that will sometimes be made is that Ozaki, who led the bloody campaign against the shiki was too brutal. Yes, they would have been obligated to kill many of the aggressive shiki, but they could have imprisoned some of them or brought in the government to contain them in some way. Even the shiki couple who decided to stop preying on humans, unconscious in their cell, were killed by the humans. Amusingly, characteristic of this show's try-hard brand of trashy social commentary, Ozaki even says something like, "We need to clean this up," indicating the bloodshed needed to be concealed from any outsiders or non-local government. Not only do people conflate what happened to actual genocides, but the writers seem to be suggesting as much. Sure, they didn't have to kill all of them, but shiki, who have an overwhelming desire for blood and can pretend they're humans, are extremely dangerous, and eradicating them altogether would be for the best. All it takes is one shiki to deceive the humans, convert more humans into shiki, and have the same incident all over again. They could quickly take over entire cities.
I realize people want to make these kind of productions into metaphors about the human condition and humans massacring or genociding other humans for social commentary and moral preening, but the shiki are undead. They shouldn't even exist in the first place, not to mention all of the other points that make them an enemy of humanity.
I never questioned "who the true monsters were." I always sided with the humans, though I often had sympathy for the shiki, given that they were forced to become shiki without any regard for their own wishes and were manipulated, not only by their newfound hunger, but by the shiki leaders. From the perspective of the humans, I see the shiki as something to be exterminated for the benefit of humanity, as we usually view vampires in fiction, but I can also respect that the shiki are acting to benefit their own group, though it goes against human interests.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 14, 2025
Happy Birthday is an interesting film to watch. We have a lot of these "cryporn" series and films nowadays, like what Mari Okada scripts, Jun Maeda slop, Violet Evergarden, Fumetsu no Anata e, and Loli and the Creepy Dad (I think it's called Somali or something...). HB may be meant as a tearjerker, but I feel it's in a class of its own and is more old-school and traditional and draws from live action film or young adult coming of age novels more than anime and the "cryporn" phenomenon, even if it's similarly manipulative and wants to elbow you in the gut with blunt and
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simple scenes of bullying, raw emotion, redemption, and healing.
Arguably, seeing as the film is poorly animated, low budget, and lacks much nuance in facial expressions, it could be said that there isn't much benefit to this being animated in the first place. It could be live action. The animation is not expressive enough to accentuate the emotion on screen, the writing, or the direction. There is only one scene that's relatively fantastical as well. However, even if the film doesn't look amazing, the use of color is sometimes expressionistic, especially the dramatic backdrops that subtly enhance the tone of the scene, matching the internal state of the characters. There's a certain low-budget late '90s charm to the art as well.
A lot of the character "redemption arcs" occur too fast and with minimal conflict. Technically, a lot of the changes of heart are not unrealistic. For example, the brother is a total asshole to Asuka, but he changes upon finding a soaking wet and sick Asuka who came home in the rain. I think most people have been on bad terms with a person, but once they're upset or hurt, we have second thoughts, especially sans psychopathy and such. The problem is not that it's unrealistic. It can be a good test to ask if x scenario is likely to happen in real life when writing a scene, but even if it is, there is a sort of visual language and pacing of emotions associated with fiction that defies mere realism, and when this is not considered, the work comes across as too convenient, lacking in depth, or a bit rushed, which is oftentimes the actual issue with this film. I'm noticing one other "major" criticism of this film is that your vocal chords aren't impacted by someone saying mean things to you or about you; that's true, but emotional and psychological trauma can take its toll, creating a stress response, and prolonged stress of this type is not healthy. The clinical term for what happened to Asuka is psychogenic aphonia, and there are recorded cases of such occurrences, however convenient the scene in which Asuka "loses" her voice may be.
The film is briskly paced and fairly touching at numerous points, even if it has the feel of an anti-bullying PSA. The solitary first half was more impactful, even if it's using the rural grandparents trope so common to these kind of anime, including many of the newer iyashikei ones. At least here the grandparents are more than just sources of healing, as despite their kindness, they played a hand in the cyclical abuse that formed in the first place. Asuka does have character development, as she becomes a stronger and more inspiring person, and she's easy to be sympathetic toward, but like all of the characters, she doesn't have much depth. Her brother's development is of a similar nature, though his plight is a bit different as the favored child whom the parents shower their attention upon. The subplot with the cerebral palsy girl is seemingly just there to point out how good of a person Asuka is and to spread a message of the value of life and to be kind to each other. That is to say, it's maudlin. The bullying scenes go on and on throughout and eventually there's a reversal and everyone changes their ways and improves. Just once, I think I'd like to see this basic formula used, but to have a character who is unshakably wicked, for some patterns never change, and these feel-good messages can get a bit too intoxicating. Or at least work a bit harder toward their redemption. Predictably, at least one bully has a sob story, to push the cliche drama further.
By the second half, it's still kind of effective in terms of emotion, but it got to where I was roaring with laughter at numerous scenes, whether it was due to the clumsy editing, the bluntness of emotive epiphanies, the crying regret, and the flood of "I'm so sorry for bullying you" dialogue. At one point, the girl with cerebral palsy's wheel chair is sent rolling down a hill, and I was laughing my ass off as she looked so happy and without a care in the world, soaring through the air in what could have led to her death. Another scene has editing so bad that "Germy" was walking off screen, there was a cut, and we see a person sitting on the bench, which, little did I know, was "Germy"! The editing here was confusing and poor, and there are a lot of jarring moments of a similar nature, but the quick pacing, the sometimes decent scenario writing—such as the more complex cyclical issue with the mother, even if it is rushed—and the emotion on display made the film decent enough. The score was kind of cheesy and endearing, so it wasn't a bad fit for this movie. All in all, the lesser Dezaki did his best with not a whole lot to work with, and it's a flawed but charming film. Still, I wonder what this could have been at twice the length, sporting a smoothed-out script, a more generous budget, and with Keiichi Hara directing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 1, 2025
The visuals are the only strong aspect of the first film in this cyberpunk action trilogy. The imagery is similar to other films in the genre but pass-out drunk on color gradient filters, mostly tinting everything in some shade of yellow, green or blue, though certain scenes will contrast with warmer colors, such as the courtroom. The animation is flashy, and there aren't any serious issues here, other than some of the character designs are too ridiculous, the day time scenes aren't as impactful as the nighttime or darker sequences, and the car CGI is somewhat gross. Tow Ubukata wrote the screenplay, so you can
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expect a few exhilarating moments of action, a degree of incoherence, and a pretentious slew of ideas that might generate interest but are poorly integrated or mostly wasted. The synopsis on MAL doesn't shine through in the script, and we're told little about the world through exposition.
The main plot could have easily consisted of a crime investigation, courtroom drama, and character development. Instead, we primarily get action, but maybe not the kind one would expect. The mardock scramble process they use to revive the FMC does more than simply keep a person alive and protected for the sake of being used as a witness, for it gives them powers. She can turn electronics on and off and manipulate them in complex ways. She's also setup with the golden mouse that can merge its abilities with people who have these powers, and he can turn into a full body suit, a gun, etc. They even teach the FMC how to fight. Why is a witness protection program turning a 15-year-old girl and witness to a crime into a powerful weapon? It's so stupid but also the most anime thing imaginable. Her being more vulnerable would probably be better than her becoming an OP badass, especially with the limited running time that hinders proper development for some of these ideas, but Ubukata needed his action fix, and the staff do a good job of satisfying the requirement.
These kind of feminine-oriented sci-fi thematics are exceedingly rare in cyberpunk, making it somewhat awkward to adapt to. Our heroine, who has a tragic past filled with sexual abuse, recovers from her trauma and bonds with the mouse who has a somewhat similar backstory in a way, just a different outlook and temperament. The FMC was a tool for sex; the mouse was a tool for espionage, assassination, and war (and kind of still is). There's also a fairy tale-like feel to the usage of the mouse, as if he'll turn into a prince if he's kissed. Their chemistry is okay, but they aren't given much time to work with.
There's a huge shift in the second half when Ubukata cooks up the EDGIEST group of mercenaries imaginable. They all look like circus freaks, and they collect body parts from pretty girls. One grafts breasts onto his body and flaunts several dozen of them on his obese body. Another collects fingers. One has eyes inserted into his body, probably hundreds, blinking away at all times. Most ridiculous of all is Welldone the Pussyhand, and it's fairly obvious what his hobby is... It's absurd, grotesque, and made me facepalm with my, thankfully, normal hand. This grossness is not completely without sense because it encapsulates the most gruesome predation that can happen to a girl, like the previously powerless FMC or someone else in a similar position, while also setting the stage for the nihilistic main villain, but it's a cartoonish level of edginess.
The silliness of having the girl fight this goon squad of murderous fetishists has her relishing the violence and taking vengeance upon her past exploiters by proxy, which results in a "toxic relationship" with the mouse that has to be corrected; the "development" of the FMC is rushed and has no in-between, as she becomes intoxicated by her newfound power and ability to dominate others. Mardock Scramble is kind of like a "subversion" of the old female-fronted rape revenge exploitation films that always start with a girl being raped, somehow sexually exploited, or forced into being a prostitute. These films would usually proceed to glorify a catharsis and self-satisfaction with vengeance that ultimately leads to self-destruction. The most obvious comparison would be Yasuomi Uemetsu's Kite, just without the explicit hentai scenes and bleak ending. Or older, uglier films, like I Spit on Your Grave, Thriller: A Cruel Picture, Ms. 45, or even the militantly misandrist Baise-moi, all of which are thoroughly nihilistic and depraved. Instead, MS attempts something a bit more balanced and positive and is better for it, though it's packed with pseudo-depth on Ubukata's part. At least it has an okay dynamic with the mouse, flashy visuals, and fun action. Definitely nothing great, but it's a passable way to spend an hour, and the abrupt cliffhanger ending, set to Amazing Grace, is sure to produce a hearty milk snort.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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